Chapter 575 Final opponent Real Madrid, ceremony three midfielders take shape
Whether it was Manchester City advancing to the final for four consecutive years or Lin Quan's incredible goal in the game, all major media rushed to report after the game, and in a very short time, it quickly spread throughout the football world.
"Lin's goal has completely surpassed my understanding of football!"
"I don't understand. I really don't understand. How did he do that?"
"It's incredible that he didn't lose the ball when he was double-teamed by five people. He even seized the only chance and scored the goal by passing through the goalkeeper's crotch. What's wrong with Lin Huang's brain? How can he be so calm and efficient? Like a computer, he eliminated all the wrong answers and accurately found the only correct answer!"
Before Lin Quan shot, almost everyone felt that he was in a desperate situation or even dead. His only hope was probably to hope that the opponent would make a move with his hands, or have a physical collision with him, and then take the opportunity to fall in the penalty area and ask for a penalty kick!
But not only did he not use this dishonorable method that might have been suspected of diving, but he also seized the fleeting opportunity, which could hardly be called an opportunity, and sent the ball into the goal.
None of these people on Juventus' defense are unknown. They are all top defensive players ranked in the football world.
Even the goalkeeper is one of the best on the planet.
Juventus' defense did not make any mistakes in this defense, but was still beaten by the opponent.
The fans couldn't find any other words to say except "awesome".
"To be honest, Juventus lost this game unfairly. Even if Lin Huang was given another chance, he might not be able to replicate this magical goal. But he succeeded when he met Juventus. Juventus is really lucky."
Fans who watched this game generally had a good impression of this old lady.
Juventus played really well in this game. Although they lost, it was not their fault. If it weren't for Lin Huang's invincible performance, this game would still be played and Juventus might have made it to the final.
Of course, in terms of hard power, Juventus still has some gap compared with top teams such as Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Even if they really make it to the final, they are probably no match for Real Madrid, and the probability of winning the championship is less than 30%.
Speaking of which, Juventus' performance in the Champions League finals has always been poor. They have lost four consecutive finals. Every time they have worked hard to reach the finals, they have ended up in failure. It's so miserable.
After talking about Lin Quan's magical goal, the fans naturally turned the topic to the championship battle of this season's Champions League final.
After Manchester City advanced to the final, Real Madrid also defeated Atletico Madrid and reached the final again.
This is almost a replica of last year's Champions League final. The two teams facing off are currently the two top teams in football. The clash between them is bound to be very exciting.
"Real Madrid's squad has been strengthened this season. The addition of Kroos has helped them find the final piece of the midfield puzzle. I think the three midfielders of Modric, Casemiro and Kroos are the strongest midfield lineup in the entire football world, even stronger than Manchester City's midfield!"
"Yes, although Kroos is very expensive, he is expensive for a reason. After he joined, Real Madrid's dominance in the league and its combat power in the Champions League have been significantly improved. It can be said that although it is still the same team, if this Real Madrid meets the Real Madrid of last year's final, they can beat themselves!"
After joining Real Madrid, Kroos helped Real Madrid win the La Liga championship trophy again after five years in his first season.
Moreover, in the Champions League, Real Madrid has been making great progress, defeating strong opponents such as Bayern and Atletico Madrid and successfully entering the final.
Although Real Madrid fans were worried about Kroos' high transfer fee and salary at the beginning of the season, it only took half a season for Kroos to conquer all the fans at the Bernabeu with his outstanding and stable performance.
Now, when talking about Kroos, Real Madrid fans will give a thumbs up and praise the old man for making a very successful deal.
It is precisely because of the significant improvement in hard power that Real Madrid fans are full of confidence.
This time, they came with the mentality of revenge on Manchester City! There are many fans who are optimistic about Real Madrid, but there are obviously more fans who are optimistic about Manchester City.
"This Manchester City team is really too strong. They have reached the final for four consecutive years. This has never happened in the entire history of the Champions League, right?"
The record that Manchester City inadvertently created made Manchester City fans very excited because they once again witnessed history.
"When Serie A was strong, AC Milan and Juventus both set records of reaching the finals for three consecutive years, but Manchester City is the only team that has reached the finals for four consecutive years!"
