Midfielder

After much anticipation, this phrase is absolutely appropriate to describe the first round of the Champions League knockout stage.

After nearly three months of fans being suppressed, the flames of the Champions League were finally ignited again at the end of February.

Many big-name teams are like young wives who never leave the house. Before their final appearance, they are all secretive. From tactical arrangements to the final starting lineup, no one is willing to announce it before the opponent. Anyway, all suspense must be left until the moment of the opening, even if it is boring to do so.

Everyone knows how strong their opponents are. In the past few months, the head coaches of each team may have been thinking about how to make trouble for their opponents even when they sit, lie down or walk.

The future of the team is equal to the financial prospects of everyone, and the long wait is fermenting this emotion.

However, compared with the strong troops and horses at the beginning of the season, many strong teams are now in a recovery period.

There is no way. The long season and injuries that come to trouble at any time will always break out at a certain point in time. The unlucky team will have to endure the fate of being destroyed by luck.

In the knockout stage, everyone is equal, and no one can stipulate that only the giants can advance smoothly.

Dark horses, giants, traditional forces and newly emerging strong teams, all kinds of roles are entangled like teeth and teeth. No matter how painful you are, this is the Champions League, a thrilling knockout stage.

If you want to win to the end, then you must be prepared to step on everyone to move forward, there is no other choice.

There is no such thing as courtesy and courtesy here. Either you kill your opponent or you are killed by your opponent.

It can be said that every game here will be bloody and the competition is cruel and outrageous.

Although the match between Chelsea and Barcelona is the most eye-catching one in the round of 16, UEFA obviously intends to use them as the finale, and the confrontation between the two teams is also the last one.

Good food is not afraid of being late, that's the reason. Chelsea is also happy to be the last to appear. Mourinho has never commented on UEFA's arrangements, because those guys just want ratings.

As for Chelsea, they will go back to the Premier League to play hard three days after the Champions League. They don't care. According to these grandsons, this is the cruelty of the Champions League, and you must accept it unconditionally.

However, now that the league is leading by so much, Mourinho doesn't care that he still has league tasks after this peak showdown. It doesn't matter if he loses that game, but he can't lose this game.

Just because of the endless boos from Barcelona fans in the past three or four days, Mourinho doesn't intend to let the opponent be too proud on the road, not to mention that this guy has been calculating in his mind.

The most exciting duel is left to the end, but this does not prevent other teams from presenting perfect games for the fans. As long as the knockout rounds of the Champions League have never lacked classic confrontations since the first round.

Before this, there were duels between fourteen other teams. Although the English and Spanish media are waiting for this scene of Mars hitting the Earth, they have to pay attention to other games before that.

After all, there are more than one strong dialogue in this round. For example, Real Madrid meets Arsenal, and Bayern and AC Milan fight to the death. These are the focus of fans and media attention. It is still unknown who will win.

Mourinho's maze was successful enough, so he was in a good mood to take all the players to watch the fights in other games, and Real Madrid and Arsenal took the lead in the first match.

No one can afford to lose. This is the embarrassing situation of Arsenal and Real Madrid now. Both teams have started to decline sharply this season without exception. The league results are also unsatisfactory and the rankings are not very good.

Real Madrid's third place still depends on the decline of Deportivo La Coruna, and Arsenal is thankful if they can keep the top four now. Therefore, in this Champions League match, they really can't afford to lose to anyone.

Florentino has been forced to the brink of resignation. Although there is great internal pressure on the board of directors, the old man still sat in the VIP seat in this game under the scolding of Madrid fans.

And there are rumors that before the game, the old man had given the team's head coach Carlo a death order. If he can't beat Arsenal at home, he will be ready to get out of the Bernabeu.

Although this is just a rumor, it is definitely not surprising if the old man really said these words.

After all, he is a little bit in trouble now, how can he take care of others? Carlo, a natural scapegoat, is used as a shield at this time. When there is something wrong, he will find the head coach. This is the usual method of being the chairman of the club. The old man is now forced to start playing this trick.

It is estimated that Carlo also felt the pressure, so he can be said to have sent all the main players to play. Even Cicinho, who has just recovered from injury, and Woodgate, who has been playing recently, were arranged to start.

People like Beckham, Ronaldo, Zidane, Guti, Roberto Carlos, are even less likely to be absent in such a crucial game. Even Robinho was thrown into the starting list by him.

"We need to defeat the opponent with offense, and Arsenal's offense is indeed better than their defense."

When interviewed by the Spanish media before the game, Carlo vowed to defeat the opponent at home, but this guy's statement after two consecutive league defeats was more like giving himself courage.

Although Real Madrid's lineup looks impressive, the recent status of these main players cannot satisfy everyone, especially the on-the-spot performance of the big stars, only Beckham is stable.

