Chapter 970 Champions League Quarterfinals
Leganes Blok Stadium, southern suburbs of Madrid, Spain.
The second round of the Champions League round of 16 knockout match.
The two teams that fought fiercely for 90 minutes at Lyon Olympic Park Stadium a week ago and finally had to shake hands met again at Leganes Blok Stadium, but at this time, the two teams' situations were completely different.
Last weekend, Lyon lost 0-2 to Nancy away from home, suffered two consecutive defeats in Ligue 1, and failed to score in both games, conceding six goals, which made Lyon's league ranking drop to seventh place in the league again. The young coach Garde, who took charge of the first team for the first time this season, suffered the strongest crisis of confidence since he took over as a coach.
On the other hand, after playing against Lyon away, Chinatown returned to Spain and welcomed the deputy leader Zaragoza at the Blok Stadium.
Pochettino rotated the team and arranged for many young players including Firmino, De Bruyne, Isco and Koke to start, but they lost a goal at home and won Zaragoza 5-1.
What is even more commendable is that these five goals came from five different players. Isco and Pelle each scored one goal and one assist. Danilo, Varane and Firmino all scored.
The 5-1 reversal against Zaragoza has made the young players in the Chinatown team praised by the outside media and fans. Pochettino's team has also shown a strong offensive momentum, and Pelle's role in the team has also been recognized and affirmed by everyone.
Equalizing the score in the Champions League away game and returning to the home court to reverse Zaragoza by a large score has boosted the confidence of Chinatown.
At the beginning of the game, Chinatown launched a fierce attack on Lyon, especially on the left.
Hazard and Alba cooperated very skillfully 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 the middle. In addition, Rakitic was very active in the middle. Chinatown started with a stormy attack.
In the ninth minute, Hazard, with his outstanding personal ability, received a pass from Alba on the left, dribbled the ball horizontally to the front of the penalty area, shook off Lyon's midfielder Gonalon, and kicked the ball directly, hitting the goal with an arc, opening the scoring for Chinatown.
This goal ignited the enthusiasm of the Bullock Stadium.
After scoring, Chinatown attacked for a while, and soon consciously stabilized the defense to let Lyon attack.
After two consecutive defeats in the league, the first round of the Champions League was tied at home 1-1, and the opponent was given an away goal. When they were away, they lost the ball in nine minutes, which made Lyon feel anxious and the psychological pressure increased dramatically.
But in the end, after Lyon began to increase its offensive, Chinatown defended and counterattacked steadily.
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 pushed the ball diagonally behind the Lyon defense line. Aubameyang tore through Lyon's defense like a flash of lightning, caught up with the ball and pushed it into the goal.
With two consecutive goals, Lyon was completely stunned.
Garde was also at a loss for a good solution to the team's situation. During the halftime break, he replaced two players in one breath, intending to launch a crazy counterattack against Chinatown, but Pochettino was obviously prepared for this and quickly gave a countermeasure to continue the defense and counterattack.
Lyon's targeted tactics against Chinatown were gnashing their teeth. They wanted to press forward to attack, but they were afraid of being counterattacked and were timid.
On the other hand, Chinatown, with two goals in hand, also took the initiative on the field and handled it with ease.
In the 69th minute, young player Morata came on as a substitute, replacing center Pellet, who had played the main game for two consecutive games.
Soon after, Hazard, who had one pass and one shot in this game, was replaced by Firmino, and De Bruyne also replaced Herrera. Pochettino obviously wanted to train these young players.
Until the 84th minute, Chinatown's midfielder played a series of wonderful cooperation. De Bruyne and Rakitic played against the wall continuously. Rakitic passed the ball diagonally to the right. Aubameyang successfully countered the offside and rushed along the right with the ball. He passed the ball to the front of the goal on the right side of the penalty area. Morata, who came on as a substitute, quickly followed up and scored in front of the goal.
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"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!"
The long sound of the goal came out on the broadcast of the Bullock Stadium, but it was soon drowned out by the crazy shouts on the scene.
3-0! Morata scored his first goal in the Champions League!
All the Chinatown players rushed to the sidelines. Morata, the goal scorer, was so excited that he was about to take off his shirt, but was quickly held back by his teammates who caught up with him.
"Haha, at this time, Morata should be calm, don't let yourself get a yellow card."
All the fans in the stadium cheered.
3-0, Chinatown can basically be said to have advanced safely!
Champions League quarterfinals!
That's the Champions League quarterfinals!
Pochettino also seemed extremely excited on the sidelines, constantly waving his fists and shouting over there, venting his inner excitement.
He made the right bet, and the decision he made was right!
The King's Cup final, the Champions League quarterfinals, these two heavy report cards are the strongest and most powerful counterattacks against all those who questioned him.
But this is far from enough, far from enough.
