Chapter 215: Fighting for the Top Spot in the Champions League, Li Ang and Ibrahimovic Are Going Crazy [Please Subscribe, Guys! ]

Mourinho once again helped the young players in the team out of trouble in his own way.

When he was killing all four sides in the post-match press conference and took almost all the responsibility for the team's loss on himself.

The media naturally had no interest in observing several young players under a magnifying glass.

Moreover, this defeat was not completely without benefits and gains for Chelsea.

Mourinho was quite satisfied with Van Ginkel's performance as a single defensive midfielder.

But the biggest surprise for Mourinho was not Van Ginkel in this game, but the young defender Kalas.

Previously, Mourinho and the Chelsea coaching staff preferred to rent Kalas out, and the same view was held for Ake.

After all, there are too few young and mature defenders, especially the central defender position.

Talent is important, but experience and stability often outweigh talent for a central defender.

So for Mourinho, young Kalas and Ake are not in his team building plan for the time being.

At least they have to be loaned out to the Championship or the lower-middle teams in the Premier League to hone their skills for one or two seasons and have enough experience to be reused by him.

When Real Madrid was training new players, Nacho was about to turn 22 years old and had played enough games in Castilla, so he was ready to fight.

So Mourinho was so happy to give him more opportunities.

Varane can only honestly start as a substitute in the team.

If you don't want to be a substitute and want to play more games, then you can only accept loaning out.

However, Kalas's performance in this round of the league really amazed Mourinho.

So much so that Mourinho's inherent view of young defenders was shaken.

In his first game as a starter for Chelsea, this young central defender shone brighter than usual training!

His fierce tackling, excellent one-on-one ability and flexible body shape made him and Gary Cahill form a perfect central defender partner.

From another perspective, Kalas and Terry should also have a very good effect when they are paired together.

With only David Luiz as the central defender in the team, Mourinho was tempted.

Even though he still thought Kalas was very young, he still wanted to add Kalas to the normal rotation lineup of Chelsea's first team.

It's just that the playing time is not easy to arrange.

David Luiz is in good health. As his substitute, Kalas may only have a chance to start in more than ten games this season.

This is still the case when Chelsea is fighting on four fronts. If we only look at the league and the Champions League, Kalas may not even have a chance to start in five games.

For Kalas' personal development, it is definitely better to play more games outside than to stay in the team at this stage.

So Mourinho will have to have a separate conversation with Kalas later to listen to the young man's own ideas.

But no matter what, Mourinho is in a very good mood after discovering a treasure again.

He is not ashamed of his previous slight mistake in Kalas.

After all, for this kind of young player with a competitive style, few head coaches can see his shining points at a glance.

Besides, when he first arrived at Real Madrid, didn't he almost send Li Ang to Real Betis?

It's good to dig out this treasure in time. It's normal for the process to be a little bumpy.

Mourinho, who seemed to be in a good mood for several days, also caused discussions among the players in the Chelsea team.

Li Ang, who watched the last round of the league against Newcastle, probably guessed Mourinho's thoughts.

When Kalas was struggling with whether he performed well in the last round of the league, Li Ang asked him to relax.

Sure enough, before the start of the Champions League group match with Schalke 04, Mourinho had a private conversation with Kalas.

And Kalas was selected for the Chelsea 18-man player list for this round of the Champions League group match, which basically explained his final choice.

Looking at Kalas, who was silly and happy all day after finishing the conversation with Mourinho, Li Ang couldn't help but think of himself who was determined to be loaned out under Mourinho's persuasion.

On the road of career development, Kalas chose a completely different plan from Li Ang.

Li Ang, who knew that Kalas would waste his development in the future, felt that it might be better for Kalas to stay in the team this time.

The 18-man roster released by Mourinho before the game obviously attracted the attention of many fans and media.

Van Ginkel, who started in the last round of the league, and Kalas appeared again in Chelsea's 18-man roster for the Champions League, as if to reveal:

"Mourinho wants to vigorously cultivate these two young players."

Compared with Van Ginkel, who had already made a big splash before, Kalas has obviously become a topic of more concern to the British media.

For a while, there were more topics discussing this young Czech defender on the Internet.

