Chapter 516 Surprising Victory

Oleg Presas, who just turned twenty-seven on February 2.

He played for his hometown team since he was a child, and later moved to many lower-level teams. At the age of 21, he came to Barcelona and entered the second team of Barcelona, ​​officially becoming the reserve force of this Barcelona team.

A year later, then manager Louis van Gaal gave him the opportunity, but he failed to seize it, still playing for Barcelona's second team, in the lower leagues.

After several years of polishing, in January 2004, the first-team defense was lacking, replacing Van Gaal, and Rijkaard, who became the team's coach, gave Oleg a chance, but this time he directly seized it and Become the main force of the first team in one fell swoop.

In the next two seasons, Oleg made great contributions to Barcelona in La Liga and the Champions League.

Can play right back and central defender, can also play three back, this is Oleg's strengths.

But this summer, with the addition of Thuram and Zambrotta, Oleg's place in the team was shaken.

He started to lose his main position.

Although Rijkaard trusted him as always, he was more often used as a rotation role, as a substitute, or even in some garbage time.

The intermittent games made it difficult for Oleg to show a stable competitive state, and his performance was good and bad.

In the last round of the away game against Sevilla, Oleg started to play as a right center back, and the result was also very mediocre.

In this game, Jerkaard made an adjustment, Oleg appeared in the middle, because he was the tallest player in the Barcelona team, and his task was to target Liverpool's high center Crouch.

It was a player who was 2.02 meters tall.

Aside from freezing Crouch, Oleg's task is to hold back.

This is a characteristic of Barcelona when they play three central defenders. Puyol and Thuram, the two left and right central defenders, are often pulled to the flanks, which requires Oleg in the center to appear behind them to assist them in defense. .

Everyone knows that this is a crucial battle, Barcelona's success or failure this season, all tonight.

It was the first time for Oleg this season that he was entrusted by the head coach with the starting role in such an important game.

He also cherishes it very much, and at the same time swears from his heart that he must do his best to give full play to his strength, so that everyone, including the head coach Rijkaard, can see his value.

Barcelona's game strategy is to attack.

Two weeks ago, at Camp Nou, the team lost 1-3, which resulted in the team not only losing the initiative, but also the away goals, so at Anfield, Barcelona had to score three. ball.

This is also the reason why Rijkaard used the three-four-three tactic.

The team has no way out!

According to the pre-match speculation, Barcelona should have launched a fierce attack from the beginning, relying on the outstanding attacking combination of the frontcourt, relying on the talented trident of Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Messi, plus the midfielder Deco , Iniesta and Harvey's strategizing, swallowed Liverpool in one fell swoop.

Before the game, everyone on the team was full of confidence.

Everyone feels that their team will successfully get the initiative on the road.

The real trouble is how to break through Liverpool's impregnable walls, how to score goals.

But at the beginning of the game, everyone in Barcelona realized that something was wrong.

Liverpool did not retreat as they thought!

Even with a three-to-one lead, Liverpool's starting tactics were not conservative at their own home. On the contrary, they even looked more aggressive and attacked from the very beginning.

Yang Yang, Crouch and Kuyt Trident in the front field pressed and pressed against Barcelona's back line, while midfielders Gerrard, Xavi Alonso and Mohamed Sissoko pressed against Barcelona's midfield.

The back line is still the combination of Abeloa, Agger, Carragher and Finnan.

Liverpool's starting lineup has hardly changed from the first leg, the only difference is that they played more aggressively than the first leg, with the entire midfield and defence pressed higher.

The trident headed by Yang Yang also penetrated deeper into the hinterland of Barcelona.

This was clearly beyond all Barcelona's expectations.

The rhythm of the game was not right from the start.

The trident in the frontcourt has a wide range of activities, and Oleg has to deal with Crouch, but this makes it impossible for him to take care of his teammates on both sides.

Barcelona's backline was a bit chaotic as they found three-on-three and they were a bit overwhelmed.

Especially Yang Yang and Kuyt.

The Dutchman has a wide range of activities and is very active in running, especially for Puyol, who plays on the left with his right foot.

Everyone knows that Yang Yang is only twenty years old, and his speed and dribbling are his forte, but Thuram is already thirty-five, so he can't stop him at all, especially when sprinting fast.

Oleg was a little bewildered.

Because he doesn't know what to do!

It stands to reason that when Thuram went to follow Yang Yang, he should be behind Thuram to help him defend and fill up.

In this way, as long as Yang Yang breaks through, he will be able to grab the ball quickly, and even if he can't steal the ball, he can block Yang Yang.

