Chapter 969 We are the strongest!
In Europe, professional football is an industry that cannot be underestimated.
This world's most advanced football industry chain supports countless practitioners and related industries every year.
Many people only see the players and coaches, and at most the club management, but in fact, there are countless practitioners and related professionals behind them, such as media reporters and stadium managers.
How to manage a golf course is a very professional subject, and it is becoming more and more professional.
The simplest problem is how to take good care of the grass on the field where players play so that it can meet the needs of all the team's home games in a season. Daily maintenance and upkeep are all very professional subjects, and there are even many universities that specialize in this area.
The turf cannot be too dry. Attention should be paid to watering to ensure the elasticity of the turf and not be too hard. This can effectively protect the players from injury. The turf should have enough moisture to allow the football to roll more smoothly and quickly.
Therefore, before the game, the grass is usually watered, which helps to improve the pace of the game and increase the viewing experience.
But don't water too much, as too much watering will lead to more ball control errors by players, which will affect the normal game.
In other words, how much water to pour is also a science, and it is different for every game or even every day.
With the continuous development of the professional football industry in recent years, more and more professionals have poured into this industry, driving the rapid development of the entire industry, from players' daily training to eating habits, to clubs' business promotion, and daily operation and maintenance of stadiums.
For example, two years ago, Real Madrid poached a stadium manager from Arsenal at a high salary, who was specifically responsible for the daily maintenance of the grass.
Some other top teams have also begun to pay attention to the club's various hardware and software facilities and have increased their investment in this area.
Italian football is very backward in this area.
One very important reason is that the stadiums in Italy do not belong to the clubs themselves.
Just like AC Milan's San Siro Stadium, it belongs to the Milan city government. The two Milan clubs only lease the right to use the stadium from the city government. They cannot even change some of the stadium's hardware facilities, which makes many of the stadium's facilities quite old.
One stadium is provided for use by two Serie A teams at the same time. Although the home stadiums of AC Milan and Inter Milan are always separate, it is conceivable how many matches this stadium has to withstand. In order to obtain more profits, it also undertakes some commercial activities on weekdays.
Not to mention the distant past, just in the past ten days, in addition to hosting the two home games of the two Milan giants, the San Siro Stadium also had AC Milan's home game against Juventus in the Italian Cup. In other words, the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 knockout match against Manchester City is already the fourth game at the San Siro Stadium in the past ten days.
With four games played in ten days, one can easily imagine how bad the field conditions at San Siro Stadium are.
When Manchester City was training on the familiar ground the day before the game, they noticed the situation at the San Siro Stadium and immediately reported it to the club leader, who negotiated with AC Milan through the club.
The match is held in the evening. According to convention, both teams, UEFA officials and the referee on duty will arrive at the stadium at the same time in the morning to inspect the stadium conditions and negotiate on various facilities, including the field conditions.
The visiting team usually negotiates on various issues such as the locker room and venue at this time.
Manchester City also did so, and it was reasonable and recognized by UEFA officials and referees.
AC Milan also explained on the spot that this was an objective problem.
Because they do not have the power to make changes to the San Siro Stadium. Even if they just want to replace the turf, they need the consent of the city government and Inter Milan, not to mention repairs. Both parties know that the venue is very bad, but no one can do anything about it.
Manchester City had to settle for the next best thing and asked AC Milan to water the field before the game to ensure that the surface was moderately slippery during the game.
This request was impossible to refuse, so AC Milan agreed.
But unexpectedly, on the night of the game, when Manchester City players walked into the San Siro Stadium again during pre-match training, they still saw the bumpy vegetable fields. They bent down and reached out to touch them, and it was clear whether the vegetables had been watered.
…
"Fuck! They are so insidious. They clearly promised us something, but they don't keep their word." Pepe cursed angrily.
Su Dong turned his head and looked at Guardiola in front of the visiting team's coaching booth, shook his head, and looked at his teammates helplessly, "This is a trick of AC Milan. Let's not hold out hope. Be careful in the game and pay attention to passing the ball."
The grass is too dry and too slippery, which is not good for a passing and controlling team like Manchester City.
In fact, AC Milan’s venue no longer meets the standards, but the game is already on the verge of starting, so is it time to worry about these things?
"Okay, everyone cheer up and pay attention during the game." Su Dong boosted the team's morale.
That's part of what's called home-field advantage.
