Chapter 909: Changing Formations on the Spot

The first day of the Champions League knockout round of 16 was not only a series of upsets, but also a martyrdom day for the home team. In addition to Arsenal’s upset 2:1 victory over Barcelona at home, Roma lost 2:3 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, a veteran giant. AC Milan lost to Tottenham 0:1 at home, and Valencia, a regular player in the Champions League, was also tied with Schalke 04 at their home court and was also given away an away goal by their opponent.

This result made the four home teams on the second match day take a breath of air, especially Inter Milan. Among the four games on the second match day, Inter Milan and Manchester United were the closest in strength. Manchester United was in better shape, and Inter Milan was in better shape. There is a home advantage, but if the home advantage does not exist, it will be even more difficult for Inter Milan to win.

Head coach Leonardo is a bit superstitious. Yesterday he made the decision to take the initiative, but today he saw that the home team did not play well on the first match day. He changed his mind and decided to insist on stability, defensive counterattack, and first Try not to let Manchester United get away goals before thinking about winning.

The players of Inter Milan were speechless and helpless about this. Although Leonardo is a 42-year-old coach with only one year of coaching experience, he cannot be compared with Mourinho, but Mancini coached Inter Milan was also very young when he was young, but he did not change his career like Leonardo.

Before the game, Inter Milan boss Cambiasso sarcastically said on his Twitter, "Our coach is a genius. Not to mention that Ferguson can't guess his tactics, we can't guess it ourselves either."

At 8:45 pm on the 23rd, after a week-long warm-up, the focus battle between Manchester United and Inter Milan finally kicked off at the Meazza Stadium.

Except for the game between Arsenal and Barcelona, ​​the game between Manchester United and Inter Milan is the most topical. Whether it is Manchester United's revenge or Gao Xiaodong's return home, it can arouse the enthusiasm of countless Inter Milan fans and Manchester United fans.

In order to watch this game, many fans from outside Italy came to Milan three or four days in advance. Many fans who had not bought tickets also came to Milan to try their luck and see if they could buy refundable tickets.

Due to Inter Milan's poor performance this season, Meazza has not been full for a long time, but for today's game with Manchester United, the stands were full an hour ago, and many local Italian celebrities also came to Meazza to cheer This focus battle is cheering.

Inter Milan president Moratti naturally would not miss such a game. He also came to the box of the stadium early, and sitting with him was Manchester United's young club Joel. Glazer.

Players from both sides came out of the locker room, and bursts of warm cheers erupted in the stands.

"Eto'o!"

"Zanetti!"

"Cesar!"

"..."

Inter Milan fans chanted the name of their idol in unison.

However, when the players from the two teams walked to the court to shake hands, the fans discovered that Manchester United's captain's armband was actually worn on the arm of vice-captain Gao Xiaodong. They were surprised and stopped calling their players and started talking.

"Gao Xiaodong wears the captain's armband?"

"What's going on? Vidic is here."

"Even without Vidic, Gao Xiaodong wouldn't be able to wear the captain's armband!"

"What does Ferguson mean? Disgusting us?"

…

Not only the fans were talking, but the commentators from all over the world were also very surprised. They knew that Manchester United had a team committee and the vice-captains took turns to be on duty. However, recently, Manchester United's captain's armband is mainly worn on Vidic's arm. Ferdinand occasionally wears it, but Gao Xiaodong and Rooney have never worn the captain's armband.

China commentator He Hui said in surprise: "I didn't expect that in such a world-famous game, Sir Alex Ferguson would let 21-year-old Gao Xiaodong wear the captain's armband. It was obvious that Sir Alex was following Inter Milan is playing psychological warfare. He wants to show the fans, players, coaches and presidents of Inter Milan that Gao Xiaodong is doing well at Manchester United and is very popular, but Sir Alex Ferguson is too courageous and does not know that he Have you considered Xiaodong's feelings and pressure? This is Xiaodong's first time back at San Siro. He can't treat it like an ordinary game. He will definitely be under pressure. The captain's armband is on his arm again. , even a middle-aged man in his forties like me finds it a bit unbearable."

In the VIP box, Moratti also saw Gao Xiaodong put on the captain's armband. Moratti was already a bit serious, but now he suddenly became more gloomy.

Ferguson, Ferguson, are you demonstrating against me? You snatched Gao Xiaodong from my hand,

You actually put the captain's armband on Gao Xiaodong in such a game. What do you mean? Are you saying that I don't dare to use it, or that I don't know how to use Gao Xiaodong.

Ferguson, you want revenge, right? Just wait, Inter Milan is not as weak as you think, and Meazza is not a place for you to run wild.

Manchester United's young club Joel did not expect Ferguson to let Gao Xiaodong wear the captain's armband. He showed a smile on his face and said to himself, although the old man is 70, his heart is not old yet, but I am afraid we still have to wait for the game to see the effect. figure it out.

On the field

Zanetti smiled and shook hands with Gao Xiaodong and hugged him, "Gao, congratulations on becoming the captain."

Gao Xiaodong said with a smile: "It's a good time to take turns taking turns."

Zanetti handed the team flag and emblem to Gao Xiaodong and said: "This is to train you as a reserve captain, otherwise why not let Rooney wear it."

Gao Xiaodong smiled and said, "This is because the old man is afraid that I won't perform well and will put pressure on me."

"Perform well," Zanetti felt in his heart. He knew Gao Xiaodong's power, and thought to himself, Gao Xiaodong is the captain today and will definitely exert his strength. We must say hello to our teammates and guard against him. We must not give him a chance. Especially if he can't easily take long shots, Cesar is not in good condition right now.

The captains of both sides exchanged team flags and emblems, and the commentators also began to introduce the fans to the starting lineup of Shuangfeng.

Although Manchester United is playing away from home today, Ferguson is not conservative at all. He has a 4-3-3 formation, with the goalkeeper 1-Van der Sar; the four backs 3-Evra, 15-Vidic, 12- Smalling, 22-O'Shea; three midfielders, 18-Scholes, 10-Gao Xiaodong, 24-Fletcher; three forwards, 17-Nani, 9-Berbatov, 7-Rooney

Obviously, Ferguson wants revenge today, wants to win at Meazza, and at least get an away goal, so that it will be easier to play back at home.

Inter Milan temporarily changed their formation and playing style today. It turned out that in training, Leonardo prepared three sets of tactics and initially chose an offensive 4213 formation. However, seeing that the main game on the first match day was not good, He temporarily changed the formation to 451, focusing on defense.

Inter Milan's starting goalkeeper is still 1-Cesar; defenders: 13-Maicon, 15-Ranozia (14-Harja 73'), 5-Lucio, 26-Chivu; midfielders: 4 -Zanetti, 19-Cambiaso, 8-Motta, 10-Sneijder, 5-Stankovic; Forward: 9-Eto'o