Mister Legend

Chapter 554 Thrilling Promotion

A total of 38 points were scored in 81 games in a single season, with an average of 2.13+ points per game. Although it is not far from the crazy percentage of last season, it can be regarded as a rare performance.

It is only because the polarization between the strength and weakness of the Premier League in the past two seasons is too obvious that Arsenal, which has achieved such a high score, is only ranked fourth in the standings, and it has also refreshed the history of the top league in England. Highest points.

But if only counting the performance of the 19 rounds in the second half of the league, the Gunners still showed the momentum of the defending champions. The record of 16 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss made them and Liverpool the team with the most points at this stage. As a result, the latter almost completed the counterattack and won the first league title in 32 years from Manchester City, which was far ahead.

After going through what can be called the most serious injury wave in history, Arsenal's rebound momentum is very strong. While catching up in the league, they are also going hand in hand in the cup.Not only won the third League Cup in team history, but also advanced to the semi-finals in the FA Cup, the results are very gratifying.

The most surprising thing is that not only did they reach the semi-finals of the Champions League when they were not favored all the way, they even achieved a huge advantage of three goals in the first round against the defending champions. It is necessary to stabilize the rhythm of the finals!

Therefore, in the three or four days after the end of the Premier League and before the start of the second round of the semi-finals, the British media still praised Li Moody and his players, which was in stark contrast to the verbal criticism six months ago. People have to lament that the integrity of these people has long since disappeared.

At the same time, the prediction and analysis of the final results of the four semi-finals of the two European wars have also successfully grabbed the headlines of the major media. The poor "third cup" has been forgotten by people. Presumably UEFA is still It's a little embarrassing.

In the Champions League, the British's argument is naturally optimistic that Arsenal and Manchester City will join forces in the final, because they both gained a certain advantage in the first game.

The former's 3 to 0 naturally does not need to be elaborated. Although the latter defeated the Nou Camp, they scored a valuable away goal, and the score of 1 to 2 is very important for Blue Moon who will return to the home court. In other words, it is relatively easy to deal with. Just one goal can ensure the final stage for the second consecutive year. This does not seem to be a big problem for Manchester City, whose attack power can be called the top three in Europe The problem.

And the results did prove that the experts are sometimes reliable. The defense strength of the Catalan giants has indeed declined to a certain extent from the peak period of the year. Passive, Blue Moon's performance of scoring two goals in the first half did not disappoint the British.

It’s just that no one could have imagined that Messi, Dembele and others could achieve an explosion under such a huge pressure, so that the home team, which had scored early and took the lead through away goals, almost into a desperate situation.

In fact, Manchester City started this game very well. Sane's goal in No. 14 minutes ignited the entire Etihad Stadium.Among Barcelona's defenders, there is no one who can become the German fast horse in terms of speed. He can only watch helplessly as the opponent takes advantage of an inadvertent pass by the central midfielder Carles Alenia, who was born in Barcelona's youth training. The ball made a mistake, easily threw off all the defenders and easily passed his own goalkeeper, pushing the ball into the empty goal.

The wild celebrations of the fans at the scene could easily give people the illusion that Manchester City had already won tickets to the Westfalen Stadium.

However, this ticket did not stay in Blue Moon's pocket for too long. After the total score became 2 to 2, the home team players on the field fluctuated in their thinking, or it was because the goal came too easily. It seems a little underestimated by the opponent.Everyone can understand Guardiola's insistence on continuing to maintain offensive tactics, because the advantage at that time was indeed too weak to keep them calm enough for nearly 10 minutes, so try to fight for it if possible. A second goal would be the most desirable strategy.

But when Jesus hit the post with a push shot in the No. 19 minute and Stones almost scored again after receiving a corner kick from De Bruyne 3 minutes later, all Manchester City players have already regarded promotion as a matter of course. The inevitable thing, which led to their undue negligence in the subsequent defense, Coutinho seized the opportunity to send an exquisite through pass, helping Ousmane Dembele score a crucial goal. One goal allowed Barcelona to regain the initiative to enter the final.

