i want to be king

Chapter 1000 Mourinho's unique skills

beep!
With the whistle of the Turkish referee Kakir, the world-renowned UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg officially blew the horn at the Nou Camp, and the scene was even more booed by Barcelona fans.

The first kick-off was Manchester City center Su Dong standing in the center circle.

Barcelona fans' perception of Su Dong has always been quite torn. They not only miss the beauty of his time in Barcelona, ​​but also hate him for repeatedly leading the team to slaughter Barcelona after leaving Barcelona. This makes Barcelona fans love and hate him, which is quite contradictory.

In the past, Barcelona hated him more than they loved him, but after the relaxation last season, especially after Barcelona won the Champions League, their attitude towards Su Dong has improved a lot.

But now, they started to hate again.

No way, Su Dong is too strong.

……

As soon as the game started, Manchester City realized the changes in Barcelona's formation.

This looks a bit unlike the traditional Barcelona style of play, but a bit like a three-back formation.

Puyol, Pique and Mascherano, these three players lined up from left to right in the defense.

Alves, who was originally thought to appear in the defense, actually appeared on the right side of the midfield.

As a result, Barcelona's midfield became a combination of Seydo Keita, Yaya Toure, Xavi and Alves from left to right.

Iniesta and Fabregas before the midfield, Messi behind.

The Argentine superstar served as a lone striker.

This lineup is a little weird.

I have never seen Barcelona adopt such a style of play before.

It looked like three four two one, but when Manchester City's right wing Sanchez broke through with the ball and wanted to open the defense line from the right wing, Seydu Keita retreated to the defense line.

This proves that Barcelona is not without full-backs, but just pushed the full-backs forward to the midfield.

Seydu Keita and Alves are said to be full-backs, but when defending, they can retreat to the back line at any time to protect the wing defense, which will turn Barcelona's back line into five backs.

Pressing out when attacking and retreating when defending, this requires high tactical execution and physical fitness of the players, and also requires defensive ability, but Sedu Keita and Alves are basically competent.

The intention of doing this is actually very simple, it is to exert a strong enough pressure on Manchester City in the midfield.

Especially Cesc Fabregas and Iniesta, the two players are almost staring at Busquets.

Everyone knows that Busquets is the hub of Manchester City's midfield pass. He can steadily sort out and deliver the ball under high pressure.

Mourinho used two players, Iniesta and Fabregas, to pinch Busquets. In addition to defending, the intention was to ensure that after a successful steal, the two could immediately counterattack and cooperate with Messi.

In terms of overall tactics, Mourinho really adopted a more secure tactic. He did not show an aggressive momentum at the beginning of the game.

I have to say that Mourinho's strategy still has a certain effect.

When Manchester City had the ball in the midfield, Fabregas and Iniesta retreated, Seydu Keita and Alves moved forward, so that Barcelona had a total of six players in the midfield, Manchester City usually only had three, even if Su Dong retreated, there were only four, completely at a disadvantage.

The Barcelona players quickly succeeded in stealing the ball through this kind of midfield press.

Under the interference of Iniesta, the ball passed by Busquets to David Silva was intercepted by Harvey. Although David Silva immediately counterattacked, Harvey was faster and passed directly to Messi who was retreating in front.

Messi pulled out of the defense zone of Manchester City's central defender, received the ball and rushed forward with the ball. When approaching Pepe, he feinted a shot and tricked Pepe.

Fabregas quickly advanced, Kompany chased all the way back, grabbed the penalty area, and before Fabregas kicked, he fell to the ground and tackled, blocking the Barcelona player's shot from the bottom line and turning it into a corner kick.

Subsequently, Barcelona's corner kick was cleared out of the penalty area, and Yaya Toure grabbed the second spot. After stopping the ball, he shot a long shot from a distance of nearly 30 meters from the goal, which was high.

Two consecutive shots, both from Barcelona.

Manchester City control the situation and possession of the ball, but so far have not been able to organize a decent attack.

Guardiola kept urging the players to be patient on the sidelines. Su Dong, who was wearing the captain's armband, also signaled his teammates on the court to try to control the ball and try to slow down the pace.

……

Benitez said that football is about space and possession of the ball.

City had the ball, but Mourinho wanted Barcelona to grab space.

Therefore, he took advantage of the numbers and established a very solid line of defense in the midfield.

Even at first glance, he seemed to put the defense directly in the midfield.

As long as the Manchester City players entered the midfield with the ball, they were immediately chased and intercepted by the Barcelona players.

