Handsome position is not easy

Chapter 174 Battle against the Celtics ([-])

After arriving at the Olympic Stadium in Seville, Porto's players immediately put on their equipment and went to warm up on the field. Mourinho and the coaching staff re-examined the starting list and tactical arrangements, and also came to the sidelines. Martin O'Neill and his team The Celtics are on the other side. Although the players on both sides have no communication, the atmosphere in the field has become very tense.

When he stopped by the side of the field, Da Costa came to Mourinho with several club directors. The chairman of Porto looked very excited, with his hands folded in front of his body and his back behind him after a while, pushing him from time to time. Zhang Wang's eyes were always down, the first moment he saw the Setubal, Da Costa stepped forward quickly and held the head coach's hand.

"Jose, we have to win, we have to win, this championship is very important for Porto, the Porto people have been waiting for many years..."

Mourinho stretched out his left arm and hugged Mr. Chairman's shoulders. The smile on his face was as confident as ever. Da Costa quickly calmed down with that kind of wisdom in his hands. The head coach of Porto tilted his head slightly. Close to Mr. Chairman's ear, he said slowly and steadily:

"We will win, Mr. Chairman, the dragon has been away from the top of Europe for too long, and we will never miss this opportunity."

The two stood on the sidelines and chatted for a few words. Under Mourinho's persuasion, Da Costa took the directors back to the box of the stadium. After seeing the family members in the stands, he waved to them and returned to the locker room with his subordinates.

The pre-match warm-up time soon ended. Facing the high-spirited players, Mourinho waved his finger to the tactical board on the wall of the locker room. He wanted to confirm their respective tasks with the Porto fighters for the last time.

"Along the way, we have encountered a lot of injuries and intensive schedule, but those opponents failed to stop Porto, I believe it will still be the case today, starting players, you are the strongest fangs and wings of the dragon , and the substitute players, you are the sharpest edge I hide behind you, and you are also the flames that are about to burst out from the throat of the dragon to burn the opponent. Our team will leave the most tragic memories for the Celtics.

Their starting list is already here. The goalkeeper is David Marshall. Although he is a young guy, he is tall and has long arms. He has performed very well this season. Stanislav, Dean Popobalde, McManus and Agathe, I repeat, these four defenders are very strong, Del Rey and Capucho, you two better not go head-to-head with them.

As for the midfielder, Martin O'Neill dispatched the two who occupy the absolute main positions in the league, Stilien Petrov and John Miallby, the left midfielder is Alan Thompson, and the right midfielder is McNamara. The two wide players are the ones we must focus on. The Celtics' wide cross tactics all rely on them. Ferreira and Valente must pay attention to their bottom crosses.

As for the striker, although I have said it many times, but I still want to emphasize it again, their main center Hartson is injured and is currently on the bench, so the starting lineup is Chris Sutton and Henrikla Larsson's combination, the Swedes don't put themselves in a certain place, you will see him in the center, shadow forward, wing or even midfield position, if Larsson holds the ball near the penalty area, Costa And Carvalho, you must be on guard and block his passing lanes..."

The players have long been accustomed to Mourinho's repeated exhortations at the last moment before the game. Seeing the coach suddenly stop talking, everyone knew that it should be time to enter the field. Baia stood up first and began to encourage his teammates. The studs of the sneakers tapped on the floor, like the demonstration of the end of a spear hitting the ground in an army formation.

"set off!"

In the player tunnel, Mourinho saw Martin O'Neill wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses. The Northern Irishman squinted his eyes and looked sideways. Cold sparks, Mourinho did not try to say any more cruel words, he wanted to save all his cruelty for this game.

……

The more than [-] seats at the Olympic Stadium in Seville have been divided up by the fans of the two teams. When the Porto and Celtic players slowly entered the field behind the referee, the waves of blue and white and green and white stripes began to go crazy The cheering songs and drums of the two teams almost overwhelmed the live Europa League music.

The whistle that marked the start of the game sounded, and Henri Larsson kicked the ball that Sutton knocked to his feet back to his own half. , the two forwards and Deco and Young in the forward position have already pounced on the opposing midfielder.

All the Celtic players in front of him were at least half a head taller than Young, but the boy didn't show any signs of timidity. The moment John Miallby was about to score the ball, he rushed up from the side with a sliding shovel close to the ground. Turning over this tall and strong Swedish midfielder gave this game a fierce start.

Mialbi, who was full of blond hair and looked like a lion, glared at him and stretched out his hands to the referee, but the boy ignored his actions, since his sliding tackle touched the ball first, and there was no whistle on the referee's side. The sound sounded, and the game was not suspended. Young got up neatly and blocked Mijarby's position, while Capucho, who was active on the right, had already rushed to the second point to fight for the ball.

Cappuccio was caught by Alan Thompson and Agathe, but he failed to control the ball firmly. Agathe sent the ball back to Porto's half with a long pass. Ersen had already taken this position. He knew that there must be someone behind him waiting for him to turn around, so he unloaded the ball in the air with the sole of his left foot, and slammed the outside of his foot to his side to avoid the strong wind from behind. .

Chris Sutton is indeed, as Mourinho said, a high center forward who will not wait in the penalty area. Although his movement of stopping the ball is a bit clumsy, he still takes advantage of his height and long legs to resist the withdrawal. Maniche, who came to defend, was only 1.7 meters tall. The Portuguese midfielder stretched his legs several times and failed to get the ball. Instead, Sutton turned around and faced the goal.

The Englishman's cunning and brave little moves completely blocked Maney's attempt to cut off the ball. He pushed forward with the arch of his right foot and accurately found Larson who was coming in diagonally. Costinia was very careful not to go up. In front of the steal, the Swedish forward shook his head and realized that he could not see any teammates on the left and right wings who came up to meet him, so he swung his legs and shot from a long distance across the goal.

At a distance of tens of meters, the flight route of the ball did not exceed the crossbar, and even made some slightly jittery deviations. Larson's superb shooting skills were fully displayed, but the old goalkeeper Baia will not let his teammates down. Yes, he judged the trajectory of the ball's whereabouts, and brought his hands back to his abdomen to hold it firmly, and his body fell to the ground.

Baia got up and shook his neck indifferently. In the gap between two slaps on the turf with the ball in his left hand, he still had time to give thumbs up to the defenders in front of him with his right hand. The audience at the Olympic Stadium in Seville was excited. , From the beginning to now, the two teams have no intention of slowing down the pace, and every player has used his full strength.

(End of this chapter)