Fortunately, Casemiro once again displayed his world-wave attribute that always explodes at critical moments before halftime, with a long shot of more than 30 meters, which made Ter Steer second in this game. Gen reluctantly fished out the ball from the net behind him, and the two sides also tied the total score when entering the halftime break, dragging the suspense of victory to the final 45 minutes.

After the rematch, Barcelona coach and Argentine Antonio Mohamed Matijevic boldly pushed Messi, who had started the game as a midfielder, into the front line, and let the Brazilian international Arthur who had just returned from injury For Arthur) replaced Alena who had made a big mistake before, and the intention to strengthen the offense has been clearly seen.Dare to put on such a strong offensive formation at the Etihad Stadium, everyone has to give the former Celta Vigo coach a big compliment and praise his courage.

However, Guardiola didn't know which muscle was wrong at this time. His performance was completely overwhelmed by the coach of the visiting team ten meters away, whose reputation and reputation were far inferior to his own. He actually made such a big adjustment to his opponent. Finally, he chose to stand still and continue to act in accordance with the previous deployment, which directly caused cracks in Manchester City's defense under the repeated attacks of Barcelona players.

Messi, who was about to celebrate his 35th birthday in two months, suddenly dreamed of returning to his peak moment. He completely tore through the home team's defense line with an aura overflowing with three people, and finally helped Dembele with an understatement. Lai completed the easiest goal to push the empty goal, allowing Barcelona to complete the overtake in the total score, and also took the lead in the number of away goals, pushing the Premier League champions to the edge of the cliff.

At this time, Gua Shuai, who just woke up like a dream, immediately replaced Sterling and the Dutch central defender De Ligt, who can launch a long pass offensive in the backcourt, and used his strong attack power to push the visiting team back to the half , firmly grasping the dominance of the offense in his hands.

It's a pity that the timing of this change seems a bit late. Even though De Bruyne assisted Jesus to score the home team's third goal in the game in the No.709 minute, he still needed to score another goal to complete the promotion Many Manchester City players could no longer restrain the anxiety in their hearts, and in the end they failed to gain anything.

Barcelona was once in a very unfavorable situation, with a total score of 4 to 4 but a slight advantage of more away goals, eliminated the new Premier League champions, and won the tickets to appear in Dortmund on May 5. Little upset.

After all, comparing the lineup strength of the two teams, Barcelona, ​​whose core players have gradually aged, is still at a certain disadvantage when facing the thriving Manchester City. Barcelona was able to bargain in front of the powerful Premier League champions, but the result gave everyone a surprise.

The response from the British side must be very disappointed and helpless. Guardiola's team has almost completed the most successful season since Manchester United won the Triple Crown in 1999. The final of the Total Cup and the UEFA Champions League final that was originally booked for the second consecutive year. Although the process is far from perfect, this report card is enough to make Manchester City the number one face of English football today.

Facts in the past have proved that the emergence of such a giant may not be a good thing for the entire league, but it can greatly improve the competitiveness of British football in the European competition. Very helpful in embarrassing situations.

It's a pity that their dreams were shattered near the end. They were defeated by Messi, who underestimated the enemy and could still perform miracles.

On the second day, with the expected blessings of all the fans in the country, Li Moody led the Arsenal team to the sacred Bernabéu Stadium.The Gunners coach will arrange to use defensive counterattack tactics. This is what the outside world expected, but he did not choose a 4-4-2 formation. Instead, he removed a striker and changed the player's position to 4-5- 1. It is obviously impossible to say that it was not affected by Manchester City's overturn the day before.

