Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid

Stoke City's will to resist today is really not strong.

They currently have 42 points in the Premier League, the same as Newcastle. Because of their goal difference, they rank ninth in the Premier League and have successfully avoided relegation early.

With only the last few games left in the league, it is still very unrealistic for them to chase 14 points to reverse Tottenham and break into the top six of the Premier League.

So the current Stoke City is completely in a comfortable posture of being less than above and more than below.

You say fighting for the fans, Stoke City's players have worked hard enough this season. They scored points like crazy in the middle of the league and accumulated enough points to avoid relegation early on.

They can't win the domestic cup championship, but at least they can continue to fight in the Premier League next year.

Let’s just say we fight for ourselves. It’s hard to win the top spot in the league, so we don’t have much hope.

Under such circumstances, it would be good if Stoke City, which lacks motivation, can finish this round of the league with Chelsea normally.

Therefore, even though Li Ang's goal made the Stoke City players feel very unhappy, they did not want to catch up and still had the mentality of winning if they lose less.

Many Manchester City fans in front of the TV were disappointed when they saw Stoke City's tepid drag after the game restarted.

Many sensible Manchester City fans turned off the TV directly after watching the first half of the game, not wanting to cause any more trouble for themselves.

And Chelsea did not pursue Stoke City fiercely. After all, it is a rotating lineup. If they can steadily score three points while training, the Chelsea team is already very satisfied.

However, the score in today's game has not been widened.

Torres and Lukaku's happy shooting in turns accounted for a large part of the reason.

Li Ang clearly learned his current personal data from Lukaku during the halftime break of the game.

In the league, he has 18 goals and 17 assists. Adding the data from the EFL Cup and Champions League, he has now achieved 27 goals and 26 assists in the season.

The data of double 30 is very close!

In terms of scoring goals, Li Ang thinks he can let it go first.

After all, as long as his teammates give up more penalty kicks and he works harder himself, he can still score three more goals before the end of the season.

But assists are hard to say.

He is confident that he can send enough threatening passes, but if the forwards cannot seize these opportunities, then there is nothing he can do!

For this reason, he also encouraged Lukaku during halftime.

Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the second half, the one-on-one through ball he sent to Lukaku was directly knocked away by this kid!

Then Torres and Lukaku performed happy shots one after another like a dragon and a phoenix.

If Oscar hadn't seized the opportunity in the 70th minute of the second half, he took Lampard's back pass and shot through Stoke City's goal again.

Li Ang estimates that they can only beat Stoke City by one goal today.

The intermittent shooting situation of Torres and Lukaku is not a recent phenomenon, it has been like this throughout the season.

The key is to train regularly, both of them performed well.

So Li Ang was really puzzled.

Fortunately, Ibrahimovic only occasionally takes a break, and Li Ang has raised hopes for the next round of knockout matches with Barcelona and the Premier League.

After the 75th minute of the second half, Li Ang was replaced by Mourinho and took a rest.

In the end, Chelsea defeated Stoke City 2-0 at home.

While defending their unbeaten record at home this season, they also took another solid step towards the Premier League crown.

At the same time, the other seven powerful European teams that are still playing in the Champions League knockout rounds have also ended their league journey.

There are no teams that are dragged down by the league, such as Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

A large number of rotations were sent out in this round of games, so that the main players could get more rest time to wait for work.

The worst of it is naturally the top three in the Western Premier League.

Barcelona, ​​Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, no one dares to rotate the main force, because now they are in the fiercest moment of the championship.

If they can't win this round of the league because of a rotation, they will be discouraged in the stalemate with their competitors.

Then it will be fun to watch after the season is over.

Fortunately for Atletico Madrid, since their rise last season, the management has clearly and firmly supported Simeone.

The fans of Barcelona and Real Madrid are too big, and the public sensation caused is also exaggerated.

If the championship is really lost because of one or two points, the head coach will basically have no choice but to take the blame and resign.

Martino is now in this public opinion environment where he cannot take a step back.

