Chapter 366: The Second JQ Clash with Barcelona

After winning the League Cup, everyone in Chelsea can breathe a sigh of relief because the intensive schedule is finally over.

March is the easiest month since the start of the Premier League. They only have three league games, one FA Cup and one Champions League to play. Compared with the previous density of 6 or 7 games per month, this is much easier.

While the media was still arguing about Chelsea's "refusal to be interviewed" incident, on February 28, the best coach, best player and best team of February were announced.

In the league in February, Chelsea did not perform very well, with one of the three league games ending in a draw, so this time Jose Mourinho was not elected the best coach of the month, but the low-key Middlesbrough coach McClaren won the honor with three wins. The best player award went to the newly-returned Manchester United striker Van Nistelrooy, who scored six goals in three league games and was unanimously recognized by all media.

However, Chelsea does not care about this honor. Since the beginning of the season, the best coach and the best player have always come from Chelsea. It is nothing to give it to other teams once.

In the best Premier League team selected by the media in February, Chelsea still had a great harvest. Wang Li, Lampard, Gallas, Makelele and Thomas were all selected, which almost occupied half of the team, forcing all Premier League teams to admit Chelsea's strength.

It was the first time that Thomas Clarke was selected into the best team, which made him very excited. Now in Chelsea's important games, head coach Jose Mourinho tends to trust the experienced Petr Cech more. After all, except for the league, all the games are knockout games and no loss is allowed.

In the league that is not important to Chelsea, Thomas can always get opportunities. Obviously, Mourinho does this to test the strength of these two people and make the right choice after the end of the season.

"Oh my god, Thomas, you made the All-NBA team!!"

In the Chelsea Club's restaurant, Wayne Bridge, who had just recovered from his cold, ran over excitedly with a newspaper in his hand.

At a small table in the middle, Wang Li and Thomas were eating the nutritious meal prepared by the club one on one. Both of them looked unhappy, mainly because the nutritious meal was too hard to swallow.

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"What? Wayne, have you eaten? Let's eat together." Thomas didn't pay attention to what Bridget said. He just smiled and pulled a seat next to him, and said sincerely with that expression on his face. It was really hard to refuse.

After hearing this, Bridget squeezed the newspaper in his hand and waved his hand, saying, "No!! No!! Don't even think about it. Just enjoy it slowly, both of you."

Wang Li stared at Bridget blankly and said with a wry smile: "It seems that I will get sick next time too."

"Don't! If you get sick, I think it will be even worse. The Portuguese may invite all the doctors in London. Then, you won't just be eating nutritious meals." Bridge said with a sly smile on her face.

Imagining that kind of scenario, Wang Li felt that what Bridget said was very likely. His importance in the club was unquestionable, and pretending to be sick would never work. He suddenly remembered what Bridget had just said, raised his head and reached out to grab the newspaper, and asked, "What did you just say?"

"Oh, by the way, Thomas, you've been named in the Premier League Team of the Month."

"Best Team? You mean... me?" Thomas stopped eating, looked up blankly and pointed at himself and asked.

Wang Li flicked the newspaper with his hand and said, "Really, Thomas, you should treat us to a big dinner!"

"Snap!" Thomas raised his hand and snatched the newspaper from Wang Li's hand. However, at this time the newspaper could no longer withstand the torture and was torn in the middle. Thomas looked at the corner in his hand excitedly and said, "Sure enough, I'm here, hehehehe..."

The obscene smile on his face made the two people next to him break out in cold sweats.

…………Ever since Chelsea scored two goals at Camp Nou, Barcelona fans have been dreaming of revenge in London, so as soon as March arrived, the Spanish media couldn't wait to start building momentum for Barcelona. They used the headline "Revenge" to attract the attention of fans.

Barcelona players also publicly expressed their unwillingness to admit defeat. They attributed the loss to many objective factors such as "carelessness", "too many injuries", "not understanding the opponent", "bad luck" and so on.

In this situation, they played a very hazy game and lost entirely due to luck.

However, after the first round, they already had a comprehensive understanding of Chelsea, so they would never make the mistake of underestimating the opponent again. Everything would change after they met at the familiar White Hart Lane. They only needed to win 3:0 to have hope of qualifying and advance to the quarterfinals.

After five consecutive years of slump, Barcelona has been imagining to restore the team's glory all the time, and the UEFA Champions League is the best stage to show the team. Before the match with Chelsea, many media even called the current Barcelona the dream team. With such hype, if Barcelona is directly eliminated in the round of 16 of the Champions League, it is obviously not acceptable.

If we talk about the history of the Champions League, although Barcelona has only won the championship twice, they are obviously much more glorious than Chelsea. If we talk about the history of the league, there is no comparison between the two teams. Barcelona has always been a strong contender for the La Liga championship, and what is Chelsea! ? In this season, it can only be regarded as an upstart, with no results and no foundation. How can such a team be compared with Barcelona! ?

