Defend and counterattack, advance from the flanks, this is the overall tactics Mourinho has formulated for the team.
Although his bus suffered repeated defeats against Klopp's Liverpool, he firmly believed that it was not his poor driver skills but the problem with the bus itself.
But this is just the overall strategy, it is not that simple to break it down.
Facing Liverpool, who are accustomed to high-pressure pressing in the frontcourt, Mourinho even developed a tactic of passing the ball through the middle and attracting the opponent's frontcourt to press forward. By passing the ball back to the backcourt from the midfield, Liverpool's formation was used to actively create opportunities for straight balls to hit the opponent's half.
But it is obvious that the benefits and risks of this behavior are proportional. If you can attack well, then the counterattack will be smooth sailing. If you can't attack well, then you can only expect a recurrence of the stupid mistakes in the last game against Udinese.
In order to achieve this, the configuration of the midfield and backcourt players is extremely important.
Mourinho selected several midfielders and defenders with the most Champions League experience in the team to start the game. Matic and Smalling both had a lot of Champions League experience at Chelsea and Manchester United, so they are naturally indispensable. Even the young Gvardiol played in the Champions League qualifiers and group stages for Dinamo Zagreb for two seasons.
Enzo, Chen Xiaoliang and others have zero experience in this area.
But veterans have their own role to play, and young teams also have the advantage of being fearless. Fortunately, the other two teams in this group are not very strong. Even if they fail to get all three points in the first game, there are still five games left for full adjustment.
At the pre-match press conference, compared to Mourinho's deliberate attempt to cool down the heat of the game, Klopp's attitude left reporters even more confused.
He repeatedly praised Roma's defensive resilience, praised the Roma transfer team's ability to discover young stars, said that the Roma board's support for the team in transfers is what all head coaches desire, and said that under the impact of the vitality of young players, Roma's results last season were very shocking.
The repeated praises were all directed to players, scouts, and bosses, without even a word about Mourinho.
However, not long after, when reporters repeatedly asked about Liverpool's performance in the league this season, Klopp's slightly impatient and somewhat angry answers still made people aware of his inner thoughts.
In the first six rounds of the Premier League this season, Liverpool had 2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. As the runner-up who lost by 1 point last season, this season they are only awkwardly ranked 8th. In the English Red Derby, they lost away to Manchester United, who had changed their head coach again, despite having 70% ball possession.
He said these were only temporary difficulties, the team was very stable and had only suffered some injuries, but would be able to adjust quickly.
When the reporter asked him if he would wake up at night due to stress, he even said sarcastically: "I am 55 years old. It is normal to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom."
It looked like a joke, but his expression was full of disdain for the reporter who asked the question.
This disdainful expression continued on the night of the game. When he walked into the stadium, facing Mourinho, who was at home and took the initiative to shake hands with him as the host, he extended his hand politely, but his eyes were wandering, and he didn't want to have any communication with this old enemy, not even eye contact.
Mourinho didn't take it seriously, but after returning to his own bench, he couldn't help but smile.
Forti, who was standing by, thought that he was upset because Klopp deliberately neglected him, but Mourinho told him that Klopp might be experiencing the greatest coaching pressure in his career. They were all head coaches who had been in this industry for decades. Maybe everyone’s personality and way of expression would be different, but this feeling could be empathized and understood by each other.
When in Dortmund, although there were times when the results were worse than Liverpool's current ones, the fans at the Westfalen Stadium knew clearly the status and position of their team in German football. Liverpool is different, especially after Klopp brought Liverpool back to the position of Champions League champions and Premier League champions.
Last season, Liverpool won the FA Cup and League Cup, lost the league by one point, and had an absolute advantage in the Champions League final. It is natural for fans and the board to think that if the team works harder and buys one or two more players in the new season, they will be able to achieve new glory this season.
It is obvious that Liverpool's current course is not at all on the path to glory.
Earlier that day, Tuchel, the meritorious head coach who led Chelsea to win the Champions League, was officially announced to be dismissed.