And he also knows that from the beginning, he was just a substitute for Barcelona who was unable to pursue Enrique and was pushed out of the market.

However, he finally became the head coach of a wealthy club, and he didn't want to be kicked out so easily.

Even if he does not reach the end of the Champions League this season, as long as he can persist in leading Barcelona to win the La Liga championship, then defeat Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final and win a double crown.

Even if Barcelona's top brass is devoted to Enrique, they cannot easily fire him.

Taking a step back, with this double championship and the experience of coaching a wealthy club in Barcelona, ​​if he goes to coach in other leagues, his options will be much greater than before.

So on the plane leading the team to London, Martino made up his mind.

If there is a chance to reverse Chelsea's defeat, then he will take a small gamble. If there is really no chance, then he cannot spend all the main players in this round of the Champions League knockout rounds.

Barcelona really can't afford to hurt its main players now.

Especially the main cores of Messi and Habaib.

Even if he can really beat Chelsea and enter the Champions League semi-finals, if these core players are injured, it will still be a bad deal for Martino.

Barcelona's main players don't have such entangled concerns as their head coach.

After being beaten 2-1 by Chelsea in the first round, Barcelona was basically on the edge of the cliff.

Stamford Bridge is not easy to conquer. Just look at Chelsea's winning rate at Stamford Bridge this season.

Therefore, Barcelona's main players also made up their minds before the game to fight Chelsea from the beginning of the game!

If you don't challenge Chelsea with this mentality, any talk of reversal will be just empty talk and a joke.

This kind of mental awareness is still present among the veteran stars in the Barcelona team.

However, determination is important, but Chelsea's main players, who have been well rested and waiting to work, are much better than Barcelona's main players in terms of physical fitness.

Moreover, Mourinho has prepared a big tactical surprise for Barcelona who came from afar at home...

On the evening of April 8th, the Stamford Bridge stadium was already full from early on.

The main players of Chelsea and Barcelona quickly completed the pre-match formation ceremony with the magnificent and exciting Champions League theme song playing.

Barcelona's starting players and starting lineup today are no different from when they faced Chelsea in the last round at Camp Nou.

Messi still started in his most familiar position on the right wing.

Martino did not arrange Messi in the middle as he had done in previous league games.

He didn't want Messi to spend too much energy entangled with Chelsea's defensive cluster in the middle.

On Chelsea's side, Karas started in the defense instead of David Luiz.

The double midfielder is Matic partnering with Lampard, and Ramirez is on standby on the bench today.

The rest of Chelsea's starting lineup is the same as in the last round of the Champions League knockout round, and Li Ang continues to appear in the starting midfielder position.

Judging from Mourinho's past tactics, Chelsea already made enough money in the first round.

The second round is at home, not to mention Barcelona's coaching staff, and even most of Chelsea's own fans believe that Mourinho will fight back today.

As a result, as soon as the game started that night, all Chelsea players devoted themselves to the pressing attack against Barcelona, ​​which directly stunned all the Barcelona players!

"Chelsea played very fiercely and proactively at the beginning! Mourinho invested a lot of force on the offensive end. It seems that Chelsea is not going to win conservatively today!"

The Sky Sports commentator was surprised.

However, he was also very surprised to see Chelsea playing extremely aggressive offensive football in the second round of the Champions League knockout round.

The commentator of the Spanish Movistar Sports Channel also felt the same surprise at this moment.

Before the game, wasn't what the major Spanish sports media feared the most was Chelsea's turtle formation in the second round of the knockout round?

Barcelona, ​​which attacks with all its strength, may not be the opponent of Chelsea, which focuses on counterattacks, but when it comes to confrontation, Barcelona is not afraid of Chelsea at all!

This is a great opportunity for Barcelona, ​​a great opportunity to reverse the comeback!

Mattillo wanted to be sure, but saw Mourinho making a rare "mistake" at this moment.

