Chapter 668 Atypical Barcelona

Mourinho is an atypical Barcelona coach.

Why do I say that? Throughout the past few years, all of Barcelona's head coaches have basically had a very obvious imprint, whether they are from the direct lineage or Dutch coaches like Van Gaal and Rijkaard, they all have the same or similar genes as Barcelona.

But Mourinho is not like that. His coaching style is even completely opposite to that of Barcelona.

It is not difficult to see from his coaching of Porto and Chelsea that Mourinho does not attach importance to ball possession at all.

Emphasizing integrity and defense is Mourinho's coaching style, but Barcelona emphasizes ball control and offense.

This is why, when Mourinho first started coaching, almost all traditional figures at Barcelona, ​​including Cruyff, were very dissatisfied with him and believed that it would be difficult for Mourinho to succeed at Barcelona.

But the results were somewhat surprising.

Mourinho did not play the traditional football of Barcelona. His ball possession rate was significantly lower than that of Rijkaard. However, Mourinho's team succeeded! They won both La Liga and the King's Cup!

Even if they win the Champions League again, it will be the second treble in the history of Barcelona and even La Liga! It can be said that Mourinho has fought back against everyone with his results.

Of course, the controversy still exists. Cruyff and many Barcelona people still do not approve of Mourinho's football. There are even similar controversies in the Barcelona locker room. But it is undeniable that Mourinho has established a firm foothold in Barcelona's coaching. Rosell and Bartomeu also stand firmly on his side.

This ensures Mourinho's position as coach is safe.

…

Looking at Barcelona under Mourinho's coaching, it cannot be said that Barcelona's characteristics have been completely lost, but they have been relatively weakened.

The double midfield formed by Xavi and Iniesta is still the core of Barcelona, ​​and no one can change this. After all, the positions of these two players are very solid both in Barcelona and in the Spanish national team.

But around the two, Mourinho often inserts Seydou Keita and Yaya Toure, often adopting a 4-4-2 formation instead of Barcelona's traditional 4-3-3, and also placing more emphasis on defense in the midfield and frontcourt.

Once they lose the ball, Barcelona will go crazy and press.

This is very similar to the first century derby in Barcelona, ​​when Su Dong defeated Real Madrid 5-0.

On the offensive end, Eto'o and Messi are the ones Mourinho relies on the most, but he has always wanted to bring in center forward Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan to partner with these two players to form a dream trident.

Judging from Mourinho's deployment of troops and what he expressed, he still hopes to inject his own football philosophy into Barcelona's traditional football philosophy so that the two can be integrated.

It is precisely because of these that Barcelona under Mourinho presents a very strange and even contradictory situation.

The ball possession time was reduced, but the defense was solid and the team played very steadily. More importantly, the main means of attack was counterattack. The pressure in the midfield and frontcourt was very strong. As soon as the ball was intercepted, they would immediately launch a counterattack.

This doesn't look like Barcelona, ​​but it also looks like Barcelona.

Facing such a team, not to mention that Su Dong was a little confused, Heynckes couldn't see it either, and even Barcelona's own people, such as Cruyff and others, might not understand it.

Maybe even Mourinho doesn’t know what’s going on with the Barcelona team he coached.

But no matter what, with such a group of players as the base, this Barcelona is very, very strong.

…

When analyzing both sides, Heynckes believed that Bayern was definitely inferior to Barcelona in terms of ball possession and technology.

There is no doubt about this.

Despite the addition of players like Seydou Keita and Yaya Toure, Barcelona's players still have very strong technical skills, and their skillful one-touch passes are very sharp when counterattacking.

Often after the ball is intercepted, one or two passes are enough to make the ball threatening.

Bayern is still not as good as Barcelona in this regard.

Therefore, fighting to the death is definitely not an option, defense is the main theme of Bayern.

The key question is, how to defend? In the past, Su Dong always felt that it was not okay to just defend, especially shrink the defense, against a team like Barcelona. That was too dangerous, especially with Messi, which was even more terrifying.

Although Mourinho's Barcelona seems to be different from traditional Barcelona, ​​the essence remains the same.

…………

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After Bayern made sufficient preparations in Munich, the chartered plane arrived in Rome at noon the day before the final.

At this time, the atmosphere of the final in Rome was already quite strong.

The whole city was filled with the atmosphere of the Champions League final, and the streets and alleys were filled with fans of both teams.

When they saw Bayern's exclusive bus passing by, they all chased after it.

Bayern fans will give their team warm cheers and encouragement, while Barcelona fans will attack Bayern madly, especially Su Dong. In the eyes of many extreme Barcelona fans, Su Dong is a traitor! Of course, in the eyes of most Barcelona fans, Su Dong's impression will not be very good either.

