Mister Legend

Chapter 549 Winning Streak and Final Four

Although the strength of the opponent's two main players has declined due to the absence of injuries, they can beat Juventus, which has always been known for their stability and sophistication, in an away game. mood again.

Even the British media believes that Llorente's lucky goal will bring the Gunners a huge promotion advantage, because the entire football world knows how terrible Arsenal will be after leading, and their counterattack will make everyone who has to attack The team that went out felt what it means to die and die.

At this moment, those who think that Conte and his disciples can still accomplish miracles are estimated to be their supporters except Juventus themselves. Even the Italian media reported a somewhat pessimistic argument for the trip to London two weeks later.Their understanding of Li Moody is naturally very deep. Relying on Belotti and Immobile, who had no obvious advantage in speed, this Celestial Dynasty man successfully disintegrated the dominance of the Bianconeri on the Apennine Peninsula. Become a more explosive player, how powerful the counterattack will be, and the performance of winning the Premier League championship last season can explain everything.

The away victory against a strong enemy and the seemingly bright road to promotion have also brought a more relaxed atmosphere to the Arsenal team, allowing them to play to their due level in the next two league games, all the way. The winning streak in the Premier League has been raised to eight games.

On the 13th, they challenged the relegation team and the newly promoted Aston Villa this season. The Gunners, who were absent for most of the main players, played an amazing momentum, and used the overall offensive tactics to firmly suppress the opponent within the half. Most people expected.After an hour of the game, the visiting team already had a three-goal lead, and the suspense of victory was almost ended early.

It’s just that Rob Holding’s subsequent reckless foul got him a red card, and Arsenal, who had one less player, had to take back and fight back. However, limited by their physical disadvantages, they still failed to defend their goal and were beaten by their opponents. Scored a face-saving goal.

But the score of 3 to 1 was enough for them to tie Chelsea, which had only one draw in this round, and surpassed the opponent with the advantage of goal difference, and raised the ranking to fifth in the standings.

After 33 rounds, Arsenal, which has 19 wins, 9 draws, 5 losses and 66 points, is still one point behind Manchester United, but it is a little far away from the third-ranked Tottenham, which is a full six points behind. Manchester City, the leader with 84 points, can't even see the shadow.

If it weren't for Liverpool's long-term winning streak after the winter break, Blue Moon might be able to declare an early victory next weekend. Guardiola's team has performed very well this season, except in the League Cup final. With the exception of the Gunners, the rest of the competition has been triumphant all the way, and the outside world is optimistic about completing a harvest of honors, and even has a great chance of winning the Triple Crown.It is the team with the best status and the situation facing all the giants in Europe at present, not one of them.

No, in a strong dialogue on Saturday, 19th, Manchester City beat the Blues bloody at their home court. The score of 4-0 tied the record for the biggest difference between the two teams in the history of the century-old confrontation between the Blue Moon and the Blue Moon. , Embarrassing Tuchel, who was coached by Chelsea from Sarri last summer.

Faced with the almost empty-handed ending of this season, I don't know if Abramovich, who has been out of anger, will fire the club's eighth head coach in ten years early in a fit of anger.After experiencing the two peaks of Mourinho's second period and Conte's, this club, which rose to the status of a giant by virtue of the gold dollar offensive at the beginning of the new world, has fallen into a trough, and the future is still in a fog.

Due to the restrictions of UEFA's Financial Fair Play Act, they are no longer able to replicate the big purchases of stars 20 years ago. Perhaps the time to get back on track will be delayed a bit, because their city rivals Arsenal have already appeared. Clear revival momentum.

After a rare period of minor adjustments without a game in the middle of the week, the Gunners ushered in the North London Derby at their home court. At this point in time, they encountered a powerful Tottenham, which made Li Moody feel helpless, because they will have to play again next Wednesday. The home game against Juventus to complete the second round of the Champions League quarter-finals, facing strong opponents in two consecutive games, this pressure is not ordinary.