Capital is behind these big clubs. It is their duty to fire you if your performance is not good, and giving you a chance is just a favor.
This huge pressure on Klopp is a good thing for Roma, because under pressure, people tend to do things deliberately to avoid pressure or force themselves to act like they are not under pressure.
In the Olympic Stadium in Rome, there was not a single empty seat as far as the eye could see. The entire west side of the stadium was reserved for Liverpool fans. Although the English were very aggressive, they were not as well prepared as the home fans as they had come from afar.
A huge flag with the Roma logo on it was already rolling in the stands, and underneath the flag were fans who stood up, raised their hands and dragged the flag in one direction.
What surprised England a little was that the Italians showed them a special kind of "friendliness" - the game hasn't started yet, we won't spray you, but our not spraying you doesn't mean we won't spray others.
Then, a uniform song began to sound in the stadium:
“The city is yours?”
“The city is yours?”
"40,000 empty seats."
"Are you Fucking sure?"
As rivals, Liverpool and Roma have no hatred or enmity towards each other. A few fans even held up posters of Salah playing in Roma to welcome the former great player back to Rome.
But Lazio, from the same city, is the most hated rival of Roma fans.
Roma's season ticket sales this summer soared due to its outstanding performance last season, ranking third in Serie A with just over 40,000 season tickets sold, second only to Inter Milan's more than 41,000 and AC Milan's 40,500.
Lazio, which shares the same stadium, only sold 21,600 season tickets.
Add in the daily individual tickets and online-ordered tickets, and the gap is even bigger. Compared with Roma's average season attendance of 51,919 people last season, Lazio only had a pitiful 24,347 people. Faced with the Rome Olympic Stadium, which regularly opens 68,500 seats in most games, there are "40,000 seats empty" as sung in the song.
Facing Lazio, which has more fans from the wealthy class, and now that the team has entered the Champions League, how could Roma fans give up this rare opportunity to mock and ridicule their city rivals.
The song was sung four times in a row and ended amid the cheers of the audience. Then, twenty staff members from the sidelines walked into the field and stood in the outer circle of the center circle. Inside was a huge UEFA Champions League flag covering the center circle.
Then, the UEFA Champions League theme song sounded from the speakers on all four sides :
Die Meister (German: The Champions)
Die Besten (German: The best team)
Les grandes equipes (French: The great teams)
The champions
Unfortunately, this famous song, written and composed by British composer Tony Britten, is only available in the three official languages ​​of UEFA , not Italian and Spanish.
After the music ended, players from both teams entered the field at the same time and lined up on one side of the Champions League flag. Then the home team Roma, as the host, led by captain Chen Xiaoliang, walked to the other side, first shook hands with the three referees, and then shook hands with Liverpool's starting eleven in turn.
Lou Yichen: "All five referees on tonight's refereeing panel are from Spain."
"The referee is Cerro Grande, the linesman is Ayuso, and the other is the female linesman Cebrian."
"Video assistant referee Hernandez, video assistant referee Estrada."
Liu Yue: "This team will appear in the World Cup at the end of the year, which is enough to show how much importance UEFA attaches to this key battle."
Lou Yichen: "That's right. As the only two group matches that started at 0:45 in the Red Country time and 18:45 local time, apart from this match, the other match between last year's Europa League champion Frankfurt and Sporting CP is obviously much less influential and popular than this one."
"Another focus match today, Inter Milan vs. Bayern at home, will start at 3:00 in Portugal time."
"Mourinho made a small change to Roma's starting lineup today. Three new players this season, Enzo, Kvaratskhelia and Croatian central defender Gvardiol, who just joined the team a few days ago, all played."
"The goalkeeper is Patricio, the two full-backs are Celik and Malacia, and Smalling and Gvardiol are the central defenders."
"In the defensive midfield, veteran Matic and Enzo started at the same time, and Chen Xiaoliang still appeared in the central midfielder position without fail."
