Football’s First Defender

It can only be said that Yang Feng's excellent personal defense allowed Liverpool to show a very strong defensive ability on the defensive end of this game.

You know, the threat of Atletico Madrid's counterattack today is actually not small. On the contrary, Atletico Madrid dared to invest more troops in the counterattack today. The frontcourt counterattack cooperation.

This has to be put in the usual game, Atletico Madrid may have scored a goal long ago, and they can rest assured to put up a iron bucket and shrink back to defend.

However, Yang Feng used his excellent defensive performance to be on the back line again and again, becoming Liverpool's most critical defensive link.

Not only all kinds of offensive players that restrict Atletico Madrid's front line, Griezmann or Vietto.

All kinds of fillings and intercepting passes are completely showing his defensive ability comprehensively and effectively.

It is precisely because of Yang Feng's guard that Atletico Madrid has been unable to achieve the goal of scoring an away goal.

For the Atletico Madrid players, when the offense fails, they still need to give priority to defensive preparations during the game, defend Liverpool's offense, and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

For Liverpool, after a long attack failed, they made substitution adjustments.

Klopp will continue to strengthen the team's offense.

Milner, who started the game today, ran back and forth on the offensive and defensive ends due to his large-scale movement before, but he had physical problems and was replaced by the team's high center forward Benteke.

For Benteke, this is the first time he has played in the Champions League knockout stage.

As a professional player, Benteke is very excited to have the opportunity to express himself on the top stage in today's club competitions.

Even if the game time is actually less than 30 minutes, but for Benteke, it is enough to show his outstanding high center forward strength on the court.

Klopp's dislike for the slightly tall and bulky Benteke is nothing new.

For Benteke, he needs more time to play.

If you don't stay here, you have your own place to stay.

Benteke has done enough off the bench this season.

Even though Liverpool may not have a place of their own under Klopp, Benteke believes his strength lies here.

He believes that other teams will accept him next season.

After all, with the release of the Bosman Act, "loyalty" in the football world is not so easy.

Liverpool will not struggle with money. If a team is willing to pay a price to buy Benteke, Liverpool will still sell it.

For Benteke, in the limited playing time, try to ensure that he shows his own characteristics and scoring ability.

Strive to use your better performance to win the favor of other giants.

Continuing to play in a wealthy team is what Benteke is looking forward to. Otherwise, with Benteke's characteristics and ability, he will go to a mid-level Premier League team, then the main position is a certainty, and he will attack properly core position.

Water flows to lower place, man goes to higher position.

Benteke still wants to further develop his career, so for the last half of the season in Liverpool, he still focuses on seizing the time to ensure his game state.

Even though almost every time he came off the bench when the team was unable to start the offensive end, he always worked hard and showed his strongest strength to prove his ability and prove that he is the best.

This time, Benteke came off the bench again. Klopp hopes that his height and strength can help Liverpool gain an advantage in the penalty area and play the role of Benteke as a fulcrum to support the team's frontcourt attack.

With Benteke's appearance, one advantage is that Liverpool finally dared to pass from the wing in the midfield. Under normal circumstances, except for the excellent passing opportunities from the wing, Liverpool would not Will pass the ball into the middle too often.

With the appearance of Benteke, there is a high-point player in the penalty area who grabs the ball, and Liverpool players are on the wing, so they can unscrupulously launch crosses.

Liverpool's offensive style has begun to become more varied. For Klopp, although Benteke's playing will make some offensive tactics difficult to play easily due to Benteke's bulkiness.

But Liverpool didn't have a good way to break Atletico Madrid's dense defense before. Adding a new offensive tactic at this time may achieve unexpected results.

After all, Liverpool is playing at home. Although Atletico Madrid can use their active running for a period of time, they can play a wonderful performance.

However, as their own physical fitness declined, Atletico Madrid still had to retreat to the half court, giving priority to increasing the quality of their positional defense.

Liverpool, playing at home, took advantage of the situation and reorganized the offense on the offensive end.

As the game time keeps passing, Liverpool needs simple offensive methods at this time to strengthen the team's offensive in the game, constantly create opportunities, gain suppression, and use continuous shooting attempts to break Atletico Madrid's defense , and Oblak's magical performance in front of the goal.

Long shots and crosses from the side, grabbing points in the middle, became the only choice for Liverpool in the positional battle at this time.

And if you get a chance to set the ball, it will be even better. After all, Yang Feng, Skrtel and Benteke, the three high points, will definitely make Atletico Madrid's defense bear a huge burden in the set ball competition. pressure.

"At Anfield, Liverpool need to attack, they need to score."

"Although this is only the first round of the contest, in the familiar venue and amidst the cheers of the fans, if Liverpool can't win, then the next round will go to Atletico Madrid's devil's home court, and Liverpool will suffer tremendous pressure. .”

"At that time, Atletico Madrid's offensive and defensive strengths may be further enhanced by the cheers of their own fans. It is not easy for Liverpool to retreat in an away game."

The Liverpool players also know the importance of this home court to themselves. After all, everyone has enough understanding of Atletico Madrid during this time.

This iron-blooded defensive team may still be limited in the away game, but when they return to their terrifying home court, their offensive ability will be directly improved to a higher level. On the defensive end, they can also create a greater threat.

It is not easy for Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​which are as strong as the Galacticos, to get out of Atletico Madrid's home court, let alone Liverpool, which is still somewhat flawed.

The game system of first host and then away must have certain advantages for Atletico Madrid, who will play at home later.

Therefore, Liverpool must strive to score goals at this home court and win.

"It's Henderson's long-range shot and heavy bombardment!"

"The ball was played very well, and it was shot directly within the range of the goal frame."

