Young Football Player

After the 26th round of the Soviet Super League, the Europa League knockout round officially arrived.

On February 15th, the Dundee United team came to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, one day earlier to prepare for the Europa League match tomorrow night.

From the Henri Coanda Airport in Bucharest to the time of check-in at the hotel, Dundee United received a "warm welcome" from the Romanian people.

The European knockout rounds, even if it's just the Europa League, are just as hot.

Steaua Bucharest is the undoubted overlord of the Romanian League, the team that has won the most championships in the Romanian First Division.

At the peak of their careers in the 1980s, they once created an exaggerated record of 104 unbeaten domestic league games. More importantly, they were also very competitive in the Champions League at the time, reaching the semi-finals three times, the final twice and winning the championship once in four years.

The 1985/86 season was the first time that Steaua Bucharest reached the final of the Champions League. Their opponent in the final was Barcelona in La Liga, and Barcelona still had half a home court advantage, because the Champions League final was held in Pishou, Seville, Spain. Held at the Ann Stadium.

That year's final was a dull game, with neither team able to create any good chances in 120 minutes, so it entered a magical penalty shootout.

It's really amazing, Steaua Bucharest's first four kickers only scored two, and they won the championship ahead of schedule.

It's easy to calculate, because Barcelona missed all four free throws, so Steaua Bucharest won the championship one round ahead of schedule with a penalty score of 2:0.

There was a penalty shootout and the final score was 2:0, which is really beyond words.

In any case, relying on the penalty shootout with the fewest goals in the history of European wars, Steaua Bucharest won the Champions League, and then relying on this Champions League, they successfully defeated Dynamo Kyiv in the European Super Cup. Win the championship.

And the Bucharest Star at that time was not a flash in the pan. Two years later, in the 87/88 season, they reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, but lost to Benfica.

Immediately after a year later, Steaua Bucharest reached the Champions League final again, and this time they lost 0:4 to AC Milan in the final.

In general, Steaua Bucharest was a very competitive team in Eastern Europe in the 1980s, and it was also the first Eastern European team to win the Champions League.

It is worth mentioning that another Eastern European team that won the UEFA Champions League also has a star in their name, the Belgrade Red Star. They won the championship in 1991, and they also scored a goalless goal in 120 minutes. They won through a penalty shootout. .

Of course, the penalty shootout this time was not so dramatic. The Red Star won 5:3, a very normal penalty shootout score.

And these two Eastern European teams that won the Champions League, their main central defenders have the same player, the Romanian Miodrag Beldlodi, the first player in history to follow two different teams to win the Champions League. Champions League champions.

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On February 16, at 10:30 p.m. local time in Romania, the first round of the Europa League knockout round of the top 32 will begin.

The start time of the European competition is uniformly stipulated in accordance with Central European Time, so it will cause the start of the Eastern European region to be late.

As the overlord of Romania, a former Champions League champion team, Steaua Bucharest fans also have their own pride.

They obviously didn't pay much attention to Dundee United, a small Scottish team, and they pulled up all kinds of huge victory slogan banners at home.

Apparently, Steaua Bucharest fans felt that putting on a bloodbath for Dundee United at home was what their team should do.

"I think that if the strength of the two teams is compared, Dundee United has a slight advantage, but it is not obvious." The Scottish commentator has a different view.

"The only hidden danger for Dundee United at the moment is that,

The core of their team, Bruce Lee, is not in very good condition, which may cause some variables in the game. "

"In this season's Europa League qualifying stage, Lee completed a hat-trick. In the group stage, Lee had three goals and three assists. Lee is the biggest contributor to Dundee United's ability to enter the Europa League knockout round. If he does not perform well , Dundee United is likely to attack misfire."

At the beginning of the game, Dundee United kept their stance very low and focused on defensive counterattacks. After all, they were at their home court.

The Stars also have a sense of ownership, and they pressed up at the beginning. They really didn't take Dundee United too seriously.