Relatively speaking, due to the advantage of winning an away game, Arsenal can still relax a little bit in the European war, but they must strive to win in the league, because no one knows whether Manchester United will lose points later up.Once the most extreme situation occurs, the Gunners will have to accept the reality of only winning No.5 in the Premier League. Unless they can win the Champions League, they will have to return to the European League next season. This will be harmful to the club's finances and image A huge blow, such a tragedy must be avoided as much as possible.

So in the league on March 3th, Li Mudi never saved his strength for the European competition. Not only did he send all the main players in excellent condition to play, but he also used the 20-4-4 team that had been in secret contact for more than a month. The new formation is to win this three-pointer.

However, he obviously overestimated the importance Pochettino attached to this derby. Although the core players such as Harry Kane and Ali also started, their minds are obviously more focused on the European war against Barcelona three days later. Among them, the 2-0 victory at home in the first leg gave them the best chance to return to the top four of the Champions League after 60 years, and the current third position in the league is still stable, so naturally they don't care too much about this. The outcome of the game.

It’s just that Derby is still Derby after all. Although they came to Highbury with a bit of indifferent attitude, when Beracino and Wilshere, who came off the bench after work, scored two wonderful goals, Tottenham’s players They still burst out with a strong fighting spirit, because they could never bear being pressed to the ground and rubbed hard by the number one mortal enemy.

As a result, after intensifying the scrambling action, the smell of gunpowder on the field gradually became stronger, which further aroused the confrontational emotions of tens of thousands of gun fans watching the game. Their boos and curses merged together, almost The Emirates Stadium, whose roof was temporarily closed because of the rain, was overturned.

And the struggle on the field became more and more intense. No. 80 minutes, the little threat fell to the ground because of a pair of feet and the opponent's midfielder Wanyama. Both of them had a very painful expression. This scene terrified the coaching staff and fans of the home team.

You must know that with Wilshere's glass body physique, even if he runs without confrontation, he may injure himself, let alone collide with the waist of an African beast like Wanyama.In just a moment, words such as season reimbursement and major surgery filled the minds of every Gunners supporter, and a pessimistic atmosphere began to spread in the stadium.Even the commentator of Sky Sports is constantly praying for this ill-fated player, hoping that his injury will not be too serious, otherwise God will be too unfair to this man.

Naturally, Li Mudi didn't know whether God heard this prayer, but he knew with absolute certainty that a small threat was nothing serious.The reason is naturally not the "conscience discovery" of the old man Jesus, but the medal effect of the FM system has blessed him, directly offsetting the low-level injuries that may have been caused this time.

After on-site emergency treatment by the team doctor, the "veteran gunman" who joined Arsenal's youth training camp in 2001 quickly relieved the severe pain caused by the mishap, and finally expressed his gratitude to the field amidst the applause of the fans. The head coach on the side signaled that he has no problem and there is no need to make substitutions and adjustments.The team doctor who returned later also brought a similar report, but Li Moody still replaced the small threat who scored a goal in less than 3 minutes after playing with Ramsey after 10 minutes.

There were no major problems this time. In addition to the external protective body, luck is also an important factor, but the next time I don’t know what the result will be. In order to avoid unnecessary downsizing, the Gunners coach still made what he thinks is the most appropriate. adjustment.At the same time, he also lowered the pace of the game on the downfield, and adopted excessive pass control to consume the little remaining time. A 2-0 victory is enough.

Under the deliberate restraint of the players of the home team, the game finally returned to a relatively calm atmosphere, and there were no surprises until the final whistle sounded.

After avenging their first-half away loss to their opponents, Arsenal continued to chase Manchester United in the league standings. With four games left, they fell behind by one point. It is still unclear who will win. .

In the following three days, the sports media in London was dominated by news about the Champions League. They either introduced Tottenham’s preparations for Barcelona, ​​or made cynicism about Juventus’ arrival in the British capital ahead of schedule to complete the reversal. It will be interspersed with speculation about who can win the promotion of the two Premier League teams, Manchester City and Liverpool, which are in the same room. It is very lively.

