Chapter 794: A Cautious Start

Valencia is the capital of the Valencia region and the provincial capital of Valencia Province in Spain. It is also the third largest city in Spain and the second largest seaport. It is known as the "Sunshine City" of Europe.

For many fans, the name Valencia represents only one team.

Valencia is not a wealthy club. They have not won the Champions League and have only won the La Liga championship 6 times. However, no giant team dares to say that they can definitely beat Valencia. In a sense, Valencia is good at defensive counterattacks. West Asia is more like a wealthy killer.

On the evening of September 29, Valencia welcomed Europe's top giants Manchester United at its home stadium Mestalla.

This is the most important game in Group C. Due to the weakness of the other two teams, whoever can defeat their opponents in two direct conversations between Valencia and Manchester United will basically lock in the top spot in the group.

Before the game, the 68-year-old Manchester United coach Ferguson expressed his respect for Valencia at the press conference. "Emery's team has a very high technical and tactical level. It is very difficult to win the game at Mestalla. Manchester United has won 18 times before. We have only won one victory as a guest in Spain, not to mention that this time we are missing Scholes and Rooney, so maintaining a draw and winning is our most realistic goal."

Valencia coach Emery, who is 30 years younger than Ferguson, also expressed his awe for Ferguson and Manchester United before the game, "Manchester United is a great team, and Ferguson is one of the greatest coaches. Without Rooney and Manchester United, Scholes, they also have Gao Xiaodong and Berbatov. In the Champions League, Manchester United can never be underestimated, but we also have an advantage. We have not lost to Manchester United at home. I believe this will make us even better. confidence."

The two coaches were wary of each other, and both were very cautious in arranging their troops.

Ferguson did not arrange a double forward lineup of Berbatov and Hernandez. Instead, he copied Ancelotti and arranged a Christmas tree lineup of 4321.

Goalkeeper No. 1 Van der Sarre cannot be beaten.

Four defenders: 3-Evra, 15-Vidic, 5-Ferdinand, 21-Raphael; Ferdinand's comeback is Ferguson's biggest support. It is because of Ferdinand and Vidic partnering that Ferguson dares to play on the right Use Raphael at the guard position.

Three defensive midfielders: 8-Anderson, 13-Park Ji-sung, 24-Fletcher;

Anderson's start is surprising, because Anderson has not been able to get a start in the league before.

Double attacking midfielders: 17-Nani, 10-Gao Xiaodong.

There is no doubt that these two attacking midfielders can break through and score the ball. They are the only two who can score.

Single forward: 9-Berbatov;

The scene where Brother Xiaosha partnered with Xiao Wandou that many fans were eager to see did not appear. Ferguson still couldn't believe Xiao Wandou's ability in the competition.

Valencia's starting lineup was equally cautious. Goalkeeper: 1-Sanchez

Defenders: 22-Matthew, 4-Navarro, 3-Maduro, 23-Miguel

Midfielder:, 6-Albelda, 24-Costa

Attacking midfielder: 19-Pablo, 8-Dominguez, 10-Mata

Forward: 9-Soldado

This is a 4231 formation. Compared with Manchester United, Valencia is more eager to win a victory at home.

At 8:45, the game started. Manchester United, who kicked off the ball first, did not take the initiative to attack, but cautiously passed back, waiting for Valencia to press.

Valencia played calmly and slowly, with three lines advancing slowly and pressing forward as a whole, compressing Manchester United's passing space.

What Valencia showed at the start of today was not their typical style of play. They are a team that is better at defensive counterattacks. Both Barcelona and Real Madrid suffered greatly from their fast and sharp counterattacks, but today they faced a team from England's rough guy, Valencia uses Barcelona's ball-control style of play.

Manchester United's style of play is to run wildly and attack the flow. Anderson, Carrick, Fletcher, Park Ji-sung, Nani and Gao Xiaodong in the midfield are not technically sophisticated players. Gao Xiaodong can only be said to be comprehensive.

But not delicate.

Valencia squeezed the space smaller and smaller, and Manchester United's short passing weakness was exposed. Park Ji-sung's cross pass to Fletcher was too weak and was almost intercepted by Dominguez. Fletcher had to take advantage of falling to the ground. With a flying tackle, the ball was cleared.

"How did you pass it on!" Fletcher yelled at Park Ji-sung angrily.