"It's just that Oblak continued his heroic performance today. He played an excellent defensive performance on the goal line. With a side attack, he blocked this long shot."

After Henderson's well-controlled long-range shot was blocked, he also held his head in regret. The opponent had an open goalkeeper. For players with long-range shooting ability, it is definitely a nightmare. .

The sideline shots were given to the famous Liverpool star Steven Gerrard who was watching the game at the right time.

Gerrard, the heavy gunner in Liverpool's history, is watching the game of his old club at this time. I don't know if he has the urge to change into his jersey and break the opponent's goal with a long shot.

Liverpool's offensive is constantly switching between long-range shots and Binlu crosses.

Atletico Madrid's defense is to stick to the middle, not giving Liverpool too many opportunities to attack.

In the 68th minute of the game, Liverpool got an excellent offensive opportunity.

Coutinho finally took advantage of Atletico Madrid's defensive negligence and got a 1v1 offensive opportunity on the wing.

Continuously stepping on the bicycle made Juanfran have no good way to complete the grab against Coutinho.

After Coutinho stepped on the bicycle directly, he shook Juanfran's center of gravity and accelerated to the bottom.

When Atletico Madrid players were concentrated in the middle area, Coutinho did not forcefully choose to pass the ball, but consciously passed the ball to the back of the middle.

Avoid Atletico Madrid's defense in the middle, and use the numerical advantage to complete the clearance.

Coutinho's pass was extremely fast.

Because it was too far behind, Savage in the small penalty area could not directly control the football, and even needed to stretch out his legs, trying to barely stop the ball and block the ball.

Not to mention, Savage's quick kick, indeed, barely blocked the ball with his outstretched foot.

But Savage still underestimated the power of Coutinho's pass. In this pass, Coutinho exerted a lot of force for the speed of the pass, so that not only the speed of the ball is fast, but the kinetic energy of the ball is also large enough.

Under such circumstances, Savage stretched out his foot to block. Although he touched the football, he couldn't control the football.

The ball passed through Savage's block, and under the huge kinetic energy, it just changed its route and bounced out.

The landing point not far away was caught by the retreating Benteke.

Benteke directly used his strong body to grab an excellent position and stopped the ball first in the penalty area.

Then pull the ball horizontally on the left side to open up the goal space, and then directly hit the goal with a volley with the left foot, hitting a contra angle directly to the right side of the goal.

Even if it is as strong as Oblak, under the condition of continuous concentration, this time, it is inevitable that there will be a slight pause and the reaction will not be timely.

Of course, the defensive players stretched their legs to block the shot, and their teammates blocked a certain amount of vision, which may also be the reason for the slow reaction this time.

The height and speed of Oblak's side attack this time were obviously not enough to catch the ball.

only……

There was a "bang".

This ball did not need to test Oblak's saving ability at all, the ball directly hit the outside of the right post and flew directly out of the baseline.

Klopp on the sidelines, when he saw Benteke get the second goal in the penalty area and hit the goal directly, he was just about to celebrate passionately, but he saw the ball hitting the post. Rebounded out of bounds, feeling a little resentful for a moment.

Klopp's face is full of helplessness. This is Benteke's shooting skills. As a team's high center forward, Benteke is not only not suitable for Liverpool's offensive rhythm, but his shooting skills are indeed still Room for improvement.

Especially in the ability to hit the goal under the oppressive defense, Benteke needs to do too much.

This time the offense was more like an offensive horn. In the following games, Liverpool got consecutive offensive opportunities in the frontcourt.

It is also the Atletico Madrid players who run continuously, and their physical fitness has reached a critical point. If they can survive, they may be able to resume running. If they cannot survive, they can only make substitutions and adjustments.

And such a game situation, for Liverpool, is an excellent opportunity to break the deadlock.

Benteke's high point role at this time was brought into full play.

With the same defensive ability, Godin, who is a world-class central defender, may not be so simple to complete the header easily. But still able to do it.

Liverpool's two full-backs can also insert assists and easily send passes from the wing.

Benteke took the opportunity to give the ball to Lallana, Henderson and others who followed up behind.

Give them a chance to hit the goal with one kick and create a threat to their opponents.

And this kind of continuous wide pass, as well as Benteke's threatening ability in the penalty area, and the Liverpool players' immediate frontcourt pressing after losing the ball, let Atletico Madrid's defensive players sometimes have to play it safe , kicking the ball out of bounds, giving Liverpool some opportunities for sideline kicks or corner kicks.

Especially the corner chance.

Liverpool are now able to create a greater threat.

Both Yang Feng and Benteke have strong header ability, while Skrtel's header ability is worse than the two teammates, but every season, there are still a few headers scored. of.

The height of Liverpool is the biggest advantage for Atletico Madrid, and it is also the trade-off that Atletico Madrid needs to make when setting the ball.

Especially in the two points of Yang Feng and Benteke, how to distribute to the defenders and determine how to defend will be extremely important.

In the corner kick tactics this time, Liverpool not only have three high points, players like Firmino and Emre Can all have a certain ability to compete for the top, and they all participate in the penalty area.

Liverpool's increase in the number of players in the penalty area will be the greatest defensive pressure on Atletico Madrid, which also makes Atletico Madrid's defense must focus on something, but not comprehensive.

Coutinho's corner kick was taken, and the players in Liverpool's penalty area scattered directly.

Yang Feng is still the same as before, being double threatened by Godin and the midfielder.

Instead, on Benteke's side, Savage was the only one defending.

And this ball, Coutinho really passed the ball to Benteke.

It's just a pity that Benteke was already exhausted when he shook his head to attack the goal after pushing Savage away. This time, the header was not strong enough and was easily caught by Oblak...