"The forward line is still the three arrows of Kvaratskhelia, Cesco and Dybala, who have been in hot form and data recently!"
"Although Roma failed to win consecutive games in the last league game and drew with Udinese at the last moment, Dybala has contributed a shocking 3 goals and 3 assists in the 5 games since joining Roma, while Cesco has scored 4 goals and Kvaratskhelia has 1 goal and 1 assist."
Liu Yue: "Don't forget, Xiaoliang also scored 3 goals and assisted 3 times in 4 appearances in the new season."
Lou Yichen: "That's right. In such a hot state, Roma scored 17 goals and conceded 4 goals after five rounds, and led Serie A with a goal difference of 13. Liverpool relied on a 9-0 victory to score 15 goals and concede 6 goals in 6 league rounds. If we put aside this 9-goal victory, their goal difference in the other 5 league games was exactly 0, which also indirectly shows that the Red Army is in a slump in the new season."
On the field, Chen Xiaoliang and Liverpool captain Milner were choosing sides with the referee Grande. After Roma's starting lineup appeared on the screen, Liverpool's formation diagram appeared again.
Lou Yichen: "On the Liverpool side, Chamberlain, Keita and Henderson were absent and did not make the squad."
"The starting goalkeeper is Alisson, the two full-backs are Robertson and Arnold, and today it is still Gomez and Van Dijk as central defenders."
"The three midfielders are captain Milner, Fabinho and Elliott. Thiago, who has resumed full training, did not start."
"The forward line is Firmino on the left, Nunez in the center, and Salah on the right."
"Liverpool's starting XI is worth €560 million, while Roma's is €310 million."
"In terms of individual value, the highest is undoubtedly the 18-year-old Roma captain Chen Xiaoliang, who is worth 85 million euros. As for the new record signing Nunes, the media reported that the transfer fee of 100 million euros includes 20 million euros of triggering clauses, such as how much will be paid if the player wins the Champions League, how much will be paid if the player wins the Premier League, and how much will be paid if the player ranks within a certain position in the Ballon d'Or selection. These clauses may not be fulfilled until the player leaves the club, so institutions such as the German transfer market have set the value of this Uruguayan striker at 80 million euros for the cash transaction."
"Another player worth 80 million euros is Salah, and fourth is Liverpool right back Arnold, worth 70 million euros."
As the two commentators were talking, Kva, who had already stood on his left side of the field, slowly turned his ankles to keep his body warm while keeping his eyes on Arnold in the other half of the field.
Of course, he knew that he was facing one of the most expensive right-backs on the planet today. In addition to Arnold, there were Ashraf of Paris Saint-Germain, Reece James of Chelsea and Cancelo of Manchester City, all of whom were worth 70 million euros.
In other words, being able to defeat these "Four Heavenly Kings" on the left side means that he is one of the best left wingers in the world.
Originally, such an idea did not exist in Kwa's mind.
Who is he? He is just a young player who has been playing in the Russian Premier League for a year and a half and has almost no ball to play and has to return to his hometown. The title of the world's strongest left winger should never be his.
But after playing against Ashraf in the preseason, Kvart had a new understanding of his own strength, which gave him new expectations. Today's Arnold is the best opportunity to confirm this expectation.
After selecting the sides and waiting for the referee to blow the whistle to start the game in the last half, Chen Xiaoliang also looked at the Liverpool players and felt an inexplicable emotion in his heart.
It seems that the excitement before the game is nothing special when it comes to the court.
He looked at Salah carefully. The former Roma player is undoubtedly Liverpool's most powerful striker in recent years.
Thinking of this, the system rang.
【Boom boom boom! 】
[Superstar detected: Mohamed Salah]
[Superstar Mission: Block or steal the ball 5 times when Salah is passing the ball]
[Task progress: 0/5]
The emergence of this task did not surprise Chen Xiaoliang at all.
Salah ranked 6th in the Ballon d'Or in 2018, 5th in 2019, 5th in 2020, and 7th in 2021. He is a true world superstar.
