Chapter 299 Gerrard: "I hope he can wear my No. 8 jersey!"
Team doctor Manara sprayed some cooling spray on both sides of Chen Xiaoliang's thighs to help relieve the pain. After he felt a little better, Chen Xiaoliang gritted his teeth and stood up.
He took two steps and felt okay. The time was about 60 minutes, so he simply used a physical recovery card, using the refreshing feeling of full blood recovery to dispel the unspeakable sadness of his balls, and then signaled to the referee Stiller that he could continue the game.
Stamina recovery card 5→4
Enzo and Cesco, who were standing by, were concerned and couldn't help laughing, and asked Chen Xiaoliang if he was okay.
When Chen Xiaoliang saw the two of them trying to hold back their laughter, he became furious and told them to go back to where they came from and have a good game.
The referee Stiller also looked Chen Xiaoliang up and down several times, as if thinking, this kid can stand up without any rubbing, he is really a tough guy, and then he blew the whistle to continue the game.
Since Liverpool had the ball just now, Cristante kicked the ball to Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson as a courtesy.
With about 30 minutes left in the game, Liverpool still wanted to create a miracle at home. Klopp then replaced Firmino with Luis Dias to maintain the lethality on the wing.
Mourinho was very pragmatic. He replaced Dybala, who scored twice, with Mancini, and adjusted the formation to 5-3-2 with five defenders, simply playing the home bus.
The strangest one was Cesco, who kept retreating from the front court to defend, and sometimes even retreated to the position of defensive midfielder to participate in headers.
The only two attacking players left in the frontcourt, Chen Xiaoliang and Kva, continued to press and harass Liverpool's midfield.
Therefore, even though the formation retreated to form an iron bucket formation, under the operation of the three-layer defense system, Liverpool still had a large amount of ball possession passed back and forth between the defenders. As long as the defender passed the ball forward, he would immediately encounter tight pressure from Chen Xiaoliang and others.
This style of play, in which the center forward was withdrawn to join the defense and more than half of the space on the field was actively given up, narrowing the scope of the pressing to the area within the midfield line of the team's own defensive third zone, completely restrained Liverpool's eagerness to score goals at this time.
This is also the thinking basis of Mourinho's defensive philosophy.
That is, the more dispersed the players on the court are, the larger the area covered by the entire team, and the larger the area each person needs to defend.
But if all players retreat and only protect the key areas in the defensive third zone and their own half, the defensive area that each player needs to cover will be greatly reduced, which means that the running distance will be greatly reduced.
At the same time, it also means that the distance for teammates to assist in defense will be much shorter, and it is easy to form a double-team defense in a small space, forcing the opponent to pass the ball or make mistakes.
Of course, no matter how good a theory is, it needs excellent players to execute it. In the past at Manchester United and Tottenham, Mourinho has used similar methods to deal with Klopp's Liverpool, but in the end, Klopp always had the last laugh.
On the one hand, it was because the players at that time did not fully meet Mourinho's tactical requirements. On the other hand, and more importantly, Liverpool had not yet fallen into the current aging trap.
The 27-year-old Salah, the 28-year-old Mane and the 27-year-old Firmino were called the Red Arrows by the fans. Together with the cooperation of a number of strong players such as Wijnaldum and Henderson, their flexible running, sharp breakthroughs and resolute high pressing allowed them to sweep the Premier League and the Champions League.
Now, Mane has gone to Munich, the main lineup is aging, and the players are not replaced in time, which led to Mourinho's tactics that have failed to work many times, but finally worked tonight.
In the 62nd minute, Liverpool failed to attack repeatedly and could only pass the ball to the right to find Salah.
Salah received the ball and started to advance, launching another positional battle, trying to find loopholes in Roma's defense.
Nunez retreated and scored a goal in this game. He was very active. According to Carragher, this might be the best game Nunez has played since joining the team.
They are active in running forward and retreating to defend. The most important thing is that they have not yet seen the famous scene of pushing the ball out of the far corner.
Enzo followed the retreating Nunez all the way. After receiving the ball, Nunez did not choose to turn around and dribble the ball himself, but knocked it back to Salah, and completed a two-pass combination with him on the right side. Salah also took the opportunity to pass Kva and Malacia.
