Chapter 1018 Di Matteo's Raiders

It is only 12 kilometers from the Oriental Mandarin Hotel to the Allianz Stadium. If the road is smooth, it only takes 15 minutes.

This was originally the most ideal hotel in Chelsea's plan. Although it was a bit more expensive, after the semi-finals, when Chelsea wanted to book the Oriental Mandarin Hotel, they were notified by the hotel that the hotel had already been booked.

Although the hotel keeps it confidential, the answer is not difficult to guess, because there is only one possibility to buy Wenhua Hotel in one go, and that is Real Madrid.

Losing the competition for the hotel forced Chelsea to choose a hotel a little farther away, which is not a problem, but the loss of the hotel before the final still made Chelsea feel a little unconvinced.

Before the final, Di Matteo led the team from the hotel on time, got on the bus, walked northward along the municipal road, and under the attention of fans on both sides of the road, slowly went northward to the Allianz Stadium.

There was silence in the bus. The Chelsea players were either closing their eyes and resting their minds, or they were silently looking out the window. A trace of seriousness could be clearly seen on each of their faces. Obviously, they were not sure enough about the upcoming Champions League final, because the opponent was Real Madrid.

Real Madrid with Yang Yang, the world's number one player in football!

Facing Real Madrid, the Chelsea general's mood is the same as that of the 20-degree temperature in Munich at this moment.

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For the upcoming final, Di Matteo has also done enough preparations, even more carefully than any previous game. He has repeatedly deliberated and studied Real Madrid's tactics and Ancelotti's formation.

He and the coaching staff have made plans specifically for any situation that may arise in the game, such as how to play at the beginning of the game, how to play when the situation is behind, how to play when one goal behind, or even two goals behind.

This is a situation that he thinks is very likely to happen, that is, the two sides scored zero to zero in the 120-point match, and finally entered a penalty shootout. At that time, what order will Chelsea take penalty kicks?

Even, in order to boost the morale of the team, he specially asked someone to record a short video in which the family members of the players encouraged the team. He planned to play it in the locker room later to stimulate the starting players and make them more morale.

It is well known that Chelsea’s starting lineup is seriously aging. For this group of veterans, it is difficult for any motivational words to work anymore. They are no longer young, impulsive, or energetic. Di Matteo is not a coach like Mourinho who is good at mobilizing players’ emotions, so he found another way to let the players’ families speak.

Tonight, the family members of the players will also sit in the stands, which is undoubtedly the best spur and encouragement for the players.

As for the team's formation, Di Matteo also made targeted arrangements. This is a conclusion he came to after studying the Real Madrid games in the past year. He thought he could find a breakthrough, so he took risks.

Can it be successful?

This has to wait until the game to verify.

However, Di Matteo thought he had done everything he could.

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In the last training session before the game, the atmosphere of the two teams was relatively harmonious.

Many players in the Chelsea team are old friends with Real Madrid players, such as Yang Yang and Drogba, Torres, Lampard, Petr Cech, etc. are all old acquaintances, and Juan Mata is from the Real Madrid youth training.

Speaking out, this is another regrettable legacy of youth training, because at that time Calderon's stupidity led to turmoil in Real Madrid's youth training, and Juan Mata switched to Valencia and became famous in one fell swoop.

When the players from both sides met, they exchanged some polite greetings, each returned to the halftime training, and then returned to the locker room one after another.

Less than an hour before the game, the two sides officially submitted the starting list.

It was at this time that Real Madrid's coaching staff knew about Chelsea's starting lineup, and Di Matteo really made a surprise move.

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"Cech in goal, Ashley Cole, David Luiz, Gary Cahill and Bosingwa in defense, Mikel and Lampard in double midfield, Bertrand, Juan Mata and Kalou in front, Drogba in lone striker."

When the Real Madrid coaching staff got the opponent's starting list, many people were taken aback.

Everyone knows that Terry is injured and absent. The central defender combination of David Luiz and Gary Cahill is not weak, and the double midfielder combination of Mikel and Lampard is also very good. It is difficult for Essien to grab the main position.

Juan Mata is one of Chelsea's best players this season, plus Drogba and Kalou, it can be said that these players' starting starts are not surprising, the key lies in Bertrand on the left.

Ryan Bertrand, born in August 1989, is only 23 years old now. He switched from Gillingham to Chelsea in 2005, and was later loaned to Bournemouth, Oldham, Norwich and other teams in England's second and third tier leagues. He performed well and was good at left back.

