Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid

Cross shook his head. This was his subconscious action. The Bayern in front of him was both familiar and unfamiliar to him.

Last season, Bayern would never have made such a serious defensive mistake in the opening stages of the game.

Heidegger Bayern is very experienced in counterattacking and preventing counterattacks.

But it is obvious that Bayern has now actively abandoned what it is best at.

It is not undesirable to blindly strengthen the offense.

Bayern's success in the Bundesliga this season has proven the feasibility of offensive football.

However, in a competition like the Champions League, especially at the critical moment of the semi-finals.

If the defense is not stable, there will be big problems!

Kroos couldn't understand why Pellegrini would choose to abandon Javi Martinez directly because of his injury in the middle of the season.

Although Thiago is good, he has never proven himself on a big stage like the Champions League semi-finals.

The double midfielder combination of Schweinsteiger and Martinez has won everything for Bayern. They have the strength and experience.

Looking at this issue from the perspective of a Bayern supporter, Kroos would feel very sorry.

But now as Bayern's opponent, he wanted Peigong to continue his work, so he simply abandoned Xiaozhu too.

When the time comes, Li Ang will directly destroy Bayern's midfield, and Chelsea will only win more easily...

Bertrand trotted towards the corner flag area, and Chelsea's top players also poured into Bayern's penalty area.

However, under Neuer's active command, Bayern's corner kick defense was quite good. In the end, Terry was interfered by Boateng and put the ball into the stands.

"Tony!"

Li Ang's voice suddenly came from in front of him. Toni Kroos, who was retreating, looked over and saw Li Ang making a "3" tactical gesture with one hand.

Cross understood and nodded tacitly, and the Chelsea team quickly fine-tuned their tactics.

Mourinho was sitting on the coaching bench and was not surprised when he watched the Chelsea players on the field quickly position themselves on defense and seemed to further tighten their formation.

This was the tactical adjustment authority he gave Li Ang before the game, and at this moment, his and Li Ang's tactical ideas were almost exactly the same.

Bayern's main attack is good~

As far as Bayern's current midfield combination is concerned, the harder they play on the offensive end, the more flaws they will have on defense.

Li Ang was right to choose to give up space in the midfield, but he can't let Bayern also focus on defense. They want to be cautious, so create space for them to press forward!

As for the threatening counterattack that just happened, Bayern's players must feel that it was just an accident.

An accident they can control for once and never happen again.

Neuer's anger did cheer up the other players in Bayern's midfield and backcourt.

However, the Chelsea team's failure to quickly retreat after one attack still made them subconsciously sigh in relief.

After Thiago took over the ball, he no longer transitioned forward as quickly as before.

Instead, he cautiously passed the ball horizontally with Bastian Schweinsteiger and distributed the ball, allowing the full-backs on both wings to step forward with the ball and test it out.

Until it was confirmed that Chelsea had indeed retreated back to their half, they were in a passive posture waiting for Bayern to counterattack.

Only then did Thiago pass the midline with the ball again, connecting with Muller to organize the attack.

Until now, not many Bayern players think this is Chelsea's tactical trap.

After all, Chelsea lowered their profile and focused on defensive counterattacks too many times.

Chelsea used this style of play against Bayern last year, both home and away.

In the Premier League, when Chelsea faced Manchester City and Arsenal, they lowered their posture to defend against counterattacks more than once.

What is there to doubt about something that is expected and often happens?

Even Chelsea fans at home feel that the current offensive and defensive situation of the two teams on the field is very reasonable.

They are used to their team's style of play that gives away possession of the ball first.

Li Ang has almost retreated to his own defensive third zone, and Hazard and De Bruyne have also shrunk their positions.

At the moment, the only one at the front of Chelsea's formation is Ibrahimovic. If this is not a defensive counterattack, what else can it be?

Except for the threatening counterattack at the beginning of the game that almost broke the balance of the game, Chelsea made no other moves and huddled in the backcourt and defended resolutely.

Li Ang's interception made it difficult for Bayern's midfielders and frontcourt players to play on the offensive penetration end.

But also because of his honest defense, the vigilance of these Bayern players was greatly reduced.

This continued until the first 10 minutes of the first half. The Bayern players, who had almost completely controlled the rhythm of the game, finally couldn't help it and pressed forward again!

At this time, Chelsea's counterattack was relatively fragmented. On two occasions, Kroos chose to pass the ball directly to the wing. After Bayern took precautions, the effect was greatly reduced.