But Carlo, who has already felt that he will be a scapegoat, can't care so much at this time.

In addition to throwing all his trump cards on the field to fight with the opponent, he has no better way to reverse this passive situation. As long as he loses this game, he will definitely be fired immediately.

In order to ensure that his offensive line has enough firepower, Carlo even put Real Madrid's flag Raul on the bench, but in the face of a powerful enemy, Raul did not make any objections in front of the media.

Compared with Carlo, Wenger does not have as much pressure from the club. After all, Chelsea's rise in the past two seasons is too fierce, and Wenger cannot be blamed for not having any improvement in the league.

It's just that Wenger is a little depressed by the recent record of only four wins in thirteen league games. There is a factor of luck, but it can't be ruled out that Wenger changed his strategic focus to the Champions League.

Although things are not going well on all fronts in England, Wenger still has the Champions League as a lifeline.

If he can find some self-esteem in this, perhaps the embarrassing pressure in the league can be reduced a little.

Real Madrid has the advantage of home court and has thrown all its elite players on the field. Carlo's desperate move does show that this guy is ready to beat Arsenal at home.

But even so, Wenger does not want to let Real Madrid press him on the road. Although Van Persie and Pires have minor injuries, Wenger still put them in the big list, just as substitutes, but other than that, Arsenal almost mobilized the whole team, and all the main players had to play.

Toure, Senderos, Flamini, Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb, Ljungberg and Henry, it can be said that Arsenal also has all the elite players, just waiting to fight Real Madrid away.

The progress of the game did live up to the title of "Strong Dialogue". Amid the cheers of tens of thousands of fans at the Bernabeu, the two teams played extremely hotly, and the offensive momentum of both sides was very crazy.

In the entire first half, Real Madrid and Arsenal jointly dedicated 16 shots, each of which filled the Bernabeu Stadium with exclamations, but this bombardment was only a draw.

In the first half, both sides played very hotly, but the success rate of the attack was lost due to the abnormal performance of the goalkeepers of both sides. Lehmann and Casillas did not let the damn football pass through their big hands.

"If Real Madrid still plays like this in the second half, they will definitely lose the ball in the last 20 minutes."

After watching the first half of the game, Mourinho had already made his own analysis. If Carlo did not adjust the tactics in the second half and let the team continue to attack like this, then the physical fitness of Real Madrid players would definitely begin to decline significantly in the last 20 minutes, especially the offensive players in the frontcourt.

Zidane, Ronaldo, these people are not young anymore, and Robinho's performance on the field has always seemed a bit immature. In the first half, he was almost invisible and must have been replaced in the midfield.

However, even veterans like Raul found it difficult to control the game with their experience in this offensive frequency. Carlo wanted to win too much and forgot the sense of rhythm.

Although Real Madrid led by 9 to 7 in the number of shots, this lead was only in quantity.

If we really talk about quality, Arsenal's counterattack is more powerful, but these guys were not lucky in the first half. Henry's single shot was pressed on the goal line by Casillas and Ramos.

And Henry's cross to Ljungberg on the wing was also wasted by that guy without hesitation.

If you look at Wenger's expression at that time, you can clearly see that this French old man, who has always been known for his elegance, was cursing in the street, because Ljungberg's amateur footwork is indeed very hateful.

Ljungberg was basically facing a half empty goal, and he was in position to score, but the shot was ridiculously high. If there was a plane in the air, he could have directly shot it down.

Although Arsenal's attack was more threatening, in the eyes of those fanatical Madrid fans, all they could see now was that the team's attack was like a tide, just short of drowning the opponent.

"Attack! Attack! We are the great Real Madrid! We are all about attacking!"

This fanatical atmosphere was not only spread among the fans, even the live commentator at the Bernabeu was constantly clamoring, as if in their opinion, if they continued to attack like this, victory would belong to Real Madrid sooner or later!

But these fanatical Spaniards forgot that their Galacticos were no longer in the best condition.

They are old, and even the greatest players cannot escape the ravages of time. It was so in the past, and it is no different now. When Carlo continued this crazy offensive tactic in the second half, trying to kill Arsenal with one blow, the speed of physical energy consumption was far beyond the imagination of the Madrid people.

Just as Mourinho said, if Real Madrid could not break the deadlock in the first 25 minutes of the second half, what would be waiting for them would most likely be a sharp counterattack from Arsenal. Although Wenger had been very quiet, he would act without hesitation if he thought the time was right.

Twenty minutes into the second half, Wenger really couldn't settle down anymore. He put Van Persie and Pires on the field at the same time, replaced Ljungberg and Hleb, and began to attack violently.