But Chen Xiaoliang turned his attention to Nunes who was about to kick off, but no matter how he looked left, right, up and down, the system didn't respond.
Before the game, Chen Xiaoliang thought that the system should at least give him a task about Nunez's rival, but when the referee Grande blew the whistle and Nunez kicked the ball to Firmino next to him, the system remained silent as usual.
In the stands, as the game began, fans from both sides shouted excitedly.
The person with the most complicated emotions at the moment was Gerard, who was sitting between Reese and his daughter Lily.
As the soul of Liverpool, he certainly doesn't want Roma to win, but as Chen Xiaoliang's enlightenment coach, he marvels at the fact that his former disciple is improving like a superman, and he also hopes to continue to achieve better results.
So in his mind, the ideal situation is that Chen Xiaoliang performs superbly and Liverpool takes away the victory.
As an old friend, Reese naturally knew what the old captain was thinking. He turned his head and asked Lily: "Who do you hope will win today's game?"
Lily chuckled, not taking her father beside her seriously at all: "Of course I hope Brother Xiaoliang wins."
Reese laughed out loud, and the sound of the two talking and laughing attracted Dalglish in the front row to look back.
Jerad's face turned pale, and he quickly asked his daughter to lower her voice.
I am the soul of the Red Army after all. It's fine if I gave birth to a daughter who was a bit treacherous, but I shouted it out openly. Do you still have the dignity of a father?
In the midst of this back and forth, the situation on the field suddenly changed!
Firmino passed the ball back to Elliot, and the entire Liverpool team pressed forward to prepare for the attack.
Elliot didn't wait and directly passed the ball to Nunez who was running forward at high speed!
While running, Nunez looked back to observe where the ball landed, and then cleverly stopped the ball with his right foot, which drew applause from Liverpool fans.
However, before the Uruguayan could take a few steps, two villains approached him from the front and side at the same time!
Guadiol rushed over and stretched his legs to grab the ball. Nunez pulled the ball back and prepared to change direction, but before he could make a second consecutive move, Enzo shoveled the ball from the side to the right side of Roma.
"Wow, wow, wow!" What followed was the applause of the Roma fans!
Liverpool fans applauded just now, so now we will applaud too, and we must completely overwhelm you in terms of volume and momentum!
On the right side, Celik ran back a few steps and caught the ball. At this time, Enzo had already stood up and ran forward, and Celik passed the ball diagonally.
Milner was about to come over to block, but Enzo received the ball and passed it to Chen Xiaoliang in front of him.
Chen Xiaoliang received the ball with his back to the frontcourt and facing his own goal. He did not stop the ball and directly kicked it to his left rear with his right foot and passed it directly across the center line. The moment the ball left Chen Xiaoliang's feet, Dybala rushed forward at full speed from behind the center line!
"Oh!!!" Chen Xiaoliang's diagonal pass without looking back drew exclamations from the audience. Many netizens even exclaimed that it was as if he had eyes on his back or a global positioning system installed.
However, Dybala was not the end of this attack. After receiving the ball, the Argentine rushed forward with his left foot at full speed. Cesco strode past Liverpool's right center back Gomez and rushed directly behind the left center back Van Dijk!
At this time, Liverpool's defense line was looking towards Dybala's side, and Van Dijk, who was attacked from behind, didn't notice that Cesco had already moved diagonally to counter offside.
Taking advantage of the blind spot, Roma completed a perfect offside attack!
Seeing that Cesco was about to have a one-on-one chance, Alisson rushed out from in front of the goal.
But Cesco's height of 195 cm and his long legs are beyond the reach of ordinary people. He gently flicked the ball with his left foot at the intersection of the two penalty area lines, instantly avoiding Alisson's control range.
The Brazilian goalkeeper saw the ball rolling outside the penalty area and he couldn't even fall to the ground to save the ball. He could only watch and sigh!
Cesco's previous run at high speed was a little too big. He chased two steps, leaned to the right, hooked the ball with his right foot, and kicked it towards the goal!
