Chapter 628: The Art of Defeating the Enemy

The Champions League is not only the honor of the teams themselves and their respective leagues, but also related to the European War points of the respective leagues. UEFA allocates the places for the Champions League and UEFA Cup through the European War points of the major leagues.

In order to allow their teams to achieve good results in the Champions League and UEFA Cup, Serie A has advanced the league match between Inter Milan, which will participate in the Champions League semi-finals, to Saturday, and La Liga is even more desperate. In order to deal with the volcanic ash, they have moved the match between Barcelona and Espanyol. Advance to Friday.

The Spaniards are Barcelona's mortal rivals in the same city and Real Madrid's followers. Blocking Barcelona is their entire mission every season. As for whether Barcelona can win honors for La Liga, they don't care. In the game against Barcelona, ​​the Spaniards go all out and are determined. I want Basara to be dismounted.

Although it was only 3 points ahead of Real Madrid, out of confidence in its own strength, Barcelona coach Guardiola, like Mourinho, sent a starting lineup with a mix of main players and substitutes.

In fact, Barcelona, ​​with a mixed lineup of main players and substitutes, was stronger than the Spaniard. However, every Barcelona player who appeared on the court regarded the game as a routine. Everyone is saving energy and energy for the Champions League semi-finals in midweek. It seems that only that game is a real contest. Excessive media hype caused premature interest in the game between Inter Milan and Barcelona.

If it weren't for the Derby with this kind of attitude, Barcelona would still have no problem winning the game, but it was still not enough to defeat the rival Spaniards in the same city. Facing the Spaniards who fought so hard that they were cramped, Barcelona was unable to produce the most offensive power in the world, and was eventually defeated. The Spaniards drew, leaving just one point ahead of Real Madrid.

This result is obviously unfavorable to Barcelona, ​​because it means that Barcelona cannot stay at all in the league between the two semi-finals and Inter Milan, and both lines must go all out.

First came the volcanic ash, then came the invincible Barcelona derby. The opponent was Mourinho, the coach who knows how to beat Barcelona best. After the game, the media believed that it would not be easy for Barcelona to win the game as a guest at Meazza. After all, Barcelona’s quarter-finals Against another Champions League softie, Arsenal, Barcelona also failed to win on the road.

But Guardiola didn't care. When he led the team from Barcelona's Gamber Sports City, Guardiola held a press conference and said, "There is no other way. We can only choose to take the bus to Milan, an ancient city. Regarding transportation, we can wait for the flight, but if the flight is still not available on Tuesday, we will not be able to go to Milan. According to UEFA regulations, if we miss the game, we will be sentenced to a 0:3 loss. Taking the bus is slower and more tiring. , but I think as long as we can appear on the court, we will definitely be able to achieve a positive result than 0:3. This is a 180-minute game, and the place that determines promotion is Camp Nou, not Meazza."

Barcelona's core world footballer Messi also said that volcanic ash will not affect Barcelona. As long as the referee is fair and does not allow Inter Milan to use martial arts and wrestling to compete, Inter Milan can definitely win at Meazza.

Although Barcelona players and coaches said that the volcanic ash had little impact on Barcelona,

But the Barcelona club is fully prepared for this long trip.

Barcelona only had 40 people on the expedition, but the club found two buses and four drivers. The buses had 38 seats and a small bar. The players took a bus, Guardiola, the coaching staff and other entourage Take another bus.

In order to prevent the players from being bored during the trip, the club has also prepared two movies for the players. One is "The Man Who Made It", which tells the story of former South African President Mandela's use of the national rugby team to mediate racial conflicts, and the other is the 2010 Award-winning Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for "Inglourious Basterds."

During last year's Champions League final, Guardiola edited a video of Barcelona's game with "Gladiator" to inspire the team. But this time the club's vice president, Jus, said that the two films were played purely for entertainment. Barcelona does not need incentives now, and they are fully capable of defeating Inter Milan.

Due to starting three days in advance, in order to ensure the safety of the road and the rest of the players, the club did not rush overnight and divided the journey into two stages. The first stage was from Barcelona to the French coastal city of Cannes, a total distance of 634 kilometers, and the second stage was from Cannes to Cannes. Milan, the total distance is 351 kilometers, and the total distance is 1060 kilometers.

