Super Marshal

Brogue Stadium in Leganes, southern suburbs of Madrid, Spain.

The second leg of the Champions League knockout round of 16.

The two teams, who fought fiercely for 90 minutes at the Parc Olympique in Lyon a week ago, and finally had to shake hands and make a draw, met again at the Brogue Stadium in Leganes, but by this time, the situations of the two teams were completely different. It’s different.

In the past weekend, Lyon lost 2-0 to Nancy in an away game. They suffered two consecutive losses in Ligue 1. They failed to score in both games and conceded a net of six goals. This caused Lyon's league ranking to decline again. Ranked seventh in the league, young coach Garde, who took charge of the first team for the first time this season, suffered the strongest crisis of confidence since coaching.

On the other hand, in Chinatown, after playing Lyon away from home, they returned to Spain and welcomed Zaragoza, the deputy squad leader, at the Broc Stadium.

Pochettino rotated the team and arranged for many young players including Firmino, De Bruyne, Isco and Koke to start. However, after conceding a goal at home, he forced Won against Zaragoza five to one.

What is even more commendable is that these five goals came from five different players. Isco and Pelle both passed and shot, and Danilo, Varane and Firmino all scored. .

The five-to-one reversal of Zaragoza won the Chinatown team's young players unanimous praise from the outside media and fans. Pochettino's team also showed strong offensive momentum. Pellet was on the ball. The role within the team has also been recognized and affirmed by everyone.

They equalized the score in the away game in the Champions League and returned to home against Zaragoza with a big score, which boosted the confidence of everyone in Chinatown.

At the beginning of the game, Chinatown launched a fierce offensive against Lyon, especially on the left.

Hazard and Alba cooperated very skillfully and tacitly on the left. The Spanish left back boldly pressed forward from the beginning and actively participated in the attack. Hazard also kept moving flexibly on the left and center. In addition, Rakitic was very active in the middle, and Chinatown launched a stormy attack at the beginning.

In the ninth minute, Hazard relied on his outstanding personal ability. After receiving a pass from Alba on the left, he dribbled the ball horizontally to the edge of the penalty area. After getting rid of Lyon midfielder Gonaron, he took off directly. The curve ball hit the goal and opened the scoring for Chinatown.

The goal ignited the excitement at Broker Stadium.

After the goal, Chinatown continued to attack for a while, and soon consciously stabilized the defense and allowed Lyon to attack.

They lost two games in a row in the league. They were held to a 1-1 draw at home in the first leg of the Champions League, and the opponent was given an away goal. However, in the away game, they conceded the goal in nine minutes. This made everyone in Lyon feel anxious and the psychological pressure increased sharply. .

But as a result, after Lyon began to increase its offensive, Chinatown held firm and counterattacked.

In the 22nd minute, Chinatown seized an opportunity to launch a counterattack. Pellet received a long pass from the backcourt and headed the ball to Hazard. The Belgian directly pushed the ball and passed the ball diagonally behind the Lyon defense. Bameyan tore apart Lyon's defense like a bolt of lightning, caught up with the ball and then pushed the ball to score.

With two consecutive goals, Lyon was completely stunned.

Garde also had no good solution for the team's situation. He replaced two players at halftime with the intention of launching a crazy counterattack against Chinatown. However, Pochettino was obviously well prepared for this and quickly gave up. Come up with countermeasures and continue to defend and counterattack.

Lyon gritted his teeth with hatred for Chinatown's targeted tactics. He wanted to press forward and attack, but he was afraid of being counterattacked and was timid.

On the other hand, Chinatown had two goals in hand, took the initiative on the scene, and dealt with it with ease.

In the 69th minute, teenager Morata came on as a substitute, replacing center Pellet, who had played the main game in two consecutive games.

Soon afterwards, Hazard, who had made one pass and one shot in the game, was replaced by Firmino. De Bruyne also came on to replace Herrera. Pochettino obviously wanted to train these young players.

Until the 84th minute, the Chinatown midfielder continued to play wonderful cooperation. De Bruyne and Rakitic continued to hit the wall. Rakitic passed the ball diagonally from the right, and Aubameyang succeeded in countering offside. The ball surged along the right wing and passed across the right side of the penalty area to the goal. Morata, who came on as a substitute, quickly followed up and scored in front of the goal.

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"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"

The long sound of the goal came over the broadcast at Bullock Stadium, but was quickly drowned out by the frantic shouts from the field.

Three to zero! Morata scored his first Champions League goal!

All the Chinatown players rushed to the sidelines. Morata, the hero of the goal, was so excited that he wanted to take off his shirt, but he was quickly grabbed by his teammates who caught up with him.

"Haha, at this time, Morata should calm down and don't let himself get a yellow card."

All the fans in the audience cheered.

Three to zero, it can basically be said that Chinatown has safely advanced!

Champions League quarterfinals!

That's the quarterfinals of the Champions League!

Pochettino also seemed extremely excited on the sidelines, pumping his fists and shouting constantly to vent his inner excitement.

He made the right bet and made the right decision!

The Copa del Rey final and the Champions League quarter-finals, these two heavy transcripts are the strongest and most powerful counterattacks against all those who doubted him.

But this is not enough, not nearly enough.