But in this case, who will watch Crouch?

If he doesn't fill up for Thuram, Yang Yang only needs to seize one chance, no matter if it is a diagonal or vertical attack, as long as he gets rid of Thuram, it will be an excellent shooting opportunity.

More importantly, the head coach on the sidelines has not given specific adjustment instructions.

Even if it is to bring back Marcos, who has been delayed in the midfield, and become a back four.

There was no movement for a while, causing Oleg to collapse.

He had a faint feeling that the team's fragile back line might not be able to hold up.

…………

…………

The second leg of the Champions League round of 16 knockout.

Not a second was quiet at Anfield from the moment referee Vasaras blew his whistle.

More than 50,000 fans shouted, cheered and cheered for the team.

Rijkaard said playing at home is an advantage, but also a pressure.

That's true, but all Liverpool players are clearly enjoying playing at their home ground more.

Because the fans here are the team's best comrades!

Benitez's game strategy is basically the same as the first leg, including how to mark Ronaldinho and Messi, but Saviola becomes Eto'o.

Also, in order to cope with Barcelona's small diamond-shaped four midfielder, Gerrard's position came back a little.

Among Liverpool's frontcourt tridents, Yang Yang has the highest degree of tactical freedom.

Kuyt wants to grab Puyol's point, Crouch wants to suppress Oleg, and Yang Yang's task is to attack.

Rijkaard's original idea was very simple, control the ball, control the rhythm, and use the experienced veteran Thuram to limit Yang Yang, then other things will be much easier.

But the biggest difference between the cup and the league is that it is a surprise victory!

The reason why Benitez is good at playing cup games is that he is not only strong in targeted tactics, but also because he is very good at winning by surprise.

For example, in this game against Barcelona, ​​everyone concluded that Liverpool must continue to play defensive counterattacks. Even Barcelona's technical director Begiristan felt that Liverpool would play defensive counterattacks during psychological warfare.

Why?

The first is a three-to-one lead, and secondly, the defensive counterattack is Liverpool's forte. Thirdly, pressing out to play is the situation Barcelona most hope to see, because it means that Liverpool can no longer defend strictly.

But Benitez has this kind of courage, which caught everyone in Barcelona by surprise, and Rijkaard was obviously stunned.

Who would have thought that Benitez had so many tricks to choose from, but chose the most impossible option in everyone's consciousness?

But sometimes things are like this, the more unexpected the opponent, the safer it is.

Liverpool started very well, starting from the trident, to the three midfielders, to the back four, the team played very integrally, suppressing Barcelona across the board.

No possession but controlled the game.

At this time, Yang Yang knew very well that he didn't need to worry about defense at all, or anything else, there was only one thing he needed to worry about.

That's how to score a Barcelona goal!

...

Thuram is a very experienced and very talented player.

Even though he is thirty-five years old, his condition is still quite good.

If the two sides compete on the same level, Yang Yang will hardly have a chance.

This is also the reason why Rijkaard dared to put out the veteran Thuram.

Therefore, Yang Yang changed his strategy. He deliberately leaned to the left and back and tried to pull Thuram out.

As long as Thuram leaves his position, Yang Yang's diagonal and vertical sprints can be a threat.

The thirty-five-year-old French veteran couldn't keep up with Yang Yang's speed no matter what.

But Thuram didn't come out, because Yang Yang used a long shot from 20 meters away and hit Barcelona's crossbar at the beginning of the game, which completely ignited the atmosphere of the audience and also shocked Barcelona.

Without the crossbar, Liverpool would have scored in three minutes!

So Thuram had to come out, and in the ninth minute, he got the first yellow card of the audience.

The French veteran also struggled to cope with Yang Yang.

Rijkaard didn't make many adjustments.

Yang Yang guessed that the Barcelona coach should have a headache at this time, and even regret his own starting lineup.

Because he can't adjust.

On the counter-attack, Gerrard's back plug made him have to put Marcos at the front of the penalty area for protection.

Xavi and Deco are on both sides of the small diamond, and they are the key to the team's ball-handling organization and passing attack, and they can't move.

Yang Yang has a feeling that it's not that Rijkaard is too weak, but that Benitez is too strong.

More importantly, the team's three-to-one match in the first leg away from home was too crucial, which directly forced Barcelona to a desperate situation.

Benitez not only has to let his opponents have nowhere to go, but also push them off a cliff with his own hands.

Yang Yang is the trump card in his hands to coerce his opponents!