Chapter 179: Champions League second leg at Old Trafford!
April 12th.
Old Trafford was once again surrounded by tens of thousands of fans as the second leg of the 2017-18 Champions League quarter-final was set to take place today.
In the last round of the Premier League, Manchester United narrowly defeated the relegated team West Bromwich Albion 1-0, which made many fans outside the league not optimistic about Manchester United's promotion situation, including many Manchester United fans.
At 10:00 p.m. local time, players from both teams completed their pre-match warm-ups and returned to the locker room to make final preparations.
The atmosphere in Manchester United's locker room was a little depressing, even though they were only one goal behind in the first leg and had an away goal.
But when the moment of the decisive battle came, they were inevitably a little nervous.
Ibrahimovic leaned against the locker door of the locker room. Today he replaced Lukaku as the starting center forward of the game.
Looking back on his career in the Champions League, whether at Barcelona, AC Milan or Paris Saint-Germain, he has never reached the Champions League final.
It would be a lie to say that I don't want to win the Champions League.
As a professional football player, no one can ignore the existence of the Champions League, and he is no exception.
Ibrahimovic rubbed his thigh vigorously. Although the anterior cruciate ligament tear recovered quickly, it still left some sequelae.
If it weren't for Mourinho's strong retention, he might have left Manchester United last season and gone to the Los Angeles Galaxy to retire.
But now he doesn't think so . "Okay, look at me." Mourinho clapped his hands, attracted the attention of the Manchester United players and continued, "Bayern should grab the start. We must not retreat at this time. We must hold the midfield."
"The focus of defense is still the right area. Rashford, you have to retreat as much as possible to participate in the defense, and help Antonio defend Ribery, while paying attention to the forward penetration of Bayern's full-backs."
Rashford nodded when he heard this.
He is obviously a left winger, but he was placed on the right winger and had to do all the dirty and tiring work.
If he were still the same person as before, he would probably feel a little uncomfortable, but after sitting on the bench for such a long time and witnessing the rise of his good friend, the sense of superiority in his heart has long since dissipated.
Now he just wants to complete his task as head coach and return to Manchester United's starting lineup.
"In terms of offense, follow our pre-match arrangement. On the right side of the midfield, Pogba will push forward. Ibrahimovic and Rashford will pull the Bayern defense line. After Pogba passes the ball, Chu will launch the actual attack on the left."
"If the attack on the left side doesn't improve, then we need to change direction as soon as possible."
"Due to Alaba's injury, their defensive strength on the left side is limited. Rashford can complete the positional pressure and try to dribble into the penalty area to create chaos."
“.”
Mourinho pointed to the arrow on the tactics board.
Before the game, Manchester United's coaching staff studied for a long time and finally came up with a tactic to target Bayern's left-wing attack.
That is to attack the left while weakening the left and strengthening the right.
Use Pogba's personal ability to complete the advancement and connect with Rashford.
Once the Bayern defensive formation was attracted to deviate, the ball was immediately passed to Pogba to complete another large-scale transfer.
Mourinho repeated it several times without getting tired of it, and from this we can see that the "madman" is also a little nervous.
After all, this is a crucial game.
In fact, at the beginning of the season he did not expect Manchester United to achieve such results, first in the league standings and reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Perhaps it all started with the youth team training I watched.
A powerful and explosive winger actually promoted the overall strength of Manchester United, and his own tactics were also maximized.
Mourinho was silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "We have no other choice today. Only by scoring goals can we advance."
"Don't be afraid of failure, go out there and prove yourself!"
"Let's go!"
After Mourinho finished speaking, he turned around and pushed open the door.
The noisy sound instantly flooded into the locker room. Chu Feng adjusted the position of his shin guards again, took a deep breath and stood up suddenly.
He could feel the enormous pressure coming towards him.
That is the expectation of tens of thousands of fans and also my own desire for the Champions League.
Regardless of whether he can win the championship, at least he does not want to and is unwilling to lose to Bayern.
But after experiencing the last game, Heynckes will definitely make more targeted arrangements for him.
As one of the top five leagues, Bayern's players are definitely not good-for-nothings, and each of them has strength that should not be underestimated.
Can I still open up the situation on the offensive end?
Chu Feng didn't even think about the answer to this question and followed his teammates out of the locker room.
There was not much communication between the players of the two teams, including the "chatty" Muller, because everyone knew that it would be a fight to the death today.
Fortunately, the referee did not make them wait too long. When the exciting Champions League theme song sounded, the referee team led the players off the field.
Old Trafford suddenly erupted in deafening cheers.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
The next second, hundreds of spotlights were turned on at once, emitting a dazzling light, illuminating the entire stadium as if it were daytime.
For Manchester United, this is the Theatre of Dreams.
For the enemy, this is a nightmare theater.
In the coin toss at the beginning of the game, Muller guessed the direction of the coin again and still chose the right to kick off.
Everything seems to be going according to plan.
"Good evening, viewers! Now we are broadcasting the 2017-18 Champions League quarter-finals!"
"Manchester United vs Bayern at home!"
"In the first leg, Bayern Munich beat Manchester United 2-1 with two wonderful goals, but Manchester United also scored a precious away goal thanks to Chu Feng's outstanding performance."
"Today, the two teams are bound to be at loggerheads in their fight for the promotion spot!"
"Let's take a look at the starting lineups of the two teams. Manchester United still lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation."
"There are big changes in the frontcourt players, with Ibrahimovic replacing Lukaku and Rashford replacing Mata, which greatly increases the mobility of the frontcourt."
"Ibrahimovic also has certain organizational skills and can replace Mata to some extent."
"Under Ibrahimovic's cover, Xiaochu has plenty of room to play and can frequently attack Bayern's defense."
"Mourinho's tactical arrangement looks good, but I don't know if it can produce the desired effect in the game."
"And Bayern played in a 4-3-3 formation."
"It seems that Heynckes' post-match interview about targeting Chu Feng was not a smokescreen. It can be clearly seen from Vidal's appearance."
"This Chilean player is a world-class defensive midfielder with outstanding interception ability and a very tough style of play, which can often put a lot of pressure on the opposing players."
"But I don't know why Heynckes put James Rodriguez, who performed so well, on the bench?"
Zhan Jun looked to the side in confusion.
Zhang Lu quickly followed up the topic, "Because James Rodriguez's defensive ability is limited, and Bayern's early tactics should be defensive, he should be substituted when Manchester United's offense is tired, so as to have a decisive effect."
"Coach Zhang's analysis makes a lot of sense."
Zhan Jun gave a thumbs up and turned his eyes to the screen.
(End of this chapter)