Chapter 754 Want to Win!

qua... qua... qua...

In the Liverpool dressing room, the players of the Red Army were breathing heavily.

Forty-five minutes in the first half and two minutes of stoppage time, the Red Army's consumption was also huge.

The main reason was the loss of possession of the ball, and the players had to use more and more active movements to suppress Barcelona's passing and cutting coordination, especially in the last ten minutes of the first half, when Barcelona suddenly accelerated the rhythm to attack.

The most threatening of them was in the 39th minute, when Liverpool made a mistake under pressure from Barcelona.

When Skrtel played the ball in the backcourt, he was too weak in a hurry. After being intercepted by Harvey, he was quickly assigned to the right flank. Daniel Alves was like a sharp knife on the right, and quickly cut Liverpool The left defense line, down to the bottom line and then inverted triangle back to the front of the penalty area.

Messi followed up and shot directly, trying to push a far corner.

Fortunately, Reina played well this time, flying to save the ball and giving Barcelona a corner kick, but he managed to keep the goal.

Then Barcelona took the opportunity to launch a series of offensives, and Liverpool almost couldn't resist.

...

In the first half, Barcelona's possession rate was as high as 68 percent, while Liverpool's was a pitiful 32.

In terms of the number of shots on goal, the two teams were about the same, with six shots on goal.

Among them, four of Liverpool's six shots came from Yang Yang.

In the whole first half, Liverpool's most threatening attack was Yang Yang's direct free kick, as well as the anti-offside single shot that was blown away, which were all very unfortunate opportunities.

For Barcelona, ​​the really threatening attack is Messi's push, but Reina's performance tonight was really good.

Debuting in Barcelona, ​​although Reina once occupied the starting position at Camp Nou, he was quickly put into the cold palace again. It was not until Liverpool that he re-proved his value. Therefore, facing Barcelona, ​​Reina also seemed particularly excited.

...

Benitez and the coaching staff were very satisfied with the team's performance in the first half.

Whether it is the execution of the players or the degree of implementation of tactics on the court, they have done quite well.

But there are still some shortcomings, such as Messi's threat.

"I found that at the moment when we switched from defense to attack several times, our balls were always a little blind, and the players always wanted to press, which is not good. I told everyone repeatedly before the game to let go of the defensive position. Fighting against Barcelona is suicidal!"

Faced with a sophisticated and technical team like Barcelona, ​​Liverpool really have few options.

Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, even Eto'o, Henry and Daniel Alves are all players with super personal ability, each of them can pass, shoot and break through.

Why should Liverpool adopt three defensive midfielders?

It is to shrink, firmly protect the front of the penalty area, and avoid space for players such as Daniel Alves, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta to dribble through and cooperate with passes.

At the technical and tactical level, Guardiola's team can really be said to have reached a very high level. Such a team is really terrifying. As long as there is a slight omission, the opponent will immediately seize the opportunity to attack.

Just like in the 39th minute, Liverpool was too anxious to counterattack. As a result, Skrtel did not pass the ball enough. Gareth Barry wanted to move forward, but was interrupted by Xavi. Daniel Alves drove the ball straight in by himself, and no one could stop him.

Barcelona's offense is like mercury pouring into the ground, all-pervasive, as long as they are given a little space, they can form an effective penetration and create a deadly threat.

"You must pay attention, we have to maintain enough patience, we have to keep calm and rational at all times, we have to fight with each other for patience, fight as a whole, whoever becomes impatient first will lose this game."

Benitez's remarks reminded the players that everyone in the locker room is very aware of their responsibilities.

To put it simply, Liverpool would rather stick to the game in this game, dragging the score of zero to zero into a penalty shootout, and will never show a slightest flaw to Barcelona, ​​allowing the opponent to take advantage of it.

Many people may think this is conservative, but they have to admit that this is the only way for Liverpool to have a chance to compete with Barcelona. If they do not maintain a meticulous defensive position, they will be penetrated by Barcelona every minute.

Since it is in the finals, everyone wants to win.

And if you want to win, you have to choose the way that has the best chance of winning.

...

Afterwards, Yesterdam and Gerrard also stood up to speak, encouraging the players to keep pushing.

Yang Yang also stood up next to him, first apologizing for his two chances in the first half, and his teammates also comforted him.

Everyone knows that these two chances are not very good, one was earned by Yang Yang himself, and the other was blown away by a wrong judgment by the linesman, and Yang Yang cannot be blamed for this.

"Trust me, pass the ball to me in the second half and I'll definitely put it in the Barcelona goal!"

Yang Yang's assurance is absolutely trustworthy for the players in the Liverpool dressing room.

…………

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The start of the second half was still dominated by Barcelona's passing and possession.

