Chapter 988: Battle of Stamford Bridge (1)

On April 27, the Champions League semi-finals, which attracted worldwide attention, finally kicked off.

The first to start the battle are Barcelona and Real Madrid, who have the highest calls for the championship.

Real Madrid is the most successful team with the most Champions League titles, while Barcelona is the master of offensive football and is known as the European Dream Team.

These two teams gathered the world's top stars and were coached by superstar coaches. Therefore, this game was hailed by fans and the media as a battle between Mars and the Earth.

Even a friendly match between Real Madrid and Barcelona would be a bust, let alone such a crucial match.

The game was very brutal. Real Madrid center back Pepe was sent off for stepping on Alves, coach Mourinho was also sent off, and Barcelona substitute goalkeeper Pinto was also sent off for hitting someone.

Due to one less player, the steel defense built by Mourinho finally collapsed after the 70th minute. In the 77th minute, Messi scored a goal. Ten minutes later, Messi singled out Real Madrid's midfielder and the entire defense to complete the game. In the end, Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 2:0 away from home and reached the final with one foot.

The match between Real Madrid and Barcelona had a great impact on Chelsea, because Chelsea is a team that focuses on iron-blooded defense. Such a team is greatly affected by referees, and the referee standards are loose, so they will play very well. The referee If the standards are strict, they will not be able to express their own characteristics.

The person who officiated the battle between Manchester United and Chelsea was the Spaniard Malenko. This is not a good thing for Chelsea, because Spanish football is more delicate and the referee may be more strict in enforcing the law.

At the pre-match press conference, Ancelotti discussed the referee's enforcement standards in advance regarding the game between Barcelona and Real Madrid. He said that although Pepe should be sent off, Alves also had some elements of performance. Football matches It is a very intense sport. The referee's penalty scale has a great impact on the smoothness of the game. Players cannot be physically harmed, nor can the game be turned into a basketball game. The referee should master this scale.

Ferguson is also a veteran in football. He understood Ancelotti's intention as soon as he heard it, but he did not refute it, because Manchester United is not a technical team, and the penalty scale is loose, so there is no guarantee who will get an advantage.

The first leg of the semi-finals was played at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home ground. For Blues fans, this was a huge event.

Although since Abramovich took over Chelsea, Manchester United has not taken advantage of Chelsea and has been robbed of several league titles by Chelsea. However, what makes the Blues worried is the 2008 Champions League final. Chelsea lost to Manchester United on penalties and missed out. The first European championship in the club's history.

Although Chelsea's top management and coaches avoid talking about revenge,

They are worried that it will affect the mentality of the players, but the shadow of losing to Manchester United on penalty kicks in the Champions League final already exists in the minds of Chelsea players. It does not exist without talking about it. Some time ago, goalkeeper Cech publicly said: "Although the record says "Manchester United were the winners, but they didn't really win the 2008 final, they just had better luck than us in the penalty shootout."

For Blues fans, there is no scruple. A long time ago, Blues fans have clamored to avenge Manchester United at Stamford Bridge and regain their own Champions League championship.

The game started at 8:45 pm, but Blues fans from all over the world were waiting around Stamford Bridge in the afternoon, using various methods to cheer the team and intimidate the Manchester United people playing away games.

At 6:30 in the evening, the Stamford Bridge stadium opened and fans were allowed to enter in advance. The Blues fans who were originally surrounding the stadium immediately lined up at all exits and poured into the stadium.

At about eight o'clock, there were almost no empty seats in the stands at Stamford Bridge. Blues fans wore blue jerseys, held up scarves and team flags, and looked like a blue ocean from a distance.

Monkey, Xiao Le, Zhang Qi, and Chen Qiang also came to the scene with a group of Chinese fans.

This is a game related to Gao Xiaodong's success or failure this season. The opponent is Manchester United's enemy Chelsea. Both Zhang Qi and Chen Qiang chose to come to the scene to support Gao Xiaodong.

It was still early before the game started, and Chelsea game clips were played on the stadium's big screen for fans to watch.

Chelsea's publicity work today was very good, and the big screens showed footage of Chelsea's attack on Manchester United's goal.

The Chelsea fans who were waiting for revenge almost had an orgasm watching the video. They cheered from time to time as if the game had already begun, leaving the Manchester United fans speechless.

With half an hour left before the start of the game, Chelsea players came out to warm up, which again aroused a wave of cheers from the Blues fans at the scene.

At this moment, the commentators on the scene have already obtained the starting lineups of both sides. While the players are warming up, they also begin to introduce the lineups of both sides to the fans and analyze them.

In this game, Chelsea arranged a 442 formation, with Torres and Drogba partnering in the forward line, and the midfielder was a combination of Lampard, Essien, Ramirez and Russian international Zhirkov. Big names like Luda and Anelka sat on the bench; in the defense, Ivanovic returned to the central defender position to partner with Terry, Bosingwa and Ashley Cole sat on the wings, and the goalkeeper was Che He.

Manchester United also has a 4-4-2 formation, with goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, defensive heroes Ferdinand and Vidic partnering as central defenders, and Rafael and Evra on both sides; the midfield combination is Gao Xiaodong, Fletcher, Nani, and Valencia. In Rencia, Rooney and Hernandez partnered in the forward line, and Berbatov sat on the bench.

Sky Sports on-site commentator Andy Gray analyzed: Although both teams have a 442 formation, Chelsea focuses on hardness and strength, while Manchester United focuses on speed and strength; who can have the last laugh? It's hard to guess. In the game between the Red Devils and the Blues, the win or loss is not big. It probably depends on the details in the end.

CCTV commentator He Hui analyzed that Ancelotti actually had a lot of ideas in this arrangement. With so many muscular sticks in the midfield, he probably thought that Scholes would start and wanted to strangle Scholes; Gao Xiaodong locked down Manchester United's offense, made sure not to concede a goal at home, and then tried to score one.

As for Manchester United, He Hui is more familiar with Manchester United. From the fact that veterans such as Scholes and Giggs did not start, he judged that Manchester United probably wanted to use strength to consume the opponent in the first half of the game and use speed to counterattack. Opportunity, the second half is expected to focus on offense.

As the players returned to the dressing room after warming up, Abramovich walked into his luxury box at Stamford Bridge, with Zhukova and Emma behind him. Watson.

Sitting down in her seat, Zhukova smiled and said to Emma: "Emma, ​​as a Blues fan, you still need me to invite you to watch the game. This is outrageous. Do you think the opponent is yours?" My sweetheart, I don’t know who to support, so I simply stopped reading.”

Hearing Zhukova say that Chelsea's opponent was Emma's sweetheart, Abramovich raised his eyebrows, but did not speak, and just stared at the court with all his thoughts.

Emma frowned slightly and said, "Don't talk nonsense, Sister Zhukova, she is not my sweetheart."

Zhu Kewa asked in surprise: "What's wrong? Wasn't the news hyping you and Gao Xiaodong every day some time ago?"

Emma said: "It's nothing, it didn't happen in the first place."

Zhukova let out a sigh and said, "It seems like that kid made you angry."

Emma frowned and said, "Sister Zhukova, let's not talk about this, okay?"

At this time, Abu spoke, "The game has started, let's watch the game."

Zhukova smiled and held Emma's hand, whispering: "If that kid really offends you, I will go find him and cause trouble."

Emma said: "No, it's okay, let's watch the game."

Zhu Kewa saw Emma's eyes fixed on Gao Xiaodong who appeared on the stage, and thought to herself, it's okay, something must be wrong, but I don't know what happened. I will take some time to interrogate this girl.