Enzo wanted to defend Salah, but Nunez ran towards the middle of the penalty area after passing the ball, diverting Enzo's defensive attention.
But it’s okay, Chen Xiaoliang, who was working in the backcourt, rushed over.
At the right corner of the penalty area, Salah dribbled the ball and Chen Xiaoliang defended, which immediately aroused the interest of fans from both sides.
This is an ace vs ace duel!
Salah controlled the ball with his left foot and dribbled forward in small steps, testing Chen Xiaoliang's defensive center of gravity.
Chen Xiaoliang stepped back sideways and observed Salah's movements.
Obviously, he could not see the phantom of Salah dribbling the ball, which means that Salah's dribbling ability is significantly higher than his 15-point marking ability, which means that he has to rely purely on his own judgment and reaction to defend.
Salah suddenly lowered his left shoulder and took a step towards the penalty area line with his left foot!
Chen Xiaoliang took a step back, but still kept his left side!
He didn't believe that Salah would force his way inside and shoot.
Because even if this is Salah, a superstar with excellent speed, technology and burst, I am afraid he still can't do it if he wants to face himself directly at a low speed.
Immediately afterwards, Salah quickly flicked the ball to his right with his left foot.
Sure enough! It was a fake move just now, he wanted to go to the bottom line!
Chen Xiaoliang immediately tilted his center of gravity to his left, trying to take up position in advance to prevent Salah from taking the lead.
Unexpectedly, Salah's left foot seemed to be glued to the ball. It just moved halfway to the right and then moved back to the left!
The first move to the left was indeed a fake, but the second move to the right was still a fake!
After shaking left, right, and left continuously, Chen Xiaoliang's center of gravity was deceived, and Salah dribbled the ball forward and cut into the penalty area line.
The players from both sides, especially Roma's players, were very shocked!
They have almost never seen a player who can shake off Chen Xiaoliang in the first two steps of a short-distance start!
But just as Salah was about to dribble out of the space and cut inside to shoot, something even more shocking happened!
After Chen Xiaoliang's center of gravity was deceived, he realized that he was shaken by Salah. He kicked with his left leg and immediately turned half a circle. He instantly exerted force to chase Salah and "gently" placed his left hand on his waist.
Salah's mind was full of question marks. Why did he come back just a few steps after he had clearly passed the opponent?
Salah wanted to force a shot, but Chen Xiaoliang's hand on him not only slowed down his speed but also prevented him from exerting his full strength.
You should know that when a football player shoots hard, when the thigh swings back and kicks inward, the force is exerted not only by the leg muscles but also by the waist and abdomen muscles. When heading the ball, when the feet are far away from the ground and there is no fulcrum, the whole person relies on the waist and abdomen to exert force in the air.
With this delay, Chen Xiaoliang had already caught up with Salah horizontally.
Salah had no choice but to pass the ball to Milner who was supporting him from behind. After receiving the ball, Milner made a lob pass. Nunez lost the header competition with Guadiol and the ball was headed out of the penalty area.
Cristante gets the ball and Roma counterattacks!
The three lines on the left, center and right immediately surged forward like the rising tide.
Kwa ran to the left, Chen Xiaoliang ran to the right, and Cesco advanced along the middle.
Among the three players, Cesco was the slowest. After falling behind in the second half, he had consumed a lot of physical strength. Therefore, compared with the two who rushed out quickly, his running was obviously slower.
But some things are not always good in a fast way. Cesco's retreat gave Cristante, who had advanced for a while and was pressed by Bajicetic, a good chance to pass the ball.
Why was it Bajcetić who was defending him? Because the young Spanish player had already exhausted a lot of energy. After running a few steps, he found that he could not catch up with Chen Xiaoliang at all, so he had to turn around and try to intercept the forward pass of the ball.
Cristante passed the ball forward, and Cesco received the ball after just a few steps with his long legs, then made a long pass to the front right to Chen Xiaoliang!
Cesco's pass was a bit short, so Chen Xiaoliang had to stop and wait for the ball.
Just as he was waiting, Salah rushed over.
After the switch from offense to defense, Salah retreated all the way to participate in the defense. He found that Milner and Bayicetic, who were supposed to double-team Chen Xiaoliang, were one too old and not fast enough, and the other was severely exhausted and could not catch up with Chen Xiaoliang, so he decided to defend himself.