Under this kind of public opinion, the Barcelona club is united in its determination to complete a revenge battle at Stamford Bridge!!!

In London, England, Chelsea FC is filled with a relaxed atmosphere. They just won the League Cup and their performance in other three competitions is also very good. They have no reason to be nervous.

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This relaxed atmosphere also affected the team's performance.

On March 6, in the 29th round of the Premier League, Chelsea went to Norwich to challenge the newly promoted Premier League team Norwich away.

Norwich is the central city of East Anglia in the UK. Two hundred years ago, Norwich was the second largest city in England after London. It is located in the easternmost part of England, adjacent to the beautiful coastal area and surrounded by the largest wetland reserve in the UK (thebroad). It is recognized as the greenest city in the UK. Norwich is also recognized as one of the most livable and attractive cities in the UK, and is a 'finecity' in people's minds.

But a beautiful city does not represent the strength of the team. As a newly promoted team, Norwich is now facing the crisis of relegation. You can imagine the strength of such a team.

After this game, there will be a confrontation with Barcelona, ​​so Mourinho only fielded a set of substitutes, but even so, Chelsea still achieved a complete victory. Gudjohnsen, Joe Cole and William Gallas each scored a goal, and the three-line blossoming made all the Blues fans who came with the team very satisfied.

After the game, the entire Chelsea team returned to London to prepare for the second round of the European quarter-finals at Stamford Bridge. Even though Chelsea already had a two-away goal advantage, they still had to play very seriously facing Barcelona, ​​a world-class powerhouse known for its offense.

All Barcelona players arrived in London the day before the game, and they rushed to Stamford Bridge to warm up that afternoon, which showed that Rijkaard was determined to win this game.

In order to recover two goals, Rijkaard made some adjustments to Barcelona's lineup. In the all-out attack and defense formation, the back line retreated a little, mainly to prevent Chelsea from counterattacking. Wang Li's speed and skills really left a lot of shadows in Rijkaard's mind. Due to the return of Iniesta and Gerard from injury, veterans Albertini and Giuly did not get a chance to start again. In the back line, Oleger also replaced Marquez as a central defender. This lineup is very close to Barcelona's main lineup at the beginning of the season, which is probably another reason why Barcelona is full of confidence.

However, Barcelona did not make many changes in formation and tactics. The reason why this world-class giant is chased by many fans is because they can play pleasing football. Barcelona, ​​which is based on ball possession, has always adhered to the traditional 442 or 433 style of play. They mainly use ball possession to tear Chelsea's defense and try to find opportunities to score goals.

Of course, these are issues that the head coach needs to consider. It is a game between the two coaches and has little to do with the actual game. After all, football is played with feet. When it comes to the real game, it still depends on the performance of both sides. Even if there is a tactical advantage, it may not be there in a real battle.

Even the Blues fans have to admit that Barcelona's football is very beautiful to watch. The passing and coordination between their players is much better than that of the Premier League teams, and there are always some creative ways of passing in the offense, which makes the football game more enjoyable.

Of course, these have nothing to do with the result of the game. If Barcelona wants to beat Chelsea in one fell swoop, they have to score at least three goals and not let Chelsea score any goals. They have too many things to take into account, so their offense was not as smooth as it was at the Nou Camp.

However, perhaps Barcelona's luck in this game was much better than last time. In the 11th minute, Ronaldinho dribbled past two Chelsea defenders in a row and used a very creative back heel to give Iniesta, who started the game, a chance. He shot at a tricky angle from 7 meters away from the goal, allowing Barcelona to score the first goal.

After the goal, the entire Stamford Bridge stadium was filled with boos. These Blues fans wanted to use this method to boycott Barcelona. In fact, they were not feeling well at this moment. You know, since the beginning of the season, it was the first time they saw the team playing so passively at home.

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Seeing his team score, Barcelona coach Rijkaard couldn't contain his joy and hugged Giuly on the bench. Now that Barcelona had scored a goal, as long as they scored one more, the two teams would be on the same level again, which gave Rijkaard hope of advancing. How could he not be happy?

However, after the game resumed, Chelsea did not seem to be affected by the loss of the ball. Instead, their defense became more stable. Barcelona players kept passing the ball around the midfield looking for opportunities, but it was difficult.

In this situation, many people, including the Blues fans, believed that Chelsea wanted to maintain this score. As long as they could hold on until the end of the game, Chelsea would be able to advance based on the first round. This made Rijkaard very confused and he felt that this was a trap.

But Barcelona didn't have much to do. They were at a disadvantage and could only attack even if it was a trap.

This is a race against time and goals. Barcelona must score the second goal to secure their position before Chelsea shows their power. If they can score two goals, the two teams will be on the same level, and Rijkaard will be able to confront Mourinho head-on without having to worry about Chelsea's little conspiracy.

At this time, all the Barcelona players were full of fighting spirit, they seemed to have seen the hope of victory, but unfortunately, they lost the race.

