The consequence of Liverpool losing possession of the ball was that their players had not touched the ball for a long time.

From the 30th minute of the game, Manchester City took control of the situation on the field.

The football kept passing between their feet, and many times the ball was difficult to intercept.

This caused Liverpool players to waste their energy in vain without achieving any results.

40 minutes into the first half, Liverpool were far behind in all statistics.

Their ball possession rate was only 37%, more than 20 percentage points behind their opponents.

The number of passes was 188, less than half of Manchester City.

The number of dangerous attacks was only 27, 15 less than Manchester City.

0 corner kicks, 4 for the opponent! The number of fouls was much higher than the opponent, and there were more yellow cards.

This number is based on the premise that they had a lot of offensive opportunities in the early stage of the game. Once their physical strength declines in the second half, this number will probably become even more disparate.

Although the score on the field was 1:1, many people had already silently sentenced Liverpool to death in their hearts when they saw this.

When playing against a team like Manchester City, they will either be directly defeated from the start by the opponent's passing and control and the explosive style of play centered on Lin Quan.

Either you fall into the opponent's ball possession rhythm, lose the initiative little by little, and then enter a rhythm of slow death.

Obviously, Liverpool is in the second situation now.

At the end of the first half, Liverpool players were exhausted because they had run too hard before.

In addition, the fact that their previous aggressive steals had not yielded any results had greatly affected their enthusiasm, causing their number of steals and running range to decrease.

Feeling the decrease in the opponent's pressing intensity, Manchester City played more boldly.

They made full use of the width of the court and the superb footwork of the players on both sides, frequently hitting the ball from the left to the right and then from the right to the left, in order to mobilize the opponent's defensive position and consume the opponent's physical strength.

And try to find the opponent's flaws while the opponent's defensive players are moving.

Liverpool's defense was very solid and did not reveal any flaws. Manchester City did not get many good opportunities and tried several long shots outside the penalty area but failed to score a goal.

The first half of the game ended quickly and both sides returned to the locker room with a score of 1:1.

Although the score was a tie, the atmosphere in the locker rooms of the two teams was completely different.

The atmosphere at Manchester City was relaxed, the players were talking and laughing, and didn't feel any pressure at all.

On the Liverpool side, there was silence in the locker room. The players were busy with their own things and no one spoke.

Until head coach Klopp broke the depressing atmosphere.

…

Guardiola heard the noise coming from the next dressing room and said to Manchester City's players with a smile: "I guess Klopp is giving Liverpool's players a boost!"

His words caused a burst of laughter from the Manchester City players. Things like getting excited are something that almost all head coaches of various teams have done, so everyone understood it immediately.

The team only needs a boost to stimulate the players when they are in an unfavorable situation, so that they can be in better condition to deal with the next game.

There is absolutely no need to do this when the team has a huge lead.

The fact that Liverpool are already fully motivated proves that they feel they are at a disadvantage.

But the score is clearly 1:1, so for this game, both sides are still evenly matched.

This shows that Liverpool themselves realized that their situation in the second half would be very bad.

"Okay, don't worry about what the opponent is going to do. We just need to stick to doing our own thing. Everyone played very well in the first half. In the second half, continue to follow the previously formulated tactics. Mbappe and Sane, I will replace one or both of you in the 75th minute. I only have one request for you, just play to your advantages in speed and impact after you come on the court!"

Guardiola glanced at Mbappe and Sane. The two people whose names were called held their heads high and looked like they were actively asking for a fight.

They knew very well that if they were really substituted into the game, according to the tactics prepared by the coach in advance, they would most likely become the protagonists leading the team to victory.

No one doesn't want to be the protagonist, especially on a big stage like the Champions League knockout stage.

…

After the start of the second half, Liverpool's tactics seemed to have changed.

Klopp has obviously realized that if he continues to press high with the same intensity as in the first half, his players' physical strength will not last long.

So he chose to give up space on the court and retreat to prepare for a defensive counterattack.