But the more he ran, the more surprised he was. It turned out that the speed of this Red Countryman was just as the rumors said. He was so fast that he couldn't even catch up with him!
If Chen Xiaoliang hadn't slowed down to wait for the ball to fall, he might not have been able to catch up with Chen Xiaoliang in time.
Salah's substitution gave Tsimikas time to run directly back to the penalty area.
Chen Xiaoliang got the ball on the right side of Liverpool's penalty area, almost in the same position as Salah when he attacked just now, except that this time the attacker and defender swapped their roles!
Chen Xiaoliang did not hesitate. If he spent a moment here, Liverpool players would have to chase back a little further and the success rate of the counterattack would be reduced a lot.
He controlled the ball with his left foot and pushed it to the left, and Salah also took a step back.
Salah knew that Chen Xiaoliang was not a left-footed player, and cutting in from the right was not his means of attack.
Just as Salah completed this retreat, Chen Xiaoliang immediately moved to the right!
This... A strange thought flashed through Salah's mind, but he still followed Chen Xiaoliang's shaking and moved to the left, blocking Chen Xiaoliang's route to the bottom.
The strange idea immediately turned into reality. Chen Xiaoliang actually used the same moves as Salah had used to shake him just now. He shook left and right continuously to lose his center of gravity, and then finally cut inward to the left and rushed towards the middle of the penalty area!
Although Chen Xiaoliang's dribbling ability is not as proficient as Salah's, Salah's pressing and tackling ability is far inferior to Chen Xiaoliang!
In addition to the difference in physical strength, Salah, who ran almost the entire field to defend, had no way of turning around quickly and rushing to the defensive target for a second interception like Chen Xiaoliang.
With this move, Chen Xiaoliang completely left Salah behind!
In the live broadcast room, Ferdinand stood up excitedly!
As a Manchester United star who has fought against Liverpool for most of his career, he sincerely hopes that Liverpool will be defeated by Roma tonight.
After seeing Chen Xiaoliang "return the tables" and perfectly copy Salah's technical moves to shake Salah off, he couldn't help but yell loudly in the live broadcast room!
On the field, Chen Xiaoliang, who was no longer disturbed by close defense, took a few steps, and before Van Dijk pounced on him, he swung his left foot backwards with a big swing, then tightened his waist, and used his thigh to pull his calf forward suddenly, and the inner instep of his foot hit the lower middle part of the ball firmly!
This time, even Gerrard opened his mouth wide. He and everyone at the scene were watching a beautiful arc drawn from the penalty area line, and then cruelly flew towards Liverpool's goal!
Alisson used all his strength, took a step to the right and dived sideways with all his strength!
The ball was flying with a strong spin, and Alisson was also flying with the strong hopes of Liverpool fans!
However, in the end, their flight trajectories did not intersect, but Roma fans did not get to experience the excitement right away.
With a "bang", the ball hit the left post solidly and then bounced back!
Konate, who was returning to defense, had no time to dodge, and the rebounding ball hit him in the face and bounced back towards his own goal.
Although Alisson, who was lying on the ground, tried hard to support his body and get up, in a split second, everything was destined to be in vain.
2 to 5!
Konate own goal!
All the Roma players ran towards Chen Xiaoliang!
Their fans roared excitedly in the stands, and some even raised the inflatable Champions League trophy and shook it.
On the sidelines, Mourinho raised his right hand high and spread out five fingers to the Liverpool fans in the stands behind him .
The madman's philosophy is that no matter how he was suppressed by Klopp in the Premier League in the past, he must pay it back double in the Champions League today.
Barrage:
[Awesome! Copying the opponent's skills, even Salah must be stunned]
[Why does it feel like Xiaoliang has become even more awesome after being hit just now?]
[How could he be injured? His defense is very high.]
[Chen Xiaoliang: Impossible, absolutely impossible]
[Chen Xiaoliang: My second brother is invincible]
…
Gerrard's mood was very delicate. Of course, he was worried about Liverpool's defeat again, but he was also pleased and even shocked by Chen Xiaoliang's superb performance.
