Chapter 999 There is indeed a conspiracy!
After finishing the pre-match training at Camp Nou and returning to the visiting team's locker room, Manchester City got Barcelona's starting lineup.
You know what, Mourinho is really tough. The starting lineup is exactly the same as the list he announced before.
This really makes people wonder, where does he get his confidence from?
Or does he really have some killer weapon?
Otherwise, how can we explain that he announced the starting lineup one day in advance? This is totally unreasonable.
But in any case, the authenticity of the list has been verified.
No one in Manchester City is discussing and studying this list anymore, or speculating on Barcelona's tactical style of play. They are more focused on adjusting their own status, discussing with their teammates some details of cooperation on the court, and the team's overall performance.
In this game, Manchester City also put all their main players into it.
The goalkeeper is Courtois, the defense line is Marcelo, Pepe, Kompany and Zabaleta, the midfield is Busquets, David Silva and Toni Kroos are in the center, and the front court is a combination of Di Maria, Sudon and Sanchez.
In the Champions League, Guardiola prefers to use Di Maria rather than Hazard.
It’s not because of anything else, but because Di Maria and Sanchez have excellent ability to break through in depth. As long as they are given a certain amount of space, they can tear through the defense.
Relatively speaking, Hazard is a ball-holding player who is more responsible for advancing the ball and attracting defensive firepower.
This reflects Manchester City's two different offensive ideas, all centered around Su Dong.
If Guardiola wants Sudon to retreat more and form a midfield possession formation with David Silva, Toni Kroos and Busquets, the two wingers must be able to move forward.
The advantage of doing this is that once the midfield and frontcourt are penetrated through passing and controlling the ball and the opponent's defense is pulled out, the two wingers can attack from behind the opponent at any time and anywhere, and Su Dong's back-up will form a fatal blow.
If Guardiola wants Sudon to be at the front, then at least one of the two wingers needs to have the ability to dribble the ball, and Hazard does better in this regard.
Generally speaking, Hazard performs better in England, but in the Champions League, his performance is not as good as Di Maria.
It’s not a problem of personal ability. On the one hand, Hazard is still young, and on the other hand, his current characteristics have not been fully tapped and need further polishing and consolidation.
Both Suarez and Guardiola are very optimistic about Hazard, but he is still a little immature now.
Guardiola arranged Di Maria and Sanchez to start in this game at the same time, so it is obvious that Su Dong will still be able to play.
According to his speculation, Mourinho is very likely to adopt a conservative strategy.
To put it simply, it means compressing the defense line and adopting low-post defense.
Someone once summarized that Manchester City's midfield triangle, Busquets, David Silva and Toni Kroos, all have a strong ability to get and pass the ball under defensive pressure, which makes Manchester City's midfield ball control ability extremely strong.
The biggest problem for Barcelona in this regard is the delayed number four position.
There is no need to say much about Xavi and Iniesta, they are definitely the world's top midfielders and ball control players, but the problem is that the presence of Yaya Toure makes Barcelona's midfield passing and ball control vulnerable. Over the years, the Ivorian midfield has never been able to keep in line with Xavi and Iniesta. Occasionally, they played together in a few games, and Barcelona basically won over their opponents.
The original intention of introducing Fabregas was to allow him to take up the No. 4 position at Barcelona and form a midfield iron triangle with Xavi and Iniesta. Barcelona even gave Fabregas the No. 4 jersey, but in the end, under Mourinho's use, Fabregas became a frontcourt attacker.
This is also the reason why, in the European Super Cup, Manchester City's passing and ball control ability is even stronger than Barcelona.
Busquets' importance was fully demonstrated in that game.
So, Guardiola speculated that Mourinho would take a defensive stance, even at the Camp Nou.
…
"No matter what formation the opponent will use or what kind of targeted defense they will adopt in this game, I only have one request for you, that is to remain patient and keep your footing. No matter what the situation is, we must not panic."
"Remember, this is Camp Nou, the most terrifying home stadium in the world. Even if we lose the ball here, there is nothing to be surprised about. We will definitely be able to come back when we return to our home stadium."
Guardiola paused when he said this, "Also, I want you to pay attention at all times. Once we seize the opportunity, we will resolutely attack behind the two wings, especially Alves' side. I believe that Barcelona's defense will definitely make mistakes. It's just a matter of time."
"Everyone, don't guess what tactics the opponent will adopt. That is my job and has nothing to do with you. All you need to do is to do your best on the court, implement our tactics and defeat the opponent."
When it comes to the Champions League semi-finals, there is actually no need for any pre-match mobilization, everyone will try their best.
Because all professional players have a dream of reaching the Champions League final or even winning the Champions League.