"oops!!!"
The coaches and players in the Roma coaching booth, the Roma fans in the stands, and the audience supporting Roma in front of the screen all exclaimed.
The ball rolled towards the goal, hit the left post and bounced out of the bottom line.
Lou Yichen: "It's dangerous! In the 40th second of the game, Roma completed a very threatening attack!"
"Looking at the replay, Xiaoliang received the ball with his back to the goal, and Liverpool's defense didn't expect him to pass the ball directly. Dybala's offside made the entire defense focus on this side. No one noticed that Cesco ran to the left first, ran behind Gomez, and then sprinted at full speed to run behind Van Dijk."
After another round of loud applause, the Roma fans started singing again:
"All the way to Kiev and Paris."
"To end up in defeat."
"Crying in the stands."
"And battered on the streets."
"Nunes spent 100 million."
"Sterling won the double and made himself famous."
"You always fail." (Victims of it all)
"The Scousers won Fuck all!"
"Allez, allez, allez"
This song was created by Liverpool fans before last year's Champions League final specifically to cheer the team up.
Manchester City players changed the song after they beat Liverpool by one point to win the Premier League and watched Liverpool lose to Madrid. Now, Roma fans have changed it again...
The stands were lively and the field was lively too.
Liverpool, who almost lost the ball at the beginning of the game, seemed to have not yet recovered. Milner, who received the ball, looked around while dribbling forward, constantly observing the positions of his teammates, but for some reason he did not see Chen Xiaoliang who was rushing towards him from the side.
But his progress was very slow.
The result is predictable. The Roma captain pushed his hips and stepped on the ball, and the ball obediently changed its owner.
However, even if they are not in good form, the high-pressure pressing they have mastered under Klopp's training and influence over the years has penetrated into the bones of this group of people.
After losing the ball, Firmino on the wing, Fabinho behind him, and Milner himself, the three of them immediately surrounded Chen Xiaoliang.
Milner stretched out his foot to grab the ball, but Chen Xiaoliang, who had already moved forward, was out of his range. After being tripped by him, Chen Xiaoliang staggered slightly but still moved forward to the left.
Fabinho came up and tried to stop Chen Xiaoliang from moving forward. Chen Xiaoliang, who was dribbling the ball horizontally from the right to the left, adjusted the ball to his left foot. His body touched Fabinho, and his right hand moved backwards in an action that looked like a normal arm swing but was actually a swing and a push, pushing Fabinho out.
As a result, the two were completely left behind by him, and Firmino, who wanted to come over to steal the ball, was separated from him by his two teammates who failed to steal the ball.
Even though Gerrard, who watches Chen Xiaoliang's games whenever he has time, is no longer surprised by the Reds' ability today, the experience of watching on the screen and watching in person is still completely different.
The memory is still of standing on the sidelines and watching a player who was occasionally pushed to the central midfielder position by himself, who didn't even dare to stop the ball for too long and could only kick the ball sideways or simply pass it back to safety. Now, he can easily get rid of the encirclement of three famous players by combining his physical strength and skills. Gerrard once again sincerely sighed that Chen Xiaoliang's progress was too incredible, and at the same time began to worry about the outcome of Liverpool today.
Not only Gerrard was worried, but Klopp, who was wearing sportswear on the sidelines, also felt something was wrong.
With 37-year-old Milner, 29-year-old Fabinho and 19-year-old Elliott, this midfield line can only be described as unbalanced.
The old one is too old, and the young one is too young.
In the Premier League, especially for Liverpool, which regained the top league title in 2020, there will not be many opportunities for a 17 or 18-year-old player to start every game.
Otherwise, the 17-year-old Chen Xiaoliang might have made a choice among a bunch of transfer applications from giants before waiting for an invitation from Roma and Mourinho.
Last season, Elliott played only six times in the league, during which time he suffered a serious ankle fracture and dislocation injury that lasted 140 days.