He was so overjoyed that he no longer cared about preserving his strength. He stood on the sidelines and quickly made tactical adjustments!

"We also press up and compete with them for the ball! They don't have many defensive players in the backcourt now, so we can beat their counterattack!"

Xavi's tactical decision was faster than Martino's.

Barcelona does not have a big center who can hold the ball stably in the frontcourt, but in terms of quick transmission and the speed of advancement on both wings, Barcelona is not inferior to Bayern and Real Madrid.

Lifting high and hitting high has the advantage of lifting high and hitting high. Walking on the ground does not necessarily mean that the counterattack speed will be slower.

As for whether taking the initiative to counterattack is contrary to Barcelona's pass-and-control football tactics, Xavi and Iniesta can't control that much at the moment.

Reversal and promotion is the most important thing now. If necessary, Harvey will even take the initiative to give advice to the coaching staff and strengthen defense and counterattack at the last moment of the second half!

You still have to win. If you can't win the game, then what will happen no matter how beautifully you play football?

They play competitive football. Without championships, how can success and revival come?

Xavi thought it through. As soon as Martino made tactical adjustments, he quickly joined forces with Iniesta, calling on his teammates around him and behind him to fully devote themselves to the fight for the ball.

The opportunity that arises between offense and defense is that fleeting moment. Chelsea wants to seize such a moment, and Barcelona wants to seize it even more now.

And Barcelona has never been a team that can only fight with words but not with force.

In terms of ground entanglement and tactical fouls, they have studied and used them more familiarly than most teams in football.

Therefore, the rhythm of the two teams' fighting in the midfield quickly became chaotic as the confrontation actions were relaxed and the intensity increased.

This scene made countless neutral fans in front of the TV dumbfounded.

Could this be a battle between the first team in the Premier League and the first team in La Liga?

Just a second ago, Xavi and Alves moved their hands and took the ball away from Hazard's feet.

The next second, Xavi passed the ball to Iniesta, who was retreating to meet him. As a result, Xiaobai was immediately hit by a sliding tackle from Lampard!

The key was that the ball quickly returned to the control of the Barcelona players, so the referee did not call Lampard for a foul.

However, facing Li Ang's fierce personal confrontation, Xavi, who was holding the ball, couldn't get rid of it no matter how he circled. In the end, he could only pass the ball back to Pique, who raised his hand.

In the tenth minute of the first half, Alves, who advanced forward, boldly avoided the double-team pressure of Hazard and Matic.

Through his strong personal ability, he helped Barcelona get an excellent chance to counterattack!

Had it not been for the fact that Messi, who was holding the ball, had his jersey forcibly pulled by Lampard and stayed in place with a tactical foul.

Barcelona's attack this time will threaten Chelsea's core.

However, Lampard did not receive a card and only received a stern verbal warning from the referee.

When Li Ang saw this, he breathed a sigh of relief and had a clear understanding of the scale of the referee's call today.

Barcelona's players no longer bothered to besiege the referee and put pressure on them.

They issued a quick set-piece in the frontcourt, and finally the attack ended with Neymar cutting in from the left and shooting with a cold arrow.

Cech firmly held Neymar's volley in his arms.

At this time, Li Ang had already withdrawn from the frontcourt. He gestured to his teammates on the back line to pull away first, and then went to catch the ball thrown by Cech.

By controlling the ball and turning around, Li Ang quickly swept the situation in his own half.

Then, in front of Xavi, he used a 360-degree circle to avoid Sanchez's pressing.

Iniesta touched the back of his head, looked at Li Ang, and then looked at Xavi. The questioning look made Xavi helpless.

Harvey admitted that Li Ang's escape movements were indeed very similar to his own, but he really hadn't taught Li Ang a single move!

At this moment, Li Ang, who had avoided Sanchez's pressing, strode forward to lead the ball forward.

He opened his position, and his teammates who followed him forward on the left and right sides also helped him take away the Barcelona players who originally wanted to double-team to defend him.

