i want to be king

Chapter 368 I was stunned!

On the evening of February 22, at the Olympiastadion in Munich.

Rijkaard sat on the sidelines in the visiting coach's bench, his expression extremely stiff.

Except for standing up a few times to protest the referee's penalty, most of the time he sat blankly in the coach's bench, watching the game silently, seemingly thoughtful, but also seemed helpless.

But if he saw the score on the scoreboard at the Olympic Stadium, he would probably feel that he was stunned!

Three to zero.

According to international practice, the home team is at the front and the visiting team is at the back.

There were still a few minutes left in the first half, and this score definitely surprised everyone.

Who would have thought that Barcelona, ​​the favorite to win the championship, was beaten [-]-[-] by Bayern Munich in the away game?
……

This is a game that is not good for Barcelona from the right time and place to the harmony of people.

Before the game, Barcelona flew from the warm southern Spain to the cold Bavaria, Germany, and the players were quite uncomfortable.

In the away game, Marcos Senna, who has performed well recently, was unable to participate. Rijkaard was forced to let Marcos serve as the midfielder, and Van Bronckhorst, Oleg, Puyol and Belletti formed the defense.

But no one expected that after only 4 minutes of the game, Kahn made a big kick in the penalty area and sent the ball directly to Barcelona's half.

The ghostly Peruvian striker Pizarro quickly jumped in, and before Valdez attacked, he kicked a low shot from the left side of the penalty area and sent the ball into Barcelona's goal.

Bayern Munich got off to a perfect start!

Conceding the ball first, Barcelona still played steadily and maintained patience.

But the goal came too early, and subtle changes have taken place in the mentality of both sides.

After Bayern Munich took the lead, they began to deploy heavy troops in the midfield, especially in the area from 30 meters to the center line. They also laid down layers of defense to prevent Barcelona from easily passing through their net.

Barcelona controlled the ball and was able to advance to near the center line smoothly, but it was difficult to go any further.

Although Ballack was absent, the combination of Demichelis, Frings, Hargreaves and Sauer made Bayern Munich's midfield full of oppression, firmly defending their own half, and preventing Barcelona from easily facing their penalty area.

If the game is just a stalemate, that's fine. What's more terrible is that in No. 13 minutes, Sauer made a free kick from the right and sent the ball into Barcelona's penalty area.

In the chaos, Oleg made another mistake in defense. He failed to follow Pizarro in time. After being thrown away by the Peruvian striker, he easily scored with a header at the back point without any defense, further expanding the score.

Two to zero!
Only 7 minutes later, Pizarro made a cross from the left, and Frings made a pass near the bottom line on the left side of the penalty area. Valdez made a save but missed the ball. Ma Kai, who was unguarded, easily scored the goal, [-]-[-]!

In 10 minutes, three goals were conceded in a row, and Barcelona was completely stunned!

Everyone couldn't believe it, and some wondered if they were dreaming?
How can this be?

……

Rijkaard knew that his team's defense was very fragile, but he never thought that in the face of a key battle, it would be so vulnerable to this field. Isn't this too vulnerable?
Strictly speaking, this is Rijkaard's first UEFA Champions League knockout match in his coaching career, and also the first knockout match of the reorganized Barcelona Dream Team [-]. The coaching staff and players have paid enough attention and worked hard.

But who would have thought that at the critical moment, it would be blown away by Bayern Munich.

Magath did not fight against Barcelona as he said before the game. He still conservatively played with three midfielders, based on a defensive counterattack, but who would have thought that before Bayern Munich's attack was strong, Barcelona's defenders would take the initiative to give gifts.

"Oleg was so nervous tonight!" Ten Carter sighed gloomily.

Nervousness makes it easy to make mistakes, especially when making judgments.

Rijkaard nodded. He also played football. Naturally, he knew that Oleg's mistakes were caused by nervousness, but the performance of this central defender this season is indeed very worrying.

One is Oleg and the other is goalkeeper Valdez, both of which are hidden dangers in Barcelona's defense.

The outstanding performance in the league is due to the improvement of the midfield brought by Marcos Senna after joining, and on the other hand, because the opponents are not strong, but Bayern Munich is different. This is a strong team in the top [-] of the Champions League.

……

The whistle blew for the end of the first half.

Su Dong raised his head depressedly, and walked slowly towards the players' tunnel.

These 45 minutes were really depressing, it felt as long as four games.

From the beginning of the game, Barcelona played very wrong.

Conceding the goal first will hit the team hard, but this is not a problem.

In an away game, it doesn't matter if you lose the ball first, the key is to be able to stay stable and try to score an away goal.

Unexpectedly, when the team was finally about to stabilize, they conceded the ball again.

And this time, it's just throwing it again and again, which is serious.

No one can maintain the morale of the team under such successive blows.

