Midfielder

Being the first to get a ticket to the semi-finals, perhaps the confrontation between Chelsea and Benfica was ignored by many fans at the earliest. There was no way, the game that knew the result early was really unattractive.

Chelsea could only make Koeman a little sadder. After all, losing one game is also losing, and losing two games is nothing strange. Koeman probably got used to it by the end of the game.

And Benfica will not fire the Dutch coach. In the past two seasons, they have been able to beat Porto, thanks to Koeman's command, but compared with Mourinho, he is still a little immature.

At least at the club level, the difference between Benfica and Chelsea is not only the coaching level.

From the overall to the individual, their lack of ability has doomed this confrontation to lose.

It's just that the disadvantage on the field was not expected to be so big. I thought they could still get some face at the Stadium of Light. If there was no unexpected goal, maybe they would really be kicked into a mess.

But the face that one goal could save was very limited. At least in the eyes of many Benfica fans, this was a complete defeat. If they wanted to narrow the gap with Chelsea, it would be like narrowing the gap between the Portuguese Super League and the Premier League. At least in the short term, it is basically unrealistic.

Benfica should also feel relieved. You know, in the game played at Stamford Bridge, even Barcelona was defeated. Compared with the Spanish giants, their loss was not too bad.

Koeman also said to reporters after the game, "The gap is all-round, and it is normal to lose the game."

Maybe Benfica's players still have some regrets, but they are not sorry for not advancing to the semi-finals, but they did not get more capital to show off from Chelsea. They lost both games very cleanly.

However, compared with Chelsea's ease, the other three confrontations were not easy, especially the fight between Arsenal and Juventus. The old lady who set up the ring in Turin was full of energy to kill the opponent.

The 2-0 score in the first round put Capello under great pressure. If he cannot defeat his opponent at home, it is estimated that the golden signboard of this Italian coach will not be so easy.

Looking at Juventus' lineup, we can see how eager Capello is to beat Arsenal at home, otherwise he would not have stacked Ibramovic and Trezeguet as two center forwards on the forward line.

And behind them are Czech iron men Nedved and Piero, Emerson and Giannikeda respectively guarding the middle, and the back line has Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Kovac and Chiellini included in the starting list, and the goalkeeper is still the steady Buffon. Juventus has done its best.

Sarayeta and Mutu on the bench are also ready to go, and Capello is also risking his life this time.

But Wenger has two goals, and in the deadly battle with Manchester United, he also rotated several main players, which is enough to ensure that he can use all his main players in the game.

Diaby and Gilberto are the double defensive midfielders, and Fabregas and Ljungberg are in the middle. Pires' left side may be the only midfielder Wenger requires to go up, and the forward line only has Henry to counterattack. Wenger is clearly going to fight the opponent to the death with the counterattack.

Although such a move was ridiculed by many Italian media as a show of skill in front of an expert, when the game started, those Italian reporters found that the old French man was not playing tricks in front of experts.

He really knows how to play such an away game with Juventus. Eboue, Toure, Senderos and Gallas are staring at the two big men on the forward line of Juventus.

Without Camoranesi's instigation on the wing, it is difficult to send threatening assists to his forward line by simply passing from the wing. Wenger is determined to start locking down the opponent's offensive in the midfield.

In addition, Lehmann is such a crazy goalkeeper. The shot of him rushing out of the goal and grabbing the cross over Trezeguet's head has made Capello frown on the sidelines. This three-dimensional defense is very difficult to break.

Capello led AC Milan to win more than 50 games without defeat, relying on this strong defensive skills. Now it's just a bit of a turn of events, and Wenger has also started to defend under his nose.

Although Henry is cruising alone in the frontcourt and only occasionally gets a pass from Pires, it is enough to have such a person on Juventus's defense line. At least he can make the opponent dare not press forward easily.

And Fabregas's counterattacks after several steals in the frontcourt also made the opponent sweat.

Recently, Wenger is used to letting Fabregas insert in the back row. I wonder how Vieira, who is sitting in the stands, feels when he sees this scene. Maybe he will recall the days of Arsenal.

Although Juventus had many offensive players, Nedved's long-range shots from the perimeter were also amazing, and Piero repeatedly threatened Lehmann's goal in his own exclusive area, but no matter how fierce Juventus's bombardment was, Wenger's iron bucket formation for them never had a crack.

After enduring the opponent's crazy attack for nearly 70 minutes, Henry's sneak attack almost made Buffon face embarrassment again, but such a sudden sneak attack extinguished Juventus' offensive.

Especially after Nedved was shown a second yellow card by the referee for a tackle from behind, the anger that Juventus had been holding in their chests suddenly dissipated, and they were no longer able to resist.

