Chapter 924 Boxer
When fifteen Cambridge University students set out from the Rong Stadium in a heroic and high-spirited manner, Yang Huan was sitting in the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland.
The Europa League final is being played here, with the two teams facing each other: Inter Milan from Serie A and Sevilla from La Liga. Sevilla is the defending champion of the Europa League.
Speaking of the Europa League, its influence has been less than before in recent years.
A very important reason for this is that the participating teams are too weak.
It's like the Premier League teams, basically they have no interest in the Europa League, because the money they earn from working so hard in the Europa League is less than climbing one more place in the Premier League standings.
Tell me, why would Premier League teams have the motivation to play in the Europa League?
But this also directly leads to the Premier League teams being at a disadvantage in European competition points.
Reforming the Europa League has become an important topic for UEFA.
Well, the champion of this season's Europa League will automatically enter the group stage of next season's Champions League.
Perhaps because of this, the appeal of this season's Europa League has increased slightly.
Among the four teams that reached the semi-finals, Serie A took three seats and Sevilla from La Liga also got one seat.
As a result, Inter Milan eliminated Napoli, and Sevilla defeated Fiorentina 5-0, and both teams met in the final.
What’s funny is that when Sevilla’s name appeared again in the Europa League final, the general reaction of many European fans was very interesting. They would say in surprise, “Nimey, why is it Sevilla again?”
"Oh my god, Sevilla is in the final again?"
"Oh my god, they are the kings of the Europa League!"
"UEFA should just change the name of the Europa League to the Sevilla Cup in the future!"
No wonder, in the past ten years, Sevilla has reached the Europa League final for the fourth time. More importantly, they won all three previous times. How can such a brilliant record not be surprising?
However, the opponent in this final, Inter Milan, is no pushover either.
After the change of coach this season, Klopp took over the team and Inter Milan achieved outstanding results. It showed strong competitiveness in the Serie A, firmly occupied the leading position, and finally won the Serie A championship.
In contrast, Sevilla only finished fifth in the La Liga.
But some media believe that Sevilla, the fifth-ranked team in La Liga, was able to defeat Fiorentina, ranked fourth in Serie A, 5-0, which shows that the overall strength of La Liga is stronger than that of Serie A.
If it was a single game that decided the outcome, it could be attributed to luck, but the semi-finals were a two-round elimination system and Fiorentina lost miserably.
It is precisely because Sevilla reached the final with the momentum of defeating Fiorentina, so this game attracted great attention from Serie A fans before the game.
This season, Serie A teams have performed quite poorly in European competitions. Not to mention the Champions League, where Juventus was eliminated in the group stage. In the Europa League, three Serie A teams reached the semi-finals, but Fiorentina was humiliated by Sevilla.
If Inter Milan can no longer hold on and take up the banner of Serie A football, Italian football will be truly disgraced.
Therefore, in the Warsaw National Stadium, many Italian fans who came from afar waved flags and called on Inter Milan to defeat Sevilla, win a Europa League title, and fight for Italian football.
"Emery is indeed a very good coach."
Yang Huan sat in the chairman's stand, looking at the Saints scout system's analysis of Sevilla on his phone.
In the European Super Cup before this season, Southampton played against Sevilla, but the La Liga team failed to pose much threat to the Saints, but this does not mean that Sevilla is bad.
Throughout this season, although Sevilla suffered crushing defeats against Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid, they can also perform well against other teams.
"Emery is a very pragmatic head coach." Blanca, who was sitting next to Yang Huan, nodded.
"It depends on the opponent and the tactics. In the two rounds against Fiorentina, they had a good ball possession rate and played to their advantage in ball possession. When facing opponents with strong ball possession ability, they took a defensive approach."
Emery's team is indeed comprehensive. They can defend when retreating, press forward when attacking, and also display ball possession.
As for the crushing defeat to the top teams, it was because we were not as skilled as them, there is nothing much to say.
Yang Huan shook his head. "Fiorentina is a team with excellent ball control ability in Serie A. However, when facing Sevilla, the fifth-placed team in La Liga, they were easily defeated by Sevilla. What do you think of this..."
Blanca also smiled somewhat awkwardly. After all, she was not as skilled as others.
When it comes to ball possession tactics, La Liga teams are really good, and they have talent in this area.
On the other hand, the Italian team’s ball possession is a bit... well, that’s it.
Yang Huan quickly got the starting rosters and lineups for the two opposing teams. Interestingly, both sides used the 4-2-3-1 tactics.
"It's like a tit-for-tat!"
Sevilla's goalkeeper is Rico, and the defense is Tremulinas, Croziersac, Carrizo and Vidal.
Among them, left back Tres Salinas is the offensive core of Sevilla.
Having the full-backs act as the core of the attack seems to be a consistent feature of Sevilla. For example, Alves, who currently plays for Barcelona, used to play the role of the right-back core of the attack in Sevilla.
There are two defensive midfielders in the midfield, Mbia and Banega.
Further forward, there are Vitolo, Iborra and Reyes, and the lone striker is Bacca.
Bacca is also a famous scorer in La Liga this season. He is extremely efficient and has attracted the attention of many European powerhouses. There are even reports that Chelsea and AC Milan are interested in signing Bacca.
