Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid

"UEFA is really not a thing. They are also trying to mess with Arsenal! As a non-Arsenal fan, I feel heartbroken!"

"After playing Barcelona and Real Madrid, we will then play Bayern. UEFA is so afraid that Arsenal can play a few more games in the knockout round."

"Does Bayern have anything to say this season? Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​which defeated Arsenal in the first round of the Champions League knockout rounds, both won the Champions League in the end."

"This year we'll just have to look at Real Madrid and Bayern. Barcelona's forwards still need to be strengthened. Messi can't always play in the middle. It's such a waste."

"Bayern will definitely be able to succeed in revenge. This year, Real Madrid's midfield is without Li Ang. Hmph, just wash your neck and wait!"

…

The draw for the first round of the Champions League knockout rounds has ended, but fans from all over the world have just begun to discuss the draw ceremony.

The old unlucky Arsenal has naturally become the object of pity for countless fans.

Maybe Wenger himself doesn't know whether he had inadvertently offended UEFA's top brass before, or whether Arsenal's luck is really so bad.

In the past four seasons, they have beaten all three clubs in the Champions League knockout rounds!

If we really want to say that UEFA didn't do anything fishy in it, then Arsenal's luck is really bad.

After all, apart from their duel with Bayern, the only strong dialogue drawn from this year's Champions League draw is the duel between Manchester City and Barcelona.

Other powerful teams have basically drawn satisfactory opponents, including Chelsea.

Paris Saint-Germain performed very well in the Champions League last season.

But after losing Ibrahimovic this season, they didn't even compete with Olympiacos in the group stage, and in the end they could only qualify second in the group.

In the six group matches, Paris' strength has fluctuated too much, and it cannot be called a stable and strong team at all.

Chelsea, which has performed very well in both the Champions League and the Premier League, is currently widely considered by fans to be the top team in Europe this season.

Therefore, in the Champions League knockout match between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, the vast majority of fans are more optimistic that Chelsea will pass easily.

Few fans think that Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain are currently on the same level.

However, although the strength is not on the same level, the battle between the two teams is not much interesting.

After all, there are many former Real Madrid players in Paris Saint-Germain's first team who previously played for Mourinho Real Madrid.

The faceless Khedira was purged from the team by Mourinho, and he still complains to the media from time to time. 272.

And Higuain, the current top striker in Paris.

These are Mourinho's former disciples and Li Ang's former teammates.

Coupled with the friendly relationship between Diego Silva and Leon Ibrahimovic, Ibrahimovic was the biggest contributor to Paris Saint-Germain's promotion to the semi-finals of the Champions League last year...

The relationship between the two teams is really deep!

There are reunions of old friends and encounters of irreconcilable enemies.

The conflict between Li Ang and 272 was quite a big deal in La Liga back then.

After so many years, whenever Li Ang thanked his former teammates, he would directly ignore 272, as if he was dead.

And 272 never hides his dislike for Li Ang.

Perhaps to this day, he still firmly believes that it was Li Ang who took away the Real Madrid starting position and championship honors that should belong to him.

After all, in the past few years, he has often complained to the media himself or through his father.

However, Li Ang never paid attention to his speeches. Even if he knew about his weird speeches, he might treat him as pure fun and a joke.

Also, Li Ang has been waiting for this duel opportunity for a long time!

If you couldn't run into him before, there's no need to bother yourself by talking about him.

But now that he was lucky, Li Ang's thoughts suddenly came to life.

The night after watching the lottery ceremony, Li Ang thought about how to greet his former teammate.

However, there are still more than two months until the 1/8 knockout rounds of the Champions League start, so Li Ang is just thinking about it for the time being.

More energy should be focused on the upcoming EFL Cup and Premier League.

After defeating the current relegation team Crystal Palace 3:0 the day before yesterday, Chelsea had eliminated all the weak points in the first half of the league.

In the first 16 rounds of the Premier League, Chelsea achieved a record of 13 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. This record is not luxurious.

But in the next three rounds of the league, Chelsea will face challenges from Arsenal, Swansea and Liverpool.

Before the start of the league war, there is a crucial EFL Cup quarter-final knockout match against Stoke City!

Starting from December 17th to December 29th.

Chelsea will play a total of 4 games in these 13 days!

The schedule is hellish and the task is arduous, but Chelsea must withstand it.

Withstanding it, the EFL Cup has advanced to the semi-finals, heading into February, and the league can end perfectly in the middle of the season.

If you can't stand it, if there is an overtime match with Stoke City, then there will be a bloody battle with Arsenal with no outcome.

