Chapter 710 Spy War San Siro
On February 6, in the 21st round of the Bundesliga, Bayern will challenge Wolfsburg away.
Before the Champions League knockout stage, Ribery finally returned from injury and returned to the match roster.
Just two minutes into the game, Su Dong took the ball in the frontcourt and Thomas Muller assisted Robben to score a goal.
In the 26th minute, Robben assisted Su Dong to score another goal, extending the score to 2-0.
During the half-time break, Ribery came on as a substitute and in the 57th minute, he received an assist from Su Dong and scored another goal for Bayern.
In the end, Bayern won 3-0 against Wolfsburg away.
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The Bayern trident has reunited, making people once again full of expectations for Bayern's future.
You know, during the period when Ribery and Robben were injured, Su Dong dragged the team to play until now and has always maintained a far-leading advantage.
Now, before the most crucial Champions League knockout match, Ribery and Robben have returned one after another, which is undoubtedly a great help to the team.
In an interview with the media after the game, Heynckes said that he believed Robben had regained his best form because he was named the best player of the game.
Ribery is getting into the best form. I believe that by mid-February, when the Champions League knockout round comes, the coaching staff will be able to help Ribery reach his best form, allowing Bayern to face AC Milan in the best mental state.
Yes, after Bayern finished first in the group and qualified, their luck was still bad. They drew AC Milan, the strongest team among the eight group runner-ups. This was definitely a bad draw.
Some people say that AC Milan is a retirement home. Although veterans like Maldini have retired, there are still veterans such as Nesta, Ronaldinho, Seedorf, Gattuso and Inzaghi. Beckham came during the winter break, so there are enough players to play two mahjong tables.
In an interview with the media, Heynckes did not think that AC Milan was easy to deal with. On the contrary, he felt that this team was troublesome because they were very experienced and their players were very strong.
"A team like AC Milan may not perform very well in a long league, but no one can estimate how much strength they will show in a 180-minute knockout match."
Heynckes believes that AC Milan's lineup makes the game full of unpredictability.
"Ronaldinho, Beckham, Pirlo, even Pato, Inzaghi and Huntelaar, any one of them can change the situation of the game in a minute if they perform beyond their level."
"We have to treat this match at San Siro like the Champions League final!"
Due to the absence of Ribery and Robben, Bayern won first place in the group stage, but was not as strong as in the past. For example, the team's top star Su Dong has only scored five goals in the group stage so far, which is far lower than his performance in past years.
Many media believe that Su Dong's form has declined significantly, scoring only five goals in the Champions League group stage.
Heynckes refuted this statement and pointed out that Su Dong's number of goals in the Bundesliga is still very good.
"I can understand that for a player of Su Dong's level, people will have higher and more demanding expectations of him, but I think we still have to proceed from the actual situation. Su Dong has scored quite a few goals this season."
Heynckes believes that there are two main reasons for the sharp drop in Sudong's goal count in the group stage. One is the impact of injuries, which forced Sudong to do more in the game.
There are some things that Su Dong didn't need to worry about when Ribery and Robben were around, but now he even needs to do them himself, which greatly distracts his attention from the game.
Moreover, with multiple battles on various fronts, Su Dong has to play more often than before, and consumes more energy.
You know, Bayern couldn't even get a regular winger at one point, and could only let Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos, and even Schweinsteiger play as guest players, which resulted in Su Dong being unable to concentrate on scoring goals.
"I think that during this difficult period, Su Dong's value has been proven. He alone has supported the team's offense. I don't think he should be criticized too much."
Heynckes believes that there is another reason why Bayern scored few goals in the group stage, that is, their opponents were stronger.
There is no need to talk about Juventus. Bordeaux's strength is far beyond everyone's expectations. They even forced Juventus to play in the Europa League. It goes without saying what the level of this French Ligue 1 defending champion is.
With the combined effect of these two factors, it is normal that the number of goals scored by Soviet and Eastern European teams in the group stage dropped sharply.
Heynckes also joked that those who questioned Su Dong might just be unused to it.
Because even though Su Dong's goals dropped sharply, he still ranked second in the Champions League scorer list, only one goal behind Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, which is more than Messi who only scored two goals.
In the past, Su Dong was always far ahead.
Heynckes believes that with the return of Ribery and Robben from injury, Bayern will be even more powerful, Su Dong's performance will be even better, and he believes that there will be more and more goals in the second half.
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In the middle of the week, the German Cup ushered in the quarter-finals, and Bayern hosted Fürth at home.
This time Su Dong was rested, and Klose, Ribery, Robben and Thomas Muller formed the front attacking combination.