He knew that if Chen Xiaoliang had broken through on the left and used his foot to kick a curved ball, the ball would have definitely gone in. It was the lack of heat in his left foot that resulted in the ball falling just a hair's breadth away from being a direct goal.
The depressed Konate and the equally depressed Alisson stood there motionless. Van Dijk next to them was in no mood to comfort his two unlucky teammates because he himself was in a bad mood too.
Rumors that Liverpool's shareholder Fenway Group is trying to sell the club are getting more and more intense. Although owner John Henry has repeatedly stated that it is only an intentional contact to try to bring in new shareholders to the club and not to sell the club as a whole, the news has indeed caused unrest and turmoil within the club.
After all, after Fenway Group took over Liverpool, it brought in Klopp and spent a lot of money to buy players, which led to the team's first Premier League title and the Champions League.
This is different from their arch-rivals Manchester United. When they heard that the Glazer family wanted to sell Manchester United, not only was there no chaos in the locker room, but they also expressed an optimistic attitude towards it. The fan group was overjoyed, as the dream moment of getting rid of the vampire seemed to have finally arrived.
Van Dijk was very upset. Although the media had not received the news yet, just a few days ago, Firmino also made it clear to Klopp that he would not renew his contract with the team and was ready to leave after the contract expired.
At this point in the game, there was no suspense. The arrogant Klopp replaced Salah, Bajicetic and other players with Jota, Elliott and others, which was tantamount to announcing the abandonment of the game.
Although the defeat caused them to miss out on finishing first in the group, the result of reaching the Champions League knockout stage will not change. Moreover, the draw for the round of 16 also involves an element of luck, and they may not necessarily draw super teams such as Real Madrid, Bayern, and Paris Saint-Germain.
Mourinho did not kill all the players, but he made four separate substitutions in a slightly ostentatious manner, replacing several heroes Enzo, Cesco, Kva and Chen Xiaoliang one by one.
Both teams have three games in the 10 days before the start of the World Cup, and the schedule is very tight. Roma will face its city rivals Lazio in the next game.
The end of the group stage only marks the beginning of more severe challenges.
However, just as the game was about to end and the confrontation on the field had already entered garbage time, uniform singing rang out in Anfield Stadium.
"When you walk through a storm, hold your head up and don't be afraid of the dark."
"At the end of the storm, there is a golden sky and the sweet ."
"Through the wind, through the rain, maybe your dreams will be shattered."
"Keep going, keep going, with hope in your heart."
“You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
How many fans who loved Liverpool as children only saw the moment when Liverpool won the domestic league championship again when their children grew up to the same age.
Perhaps no one understands better than them what it feels like to walk forward with the team you support despite setbacks.
After the game, there was no spark between the two sides when they greeted each other. Instead, Bayicetic, who had been substituted early and had fought with Chen Xiaoliang for most of the game and was already exhausted, took the initiative to step forward and wanted to exchange jerseys with Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang took off his jersey very kindly, and the two of them even lifted up each other's jerseys to show them in front of the camera.
When Gerard saw this scene, he felt mixed emotions.
Ferdinand seemed to sense the mood of his old rival and deliberately asked, "Steven, when you were at Rangers, why didn't you recommend Chen Xiaoliang to Liverpool? Otherwise, the result of tonight's game would have been different."
"By the way, his agent is actually Riise. Riise doesn't even try to get him to Liverpool?"
Gerrard knew what Ferdinand wanted to say. The reason why Liverpool is in its current situation is because it did not update and upgrade in time in the past few years. When it came to Chen Xiaoliang's transfer, it only sent a double team and did not show special sincerity like Mourinho.
Gerrard: "Of course I hope he goes, I hope he goes so much, you know, Leo, I have a dream for him, that one day he will transfer to Liverpool, and then wear the No. 8 jersey that I once wore, step on Manchester United under his feet and win the Premier League."
"That's impossible. Even if Liverpool wanted to buy him, they might not be able to offer a price that would impress Roma."
Ferdinand said this, but he was actually thinking in his heart, Ten Hag, what are you still hesitating about? Hurry up and make an offer!
"Hahahaha." Capello couldn't help laughing when seeing the two people bickering.
"This is the most talented player I've ever seen and he can be the cornerstone of any team's championship success for the next 15 years."
The legendary Italian coach finally said.