At the last moment, Chelsea may really be overtaken by Arsenal in the standings again.

Morale is a very mysterious thing, but that's how it is. As the saying goes, if you can't keep it up, your hips will naturally shrink.

Li Ang became extremely serious and nervous, and Mourinho almost took his team to sleep directly in the tactical conference room of the base.

He must make tactical plans in advance as much as possible. The preparation time for the following games is inherently short, and the games are played one after another.

In the final stage of the first half, they faced off against the tough Sky City, currently second in the Premier League, fourth in the Premier League and tenth in the Premier League.

The fans must be happy to see it, but these four games will be played in 13 days, and the pressure on Chelsea is indeed too great!

"Actually, we are still six points ahead of Arsenal and Manchester City, which means we have two wins, otherwise we..."

Ruiz, who kept rubbing his temples in the conference room, put forward his own suggestions, but Mourinho interrupted him without thinking.

"No! We can't even consider this, let alone let the players know that we are making such assumptions!

This is not a direct conversation with Everton, Southampton and Manchester United.

These teams aren’t really our competition this season either.

When facing teams like Arsenal and Liverpool that can really threaten our top spot, we can't take a step back!

We took a step back, and they took a step forward. They gave in this time. So next time we encounter this kind of schedule, should we give in or not? "

Mourinho's words completely set the tone for this tactical meeting.

Chelsea's entire coaching team also quickly unified their tactical ideas.

Since Huashan has to go one way to the end, they will no longer discuss too much if they lose or what will happen if they lose.

Going all out to figure out the opponent's tactical weaknesses and lineup weaknesses has become their most important preparation work.

And when such a firm will to play was passed on by the coaching staff to all the players in the Chelsea first team.

Chelsea immediately tightened the clockwork from top to bottom, and devoted herself to preparations for the war.

Of course, for Chelsea's opponents. They are also under considerable pressure to challenge the top team in this tight schedule.

Stoke City, which was the first to bear the brunt, ushered in the EFL Cup quarter-final knockout battle with Chelsea on the evening of December 17th in a dignified and tense pre-match atmosphere!

Ten days ago, they drew 0-0 with Chelsea at their home stadium, Britannia Stadium.

But that draw didn't give them enough confidence now.

Because everyone knows that Chelsea had no reason to fight them to the death in that game.

Rather than saying that they managed a draw with Chelsea, it is better to say that Mourinho chose to rest the main veterans in the team and also chose a draw.

Now ten days have passed, and the main veterans in the Chelsea team have received sufficient rest time.

In the last round of the league against Crystal Palace, Lampard and Ibrahimovic were both replaced by Mourinho early after taking a 2-0 lead at halftime.

Therefore, in this round of the English League Cup, Stoke City will face a main force, and there are enough reasons to defeat their full-form Chelsea!

There is a lot of pressure on both the Stoke City players and their manager Mark Hughes.

But the EFL Cup has already reached the final eight, and it is impossible to be eliminated easily no matter what.

If we take one step further, we will be the semi-finals, and we will only have to defeat two more opponents before we finally win the championship!

Stoke City's current tactics happen to be very suitable for cup competitions. It is difficult to win the EFL Cup, but there is always a chance.

In the 10-11 season, relegated team Birmingham beat Arsenal to win the EFL Cup.

For the teams in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League, this is a very good case of the weak defeating the strong.

So even under huge pressure, Stoke City players still hold ardent hopes in their hearts, hoping to create a real miracle at home!

What if, what if they get past Chelsea's difficulty?

Which team behind them can make them worry? !

The nervous and excited Stoke City players held this idea in mind and finally stepped onto the big stage to play against Chelsea!

After the game officially started that night, the entire Stoke City team immediately felt that Chelsea attached great importance to this game.

Chelsea, who used a starting lineup of 4231, did not rush forward to attack in the opening game.

Instead, after steadily gaining control of the midfield, they slowly advanced and launched an offensive test against Stoke City from both sides.

Li Ang even played as a defensive midfielder right from the start today, and Matic and he controlled the middle of the midfield!

Mourinho clearly told Mark Hughes with this starting arrangement:

Today, don't try to hit my center line with a high ball. I will directly place my confidant in front of my penalty area. This way is blocked!

Chelsea, who have done a good job of defense and control, are very safe on the scene.

Steadily encroaching on the midfield space, and steadily and slowly suppressing Stoke City's tactics!

Stoke City, who are not willing to follow Chelsea's rhythm, will certainly fight back.

However, in past games, they used Crouch as the fulcrum in the frontcourt and their high-flying counterattack method was not very effective today.