In Li Moody's coaching career, there has never been a situation where he was unable to advance after a three-goal lead, and in the history of the Champions League, there has never been such a shocking reversal in the semi-final stage. Therefore, in the pre-match predictions, except for the most determined Few, outside of the Madridists, thought the defending champions had much of a chance.Even though their number one rival has just set a good example, the situations faced by the two teams are still quite different, and Real Madrid's difficulties are undoubtedly at least two levels higher.

However, the dignity of the world's No. [-] giant still requires Guti and his disciples not to give up lightly. Even if the team will continue to work hard for the league title in the final game of La Liga four days later, this Champions League semi-final will also have to work hard. of.So after the kick-off, the home team in white immediately overwhelmed the half court and launched a siege towards the opponent's penalty area.

Compared with the first round match two weeks ago, Real Madrid only made one adjustment in the starting lineup, replacing Odriozola with Carvajal, who has a stronger assist ability, but the general tactical thinking is basically the same , all through fast ground passes and cuts to try to tear apart the opponent's defense.

Since Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale, Ramos and other stars left the team, the Galaxy Battleship lost the ability to compete for headers in front of the goal a few years ago. Lopetegui and Guti successively introduced Mariano and the former Bill. Athletic Bao'e's young striker Villalivre serves as the striker rotation of the first team, but in addition to the latter having a certain height and ability to compete for high-altitude balls, including Mbappe who has basically been fixed in the center position, The frontcourt players of all teams are not competitive in this regard.

Therefore, in the past two seasons, it has been difficult to see Real Madrid adopting a strategy of holding high and playing high. Guti's tactics are designed around the characteristics of the players' quickness, which makes the style of the entire team appear It is extremely incomplete but can be used to the extreme in a certain item.

This is exactly the opposite of Li Moody's current thinking. When he was coaching Turin, he still deliberately pursued this kind of quick offensive and defensive transition. It can be said that he was imitating the playing style of the Belgian national team and his old club.But after landing in the UK and being exposed to more different styles, he feels that he has grown a lot. At the same time, he also believes that the football environment in Spain and Italy is indeed relatively closed, which is not conducive to the improvement of the overall level.

Therefore, in terms of Arsenal's team building policy, Li Mudi began to pursue the differentiation of each key position. Taking the striker as an example, there must be both a speedy Dembele and a high center forward. Of course, a comprehensive Model Lacazette and Beracino are indispensable.In this way, the team can send the most suitable candidates under different needs, which is far stronger than a team that only focuses on one tactic.

But today's Bernabéu battle taught Li Mudi another truth, that is, specialization and comprehensive skills are actually on the same level. If you can't do it, you can still have at least one skill without any shortcomings. If you reach the extreme, you will still be far away from the so-called success, let alone perfection.

For example, in the face of Real Madrid who launched waves of fierce offensives, Arsenal can only focus on counterattack tactics, but the fast pace is what the opponent is most used to. If there is a problem, the quality of the visiting team's offense can be imagined.

This led to the initiative of the game completely falling to the side of the Spanish giants. Taking advantage of the home court, they can be said to be full of firepower. If it weren't for Leno's brave performances, the Gunners' goal would probably have been scored before halftime. It was beaten into a sieve.

In the end, Mbappe and Asensio each scored a goal in the first and second half, and Toni Kroos hit the post once again, which almost helped the team even out the huge difference in the first round.If it wasn't for Isco and Ceballos who were replaced due to injuries after another rematch, Li Mudi might really be about to encounter a humiliation in the place he is most familiar with.

When the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game in the No.906 minute, the entire Bernabeu booed deafeningly, and then applauded enthusiastically for the tenacity and hard work of their own players.

The last one of the visiting team to leave the field was their coach. The Gunners coach, who was still in a cold sweat after embracing his old friend, was stunned for a while at the entrance of the player tunnel. The feeling of escaping death is really exciting, but it is best not to experience it good.For this thrilling promotion, Li Moody obviously gained a lot, which also had a huge impact on the way Arsenal will operate in the next transfer window.

(End of this chapter)