Thomas Muller scored twice, Ribery, Robben and Lahm all scored, and Bayern defeated Fürth 6-0 at home.
This battle also allowed everyone to see Bayern's recovery, especially after experiencing injuries, Bayern players showed excellent form.
Badstuber and Hummels played as central defenders and their performance was very stable and satisfactory.
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This weekend, in the 22nd round of the Bundesliga, Bayern will face Dortmund at home.
Bayern, playing at home, focused more on the Champions League knockout match in the middle of the week. Unexpectedly, Klopp's team started off with a flurry of punches, with Zidane scoring a goal in the fifth minute.
In the 21st minute, Su Dong pulled to the right side to plan an attack. Robben went straight to the right side of the penalty area and crossed the ball to the middle. Schweinsteiger came in and headed the ball into the goal, equalizing the score for Bayern.
After the change of sides in the second half, Ribery broke through with the ball on the left rib and made a straight pass. Su Dong stopped the ball in the penalty area, turned around and shot with his left foot, helping Bayern to reverse the score.
Ten minutes later, Ribery dribbled the ball sideways and cut inside, then made a diagonal pass to Robben, and the Dutchman scored.
3-1, Bayern reversed Dortmund and won three more points.
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The Champions League round of 16 knockout round is about to ignite, and the peak showdown between Bayern and AC Milan away is undoubtedly the most eye-catching.
In terms of schedule, AC Milan has an advantage over Bayern Munich because their league match against Udinese is scheduled for Friday and they are playing at home.
In order to better spy on military intelligence, Heynckes, with his assistants and scouts, sneaked into the San Siro Stadium on Friday night to watch AC Milan's game. In the end, the Rossoneri narrowly defeated Udinese 3-2.
He believes that on Saturday night, during Bayern's home game against Dortmund, AC Milan head coach Leonardo was probably also secretly sitting in the stands, but there were too many fans at the scene and it was winter, so it was easy to disguise.
So, in the match against Dortmund, Bayern did not actually play at their best.
Even the goal conceded at the beginning seemed somewhat intentional.
It was not until the morning after the game against Dortmund, when the team was conducting recovery training, that Heynckes told the players about what he had gained at the San Siro Stadium. He specifically mentioned three players.
"Brazilian genius Pato is not very strong at the moment. I am not worried about the striker combination of him and Huntelaar. I believe our defense can hold on."
Although Pato is a recognized genius in Europe, Heynckes does not think highly of him.
This is probably because he is used to seeing Su Dong, Ribery and Robben playing football.
As Beckenbauer once said in his column, "When you get used to watching Su Dong, you will find that other people can't play football at all!"
"There are three players we must pay attention to, Pirlo, needless to say, he will definitely be the player we value the most. We will put the greatest pressure on him at the tactical level and must not let him dominate the game."
In the match against Udinese, Beckham was a substitute and the score was 3-1 when he came on, but Heynckes believed that this was most likely a smokescreen deliberately laid by Leonardo to make people think that Beckham was not important.
"At Manchester United and Real Madrid, Beckham's right crosses and free kicks were definitely a killer weapon, especially when he worked with Ruud van Nistelrooy. Now, AC Milan has Huntelaar, and Leonardo must have been aware of letting Beckham activate Huntelaar's goal efficiency, but he deliberately kept it a secret when facing Udinese."
It was like this before the game, you defended me and I defended you, and no one would reveal their cards so easily.
"Ronaldinho is the biggest uncertainty. He is extremely talented and his form is hard to grasp. He was in a slump for a long time before, but in the game against Udinese, he performed an assist hat trick again."
When Heynckes said this, he also felt very troubled. Any team and any head coach would feel very painful when dealing with a superstar of Ronaldinho's level.
"Just now, Su told me that Ronaldinho must be taken seriously. The stronger the opponent he faces, the more crucial the game, the more he can stimulate his state and fighting spirit. And we all know that once a player like Ronaldinho performs well, it will be a disaster for us."
Su Dong was teammates with Ronaldinho at Barcelona for three years, and he thought he knew the Brazilian very well.
In some unimportant games, he may lack fighting spirit, but in the crucial strong dialogues, he will definitely strive for something.
As long as he wants something, he will work hard.
That's why he had a hat trick of assists in this most recent game.
Su Dong believes that in this strong dialogue, Ronaldinho's on-the-spot performance will be very crucial.
Bayern must limit him, otherwise the risk will be too great.
Heynckes accepted Su Dong's suggestion.
(End of this chapter)
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