This counterattack style with no efficiency at all has puzzled many Chelsea fans.

After all, they are the ones who have watched the most Chelsea games this season, and there are few neutral fans who understand Chelsea's current tactical style better than them.

The ball can be given away, and the ball possession data can be ugly.

But Chelsea has always paid great attention to the competition for space and controlling the efficiency of counterattacks.

So Chelsea's current tactics are very strange to many Chelsea fans.

So much so that they all wondered whether the experience of losing to Bayern last year affected Mourinho and made him make the wrong tactical decision in this game.

Neutral fans won't think so much.

Seeing that Bayern is now controlling the rhythm of the game and constantly attacking Chelsea, they will only tease Chelsea on the Internet for being a coward again.

This nickname is full of malice.

But Chelsea still went its own way on the field, playing very passively, but the defense was quite solid.

Bertrand played quite well on the defensive end today.

It is actually not easy for him to compete one-on-one with Gotze.

But compared to the offensive and defensive battle with Robben on the wing during this period last year, it is obviously much easier to defend Gotze this year.

In the penalty area, Terry also breathed a sigh of relief.

Lewandowski is no longer a nobody, he is now a household name as a top center in European football.

In terms of scoring efficiency, he is much better than Bayern's main center Mandzukic last season.

But in terms of offensive aggressiveness, he can't compare with Mandzukic. At least Terry is more willing to compete with Lewandowski.

The Polish center is very smart and knows the trade-offs.

If he can't be tough, he will choose to move and get involved.

Mandzukic is too tough and his confrontation ability is stronger. Terry suffered a lot from the Croatian center last year.

Now that Lewandowski's performance is suppressed, Muller's forward threat will be reduced by half.

Coupled with the fact that Li Ang also increased the intensity of marking Muller after his retreat, Bayern's threat in Chelsea's defensive hinterland can be said to have been greatly reduced.

In all things, I am afraid of comparison.

Last year's Bayern center position had two hard points, which were really hard on Chelsea's defense!

The combination of Robbery on the wing is in good condition, and they can play with both wings and threaten to catch up with the Mourinho style Real Madrid of 2013.

In this offensive environment, Muller has too much room to play.

Now that the center can't hold his position, and Gotze on the right can't open up the situation, the only frontcourt teammate Muller can count on is Ribery.

Anyway, Li Ang felt that if he were Mueller, he would be somewhat unable to hold back at this time.

Of course, the difficulties Muller has to face are still not as good as those faced by Li Ang last year.

At that time, if Li Ang advanced to attack, the midfielder's defense would not be stable.

If we retreat to defend, Lampard in front will not be able to support Chelsea's offensive system.

In the end, Li Ang and the entire Chelsea were beaten by Bayern in passive defense.

At that time, Li Ang was really helpless.

But now with Cross's assistance, Li Ang no longer has such worries.

He is actually serious about retreating to defend now, but it does not mean that the Chelsea team will always stay in the backcourt and be beaten passively.

The retracement of his position is also Chelsea's biggest tactical bait.

If Li Ang doesn't move forward, what kind of threatening offensive can Chelsea play on the counterattack?

This is actually a very fatal misunderstanding.

Cross's two long-pass counterattacks in the backcourt failed to achieve good results, which seemed to further highlight Li Ang's important role in the counterattack.

Neutral fans believed it, many Chelsea fans believed it, and now, the Bayern players on the field also gradually believe this conclusion.

It seems that as long as Li Ang does not move, Bayern's defense will not face too big a test.

Thiago is becoming more and more involved on the offensive end.

His ability to read the game is still very strong, but now faced with the temptation of defeating Li Ang, he has gradually lost his coolness.

When he was targeted by Leon at Barcelona, ​​he had almost no performance experience. It was like a thorn in his head that he has not been able to remove over the years.

In order to prove himself, Thiago came to Bayern at the suggestion of Guardiola and the invitation of Pellegrini, and quickly became the new midfield core of the Bundesliga hegemony.

Now that the opportunity to defeat the opponent he could only look up to is so close, Thiago just wants to seize it!

Maybe this doesn't prove that he is better than Li Ang, but at least the grudge in his heart will be eliminated after this game.

In high spirits, the confident Thiago even ran towards Chelsea's defensive third with the ball.

This is an offensive signal, and Bayern's frontcourt players have become more excited and active than before.

But this time, Chelsea did not retreat quickly and tighten the fence as before.

On the contrary, the midfield defense line headed by Li Ang directly took the initiative to meet him!

