Chapter 394: The Battle of Life and Death Begins

The time between the second round and the first round of the Champions League semi-finals is very short, and the smoke of the war of words has not yet cleared. Arsenal's army arrived in Porto, Portugal's second largest city.

Due to the level gap between Porto and Arsenal, the two head coaches are also relatively stable in character. The previous three games between Arsenal and Porto did not have any gunpowder, but after the third game, Wenger violently attacked Gao. Xiaodong was hyped up by the media. During the fourth match, the atmosphere before the match suddenly became tense.

When the Arsenal players arrived at the airport, thousands of Porto fans went to "pick them up" and greeted them with enthusiastic boos and curses, as well as eggs, tomatoes and other delicacies. A conflict arises.

England's football hooligans are famous all over the world. Among the four giants, only Arsenal's fans are a little more secure. Originally, Porto's own security is enough, but let Wenger do this. Not enough, the Porto City Police Department also had to send additional manpower to patrol around the stadium.

Between the two semi-finals, Porto played another league game. Since Porto had already won the league championship, except for Gao Xiaodong who asked to play, the other main players all rested and prepared for the final match against Arsenal.

What Gao Xiaodong didn't expect was that Porto's substitutes and the youngsters of the second team were very strong. They even defeated the desperate Maritimo 3:2 in the away game, adding 2 system points to Gao Xiaodong.

Although the English team has never won a victory at the Dragon Stadium, the curse is just a curse after all. Porto broke the curse and won a victory in England. Who dares to say that the stronger Arsenal cannot win at the Dragon Stadium. Beat Porto.

The war of words in the middle of the week worsened the relationship between the players, coaches and clubs of the two sides, but in the face of the life-and-death battle in the semi-finals, no one dared to be careless, and no one dared to underestimate the opponent.

At the press conference before the game, Porto coach Ferreira said, "Porto must forget the score of the first game, forget the spell, and play this game as a final, although we only need a draw to advance. The Champions League final, but we will do our best to win."

Regarding Wenger's attack on Gao Xiaodong in the middle of the week, Ferreira said that the matter has passed and he doesn't want to mention it anymore.

Regarding Porto's play style in this game, Ferreira said firmly: "We will still defend and counterattack. Arsenal will not stop playing because they are at the Dragon Stadium. No matter where they go, Arsenal is still Arsenal. Porto is still Porto, we will clearly understand ourselves and put ourselves in the position of the weak to fight against our opponents."

Wenger was in a good mood at the pre-match press conference. Although the war of words did not win, and he was attacked and ridiculed by Mendes and other stars, the referee sent by FIFA for this game was Italy. Golden Whistle Rossetti,

With such a demanding referee to enforce the law, life may be easier for Arsenal.

Wenger told reporters that this will be a very difficult game, but at the same time, this is also the best chance for Arsenal to reach the final in 2006. "We played badly at home and lost the game 0:1. But I don’t think it’s the end of the day. We also have the ability to score goals at the Dragon Stadium. As long as we score a goal, we will be on the same starting line as our opponents. At that time, we will have an advantage psychologically. The first goal Very critical..."

In the end, Professor Wenger expressed his belief that the youngsters of Arsenal will be able to break the spell and reach the final. At the same time, Wenger also believes that the winner of the other semi-final will be Barcelona. They will avenge Barcelona in Rome and win Arsenal. The first Champions League champion in history.

This is the first time Porto has entered the Champions League semi-finals since 200 years, and in the first round they defeated the heroic Arsenal 1:0 in the away game, which made Porto fans all over the world ecstatic. The birth of a miracle, many Porto fans flew to Porto from all over the world to watch the battle between Porto and Arsenal live.

Although Arsenal lost at home, the opponent was only Porto after all. Arsenal fans did not give up. They believed that Arsenal still had a chance to complete the counterattack. A few days before the game, Arsenal fans rushed to Porto one after another. Help the Gunners.