In just one minute of the opening minute of the Spanish giants, Iniesta dribbled the ball and forced a breakthrough, cooperated with Messi two-to-one, got rid of Xavi Alonso's defense, and made an oblique pass from the left side of the top of the arc at the front of the penalty area. Right.

Eto'o plugged in quickly and shot with a sliding tackle at the front of the small penalty area.

But the ball was blocked by Skrtel, who was inserted in the back row, and turned into a corner kick.

Then Henry's header hit the goal, slightly wide of the post.

But then, Harvey made a straight pass near the center circle. Henry took the ball from the left, sprinted with the ball, and dribbled the ball into the penalty area. After spiking the ball past Carragher twice in a row, he hit the goal from a small angle and was thrown by Reina. out, another corner kick.

This time it was Reina who gave up decisively and took the ball out of the air.

In the 50th minute, Gerrard's midfielder got the ball and the ball was broken. Barcelona quickly launched a counterattack. Eto'o got the ball from the right and went straight into the penalty area. Messi then plugged in, but was ahead of Abeloa who returned to his position in time. One step to clear the ball.

Due to the physical contact between the two players, Messi fell into the penalty area of ​​Liverpool, but the referee Busaka did not interrupt the game and signaled Messi to get up and re-enter the game as soon as possible.

Judging from the slow-motion playback, Abeloa's hand did hit Messi, but it should not be intentional.

While Barcelona launched a continuous offensive, Liverpool also played a quick counterattack.

After Carragher got the ball, he quickly made a long pass and made a direct clearance to the frontcourt.

Kuyt fought for the ball, Yang Yang grabbed the second spot, tried to score the ball and passed Puyol, but the Barcelona center defender fouled decisively, pulled Yang Yang down, and was shown a yellow card by the referee.

This is also the first yellow card of the entire match.

...

Yang Yang took Kuyt's hand and struggled to get up from the grass.

For Puyol's foul, he is somewhat angry.

It is a pity that he is not the last defensive player, otherwise, it would not be as simple as a yellow card.

When walking back, Yang Yang noticed that Benitez on the sidelines was making adjustments.

Obviously, the Liverpool coach thought that after the start of the second half, the team retreated a little too far, which was extremely disadvantageous for the defense, because the lack of retreat and flexibility made it too easy for Barcelona to face the goal directly.

This is very dangerous.

Therefore, Benitez hopes that the team can press forward appropriately, and it is best to push Barcelona's pass area out of the 30-meter area to minimize their threatening attack.

And after the restart of the game, including the three midfielders and Gerrard are resolutely implementing Benitez's arrangements.

The midfield presses forward, and the back line naturally moves forward, while Kuyt in the front field is actively retreating to participate in the midfield defense.

After seeing Kuyt retreat, Yang Yang pushed forward his active area and faced Puyol and Pique directly.

This is what Yang Yang often does in this game.

Next, all he needs to do is wait patiently for the pass from the midfield.

And this kind of watching teammates fighting desperately, watching teammates try their best to press and oppress, but he can't help in the frontcourt, Yang Yang feels really uncomfortable.

But he is also very clear about his responsibilities.

He pays attention to the division of labor and cooperation on the court. The best way for him to repay his teammates, the coach, and the team is to complete his responsibilities.

Barcelona attacked for a while at the beginning of the second half, played several impressive attacks, and also created a few threatening shots, and finally slowed down the offensive temporarily.

Meticulous defensive system, tenacious defensive tenacity, this is Liverpool's consistent advantages and characteristics.

Barcelona is also very clear that it is not realistic to want to eat Liverpool in one go, and they may even be ready to fight to a certain extent.

Otherwise, Guardiola would not use aggressive tactics before the game, threatening that Liverpool would not dare to play against Barcelona.

...

Game time is passing little by little.

Neither team wanted to make a substitution.

Barcelona's pass control has the advantage, with a ball possession rate as high as 70%. It can be seen that the advantage after the start of the second half is more obvious than the first half, but Liverpool has always been firmly in their own half, not giving the opponent the slightest Chance.

Liverpool's defense is meticulous and solid, but not brutal. Even in the 60th minute of the game, they didn't even have a yellow card, and the number of fouls was less than that of Barcelona. The help between the defense to complete the defense, to block Barcelona's attack.

This also makes people see the hard work Benitez has invested in the Liverpool team in the past few years.

At least this set of defensive positions is enough to make people understand why the Red Army can stand at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

As Barcelona's offensive slowed down, the game seemed to have entered a stalemate.

But the more so, the more focused the players on the court, and the more nervous the fans in the stands.

Everyone knows that behind the calm often represents the undercurrent.

And everyone is waiting for the unexpected.