Inter Milan's goalkeeper Handanovic.
The back line from left to right is Alex Sandro, Blind, De Vrij and Damian.
The double defensive midfielders are Khedira and Allan, the frontcourt is Felipe Anderson, De Bruyne and Aubameyang, and the single striker is Morata.
Although they are both 4-2-3-1, the playing styles are quite different.
From the beginning of the game, Inter Milan looked more like playing with a double striker tactic.
It is difficult to say who is the striker and who is on the wing between Aubameyang and Morata. It is more like a double striker, at the front.
Sevilla actively pressed forward, hoping to adopt tactics similar to those used against Fiorentina to defeat Inter Milan.
The La Liga team's frontcourt lacks players with outstanding individual abilities, so the midfielders actively press forward to create a numerical advantage in the frontcourt and win possession of the ball, which is also an important offensive means for Sevilla.
Once they win possession of the ball, the two full-backs' active forward movement widens the width of the attack, while making it easy for two or three players to pass the ball in a small area on the flanks of the frontcourt.
Bacca in the middle frequently retreated and advanced, constantly pulling Inter Milan's defense and patiently waiting for opportunities.
On the other hand, Klopp was a bit too cautious at the start, starting with a defensive stance and the situation was rather passive.
However, Inter Milan's defense was very well organized. The double defensive midfielders composed of Khedira and Allan did a good job of protecting the defense line and the two flanks, and resolved Sevilla's attack outside the dangerous area.
"The team's defense has improved a lot, and the overall teamwork is much stronger!"
Yang Huan could see that after a season of Klopp's leadership, Inter Milan's overall progress was quite obvious.
The players are strong enough and their overall teamwork is good, so their competitiveness will naturally not be weak.
It is not surprising that we can win the Serie A championship this season.
After stabilizing Sevilla's attack at the beginning of the game, Inter Milan quickly adjusted.
It feels great to attack, but behind the excitement lies the risk.
Sevilla's two full-backs actively moved forward to participate in the attack, and problems were exposed behind them.
So, with 15 minutes into the game, Blind passed the ball to De Vrij, who then passed it to Damian on the right.
After Damian got the ball on the right, he looked forward and kicked the ball forward.
In the frontcourt, Inter Milan's center forward Morata is 1.9 meters tall, nearly ten centimeters taller than Sevilla's two central defenders. Moreover, Morata was born in La Liga and knows how to deal with La Liga's central defenders.
As soon as Damian passed the ball, Morata had already moved to the right, suppressed the opponent's central defender with his body, occupied the most advantageous position, and faced the incoming ball with a lion's head shaking.
The ball brushed Morata's head and turned in another direction.
I don't know when he switched to the middle, but Aubameyang, who had been lurking behind, suddenly started, like a black lightning, quickly penetrated Sevilla's defense, stopped the ball before everyone else, faced the goalkeeper who came out, and with an easy low shot, penetrated Sevilla's goal, one to zero!
“Wow!!!!”
In the stands, Yang Huan couldn't help but laugh after seeing Aubameyang score a goal.
“Well done!”
Anyone can see that Inter Milan's offensive tactic has definitely been used before.
Yang Huan even guessed that Klopp took the initiative to show weakness and retreat after the opening, probably because he wanted Sevilla to attack and thus expose Sevilla's defensive weaknesses on both flanks.
The attack just now seemed simple, but it was extremely accurate and deadly!
"Haha, Master Huan, look, Emery must be scared!"
Following Blanca's gesture, Emery in front of the coaching booth was constantly signaling the team to retreat. His panicked look was a bit like the Japanese soldiers who were ambushed in the anti-Japanese drama.
But who is Klopp?
I finally let you push it out, how can I let you go back?
The German waved his hand and Inter Milan pressed forward on all fronts, obviously intending to take over the game.
"Haha, Emery is probably going to cry!" Yang Huan laughed with glee.
Nimei, you guys scored a goal through a sneak attack, and you still want to press on?
Is that too much?
But who is Klopp?
Boxer!
It is his nature to be unyielding. Now that he has the advantage, why doesn't he take the opportunity to expand the score?
Therefore, after Inter Milan pressed forward, they started a fierce battle with the La Liga team in Sevilla's half.
This makes Sevilla nervous.
All of Europe knows how strong the individual abilities of Inter Milan's players are.
De Bruyne and Felipe Anderson both have extremely strong personal abilities, and they have no problem bursting into the air in one-on-one situations.
Even Morata and Aubameyang are equally strong in one-on-one combat, especially Aubameyang, whose sudden speed of starting is really hard to defend against.
In fact, it was Felipe Anderson who made a forced personal breakthrough on the left, attracted the attention of three defensive players, and then passed the ball to the middle.
Although Sevilla's central defender got the first point, he made a mistake in clearing the ball due to the interference of Morata and Aubameyang, and the ball fell in front of the penalty area.
Immediately afterwards, De Bruyne came up from behind, stopped the ball, pulled it to the right, quickly followed up with his right foot, and shot a powerful shot.
The ball drew a beautiful arc and went straight to the upper right corner of the goal.
This is an absolute blind spot!
Two to zero!