In the past two seasons, Barcelona has competed with La Liga and European powers a total of 26 times. In La Liga, Barcelona has played against Real Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Villarreal and other teams 13 times. Barcelona's record is 9 wins and 4 draws. In the 11 times against the top European teams, Barcelona only lost. They lost to Inter Milan in the Champions League group stage.

In the past few years, Barcelona has been almost invincible in the world. Although the influence of many factors has increased the difficulty of Barcelona winning at Inter Milan's home court, no one thinks that Barcelona will be eliminated by Inter Milan, and Barcelona itself does not think it is famous. Inter Milan, a softie in the Champions League, who has not reached the finals in 45 years, can stop itself from entering the Bernabeu, so this forced and helpless long march almost turned into a star-chasing journey.

The Barcelona bus was clearly painted with the club's logo and was cheered by fans along the way. After learning about the route, many fans marched for Barcelona at toll stations along the highway. Even in the service area, fans came to ask Messi to take photos and sign autographs. Barcelona's reputation also gave them special treatment. When crossing the border, they did not need to queue up for inspection like other vehicles but were directly released. Even if there is a traffic jam, many drivers waiting for the bus will excitedly give way to them after seeing that it is the bus of six-time champion Barcelona.

At 14:45 on Monday afternoon, two Barcelona buses arrived at the Melia Hotel in Milan. Barcelona departed from Barcelona's Gamber Sports City at 14:41 on Sunday, and a full day had passed when they arrived. If there were no volcanic ash in Iceland, it would only take an hour and a half to fly from Barcelona to Milan.

Today in the 21st century, Barcelona has experienced a "return to nature" journey, as if returning to the 1950s.

…

When Barcelona rushed to Milan, Inter Milan had been conducting closed training.

When Mourinho first took over Inter Milan, whenever he trained in isolation, the media ridiculed him for pretending to be mysterious, and the fans cursed him for being cold, arrogant and not caring about the fans. But as Mourinho became more The Champions League record is getting better and better. Mourinho's closed training is gradually accepted by fans and the media. Moreover, Mourinho's fans also regard closed training as Mourinho's secret weapon and trump card. Once Inter Milan adopts During the closed training, Mourinho's fans began to hope that Inter Milan could make a surprise victory in the game and defeat the opponent in one fell swoop.

Sometimes Mourinho is indeed playing tricks, but this time Mourinho's closed training is really building a secret weapon against Barcelona.

Barcelona has no secrets for Mourinho.

Since the 1996s, Mourinho has served as Bobby Robson's translator and assistant coach at Barcelona. At that time, Guardiola was still a Barcelona player. Both of them were deeply influenced by Barcelona's tactical concepts, but the world is such a wonderful place. Influenced by the same club, the two reached the same destination by different paths. Many years later, one of them became a utilitarian, with an indestructible defense, while the other became a master of art, with an offense that dropped like mercury.

Later, Mourinho became the head coach of Chelsea, and he and Barcelona met again. Times have changed, and the former assistant coach has now become Barcelona's opponent. The first time Mourinho's Chelsea eliminated Rijkaard's Barcelona; the second time, Barcelona eliminated Mourinho's Chelsea and met for the third time in the group stage. Mourinho's Chelsea won one and drew one. In six encounters, Mourinho and Barcelona had 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses.

Then Mourinho dismissed get out of class at Chelsea and became the head coach of Inter Milan. He and Chelsea met again in the group stage, and the two sides scored one win and one loss, and the total score became 3 wins, 3 losses and 2 draws.

No one could have imagined that the two sides would meet again in the semifinals.

There are almost no changes between Barcelona now and Barcelona in the group stage, but Inter Milan has introduced Pandev and Sneijder.

Although Pandev and Sneijder will not improve Inter Milan's level, they can enrich Inter Milan's tactics and make Inter Milan's play style more varied.

With Pandev and Sneijder, plus Gao Xiaodong who can play all positions, Mourinho, the master tactician, can come up with a formation and style of play that would surprise his former friend Guardiola.

In this game with Barcelona, ​​Mourinho and his coaching staff conducted in-depth analysis and research. In fact, after the draw of the top 8, Inter Milan played CSKA Moscow and Barcelona played Arsenal. At that time, Mourinho Knowing that he was going to encounter Barcelona again, he started to ask Faria and others to collect materials and prepare ways to deal with Barcelona.

