Chapter 387: The Divine Calculator Benitez
When Su Dong heard Benítez say, "If we lose only one goal at Camp Nou tomorrow night, we will have a great chance of advancing when we return home," his first reaction was, something bad has happened! Benítez has never been a man who is good at speaking, but precisely because of this, he generally doesn't talk nonsense.
A person who is aloof and never talks nonsense suddenly admitted defeat and said that they only lost by one goal and they would definitely be able to turn the tables when they return to their home court.
Why? Psychological warfare! Because Barcelona lost more than three goals in two consecutive away games after entering the Champions League knockout stage.
No one can be sure that they can maintain the away performances against Bayern Munich and Chelsea at Anfield.
Benítez wanted to instill a mentality in Barcelona players before the game, that is, winning one goal is not safe.
How can we be safe?
Of course, more goals!
When players enter the game with this mentality, when they find that they are closely marked by the opponent in the game and cannot find a good chance to score, what will they do? The answer is simple: worry! The most obvious evidence is an attack that occurred in the 13th minute.
After Belletti and Iniesta cooperated on the right, the ball was passed to the middle of the penalty area. Su Dong overpowered Carragher, headed the ball down, and quickly passed it to Ronaldinho.
The Brazilian superstar made a sliding shot from five meters in front of the goal, but he didn't even touch the ball and watched it slip out of the goal.
In a hurry, he misjudged!
Just eight minutes later, Ronaldinho passed the ball at the top of the penalty area and it hit Xabi Alonso. After Su Dong grabbed the ball at the front of the penalty area, he was closely guarded by the opponent and could not turn around, but he kept the ball firmly. After deceiving Hyypia, he passed the ball to Iniesta, who passed it to Deco.
Deco volleyed the ball from five meters in front of the goal, but the shot was so close that it flew away! Barcelona was getting more and more impatient after missing two good chances in a row.
…
Throughout the game, Barcelona firmly controlled the ball and the upper hand, and controlled the tempo of the game.
The ball possession rate was as high as 65%, almost suppressing Liverpool.
But surprisingly, Barcelona, which has the best attacking firepower in European football, failed to score a goal at home this time.
The defense that everyone was worried about didn't lose the ball this time! Liverpool's Czech striker Baros, who had four stitches on his knee, also performed poorly in this game.
The best player of the game was Hyypia, who scored nine points.
In second place is Carragher with eight points.
Barcelona's defense performed solidly tonight, with no obvious mistakes, but after the defense was done, the offense failed to develop, which was quite surprising.
Zero to zero, both sides shook hands and made peace.
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When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the entire Camp Nou stadium was still filled with warm applause.
The score of 0-0 is indeed a bit regrettable, even if a goal was scored.
In this game, Barcelona missed at least three great opportunities. Two of them were created by Sudong for the team, but his teammates did not seize the opportunities. Therefore, Sudong also got the highest eight points in the Barcelona team, tied for first place in the team with Puyol.
But Ronaldinho and Deco, who missed great opportunities, performed very poorly. This was also related to Liverpool's targeted defense against them. Benítez obviously did not intend to let them fully unleash their offensive talents.
After hearing the whistle, Su Dong let out a long breath.
He knew that what Benítez said before the game would definitely have an impact on Barcelona.
Losing three goals in a row in away games this season has almost cast a shadow on Barcelona, and they have a phobia.
"It doesn't matter. 0-0 is also a good result."
Su Dong walked towards Iniesta and other teammates and shouted loudly.
Judging from the two rounds of matches, 0-0 is indeed not bad. Compared with 1-1 or 2-2, 0-0 is much more advantageous, at least it does not allow the opponent to score away goals.
Of course, this is based on a draw. If Barcelona can win, it would naturally be better.
"Su is right, this is a good result. We should be confident and try to make a breakthrough away from home!" Puyol also shouted loudly to boost the team's morale.
Liverpool did show quite strong tonight at the Camp Nou, with impeccable defence, which was largely due to the deployment of the troops by Benítez. He even deployed three defensive midfielders to defend their own half, and the two full-backs Finnan and Traore would never move forward.
Just look at their pitiful ball possession rate to see how poorly they played at Camp Nou.
Rijkaard also greeted the players and expressed his attitude by applauding.
"Good job, guys, we didn't concede a goal tonight, great job!"
Rijkaard's statement somewhat improved the players' mood. Coupled with the support of the Camp Nou fans, the entire team calmed down and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"There is also good news in tonight's game. They will lose Xabi Alonso in the second round." When he said this, Rijkaard smiled and nodded at Su Dong. This was Su Dong's credit.
