At the start, Mane and Salah flew on both wings

In Zhou Xu's memory, there are only three times in the Champions League that he remembers deeply. The Miracle in Istanbul and the Miracle at Anfield are their home teams, and the other is the incredible reversal of the Iron-Blooded Blues in the Champions League throughout the season.

On March 5, 2012, although it was not exactly the same as history, the corrective power of history still dismissed Villas-Boas. A 1:1 draw with relegation team Norwich City completely cost Chelsea the title initiative. Villas-Boas dismissed get out of class and assistant coach Di Matteo took over.

In fact, the dismissal of Villas-Boas and the draw with Norwich were not the main reasons. The arrival of Zhou Xu has also changed the draw of the Champions League. Originally, Chelsea easily passed the group stage and even drew the relatively weak Porto in the quarter-finals. Zhou Xu thought that Chelsea would not be like Zhou Xu this season. , but with the result of the first round, Zhou Xu no longer thought so.

At Stamford Bridge, the Portuguese Super League team Porto was very tenacious. At Stamford Bridge, they relied on Hulk's goal at the last moment of the game to defeat Chelsea 3:2 away from home. This game brought Abramovich's tolerance for Boas to the limit. The draw with Norwich was the straw that broke the camel's back. Boasia dismissed get out of class, and assistant coach Di Matteo became the firefighting coach.

On March 14, in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Porto played against Chelsea from afar at the Dragon Stadium.

In the 22nd minute of the game, Cech was unwell and retired, and second goalkeeper Ross Sternbull came on as a substitute, laying a layer of haze on Chelsea's promotion road.

Porto kept a very low profile at home. They set up their buses and had three away goals in hand. They hoped that they could win steadily.

In the first half, the two teams shook hands 0:0 and settled for a draw. In the second half, Di Matteo sent all the troops he could to press heavily.

In the 61st minute of the game, Chelsea's offense was effective. Drogba received the ball in the middle and relied on his own personal ability to score a world-beating kick. The kick was so powerful that Porto's goalkeeper Arruda was helpless. The game was tied at 3:3, but Porto still held the away game. With the advantage of scoring goals, they continue to strengthen their defense and hope to eliminate Chelsea by relying on the away goals rule.

In the 82nd minute of the game, the second goal of the entire game came, and Lampard stepped forward. His breakthrough in the frontcourt won Chelsea a good free kick opportunity. Drogba scored the ball and they took the lead at the last moment of the game.

Zhou Xu shook his head. It seems that the correction power of history is still strong. Three goals were scored in the away game, and the score was reversed after changing the head coach. Chelsea would not really win the championship in the end.

Reminiscent of Drogba's two powerful goals, Zhou Xu returned to the club.

The next game is the FA Cup quarter-finals, and the opponent is Blackburn Rovers from the Premier League.

Blackburn Rovers, with 7 wins, 9 draws and 12 losses in 28 Premier League games, ranks 15th.

Under the leadership of head coach Aguirre, Blackburn mainly plays a 5-2-3 double-forward formation, using a somewhat old-fashioned long pass and lob tactic.

In this game, Zhou Xu still used the 433 tactical formation. Kanter was suspended due to accumulated yellow cards, Fred started, and the other starting players remained unchanged.

In the home team's locker room, Zhou Xu was looking at Blackburn's starting lineup.

It is still a 523 tactic. The starting goalkeeper is Blackburn's second goalkeeper Patrick. This season he has conceded 19 goals in 12 appearances and only had 2 zero seals. He has good reflexes, but his other abilities are relatively lacking.

The left center back is Scott Dann.

This England center back has been selected for the U21 national team.

His frontal interception ability is excellent, his defensive awareness is good, and his performance is extremely stable.

His tall stature makes his heading ability particularly outstanding, and he is an important member of the team's frontcourt set-piece tactics.

He has repeatedly grabbed points to assist his teammates or scored directly with headers.

Once called the next John Terry, he is Chelsea's Terry.

However, Dann is also not a starting player. The regular starting left center back is Gergevitt. This French international is a member of the 2004 Monaco Champions League runner-up and a member of the 2006 France World Cup runner-up. Although his body has declined severely due to his age, his defensive skills are still excellent, and his leadership qualities on the field are also very obvious. He is an indispensable defensive gate for Blackburn.

The center halfback is Ryan Nelson, the captain of the New Zealand national team, who is also suffering from serious physical decline, but he is still going strong. Although his speed is not as fast as that of many young men, his body can still carry many forwards in the Premier League. Of course, the likes of Haaland cannot.

As the captain of the New Zealand national team, Nelson also has leadership qualities, and his defensive ability is also very good, especially his defensive positioning and marking. He can often freeze the main forwards of the Premier League team and make them lose a few times throughout the game. Touch opportunities.

The left center back is Grant, a substitute player for the youth team. The advantage is that he is strong and has excellent tackling ability. The disadvantage is that he is easily out of position and often makes excessive movements. Grant has good header ability, but he is still young and has a promising future, which means that he is now unable to withstand Premier League players.

Two wing-backs, the left wing-back is Martin Olsson. Olsson, the Swedish international, is characterized by being super fast and unable to run to death. The disadvantage is that he has poor skills and is a rough guy. Now 23 years old, like Grant, he has a bright future.

The right wing-back is quite famous. Michel Salgado from Spain, Real Madrid star. A two-time Champions League and two-time La Liga champion, he started out as a winger and is known as a hard-working Saburo in Spain. His fierce defense and attacking attack are excellent. As a winger, he chooses his position very well, and rarely fails to come back after attacking.

In wing defense, his steals can often intercept the ball, but there is no guarantee whether he commits a foul or not. Salgado is very fast, but at the age of 36, there is no need for him to increase his speed. Salgado's willpower is very good, and his mental attributes are top-notch visible to the naked eye. Even though he is 36 years old, he still does his best to play for the team.

Since the contract with Blackburn expired in June 2012, and Blackburn has stated that it will not renew the contract, Salgado, who has suffered a serious decline, still attracts the attention of many teams, although he is not a wealthy one. Moreover, Zhou Xu's Notts County is also one of them. Of course, Zhou Xu only remembered it after seeing Blackburn's starting lineup, so he has not yet started transfer negotiations with Salgado.