He is 1.79 meters tall and weighs 85 kilograms. He is fast and hardworking on the field.

This player has been playing with the reserve team last season and only played once for Chelsea. Ancelotti gave him 33 minutes of substitute time in the home game against Birmingham, and he sent an assist, which was a good performance.

Entering the first team this season, during the coaching period of Boas, he only played 13 minutes of playing time, and did not get any trust at all. After Di Matteo took over, he was quickly promoted to the squad, and even supported him as the main force in the last few rounds. His performance has always been quite satisfactory, but the statistics look average.

All in all, this is a young player who seems to have no other advantages except speed and hard work. More importantly, apart from seven consecutive starts in the second half of the schedule, Bertrand has not even played a minute in the Champions League so far.

But it is such a player who was placed in the starting lineup by Di Matteo in such an important Champions League final, replacing a European star like Malouda. This is absolutely extraordinary.

The moment he got Chelsea's starting lineup, Ancelotti's brows were tightly locked.

He realized that this would be a killer move carefully prepared by Di Matteo for Real Madrid. He vaguely guessed that Bertrand should be targeting Maicon, because the Brazilian's state has declined a lot in the past year, especially after the attack.

Of course, Maicon himself is somewhat slack, because what he wants most to join Real Madrid is the Champions League, and he has fulfilled his wish and reached the peak of his career. While he is relieved, his state will inevitably decline.

Ancelotti knew Bertrand, he could guess what Di Matteo was thinking, but he was still worried.

This is not a conspiracy, this is a conspiracy.

"Letting a left back play as a winger is obviously not only to defend, but also to counterattack. Malouda is old and lacks speed. Replacing Malouda with Bertrand is also a big change that Di Matteo has made since he took office." Zidane also analyzed with a frown.

Ancelotti nodded, "Let Maicon pay attention. We would rather keep some strength when attacking than let Chelsea take advantage of the loopholes, especially our right flank."

When it comes to the Champions League final, it doesn't matter what style, tradition, etc. The only thought is to win.

Everything has to be won first, if you can't win, everything is useless.

Of course, facing Chelsea, Real Madrid still have to focus on passing and possession.

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Chelsea, wearing the blue jersey, kicked off first.

Drogba and Juan Mata stood in the middle circle and were ready to kick off, while Yang Yang stood on the left side outside the circle, arranging his shorts.

In this game, he is about to face Portugal's right-back Bosingwa and Chelsea's captain Lampard.

When he played for Liverpool, Lampard was still the premier attacking midfielder in the Premier League, but now he has transformed into a midfielder, but these are not important anymore.

With the whistle of the Portuguese referee Pedro, Chelsea kicked off quickly and passed it back to Mikel immediately.

Real Madrid rushed forward quickly in the frontcourt, putting pressure on Chelsea.

Yang Yang sprints directly towards the middle zone between Bosingwa and Lampard, and at the same time he is observing the path of the ball. Once the ball is passed, he will immediately put pressure on the opponent within his range.

But this time, Chelsea chose to make a long pass from the backcourt to the frontcourt to find Drogba, but Pepe took the ball back first, and Mascherano quickly passed it to Xavi Alonso.

Real Madrid controlled the ball.

Yang Yang sprinted for about 20 meters in the frontcourt. When he saw that his side had the ball, he immediately slowed down and walked slowly in the frontcourt.

Back then at Ajax, his coaches had been telling him a truth, running on the court is not difficult, the difficulty lies in slowing down, this is a piece of wisdom.

It’s like Essien sitting on the bench. When he was young, he ran without hesitation, but no one would think that he was a real top midfielder in the world. Later, when he became more experienced and improved his tactical skills, he began to play smarter. He even transformed into a midfielder for a while, which was even more convincing.

In football, how to slow down is the skill.

As with the players, so with the team.

Real Madrid slowed down as soon as Xabi Alonso took control of the ball, as the team had missed the best time to fight back.

Chelsea's offensive investment in the opening game was very small, even Drogba and Kalou. Obviously, they did not intend to start the attack, but only wanted to defend.

This instead caused headaches for the Real Madrid players on the court and Ancelotti and others on the sidelines.

From Ranieri to Mourinho to Scolari, Hiddink, Ancelotti, Villas-Boas and now Di Matteo, Chelsea's defensive level has always been the top in Europe.

Facing such a team, who doesn't have a headache?