Chapter 276 Before the final

On May 22, three days before the final, the entire Manchester City team set off from Manchester and headed to Lisbon to prepare for the last and most important game of the season.

After the team arrived at the hotel where they were staying, Lin Quan met a group of unexpected guests - Maria, Marius, Valentina and three other brothers and sisters.

"elder brother!!"

When his sister Maria saw Lin Quan, she rushed over and gave him a warm hug, and took a selfie of the two of them with her mobile phone.

Behind Maria, Marius and Valentina followed suit and ran over, becoming accessories on Lin's body.

"Maria, Marius, why are you here?"

Lin Quan picked up the youngest Valentina, touched her head with hers as he did before, and reached out to scratch her armpits while asking.

The little girl loved to play like this when she was a child. When Lin Quan teased her, she burst into giggles.

"Dad said he wanted to come and watch the game, and Mom suggested bringing everyone over to cheer you on. Hehe, we all agreed!"

Maria skillfully uploaded the selfie she just took to her social media account, and couldn't help but brag about it - the best football star in the world! It can be seen that Maria is very proud of her brother, so proud that she couldn't help but show it off.

"Oh? Are they here too? Why don't I see them?"

Lin Quan held Valentina in his arms and looked towards the corridor, but did not see the two familiar figures.

"They went to the front desk to check in. We are staying at this hotel too!"

Maria specifically told Lin Quan this news. They chose this hotel after hearing about Manchester City's stay.

The purpose is to get closer to Lin Quan, so that their family can be together.

"Okay, come on, take me to your room!"

Manchester City has booked the two middle floors of the hotel, so the room Guardiola and his team booked is definitely not on these two floors.

In order not to disturb his teammates' rest, Lin Quan chose to take the initiative to find them.

When Lin Quan arrived, Guardiola and Serra had just completed the check-in procedures and were moving their luggage into the hotel room.

There are still several days before the competition starts, and with their whole family, the luggage of the five of them added up to be quite a lot.

Lin Quan greeted Guardiola and Serra, put Valentina down and took the initiative to help.

After the two men moved their things in, Sera disliked their clumsiness and feared that things would be messy, so she drove them out and sorted out the things in the room herself.

The two of them were indeed not good at these things, so they simply went outside to chat.

"Are you confident about the final?"

Guardiola's team was eliminated by Atletico Madrid, so Guardiola actually has a deep understanding of Atletico Madrid.

It just so happened that Lin Quan's team made it to the finals, so as a veteran, he could pass on some experience to him.

"It's a fifty-fifty chance. Atletico's defensive ability is the best in the top five leagues. Even you were shut out by them. If we dare to say that we can definitely win, we must be kidding!"

The contest between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid is described by the outside world as a contest between spear and shield.

Manchester City's offensive firepower this season is obvious to all. With 127 league goals, they rank first in the top five leagues, 23 goals ahead of second-placed Real Madrid.

On the other hand, Atletico Madrid relied on its strong defense to overcome all obstacles and advance to the final.

So, this is a clash between two teams with completely different styles.

Even before the game started, the outside world could already guess what tactics the two teams would adopt.

Atletico Madrid will definitely continue with its high-pressure defense and counterattack, while Manchester City will certainly raise the banner of offense. As for what offensive means to use, it depends on Pellegrini's adjustments.

"Well, Atletico's defense is very unique and it gave me a lot of inspiration!"

Guardiola admires the unique defensive system that Simeone has developed at Atletico Madrid.

If it is just defensive counterattack, there may be nothing new. Mourinho has almost overused defensive counterattacks. When he was coaching Barcelona, ​​he encountered many teams that parked the bus and played defensive counterattacks in the league and the Champions League.

But Atletico's defensive counterattack is very different from the general defensive counterattack! They did not shrink in their own half, but boldly put pressure on three lines and carried out high-pressure defense, making it difficult for the opponent to organize the attack and even difficult to hold the ball.

In the semi-finals, Bayern suffered a lot.