However, Li Ang did not directly attack Huanglong with the ball as he did in the past.

Before facing Xavi, he sent a pass.

In this way, the football passed directly from the center line near Barcelona's heavily defended half, and ran towards the top of Barcelona's penalty area!

Ibrahimovic, who had already been pulled out to support him, opened his hands and held Pique firmly behind his back.

After stopping the ball firmly with his chest, Ibrahimovic passed the ball to Hazard, who was running forward on the right side of his body.

If it were Ibrahimovic who was not yet 30 years old earlier, he would most likely choose to turn around and play this ball by himself.

But now Ibrahimovic is becoming more and more skillful in using his body, and his ability to get the ball behind his back is becoming more and more prominent.

Pique squeezed for a long time but couldn't squeeze out Ibrahimovic. In the end, he could only watch as Li Ang used Ibrahimovic as a pivot and radiated the ball to his own hinterland wing.

Hazard only had to face one Alves when he got the ball this time.

Hazard was very unhappy with the treatment of being double-teamed many times before. Now he has the opportunity to regain his position from Alves, and he doesn't want to miss such a good opportunity!

In one-on-one offense and defense, Hazard has not yet reached the peak of his strength, so he may not be able to take advantage against the current Alves.

But there is one good thing about young players, they are high-spirited and not afraid of failure.

Hazard is not a technical winger with a wild temper, but he also has a pride in his heart that is not inferior to any genius.

Against Alves, Hazard was very daring to make moves, and his two consecutive attempts at changing directions were completed very smoothly.

Alves could have fought and retreated, waiting for Xavi to return to defense or Busquets to double-team, allowing Hazard to taste the feeling of being sandwiched again.

But he chose to solve the problem by himself, and he had to engage in hand-to-hand combat with Azar!

Alves underestimated Hazard's confrontational ability.

Although Hazard is not tall, his chassis is very stable and his core strength is very strong.

In addition, he has been baptized in physical combat in the Premier League for almost two seasons. It is not difficult for Hazard to resist Alves' personal interference one-on-one.

So a shocking scene happened at Stamford Bridge that shocked Barcelona fans!

Hazard resisted Alves' personal interference and cut inside to reach the edge of Barcelona's penalty area!

Previously, Alves could bring down Hazard with a tactical foul.

But now when he realized something was wrong, he no longer dared to make any more tactical fouls.

Martino looked on from the sidelines furious.

Ibrahimovic aggressively moved forward, as if he was ready to grab a shot at any time. Pique and Mascherano did not dare to leave the Swedish Magic Tower.

And Hazard also completed the cross the moment Busquets rushed towards him!

It was a cross that drifted outside the Barcelona penalty area.

When Ibrahimovic involved two central defenders in the Barcelona penalty area, Lampard inserted himself from the center and forced Xavi not to move.

Li Ang, who inserted himself on the right side of Barcelona's penalty area, took off slightly, unloaded the ball with his chest, and then led the ball into Barcelona's penalty area very smoothly!

The old goalkeeper Pinto's scalp was numb at this moment!

"Stop him!"

Mascherano roared, Jordi Alba dropped De Bruyne and quickly pulled in and rushed over!

But Li Ang's action to connect the shot was one step faster!

Stopping the ball with his chest and taking a step forward with his right foot, Li Ang directly used the arch of his foot to hit a push shot!

It was almost exactly the same as the shot that deceived Joe Hart in the Premier League!

Pinto, who abandoned the goal and attacked, was completely prepared for Li Ang's explosive shot.

As a result, Li Ang pushed the ball lightly, and the football quickly passed between Pinto's open feet!

The goal went through the goal and wicket together, and finally plunged into the near corner of the net behind Pinto!

After another bold and beautiful shot, Li Ang opened his arms and strode towards the corner flag area where Barcelona's half was!

After completing a handsome kneeling celebration, Li Ang stood up, put one hand behind his ear, and made a listening and celebrating gesture to the Stamford Bridge stands that were already cheering crazily!