This series of outstanding results gave Chinatown the courage and Pochettino the confidence. Next, they will fight hard for the quarterfinals and return to the top four in the league. He will achieve better and better results than last season and all previous seasons.
Thinking of this, Pochettino suddenly felt full of passion and couldn't help but roar to the sky.
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"Three to zero, it's done!"
When Gao Han saw Morata's goal, his first reaction was to laugh, and then laugh loudly.
With a total score of four to one, Chinatown has basically advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and Pochettino has also exceeded the club's expected goals.
Just at this time, the TV live camera was on the sidelines, and Pochettino's excitement with his fists clenched and roaring to the sky was clearly presented in front of the TV live camera.
After seeing this, Zidane shook his head and laughed, "He must have been very depressed during this period."
"Who said it wasn't?" Sergio Garcia also laughed, "When the team ranks 11th, how much pressure it must be. You will see. The group of media reporters who scolded him at the beginning will probably sing praises to Pochettino tomorrow morning and praise how wise and correct his decision was at the beginning."
"The media are all like this." Makelele shook his head.
Modern professional football and the media have become inseparable symbionts. The two industries complement each other and depend on each other, but the core purpose of the media is to promote sales, so they will do everything they can to cater to readers.
Creating stars and destroying stars have become the media's never-ending means of dealing with professional football.
For example, in the UK, football stars are idols of the whole country, and the media always tries hard to package some players who perform well. This is why England always has talented young players and the players are generally expensive. But when the packaging reaches a certain level, the sheep is fattened up and can be slaughtered.
Every year, countless players become famous and destroyed in the media hype, and the media obtains an endless supply of hype materials from it. Authoritative newspapers such as the Times and the Guardian are relatively better, but gossip newspapers such as the Sun are the main force.
This is the case in the UK, and it is similar in Spain where Chinatown is located.
"Some people say that money is a man's courage, and results are 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 a new peak in his career. It depends on his own luck to see how high he can rush and how far he can go."
Gao Han is also very uncomfortable with the behavior of the media, but this is the general environment, which cannot be changed by one person, one team, or even one industry. As a head coach, the only thing he can do is to learn and adapt to it, and finally use it.
Chinatown has been able to reach this point this season, which is an extraordinary performance. One of the lucky points is that the team has good luck in the draw. From the group stage to the round of 16, the strength of several opponents is similar to that of Chinatown. This makes Chinatown, a newcomer to the Champions League, have a hard time, but it has fought all the way.
But the next ones to be encountered are all tough bones.
The Champions League quarterfinals is definitely a test of a team's strength.
However, after the tempering of the Champions League this season, Chinatown's overall strength has improved greatly. Several young players in the team are also growing rapidly. Coupled with Pochettino's maturity, I believe that Chinatown's future will be bright.
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The 3-0 victory over Lyon has won Chinatown a lot of praise, and head coach Pochettino and front-court core Hazard have won countless applause and praise.
Three days after playing Lyon, Chinatown once again ushered in the southern Madrid derby.
In the first round, Chinatown won 3-2 at home. Getafe wanted revenge, and Luis Garcia wanted to take advantage of Chinatown's midweek battle with Lyon.
As a result, he really got it.
Castro's goal in the 42nd minute helped Getafe temporarily take the lead.
But what really worried people was the two yellow cards of Isco and Firmino 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 to equalize the score for Chinatown, and then Hazard assisted from the left, Illarramendi overtook the score, and finally it was the assist from defender Carvajal that allowed Hazard to score the third goal.
In the end, Chinatown reversed Getafe 3-1 away and completed the season double kill against the southern opponent.
A week later, Chinatown ushered in Levante.
This team is currently ranked fifth in La Liga, one place ahead of Chinatown, and the two teams are currently very close to Valencia, which is ranked fourth, and are both strong contenders for the top four in the league.
Therefore, Chinatown was well prepared for this game. In the end, at the Bullock Stadium, with Aubameyang's goal in the 51st minute, they defeated Levante 1-0, assisted by Hazard on the left.
This victory allowed Chinatown to move up one place in the league rankings, surpassing Levante and climbing to fifth place in the league, only one point away from Valencia, which is fourth in the league.
Emery's Bats performed very poorly in this round. With a two-goal lead, Real Mallorca scored two goals in a row, and the original three points became one point, which was really depressing.
After the 27th round, Chinatown relied on this wave of three consecutive victories to rise in the league rankings, and finally caught the tail of the top four in the league again, and the competition with Valencia has completely entered a white-hot stage.
And 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 far ahead, scoring 33 goals, locking the La Liga top scorer throne in advance.
Three days after the 27th round of La Liga, the Champions League round of 16 knockout matches were all over.
The next day, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, the Champions League quarter-final draw was held as scheduled.