It made the other stars in the Chelsea team much freer before the start of the Champions League.

After completing sufficient preparations, Chelsea hosted Schalke 04 at Stamford Bridge on the evening of November 6.

After the last round of group matches, Schalke 04 and Chelsea are already very familiar with each other's strength.

So in terms of pre-match preparations, the goals of both teams are quite clear.

Schalke 04 is very pragmatic and wants to take a point from Chelsea's home court.

And Chelsea naturally wants to finish the group first and advance in advance.

So at the beginning of today's game, Mourinho directly put out a highly offensive 433 starting formation.

And Schalke 04's young coach Keller also suffered a loss in the last round of competition. In this round of competition, he adjusted the starting lineup.

First of all, in the midfield, Keller removed many young players and only left Draxler in the starting lineup.

Then let Boateng retreat from the center position to play as a front midfielder.

Adam Szalai, the high center forward introduced by Schalke 04 from Mainz in the summer window, served as Schalke 04's starting center in this game.

Adam Szalai, who is 1.92 meters tall and has good confrontation ability, is enough to serve as a tactical fulcrum in Chelsea's half.

Such a starting arrangement is conducive to Boateng's back-up advancement and Draxler's speed and technical advantages.

To put it bluntly, Keller's goal in this game is to get into the fence in the backcourt and use the fulcrum of the big center forward in the frontcourt to better counterattack.

If you can steal one, you will earn one. If you can't steal it, let Boateng retreat to his own half to strengthen the defense.

When defending set pieces, Adam Szalai can also play a key role, and the consideration can be said to be comprehensive.

Before the game started, Li Ang and Adam Szalai also smiled and hugged and greeted.

Yes, they are acquaintances again. Although they have only been teammates in Castilla for about half a year, they have a good relationship.

They are very emotional to meet again in the Champions League.

After all, they agreed to leave Real Madrid together to make a living.

As a result, Li Ang wanted to go out but failed, and was kept by Mourinho, while Adam Szalai came directly to the Bundesliga and was bought out directly by Mainz.

Later, when Li Ang and Szalai chatted on the phone, he sighed that if Szalai could continue to stick to Castilla for half a year, the result might be completely different.

After all, Mourinho came half a year later. Szalai was 23 years old at that time, ready to fight, and a big center forward. At least he could get a chance to be tested by Mourinho.

Not to mention getting too much playing time in Real Madrid, at least he had to get a feel for the first team. If he stayed for two seasons, he could have experienced the taste of the treble.

It can only be said that fate is a trick. In the difference of half a year, Li Ang did not leave, but Szalai missed Mourinho who preferred big center forwards.

Fate...

After reminiscing about the past, the two did not hold back on the court.

Within 10 seconds after the game officially started, the two completed a confrontation near the top of the arc in the center circle of Chelsea's half.

Li Ang failed to compete with Szalai, but Szalai's header was also intercepted by Lampard.

Chelsea, who got the ball, quickly spread out their formation and launched a siege on Schalke 04!

Chelsea, who was at home, did not want to play any offensive and defensive balance with Schalke 04 today, but wanted to suppress them strongly from the beginning.

Such a style of play would naturally give Schalke 04 an opportunity to counterattack.

But Mourinho did not care, because Schalke 04's problem of not being efficient at the end point still existed.

Huntelaar's injury greatly reduced Schalke 04's offensive threat.

Boateng, who played as a center forward in the last round of the Champions League group stage, and Adam Szalai, who started this round, are both offensive players who are difficult to score double goals in a single season.

As offensive puzzle pieces, they are both very good and have a wide range of tactical uses, but being the core of the offense is a joke.

So Mourinho was very relieved to directly adopt a radical offensive tactic.

It's clear that he is not optimistic about Schalke 04's finishing ability.

Keller certainly understood Mourinho's plan, and he was of course very angry.

But in this anger, Keller, who kept a cool head, did not have a tactical backhand to counter.

He could only hope that Draxler could perform well today and threaten Chelsea's defense more on the counterattack.

So that Chelsea would not recklessly oppress Schalke 04's defense.

