Chapter 460 The Man Who Fought Drogba
On the evening of April 18th, at Camp Nou.
In the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, Barcelona faced Arsenal at home.
Before this game, both teams played their best football of the season.
Barcelona defeated Lyon in the round of 16 and then beat AC Milan in the quarter-finals to advance to the Champions League final. Especially in recent games, Barcelona has played in amazing form, winning the league championship and the King's Cup, and is determined to win the Champions League.
Arsenal's condition is even more stable than Barcelona.
Due to the conflicts of Ashley Cole, injuries to players such as Campbell, and the advancement of young players such as Fabregas, Flamini, Senderos and Reyes, the Gunners' Premier League record this season is not ideal, but they are safe in the top four of the league.
Arsenal's early lack of desire in the league has led them to focus more on the Champions League.
They have remained unbeaten in the Champions League so far this season, which may not be new, as Barcelona is also unbeaten.
But when was the last time Arsenal conceded a goal in the Champions League? In the second round of the Champions League group stage.
In other words, so far, the Gunners have not conceded a goal in eight Champions League games, especially after entering the knockout stage, they have encountered the extremely offensive Real Madrid and the overall strong Juventus.
Arsenal's overall strength is evident from the results they have achieved.
It is precisely because of such outstanding performance that Arsenal has enough confidence.
…
Before the game, in the visiting team's locker room, Wenger was still busy arranging the opening tactics.
He wanted to attack.
Arsenal's starting lineup was 4-1-4-1, with Lehmann as the goalkeeper, Flamini, Senderos, Kolo Toure and Eboue as the defenders, Gilberto Silva as the double defensive midfielder, Ljungberg, Pires, Fabregas and Hleb in front, and Henry as the lone striker.
This can be said to be the strongest lineup Arsenal has developed so far this season.
Barcelona also put out their strongest lineup, with Valdes as the goalkeeper, Van Bronckhorst, Marcos, Puyol and Belletti as the defenders, Marcos Senna in the midfield, Deco and Iniesta in front, and Ronaldinho, Sudon and Messi as the front trident.
Wenger knows very well that in the Premier League, Arsenal may be known for ball control, but at Camp Nou, in front of Barcelona, if the Gunners continue to play the game of passing and controlling the ball, it would definitely be like showing off in front of Guan Gong and asking for trouble.
Therefore, the strategy he formulated for this game was very simple.
He will not compete with Barcelona for the ball, but he must pose an offensive threat to Barcelona during the game.
Henry will undoubtedly be the key to Arsenal's fight against Barcelona.
This player has been linked with Barcelona a lot in the past two or three years. Even Barcelona's management has mentioned more than once that they hope to bring Henry to Camp Nou to form a dream forward line with Su Dong.
Wenger believes that Henry will play particularly well at the Camp Nou.
The only suspense is defense.
Su Dong has been in good form recently. Starting from the away game against AC Milan at San Siro, he has scored ten goals in four games so far. This kind of scoring form can simply be described as crazy. Wenger cannot help but pay attention to it.
Fortunately, Arsenal's defense has been pretty good this season, especially in the Champions League.
"Philip." Wenger looked at the young central defender Philippe Senderos.
The Swiss central defender, who is a few months younger than Su Dong, raised his head with determination in his eyes.
Wenger really likes this kind of look in young players because it represents the future.
"Boss, don't worry, I will do my best to freeze Su Dong!" Senderos seemed very confident.
Young players have that kind of drive.
Other Arsenal players in the locker room are also full of confidence in Senderos.
"Philip, you have to remember this and not be careless. I believe you can do it, just like when you froze Drogba and Van Nistelrooy!" Wenger encouraged.
This season, Senderos started low and ended high.
After Campbell was injured, the young Senderos was promoted to the starting lineup, but in the Community Shield and the first round of the league, he was badly beaten by Chelsea's Drogba, making everyone lose confidence in this young central defender.
But Wenger didn't. He still had full confidence in Senderos and gave him time to gradually build up his confidence.
During Campbell's injury, Senderos successfully filled the vacancy of the Black Iron Tower and took on the responsibility of Arsenal's defense.
In early January, Arsenal faced Chelsea again. Although the game was a 0-2 loss, Senderos did not allow Drogba to score in that game. Later, when facing Premier League stars such as Van Nistelrooy of Manchester United, or superstars such as Ronaldo in the Champions League, Senderos performed well.
Now, Senderos has successfully regained his confidence and has firmly established himself in the back line with his outstanding performance at Arsenal, making everyone believe that his future will be bright.
"I believe, Philip, you can do it!" Wenger patted Senderos' shoulder heavily and said affirmatively.
Senderos nodded heavily, his face full of determination.
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Although the game was held at Camp Nou, it was Arsenal who took the first step in creating the threat.