From 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the streets and alleys of Porto are covered with Porto fans wearing blue and white jerseys, and there are also Arsenal fans wearing red and white jerseys, but compared to the sea of ​​Porto fans, Arsenal fans are more Like a red speck in a sea of ​​blue.

At six o'clock in the evening, Houzi, Xiao Le, and Chen Qiang brought Fatty's fan group to the Dragon Stadium. Today's Fatty's fan group has become larger and larger, with members from all over the world, and the organization is getting stricter. The players are on QQ The group held a meeting and assembled, and Monkey personally acted as the leader and head of the fan club.

Tickets are very tight for such a life-and-death battle, but with Gao Xiaodong around, everyone in the fan group of as many as 1,500 people has tickets, and even some fans who came from Huaguo temporarily bought the ball from the monkey ticket.

Entering the stadium and finding their seats, the fans of Fatty Fan Club pulled up two huge banners. One banner read: "Gunbuster! Enter the final! Win the championship and rule Europa." The other banner read: "Wen Shameless! Long live Gao Xiaodong!"

After pulling up the banner, Chinese fans gathered in twos and threes, some watched the big screen of the stadium, some talked about the upcoming game, and some looked at the layout of the stadium. Everyone was elated, with high morale, full of enthusiasm for beating Arsenal to the final. confidence.

At 6 o'clock, the stands of the stadium were almost full, and the on-site commentators also began to warm up the field, introducing the situation related to the game to the fans.

"There is still an hour to start the second round of the life-and-death battle. Let us review the results of the last game. In the first round at the Emirates Stadium, Porto broke the spell that has never won in England, 1:o A small victory over Arsenal, Gao Xiaodong passed a long pass from 60 meters away, Falcao scored the ball, and now back at the Dragon Stadium, Arsenal is also facing the same curse as Porto, England teams have never Having won at the Dragon Stadium, can Arsenal break the spell like Porto this time? Let's wait and see..."

At 7 o'clock, players from both sides came out of the locker room to warm up.

Obviously, the treatment received by the players of the two teams is very different. The players of Porto received applause like a storm, while the players of Arsenal received overwhelming boos, and many fans of Gao Xiaodong threw miscellaneous things.

At this time, the commentator on the scene also got the lineup of both sides, "Arsenal's lineup today is like this: No. 1 goalkeeper Almunia, four defenders: 4o-Gibbs, 2o-Jourou, 5-Toure, 3-Sagna; Four midfielders: 4-Fabregas, 14-Walcott, 17-Song, 8-Nasri; Forward 11-Van Persie and 25-Adebayor

This is a 442 formation. Professor Wenger just used the wrong Diaby in the last game. In fact, Diaby still has a role in the middle, but he was abandoned by Wenger. Is this a bit too much? On the front line, Arsenal finally got together the striker combination of Van Persie and Adebayor. This is the sharpest combination for Arsenal this season. Some skill. The back line Julu wild fire line is back, if you are not afraid of Sylvester's sadness, even if he just recovered from injury, Julu is still a grade better than Sylvester, but the left back is still Gibson, the real left back Eboue Sitting on the bench is Arsenal's biggest shortcoming. Last time Gibson was sieved by Porto. This time Porto will definitely beat this point. Can Wenger keep it? God bless him up. "

After talking about Arsenal, the on-site commentator talked about Porto again, "Porto's lineup is no different from the previous game. In the home game, Ferreira is still in charge. He is playing defensive counterattack and playing against Arsenal. So, in a competitive football game, you can have no strengths, but you must not have weaknesses, or you will be caught seven inches by the opponent, and the last point will be broken through, causing the entire line to collapse..."

In the introduction of the on-site commentator, the players of Porto and Arsenal finished warming up and returned to the locker room amidst the applause and boos of the fans.

At this moment, the time is 7 o'clock, and the fans in the stands are already full. After 15 minutes, the second round of the UEFA Champions League semi-final will begin. 8