Piszczek is a very interesting guy. He has a silly face and is also a defensive general for the Polish national team. However, he is most famous not for how good he is at playing football, but for accepting money for match-fixing when he was playing in the Polish league in the 05-06 season. His crime was exposed in the 10-11 season and he was sentenced to one year's suspended prison sentence.
Although Piszczek did not actually go to jail but paid a heavy fine, he was also expelled from the Polish national team.
Hummels has a more glorious background.
Strictly speaking, Hummels is a player trained by the Bayern system. Hummels' father is the coach of Bayern's youth team, and his mother is a reporter for the Bundesliga football column, so Hummels has been influenced by his family since he was a child.
Coupled with his 192cm height and strong physique, Hummels has become a natural central defender.
Hummels' ability is absolutely world-class. His partnership with his teammate Neven Subotic is also the best central defender partnership in the Bundesliga. The Hornets have conceded the fewest goals for several consecutive seasons. In addition to Klopp's defensive counterattack strategy, Hummels and Subotic also made great contributions.
Moreover, Hummels is not only very good at defensive positioning and physical confrontation, he also has a strong offensive awareness. He can often attack from the back row unexpectedly. Hummels' goal efficiency in set-piece headers is also amazing.
Left-back Schmelzer is a young talent cultivated by the Hornets. Schmelzer has been playing football in the Hornets' youth camp since he was very young, and yellow blood flows all over his body.
Schmelzer is not only Dortmund's top left-back, but also a rare left-back in Germany. The presence of Schmelzer has greatly solved the problem of Germany's left-back's inability to overlap.
Schmelzer has a strong sense of the overall situation and strong mental ability, and is the best choice for the future Dortmund captain.
Finally, Dortmund's goalkeeper is Weidenfeller.
The current Dortmund captain is a typical German tough guy. After transferring to the Hornets in 2002, he witnessed the rise and fall of the Hornets and has been working diligently for the team.
Weidenfeller cannot be called a world-class goalkeeper, because most of the time his clean sheets were due to Dortmund's solid defense, and he himself did not have many opportunities to display his talents. However, his most impressive game was the 2013 Champions League final when Dortmund played against Bayern Munich. He and Neuer were like two gods, each covering one side. Weidenfeller even used his face to block Robben's sure-fire goal after Robben successfully broke through in a 1v2 situation. It was simply a mockery.
Weidenfeller is now at the peak of his career.
Combined with Dortmund's 4231 defensive counterattack formation, Weidenfeller is even more powerful.
It can be said that Dortmund was really strong in the 11-13 season. They were really in a situation where they would kill anyone they met, and even kill God.
Before the game started, the two head coaches, who were both mainly focused on defense and counterattack, showed mutual respect and shook hands with each other in a friendly manner.
Liverpool's starting lineup today also used Mourinho's best 433 formation.
The center is Gu Ran.
The left and right wingers are Suarez and Chamberlain.
In the last game, Chamberlain's performance impressed Liverpool fans and also moved Mourinho, so in this game, Mourinho directly let Chamberlain start, and he played as a right winger.
The three midfielders are Coutinho, Gerrard and Henderson.
Gerrard is Liverpool's mainstay, the brain and the soul, Coutinho is the engine, and Henderson is somewhere in between.
Mourinho is also very optimistic about Henderson and believes that Henderson can take over Gerrard's position in the future. Therefore, although Henderson's performance in recent games has not been outstanding enough, Mourinho is still willing to give Henderson more opportunities.
After all... Gerrard is really old, and Liverpool must train a suitable successor.
Gu Ran is certainly the best successor, but if Gu Ran is pulled back to the defensive midfielder position, Liverpool's offensiveness will be greatly reduced.
All defensive counterattack formations are just superficial, the core is offense.
Because defense is only a prerequisite for counterattack. The focus is on counterattack. If the offensive ability is not strong, there will be no counterattack.
The four defenders are: Van Dijk, Enrique, Carragher and Agger.
After several starts and good performances, Van Dijk finally made his first Champions League start in his life.
It can be said that Mourinho has taken bigger steps than most head coaches in recruiting new players.
Liverpool's goalkeeper is still veteran Reina.
With the referee's whistle, the second round of the Champions League group stage, Liverpool's home game against the Bundesliga defending champion Dortmund officially began.
First, the away team Hornets kicked off.
Boba Lewandowski passed the ball back to Gotze, who turned around and passed the ball back to Gundogan behind him. Gundogan dribbled forward slowly with the support and cover of his teammates.
Liverpool's formation retreated to form a positional defense.
Gu Ran went deep into the enemy's territory alone to interfere with and press Gundogan.
Without waiting for Gu Ran to get close, Gundogan suddenly made a very smart long pass, directly sending the ball to the weak area on the left side outside Liverpool's penalty area.
Before Chamberlain could get into position to defend, the little rocket Royce on the left rib stopped the ball with his chest and then made a diagonal pass to the top of the penalty area.
Lewandowski jumped high under the double defensive blockade of Lampard and Henderson, and forced a header outside the penalty area!
Reina didn't react at all!
The football whizzed into the net like a cannonball!
The ball went in! Less than a minute into the game! The Polish striker dribbled into the field! The Liverpool fans watching the game were all stunned and couldn't believe what they saw.
The score on the big screen at Anfield Stadium was immediately changed to Liverpool 0:1 Dortmund.
Klopp couldn't hide his excitement and punched the air in celebration.
Mourinho frowned.
Liverpool's start was extremely difficult, it could almost be described as a nightmare.
If we lose three points in the group stage at home, we will have to fight hard against Real Madrid next time.
Can a team like Real Madrid be defeated by fighting hard?
No……
We must win this game against Dortmund.
Mourinho decided to make a substitution.
Yes, as soon as the team fell behind by one goal in the first minute of the game, Mourinho was ready to make substitutions.
...(End of this chapter)