Diego was shocked, and his first reaction was to quickly split the ball.

It's not like he doesn't have the courage to pass the ball forward, but at this time Chelsea is obviously going to speed up on the defensive end, so there is nothing wrong with passing the ball safely.

Ribery successfully received Thiago's pass, but he was also surprised by the decisiveness of Chelsea's defense.

He was still pulling the ball and turned around, but Azpilicueta had already rushed in front of him!

The confrontation between the two came very quickly!

In this kind of close-range fight, it is difficult for Ribery to use his technical advantage.

Azpilicueta failed to steal the ball directly, but he also directed the ball towards the center of the midfield.

The football rolled towards Thiago's direction, and Li Ang rushed out immediately, but looking at the distance, it was obvious that Thiago had the advantage.

However, after Li Ang increased his speed, he decisively chose to fall to the ground and shovel!

Thiago, who had not yet received the ball, felt his heart pounding when he saw the scene in front of him.

All the memories of the past seemed to come flooding back to me.

In those memories, he had no upper hand in the match against Li Ang.

The familiar vicious tackle reappeared, and subconsciously, Thiago chose to jump to avoid it!

Li Ang seemed to have not expected that his tackle would cause Thiago to give up control of the ball so decisively.

But after being surprised, his second reaction was faster.

After getting up and chasing the football, Li Ang seemed to be about to show off his prowess on the counterattack. Amazing cheers erupted at Stamford Bridge.

The severe form of the game forced Bastian Schweinsteiger and Muller, who was returning to defense, to immediately use a pincer defense against Leon!

But it was also at this moment that Li Ang chose to score the ball!

Instead of driving the football forward with a big kick, he gently pushed the ball towards the center of the midfield.

To everyone's surprise, the person who responded to Li Ang's pass turned out to be Kroos, who had been staying in the midfield and backfield to assist with defense and send long counterattack passes!

Cross was thrusting forward very resolutely at this moment, and there was no jerky movement at all.

Obviously, this is one of Chelsea's very familiar counterattack routines!

Just because it’s used less on the playing field doesn’t mean Chelsea practices less in private.

And countless Bayern fans suddenly remembered something at this moment.

Kroos can be a good midfield metronome, and his performance at Chelsea for more than half a year has proven that he has the potential to become the best No. 8 midfielder in football.

But both Heynckes and Mourinho now have a very high evaluation of Kroos.

That's what Cross is best at is playing as an attacking midfielder. He is a natural core, a natural top ten position!

Cross, who had not been alone with the ball for a long time, felt ripples in his heart.

Yes, he has accepted Mourinho's tactical changes since coming to Chelsea.

But in his heart, the desire to move forward never disappeared.

Mourinho understands him, and Li Ang also understands him, so in today's game, they gave him the opportunity to show it to Bayern in person.

In last year's summer window, what exactly did Bayern let go!

Extremely calm observation, his speed is not particularly fast but it also opens up enough passing positions for him.

After stretching his body, Cross slightly swung his left leg and sent a precise long diagonal pass from half height!

The speed of his long pass cannot match Li Ang's fast long pass, but the accuracy is even better!

Bernat had pressed too hard before and had to chase back in embarrassment, but De Bruyne did not give him the slightest chance to catch up with him.

Facing the long pass sent by Kroos, De Bruyne headed the ball a little, and then decisively cut inside and entered Bayern's penalty area!

Ibrahimovic directly diverted Boateng's defensive attention in the middle of the penalty area.

Benatia quickly came over to defend at this time, but De Bruyne had already swung his legs hard and swept the football towards the back of Bayern's penalty area!

Neuer moved quickly and went to the ground to save!

But Hazard, who broke through Bayern's defense, had already kicked the ball into Bayern's goal in advance!

Chelsea stabbed Bayern with a trademark quick counterattack!

But this time, Li Ang did not become the counterattack protagonist that Bayern was wary of.

He used his body as a bait to create an excellent opportunity for Kroos to move forward.

But at this moment, the smile on his face became a cold sneer in the eyes of countless Bayern fans!

Mourinho used Li Ang as a tactical bait, and Chelsea also used patience to build a tactical trap.

A full 20 minutes of defensive paralysis made Bayern take off their guard, and now Bayern has completely lost the initiative in the game!

The live broadcast camera playfully turned to Bayern's bench at this moment.

When Robben's frowning image appeared in the live broadcast, all Bayern fans couldn't hold back.

"Please ask Dutch Peter Pan to help!"