"That's not all. Although AC Milan and Juventus have both reached the finals for three consecutive years, both teams have only won one Champions League trophy. Compared with Manchester City's three titles in four years, the value is far less!"
"If Manchester City wins the trophy again this year, it will be four titles in four years. That's horrible! It's like one team has monopolized the Champions League title!"
"So, Real Madrid needs to give some support and can't let Manchester City dominate alone!"
Neutral fans wailed. From their perspective, they hoped to see a more competitive Champions League, rather than one where the championship was monopolized by one club.
Therefore, Real Madrid naturally became the hope of the whole village.
"Real Madrid's physical strength is not inferior to Manchester City's, but the players' mentality is probably not as good as Manchester City's!"
Last season at San Siro, Manchester City won three consecutive Champions League titles by stepping on the corpse of Real Madrid.
So when facing Manchester City again, Real Madrid is likely to be inferior in momentum.
They have played against Manchester City many times, but have only defeated them a few times.
On the other hand, for Manchester City, the stage of the Champions League final is like home. They have long been accustomed to it and are more relaxed.
Manchester City does not have the team atmosphere of Real Madrid, where they put pressure on themselves from top to bottom in pursuit of the tenth Champions League trophy in team history. They have already won enough honors, so the players are more open-minded and there is almost no tension.
"In terms of hard power, the two teams are evenly matched, but if we take into account the impact of the mentality of both teams, I think Manchester City may have a greater chance of winning!"
Never underestimate the impact of mentality on players. If the strength of both sides is equal, the final outcome is most likely determined by the different mentalities between the two sides.
"You haven't taken into account the impact of the final venue. This year's Champions League final will be held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, which is half of Manchester City's home ground. There will definitely be a large number of Manchester City fans pouring into the stadium from the UK and around the world. Even neutral fans will most likely favor the Premier League team."
"From this perspective, Real Madrid is playing away from home!"
Some Real Madrid fans became depressed after seeing these analyses, thinking that the team might fail again this time.
"Don't get discouraged so easily. Manchester City's record in the past few years is indeed crazy, but this season, starting from the group stage, Manchester City has been stumbling along the way, and its dominance is no longer as strong as before!"
Some careful fans analyzed Manchester City's performance in the Premier League and the Champions League this season and concluded that Manchester City's strength has declined.
This is inevitable. Manchester City won three consecutive titles in the league and the Champions League with this lineup.
This certainly brought them great fame and reputation, but it also made them the target of public criticism.
Many teams will specifically study Manchester City's technical and tactical play, even down to the playing style of each player, and then look for ways to defeat the enemy to deal with Manchester City.
Just like in the last game, the tactics used by Manchester City's opponent Juventus were specially developed to target Manchester City.
Obviously, Real Madrid will definitely do the same thing.
Barcelona was once known as the universal team, invincible anywhere in the world, but once they were thoroughly studied, didn’t they quickly fall from the altar?
Besides, Manchester City's lineup is aging, and the players have won too many honors, so their desire for honor is no longer as strong as before.
Without the desire for honor, it is difficult to expect them to show enough passion on the court.
Some players, especially veterans, may feel that they have already gotten what they wanted and are unwilling to continue working hard on the court as they did in the past. They just want to rest on their laurels and enjoy themselves.
This situation is not uncommon in the football world. After leading Inter Milan to win the treble, Mourinho chose to retire at the height of his career because he foresaw that it would be difficult to lead these veteran players in Inter Milan in the next season after they realized their dreams.
The state of the old players would have gradually declined. Besides, they were the heroes of the treble. The club chairman might even stand on their side. The head coach might not be able to do anything to them. After all, if something goes wrong, it would easily lead to negative news that the team was getting rid of them and was not treating the veteran heroes well.
Although Manchester City has not yet reached this stage, there is already this trend.
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In order to maintain the team's combat effectiveness, Guardiola constantly introduces fresh blood, using the pressure brought by young players to stimulate old players, making them feel a sense of crisis and dare not rest on their laurels.
This move has had a certain effect, but it cannot be said to have completely eliminated the problem.
Therefore, both Manchester City and Real Madrid actually have problems with the players' mentality.