Milner played 24 times, 15 of which were as a substitute.
So even Liverpool's diehard fans couldn't help but wonder why Klopp chose such a starting midfield combination in this crucial first Champions League game.
Klopp was also helpless. Every family has its own problems, and the Premier League is surprisingly difficult. Add to that Liverpool's status as a top club, and it makes it even more difficult.
Even if they were runners-up last season, it will still be extremely difficult to win the Champions League this season, and in the Premier League, failing to maintain a top four position in the league means everything is over.
Thiago has just recovered from his injury and has only been training for a few days, while Arthur came from Juventus and has not trained with the team for a long time. The league performance is already very unsatisfactory. If they go all out in the Champions League group stage and if there is another injury, there will be no one available for the rest of the league.
The competition in the Premier League is so fierce. In addition to the BIG6 fighting for four Champions League seats, another club owned by a big consortium, Newcastle, has also started a buying trend.
We cannot fall behind in strong dialogues, and we have to be on our toes at all times when facing mid- and lower-level teams. If we are not careful, we will end up like Manchester United did when they met Brentford, where they were beaten 4-0 without even knowing how they lost.
It’s difficult... It’s too difficult...
Just as the Roma fans were singing and Klopp was frowning in thought, the first climax occurred on the field.
After the opening, Roma's several offensive attempts were all carried out on the right, and it was not until 3 minutes and 16 seconds that the ball came to the left for the first time.
Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco completed a forward and backward wall pass. Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball to the retreating Cesco, and Cesco returned the ball to Chen Xiaoliang who was running diagonally to the left.
As a result of this back and forth, not only was Gomez, who was defending Cesco, forced to move forward, but Chen Xiaoliang also got rid of Milner's entanglement in the ball-free state after passing the ball.
In just over 3 minutes, even Liverpool fans, not even industry insiders like Gerrard and Roberto Mancini, could see that their midfield trio was struggling to deal with Chen Xiaoliang, a monster with fast speed and strong stamina.
They couldn't keep up, and they couldn't hold on. None of these three had the energy to press Chen Xiaoliang for a long time to reduce the number of times he got the ball.
With Enzo's backup and support in the back and Matic's steady passing, Chen Xiaoliang wandering in the midfield was just like strolling in the street garden on the side of his own road.
Chen Xiaoliang pretended to continue advancing to the left, seducing Liverpool right-back Arnold, who was also wearing No. 66. Then, after Arnold's attention was focused on him, he made a lob pass to Kwa who was running along the left sideline.
The Georgians were so excited that their blood was boiling, just like characters in a fighting game who had gathered enough energy to unleash a big move. After receiving the ball, they rushed into the penalty area at full speed.
Arnold is worth 70 million, even with the blessing of the household registration book, which means he is a very good full-back.
The moment Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball, he immediately turned around and ran to the inside of Kva.
The two slowed down after meeting each other. Kva was already dribbling the ball slowly forward outside the left penalty area line, testing Arnold's defense, while Arnold bent down and moved his body slightly to the right, making a gesture to prevent Kva from breaking through the baseline.
Midfield, midfield again.
Kva pushed his right foot towards the penalty area line. Chen Xiaoliang, who had just passed the ball to him, had already run here, but there was only air next to Chen Xiaoliang.
The diligent but aging Milner couldn't guess how Chen Xiaoliang would move, so he simply ran back to the penalty area to increase the depth of the defense.
At this time, after receiving the ball, Chen Xiaoliang faced the goal at an angle of about 60° (the baseline is 0° and facing the goal is 90°), Cesco was in the middle and Dybala was in the far corner.
Chen Xiaoliang aimed his instep at the far corner, not knowing whether to pass or shoot, and pushed the ball out neither heavily nor lightly.
Half a second later, the players in the frontcourt of Roma instantly raised their hands, and tens of thousands of Roma fans in the stands shouted "Hey!"
Lou Yichen: "Milner subconsciously squatted down to block Chen Xiaoliang's pass with his body, but in the end it was his left arm that touched the ball! It was an obvious opening movement!"
