Ice Shooter of the Green Field

St. Petersburg, which has just entered winter, is not too cold for Russians, but it will not be too cold for Germans.

In this expedition, Dortmund fans probably only have a few hundred diehard fans. This is the second time in Dortmund's history that they have traveled to Russia. Before that, they had only one expedition to Russia. That was in 2002, when Dortmund defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 2:1 away.

There are still two players who participated in that game in the Dortmund camp. They are the Brazilian full-back Dede and the current captain Kyle. Kyle is still the main force at present. It is no wonder that he can resist the severe cold with a righteous face.

Under such circumstances, the warm-up beforehand becomes particularly important. Klopp led the team to the hotel where the team stayed at noon. After enjoying a Russian-style lunch of borscht and caviar with bread, the players After taking a nap at the hotel, we set off for St. Petersburg Stadium in the afternoon.

The current head coach of Zenit St. Petersburg is the famous coach Luciano Spalletti from Italy. This season is regarded as a relatively unsuccessful season by Zenit fans. He won the first Russian Super League championship and Europa League championship in team history. The meritorious coach Ed Vocarter was fired.

But the biggest reason for the decline in the record is the departure of the core members. Arshavin, Tymoshchuk, Bergrebnyak and other core members of the team have left one after another. The players who bought cannot replace their roles in the team. It's normal to be bad.

Of course, Zenit cannot be underestimated because of this.

With three rounds of the Russian Super League coming to an end, they still maintain the third position in the Russian Super League. If they can maintain it until the end of the season, they will still be able to participate in the UEFA Champions League qualifying round next season.

This is a Champions League level contest.

Zenit may not have the style of the Europa League champions, but they are still a strong team in the UEFA Champions League qualification level in the Russian Super League, as is Dortmund. United, and has a high probability of entering the Champions League next season.

Maybe the next time we meet, it will be the Champions League!

Of course, this is not a Champions League exercise.

Dortmund's record in the first two rounds was two consecutive victories, but Zenit was defeated by Twente in the away game. To qualify, three points are necessary.

Dortmund needs to further consolidate its position in the group and strive to secure the first position in the group as soon as possible. This will not only relax the schedule, but also give the young players a chance to exercise. Of course, they also want three points.

In this game, Dortmund tried their best to win the next game at the Petrovsky Stadium.

Zenit has some rotations in the lineup, which is good news for Dortmund, because Zenit's current situation in the league is not stable, they are ranked third, but Lokomotiv Moscow and CSKA Moscow are closely following. Behind, the Champions League seat is not safe.

So they still need to work hard in the league. Since the Russian league is not a New Year's Eve, there are still three games in the Russian Super League. At this juncture, even if they attach importance to the Europa League, they will not do their best.

This is good news for Dortmund.

At eight o'clock in the evening, the game is about to start.

After taking off the training clothes, a sudden chill penetrated directly into the jersey. Qi Ce opened his hands and breathed out the heat. He sweated a little during the warm-up just now, but it became colder when he calmed down.

But fortunately, the game is about to start, let yourself move, it won't be so cold.

After the game started, Zenit unsurprisingly took control of the situation on the field.

In fact, in terms of hard power, the gap between Zenit and Dortmund is not big. In addition to a large number of Russian internationals, there are also skilled Portuguese international Danny and his compatriots, international central defender Mera, and Hungarian international Szabol. Ci Husti, Korean international Kim Dong-jin and other players.

Of course, the more important thing is that they have long been used to playing in such cold weather. In Russia, this kind of weather is not too cold. For players who have been in Russia all year round, this kind of weather may be suitable for playing football.

But Dortmund, who are only in Russia for the second time, are different.

Most of the players on this team have no experience of playing in the Russian league. In such a temperature, the players are not very comfortable and play very passively.

Klopp knows that this kind of temperature cannot allow the players to sprint and press hard. Although he has no experience in leading the team in European wars, this situation is still conceivable.

In cold weather, even if you do a good job of warming up, the chances of players getting cramps will still be higher than usual!

As a believer in scientific football, Klopp will definitely pay attention to these issues.

He decided to play it safe first. Dortmund rarely took the start and defended in the backcourt. Zize and Kuba were responsible for interfering with the opponent's pass in front.

The style of the Russian team is always very aggressive, but this does not apply to the Zenit team. They are a rare technical team in the Russian Super League.

Perhaps this may also be the reason why they have achieved stable records and even championships in the Russian Super League in recent years. The core of the team before, "Tsar" Arshavin, and Ukrainian midfielder Timoshchuk are not the kind of tough fighters. type player.

Maybe the defensive midfielder Timoshchuk is tougher, but after all he is a defensive midfielder and must have some hardness, but in general his style of play is not rough.

The same goes for the players who are now staying with Zenit.

Portugal international Danny, he is full of spirituality, as well as the Italian player Rosina who came later, the meritorious coach Edvocaat looked down upon.

Of course, this is not entirely the case. After all, Russia, a fighting nation, cannot do without players with a tenacious style. The Russian international Denisov, who has played against Qi Ce the most, is a tough guy.

However, in terms of offense, Zenit played very delicately.

Rossina, who was not reused by the previous coach, is now ushering in the spring, because his current coach is Spalletti, his fellow Italian. The stupid Dutchman knows that not reusing him is the reason for Advocaat's dismissal.

The Italian midfielder is good at activities on the right, and Schmelzer is directly facing him.

He soon discovered that Schmelzer's side was not easy to play.

Although Schmelzer was badly blasted by Arjen Robben in the previous game against Bayern Munich, he is definitely a capable player. Hummels can help him fill the position.

Rosina found that he couldn't find chances on Schmelzer's side and could only keep passing the ball.

The Portuguese midfielder Danny, who has been reused under both coaches, is actually the core of this team's offense.

Originally Spalletti wanted Danny to rest because he had been injured before, but the belligerent Portuguese had a strong desire to apply for the game, and finally Spalletti agreed.

You must know that he was the team's bidder last season, and he performed very well despite the sky-high price of 26 million euros. Klopp believes that this is the opponent player Dortmund needs to pay attention to most in this game.

In the opening stage, Danny became the most active player on the field. His organization and dribbling connected the team's offense, and he cooperated well with Rosina on the wing. Zenit couldn't score on the right. Na simply went to the middle, and cooperated with Danny a lot, trying to find opportunities from the middle.

In the middle is the world of Kyle, Subotic and Hummels.

Dortmund's defense has become more and more stable. Shaheen has been moved to the midfielder position by Klopp more, and the attacking midfielder has been occupied by the newly joined Shinji Kagawa.

This is to make use of the characteristics of Shaheen's long pass, and Kyle can help Shaheen wipe his ass and do the dirty work.

The two sides played calmly. It should be said that the tactics of the two teams were very clear, and their execution was also in place. The game fell into a stalemate for a while.

Klopp is calm and relaxed. Compared with Zenit, although Dortmund also wants to win, but judging from the current standings situation, Dortmund is in a better situation, and a draw is not completely unacceptable.

But it is Qi Ce that makes Klopp more at ease.

He has a player who can break the deadlock at critical moments!

He has led Qi Ce for a year and a half, and he is an old player. Klopp believes that Qi Ce has this ability.