Crouch has great height, but his light weight also holds him back.

Even though his confrontation ability is actually not weak.

But when faced with the resolute double-team defense of Li Ang and Matic, it was difficult for him to stay in position and steadily win the long pass from his teammates.

From a certain perspective, Crouch is proud of his tactical value.

Crouch is the first person to be double-teamed by Li Ang and Matic, the current premier midfield defensive team in the Premier League!

But for Mark Hughes, this situation is quite bad.

After all, Crouch is not a prolific shooter. Compared to his scoring ability, his tactical value is more important.

In Stoke City's frontcourt offensive system, if Crouch cannot play his fulcrum radiation role.

Then Stoke City's counterattack was completely in vain.

After all, high-altitude balls can't land stably, so what's the point of playing long passes and counterattacks?

Only 20 minutes into the first half, Mark Hughes could already see it.

Mourinho would really rather sacrifice a little more initiative on the offensive end, but first kill the most important link in Stoke City's counterattack system!

Like other head coaches of the mid- and lower-tier teams in the Premier League, he complained at this moment about Mourinho's perverted pursuit of central defense!

The defensive combination of Matic and Leon is simply a football bug that violates regulations!

They can guard any type of offensive player.

There is no way to eliminate double-teams when working together, and they can do one-on-one individual defense separately. The two of them are also extremely capable in this regard!

After watching for a long time, Mark Hughes, who really couldn't think of a way to break the game, finally had no choice but to consider changing to another offensive mode.

That is to let Arnautovic take over the responsibility of counterattack.

Although "Austria Ibrahimovic" is far from the powerful scoring ability of Chelsea's genuine Ibrahimovic.

But his ability to play both sides and his outstanding skills are enough to drive the offense of teams in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League like Stoke City.

Mark Hughes wants the Austria forward to make more use of his ball-taking ability on the offensive end to help Stoke City tear apart Chelsea's defense.

In this case, even use Crouch as a tactical bait.

Stoke City's forward, Walters, who has one more season to score in double figures, can provide the finishing touch.

But Anautovich doesn't just want to be a green leaf for others.

After getting more offensive ball rights, he, like the young Ibrahimovic, wanted to rely on his foot skills to become the absolute focus of the game.

He also went from Stoke City's change point on the counterattack to a maniac who lost possession of the ball.

After all, the Chelsea defensive players on his side are Li Ang and Ivanovic!

The two took turns giving Arnautovic a fight.

Not to mention tearing apart Chelsea's defense with the ball, this kid couldn't even complete a stable offensive advance several times and fell to the turf frequently.

And when Stoke City's counterattacks failed repeatedly, Chelsea used their patience to slowly show their sharp fangs on the offensive end!

Hazard, who did not perform well in the last round of the match, became Chelsea's well-deserved offensive protagonist in today's game.

When he has enough offensive possessions, Ibrahimovic is in front of him and Lampard is behind him to support him.

He is the most destructive super winger in the Premier League currently!

Perhaps in terms of visual impact on the opponent's defense, Hazard and Bale, who switched to Real Madrid this summer, are still incomparable.

But in terms of tactical effect, Hazard's super dribbling ability is better than Bell, and he can continue to break through and create opportunities in tight spaces.

This is quite powerful.

There is not much space to break through the dense defense and forcefully create a threat.

The person who does this job best in football today is Messi, and Hazard is one of the top players with Messi's sole stop.

Throughout the first 30 minutes of the first half, Stoke City defended Hazard's side of Nzonzi and full-back Camron, but they were passed over again and again.

According to Stoke City's past style, some rough tactical fouls would have to be committed at this time.

However, perhaps because of the scene in the previous game where Chelsea fought back hard against West Ham United, Stoke City could only endure it again and again.

The defensive moves are strong, but not to the point of destructive tactics.

For Hazard, this intensity of confrontation is still within his acceptable range.

Therefore, his breakthroughs have always been successful, and he has also created many threats on the offensive end.

It is a pity that today Ibrahimovic and Lampard's two shots in the Stoke City penalty area were both substandard.

And Hazard, who saw that he missed two assist opportunities, was also very depressed.

It wasn't until the 34th minute of the first half when Li Ang actively pushed forward from the backcourt that Hazard saw another excellent offensive opportunity!

Lampard's free cross allowed Li Ang to further advance with the ball towards Stoke City's defensive hinterland in a relatively loose defensive environment.

Upon seeing this, Ibrahimovic also pulled out of Stoke City's penalty area and came to support Li Ang.