De Bruyne was the first to hug Li Ang tightly from behind, followed by Ibrahimovic, Lampard, Hazard who ran over laughing...

Chelsea's players hugged passionately near the corner flag area, roared, and celebrated with excitement as if no one else was watching!

Mourinho, who had been standing on the sidelines watching the development of the game, now raised his arms high and waved to the cheering Blues fans behind him!

"Chelsea is about to establish their victory! Li Ang completely dominated these two rounds of knockout rounds! With two goals and one assist, Chelsea has already led Barcelona 3-1 in the total score!

Advancing against the current, two powerful enemies can be defeated, who else can I do? "

He Wei's commentary made the Chinese fans watching the game extremely excited!

This rebuilt Chelsea, from the beginning of the season to now, has become a success!

Playing in a dignified manner, daring to fight against Barcelona, ​​and being able to score first, that's enough!

The Blues fans at Stamford Bridge felt even more happy and proud!

Martino lost his temper on the sidelines, but it only lasted for a while. Now Barcelona is increasingly lacking time.

"Fortunately, Chelsea played more aggressively today. We actually still have a chance and time..."

Barcelona's assistant coach was very responsible at this time to calm Martino's emotions.

The Barcelona players on the field may have thought so too. Sanchez even took the initiative to hug the football and ran to the kick-off point first.

Barcelona's players had no time to be frustrated and complain, they all still held on to the hope of a comeback.

Two balls!

As long as Barcelona withstands Chelsea's offensive and scores two more goals, they will at least have a chance to play overtime with Chelsea!

There are still more than 70 minutes left in the game, so there is definitely hope, and it will not reach a moment of despair.

However, all Chelsea players finally ended their carnival celebrations and slowly returned after half-time.

Messi, who was standing on one side, quickly realized something was wrong.

Because Li Ang did not stand in his previous position, he retreated to the back, almost parallel to Matic.

After the game restarted, the scene that Barcelona fans least expected to see finally appeared.

"Leon retreated, Lampard didn't seem to be in the attacking midfielder position, Chelsea shrunk their formation, and Mourinho finally chose to play defensive counterattack!"

The Sky Sports commentator sounded very happy.

Originally, he was worried that Mourinho would continue to fight against Barcelona and give Barcelona a chance. Now it seems that he is simply overthinking.

Mourinho probably planned to disrupt Barcelona's tactical rhythm with an active attack from the beginning.

It's best if you can steal a goal, but it doesn't matter if you can't. Anyway, at a certain point in the game, Chelsea will directly switch to defensive counterattack!

This is the Mourinho that all fans and commentators are most familiar with!

Martino watched Chelsea's smooth tactical formation changes from the sidelines and was so angry that he almost spit out a mouthful of blood!

But Chelsea's tactical intention of grabbing the start has been achieved.

No matter how hard Barcelona pressed to give Chelsea a chance, Chelsea remained indifferent.

Lampard stood slightly forward and formed Chelsea's first interception line with Hazard and De Bruyne who retreated.

When Barcelona's offensive was fierce, Lampard was able to retreat directly and form a three-back midfielder with Li Ang and Matic.

This defensive intensity simply shows too much respect for Barcelona.

By the end of the first half, countless neutral fans looked at the 11-2 shooting ratio between Barcelona and Chelsea throughout the first half and nodded with satisfaction.

"This smells right, this is the normal rhythm of the match between Chelsea and Barcelona!"

But at this moment, Barcelona fans would rather not have this kind of offensive data that seems to have the upper hand.

In the entire first half, only Messi's shot after cutting in from the right was considered a threat.

There was not even one shot in the Chelsea penalty area!

This kind of shooting number is just doubled, so what's the use?

Barcelona fans would rather see Chelsea press forward like they did at the start of the first half, constantly threatening Barcelona's defense.

In this case, at least Barcelona will not lack offensive opportunities!

It's a pity that Chelsea set up a luxury bus in the second half of the game.

