super storm

Chapter 753 Single sword!

Liverpool's corner kick still failed to create a threat.

This is a weakness in Liverpool's offensive system. The Red Army is not good at set-piece coordination.

But this is normal again, after all, no team can truly achieve the decathlon.

Skrtel's header went over the baseline and gave Barcelona a goal kick.

Although it failed to create a threat, the audience still gave warm applause to Liverpool's performance.

The live TV footage showed Yang Yang who was running towards his own half. His face was still full of unwillingness, and he obviously regretted the free kick just now. He felt that he could have scored a goal.

But what he didn't know was that whether it was the fans of the two teams in the stands, or the political and business celebrities in the chairman's stand, they had already given a high degree of affirmation to his performance.

……

"He was born to play for Real Madrid."

Spanish King Juan Carlos looked at Yang Yang who was running towards the halfway line in the stadium, his eyes showed undisguised appreciation, obviously he admired Yang Yang's performance and achievements in the past few years.

After saying this, he specifically looked at Florentino beside him.

"What do you say, Florentino?"

Florentino is the president of the largest construction company in Spain and even in Europe. He is a well-known business tycoon in Europe and a tycoon with amazing influence in European football. Although he has not been officially elected as the chairman of Real Madrid, he is basically sure.

This time he came to Rome at the invitation of UEFA President Michel Platini and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, but chose to sit in the area of ​​Spanish King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Zapatero.

Interestingly, Juan Carlos is a clear-cut Real Madrid fan. The entire Spanish royal family is basically a Real Madrid fan, but Prime Minister Zapatero has declared himself a Barcelona fan.

Everyone knows that the former is a consistent tradition, but whether the latter is true or not is unknown.

But also because of this, Florentino got closer to Juan Carlos.

Now, the King of Spain personally recommends Yang Yang to Florentino, obviously hoping that after Florentino takes the stage, he can bring the No.1 player in world football to the Bernabeu and wear a Real Madrid jersey.

Florentino smiled after hearing this, and said softly: "You are right, he was born to belong to Real Madrid."

Juan Carlos was in a happy mood. The media broke the news before that once Florentino returned to the Bernabeu, the player he most wanted to sign was Yang Yang. Even last summer, after Yang Yang politely rejected Barcelona, ​​the media revealed that there was Florentino behind him.

Now, with a word from the future Real Madrid president, the King of Spain is relieved.

"He's an unbelievable player, look at that free kick he just had."

After hearing this, Florentino nodded in agreement.

Although it is a pity that the goal was almost missed, it was really beautiful.

It's really not easy to score like this with the first shot in the opening game.

I just don't know, can Liverpool be able to stop Barcelona tonight?
…………

…………

Liverpool's opening strategy was very clear, that is to stabilize their defense first.

Although they grabbed a wave of offense at the beginning and made two shots, Liverpool did not love to fight. After seeing Barcelona stabilize their position, the team immediately retreated decisively and shrunk their defense.

With four defenders and three defensive midfielders, Liverpool's seven players formed two impenetrable lines of defense inside and outside the penalty area. Together with Gerrard and the frontcourt's Dirk, the Red Army invested nine players on the defensive end.

Only Yang Yang participated in the oppression more symbolically, and did not actively press like other teammates.

This is what Benitez repeatedly told before the game, he needs Yang Yang to maintain enough physical strength.

"Tonight may not be just nine 10 minutes, you need to be mentally prepared for 120 minutes."

"My request to you is very simple, that is, when the opportunity arises in more than 120 minutes, I need you to be able to rush forward and grasp the opportunity steadily."

This is the task that Benitez gave Yang Yang before the game.

Even if Barcelona advanced the ball, even if the defense lost the ball, Yang Yang must save enough energy.

It has been seven years since he started playing in the professional league at the age of 16. Yang Yang has already accumulated his own set of game experience and knows how to allocate his physical energy reasonably in the game.

Therefore, after the team shrunk their defense, after the meeting, he followed the changes of the situation, along with the running position of Dirk Dirk, and Barcelona's defensive formation, he kept interspersed and ran more and more at a uniform speed.

……

Liverpool's defensive formation is very meticulous, and Barcelona is trying to open up the situation, and it is not easy to create threats.

In the 6th minute, Daniel Alves formed a cross from the right and tried to pass to the center of the goal, but Eto'o, under Carragher's interference, failed to kick the ball and missed a chance.

No. In the 11th minute, Messi turned around after taking the ball in a midfield retreat, and quickly dribbled the ball to break through, but was intercepted by Mascherano and knocked down to the ground. The referee Busacca did not whistle for a foul on the Argentine midfielder.

