Chapter 114 The Spoiler

Villarreal coach Pellegrini is not well-known in Europe, because he has coached in Chile and Argentina before. The first team he coached was his parent team, the University of Chile, but after an order After a disappointing performance, he left Chile's biggest football club.

After that, he went to Palestino, O'Higgins and other teams, but it was his successful experience in San Lorenzo, Argentina, that made him famous.

Last year, Pellegrini came to Europe for the first time out of South America, and took over the "yellow submarine" directly. When he came, he became the team's head coach almost in an airborne situation, and most people would be at a loss when they heard his name - no one in Spain would know the name of a Chilean coach.

But Pellegrini led the team well.

After nearly a season, Pellegrini's ability has been recognized by most people, and the third place in the Villarreal league alone is enough to satisfy the fans.

It's not just the top three in the league, but it can also give them an "amazing" Champions League spot.

However, Pellegrini is still not satisfied. Of course, winning a championship in the first season is called perfection. Perhaps his idea is similar to Wansheng. He is also aiming at the UEFA Cup, but it is a pity that Pellegrini has not How much confidence.

This Derby County team on the field really left him scratching his head.

Although the coaching time is much longer than Wansheng, in fact, Pellegrini is also leading the team to participate in European competitions for the first time. His knowledge of the English team comes from various reports and news. It was the first time the team met.

He did a lot of preparation.

Before the first round, he knew that Derby County was good at attacking, but as a result Derby County played a defensive counterattack, with a solid defense and a tough style. It really made Villarreal uncomfortable, and they lost to Derby County by one goal.

In the second round, Pellegrini made a lot of preparations, but as a result... Derby County's play was changed to a full-line attack? Are they going to play an offensive battle with Villarreal?

Pellegrini was completely at a loss.

He did not expect that in less than ten days, the opponent he faced had completely played two completely different types of styles, although before the first round, the team had already done a good job of playing against Derby County. ready, but now they are not. They thought it would be an offense versus defense.

What to do now?

Derby County scored again, with the team already two goals behind.

Pellegrini knew that this was not the time to be stunned. When the game resumed, he stood on the sidelines and shouted at the players, "Go on! Go on!"

He wants to boost the morale of the players and put the team in a head-to-head match against Derby County.

But this kind of temporary tactical adjustment can be imagined just by relying on the morale strategy. Although Pellegrini’s shouts are not small, the Villarreal players still don’t know what to do on the field. Do.

Riquelme heard the coach's cry, and he also tried his best to organize the attack. But they didn't have time to make adjustments because the opponent kept pressing, even if they made a small mistake. The opponent will immediately take the ball away, followed by the opponent's offensive.

So they can only defend.

After a few times like this, Villarea has obviously become extremely passive!

They can't organize the attack, and the game has no rules, so they can only defend all the time. In such a game, they can't play the team's advantages at all, but they are completely suppressed by Derby County.

see this situation. Pellegrini knew it was his own mistake, and he felt very annoyed, but now there is nothing to make up for it.

Wan Sheng smiled when he saw this scene.

He did not expect that Villarreal would make such a big mistake. The opponent obviously did not have much preparation. He probably thought that the team would continue to play defensive counterattacks. As a result, the game became what it is now.

This is what Wansheng did not expect.

He originally thought that this game would be an offensive battle, and it was not so easy to win. Who knew that the opponent would make such a big mistake?

This also gave Wansheng an alert.

As a head coach, it is definitely a great responsibility. If there is a mistake in preparing for the game, then when it comes to the game, the team will be in chaos.

Fortunately, it was the other side who made the mistake.

The game is here. Even though the halftime didn't end, Wansheng knew that the outcome was no longer in suspense.

......

Just like Wansheng thought. Soon Derby County scored again.

This is in the 37th minute of the first half. Ribery made a straight pass on the left side. The football rolled to the middle. Morris followed and stabbed the ball to the right. Ivan Crewe followed and hit the goal!

The football goes straight to the far corner of the goal!

2:0!

"2:0! 2:0! Coupled with the goal in the last round, Derby County has led Villarreal 3:0 in the two rounds! There is no suspense! Now I dare to say that Derby County will definitely be able to win. Eliminate Villarreal!"