However, the atmosphere inside and outside the Kearney training base has remained low-key and mysterious. Li Moody, who conducted closed training again, did not let the paparazzi get too much valuable information, but he did not expect to be able to completely confuse the experienced Juventus.The 4-4-2 new formation has already been used in the league with Tottenham, and it is no longer a secret weapon. Although the time between them is very short, with the rich background of the old lady, Arsenal must have been The research has been extremely thorough, and it is obviously impossible to play some kind of surprise game.

Before the game, some Italian media claimed that Milinkovic-Savic might make an emergency early comeback, but after the 18-man roster was submitted and announced, no one paid attention to it immediately.

And Ronaldo's starting lineup did not escape outside predictions. When Juventus must score goals in the away game, the ability to attack tough battles is particularly critical.Compared with the teenager Keane, although the president has no advantage in terms of physical fitness, his unparalleled rich experience and ability to seize opportunities at the door are still worthy of recognition, even if his current jumping ability is no longer as good as the two He was so superior to everyone three years ago, but still can cause headaches for defenders whose header ability has not reached the world's top. Conte has little choice in terms of tactics. He can only choose to trust the last The king of the age can perform miracles.

For this reason, he sent Bernardeschi and Italian native winger Riccardo Orsolini (Riccardo Orsolini) with better crossing ability on the left and right wingers, and let Douglas Gesta sit on the bench , in order to be able to deliver sufficient quantities of high-quality shells to Ronaldo.

Li Moody had already prepared for this style of play. His 4-4-2 formation is the most tightly defended position on the side. The wide midfielders on both sides can interfere with the side players of the visiting team. Juventus even stay away from the penalty area. The 45-degree cross rarely gets a chance to take a leisurely kick, and the landing point cannot be guaranteed. The president, who is double-teamed by Harry Maguire and Llorente, has no choice but to make dissatisfied actions and actions. expression.

And when Conte signaled that the three midfielders should also press forward to attack Arsenal's center, the home team will use the speed of the two forwards to directly attack Juventus' defense line and even behind them. The 25-year-old Moussa Den Bailey has a speed of 17 and an explosive power of 18, coupled with the assistance of Beracino, who has comprehensive skills and can play in multiple positions in the frontcourt. Rugani, Lingard and others feel absolutely incomparable threats The Gunners defenders, who seem to be under siege most of the time, are small.

This is the wise saying that is often mentioned in football: the leading Arsenal can't afford to mess with it.Because they are best at counterattacks, they can easily kill the game with one or two simple and quick attacks when you are attacking with all your strength. Without the help of the midfield, there may only be a very small number of players who can reach the top speed and defensive ability. Only the central defenders can cope, and others can only count on their poor form or their own goalkeeper.

It's a pity that today's Gunners' feet are still very smooth from the on-the-spot performance. Juventus goalkeeper Palin also failed to wear his underwear outside. Dembele's counterattack low shot broke the goal shortly after the opening of the second half.

Faced with the desperate situation of having to score two goals in a row and not concede more goals, the old lady failed to complete the miracle in the end. The absence of Icardi and Savage made them unable to change the reality of lack of creativity and oppression in the frontcourt, and finally again A small loss to Arsenal, with a big score of 0 to 2 in two rounds, stopped in the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League.

And Li Moody made it to the semi-finals in the second time he led the team to compete in the most influential club competition in the world, creating a new milestone.This is also the third time in the history of the Gunners that they have advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League. The memory of being double-killed by their old rival Manchester United in the semi-finals of the 2008-09 season will naturally not be so good, and the loss to Barcelona in the final of the 2005-06 season will be forever for the club. Everyone hopes that this time, whether the team can be extremely happy and get the favor of good luck.

However, when the name of the next opponent appeared in front of everyone, the Gunners fans still couldn't help but have a sense of fate, because they encountered the best club and defending champion of the last century-Real Madrid!

(End of this chapter)