The ball still fell at the feet of Barcelona. Harvey followed up with a long-range shot, but it went slightly wide.

This is also Barcelona's first shot in this game. It can be seen that Liverpool's defensive position is still very tight.

Subsequently, Barcelona tried to pass the ball into the penalty area, but Skrtel took the lead to clear the ball with a header.

After receiving the ball, Iniesta shook off Xavi Alonso and fired another long-range shot.

But this time the ball was saved by Reina steadily.

Butter hand Reina is also a major hidden danger for Liverpool's defense in this game, but Reina is a big-game player himself, and he is excited every time he comes to a big game, especially facing Barcelona. In addition, Liverpool really does not have a better goalkeeper, so everyone chooses to trust him.

Two consecutive long-range shots from 25 meters away show that Barcelona did not find a way to break through Liverpool's defense after the opening, so they can only take long-range shots to try their luck.

And just when Barcelona completely controlled the ball and Liverpool was frequently beaten passively, in No. 15 minutes, Gerrard and Gareth Barry double-teamed at the same time when chasing Alves back, forcing the Brazilian right back to pass the ball.

Mascherano decisively grabbed the ball, and after stealing the ball passed to Harvey, he quickly stabbed it to Harvey Alonso.

Xavi Alonso made a quick forward pass, and when Louie dropped back to respond, he volleyed directly.

The ball crossed the Barcelona defense and fell behind Pique and Puyol.

At this moment, Yang Yang threw off the two defenders of Barcelona at the same time at a very fast speed, and went straight to the goal.

"Single knife!"

"Chance for Liverpool!"

But when the fans on the scene exclaimed for a while, they saw the linesman on the sidelines quickly raised the flag, and the referee Busacca immediately blew his whistle to indicate that Yang Yang was offside.

Yang Yang rushed to the front of the penalty area, and he was single-handed, but he was offside in the end, and he was very unconvinced.

"Hey, sir, I looked at Puyol's position and ran. I can guarantee that at least I am equal to him." Yang Yang pointed to Puyol and explained, feeling very wronged in his heart.

This is obviously an excellent anti-offside, how did it become offside?
The referee Busacca said with a smile that the linesman was very clear and sure that this was an offside.

"Don't think too much, just concentrate on the game." Busacca patted Yang Yang on the shoulder and comforted him with a smile.

For the No.1 in world football, the referees all over the world have an excellent impression.

……

"Let's take a look at this slow-motion replay..."

"Hey, let's see, there is indeed no offside. Yang Yang and Puyol should be on the same line and not offside."

"Let's look at another angle, it is indeed not offside."

"The linesman seemed to be slightly blocked by Pique, and did not notice Puyol's position, and mistakenly thought that Yang Yang was offside."

"This is indeed a very controversial penalty. It should have been an excellent single-handed ball opportunity, but it was called offside."

"Yang Yang innocently explained to his teammates that he is still very dissatisfied with the penalty this time. We can understand it. After all, this is the Champions League final. If it is not called offside, with Yang Yang's ability, this single-handedly should be sure."

"It's a pity that the linesman's error caused Liverpool to miss another goal."

"But from this attack, we can also see Liverpool's strategy, which is to defend and counterattack."

"Benitez's tactics are indeed conservative, but this should be the best way to face Barcelona. After all, if you take the initiative, without the advantage of possession, it is impossible for Liverpool to compete with Barcelona."

"And Liverpool's anti-offside this time just happened to remind Barcelona."

"We saw that Guardiola was also very nervous on the sidelines."

"Indeed, although Barcelona has the advantage of passing and possession, they have never been able to create a threat. On the contrary, it is Liverpool. First, Yang Yang's direct free kick in the center of the post, and then just now it was an anti-offside single-handedly."

"Without the help of the post and the linesman, perhaps the current score would have been two to zero."

"Guardiola is obviously also worried about the mistake just now. Liverpool's counterattack was very fast and did not leave enough time for Barcelona's defense to react."

"So, Guardiola should be signaling the team to be steady and not to worry too much."

"With a player like Yang Yang at the front, he may counterattack at any time. This is something no team dares to be careless about."

……

Perhaps it felt the threat of the counterattack just now, or perhaps it was the instruction from Guardiola. In the following period of time, Barcelona consciously slowed down the rhythm of the game, especially paying attention to the protection behind itself.

In this way, the intensity of attacking in the midfield is weakened.

And Liverpool also adopted a steady defense strategy as always, with a strict defense, would rather drag the game into a penalty shootout, and never take the initiative to expose loopholes for Barcelona to attack.

Facing such a Liverpool team, it is indeed difficult for Barcelona to find a chance to start.

(End of this chapter)