Just one minute into the game, Henry broke through Eboue's cross on the right, got rid of Marcos' defense, and shot from close range. Fortunately, Valdes fell to the ground to block the ball, giving Henry no chance to score.
But soon, Arsenal created a threat again. After Henry got the ball on the left side outside the penalty area, he cut inside and kicked a long shot, which once again threatened Barcelona's goal and caused a burst of exclamations in the Nou Camp stadium.
After all, world superstars are not vegetable eaters.
Henry made a strong start at the start of the game and immediately showed Arsenal's momentum.
Perhaps seeing Henry being too active, the fans at Camp Nou started to get fed up.
This is Barcelona's home ground, how can we allow Henry to be so powerful here? Immediately, Barcelona fans began to shout at Su Dong.
"Sudong! Sudong!! Sudong!!!"
Needless to say, they all hoped that Su Dong would stand up as soon as possible and take back his prestige! ...
Su Dong really found it funny that Barcelona fans were acting on impulse.
How can a football game be like this?
Maybe you can still play basketball with both sides competing against each other, but how is that possible in football?
But Su Dong soon found an opportunity, he cut diagonally to the left side of the penalty area, received a direct pass from Ronaldinho, and made a cross directly from the bottom, but no one followed up in the middle, causing Su Dong's cross to be wasted.
Messi raised his hand to apologize to Su Dong from a distance, as he didn't react just now.
But Su Dong didn't care too much.
Senderos followed Su Dong all the way and was relieved when he saw that he was forced to move to the left and no one received his cross.
"I won't give you a chance." The Swiss center back said to Su Dong as the two men walked back.
Su Dong turned his head, took a look at the young central defender who was younger than him, and immediately laughed.
Damn it, I didn't even provoke you, but you provoke me instead? Do you really think I'm a pushover?
"I heard that you have suffered several heavy losses at the hands of Drogba?" Su Dong asked with a smile.
Senderos' eyes flashed with a fierce look, "We've played three games. He won the first two times, but I didn't lose this time."
"Oh." Su Dong smiled and nodded. He had noticed the news when he was looking up information before the game. Senderos was badly beaten by Drogba in the Community Shield before the season. I wonder if it has a trauma? "What do you mean?" Senderos asked.
He has played very well in the past six months, so he is full of confidence. He is confident that he can compete with Su Dong.
"Nothing." Su Dong was still smiling. "You know what? Drogba was defeated by me. Someone had provoked me like this before, but later, every time he saw me, his legs would tremble. Do you want to try that feeling?"
At this moment, Su Dong thought of Carvalho.
This unlucky kid might meet in the Champions League final this year, which would definitely be a very interesting thing.
Senderos was obviously stunned and couldn't help but think of the Community Shield before the season, and the feeling of helplessness he had when facing Drogba. But no matter how he looked at it, Su Dong didn't look like a big, dark and hard guy like Drogba.
The name of the person, the shadow of the tree, Su Dong's words made Senderos feel a little wary.
"Looking forward to it, right?" Su Dong laughed again, "You'll know soon."
Senderos suddenly felt extremely disgusted with Su Dong's smile, and had the urge to punch him in the mouth to stop him from laughing, but he didn't have the courage to do so.
…
Soon, when the ball came from the midfield, Sudong blocked Senderos with his body, and directly blocked him with his back, stopped the ball with his foot, and quickly passed it to Deco, who then passed it to Ronaldinho.
The Brazilian superstar dribbled the ball into the penalty area from the left and then passed it to the front of the penalty area.
Su Dong stopped the ball before Senderos, and with the blocking of Kolo Toure and Senderos, he knocked the ball back to Deco, who came up and tried to shoot directly.
Gilberto Silva blocked Deco's long-range shot, defusing a crisis for Barcelona.
But this time, Senderos felt Su Dong's dominance.
He was fended off both times.
"How about it? Compared with Drogba, I should be not bad, right?" Su Dong asked with a smile.
Senderos glared at Su Dong fiercely, his eyes seemed to be spitting fire.
"Don't be anxious, I haven't used my full strength yet, take your time!" Su Dong said with a smile.
He also deliberately wanted to dampen the boy's enthusiasm, otherwise, Senderos would think that he was easier to bully than Drogba.
Senderos' heart skipped a beat. It's already like this, and he still hasn't tried his best?
"Don't be fooled, he is deliberately attacking you, this guy is very sinister!" Kolo Toure next to him reminded.
Senderos immediately came to his senses and nodded repeatedly.
He suspected that this was Soviet and Eastern psychological warfare.
Su Dong is indeed tall, but he doesn't believe that Su Dong is stronger than Drogba.
You know, he has fought to the death with Drogba, so who is afraid of whom?
But soon, Senderos and Kolo Toure realized that they were wrong! Very wrong!
(End of this chapter)
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