This is a very wise choice, because Manchester City's passing and control are so strong that if Liverpool cannot grab the ball, the players will just waste their energy.

But retreating to launch a defensive counterattack is not necessarily a brilliant tactic.

Manchester City was not behind in the score, so their attack seemed unhurried and very patient.

They can completely accept a score of 1:1, so they don't care even if they leave Anfield with this score in the end.

On the other hand, can Liverpool really accept a draw at home?

In the next game away to Etihad, they will not have such a big home advantage.

For a team like Liverpool with a lot of momentum, without the fanatical atmosphere of their home stadium, their fighting power would almost drop by half a level.

So Manchester City played slowly and steadily. After fifteen minutes, even with a huge advantage in ball possession, they only completed three shots.

The opponent played very patiently, resulting in Liverpool having few opportunities to counterattack.

But Salah is really brave. Although he has few opportunities, he still relies on his own strength to turn Manchester City's flanks upside down.

Fortunately, Manchester City's defense in the middle was very tight in this game, which did not give him too many opportunities to cut inside. Otherwise, with his strength, he might really be able to create a miracle.

Liverpool fans are very satisfied with Salah's performance, especially when the team is in a disadvantage as a whole, they can only hope that star players like Salah can stand up.

"Salah, go!"

"If you win this game, I will call you Liverpool's Messi!"

“Why not Lin Quan from Liverpool?”

After Messi and Lin Quan became famous, several XX Messi or XX Lin Quan emerge in the football world almost every year.

Many fans like to give the names of "Messi" or "Lin Quan" to players who play the same position and have similar playing styles.

This is the expectation for these people. After all, these two are two superstars in the football world, and fans hope that these people can grow to their level.

Salah is very similar to these two people in terms of his position on the field, height, weight and playing style.

In addition, after joining Liverpool, he has performed better and better both in the league and in the Champions League, which makes many people very optimistic about him and think that he can continue to grow and may eventually reach the threshold of super giant.

Salah did not disappoint the expectations of Liverpool fans.

In the 67th minute of the second half, Liverpool intercepted the ball and launched a quick counterattack.

But Manchester City retreated quickly, and when Salah dribbled into the opponent's half, there were four defensive players in front of him.

On the Liverpool side, no one except Firmino could keep up with his pace.

Salah just took a look and then dribbled the ball. He used a wonderful crotch-through to fool Fernandinho who was trying to steal the ball, and then sent a cross from the edge of the penalty area.

After receiving the ball, Firmino wanted to shoot directly, but it hit the defender.

He hurried to grab the ball again, but was cleared away in advance by Manchester City's defender.

But the Manchester City defender made a mistake in clearing the ball. Laporte seemed to want to pass the ball to his teammate, but kicked his teammate's leg.

Stones was not prepared as he was turning around. He did not clear the ball immediately. When he tried to clear the ball with his foot the next time, a red figure suddenly jumped out from the side and kicked the ball into the goal.

The goal was scored by none other than Liverpool’s No. 11 winger Salah!

When seeing this goal, all the fans at the scene were shocked.

2 vs 4, and it actually went in! What kind of shitty luck is this! Manchester City's defense actually made such a low-level mistake!

Guardiola had already called Mbappe over and was about to give him instructions on what to do after he came on the pitch.

Read the error-free version on 6Ⅹ9Ⅹ bookⅩ bar! 6Ⅹ9 book bar first publishes a novel.

Unexpectedly, such a change happened on the court.

Because he didn't see the whole process of losing the ball, Guardiola asked in confusion: "What happened?"

Assistant coach Arteta recounted the process of the goal conceded, and Guardiola became speechless.

Another low-level mistake like this. Why is it that every time they meet Liverpool, the team's defense always gives him something to worry about?

In the past, it was he, the head coach, who liked to do things, but how come now it is the players who like to do things?