The result of 0-0 is enough for Arsenal to advance to the Champions League semi-finals. For Wenger, who just lost the peak match with Manchester United, it is a life-saving victory. At least the noisy voices of dismissal a few days ago have disappeared, replaced by the cheers of Arsenal fans.

The Champions League semi-finals, for Arsenal, even in the season of winning the championship undefeated, have never experienced such a refreshing feeling. Some people have even said that this is a strategy designed by Wenger.

Instead of fighting Chelsea to the end in the league, they have reserved their strength to seek breakthroughs in the Champions League. After all, Arsenal has won the league championship, but the Champions League has always been a magic barrier that Wenger cannot break through.

And for a player like Henry who has won the European Cup, the World Cup, and the Premier League, perhaps only the Champions League is the trophy he wants to conquer the most, and the condition for him to stay in the team is to compete for the Champions League.

Regardless of whether this is a strategy designed by Wenger, Arsenal has now entered the semi-finals.

The Premier League has taken two of the four semi-final seats. Now it is estimated that no one can still say that the Premier League is a nouveau riche. The champions of last season and the semi-finals of this season, the dominance of the Premier League is gradually increasing.

Even if Serie A wants to prove that it can still maintain the title of the world's first league, under this background, it can only accept the fact that the Premier League has overshadowed it. Moreover, in the past two seasons, whenever Serie A teams meet with the Premier League, they have not gained any benefits. From AC Milan to Juventus now, they have all fallen under the feet of Premier League opponents. This direct dialogue is very telling.

I don't know how Capello feels about his opponent using his best tactics to kill him. Anyway, this feeling must not be very happy. At least now he has to face the embarrassing situation of being eliminated from the Champions League.

It was not easy to get Vieira and Emerson from Arsenal to form a pair of iron waists, but in the blink of an eye they were eliminated by their old club. Such an effect is really black humor.

Spending money, increasing the benefits for the other party, and then watching the other party step on you to successfully advance to the Champions League semi-finals, this feeling is really very subtle, at least in Vieira's eyes, it is indeed such a feeling.

Many English media mentioned this in their articles after the game, "Vieira's departure brought Arsenal enough transfer fees, and his successor is obviously more adaptable to the team than him."

This is not a naked slap in the face, but at least such a statement makes Vieira's departure insignificant. The Arsenal fans who originally missed the old captain a little bit will not continue to be so nostalgic this time.

Those who previously clamored that Vieira should not leave have also shut up. At least in these two games, Vieira has begun to gradually go downhill, while Fabregas is in a terrifying rise.

He is less than 20 years old this year, and there is still a long way to go. God knows how far he can grow. The next Vieira? Or better than the old captain? Maybe, everything is possible.

Who dares to predict how far the Spanish kid will grow in a year? Maybe he will become the new core of Arsenal, even more important than Henry. Maybe the choice of youth is not so bad.

Anyway, there are not many people who criticize Wenger's choice of tactics and personnel. Football games are like this. Just win. As for the process, only paranoid people will pay attention to it.

For Arsenal's entry into the Champions League semi-finals, even Ferguson curled his lips when being interviewed. Although he didn't say anything, it can be seen that the old Sir is still a little jealous of Wenger's achievement.

However, after the remaining two games on the second day, Wenger did not feel how relaxed, because Arsenal's opponent in the semi-finals was AC Milan, which was also from Serie A. This game was definitely not easy to play.

Although the French club defended its home court, it was ultimately unable to cross the high wall of AC Milan. They were blocked from the Champions League semi-finals for three consecutive seasons, and the Rossoneri, sitting at the San Siro Stadium, also advanced smoothly with a total score of 3 to 1 with three goals in the whole game.

Although in the first half of the game, Lyon was able to equalize the score within 20 minutes after Inzaghi opened the scoring, and even had their ticket to the semi-finals, they still collapsed in the last 10 minutes in the face of Shevchenko and Inzaghi's double ghost knocking on the door.

Inzaghi scored twice in the whole game, and once hit the crossbar, which also made Wenger frown in front of the TV. I guess no one has forgotten that in the final battle last season, this thin man was just a little bit away from saving the team. If it weren't for Lin Yi's outbreak, Milan might have lifted the trophy.

If Arsenal wants to defend this ghost-like guy with the current defense, it is really difficult. After all, the defense of the Arsenal is not as airtight as Chelsea.

Can Arsenal completely suppress the guy who can't even defend Chelsea? It is estimated that Wenger is also considering this question now. Arsenal meets AC Milan, a difficulty that makes Wenger melancholy and a little difficult to overcome. Whether Arsenal can go further in the Champions League may only depend on Wenger.

Mourinho is somewhat looking forward to this confrontation. Both Arsenal, which has become a bit utilitarian recently, and AC Milan, which has always been good at both offense and defense, are likely to become Chelsea's next opponent.