However, the vision is always good, but after having enough counterattack opportunities, Draxler was lost in the defensive double-team of Ashley Cole and David Luiz.

Facts have proved that Draxler, who is only 20 years old, does have unlimited potential, but his current ability is not enough to make him a game-breaker for Schalke 04.

Boateng's rampage made Chelsea's defenders suffer a little.

But after Terry took the initiative, his room for play was only to float outside the penalty area and shoot long shots.

After being bullied by Terry, Boateng also missed his Milan career infinitely, when Ibrahimovic protected him from the wind and rain, and Li Ang helped him to tie up the opponent's defense.

It's a pity that the two disloyal people are now running to the opposite side of him to bully his current teammates!

Ibrahimovic, who has not scored a goal in several games, was very active from the beginning of the game today.

In the tenth minute of the first half, Ibrahimovic had already shot twice.

In the sixteenth minute of the first half. After receiving the pass from Hazard who tore through Schalke 04's wing defense.

Ibrahimovic forced past Matip with his back, and then kicked a low shot from the opposite angle!

For the old goalkeeper Hildebrand, asking him to go down quickly now is simply making things difficult for him.

Ibrahimovic's shot was tricky and low to the ground!

Hildebrand's diving save was only halfway through, and the ball had already rolled straight into the net by rubbing the far corner post!

Less than 20 minutes into the game, Chelsea had already taken a 1:0 lead at home!

The cheers at Stamford Bridge soared into the sky, and the Schalke 04 players on the field couldn't help but tremble in their hearts!

And before the Schalke 04 defenders could recover, the game resumed less than six minutes later.

Li Ang received Ibrahimovic's back pass in the penalty area, and shot directly outside the Schalke 04 penalty area, once again penetrating the goal guarded by Hildebrand!

Keller was really anxious. Standing on the sidelines, he kept signaling his players not to panic, to calm down and slow down their emotions!

But how could the Schalke 04 defenders, who had been scored two goals in a short period of time, calm down at this moment?

With the formation further contracted, Schalke 04's defense line did not become more solid.

After all, people were confused.

Some defensive players wanted to use more active running to make up for the lack of quality of their defense line.

And some defensive players were even more confused, not knowing whether they should play according to the tactics arranged by the head coach before the game.

So under their seemingly thick two-layer defense line, there were loopholes in the defense line that could be exploited by Chelsea's offensive players.

In the 37th minute of the first half, Li Ang and De Bruyne completed a cross-position change and dribbled the ball to the side.

At the moment when he was about to cut in, he suddenly knocked the ball and changed direction, bursting and accelerating to break through Schalke 04's right back Ogo!

Li Ang, who showed confidence in dribbling in the match against Manchester City, once again used his dribbling and explosive speed to perform a wonderful performance at Stamford Bridge!

Li Ang has now reached a dribbling ability value of 82, which is enough for him to have the upper hand when facing defensive players in the lower and middle levels of the four major leagues.

Ogo obviously didn't expect that Li Ang would choose to pass him so decisively!

When he turned around to chase back, he could only eat Li Ang's tail gas!

He cut directly into the Schalke 04 penalty area and watched Matip rushing towards him. Li Ang chose to pass the ball back with an inverted triangle!

Ibrahimovic, who rushed to the right position with his long legs, almost didn't need to adjust, and he kicked the ball directly and comfortably!

Hildebrand, whose vision was disturbed, had not seen the angle of Ibrahimovic's shot clearly, and the goal was penetrated for the third time in the first half!

The mentality of the old German goalkeeper exploded directly!

Schalke 04's young coach Keller was not in a hurry to get angry at this time.

He stood on the sidelines in a daze, with his hands on his hips, looking at the Chelsea players cheering on the court with a dazed look.

Mourinho, who was next to him, seemed to have celebrated enough. He just hugged his assistant coach Holland with a calm expression and kept smiling and clapping.

Ibrahimovic, who had scored twice before the half-time, was grinning from ear to ear when celebrating in the corner flag area.

Li Ang, who had completed the pass and shot, threw himself directly on Ibrahimovic's back, waving his arms to encourage the emotions of the Chelsea fans on the scene!

The "Milan Brothers" combination went crazy at Stamford Bridge today!