As tenacious as Su Dong, he felt depressed at this moment, but he was quickly suppressed by him.

He is very clear that he must not be knocked down by this mentality, otherwise there is really no hope.

But look at the teammates around, which one doesn't droop its head?
The "culprit" Oleg was even more remorseful, full of embarrassing shame.

In this situation, who can blame him?
There is no doubt that Oleg should be responsible for the rout in the first half, but Barcelona couldn't find a more suitable player than him, so they could only bite the bullet and let him play. If this is the case, if there is a mistake, how can he be blamed?

Su Dong sighed deeply, walked over, patted Oleg lightly on the shoulder, and said encouragingly: "It's okay." After that, he stopped talking and walked straight into the player tunnel.

……

Regarding the situation in the first half, Rijkaard had no good solution.

He pointed out the problem with the team, which is that there are too many invalid possessions.

Ten Carter also felt that although Barcelona controlled the ball, the rhythm of the game and the control of the situation were not as good as Bayern.

This is a very serious problem.

On-the-spot command and adjustment, these are not Rijkaard's strong points.

But he has one characteristic, that is, he is as good as others.

When he asked the players for their opinions, the players also analyzed the situation in the first half and gave some of their own judgments. Generally, they can only get a glimpse of the leopard, and it is difficult to see the overall situation clearly.

Both Xavi and Deco mentioned that the team needs to find a way to effectively pass the 30 meters to the halfway line.

If the pass cannot pass through this area, it will be difficult to create a threat.

But how to pass?

"Speed ​​up!" Su Dong gave his opinion.

"Don't be afraid of making mistakes. If we lose the ball, we will fight back immediately, leaving the opponent's ball in the half court, or even in the 30-meter area. Once we grab the ball, we will speed up immediately."

Su Dong also mentioned that Kahn's connection with Bayern's defense is very close, and the cooperation is quite tacit, which makes it difficult for Barcelona to grasp the size of the ball behind the pass, and it will either be blocked by the defender or confiscated by the goalkeeper.

"We played quick short passes, right in Bayern's 30-metre zone and made them foul."

Barcelona has sufficient technical advantages. Even Su Dong can hold the ball and cooperate with his teammates in quick short passes. This is an advantage that Bayern Munich does not have.

Once Barcelona opens up, it will be very difficult for Bayern Munich.

"In my opinion, our first priority in the second half is to strive for an away goal. As long as we score an away goal, we are sure to make a comeback at home. If we score two, the advantage will return to our hands."

When Su Dong said this, everyone nodded.

Both Rijkaard and Ten Carter also felt that this idea is quite good and worth a try.

……

After changing sides to fight again in the second half, Barcelona decisively accelerated the pace of the game.

There are more long passes and high balls at the beginning. Compared with the slow pass and ball control in the first half, the difference in play is very obvious.

Bayern Munich still wanted to use the set of the first half to play against Barcelona, ​​but the result soon went wrong.

Not long after the start, Barcelona made a long pass to the frontcourt after stealing the ball once.

Su Dong blocked the position with his body within the 30-meter area.

Brazilian defender Lucio jumped up from behind, struggling to squeeze Sudong away.

Su Dong felt the mountain-like pressure behind him. He had to admit that Lucio was really good, and his strength confrontation was very good. He could even be said to be the best central defender he had ever seen. He almost squeezed him out of position.

But Su Dong finally held Lucio, but he couldn't turn around.

The ball came to Su Dong, and after stopping the ball, Su Dong returned to Deco.

Deco was facing the attacking direction. Facing Sudong's knockback, Deco kicked the ball to the left before Demichelis and handed it to Ronaldinho.

The Brazilian superstar turned sideways to the attacking direction, stopped Deco's pass with his right foot, and separated Sagnol with his body.

The moment the ball stopped, Ronaldinho started to drive to the center.

Sagnol stuck to Ronaldinho, but the Brazilian made another emergency stop, then suddenly restarted, sending a straight pass with his right foot and sending the ball to the left side of the penalty area.

Su Dong, who used to hold Lucio with his body and stop the ball with his back, now slanted into the left side of the penalty area from the outside of the arc of the penalty area, and caught Ronaldinho's direct pass behind another Bayern central defender Kovac.

Kahn decisively abandoned the door and attacked!

But Su Dong was faster and hit the goal with his left foot.

The Bayern goalkeeper reacted quickly and fell to the ground directly, blocking Su Dong's shot.

This wonderful block won the applause for Kahn.

But the ball didn't fly far, it was still nearby.

Su Dong and Lucio chased after the ball at the same time.

Two tough guys with strong bodies bumped into each other firmly, and neither of them took advantage.

Su Dong's legs were longer and his reaction was faster. Although he didn't squeeze Lucio away, he took a step before the ball hit the ground.

The ball was kicked towards the empty goal by Su Dong.

(End of this chapter)