This unprepared offensive frenzy did not always suppress the opponent like Real Madrid did. Wenger obviously found a loophole that could be exploited. Although he was attacking two offensive players, what he wanted was a counterattack, the kind that can pierce the opponent with one knife. counterattack, and Henry is the best terminator of this kind of counterattack.

When the game time approached eighty minutes, Carlo continued to yell at the players on the sidelines, "Press up! Run more and look for loopholes in their defense!", but his yelling was rewarded. The effect was not obvious. The running of the frontcourt players obviously began to become very slow, and the movement response was not as sharp as in the first half. When they began to slow down, Arsenal's speed became faster.

Arsenal definitely figured out something after being ravaged by Chelsea several times.

For example, sometimes the attack is not the kind of gorgeous coordination that looks beautiful, and it will definitely break the goal, but sometimes some very inconspicuous counterattack opportunities can directly defeat the opponent.

Arsenal was knocked down several times by Chelsea using this very affordable and practical method. This time Wenger finally learned Mourinho's practical attack. He did not pursue the gorgeousness of the scene, but only wanted the final blow. , when Real Madrid was still pressing forward unscrupulously, Henry stabbed very accurately.

When Pires got the ball in the midfield, maybe Carlo and the tens of thousands of Real Madrid fans at the scene had not expected what was going to happen, but after this guy's kick passed Ramos, everyone's hearts were It almost stopped beating in an instant because they all saw a very horrifying scene.

Henry, that guy, wandered to the wing at some point, and the moment Ramos made a mistake, he suddenly stepped in. Pires's through ball seemed to have been prepared for him. In a simple combination of pass and run, the entire Real Madrid defense was left behind by Henry.

In this large space about 20 meters away from the goal, there are only Henry and Casillas who have abandoned the goal. The nearest defender is five or six meters away from Henry, and it is too late to foul.

"Stop him!" Carlo and others were roaring helplessly. They really hoped to give Casillas some strength at this moment. Even if it was a foul, they had to take down the opponent, otherwise it would be ruined.

But this time Casillas is facing Henry, a super killer who has been in the top three scorers in the Premier League in the past three or four seasons. Don't expect to scare your opponents with such ferocious attacks.

Henry was not a rookie playing in the Champions League for the first time, and his reaction was obviously faster than Casillas. Henry, who had an absolute advantage in distance, did not give Casillas the chance to be the savior.

He was almost five or six meters away from the attacking Casillas when he started to lob.

A lob that was enough to cut through the opponent's fingertips, a smart shot choice, even Anelka, who has always been quiet, couldn't help but give a thumbs up when he saw this shot.

That Henry is no longer the guy who could only serve as a substitute at Arsenal. He has long been a superstar. No matter what level he was in the past, at least now it seems that Anelka wants to compete with such a guy for the national team. The position is not a very easy thing. Even he may know that if he wants to compete with Henry for the main role of the national team, he must risk his life.

This goal ten minutes before the end brought the entire Bernabeu into deathly silence.

The on-site commentary was silent, and so were the tens of thousands of Madrid fans. The only ones still reveling were the Arsenal players, and the thousands of Arsenal fans who came from afar. This kind of cheering deeply stimulated everyone at this moment. The heart of a Madridista, but the damn score has been rewritten.

In the last ten minutes, including stoppage time, Real Madrid launched a desperado-like counterattack, but none of these guys' shots could pass through Lehmann's fingers, and the damn score remained until the end.

One to zero in the away game was enough for Wenger to leave the Bernabeu with a smile on his face. When the old man turned around and walked into the tunnel, behind him was Carlo with a deathly gray face. The whole crowd attacked wildly. The shot was dominant, but everything was not as important as Henry's goal. Real Madrid lost in the end.

What fate awaits Carlo? I'm afraid the Spanish media's broadcast footage has already given the answer. Just look at Florentino's expression when he left his seat, like a volcano about to erupt.

Everyone knows that the Champions League is a huge gamble for Lafayette, but now he has lost the first round of this huge gamble.

If you can't hold on at home, can you come back in the away game? One can imagine how Florentino feels now.

After watching this matchup, Mourinho left a sentence, "The fanaticism of Spanish fans is sometimes a double-edged sword. It will make the players more excited, but it will also make the players more excited." Many people have lost their minds, and I hope there will be such a crazy scene at Camp Nou in the game the day after tomorrow.”

crazy? Mourinho is not afraid of the Catalans going crazy, he is afraid that those people are not excited enough.

Let these guys be as crazy as possible. Only when all of their minds start to get restless can their opportunity come. Don't you believe in attacking? No problem, come on, let you attack enough!

But the one who laughs last is definitely not you. . .

(Automatically updating...)