i want to be king

Chapter 711

The Bayern team arrived in Milan the night before the game.

After the team finished training in Munich, they packed up and set off for the away game.

The familiar team bus came to pick him up, and he checked into a five-star hotel in Milan. The entire itinerary was kept strictly confidential, and even many media reporters did not know the whereabouts of Bayern.

After arriving at the hotel, the coaching staff arranged for the players to watch a game video.

AC Milan narrowly beat Udinese [-]-[-] at home.

This battle can be said to be freshly baked, and it is still hot. Bayern is also looking for the focus of attention according to their different positions. Some pay attention to defensive players, and some pay attention to offensive players.

Bayern is doing its best this time, but even now, including the players themselves, they don't know who will start.

Especially Ribery, he has performed well in two or three consecutive games, but whether he will arrange the starting lineup is not yet available.

The two teenagers Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos have also performed quite well this season and are also eligible to start.

After watching the game video, the players went back to their rooms to sleep.

The next morning, a piece of news appeared in the Italian media.

AC Milan's head coach Leonardo accepted an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport and mentioned this focus battle.

First of all, he expressed his respect for Heynckes, and then he said that he is very familiar with Bayern, because Bayern has been the most dominant team in European football in the past two or three seasons, and he thinks he knows Bayern.

"A lot of their players were injured before, but now they are recovering one after another. Their team is very cohesive, and their style of play is also very holistic, with a very strong atmosphere of German football."

Leonardo believes that AC Milan has its own characteristics and advantages, and if it wants to win, it must stick to its own style of play.

"The knockout match is a home and away game system, with a total of 180 minutes. This is very different from Serie A games, and our phased goal in the first round is to strive for a clean sheet."

Leonardo talked about Su Dong, thinking that Bayern is a team that is very good at finding scoring opportunities. "They have the best attackers in the world. Su Dong may break the balance on the field anytime and anywhere. This is a huge test for any team's defense."

The head coach of the Rossoneri said that he believes that the team can achieve the desired results at home because Nesta, the backbone of AC Milan's defense, has returned. After returning to the team, the main central defender immediately saved AC Milan from Lianping and brought the team a victory.

"Yes, I know that facing Bayern, many people will worry about our defense, Nesta and Thiago Silva. What I want to say is that Nesta is indeed not in the best condition, but Nesta, who is 70.00% five, is still the best central defender in the world and still has the strength to block any offensive player."

But not everyone agrees with Leonardo's point of view.

Gazzetta dello Sport also published another interview, that is, Udinese coach De Biasi, in an interview with the media, publicly stated that he is more optimistic about Bayern Munich.

"Losing at San Siro, it was because of us, not because AC Milan did better, in fact, I don't think they deserved a win."

De Biasi believes that Udinese's problem is that the rhythm is too slow. If the rhythm can be accelerated, AC Milan's defense will be even more difficult.

Although the Udinese coach believes that AC Milan will definitely improve in the Champions League, he still believes that if Bayern Munich beat AC Milan at the San Siro, he will not be surprised at all.

Italian media is also divided into two factions, pessimists and optimists.

Gazzetta dello Sport used a lot of space to report the different views of the two factions, but basically nothing new.

Football matches have reached the level of Bayern and AC Milan, especially the Champions League knockout rounds. The outcome is actually unpredictable.

Perhaps from the data point of view, Bayern has the advantage, but AC Milan is not without power to fight back.

The media hype has aroused the attention of the fans. If they win the game, praise Bayern and step on AC Milan, and show their wisdom and prophetic side by the way;

No matter who wins or loses, the media has won anyway, and it's hard to win!

…………

…………

Reports in the media did not affect Bayern's decision.

After breakfast, Heynckes got everyone in a hurry and announced the starting lineup for the game.

Goalkeeper Neuer, Marcelo, Pepe, Lucio and Ram in defense, Schweinsteiger, Mascherano and Modric in midfield, Ribery, Su Dong and Robben in frontcourt.

This is basically Bayern's strongest lineup at the moment.

Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos, two players who have performed well this season, failed to start, but sat on the bench as surprise soldiers.

But that's all?
wrong!
If the highest level of technical and tactical contests in the Champions League knockout rounds is that simple, then the media will really win.

Heynckes' idea for this game is still to attack, but not blindly.

