super storm

Chapter 624 Overcome Hardness with Softness

The Premier League leader meets the Serie A hegemony.

This undoubtedly became the most anticipated matchup in the knockout round of the UEFA Champions League this season.

Liverpool's first guest and then the host, the schedule is relatively favorable.

When Yang Yang and Kaka competed for the World Footballer, the media of the two countries had a lot of competition, so when Liverpool faced Inter Milan, the media of the two countries once again heard the news.

Coincidentally, Yang Yang broke the scoring drought at this time, which undoubtedly gave the media of the two countries more talking points.

Especially since the Calciopoli incident, Serie A has rapidly fallen from the world's number one league at its peak, and now it even has to take second place behind the Premier League and La Liga, while the Premier League has risen strongly, surpassing La Liga, replacing Serie A, and becoming the world's number one league.

This point, from the past two or three years, the competitiveness of Premier League teams in the Champions League can be seen.

Serie A is like a declining giant, while the Premier League is a rising upstart. It is only natural that the media and fans of the two countries do not like each other. In addition to the previous competition between Yang Yang and Kaka, as well as Liverpool’s previous bloodbath against the Serie A team Roma, they defeated AC Milan in the two Champions League finals...

As the so-called new and old hatreds were revealed in this duel.

Since it was an away game, Liverpool showed more restraint. Both Benitez and Gerrard said that it was a satisfactory result for the team to get a draw away.

Yang Yang also said in an interview with the media that playing Inter Milan away is not easy.

"In this team, there are many players I am familiar with, my best friends Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Maicon and Maxwell, they are all the strongest players in Europe, as well as Chivu, Vieira, Cambiasso, Stankovic, Cruz..."

Yang Yang listed many stars of Inter Milan, and believes that this team is very competitive and should not be underestimated.

"Facing such a team, I think we must pay attention to 12 points."

……

Compared with Liverpool's restraint, Inter Milan is relatively high-profile, after all, they are playing at home.

According to the rules of the Champions League knockout round, if you can't win the opponent at home, it will be difficult to play away, so Inter Milan must want to win at home, and the players have also shown their determination to win.

Materazzi will be the main starter for this game. On the day before the game, he accepted an interview with the Italian media and said that he is no stranger to Premier League teams, especially Liverpool, because he once played for Everton, so this game is a derby for him.

The Italian central defender even threatened that he would score a goal in the game.

Like all the media, when the Italian media interviewed Materazzi, they also deliberately laid a trap for him, asking him what Yang Yang thought when he won the World Footballer and the European Ballon d'Or.

Maybe it was due to psychological warfare, or Yang Yang mentioned many people in the previous interview, but did not mention his name, so Materazzi said very bluntly, "If I were to choose, Yang Yang's name would definitely not appear among the five strongest attackers in the world. Even the top ten is a bit reluctant."

The media reporters originally wanted him to step on Yang Yang, but they didn't expect Materazzi to fire the cannon directly. This made them excited, and they all chased Materazzi to ask questions.

The Italian central defender also answered many sharp questions honestly and bluntly.

For example, he believes that defending Liverpool should not only focus on Yang Yang, because Yang Yang is not the most difficult player for Liverpool to defend.

He also believes that even without Yang Yang, Liverpool is still the most competitive team in Europe.

"Actually, Yang Yang is not as important as you imagine."

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When Liverpool collectively arrived in Milan, the Italian media quickly conveyed Materazzi's words to Yang Yang with embellishments, as if they were afraid that the world would not be chaotic.

When Yang Yang accepted their interview, he accepted Materazzi's words with a smile, thinking that he was indeed not the strongest attacker.

"At least I'm not right now." Yang Yang smiled and hinted that his recent state was really not ideal.

As for Liverpool, Yang Yang agrees more with Materazzi's remarks.

"I am able to have today. The help of everyone in Liverpool is crucial. Without me, Liverpool is still one of the strongest teams in Europe. But if I lose the platform of Liverpool, it will be difficult to achieve today's results."

"I think he's right. Defending Liverpool can't just stare at me, because we still have a group of better players, such as Gerrard, Crouch, Dirk, and Mascherano.

Yang Yang followed Materazzi's words and did not give the media any chance to stir up trouble, and he seemed to be smiling and in a good mood throughout the whole process.

When the media asked him why he seemed to be in a good mood, Yang Yang said it was because he was very happy.

After being blocked by Yang Yang's tai chi push, the media reporters found that they had punched the cotton directly with their fists and could not exert force.

