super storm

Chapter 538 The killer's mace

Liverpool have a very strange tradition.

The night before each home game, the team gathers at the Hope Street Hotel.

But the players' favorite place to go after the game, or usually, is the St. Thomas Hotel.

The distance between the two hotels is not far, and it is about a 10-minute drive to Anfield, but for Liverpool, they seem to be two places with different functions.

If the players are in a good mood, or if they win a game at home, it must be at the St Thomas Hotel to celebrate.

The owner of the hotel is a die-hard Liverpool fan, and he will definitely follow every game, whether it is home or away, he must be there.

Of course, the owner of the Hope Street Hotel is also a hardcore Liverpool fan. This hotel has been the hotel where Liverpool stayed before the home game for so many years and has never changed.

The only difference is that there is a St. Thomas Bar in the St. Thomas Hotel, which has the best atmosphere in Liverpool and is also the favorite place for local fans. Liverpool players often meet here.

Daniel Agger's Italian restaurant is also nearby.

Interestingly, the night before the game against Chelsea, when the players checked into the Hope Street Hotel, they were discussing how to celebrate at the St. Thomas Hotel after the game tomorrow.

Because the owner of the St. Thomas Hotel has already said that as long as the team wins against Chelsea and successfully advances to the final, he will invite everyone in the team to celebrate, and all the drinks in his bar will be provided for free.

Of course, the object is limited to Liverpool players and employees.

For Gerrard, Carragher and others, this is definitely a condition full of temptation.

Every player sees it differently. Some see the atmosphere, some want to drink, and some think of beautiful women.

And when the time comes, it will definitely be another sleepless night.

……

Yang Yang and Harvey Alonso were not interested in these, so they took the initiative to ask the head coach to apply for the same room.

Benitez agreed.

So, throughout the night, Harvey Alonso sat on the bed and read a book. Yang Yang studied his opponent on his laptop, and by the way, he wore headphones to video with Su Ye. He is now even worse than Maxwell, and he wants to see Su Ye every day.

Finally, when it was almost time, Yang Yang turned off the computer.

"Do you think it's weird?" Yang Yang asked suddenly after turning off the lights.

"It seems that there is no targeted training." Harvey Alonso said.

In the dark, Yang Yang hummed, "Boss just asked us to practice shooting."

It was a training session this afternoon. Benitez asked Aurelio and Arbeloa to pass the ball to both sides of the penalty area on both sides of the penalty area, and then other players kicked and hit the close corner.

Yesterdan took a notepad and took notes over there.

Each player took a few shots from both positions, but the coaching staff didn't say a word about what happened.

"It's normal, he's always secretive," said Harvey Alonso.

"But he is very reliable every time." Yang Yang replied.

What Benitez once said to him sounded in his mind. He discovered a very secret loophole in Chelsea that even Mourinho himself hadn't noticed, but he still kept it hidden.

Could it be that the shooting training this time has something to do with it?
"I remember once he said that in a match with a team from the same country, many players are familiar with each other. When communicating before the game, the content of the game will inevitably be involved. If you are a little careless, you may be guessed by the opponent. There have even been incidents where the opponent's players deliberately obtained information."

The stadium is like a battlefield, so there is nothing wrong with obtaining information before the game. I can only blame my lack of awareness of confidentiality.

"So, since then, he has never announced some tactical details in advance before the game. He will only announce it on the day of the game, sometimes even in the locker room before the game, just before playing, just to avoid leaks."

When Harvey Alonso said this, Yang Yang thought it was a little funny, but he didn't resist.

He has never been a very curious person. If it is related to him and needs him to do it, Benitez will tell him sooner or later, and there is no need to worry.

"Hey." In the darkness, Harvey Alonso's voice came from the next bed, "Yang, will we make it to the final?"

"Yes!" Yang Yang replied without hesitation. After a pause, he added, "Not only must we enter the final, but we must also win the championship!"

"That was really calculated by Gerrard!" Harvey Alonso laughed.

Yang Yang couldn't help laughing, and it rang out that Harvey Alonso told him the same thing that night.

"He's a fortune teller!"

…………

…………

The next morning, Yang Yang still went to the gym to train for a while.

Accompanied by De Michel, who is now in charge of the training program for everyone in the gym.

On the day of the competition, all schedules are strictly in accordance with the time, including the lunch break.