His request to Ribery and Arjen Robben is to retreat as much as possible and rush to help the midfield, the purpose is to ensure that Bayern controls the midfield.

"AC Milan's trident is indeed very powerful, but there is a very serious problem. Ronaldinho and Pato are on the two sides. They basically do not participate in the defense. Even if it is a frontcourt press, it is a symbolic defense with eyes. Let alone Huntelaar. His speed is slow, and he is more forward."

As early as during his time at Barcelona, ​​Ronaldinho was known for not liking defense, and he was even more so when he came to AC Milan.

Pato, like all Brazilian players, doesn't like defense either.

But after a few years, AC Milan's style of play obviously no longer conforms to the current trend of football skills and tactics.

If the front trident does not return to defense, what should the midfielder do?
Ambrosini, Pirlo and Beckham, can this set of three midfielders hold the midfield?Can you protect the line of defense?

If you go to Flamini, the defense will be relatively better, but the question is, who will win out of the three?

Heynckes then drew Bayern's long pass line on the tactical board when they counterattacked, basically looking behind the two full-backs, that is, through long passes, let Ribery and Arjen Robben play the opponent's wing.

The main purpose of doing this is to open up the defensive force in the middle, so that AC Milan's already weak middle becomes even weaker. It is best to allow Su Dong to directly face the opponent's central defender.

In addition, Heynckes also proposed to let Schweinsteiger press up and play a position similar to the midfielder, while Modric retreated and partnered with Mascherano to make the midfielder a similar triangle position.

The reason is simple, he needs Schweinsteiger to suppress Pirlo when defending, and actively inserts when attacking.

This is a bit of a feeling of redemption.

In the case that Ronaldinho and Pato do not retreat, Bayern has more midfielders than AC Milan. If Schweinsteiger can be used to replace Pirlo, then no matter from which point of view, Bayern will make a lot of money.

Therefore, Heynckes' task for Schweinsteiger is also very clear, to use his undead fighting ability to strangle Pirlo so that he can't play a threat.

As long as Pirlo gets rid of, what else is there to be afraid of in AC Milan's midfielder?

The entire offensive and defensive thinking is clear, and the players basically know the head coach's tactical intentions.

When expressing his opinions later, Su Dong made a request. He hoped that Schweinsteiger could pay due attention to Pirlo's position and try to leave a certain space for him between AC Milan's midfield and defense when the team is attacking.

"I watched the video of last night's game, and watched the video of AC Milan's central defender in the past few games. I found that Thiago Silva's defense was really taught by Nesta."

"How to say?" Pepe asked with great interest.

"He is actually not tall, 1.8 meters three, but his defense is very similar to Nesta, because as a central defender who is not tall, he is actually very flexible, but his first subconscious defense is not to go forward to block the opponent, but to retreat and return to his position."

In fact, there is still a big difference between the attacking central defender and the positioning central defender.

The former is an active attack, while the latter is a passive defense. With more and more emphasis on controlling the ball, the active central defender is undoubtedly becoming more and more pleasing. When Su Dong was playing for Barcelona, ​​​​Puyol's absence had a great impact on Barcelona's defense, because Puyol was an attacking central defender.

But here is the problem.

Taking the initiative to attack itself is a kind of risk, and there will be a certain probability of mistakes. Any head coach will accept the central defender's attack, which in itself allows them to make mistakes, but in the eyes of the media and fans, your central defender is the last line of defense, and mistakes are unforgivable.

What about the set center back?
Since they always return to their positions as soon as possible and minimize their own mistakes, they look more stable.

Nesta was praised, in part because of that.

Some people may ask, then why do some head coaches allow central defenders to go up?

Fans who have an in-depth understanding of skills and tactics will definitely know that modern football pays attention to fighting for every inch of land.

Ball power and space must be the eternal theme on the court.

When the central defender is in position, he is giving space to the attacker. This is a passive tactic.

Therefore, in recent years, the role of the attacking central defender has become more and more obvious, and its role has become greater and greater.

Bayern's two central defenders, Lucio and Pepe, are attacking central defenders, so Bayern's defense will convulse from time to time.

But compared to the benefits brought by the attacking central defender, occasional mistakes are not important.

Today, the two central defenders of AC Milan are both in position, which undoubtedly gives Bayern forwards, especially Su Dong, considerable room for maneuvering.

(End of this chapter)