Even if Su Dong retreated and formed a diamond-shaped ball-holding phalanx with David Silva, Toni Kroos and Busquets, it would be difficult to penetrate Barcelona's line of defense.

Mourinho is really amazing in building defense.

Especially now, Su Dong retreated, and the two wingers rushed forward, just being imprisoned by Barcelona's three central defenders.

You know, Puyol and Mascherano are very fast, and both of them can keep up with Di Maria and Sanchez's breakthrough with the ball, not to mention Pique who is dragging at the end.

After Su Dong retreated, Yaya Toure kept pestering him.

The Ivorian midfielder has always had mixed reputations in Barcelona, ​​but Mourinho trusts and reuses him very much.

As long as Su Dong retreated, he and Harvey would never move forward.

Manchester City also quickly realized the difficulties in the midfield. Marcelo and Zabaleta began to actively move forward, participating in the pass and control of the midfield, hoping to open the situation from the wing. At this time, the game had passed almost 10 minutes.

In the first 10 minutes, Manchester City didn't even have a shot.

It can be seen how tightly Barcelona has restricted Manchester City's midfield and frontcourt in this game.

Low defense, strangulation in the midfield, three central defenders, and only one Messi left in the frontcourt, this seems to be a real defensive counterattack.

"I still remember that at the beginning of the season, after losing to Manchester City in the European Super Cup, Mourinho once said that he actually prefers to play defensive counterattacks because he believes that this is the most effective tactic against Manchester City."

"Now, he has finally got his wish and sacrificed the tactics he wanted to play the most, but it seems that the fans at the scene still have some opinions. After all, in the Nou Camp, Barcelona has always been tyrannical, but now they are forced by Manchester City to retreat and counterattack. This somewhat embarrasses Barcelona fans."

"But Mourinho's credo has never been to win beautifully, but to win!"

……

The ball in the game is in the hands of Manchester City, but it is difficult to create a threatening offense.

Even after 15 minutes, Manchester City still didn't even kick a shot, which made the situation on the field a little impatient.

Until the No.19 minute, when Su Dong saw Di Maria returning to the defense with Alves who was getting the ball forward, he immediately ran to the left.

The duo of Marcelo and Di Maria combined on the left flank to clear Alves' ball to David Silva.

The Spanish midfielder sent a through ball directly behind the defense.

Su Dong crossed from the middle to the left, and stopped the ball before everyone else.

Puyol also blocked Sudong's passage to the restricted area for the first time.

He knows Su Dong too well.

One-on-one, Su Dong was not afraid, and directly made a fake move, stabbing the ball to the bottom line, trying to force a breakthrough, but Puyol reacted fast enough to follow up immediately.

I saw that Su Dong's explosive power was slightly better, leading by half a body position, and stabbed the ball into the penalty area. He rushed to the outside of the field. After avoiding Puyol, he suddenly accelerated.

I saw that Sanchez arrived at this time, facing Su Dong's return pass, and directly slammed it, forming Manchester City's first shot of the game.

This was originally a very good opportunity, but under the interference of Mascherano, Sanchez's kick was a bit off, and it went straight out of the baseline and failed to pose a threat.

The entire Camp Nou breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he failed to form a goal, Su Dong's speed and technique when facing Puyol and Pique on the left side are really frightening.

As long as he is still on the court, no one can rest assured.

Sure enough, just 4 minutes after the last attack, Manchester City once again stole the ball in midfield.

This time, Tony Kroos made a long pass behind the defense line. Su Dong quickly jumped in and got ahead of Pique. He headed the ball from Pique's left side to Pique's right side.

Puyol stepped forward to make up for the first time, but Su Dong sent a kick to the bottom line.

With no one defending, Di Maria slanted into the left rib of the penalty area. After catching up with Su Dong's pass, he pushed directly to the far corner with his left foot.

As a result, this shot, which was inevitable, hit the lower edge of the right post, bounced out, and failed to score.

Di Maria hugged her head in pain and fell in Barcelona's penalty area.

This is already a one-handed ball, the chance is so good, but it hits the post.

"Manchester City's offensive has improved during this period, and it has become more and more threatening. Su Dong has continuously created opportunities, but there is still something lacking in the finishing touch."

"Whether it is Di Maria or Sanchez, they are not the kind of players who score very efficiently."

"But the problem is that only Su Dong in Manchester City can hold the ball in the frontcourt and create opportunities."

"Guardiola is on the sidelines, still calling on the players to be patient, to hold their ground and wait for the opportunity."

"Obviously, both sides are waiting for the opponent to make a mistake."

(End of this chapter)