This does not require any mobilization at all.
Just before the game, Guardiola shook Su Dong's hand vigorously, hugged him warmly, and whispered in his ear, "Please!"
"Don't worry! Leave it to me!" Su Dong comforted.
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The referee of this game is Cakir from Türkiye. He is 35 years old and has quite a lot of experience.
When Su Dong led the Manchester City players to the player tunnel, they happened to see the Turkish referee and his assistant standing at the entrance of the tunnel. When he saw Su Dong from a distance, Cakir nodded and smiled at him from a distance.
In the European referee circle, Su Dong has a very good reputation.
Barcelona also came over under the leadership of captain Puyol.
They were all old acquaintances, and when they met, they first gave each other a warm hug.
Especially Messi and Iniesta, they were happy to talk to Su Dong, and they just talked about Su Dong's upcoming wedding. They were all very concerned about the progress.
Su Dong also shook hands and hugged Mascherano.
The Argentine international was transferred from Bayern to Barcelona. He performed well under Mourinho and can play both defensive midfielder and central defender. I wonder if Mourinho will arrange him to play defensive midfielder or central defender tonight?
But it's all the same.
Barcelona's main central defenders have always been Pique and another short but more flexible central defender, Puyol or Mascherano, and the burden of keeping an eye on Sudong must be on Pique.
"Leo, don't worry, I will help you teach him a lesson again tonight." Su Dong grinned, as if he was afraid that the world would not be in chaos.
Messi shook his head and laughed, pushed Su Dong and blamed him for digging a hole for himself.
Iniesta and Xavi next to them couldn't stop laughing.
Pique is a man with a bad temper. When he left Barcelona, he threatened to teach Su Dong a lesson. Of course Messi was very angry, so he told Su Dong that when he met Pique, he should teach him a lesson.
But who could have thought that with the passage of time, Pique failed to make it at Manchester United and instead returned to Barcelona and became teammates with Messi.
Every time he sees Messi, Su Dong would make fun of him about this matter and also step on Pique at the same time.
This kid has never gained any advantage from Su Dong in all these years since his debut.
The Catalan media once worried that Pique might repeat Senderos' mistake and suffer psychological trauma from being abused by Sudon. However, this kid really has a big heart and nothing has gone wrong for him.
"Just keep laughing, you won't be able to laugh later." Pique said with a snort.
Su Dong said, "So, you guys really have some secret killer moves!"
"No wonder Mourinho dared to announce the starting lineup one day in advance. There is indeed a conspiracy." Su Dong laughed.
Although it seemed like a casual remark, Su Dong had always been paying attention to the movements of the Barcelona players. He found that when he mentioned announcing the list in advance, the faces of many Barcelona players, including Puyol and Xavi, became unnatural.
This matter is not a big deal, but it is not a small matter either. After all, announcing the starting lineup one day in advance is somewhat too arrogant and overconfident. It would be fine if it could really have the effect of a surprise attack, but I am afraid that it will have no effect at all and instead it will backfire on themselves.
Su Dong could feel that Mourinho's move had multiple purposes.
Interfering with Manchester City is only part of the reason. There is another very important reason, which is probably to force Barcelona players to stand with him.
He now has a desperate feeling. If he loses, he will basically be sacked this season. By then, Barcelona's dream of defending the Champions League this season will be completely shattered.
Just then, Su Dong saw Mourinho walking out of the player tunnel.
The two men met each other, Su Dong waved his hand and greeted him, and Mourinho just nodded slightly, seeming to be in no mood to say anything more to Su Dong.
Seeing Mourinho again, Su Dong couldn't help but sigh that the position of head coach of a top club is really torturous.
This guy was forced to have gray hair and looks much older than his actual age. It can be seen that the pressure during his coaching period at Barcelona, especially in the past year, was really too great.
Many people say that being a player is a job that requires youth, but in fact, being a head coach is a high-risk job.
The so-called high risk is not only because it is the easiest to be blamed and fired, but also because it is a huge physical and mental torture for the head coach. I don’t know how many people are like Ferguson, who have pacemakers installed and are afraid that their heart will stop beating at any time.
The pressure is really too great!
Referee Cakir picked up the match ball and signaled the players of both teams to line up.
The caddies also came over, all of them were young players from La Masia. I wonder if another genius will emerge among this group of caddies in the future.
"Su, good luck to you!" After hugging Su Dong again, Messi turned and walked to the back row of the queue.
"You too." Su Dong patted his back affectionately during the hug.
The same is true for Iniesta.
Once they walked onto the field, they were opponents.
But before that, they were still best friends.
(End of this chapter)
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