……

Not only Yang Yang is in a good mood, but everyone in the Liverpool dressing room is also in a good mood.

Because the day before the team went to Milan, Xavi Alonso's wife gave birth to a son for him, named Jon.

This is definitely a happy event worth celebrating. Although everyone in Liverpool is preparing for the game, they also sent blessings to Harvey Alonso at the first time, and the team also gave him maternity leave to take care of his wife and children. He is expected to miss the recent away game.

Lacking Harvey Alonso and failing to introduce Gareth Barry during the winter break, Liverpool is now a bit stretched in the midfield. Lucas Leiva is beginning to be placed with high hopes. He will also replace Harvey Alonso in this game.

This is the difficulty of a team like Liverpool.

With limited finances, they can't afford to support so many players. There is really no way to accumulate a complete star lineup like other giants.

However, the management had previously promised that if the team performed well this season, they would allocate a considerable transfer fee this summer, which undoubtedly made everyone in the locker room suffocated.

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"Sky TV, this is Sky TV."

"Friends in the audience, we are now at the Meazza Stadium in Milan, Italy, and we will broadcast live for you soon, which is the first round of the UEFA Champions League round of [-] knockout rounds this season. A focus match that has attracted worldwide attention."

"Inter Milan, the leader of the Serie A standings, against Liverpool, the leader of the Premier League standings."

"It's going to be a star-studded battle for sure."

"And the lineup of guests responsible for the on-site commentary for this game is also very strong, the legendary Italian striker Rossi, the former Italian international Vialli, and the former Inter Milan legend Bergomi."

"What do you think of this match?"

"I think that being able to defend Yang Yang will be the focus of Mancini's defense. If Yang Yang is frozen, Liverpool's offense will be greatly reduced, and Inter Milan will have a chance." Vialli analyzed.

"I very much agree with this statement. Yang Yang recently broke the scoring drought. I saw that goal and he was definitely very relaxed psychologically. It can be seen that the long vacation that Benitez gave him was very effective, because he was indeed too tense in the past period of time.

As a legend in the past, Rossi obviously has a lot of experience.

"I agree with Rossi's statement that it is very necessary for Yang Yang to take this long vacation."

"In fact, many head coaches do this. For example, Ferguson once gave Cristiano Ronaldo a long vacation. Later, the Portuguese performed very well in the second half. As far as I know, Ferguson will give players a vacation almost every year before the winter break, in December."

"Giuseppe, what do you think?"

After hearing the question, Bergomi nodded, "I agree with everyone. Yang Yang is indeed the most threatening player for Liverpool. Even though he doesn't look ideal now, he is still quite scary."

"But I think that Inter Milan is also psychologically prepared for this. You see, Materazzi has been in a very good state recently. It can be seen from the psychological tactics before the game that he is very motivated now."

"I just watched Mancini's starting lineup for this game again, four three one two, took Figo and played Zanetti. I think his intention is still very obvious, that is to lock Yang Yang on the wing."

"As for the central defender, Materazzi and Cordoba's combination of one high and one fast, I think this is also targeted. Now we need to look at the specific process of the game, because football games can't just look at the formation, but more importantly, the details."

Everyone also agrees with Belgomi's analysis.

"And I think there is a very important place for Liverpool. Harvey Alonso is not in the squad." Rossi reminded.

"Yes, his wife has just given birth to a son for him and he is staying in Liverpool."

"So, Liverpool's midfield will definitely be affected."

"This is indeed a bit unexpected, because Benitez arranged for Xavi Alonso to rest in the league last weekend, obviously to let him concentrate on playing the Champions League in the middle of the week, but he did not expect his wife to give birth at this time. This must have disrupted Benitez's plan."

"Yes, that's right, so it depends on whether Mancini can seize the opportunity well, because judging from the past few games, Lucas Leiva's performance is still too immature, and he does not yet have the strength to replace Harvey Alonso, so Liverpool tried to introduce Gareth Barry before, but failed."

……

Following the commentator's pre-match analysis, the live broadcast screen of the game also switched to the player channel of the Meazza Stadium.

It can be clearly seen on the screen that Yang Yang is chatting with Ibrahimovic, Maicon, Maxwell and other players.

"They are all a group of players who made their debut at Ajax, and they are also very good friends. Tonight, Yang Yang played against Maicon, and the brothers killed each other, which is quite interesting."

Soon, under the organization of the referee, the players of the two teams lined up and walked out of the player channel.

At this moment, the [-] fans in the audience made deafening noises.

(End of this chapter)