"The referee Grande directly awarded a penalty kick. There is no controversy about this ball!"
Liu Yue: "Milner went up to the referee and complained a few words, but he seemed to know he was in the wrong and just walked away."
Lou Yichen: "If it was hit on the upper arm, we could still argue whether it was closer to the shoulder or the elbow, and the penalty might still be changed. In the replay, it was completely hit on Milner's left palm."
Liu Yue: "As he gets older, his balance and coordination have declined. He suddenly lowered his body and tried to stretch out to one side. In order to maintain his balance, his arms stretched out involuntarily. If he was seven years younger, Milner would not have made such a mistake."
Klopp shook his head in disappointment on the sidelines, and paced in the command area as players from both sides took their positions for the penalty kick, his heart in a mess.
Mourinho continued to sit in the coaching seat as he had done since the start of the game, with a serious look on his face, but he was already smiling in his heart.
This advantage after the opening was too obvious.
He had been suffering from insomnia and anxiety for several consecutive nights because of this game. At this moment, it seemed like it happened in the last century.
After the referee Grande made the penalty, the Roma players were very excited, even Gvardiol, who was playing for Roma for the first time, cheered.
But the next scene surprised him.
He was behind the midfield line, watching several attackers discussing in front, and in the end the penalty was given to Cesco.
Huh? Everyone told me that this captain is the boss of the team, and he personally created the penalty, but he actually gave it to his teammates?
If it were another team, the team's top star would have to give the penalty kick to him to improve his stats, even if it was created by his teammates, not to mention he scored the penalty himself.
Gvardiol was wondering, but Cesco was already standing firmly behind the penalty spot.
Referee Grande looked around, confirmed that players from both teams were outside the penalty area, and then blew the whistle.
“Beep!”
Cesco's run-up for penalty kicks is always short. He likes to take the first step with his left foot, run-up with three steps: left, right and left, and finally finish with a powerful shot with his right foot.
This time, too, facing the world's third most valuable goalkeeper, Brazilian international Alisson, who is worth 50 million euros, he aimed at the right side of the goal but shot hard towards the left side.
Alisson was completely fooled, diving in the wrong direction and could only look back and watch the ball roll into the goal.
Lou Yichen: "Roma took the lead just 4 minutes and 35 seconds into the game! The 19-year-old Slovenian striker Cesco opened the scoring with a penalty kick! He scored his fifth goal of the new season!"
Before the game, the Roma fans in the Olympic Stadium did not expect that they would have an opportunity to celebrate right from the start of the game. The songs and props they prepared were meant to be a mental preparation for them to try their best not to lose to the English in momentum when the team was in trouble.
What a surprise! Liverpool, who came from afar, gave a big gift at the start of the game. They all forgot about singing. They shouted and danced in the stands. Some children even waved the inflated Champions League trophy balloon repeatedly.
Looking at Lily, who was cheering with a smile on her face, Gerard couldn't help but applaud.
Of course, the applause was only for Chen Xiaoliang.
Receive the ball in the midfield, break away from the defense by hitting the wall, attract the defense's attention, then make a lob pass and move up the middle to support the attack.
Except for the final penalty kick, which was not taken by him, the entire offensive process was dominated by him.
Gerrard really regretted letting Chen Xiaoliang give it to Mourinho. If he had been more patient, or had gone to Aston Villa earlier and brought him to Villa to train, maybe they could have made it into the European war zone of the Premier League last season.
But he still held back. He thought that applauding his opponent was just something he should think about. If he was caught by the media, he would be scolded to death by Liverpool fans tonight.
But he knows clearly that if last season's Serie A and UEFA Cup titles are not enough to conquer European football, then this season's Champions League, the highest stage, will be the real stage for Chen Xiaoliang to prove himself to the world.
And against the backdrop of those well-established players, he will be able to fully demonstrate to the world how great he is.
There is no doubt that another superstar is on the way to birth.