At that time, Xabi Alonso committed a tactical foul on Sudon, delaying Barcelona's counterattack and receiving a yellow card, which will cause him to accumulate yellow cards and be suspended for the next round.
In fact, the defensive pressure Su Dong faced tonight was the greatest in the team.
Hyypia and Carragher were both the best players on the Liverpool team, and their outstanding performance was precisely based on their defense of Su Dong. The two of them almost kept an eye on Su Dong, making it difficult for him to create a threat.
Ronnie said that Liverpool's weakness is the central defender, but in fact, Liverpool's two central defenders were in great form tonight.
Who can say for sure? The most threatening attack created by Su Dong was the two scoring opportunities in the first half, but Ronaldinho and Deco missed them. On the contrary, Su Dong himself did not get a decent shooting opportunity at all, which shows how tight Liverpool's defense against him was.
It can be said that Su Dong has done his best! Under such close scrutiny, he still created two sure-shot scoring opportunities for the team. Who can blame him more? The only regret is that the team did not seize the opportunity.
The key lies in mentality.
"Don't worry, the score of 0-0 at home is still relatively favorable for us. When we go to Anfield, we will try to attack from the beginning and try to steal a goal from them, then they won't be able to defend!" Rijkaard encouraged.
Sometimes mentality is really mysterious and can even determine the outcome of a game.
Just like tonight, Barcelona was obviously anxious, but Liverpool defended very calmly.
It can even be said that Benítez came here tonight with the mentality of not scoring any goals or conceding any goals, and he also achieved his strategic goal, escaping with a 0-0 draw.
Su Dong listened to Rijkaard's words silently, and he knew in his heart that what Black Swan said made sense.
But he knows Benítez.
This guy is so terrifying that he can almost be said to be able to predict everything and has no omissions in his plans.
Let's ask, Rijkaard's idea is not unusual, would Benítez not have thought of it? Or would he have no countermeasure? In the case of 0-0 at home, what kind of choice would Barcelona make? Benítez must have already calculated many different plans and possibilities, right? But Su Dong really couldn't say these words.
What Barcelona needs now is to regroup, and saying it won't help at all.
Because he didn't know what Benítez would do, he couldn't influence the decision of Rijkaard and other coaching staff because of this possibility, and Rijkaard and others would not listen to him.
So, he decided to find an opportunity to remind Rijkaard privately.
This guy Benítez probably started preparing for the second leg from the psychological warfare before the first leg. Will he let Barcelona score at Anfield? …………
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Barcelona was tied 0-0 by Liverpool at home, but did not receive too much criticism after the game. After all, it was not a bad home result.
But there are still many media outlets that are pessimistic about Barcelona's prospects of qualifying. After all, Barcelona's away record in the Champions League this season is really terrible, especially after entering the knockout stage, they conceded three goals in two away games. How can people believe this?
This weekend, the 34th round of the La Liga was ushered in.
Main players such as Su Dong and Ronaldinho were on the bench again.
The team will still play at home, and the opponent is Albacete.
In the first sixty minutes of the game, Barcelona was still unable to break through and Larsson failed to score.
So in the 65th minute, Rijkaard had no choice but to make substitutions, with Su Dong and Messi coming on as substitutes.
Just one minute after Sudong came on the pitch, Giuly made a wonderful pass and Sudong shot in front of the goal, scoring the first goal for Barcelona.
Before the end of the game, it was Su Dong's assist that helped Messi score in stoppage time.
2-0, Barcelona beat Albacete at home.
With one pass and one shot, Su Dong came on as a substitute and shined, showing good competitive form.
After the game, Su Dong gave a rare interview to the media, saying that the team still needs to focus on stability when playing away against Liverpool.
"I always believe that as long as we defend well, we will have a chance to score against the opponent."
Su Dong's words were meant to remind Rijkaard. He had already mentioned this matter to the Dutchman in private, but Rijkaard meant to grab a wave after the opening.
"We wish Liverpool would play against us!"
But is it really so? …………
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On the evening of May 3rd, Anfield Stadium, Liverpool.
Liverpool actively launched high pressing in Barcelona's half at the start of the game, and in the third minute, Riise made a low pass from the left to the middle, Gerrard made a lob pass behind him, Baros successfully made an offside run into the penalty area and lobbed the ball over the attacking goalkeeper Valdes.
Luis Garcia followed up and shot into the empty goal.
The three Barcelona defenders took turns to kick the ball out of the goal, but the referee still blew the whistle, indicating that the ball had crossed the goal line and the goal was valid! One to zero!
The entire Anfield stadium turned into a vast ocean.
Benítez sat in front of the home team's coaching bench with his legs crossed, chewing gum hard.
He is even balder than when he coached Valencia!
(End of this chapter)
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