Compared with Wenger's melancholy, the semi-final opponents left for Chelsea are not so fierce, but they can successfully complete the leap from Inter Milan and Villarreal is definitely a difficult opponent to deal with.

It is estimated that before the final whistle of this game blew, no one would think that Inter Milan would stumble against such a team that has just emerged from La Liga in the past two seasons, but the fact is so cruel, Inter Milan not only stumbled , and the price paid was also heavy. They originally expected to reach the Champions League semi-finals and create the club's recent success, but it proved to be difficult.

The 2-1 win in the first round may have given Inter Milan some leverage. Mancini also said before the start of the game that he would make full use of his advantage in winning the first game away from home, but he was obviously not that good. A master tactician, his excessive pursuit of steady victory caused Inter Milan to lose the rhythm of the game.

And Mancini's tactical thinking was obviously a bit confused, a game that should have been a defensive counterattack.

But this guy actually arranged a skilled partner like Recoba next to Adriano.

He abandoned a fast horse like Martins. When he really realized that he should attack, he thought of replacing Recoba with Martins, but by then there was less than twenty minutes left in the game.

The Love Song Stadium is a beautiful name, but just like lovers in real life are always a bit dangerous, this stadium also lets Inter Milan know what the threats are lurking in the dark.

Although Villarreal was the main attacker, under the guidance of Riquelme, the Yellow Submarine did not rush to press forward, but looked for opportunities in passing passes again and again until nearly 60 minutes into the second half. They were not impatient and found a chance to win in the slow-cooked stew. Riquelme's free kick assisted Forlán's diving header from the front point and passed through the ball. Thrall's hands, but before that, it seemed that the fatal threat had never appeared.

It wasn't until the ball rolled into the net that Inter Milan understood what had happened, but it was too late.

There was less than half an hour left for them, and Villarreal had Riquelme, a master of rhythm control, in the midfield, who always firmly controlled the situation on the court. Inter Milan sometimes In order to steal the ball, foul tactics can only be used, which also makes the game time pass little by little.

Smart tactical arrangements, super execution ability, and the birth of a dark horse are not just about luck.

Villarreal finally made the whole of Spain cheer for them, and their victory over Inter Milan finally preserved a trace of blood for La Liga in the Champions League, but they were going to run into Chelsea in the end.

Although the Villarreal team has said from top to bottom that they have done their best and they will not insist on the result of the semi-finals, this argument is a signal in Mourinho's view.

"After the Champions League enters the knockout rounds, all you have to do is fight for strength. Being able to reach the semi-finals is definitely not something you can do by luck. The more relaxed the opponent's attitude is, the more difficult it is for these guys."

If he could choose, Mourinho would rather fight Inter Milan than go against a dark horse team with high morale. This guy who has become the biggest dark horse in the Champions League himself definitely doesn't want to have a fight with Inter Milan. What team can replicate Porto's championship experience, especially when I am about to face them, "Estadio Estadio, Yellow Submarine, Riquelme, Forlan, Pellegrini."

Mourinho silently muttered these things that only he could hear. The pressure that a dark horse can bring is no less than that of a wealthy team. There is no weak team that can reach the semi-finals.

As for Mancini's failure, in Mourinho's view, it is just a necessity. As a center of Adriano's level, he still has to control the ball in the away game, rather than resolutely counterattack.

There were only two shots in the entire first half. Inter Milan was not wronged to be eliminated in this state.

It's just that Mancini's failure made Mourinho pay attention to Villarreal's slow offensive rhythm, which may be a bit against the trend, but this kind of accurate delivery is indeed very lethal.

"As you wish, kid, you can finally meet that Argentine midfield genius.", watching the video of Villarreal, Brito said to Lin Yi, but from the perspective of this Chelsea assistant coach, Once this kind of dark pony team enters the state, their explosive power in the game must be amazing.

"The semifinals will definitely be interesting." As for who his opponent is, Lin Yi has never been so picky. He is the kind of person who will be satisfied if he has a match. It makes no difference to him who he can meet.

It's just that it's a little exciting to meet such a traditional midfield organizer. When the slowness meets lightning speed, I don't know what kind of dazzling sparks will burst out from this collision.

However, when Argentina's midfield genius meets Chelsea's absolute core, perhaps such a collision will make the confrontation in the semi-finals a little more colorful. The midfield battle is an absolute highlight.

At least in the eyes of the outside world, although the difference between strength and weakness in this game is not obvious by standard, it is definitely Chelsea's side that has the advantage. However, no one can tell how much energy a dark horse has.

Mourinho has become a dark horse, but is he preparing to lose? The existence of Villarreal is a potential threat, but compared with Mourinho's frown, Lin Yi is more looking forward to it.

Dark horse? Lin Yi had a smile on his face. . . I also came from the dark horse era. . .

(Automatically updating...)