The opposing players' diligent running, crazy pressing and rough fouls disrupted Bayern's offensive rhythm. The midfield could hardly hold the ball, let alone achieve the passing and controlling effect that Guardiola wanted.

In the final, Atletico Madrid will definitely use this tactic against Manchester City.

Moreover, they had just played a game against Barcelona and had rich experience in limiting the performance of players like Lin Quan.

So Guardiola feels that Lin Quan’s performance in this game may not be particularly good, at least not as overwhelming as he was in the previous games!

After listening to Guardiola's explanation and analysis, Lin Quan had a certain understanding of Atletico's defensive and offensive systems.

It is indeed a difficult team to deal with. He also watched the original final between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.

To be honest, Real Madrid's win was very lucky.

After Atletico Madrid lost its striker Diego Costa just 9 minutes into the game, they actually scored the first goal and used fierce defense to make it very difficult for Real Madrid's midfield.

If it wasn't for Ramos' header in the third minute of injury time, pulling Real Madrid back from the brink, Atletico would have won the championship if they had held on for more than a hundred seconds! However, Real Madrid, which had a very difficult time in regular time, scored three goals in a short period of time after overtime, and finally won the championship with a total score of 4:1.

The reason for Atletico's poor performance in the overtime period was simple: the players were exhausted.

If the high-pressure tactics are to be effective, the players need to run tirelessly over a large area.

Use running ability to create numerical advantage in local areas, thereby intercepting the ball and counterattacking.

But we are all professional players, and the difference in running ability will not be too big.

If you expend too much energy in high-pressure defense, you will definitely not have the strength to run afterwards.

For Simeone's team, 90 minutes is the limit.

If anyone can withstand their 90-minute attack and not lose, once the game is dragged into overtime, it will be the end of Atletico.

As a latecomer, Lin Quan certainly knows this weakness of Atletico Madrid.

But he was not sure whether the team could last the 90 minutes of regular time without losing, after all, Manchester City has never been a team with strong defensive capabilities.

"For this match, I suggest you play without a striker, pull the striker back and increase the number of players in the midfield. Atletico will definitely fight you in the midfield. Without the support of the midfield, you won't be able to get the ball in the frontcourt and will be completely locked down by the opponent's defenders."

Lin Quan was thoughtful about Guardiola's words. Guardiola was very familiar with the strikerless formation, but Bayern's lineup lacked a character like Messi.

Therefore, Guardiola's tactical reforms at Bayern have received mixed reviews. They can definitely beat weak teams in the league, but their record in the Champions League is not so good.

Although they defeated Manchester United and Chelsea, they were swept by Atletico Madrid, and the opponent is not a top club. This made many Bundesliga fans, especially Bayern fans, hard to accept.

We were the invincible team in the Champions League last season, but it’s only been a year and we can’t even beat Atletico Madrid?

It would be fine if he couldn’t win the game, but he actually didn’t score a single goal?

You have to know that before Guardiola came to Bayern, Bayern was known as the tragedy maker. Offense was their forte and scoring goals was never a problem.

As a result, all the responsibility was put on Guardiola.

Who told him to take over a championship team?

"If we play without a striker, we need players with speed and breakthrough ability on both sides, who are also very active in defense, to make full use of the width of the court..."

It can be seen that Guardiola really put in a lot of effort after the loss.

He has summed up some tactics to deal with Atletico Madrid, but they have not been tested in actual combat, so he doesn't know whether they will work.

Before the two of them finished their conversation, Sera packed up her things and walked out of the room.

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Seeing Guardiola still talking non-stop here, he immediately interrupted Guardiola:

"Okay, you're not Manchester City's coach, stop talking nonsense here. It would be bad if you disturb Lin's rest!"

Guardiola stopped talking a bit embarrassedly. It was a habit for him. Whenever he had the opportunity to explain tactics and his football philosophy, he couldn't help but discuss it with others.