No one would have a good impression of a player who leaves the team and then leads another team to massacre his old club.

After arriving at the hotel, Bayern players took a short rest and held another meeting in the afternoon, mainly to prepare for tomorrow's Champions League final.

The referee for the final was Busacca from Switzerland.

This referee, who is only 40 years old, is a rising star in European football. He is known as one of the top ten best referees in the world. He is fluent in five foreign languages ​​and played football when he was young, so he can be considered a referee who truly understands football.

After arriving in Rome, Busacca revealed in an official interview with UEFA that he was studying the match videos between Bayern and Barcelona.

"A referee must fully understand the playing styles and formations of the two teams he is officiating, so that he can move better and enforce the game more accurately."

Regarding the match between Bayern and Barcelona, ​​Busacca said it was his honor to enforce such a match.

"Busacca is a very good referee. He is young, energetic and accurate in his enforcement. His only problem is that he lacks experience. However, as a young referee, he is more willing to talk to the players and listen to their opinions. He is also happy to explain to the players why he made such a decision. This is a characteristic of Busacca."

Bayern officials have made sufficient preparations for this, including the referee's enforcement characteristics and standards.

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"So, in the game, everyone can communicate with Busacca based on his characteristics, and one advantage is..."

When Heynckes said this, he paused, causing silence in the conference room. Everyone looked up in surprise at the white-haired, red-faced German old man, wondering why he suddenly stopped. "... Su, he is your fan!"

Everyone exclaimed in surprise.

"Wow, Su, your fans are here to referee our Champions League final, is that a favor to us?"

"You might as well find an opportunity to get him an autograph, take a photo with him, and ask him to go easy on us in the final."

"Can Barcelona agree with such a referee?"

The teammates burst into laughter, and Su Dong was also quite surprised.

He has a lot of fans, but this should be the first referee, especially one qualified to officiate the Champions League final, right?

"He mentioned in several interviews that he was your fan. I guess at that time, he himself didn't expect to be able to referee your Champions League final. However, he said that he fell in love with you during your time at Barcelona, ​​so..."

If he had not said it before, Su Dong would have had reason to suspect that the referee was deliberately trying to find a balance between the two teams.

But it’s actually normal to think about it, Su Dong’s real rise was during his time playing for Barcelona.

…………

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As the two teams arrived in Rome one after another, the Champions League final was about to begin.

More and more fans flocked to Rome, but at the same time, the attention of media and fans around the world was unprecedentedly high.

The world's three major bookmakers have all offered various handicaps and odds, the most typical of which is who will win and the score.

Bayern has a slight advantage over Barcelona, ​​and it is not difficult to see that fans are still more optimistic about Bayern.

There are also some odds specifically for the Champions League final, such as who will be the first goal scorer? In this odds, Su Dong has the lowest odds, only three, which shows that fans are still most optimistic about Su Dong and believe that he will score the first goal for Bayern in the game. This is also a positive sign for Su Dong's past performance.

Following closely behind Su Dong, Messi and Eto'o both reached seven, both lagging far behind Su Dong.

In contrast to the goal, among the players who received the first card, Pique had the lowest odds, only nine, and Puyol had only ten. Because the two Barcelona central defenders were directly facing Sudong, the fans obviously believed that they would get cards for defending Sudong in the game.

If these are interesting betting items, but they were also common in the past, then the most rare one is which continent's player will score first?

This is a betting project that has just been developed this year. What is interesting is that the odds of Asian players scoring first are lower than those in Europe, America and Africa.

Because Su Dong is the Chinese!

In addition, there are other bets that are purely pranks, such as who will be sent to the stands between Heynckes and Mourinho? Can Su Dong and Messi both play the full 90 minutes? Will German Chancellor Angela Merkel be there to watch the game in person?

The most ridiculous thing is that Ladbrokes is so bored that it even offers a handicap to see who will kick off first in the Champions League final? Is there any technical content in this? Isn't it just guessing the coin tossed by the referee?

However, this has become the most popular betting item for many fans, especially Bayern fans. Therefore, more fans bet on Bayern, resulting in lower odds for Bayern.

According to Ladbrokes, this is because Bayern fans know that Barcelona is good at controlling the ball, so they hope that the team can kick off from the beginning and then launch a wave of attacks to suppress Barcelona.

It can be said that the betting items of many bookmakers actually reflect the expectations of fans of both sides for their teams.

But the final outcome will depend on the two teams' peak showdown at the Olympic Stadium in Rome tomorrow night.

Su Dong and his teammates have already prepared for this final!

(End of this chapter)