All-around center

boom! boom! boom!

During the warm-up period, Suker conducted shooting training.

Shot after shot, hitting the goal accurately from different angles.

Substitute goalkeeper Subasic tried his best to save, but in the absence of confrontation, his save success rate was very low.

Even though it’s a warm-up session.

But every shot by Suker evoked wild cheers from the Croatian fans.

On the other side, the Italian players are also warming up.

They tried their best to stay focused, but their attention was still drawn to the other side of the field.

Especially Gattuso, who turned his head to look at the Croatian half from time to time.

In this game, Gattuso is under a lot of pressure.

As a defensive midfielder, he not only has to undertake defensive work, but also has to restrict Suker's marking.

Gattuso knows better than anyone how ugly Suker is.

In the club, they were teammates, and he had no such concerns. But after coming to the national team competition, Su Ke suddenly became an opponent, and the pressure suddenly increased.

Moreover, at this juncture, Pirlo, the bastard, has not fully recovered from his injury.

In the European Cup group stage, although he played, he was still a little too reluctant, which caused the injury to worsen.

Although the news has not been released, after watching the last game in Italy, many teams have already understood the key here.

"Don't worry too much, I will support you when the time comes."

Ambrosini said towards Gattuso.

Gattuso sighed; "I feel that Donadoni's thinking is a little too naive. We need to put more defensive power into Suker."

"If we do this, we won't have the power to fight back."

Hearing this, Gattuso sighed again.

After all, it’s the lineup limitations!

If it was Italy in its heyday, they would never be so embarrassed.

Put on a lineup.

Another lineup sat on the bench.

Both lineups are very strong!

It's really difficult now.

Not long after, the warm-up session of both sides ended and they returned to the locker room.

In the player tunnel, Suker and Gattuso also passed each other, but the two did not have any communication.

After all, they are opponents in the national team competition. No matter how good the relationship is, they cannot show how close they are at this time.

Back in the locker room, the two sides determined the starting lineup.

At the same time, the final pre-game mobilization is carried out.

"This is the quarter-final match of the 2008 European Cup between Italy and Croatia. The game was played at the Happel Stadium in Vienna, the capital of Austria!"

"After three rounds of group matches, our players finally reached the knockout stage of the European Cup. Here, they faced a tough opponent, Croatia led by Suker!"

"This is also a test for us, whether we can withstand Croatia's attack and Suker's impact, and how to deal with Croatia's midfield without Pirlo."

Italian commentator Aldo Serreira's tone was very solemn.

Judging from the starting lineups announced by both sides, Pirlo did miss this game.

Italy (4-3-2-1):

Goalkeeper: Buffon.

Defenders: Zambrotta, Panucci, Chiellini, Grosso.

Midfielder: Gattuso, De Rossi, Ambrosini.

Forwards: Perrotta, Toni, Cassano.

Croatia (4-4-2):

Goalkeeper: Pletikosa.

Defenders: Srna, Simunic, Konezevic, Planic.

Midfielder: Kranjca, Vukojevic, Modric, Rakitic.

Forwards: Mandzukic, Suker.

Seeing this formation, Su Ke narrowed his eyes slightly.

Christmas tree formation.

Ancelotti's unique skill.

Su Ke is too familiar with this formation.

But Suker was also surprised. He did not expect that Italy, which is known for its stability, would put up a Christmas tree formation here.

When Ancelotti abandoned the Christmas tree formation, it was because the offense and defense were not balanced enough, leaving too much for Gattuso.

After that, Su Ke joined, and the two attacking midfielder positions were Su Ke + Kaka, which greatly improved the offensive impact. With the addition of Shevchenko, Ancelotti came up with this formation again.

But can Cassano + Perrotta compare with Suker + Kaká?

This is the rhythm that will tire Gattuso to death!

Moreover, Gattuso is not in his heyday now. Even better, he ran into Croatia's defensive formation. By mistake, Italy was restricted by Croatia.

Italy coach Donadoni looked at Croatia's formation with a look of astonishment.

damn it!

They played so frantically in the group stage. Why did they suddenly change their formation after entering the knockout rounds?

And the change in this formation just restrained them somewhat.

Donadoni had a headache.

Their Christmas tree formation itself relies on the defense and Gattuso, the midfielder node, for defense.

Now, he can only hope that Gattuso will successfully limit his opponents based on his understanding of Suker.

On the other side, Bilic was also elated.

He kept looking at Van Stryak aside, who also had a surprised expression.

"Look, what I said is right, the defense is correct!" Bilic said proudly.

Vansteyak was speechless.

However, his mood also became slightly brighter.

Although it was an accidental collision, they still successfully restricted Italy. At least tactically, they had more advantages.

Of course, all this depends on the performance of the players.

Wow! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ——

The cheers in the arena became even louder.

Croatian players wearing white base and red plaid jerseys and Italian players in blue home jerseys stood on both sides of the court.

The game is about to start at any time.

"At the beginning of the game, you must be careful about your positioning. You must always determine Suker's position and don't let him disappear from sight."

Before the game started, Gattuso shouted loudly.

He shouted very loudly and in Italian. Suk must have understood it.

But Gattuso is not afraid that Su Ke will understand this. After all, they just want to restrict Su Ke.

Beep! ! ! ——

The moment the sharp whistle sounded, Suk immediately kicked off the ball.

After Mandzukic passed the ball back, the two rushed forward into the half court.

The Italian players also took advantage of the opening moment to rush in and look for opportunities.

But with Croatia's very solid passing, they failed to find any steal opportunities.

Seeing that there was no chance to steal, the Italian players each came to their own positions and occupied key positions.

"This is the match between Croatia and Italy at Euro 2008"

Croatian commentator Krausiewicz loudly introduced the lineup and elements of this game.

At the same time, his eyes were on the court.

"The ball was still under our control. We played very patiently, constantly splitting the ball towards the wings and making full use of the width of the field to find opportunities to advance."

"Suker did not appear in the forward position of passing and controlling, but stood slightly behind. However, Gattuso focused on Suker."

Croatia's passing ball showed a U-shape in the half court, with Modric as the center, constantly moving to the left and right sides.

Suker, on the other hand, was constantly cruising left and right in the opponent's midfield position.

As he cruised, Gattuso followed Suker's footsteps.

Suk traveled in a wide range, and when he came to the right side, Ambrosini immediately began to restrict him again.

Suk glanced at Ambrosini, turned back and ran to the left again.

This time, Suk ran very slowly.

He's looking for a two-man defense in the middle.

Ambrosini followed for a while, and when Suker stepped into the left half, he was about to return to his position. At this time, Suker suddenly stopped and took a few steps towards the right.

Ambrosini frowned slightly and immediately leaned over.

Suk took a few more steps to the right. Ambrosini wanted to go back, but Suk retreated again.

Ambrosini sticks in again.

Suk ran to the right again.

Ambrosini left,

Su Ke continued to retreat.

After several times in a row, Ambrosini finally came around.

"You fucking did it on purpose!"

Ambrosini gritted his teeth and whispered.

Suk turned his head and glanced, pointing to the wing.

I saw Rakitic suddenly pull the ball and turn around, running forward at high speed along the wing.

Ambrosini was pulled into the middle position by Su, and Rakitic could directly face the opponent's full-back.

Suker's several runs directly exposed the Italian defense to the Croatian offensive players.