But soon Fletcher's pass to Carrick was too big. Fortunately, the ball was grabbed by Gao Xiaodong who retreated, thus avoiding Valencia's interception and counterattack.

Manchester United's players have rich experience in European games and react quickly. When they saw that the opponent was pressing hard and pressing high, they simply gave up passing the ball in the midfield and backcourt, directly passed the ball long and quickly, and launched a defensive counterattack.

This change by Manchester United has worked well.

In the 3rd minute of the game, Carrick made a through ball, Gao Xiaodong missed it, and the ball passed to Berbatov.

Berbatov stopped the ball in the opposite direction of Valencia midfielder Albelda, then turned around and got rid of Albelda.

Valencia center back Maduro pressed quickly, and Xiaosha was well prepared. He pulled and pushed in a V-shape and easily passed Maduro. He easily pushed with the arch of his foot and hit the upper left corner of the goal.

When Berbatov passed Maduro, Gao Xiaodong and Nani had already moved forward quickly. Seeing Berbatov shoot by himself, Nani stopped, but Gao Xiaodong continued to move forward to prepare for a follow-up shot. .

Although Berbatov's shot had little power, the angle was extremely tricky and the ball ran towards the angle between the goal post and the crossbar.

Valencia goalkeeper Sanchez wanted to catch the ball, but found that he couldn't reach it with both hands, so he could only use his fingertips to lift the ball over the crossbar.

Manchester United won a corner kick.

Without Giggs and Scholes, Gao Xiaodong believed that he had the absolute right to take the penalty. He came to the corner kick and prepared to take the corner kick.

But at this time, Carrick quickly ran to the wing, raised his hand for the ball, and wanted to play a tactical corner kick with Gao Xiaodong.

The 29-year-old Carrick is the hero of Manchester United's victory in the Champions League and the successor of Scholes. When Gao Xiaodong came to Manchester United, he had been recuperating from injuries. Although he knew that Ferguson loved Gao Xiaodong very much, he felt that the 20-year-old Gao Xiaodong is still too young. Scholes takes a rest, and he should be the one in control of the team.

Gao Xiaodong felt unhappy when he saw Carrick asking for the ball. He felt that Carrick didn't discuss it with him in advance, but suddenly asked for the ball at this time. This was not taking him seriously, so he pretended not to see it and kicked him directly. Passed to the penalty area.

After Manchester United's Ferdinand came on the scene, he formed three high points with Vidic and Berbatov, which improved Manchester United's ability to grab points in the penalty area. He didn't top it well and the ball missed the goal post.

Valencia then took a goal kick, but Sanchez did not take a big kick. The ball was passed to the full-back before he could pass it forward from the backcourt.

After getting two shooting opportunities in a row, the morale of Manchester United's players has improved a lot, and their fear of the Spanish away game is decreasing. The front three of Gao Xiaodong, Nani, and Berbatov dispersed the pressure, and the formation was basically It became a 433.

However, Valencia suddenly accelerated when Manchester United pressed, and the ball was quickly passed from the backcourt through the midfield and sent to the feet of winger Pablo. Pablo dribbled the ball and quickly broke through Evra's side.

Manchester United's heavy defense was on the right back Rafael. They did not expect that Valencia would attack Evra.

Evra was a little anxious after being feinted by Pablo. He tackled with his foot a little too quickly, but Pablo easily passed him.

Pablo missed the cross and dribbled the ball horizontally towards Manchester United's penalty area.

Manchester United paid great attention to defense today. When Pablo broke through Evra, Nani returned to the front of the penalty area. Seeing Pablo heading towards the penalty area, Nani rushed over to intercept.

Pablo saw Nani's return defense. He slyly passed the ball back to Domingos who was pulled to the front of the ribs. He continued to cross from Nani's side to the penalty area.

Nani almost stretched out his hand to pull Pablo, but when he realized that he was already in the penalty area, he was so frightened that he quickly let go.

Domingos did not stop the ball and wanted to "build a wall" for Pablo, but Gao Xiaodong arrived in time and kicked the ball out of the baseline before Domingos.

The Manchester United fans who traveled with the team were so frightened that they broke out in a cold sweat. If Gao Xiaodong hadn't taken the first shot, maybe Pablo would have been able to shoot in the penalty area.

The on-site commentator He Hui took a breath and said: "The Spanish team is really difficult to play. They can pass the ball and cooperate in such a small space. If Manchester United does not defend carefully, it may not be easy to score a point."

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