No matter what I promised you this morning, I won't do it. Will UEFA punish me? Sure, there will still be a lot of entanglement afterwards. At worst, I will accept the punishment, but the trouble for the game has already happened.
Unless the game is so bad that it cannot be carried out, otherwise, faced with this situation, all you can do is endure it.
Even if this affects you and causes you to perform poorly in the game, then you have fallen into the opponent's trap.
The most famous one was when Mourinho was coaching Chelsea and faced Barcelona. Mourinho directly ordered people to pour sand on the court. He would rather mess up the grass than prevent Barcelona from winning the game smoothly at Stamford Bridge.
The same was true tonight at the San Siro.
Some places are even obviously bald, some places are very slippery, and some are too dry and hard, which is very unfriendly to teams with high ball possession. AC Milan under Allegri's coaching does not need such a thing as ball possession at all.
Therefore, their intention is self-evident.
"They did so many things just to affect our emotions and our performance. As long as we are not affected by them, play to our strengths in the game and beat them away from home, everything they did will be in vain. More importantly, we still have a home court."
Su Dong's words were recognized by Manchester City players.
The best way to take revenge on AC Milan is to defeat them on the pitch.
This requires Manchester City to remain patient and keep their emotions stable.
The most taboo thing when playing passing and controlling the ball is to be impatient.
This is not only what Su Dong said. After the training, when returning to the locker room, Guardiola also repeatedly emphasized that if the players encounter problems in the game, they must maintain a calm mindset and not be impatient.
AC Milan's starting lineup: Abbiati is the goalkeeper, Antonini, Nesta, Thiago Silva and Bonera are the defenders, the midfield is Nocerino, Ambrosini and Van Bommel's three defensive midfielders, Kevin Boateng is forward, and Robinho and Ibrahimovic are in the frontcourt.
It is not difficult to see from Allegri's deployment that this will be a tough battle.
Italian teams have always focused on defense, and AC Milan's defense is excellent. The partnership of Nesta and Thiago Silva should not be underestimated. Coupled with Antonini and Bonera, Allegri has made it clear that he is going to give up attacking and defend with all his strength.
This is a recognition for Manchester City, but it is also a major obstacle.
"The most important thing is their midfield, which will cause us a lot of trouble, especially in the current field conditions."
Nocerino, Ambrosini and Van Bommel formed a three-man defensive midfielder lineup. Kevin Boateng's intention of advancing was to suppress Busquets. Allegri's intention of this style of play was also quite obvious. He tightened the back line, suppressed the midfield, and counterattacked directly with long passes to find Ibrahimovic and Robinho to play guerrilla warfare.
"It's going to be a tough battle, guys!" Guardiola warned very affirmatively.
The intensity of the Champions League knockout matches is far greater than that of the Premier League and Champions League group stages. It is even on a completely different level.
It's like in the Premier League, which team can have the same defensive level as AC Milan? Liverpool and Chelsea, the best defensive teams, can't put out a defensive lineup like Allegri's. This is simply a rhythm of not attacking and focusing on defense.
Guardiola was well prepared for such a situation, and he even used the 3-4-3 formation again.
Italian teams are relatively weak in flank attack, and Guardiola is determined to adopt a three-back formation to maximize the midfield's ability to pass the ball and create opportunities, delivering more ammunition to the trident in the frontcourt.
The goalkeeper is Courtois, the defense line is Pepe, Javi Martinez and Kompany, the front line is Busquets behind, Marcelo and Toni Kroos are on the two wings, David Silva is forward, and Di Maria, Sudon and Sanchez form a trident.
Guardiola also has a trick up his sleeve. If AC Milan's flank attack is powerful, Marcelo will retreat to the back line, Kompany will move to the wing, and Manchester City will return to the four-back formation.
But judging from AC Milan's starting lineup, Allegri is likely to adopt a solid defense.
As usual, before going on the field, Su Dong, as the captain, would say something to encourage the players.
Tonight is no exception.
"I can guess that we will be in big trouble tonight, but I want to say, don't worry, we will definitely win! We are strong enough to beat this traditional giant in this stadium, and they also know this, so they try every means to use various means to harm us."
"But I believe that after the last two seasons, we have experienced so many tough games, we are ready, and each of us can't wait, right?"
The players all nodded.
"No matter what we fight for, I just want to say that we all have a common goal, which is to defeat our opponents and take another step forward, because every step we take forward is creating history!"
"We are the strongest!" Su Dong clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and shouted word by word.
Wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
(End of this chapter)
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