Chapter 368: Got stunned!
On the evening of February 22nd, at the Olympic Stadium in Munich.
Rijkaard sat in the visiting team's coaching booth on the sidelines with an extremely stiff expression.
Except for a few times when he stood up to protest against the referee's decision, most of the time he sat blankly in the coaching seat, watching the game silently, seemingly thoughtful and helpless.
But if you look at the score on the scoreboard of the Olympic Stadium again, you will probably think that he was stunned!
Three to zero.
According to international practice, the home team is in front and the visiting team is behind.
There were still a few minutes left in the first half, and the score was absolutely shocking to everyone.
Who would have thought that Barcelona, the favorite to win the championship, would be beaten 3-0 by Bayern Munich away from home? …
This was a game in which everything was unfavorable to Barcelona, from the right time, the right place to the right people.
Before the game, Barcelona flew from the warm southern Spain to the cold Bavaria, Germany, and the players were quite uncomfortable.
Playing away from home, Marcos Senna, who has performed well recently, was unable to participate. Rijkaard was forced to let Marcos play as a defensive midfielder, while Van Bronckhorst, Oleger, Puyol and Belletti formed the back line.
But no one expected that after only four minutes of the game, Kahn kicked the ball into the penalty area and sent the ball directly to Barcelona's half. Oleger failed to judge the landing point of the ball in time while running, and it went over the top.
The ghostly Peruvian striker Pizarro quickly inserted himself and, before Valdes could attack, he kicked a low shot from the left side of the penalty area and sent the ball into the Barcelona goal.
Bayern Munich got off to a perfect start!
Even though they conceded the ball first, Barcelona still played steadily and maintained their patience.
But the goal came too early, and there had been subtle changes in the mentality of both sides.
After taking the lead, Bayern Munich began to deploy heavy troops in the midfield, especially in the area from 30 meters to the center line, where they set up layers of defense to prevent Barcelona from easily passing through their net.
Barcelona controlled the ball and was able to advance smoothly to the center line, but it was difficult to move forward further.
Although Ballack was absent, the combination of Demichelis, Frings, Hargreaves and Sauer made Bayern Munich's midfield full of oppression. They firmly defended their own half and did not allow Barcelona to easily face their penalty area.
If the game was just a stalemate, it would not be a big deal. What was more terrible was that in the 13th minute, Saul's free kick from the right sent the ball into Barcelona's penalty area.
In the chaos, Oleguer made another mistake in defense. He failed to keep up with Pizarro in time. After being left behind by the Peruvian striker, he easily scored with a header when there was no one defending at the back post, further expanding the score.
2-0! Just seven minutes later, Pizarro made a cross from the left, Frings made a cross near the left bottom line of the penalty area, Valdés made a save but missed the ball, and Makaay, who was unguarded at the back, easily shot in and scored, 3-0!
In twenty minutes, Barcelona conceded three goals in a row and was completely stunned!
Everyone couldn't believe it, and some wondered if they were dreaming. How could this be possible?
…
Rijkaard knew that his team's defense was weak, but he never expected that it would be so weak in the face of a crucial battle. Isn't it too vulnerable? Strictly speaking, this was Rijkaard's first Champions League knockout match in his coaching career, and also the first knockout match of the reorganized Barcelona Dream Team II. The coaching staff and players have paid enough attention and worked hard.
But who could have thought that they would be beaten by Bayern Munich at the critical moment.
Magath did not go against Barcelona as he said before the game. He still conservatively deployed the three defensive midfielders and relied on defense and counterattack. But who could have thought that before Bayern Munich's attack could even start, Barcelona's defenders took the initiative to give away gifts.
"Oleg is too nervous tonight!" Ten Cate sighed depressedly.
Nervousness can easily lead to mistakes, especially when making judgments.
Rijkaard nodded. He had also played football, so he knew that Oleger's mistakes were caused by nervousness, but the performance of this central defender this season was indeed very worrying.
One is Oleger and the other is goalkeeper Valdes, both of whom are hidden dangers in Barcelona's defense.
The outstanding performance in the league is due to the improvement in the midfield brought about by the joining of Marcos Senna, and on the other hand it is because the opponents are not strong. But Bayern Munich is different, it is a strong team at the level of the top 16 of the Champions League.
…
The whistle sounded to end the first half.
Su Dong raised his head depressedly and slowly walked towards the player tunnel.
These 45 minutes were really depressing, it felt as long as four games.
From the beginning of the game, Barcelona played wrong.
Losing the ball at the start was a big blow to the team, but it was not a problem.
When playing away from home, it doesn’t matter if we lose the ball first. The key is to be able to maintain stability and try to score an away goal.
But unexpectedly, when the team was finally stabilizing the situation, they lost the ball again.
And this time, it was lost again and again, which was serious.