But after more than 20 minutes of the game, the Dundee United players began to realize that the Romanian's offensive was actually quite constipated.

Looking at the lively fight, in fact, that's all there is to it, and there is no way to create too threatening opportunities.

Under such circumstances, Dundee United began to fight back.

In the 31st minute, Li Chenglong dribbled the ball from the right and counterattacked quickly. After the midfielder played a two-on-one with David Robertson, he went to the frontcourt and directly cut inside to hit the goal.

Although the ball hit the side net in the end, Li Chenglong felt that it was okay, not too much.

In the 39th minute, Vardy got a one-handed chance by counterattacking Zhong Yue's through pass, but was bravely resolved by the opponent's goalkeeper Cyprian Tatarusanu's decisive attack.

At the end of the first half, the two teams temporarily ended with a score of 0:0.

In the locker room of the visiting team in midfield, Peter Houston began to encourage everyone: "Our counterattack should be more decisive. Their strength is not strong. We should change our strategy appropriately, and it is best to take away a victory from the away game."

Before the start of the game, Peter Houston still said that he should be conservative, not losing an away game is enough.

But halfway through the game, he apparently changed his mind.

The Steaua Bucharest team was obviously dissatisfied with their offensive constipation in the first half. At the beginning of the second half, they made a midfield adjustment.

Obviously, they want to step up their offensive and try to win the game at home.

As a result, Dundee United had more chances to counterattack.

In the 58th minute, the Stars failed to attack again. After stealing the ball, David Robertson directly transferred it to Li Chenglong.

The ball passed between the opponent's two central defenders, and Vardy was already circling to catch the ball.

As long as Vardy catches the ball, it is another one-shot.

The opponent obviously knew this too, so their goalkeeper Tatarusanu decisively chose to attack, abandoned the goal and rushed to the outside of the penalty area, clearing the ball in advance.

Li Chenglong, who sent a long-distance through pass, was still in his own half. Seeing the opponent make an early clearance, the ball flew towards the midfield.

So he ran two steps forward, and in the middle circle, swinging his leg to meet the ball was a straight shot with his instep.

The ball drew a curved arc in the air and flew towards the goal.

The nearest star team midfielder Tanase tried to jump up and block it with his head, but he couldn't reach it, and the ball flew over.

The Portuguese defender Alves in the opponent's backcourt jumped up directly and hit the ball with his hands, but he still couldn't touch it because he was at the highest position of the ball arc.

The reason why they are so anxious is because they know that the goalkeeper has already come out, and as long as the ball hits the goal, it will definitely score.

After passing over the heads of the two, the ball landed squarely in front of the goal and flew into the goal after bouncing off the ground.

"Goooooooooal~~~~~~" The Scottish commentator let out a long roar.

"Bruce Lee~~~~Ultra-long-distance hanging door~~~Ultra-long-distance hanging door!!!"

"The opponent's goalkeeper attacked rashly, and Li immediately seized the opportunity to hit a super long-distance hanging goal. Standing in the middle circle, he directly scored the goal!!"

"This is talent!! This is genius!! This is Bruce Lee!!"

Lee Chenglong, who scored the goal, rushed to the sidelines and was immediately embraced by Peter Houston who rushed past. Soon the coaching staff and players celebrated wildly on the sidelines.

After reaching the knockout stage, Peter Huston seemed to become more excitable.

But at this time the Romanian commentator was also explaining to his players.

"Tatarusanu's attack is not a big problem. Under any circumstances, don't easily give the opponent's striker a single-handed chance. It is correct for him to attack and make a clearance."

"But he shouldn't have cleared the ball towards midfield, he should have cleared towards the touchline so it's safe."

"Of course, the opponent's midfielder also has a keen sense of smell. He immediately sensed this and scored goals easily."

Romania's commentary is indeed more pertinent. The problem with the attack and clearance is not a big problem. The only mistake is that the clearance went to the midfield.

Maybe the opponent didn't want to give a frontcourt sideline ball, so they made such a choice.