Yang Yang is a special one, because he is used to his own training mode, such as going to the gym in the morning and swimming at noon. These are the habits he has accumulated over the years, and his body has already adapted to it.

Even to a certain extent, whether it is the gym or swimming, it is a kind of alternative relaxation for him.

Two hours before the game, the team departed on time from the Hope Street Hotel and took the team bus.

When the players walked out of the hotel, Liverpool fans had already been waiting at the entrance of the hotel. Seeing the players, they all cheered, sang the team song, or shouted the names of the players, cheering for the team, hoping that they can beat Chelsea tonight.

But no one will come to the team, because they all know that the players need to be calm before the game.

Every evening game, when it starts, it is Liverpool's evening rush.

Police cars will clear the way ahead for the Liverpool bus to ensure the team arrives at Anfield on time as expected.

The players were on the bus, there was no communication, no words, just silence.

When he was at Ajax before, Yang Yang would enter the super training ground for training, but he would not be in Liverpool because it was only 10 minutes away in a blink of an eye.

Wherever the bus passes, there will be crowds of Liverpool fans cheering on the side of the road.

Seats in the car are also particular. Some players are more casual, but some are more superstitious. They will always deliberately choose the same teammates to sit together. For example, Aurelio must sit with Yang Yang, because he believes that this will bring him luck.

In fact, after sitting with Yang Yang, he performed well in every game.

But sometimes Yang Yang really wanted to tell him that the reason why he performed well was because he was standing in front of him, not because they sat together before the game, because Yang Yang didn't like to sit with Aurelio very much.

The friendship between the two was very good, but Aurelio liked to talk when he was nervous.

But today, he didn't speak.

This is the first time he has touched the threshold of the Champions League final!
Benitez sits in the front row. He usually reads the newspaper or plays Sudoku, a math game he is very obsessed with.

Yang Yang felt very troubled by this, because he was not interested in such brain-intensive calculations as Sudoku.

But the Spaniard is obsessed with it, which fits his image.

What was different from usual was that when the team bus passed by the University of Liverpool, several Chinese students played slogans in Chinese, cheering for Yang Yang, and they were all wearing Liverpool jerseys, apparently planning to go to Anfield, which made Yang Yang feel moved by meeting an old friend in a foreign land, and waved to them through the window to express his gratitude.

……

After arriving at Anfield, prepare, rest, enter the warm-up, return to the locker room...

Everything is going on in an orderly manner, everyone is used to this kind of home preparation day after day.

Facts have also proved that Liverpool's home performance this season is really quite good.

When the players returned to the locker room and prepared to play for the last time, the head coach Benitez finally revealed his last trump card in this game.

"I have always believed that a good head coach must know how to look far ahead. Before the most important game, his tactics must be reserved. In fact, I have always done this."

The locker room was so quiet that only Benitez's voice remained.

Everyone knew that this was the final tactical arrangement before the game, and everyone listened very carefully.

"Early before the first leg, I had already noticed a loophole in Chelsea, but in the first leg, I was useless because I was not sure of hitting a single shot at Stamford Bridge, so I deliberately stayed until the second leg."

When Benitez said this, he was full of confidence, and this confidence infected every player in the locker room.

"If you think about it carefully, it's not difficult to find that we have never practiced set-piece tactics in the past few games, have we?"

After hearing this, the players all thought about it and nodded in unison. It is true that they have not practiced.

"If you think about it again, in the first round and in the past two league games, did I deliberately ask you to take all the set kicks from the penalty area, or in the middle of the penalty area?"

Everyone nodded again.

All corner kicks and frontcourt free kicks are penalty points, so when playing against Portsmouth, Hyypia scored a header. Everyone thought that Benitez saw a loophole in the opponent, but unexpectedly it was for this game.

Yang Yang guessed it all at once. This is called trying to cover up, because he knew that Mourinho would definitely study Liverpool's recent games, especially the set-piece tactics.

Then, on the contrary, the loophole of Mourinho's Chelsea must be the set-piece defense, and it is the front point!
"So, tonight, I want to tell you that Chelsea's set-piece defense, the near post is their weakness. They always have a hole at the near post, but the opponents often fail to grasp this hole and use it to score goals."

"So tonight, I need someone who can get out of the crowd and hit the near post in the right place when the other players are around the penalty area and rushing in when the team takes a corner kick or a set piece!"

"This can help us break Chelsea's goal!" Benitez said loudly.

(End of this chapter)