The possible connection between the two immediately caused Stoke City's backcourt defense to become slightly confused.

At this moment, Li Ang quickly sent a through ball to his right front!

De Bruyne, who had not played much before, finally got a rare opportunity to pass from the side.

Before the football was in front of him, he had already adjusted his pace and started running, and then he directly completed a large arc cross without stopping the ball!

Ibrahimovic, who had accelerated from the back of the Stoke City penalty area, immediately became the focus of all Stoke City defensive players!

Shawcross's active fighting prevented Ibrahimovic from occupying the position and directly shook his head to attack the goal.

However, Ibrahimovic, who has always paid attention to Li Ang's movement, also has the offensive option of heading the ball.

After shouldering the defensive interference from Shawcross sideways, Ibrahimovic tipped the ball directly to Li Ang, who was currently moving in the middle of the Stoke City penalty area.

This is considered a header ball, and Li Ang's position is not very good, but after all, there is still the opportunity and possibility to handle the ball in the next step.

Facing the close defense of Mark Wilson, another central defender of Stoke City, Liang subconsciously chose to block the offensive position first.

Being entangled by the opponent in the middle of the penalty area, it is basically impossible to hit the goal directly.

The header was even more nonsense, there was no rush, and the header had no speed or power.

After instantly rejecting the two methods of attacking the goal in his mind, Li Ang suddenly caught a glimpse of a blue figure standing on the edge of the penalty area...

"Li Ang has occupied the position! He is going to...head the ball back again! Hazard!"

Zhan Jun exclaimed in the studio. At this moment, all the Chinese fans also looked at Hazard who received Li Ang's back pass!

The Belgian winger finally got the chance he had wanted in the first half!

There is nothing to hesitate about.

He stopped the ball to adjust his pace, and then hit his best right-footed shot!

Begovic was still distracted by too many offensive and defensive players in front of him.

And the angle of Hazard's shot was really tricky!

By the time Begovic saw the flight path of the football clearly, it was already too late to make a save!

The football hit the upper right corner of Stoke City's goal!

And the Chelsea players who successfully broke the balance of the game also clearly saw the bright prospect of advancing to the final four of the EFL Cup!

The 20,000 Stoke City fans in the Britannia Stadium were panicked at this moment.

Because this season, Chelsea won the game in which Chelsea scored first!

Mourinho is very scary and cunning after taking the lead, Stoke City fans are convinced of this.

Of course, Mourinho soon used his own tactical adjustments to further deepen the anxiety of Stoke City fans.

"Return to defense! Everyone, return to defense! Don't let even a mosquito fly into our restricted area!"

Mourinho's unabashed excitement encouraged his disciples.

Mark Hughes, who was standing not far next to him, only felt noisy and had a headache when he heard his words.

At this time, the situation on the court suddenly changed. The side that actively defended became Chelsea, while the side that actively pressed out and attacked became Stoke City.

It is a pity that Stoke City does not have a strong offensive point that can stably tear apart Chelsea's defense, let alone a midfield core that can break the offensive and defensive balance on the court.

So they had nothing to gain except one long-range shot attempt for the rest of the first half.

With a one-goal lead, everyone at Chelsea entered the halftime break contentedly.

When the second half started, Mark Hughes saw Chelsea still trying to defend, and his heart went cold.

Of course Mourinho is capable of holding on for the entire game with only one goal ahead.

Not only can he do this kind of thing, he has done it many times, and he can do it very well!

So Mark Hughes is anxious, and so are the Stoke City players.

Even in the first fifteen minutes of the second half, Stoke City remained calm.

But once the game time exceeded 60 minutes, Stoke City no longer had the qualifications to negotiate conditions with Chelsea.

Stoke City began to press forward aggressively.

And De Bruyne also drew his sword in the 77th minute of the second half!

When he used an overhead diagonal pass of more than 30 meters to help Ibrahimovic go to the meeting alone, extending the team's lead to two goals, the suspense of this game was completely ended.

At the end of the game, it was not Hazard and Ibrahimovic who scored the goals who were named the best players of the game.

It was Li Ang who played more on the defensive end than on the offensive end throughout the game!

The whole game contributed six effective interceptions, 11 steals, one key clearance, a total of 84 passes, 77 successes, a pass success rate of about 92%, plus two threatening passes and an assist...

Li Ang's perfect offensive and defensive performance once again impressed countless Premier League fans.

For the Chelsea team, after entering the semi-finals of the EFL Cup this season, it is time for them to set a small goal for the season.

Let’s enjoy ourselves by winning a League of Nations Cup title first!