This series of outstanding results gave Chinatown courage and gave Pochettino confidence. Next, he has to compete in the quarterfinals and return to the top four in the league. He has to achieve better results than last season and all previous seasons. Better results.

Thinking of this, Pochettino suddenly felt filled with passion and couldn't help but scream to the sky.

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"Three to zero, that's it!"

After Gao Han saw Morata scoring a goal, his first reaction was to laugh, and then he laughed.

With a total score of four to one, Chinatown has basically advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals, and Pochettino has also exceeded the club's expected goals.

At this time, the live TV camera came to the sidelines, and Pochettino's excited look with his hands clenched in fists and roaring to the sky was clearly shown in front of the live TV camera.

After Zidane saw it, he shook his head and laughed, "He must have been holding back enough for a while."

"Who says it isn't?" Sergio Garcia also laughed. "When the team ranked eleventh, how much pressure there was. Just wait and see. The group of people who scolded him at the beginning The media reporters will probably praise Pochettino tomorrow morning and praise him for how wise and correct his original decision was."

"The media are so pissed." Makelele shook his head.

Modern professional football and the media are already an inseparable symbiosis. The two industries complement each other and are interdependent. However, the core purpose of the media is to promote sales, so they will do whatever they can to cater to readers.

Making stars and destroying stars has become a common method used by the media in treating professional football.

For example, in the UK, football stars are idols across the country, and the media will always try their best to package some players who perform well. This is why England always produces talented young players in large numbers, and the players' values ​​are generally high. But packaging can be done to a certain extent. , this sheep has been raised and fattened, and then it can be slaughtered.

Every year, countless players become famous and destroyed in the media hype, and the media obtains an endless supply of hype material from them. Authoritative newspapers such as The Times and The Guardian are relatively good, but gossip newspapers such as The Sun are the main force.

This is true in the UK, and it is similar in Spain where Chinatown is located.

"Some people say that money is a man's courage, and performance is the confidence of a head coach. I believe that after this period of experience, Pochettino will become more mature and more confident, and this season will be his career A new peak depends on his own destiny, how high he can reach and how far he can go."

Gao Han is also very disgusted with the behavior of the media, but this is the general environment, which cannot be changed by one person, a team, or even an industry. As a head coach, the only thing you can do is to learn and adapt to it. In the end, Take advantage of it.

Chinatown's ability to reach this point this season is considered extraordinary. One of the lucky things is that the team's luck in the draw is good. From the group stage to the knockout round of the top 16, several opponents are about the same strength as Chinatown. This made Chinatown, the new Champions League team, have a tough time, but they fought hard all the way.

But what you are going to encounter next are tough ones.

The quarterfinals of the Champions League are definitely a test of a team's strength.

However, after Chinatown has been tempered in the Champions League this season, its overall strength has improved greatly. Several young players in the team are also growing rapidly. Coupled with Pochettino's maturity, I believe Chinatown's future will be bright.

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The 3-0 victory over Lyon earned Chinatown rave reviews, with head coach Pochettino and frontcourt core Hazard winning countless applause and praise.

Three days after playing Lyon, Chinatown once again welcomed the Madrid Southern Derby.

The two sides won the first leg 3-2 at home in Chinatown. Getafe wanted revenge. Just in time for Chinatown's bloody battle with Lyon in the middle of the week, Luis Garcia wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to take a big advantage.

Not to mention the result, he really picked it up.

Castro's goal in the 42nd minute gave Getafe a temporary lead.

But what really worried people was the two yellow cards Isco and Firmino received in the first half. Both young players were obviously not calm and rational enough. Pochettino decisively replaced them at halftime. As a result , Chinatown was completely revitalized in the second half.

Herrera, who replaced Isco, took the lead in equalizing the score for Chinatown. Then Hazard assisted from the left, and Illarramendi took the lead. Finally, it was an assist from defender Carvajal, allowing Hazard to score. The third ball.

In the end, Chinatown reversed Getafe 3-1 in the away game, completing a season double defeat against their southern rivals.

A week later, Chinatown welcomed Levante.

This team is currently ranked fifth in La Liga, one position ahead of Chinatown. The two teams are currently very close to fourth-ranked Valencia, and they are both strong contenders for the top four in the league.

Therefore, Chinatown was carefully prepared for this game. In the end, at the Broker Stadium, with Aubameyang's goal in the 51st minute, they defeated Levante 1-0. The assist was from the left. Azar.

This victory allowed Chinatown's league ranking to rise again, surpassing Levante and climbing to fifth place in the league, only one point away from Valencia, which is fourth in the league.

Emery's Bat Corps performed very unsatisfactorily in this round. With a two-goal lead, they were forced to pull back two goals from Real Mallorca. The original three points turned into one point, which is indeed depressing.

After the twenty-seventh round, Chinatown relied on this three-game winning streak to rise in the league rankings, finally seizing the top four in the league again, and the competition with Valencia has completely entered a fierce stage.

The team's top scorer Aubameyang also tied with Torres with 16 goals, second only to Messi and Higuain. Among them, Higuain scored 18 goals, but Messi was the best. , scored 33 goals, locking the La Liga top scorer in advance.

Three days after the 27th round of La Liga, the knockout rounds of the Champions League top 16 were all over.

The next day, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, the draw for the Champions League quarter-finals was held as scheduled.