The on-site commentator shouted happily, "This is Ivan Crew's goal! Recently, Ivan Crew has been in very good shape. This is the 19th goal he has contributed to the team this season. In terms of total goals, he's close to catching up with Van der Vaart..."

"Van der Vaart scored more goals in the league, but unfortunately he was sidelined for a while, which made it difficult for him to compete with Arsenal striker Henry for the league's golden boot."

"But Arsenal only have one Henry, and we have Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe, and Burton Reiter and Kluivert who have been scoring goals a lot lately, and everyone in our frontcourt has done a great job. Maybe that's why we can occupy the top spot in the league..."

When it comes to the last point, the on-site commentator seems a little intoxicated.

That's the first in the league!

In the summer, Derby County fans only thought that the team could avoid relegation. How dare they think about competing for the top spot in the league? At that time, the head coach Wan Sheng said that he wanted to compete for the European competition spot, but the media called him the title of "arrogant", but thinking about it now, Wan Sheng's goal was quite "conservative" at that time.

Perhaps Wansheng should have told those media at that time, "Our goal is to be champions!"

Champion, champion...haha!

......

There was little suspense in the game after Ivan Crewe helped Derby County score the third goal of the lead. A three-goal lead was enough to make Villarreal desperate.

That's three goals!

Now Villarreal is still in a very passive situation. It is too difficult to get back three goals, especially their style of play is restrained by Derby County - at least they think so, they For Derby County's pressing defense, there is really nothing to do. It is impossible for the head coach Pellegrini to come up with a response strategy so quickly, so in the second half, the situation between the two sides has not changed.

A skilled Spanish team is behind the score. Still being suppressed across the board, this kind of game gives Villarreal no hope.

Even if the head coach Pellegrini shouted on the sidelines to cheer up the players, being suppressed means being suppressed. How much fighting spirit can be raised in this case?

As you can imagine.

The results are also conceivable.

Finally, in the 79th minute of the second half, relying on the header of the captain Marcus, Derby County expanded the score again, and the result of the two rounds was finally fixed at 4:0.

Derby County eliminated Villarreal with a big score and came close to the UEFA Cup semi-finals!

The next day, other UEFA Cup matches also had results. Sporting Lisbon eliminated Schalke 04 and entered the semi-finals. They became Derby County's opponents in the semi-finals.

Sporting Lisbon is a giant in Portugal.

Their real name is "Portugal Athletic Club". Nicknamed "Lion" or "Green and White Legion", but due to historical reasons, people outside Portugal are used to calling it "Sporting Lisbon". The club also intended to rectify its own name, but later found that it was too difficult and had to accept the fact that the internal and external names were different.

Sporting Lisbon In 1902, Viscount Holt Leiman, the first club president, borrowed money and land from his grandfather, and proposed the formation of a team. At that time, it was called "Villas Sporting Club", which was renamed "Savannah" in 1904. Athletic Club", which has been changed to "Portugal Athletic Club" since 1906.

Sporting Lisbon has long been one of Portugal's top three, with more than 90,000 members. Sporting Lisbon has been at the top of the Portuguese league since the 1930s, with the worst result being fifth.

However, their performance has not been good recently, and their performance in domestic and foreign competitions has been declining day by day. Not only has the total number of domestic league championships been surpassed by Porto Football Club, they are only ranked at the bottom of the top three, and there is only one European Cup Winners Cup champion in European competitions. Far behind Benfica and Porto, who have won the European Cup respectively.

Same with Benfica. Sporting Lisbon also has a number of sports teams. Sporting Lisbon's youth training base is one of the best in the world. It has cultivated Luis Figo, the soul of Portugal's golden generation, and the Portuguese star who is now playing for Manchester United. Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sporting Lisbon is a serious opponent.

Wan Sheng was interviewed when the results of the semi-final match came out. He said clearly, "They (Sporting Lisbon) are opponents that need to be dealt with seriously. If you are careless, you are likely to lose..."

Hearing these words, Portuguese media reporters were all smiles. They were happy to hear coaches from other countries praise their own teams, but Wansheng only said half of them, "...but if you take it seriously, you won't be able to beat them. It's not difficult!"

