Chapter 332 Warm-Up

"...2002 was the last year that Real Madrid won the Champions League trophy. Twelve years later, Real Madrid went through two Galactico periods, spending a total of more than one billion pounds to buy the world's superstars. But since 2005 In the past 12 years, Real Madrid has failed to reach the top 16 of the Champions League for six consecutive seasons, creating the bitter joke of "Sixteen Lang". Now twelve years later, Real Madrid has finally reached the final stage, and what awaits them will be their tenth championship. A trophy?”

A preview of the Champions League final is being played on the TV screen, followed by highlights of Real Madrid's journey this season, especially Real Madrid's 4-0 away win over Bayern Munich. Cristiano Ronaldo shook his palms back and forth. The scene of celebrating the goal was really highlighted.

Coupled with the various roars of the on-site commentary, it is really exciting to watch.

After introducing Real Madrid, it was replaced by Dortmund.

"As the Champions League champion last season, Dortmund created a miraculous season last season. But this season is actually even more miraculous. With many injured players this season, many people are not optimistic about their results this season. For a while, the league and the Champions League, the defending champions seemed to be defeated... But who would have thought that at the end of this season, such a team would win the Bundesliga title? Now they have defeated Simeone's Madrid Sporting has reached the Champions League finals for two consecutive seasons. Since the Champions League was restructured, no team has been able to successfully defend the title. This has become a 'curse'. So this time, Dortmund, who miraculously reached the Champions League finals, can Break the 'curse'?"

The same is true of Dortmund's road to the Champions League this season.

The highlight was the first leg of the semi-finals, when Dortmund defeated Atletico Madrid in a blitz at home.

The players of the Chinese national team were sitting in the restaurant of the hotel where they were staying, eating dinner and watching TV.

The Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund is coming soon.

The players of the Chinese national team are waiting to watch the live broadcast of the final.

They don't just want to cheer for Zhou Yi and Yan Min. This is the "task" assigned by the new head coach Lippi to the team.

As a team that wants to participate in the World Cup, of course it has to look globally.

So how can you not watch the Champions League final, the most technical football match in the world?

Watching such high-level games can also improve the players' tactical literacy, and at the same time open their eyes to what the top level of modern football is like.

Lest many people’s impression of modern football still rest on the Tiki-taka label from a few years ago. None of the teams that have reached the Champions League final this year plays Tiki-taka football, and Real Madrid obviously does not. Although Dortmund has excellent passing and ball control capabilities, their style is more changeable.

Lippi hopes that by watching the Champions League final, his players can gain more.

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While television broadcasters are warming up to the final through various programs, players from both Dortmund and Real Madrid have arrived at the final venue, the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, Portugal.

At the same time, the starting lineups of both sides have come out.

For Real Madrid, Khedira replaced Alonso who missed the final due to suspension, while Varane replaced the injured Pepe. Khedira has only played 117 minutes since November last year. Ancelotti's arrangement is very risky and he has to bear the pressure.

The starting goalkeeper is Casillas. Before this Champions League final, Casillas played a La Liga game. It was the last round of La Liga and the second league game Casillas played this season. Although Mourinho has left Real Madrid, Casillas has not become a winner. After Ancelotti came to power, he was still firmly pressed on the bench. At the same time, in order to take care of the face of the Real Madrid captain, Ancelotti adopted the strange practice of rotation, that is, making Casillas the starting goalkeeper in cup competitions such as the Champions League and Copa del Rey, while continuing to use it in the league. Diego Lopez.

After Real Madrid reaches the Champions League final, if Casillas insists on the arrangement of only playing in the cup, then Casillas will face a full twenty-four days from April 30 to May 24. The awkward situation of not having a game to play.

This is very bad for Casillas, who is going to play in the Champions League final, because he will not be able to maintain his condition if he does not play for a long time.

How will a goalkeeper who has not played a game in more than 20 days perform in the Champions League final? This is unimaginable.

So under such circumstances, Real Madrid finally arranged for Casillas to play two league games.

One is the 34th round make-up match of the league on May 7.

The other game is the last round of the league, when Real Madrid faces Espanyol at home.

Although he played two league games, he only played these two games in twenty-four days. Casillas's game volume was still far from enough...

No one can tell what kind of performance he can perform in the finals.

In addition to goalkeeper Casillas, Real Madrid's starting defender is a combination of right back Carvajal, center back Varane and Ramos, and left back Coentrao instead of Marcelo. Modric, Khedira and Di Maria are in the midfield, while Bale, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo are on the front line.

Dortmund's starting lineup is no different from before.

Goalkeeper Weidenfeller, right back Piszczek, center backs Hummels and Papastathopoulos, left back Schmelzer. Sven Bender and Zhou Yi, Yan Min and Royce are in the midfield, and Aubameyang and Mark are on the front line.

It can be said that, except for players who were injured and unable to play, both teams fielded the strongest lineups they could field.

※※※

When he went out to warm up, Zhou Yi did not observe the layout of the final venue of the Photosensitive Stadium, nor did he look at the TIFO of the fans on both sides of the stage. He focused on Casillas most of the time.

In fact, Zhou Yi has simulated the final battle with this opponent many times in the virtual space.

In countless simulations, he discovered a problem that he wasn't sure would happen in reality, so now he wants to find out some clues by watching Casillas warm up...

During the warm-up, Real Madrid seemed to be consciously feeding Casillas the ball to let him find his form.

Zhou Yi noticed that Casillas performed relatively steadily when receiving the shot. But when his teammates began to deliberately raise the ball to Casillas, Casillas made some mistakes. Although they were not many, they were noticed by Zhou Yi.

In fact, Casillas has always had the weakness of being unstable in catching high balls, but he made up for it with his excellent second reaction, and he deliberately strengthened his training in this area, so when he was at his peak, this problem was not a big problem. protrude. But as he got older, coupled with the fact that he didn't play well in the past two seasons and his condition declined significantly, this problem became highlighted again, and it was even a little... fatal.

The problem of Casillas's instability in catching high balls stems from his personal height shortcomings.

Among the world's top goalkeepers, Casillas' height of only 1.85 meters is a shortcoming.

Compared with him, both Buffon and Neuer are more than 1.9 meters tall. Buffon is 1.91 meters and Neuer is 1.93 meters. They have both height and flexibility. Even Sun Pan is 1.90 meters tall.

The high ball is the weakness of Casillas that Zhou Yi observed in the virtual game. In reality, he has not been well corrected.

After seeing Casillas' performance, Zhou Yi withdrew his gaze and concentrated on his own warm-up. He had already obtained the information he wanted.

※※※

After finishing the warm-up and returning to the locker room, Zhou Yi directly found Klopp and told the head coach what he observed during the warm-up.

"This is something I didn't notice much before..." Klopp pondered after hearing this. "But this is helpful to us. Thank you, Zhou Yi."

"You're welcome, coach, I'll do my best."

"But few players pay attention to these details."

Zhou Yi scratched his head. He couldn't tell the head coach that he only noticed this when he found Casillas always making mistakes on the same issue in virtual games again and again, right?

It seems that the long-term inability to play regularly and stably has a much greater impact on Casillas than most people think...

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