This goal put Manchester City in a passive position. Liverpool, who were leading in the score, could now retreat and focus on defensive counterattacks.

Compared with high-pressure pressing, defensive counterattacks consume less physical energy, which allows Liverpool to persist for a much longer time.

According to his expectations, Liverpool's physical strength would be almost exhausted after 75 minutes.

At this time, he replaced a fast and powerful winger, who could easily tear apart Liverpool's defense.

But now, the opponent's formation has retreated, and neither Mbappe nor Sane is very useful at this time.

There was not enough space for them to speed up, and the opponent's half was full of people, so they couldn't even rush forward.

The team now needs a siege cone that can smash the opponent's defense line.

The forward Jesus on the field obviously does not have such ability, he is not even a serious forward.

Thinking of this, Guardiola gave up the idea of ​​replacing Mbappe or Sane and instead considered replacing Jesus with a striker.

His eyes swept over the players on the bench. Aguero is Manchester City's main striker, but he does not have strong offensive ability. Substituting him on the field may not necessarily make him do better than Jesus.

So Guardiola hesitated for a moment, and finally shifted his attention to the next person.

There are two forwards sitting on the bench. Apart from Aguero, the only one left is Haaland.

When he saw Haaland, Guardiola's expression became even more hesitant.

This kid is big enough, but he is too young.

Can he, who is not even 18 years old yet, really defeat those veterans in Liverpool's defense?

Forget it, let’s give it a try!

You won’t know whether it succeeds or not until you try.

Even if we fail in the end, a score of 1:2 is not unacceptable.

At worst, we can just go back to our home court and decide the outcome!

So Guardiola called Haaland's name: "Erling, go warm up!"

"Ah? Me, me?"

Haaland thought he was a mascot, there to make up the numbers.

I didn't expect that at such a critical moment, the head coach would call his name.

"If you don't want to go up, just keep sitting!"

Guardiola glared at him, and Haaland ran away without waiting for Guardiola to say a second word.

Haaland dreams of playing in the Champions League knockout round! How could he give up? He was confused just now because he was too shocked and didn't react immediately!

Although Haaland is big, he seems to be a simple-minded guy with strong limbs.

But in fact, he has a very smart brain. When Haaland was warming up, he started to think.

The coach ignored the main striker Aguero and instead picked his own unknown player.

This shows that the coach sees advantages in himself that Aguero does not have.

Haaland is not even 18 years old yet, and is inferior to Aguero in terms of game experience, skills and understanding with teammates.

The only thing that can help you defeat your opponent is probably your height and tonnage.

So, the coach saw this in himself and planned to let him go to the penalty area to compete for the header? Thinking of this, Haaland glanced at Liverpool's defense and began to think about how to deal with these people after he came on the court.

The fans didn't care about Manchester City arranging a substitute whose name they had never heard of to warm up. They were more interested in talking about Salah's goal just now.

"Salah is so strong, he can seize opportunities like this!"

"He's got some talent. No wonder he's called the Egyptian Messi. He can beat 2 vs 4!"

"Liverpool's transfer is a great bargain. I feel that after this season, Salah's value will soar to more than 80 million euros!"

"Haha, only 80 million? You are too conservative. I estimate that the Egyptian pharaoh is worth more than 100 million euros!"

At a time when inflation is severe in the football world, the value of players has also begun to rise.

Ever since the German transfer market raised Lin Quan's value to 200 million euros, the values ​​of subsequent players have increased significantly.

Salah is only 26 years old this year. As long as he does not suffer a serious injury or his condition suddenly declines, he can maintain his peak for at least five or six years.

It is not surprising at all that he is worth 100 million euros.

"How did Chelsea use their players in the first place? De Bruyne and Salah, these two joined the team almost at the same time, but they were both abandoned by Chelsea. It's unbelievable!"

"Haha, this is what they call together we are a pile of shit, apart we are a sky full of stars!"

"Alas, the Blues won the SSR card, but they can't use it well!" (End of this chapter)