In Inter Milan's backcourt, Mourinho will never move. The foundation of Mourinho's football lies in solid defense. Solid defense requires a stable defense line. Surprise wins must not be achieved on the defense line.

Mourinho will not move the center position. Inter Milan does not have a more suitable center than Milito. No matter whether Barcelona has a targeted defense against Milito, Milito will always play center. Mourinho needs Milito to be a center forward. Fulcrum, threatening the opponent's defense and assisting his teammates.

The midfield match is where Mourinho spends the most time, and it is also the best position to make tactical adjustments.

The most commonly used formation of Inter Milan is 4231, sometimes it becomes 433, and sometimes it becomes 4213. However, Mourinho does not want to use the 433 formation, except because when he was at Chelsea, Mourinho always used it. Barcelona must be familiar with this style of play and have a way to deal with the 433 formation. In addition, Inter Milan and Chelsea have different configurations. Inter Milan’s four midfielders are Muntari, Cambiaso, Stankovic and Motta, these four are not the kind of beasts who can't run away, and their bodies are not strong enough. Even if Mourinho uses three defensive midfielders, he may not be able to block Barcelona's attack.

Therefore, Mourinho decided to continue to use the 4231 formation created this season, but the specific positions are very different from the original.

First of all, it turns out that Inter Milan's double midfielder is basically a technical midfielder Motta or Cambiasso, plus a powerful midfielder Muntari, Stankovic plays as a substitute, and now Mourinho has decided Use two technical midfielders Motta to defeat Cambiaso to improve the ability to play the ball in counterattacks.

Barcelona is best at high-position pressing. The two technical midfielders will definitely be beaten by Barcelona. In order to assist the two midfielders in defense, the three forwards Mourinho decides to use must put offense and defense in the same position.

The three midfielders were originally Gao Xiaodong, Sneijder and Eto'o, with Pandev playing as a substitute, with Sneijder in the attacking midfielder position and Gao Xiaodong and Eto'o on both sides. However, in order to have an unexpected effect, Mu Rinho decided to let Gao Xiaodong return to the attacking midfielder position, and let Sneijder play the left midfielder and Eto'o play the right midfielder.

Here, Sneijder is a surprise player because he rarely plays left midfielder. Mourinho placed him in this position to deal with right back Alves, an important figure in Barcelona's wing attack.

The two best right backs in the world are now in Brazil, one is Inter Milan's Maicon and the other is Barcelona's Alves.

Maicon and Alves are both defenders who are good at both offense and defense, but their greatest reputation is their offense, because their offense is so powerful that even if their defense is even slightly worse, their opponents will not be able to attack.

Mourinho placed Sneijder at the left midfielder position. In addition to asking Sneijder to help defend left back Zanetti, he also hoped to have Sneijder organize the attack from the wing and seize the space after Alves' assist. .

Needless to say, Gao Xiaodong's position in the attacking midfielder is not to mention that among all Inter Milan players, only Gao Xiaodong has the ability and physical strength to step up and play as the attacking midfielder and retreat to play as the defensive midfielder.

If Sneijder is a surprise player, then Gao Xiaodong is the hub and center of Inter Milan's offense and defense. If Gao Xiaodong cannot perform well in both the attacking midfielder and defensive midfielder positions, it will be difficult for Inter Milan to have a chance to defeat Barcelona.

It can be seen from the formation that Mourinho has arranged that he is very ambitious at home. He hopes to take advantage of the right time and place to win Barcelona at home and establish a victory in one fell swoop, or at least seize the opportunity. , rather than keeping the balance.

However, Mourinho's lineup and tactics now encounter a problem, that is, Sneijder is unwilling to play on the wing.

Sneijder is not an alternative like Gao Xiaodong. He is not an all-around player. He is a pure attacking midfielder. Sneijder has played as a defensive midfielder, but his strength and height are not enough. Sneijder has also played as a left winger, but he has no speed. The left winger is still very good at catching chickens, so Sneijder still hopes to play his most familiar and favorite position-the attacking midfielder.

Mourinho and Sneijder had a tentative talk once, but Sneijder disagreed. Now that Barcelona is about to arrive in Milan and time no longer allows for any further delay, Mourinho decided to have a serious talk with Sneijder.