"Lin, you should go back and have some rest. We will just hang out in Lisbon for a few days and have some fun. We won't bother you. After the game is over, we will return to Spain together!"

Ever since Lin Quan went to England to play football, their family hasn't been together for a long time.

They have to take advantage of this rare opportunity to have a good time together.

Because in another week, it will be the Spanish national team's training day again.

Once he joins the national team's training, Lin Quan will not be able to go home within the next month.

Because there is less than a month left before the World Cup officially begins!

"Well, okay, if I'm free, I'll come and play with you guys!"

Lin Quan has indeed been out for a while, and he needs to go back quickly, otherwise Manchester City’s manager and coaching staff will be worried.

Before leaving, Lin Quan thought of something and asked, "By the way, have you bought the tickets to watch the final?"

"I bought it, and it's the stand closest to the stadium!"

Marius took out his ticket and handed it to his brother respectfully.

Lin Quan took a look and thought, wow, these tickets are really not cheap!

A ticket costs 650 euros, and if a family of five goes together, it will cost more than 3,000 euros.

If these tickets were purchased from scalpers, the price would be doubled! This amount of money is more than the monthly income of many Spanish families!

However, Guardiola is not someone who is short of money, so Lin Quan did not feel sorry for him.

…

Before the final, Pellegrini was very confused about the team's starting lineup.

Based on his research on Atletico, he felt that Atletico would definitely fight with Manchester City in the midfield.

If they want to control the situation in the midfield, at least one of De Bruyne and Kroos must be replaced.

If these two players are on the field at the same time, it will have a huge impact on Manchester City's defense.

But who should we replace? Kroos plays a very important role in the defensive midfielder position and helps the team a lot.

If he is replaced, Manchester City will lack someone who can control the pace of the game.

As for De Bruyne, he has excellent ability to organize attacks in the frontcourt, especially his ability to pass threatening balls. There is no one in the entire Manchester City who can reach his level.

If he is replaced, Manchester City's offensive ability will inevitably be greatly weakened.

So, is there any way to have both of them on the field at the same time? He has tried it before in the league and the Champions League, letting Yaya Toure play as a defensive midfielder, protecting Kroos while covering for De Bruyne.

But the effect is not very good. Yaya Toure is an all-around midfielder with greater offensive ability than defensive ability.

It is best to leave professional matters to professionals.

As for the defensive midfielder, the best choice is naturally Fernandinho! So, should Fernandinho be included in the starting lineup?

Pellegrini was a little hesitant because of the long suspension period. Fernandinho, De Bruyne and Kroos did not cooperate very often, and the tacit understanding between the three was a problem.

If he were to be sent on the field, it would likely trigger a chain reaction that would not only fail to achieve the desired effect, but could even backfire.

Thinking of this, Pellegrini gave up the idea and finally decided to replace Kroos with Fernandinho.

Just as Pellegrini was worrying about Manchester City's starting midfielder, Simeone at Atletico Madrid was also worried about the team's starting striker.

Diego Costa is his top player, but such a goalkeeper was injured in the final stage of the league.

In the last game against Barcelona, ​​Diego Costa left the field early due to injury.

Only a week has passed, and his injuries may not recover that quickly.

But in an occasion like the Champions League final, Atletico Madrid really needs Diego Costa to step up and charge for the team.

Diego Costa himself also wanted to play for the team and compete for the Champions League title that was within reach! Therefore, before the game, Simeone was very conflicted.

He didn't know whether he should agree to Diego Costa's request and put him in the starting lineup, or to be safe and continue to keep him on the bench.

But if he is not used, how should the forward line be arranged? Although Atletico Madrid still has Villa who can be used, Villa is old after all, and there is a big gap in all aspects compared with Diego Costa.

When playing defensive counterattack tactics, Diego Costa is undoubtedly more suitable for Atletico's tactical system.

Simeone gritted his teeth, and finally made up his mind to fight!

He chose to believe in Diego Costa's condition. Since he said his injury had recovered, let him start!

(End of this chapter)