No one can maintain the team's morale under such continuous blows.
As tenacious as Su Dong was, he felt depressed at this moment, but he quickly suppressed it.
He knew very well that he must not be defeated by this mentality, otherwise there would be no hope.
But looking at the teammates around him, who didn't hang their heads? The "culprit" Oleg was even more remorseful and ashamed.
Who can blame him in this situation? There is no doubt that Oleguer should be blamed for the defeat in the first half, but Barcelona could not find a more suitable player than him, so they had to bite the bullet and let him play. In this case, how can he be blamed for the mistakes?
Su Dong sighed deeply, walked over, patted Oleg's shoulder gently, and said encouragingly: "It's okay." After that, he stopped talking and walked straight into the player tunnel.
…
Rijkaard didn't have a good solution for the situation in the first half.
He pointed out the team's problem, which was too many ineffective possessions.
Ten Cate also felt that although Barcelona controlled the ball, their pace of the game and control of the situation were not as good as Bayern's.
This is a very serious problem.
On-the-spot command and adjustments are not Rijkaard's strong points.
But he has one characteristic, which is that he is quick to accept good advice.
When he asked the players for their opinions, they analyzed the situation in the first half and gave their own judgments, but generally they could only see the tip of the iceberg and it was difficult to see the overall situation clearly.
Both Xavi and Deco mentioned that the team needs to find a way to effectively pass the area from 30 meters to the center line.
If the pass cannot pass through this area, it will be difficult to create a threat.
But how to pass?
"Speed up!" Su Dong gave his opinion.
"Don't be afraid of mistakes. If we lose the ball, we should counter-attack immediately and keep the opponent's ball in the half court, or even in the 30-meter area. Once we get the ball, we should speed up immediately."
Su Dong also mentioned that Kahn had a very close connection with Bayern's back line and their cooperation was quite tacit, which made it difficult for Barcelona to control the scale of the pass behind the back, as it was either blocked by the defender or confiscated by the goalkeeper.
"We played quick, short passes in the 30-meter area around Bayern and made them commit fouls."
Barcelona has enough technical advantages. Even Su Dong can hold the ball and make quick short passes with his teammates. This is an advantage that Bayern Munich does not have.
Once Barcelona opens up, it will be difficult for Bayern Munich.
"I think our first priority in the second half is to strive for an away goal. As long as we score a goal away from home, we will be confident of turning the tables at home. If we score two goals, the advantage will be back in our hands."
After Su Dong said this, everyone nodded.
Rijkaard and Ten Cate also felt that this idea was quite good and worth a try.
…
After the second half, Barcelona decisively accelerated the pace of the game.
There were more long passes and high balls at the beginning, and the difference in playing style compared to the slow and methodical passing and controlling of the ball in the first half was very obvious.
Bayern Munich still wanted to use the same tactics as in the first half to play against Barcelona, but problems soon arose.
Not long after the start, Barcelona intercepted the ball and made a long pass directly to the frontcourt.
Su Dong used his body to block the position within the 30-meter area.
Brazilian center back Lucio rushed up from behind and tried hard to push Su Dong away.
Su Dong felt a mountain of pressure behind him. He had to admit that Lucio was really good and excellent in power confrontation. He could even be said to be the best central defender he had ever seen. He almost squeezed him out of position.
But Su Dong managed to hold Lucio back, but he just couldn't turn around.
The ball came to Su Dong, and after stopping the ball, Su Dong passed it back to Deco.
Deco was facing the direction of attack. Facing Su Dong's return pass, Deco kicked the ball to the left before Demichelis and passed it to Ronaldinho.
The Brazilian superstar turned sideways to the direction of attack, stopped Deco's pass with his right foot, and separated Sagnol with his body.
The moment the ball stopped, Ronaldinho started to move towards the middle.
Sagnol kept close to Ronaldinho, but the Brazilian made another sudden stop, then suddenly started again, sending a straight pass with his right foot to the left side of the penalty area.
Su Dong, who had been holding Lucio with his body and stopping the ball with his back, now made a diagonal run from the outside of the penalty area's top arc to the left side of the penalty area and caught Ronaldinho's through ball behind Bayern's other central defender Kovac.
Kahn decisively abandoned the goal and attacked!
But Su Dong was faster and shot directly with his left foot.
The Bayern goalkeeper reacted quickly, fell to the ground and blocked Su Dong's shot.
This wonderful save won Kahn applause from the audience.
But the ball did not fly far away and was still nearby.
Su Dong and Lucio both chased after the ball at the same time.
The two strong and tough guys collided fiercely, and neither of them gained the upper hand.
Su Dong has longer legs and quicker reactions. Although he failed to push Lucio away, he kicked the ball before the ball hit the ground.
The ball was kicked by Su Dong towards the empty goal.
(End of this chapter)
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