Ibrahimovic was replaced by Mourinho early in the 60th minute of the second half.

Lukaku, who came on as a substitute, didn't play like a center forward. He ran back and forth on the defensive end and was very active. He directly played himself as a "shield forward"!

And the defensive effect is really good.

He can keep up with his speed, and even if he goes to the wing to disrupt the situation, he can't stop Messi and Neymar, but as long as they are closely marked by him, Messi and Neymar will only suffer from confrontational losses.

In the 70th minute of the second half of the game, when Messi wanted to forcefully take over the rhythm of the game, Chelsea's foul tactics were also directly used.

Of course, you don't have to go directly to Li Ang to play this tactic.

Lampard and Hazard first received a yellow card and a verbal warning.

And just when Messi wanted to use Lampard as a gap to create breakthrough damage again, Mourinho simply replaced Lampard...

This rogue trick made Messi a little anxious.

But no matter what, Chelsea wouldn't use this trick on other Barcelona offensive players anyway, they were determined to prevent Messi from being a threat at the last moment.

Mourinho actually hadn't thought about doing this before the game. He used this shameless defensive trick because of Li Ang's suggestion.

But Li Ang also has something to say.

In the past few seasons, Messi's ability to force breakthroughs and cause damage has been at its peak, and it will slowly decline starting from next season.

Counting from the 2008-09 season to now, how many games has Barcelona had to lose points, but they all relied on Messi's explosive performance to forcefully restore the decline?

Furthermore, if Chelsea faces Real Madrid in this knockout round.

Then Li Ang would also suggest taking frequent tactical fouls against Ronaldo at the last minute to completely break up the rhythm of the game.

To deal with such superstars, you can't keep an eye on their performance all the time.

Then stop their outbreak at the minimum cost before they can make a difference.

Facts have now proven that this trick is indeed very useful.

Lampard, Hazard and Ramirez, who came on later, all received yellow cards on Messi, but so what?

When the referee blew the full-time whistle, no Chelsea player felt that it was not worthwhile to pay such a price to obtain a stable promotion qualification.

The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit!

Chelsea won, so they still have the qualifications to fight for their tickets to this year's Champions League final in the next round of Champions League knockout rounds.

And Barcelona could only go home full of regrets.

Amidst the roaring carnival at Stamford Bridge, Messi lifted up his jersey and wiped the sweat from his face. He looked at Li Ang who was walking towards him with a tired and calm face.

"I win again, Leo."

Looking at Li Ang's familiar smiling face, Messi quickly rolled his eyes at him, and then stretched out his hand to him.

The two high-fived and hugged each other, and reporters on the sidelines quickly captured the scene that was destined to make the headlines tomorrow.

"Seriously, are you really not considering leaving Barcelona? Come to Chelsea and build a dynasty with me?"

Li Ang made a joke, and Messi was too lazy to respond to him.

After the two exchanged jerseys again, Messi punched Li Ang in the chest, then put his jersey on his shoulders and turned away.

Li Ang seems to have known Messi's answer for a long time.

He smiled and shook his head, put Messi's jersey on his shoulders, and then turned around to look for his teammates with the same firm steps.

From Li Ang's point of view, if Messi switches to Manchester City next season, Guardiola may really be able to work with Messi to do great things in the Premier League and Champions League in advance.

Today, when there is no inflation in the football transfer market, Manchester City may even start negotiations with Barcelona directly for less than 200 million euros.

All it takes is Messi's nod, and with Guardiola's relationship, if Manchester City secretly gives Barcelona more money, Barcelona's top brass may not really agree.

But in Messi's heart, Barcelona still carries a heavy weight, far beyond what Li Ang expected.

Li Ang never really thought that Messi would come to Chelsea to help him.

They are destined to be good rivals, just like Messi and Ronaldo. Competition will lead to greater progress. It would be too boring to get together to play brotherly football.

"What a pity. See you next year, Boss Mei. I hope I can meet you in the Champions League next year..."