One was too nervous, the other was too calm.
The main reason why Manchester City's performance this season has been up and down is that it is difficult to defeat strong teams.
When facing an average team, Manchester City can defeat the opponent by relying on its extremely high lower limit, but once it encounters an opponent of equal strength, this trick may not work.
Losing to Tottenham in the league, being tied by Liverpool, and losing to Barcelona in the Champions League are all true reflections of this situation.
In addition, the core midfielder Kroos was also poached. It is unknown how much time Manchester City has spent this season just on adjustments to the midfield position.
These problems are easy to see if one pays close attention to Manchester City.
Real Madrid obviously saw it! Zidane attached great importance to this game. He has been coaching Real Madrid for three years.
He must achieve results. If he doesn't, it will be very difficult for him to make further progress in the future.
As early as the knockout stage of the Champions League, Zidane arranged a large number of scouts to collect Manchester City's game videos, almost every game, whether in the league or the Champions League.
Thanks to Manchester City's ups and downs this season, they have lost a lot more games than before.
So Zidane focused on studying the videos of Manchester City's losses, wanting to see how Manchester City lost.
After a long period of observation and analysis, Zidane came to a conclusion.
Manchester City's midfield strength has declined, causing the team's offensive system to become shaken.
This season, Guardiola has been switching Gundogan between the central midfielder and defensive midfielder positions, but has never been able to find a suitable position for him.
Many times, Manchester City simply put two defensive midfielders - Kante and Fernandinho.
Manchester City does have many good attacking players in the frontcourt, including De Bruyne, Lin Quan, David Silva, Aguero, Son Heung-min, Sane and his own French brother who just turned 18.
But if the midfield cannot deliver enough ammunition to these offensive players, no matter how luxurious the lineup is in the frontcourt, it will be useless.
In addition, the condition of Manchester City's two full-backs has declined and the running distance has decreased, which has caused a significant decline in Manchester City's offensive firepower on the flanks.
Therefore, when defending Manchester City, as long as we grasp a few key points, we can achieve very good results and even kill the opponent's offensive system.
And in this regard, Allegri has done an exceptionally good job.
Zidane spent a lot of time watching the two games between Juventus and Manchester City repeatedly, especially the second game, trying to figure out the essence of Juventus' defensive tactics.
His idea is very simple. Since Juventus' defense is good, Real Madrid should learn from their good aspects, integrate them with Real Madrid's existing defensive tactics, combine the characteristics of Real Madrid players, and find the most suitable style of play for Real Madrid.
There has never been a famous final since ancient times. Even though Real Madrid's offensive firepower is among the best in Europe, Zidane does not intend to go head-to-head with Manchester City in the final.
There is a saying that goes, 'Attack wins games, defense wins championships'. What Zidane wants is the Big Ear Cup, which symbolizes the highest honor of European clubs! Zidane is studying Manchester City, and Guardiola is also studying Real Madrid.
This season's Real Madrid is very different from the previous Real Madrid. After the three-midfield system stabilized, Real Madrid's offensive and defensive problems were solved at the same time.
Kroos acts as a metronome and the engine of attack, using his broad vision and ability to read the game to control the direction and rhythm of Real Madrid's attack.
Modric used his excellent ball protection and dribbling ability to move forward and pass the ball to the BBC trio on the front line.
With his excellent running ability, large range of movement and ever-high morale, Casemiro protects his two midfield partners, acts as a barrier in Real Madrid's midfield and supports the hardness of Real Madrid's midfield.
The three players have clear division of labor and together form an iron triangle formation, exerting the strength of 1+1+1>3, which has raised Real Madrid's midfield strength to a higher level.
It can be said that if the three of them are used separately, each of them will not be able to bring out the strength of this combination, but once they are combined together, they are the strongest midfield combination in the world today, no doubt about it!
Even though Guardiola is knowledgeable and experienced, he can only think of the Xavi and Bucharest combination of Barcelona in the early years. Last season, Manchester City's De Bruyne + Kroos + Kante combination can be compared with them.
But unfortunately, Barcelona's combination has long since disappeared, and Manchester City's combination has become incomplete without Kroos.
(End of this chapter)