This was a pass error. Eidur Gudjohnsen, who started the game, intercepted the ball directly at the center line and passed it to Wang Li to attack, while he himself quickly ran towards Barcelona's half.

Wang Li did not disappoint all the fans. He passed three Barcelona defenders by himself, and finally in the penalty area, he and Gudjohnsen passed the ball three times in a row, leaving goalkeeper Valdes very confused. Finally, Wang Li lightly pushed the ball and equalized the score for Chelsea.

In fact, this goal did not have much impact on Barcelona's situation. If they could score two more goals, they could still win directly. However, the impact on the momentum cannot be ignored. When they just scored a goal, the opponent easily returned a goal. How easy would it be to score two more goals in a row? This is not a basketball game.

However, Barcelona has been forced into a desperate situation. They really have no choice but to stabilize the lineup and continue to attack more crazily. But once they choose to attack, a big attack like the last game, then the defense will inevitably be empty. But in this case, they can't care about it.

However, there are bound to be omissions in the attack, especially for a team like Barcelona that relies on passing the ball to tear apart the defense. Players are bound to make mistakes between passes, and before the game, the tactics arranged by Mourinho were based on this point to counterattack.

In the 37th minute of the game, Barcelona made another pass error, and this time it was Wang Li who intercepted the ball standing in the center circle.

After getting the ball, he kicked it to Joe Cole and ran towards Barcelona's half. After receiving the ball in front of the penalty area, he simply changed direction and dribbled past Van Bronckhorst. Then, facing Valdes' attack, he lightly lobbed the ball and scored another goal for Chelsea, making the score 2:1.

This goal even made the Barcelona players a little desperate! ! If they want to win, they must score 3 more goals! ! There is only half time left in the game. It is almost impossible to score 3 goals at Stamford Bridge.

However, the Barcelona fans in the stands did not despair, they still cheered for the team vigorously.

Encouraged by this, Barcelona finally regained the lead with another goal from Ronaldinho before the end of the first half, making the score 2:2.

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This shot was so beautiful that even Graham, a staunch Chelsea supporter, exclaimed loudly: "Ronaldinho!! Ronaldinho!! This shot is beautiful, he is so outstanding!! This attack has brought them hope again. Although I don't want it, the game is indeed full of suspense!! "

This goal also allowed the Barcelona players to regain some confidence. They returned to the visiting team's locker room full of fighting spirit and prepared seriously for the second half of the game.

During the half-time break, Mourinho asked Chelsea players to stabilize their defense first, and added a player to the midfield to block the opponent, put pressure on Barcelona, ​​increase their number of mistakes, and find counterattack opportunities for Chelsea.

Rijkaard's request to Barcelona is simple: Attack!!! Attack!!! Attack!!!

They have no way out now.

In the 56th minute of the game, Barcelona scored another goal, which made all Barcelona supporters excited, because as long as they scored one more goal, they would qualify. But now Chelsea seemed to have become a toothless tiger under Barcelona's massive attack, and could only shrink in their own nest.

Therefore, the morale of all their players was high!!

One ball!!

Just one more ball!!

However, judging from the situation on the field, Chelsea was not in chaos and the team still stuck to the tactics used at the beginning. In fact, after so many games, all Chelsea players had found their backbone on the field, that was Wang Li. As long as Wang Li was still on the field, they believed that Chelsea would be the final winner.

In fact, in the 71st minute, Wang Li stood up and calmed the hearts of all Chelsea supporters with a fierce long-range shot, and also told Barcelona: Your efforts are meaningless, and Chelsea will win in the end! !

Sky's Graham shouted: "GOAL!! It's Alan again!! He's got a hat trick!!"

The pressure is back on Barcelona.

In order to win, we must score two goals in the next game, but there are less than 20 minutes left in the game. It is too demanding to score two goals in such a short time.

Just when the Barcelona players were at a loss, Chelsea took advantage of the opponent's missed shot and launched a stable attack. On the wing, Joe Cole and Gallas cooperated to perform a wonderful and smooth combination of passes for all the fans. Under the cover of Gallas, Joe Cole calmly passed the ball to Gudjohnsen, who got the chance. The latter scored the ball into the Barcelona goal before Puyol, which also turned the last bit of Barcelona's morale into dust.

In the final minutes of the game, Barcelona played very hard and they did not seem to give up the last bit of hope, but hard work does not necessarily lead to success. Amid the cheerful singing of the Blues and the whistle of the referee, the score was fixed at 4:3 and the offensive battle at Stamford Bridge came to an end.

Amid the tears of many Barcelona players, Chelsea players enjoyed the joy of promotion. As soon as the whistle sounded, Mourinho, who had been sitting in the coaching seat with his legs crossed, stood up and raised his arms. This scene was photographed by many reporters. They can imagine how excited the Portuguese was at this time! !

"Chelsea!! Chelsea!! They beat Barcelona 6:3 in two rounds and advanced to the quarterfinals!! They are one step further on the road to the Champions League!!"