Immediately, the faces of the Portuguese journalists who were still smiling just now turned dark. They understood why there were always so many young Chinese people who were not likable.

Wansheng didn't care what they thought at all.

In fact, this is just the club's regular press conference. He came here to answer the last two questions, and then he can leave directly.

It's totally a job requirement.

He didn't do it specifically for interviews. During this time, he was completely unhappy about dealing with the media, because the team had reached the most critical moment!

At the most critical moment, you need to give 100% of your energy to deal with it!

That's... the fight for the championship!

On April 20, Derby County played away to Tottenham Hotspur and finally won by one goal at White Hart Lane.

Three days later, Derby County travel to Middlesbrough.

McLaren's team is currently ranked in the middle of the league, with no danger of relegation and no qualification for European competition. The remaining rounds of the league are like tasteless to them. It doesn't matter if they lose, and it doesn't matter if they win, but Middlesbrough didn't mean to 'take the water' at all, they defended the whole game, and from the first minute of the game they showed a 'to defend the whole game' spirit.

In the face of this kind of iron barrel-like defense, no team can do anything.

In the football world, there is a saying that 'crowd tactics are the best defensive tactics'. This is definitely a truth that can be put into the 'football bible'. In the face of Middlesbrough's insistence on defending the goal, Derby There is nothing the county can do.

In the end Middlesbrough held on to the draw.

After the game, Wan Sheng looked at McLaren with a wry smile and shook hands with him tightly, but the strength of his hand was a little too strong, making McLaren grit his teeth.

Wan Sheng almost asked, "Man, how much money did Chelsea give you to make you play so hard."

Of course, Wan Sheng is just complaining in his heart. In terms of changing positions, he will definitely make the team go all out.

This draw gave Chelsea hope of tying the points. At present, they are only two points away from Derby County. However, they have just experienced the battle with Bayern Munich and are preparing to face Liverpool's Chelsea. The exhaustion of the whole team can be imagined. , and more importantly, the opponent they have to face this round is still Arsenal.

As a result, Chelsea drew 0-0 against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in the second day's game.

They missed the perfect opportunity to tie the points.

Derby County was too late to be thankful for Chelsea's 'mistake'. Three days later, the 35th round of the league started, and Derby County played against Blackburn at home.

Blackburn are currently ranked 12th in the league. Like Middlesbrough, they belong to a team that has no worries about relegation and has no hope of competing for European places. The remaining rounds of the league are like tasteless to them, and their approach is similar to Middlesbrough. Different, this game Blackburn did not send the main lineup at all, and only used a semi-substitute lineup for the game.

According to Sky TV's George Woodgate's analysis, "Head coach Sonis made a wise choice because he knew that even with all the main players, the team would only lose at Pride Stadium. Since the results are the same, there is no need to waste energy..."

If Sonis heard what George Woodgate said, he would probably be angry and dispatch all the main force immediately. Of course, this was a comment during the game, and even if he knew it, it could only be after the game.

In the end, Derby County easily won the game 2:0.

At the same time Chelsea drew again, McLaren's Middlesbrough seemed to want to make up for the 'drawing with an old friend', so they worked hard for the whole game, and the result was an amazing 1:1 at Stamford Bridge. Draw against Chelsea.

As a result, the difference between Chelsea and Derby County widened to four points.

After the game, some media commented, "Middlesbrough is the biggest spoiler. They first let Derby County lose two points, and then Chelsea lost two points..."

However, the most authoritative statement is that Chelsea was dragged down by the UEFA Champions League, and the team's state has not recovered. On the one hand, Chelsea wanted to win the UEFA Champions League, and on the other hand, they wanted to win the league. Derbyshire is getting farther and farther.

With only three rounds left in the league, the four-point gap is deadly!

But it must be said that Chelsea still have a chance, because Derby County's final three rounds are difficult.

They have to face Arsenal, Manchester United, and another Portsmouth, who has to fight for relegation, will definitely go all out. Under such circumstances, it is not easy to win two games.

At this moment, almost all eyes in Europe are on the Premier League title race. (To be continued ~^~)