Chapter 312: Requiem from Hell
In this match, Mourinho and the coaching staff discussed the game strategy with captain and vice-captain Chen Xiaoliang, Mancini, and several key players in the locker room, including Dybala, Guevadiol, Patricio, etc. They fully listened to opinions from all sides and finally decided to make full use of the game order of away game first and home game later, and resolutely give up the ball and play a steady defensive counterattack away from home.
He once again used a 4-2-3-1 formation with two central defenders:
goalkeeper Patricio;
The double central defenders are Gvardiol and Smalling;
Celik and Malasia, who are better at defending, play as full-backs;
Defensive midfielders Wijnaldum and Cristante, central midfielder Chen Xiaoliang;
The frontcourt is still the fixed main combination of Kvart, Cesco and Dybala.
Dortmund, playing at home, lined up in a very aggressive 4-1-4-1 formation as expected at the Roma coaching staff meeting.
goalkeeper Kerber;
The back four: Wolf, Süle, Schlotterbeck, Guerrero;
The single defensive midfielder Emre Can, 29 years old, is no stranger to many fans. He has played for the three giants Juventus, Liverpool and Bayern.
Right winger Brandt, left winger Adeyemi, right midfielder Bellingham and left midfielder Ozcan formed a midfield line that clearly pressed forward;
The talented 18-year-old Moukoko was at the lone arrow position.
This lineup has an average age of 24.4 years old, which is quite young.
Since both teams have a freak worth 100 million euros and several potential young players, their overall value is evenly matched at 360 million euros.
The 18-year-old Chen Xiaoliang, wearing the captain's armband, and the 19-year-old Bellingham, also wearing the captain's armband, started their first duel in their lives!
This is not the scene of riding together in a car from a hotel in Paris to the Chatelet Theater and exchanging pleasantries along the way. This is to decide whose 100 million worth is truly worthy of the title and who deserves the title of the strongest new generation midfielder in the entire football world.
[Enemy detected: Jude Bellingham]
[Rival Mission: Win the two-round series]
[Restriction conditions: The total player score after two games, the enemy's score is lower than the host's]
[Mission Reward: 2 Legendary Star Cards of the Enemy's Team]
After guessing the edge with Bellingham and shaking hands with each other, the golden words of the system immediately appeared.
This is a rival mission that only exists in the Champions League knockout rounds!
The requirements of the task are not that fancy, there are just two points: perform better than the opponent and eliminate the opponent!
Chen Xiaoliang waved his hand and turned off the system, and the referee made a "beep" and the game began!
As soon as the whistle sounded, Dortmund, who kicked off first, launched a fierce attack on Roma amid the thunderous cheers of the fans.
Their style of play is even crazier than that of Napoli, with a group of young players in the midfield and frontcourt. Their offense is constantly interweaving and detouring, and their defense is madly pressing high up the field. If they can't get the ball, they will sprint back to their own half and continue to double-team the ball holder.
However, for Roma, this kind of scene was still within their expectations before the game. Dortmund would certainly not waste the huge advantage of playing at home. Their plan was to score as early as possible, score more goals, and even widen the score gap, so that the second round would lose suspense in advance.
Facing the aggressive attack at the beginning of the game, Chen Xiaoliang kept directing his teammates to fill in the defense. Along the Roma penalty area, there were often 5-7 players pressing forward to participate in the attack, which forced Kvart and Dybala to retreat to participate in the defense, leaving only Cesco in front.
In the 4th minute, Chen Xiaoliang intercepted Emre Can's pass 5 meters outside the penalty area and made a long pass to Cesco on the center line.
Since there was no offside restriction at the start of the first half, Cesco left Dortmund central defender Hummels and others behind in the first time.
Halfway through his run, he caught the high-falling ball with his foot, flicked it forward, and continued sprinting.
At this time, the distance between Hummels and him was getting smaller and smaller.
When approaching the penalty area, Cesco caught up with the ball he had picked out and dribbled into the penalty area again!
Seeing the ball rolling into the penalty area, he was about to have a one-on-one chance, but he didn't expect that his last move was too big and was saved by the goalkeeper Kerber!
Because Cesco didn't have time to catch the ball, he was tripped by Kerber who was holding the ball and fell to the ground.
The referee Markle looked at the two of them and did not make any comment.
Although people on both sides raised their hands to indicate that the other side had committed a foul, it was obvious that one did not intentionally trip and the other did not intentionally bump into the other. It was just a normal collision.
The six-member referee team for this game are all from the Netherlands. The referee Mark Le has refereed many matches in the recently concluded Qatar World Cup, including the 1-1 draw between Germany and Spain. He is one of the most prestigious referees in the Netherlands.
As there is another more eye-catching match between Liverpool and Real Madrid at home in this knockout round, the old partners Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu went to comment on that match, while the commentators for this match were Yan Qiang and Xu Yang.
Xu Yang: "Although this counterattack was a close one, it should give Roma's players a lot of confidence, as it proves that they have a chance to counterattack. If a team like Dortmund presses forward like this, there will definitely be loopholes in the defense."
Yan Qiang: "Both teams have shown their best skills, it depends on who can break through that layer of window paper first!"
In the 17th minute, Roma's sharp knife Kva broke through with the ball on the left. Although Dortmund's right-back Wolf was not slow, he had a hard time dealing with Kva, who could keep changing directions while dribbling the ball quickly.
Seeing that he was about to be broken through, he simply rushed forward and knocked Kwa down.
Roma gets a free kick on the left.
Counterattacks and set pieces are two powerful scoring tools when the ball is lost.
All the high points of Rome are pressed!
Kwa kicked the ball out and Smalling scored with a header!
Yan Qiang: "Oh! In the 17th minute! Roma took the lead... huh?!"
All Dortmund players raised their hands, and the referee Markle blew the whistle decisively, but instead of pointing to the center circle, he showed a yellow card to Smalling who was celebrating!
Smalling still wanted to quibble, but the slow motion replay revealed everything. After he jumped near the goal post, his head did not touch the ball, but he was quick-witted and hit the ball with his raised right hand and scored the ball into the goal!
Xu Yang: "With today's advanced video tracking technology, it is almost impossible to replicate a goal like the Hand of God. Even if there is an extremely low probability that the camera may not capture it clearly and the referee and video referee cannot tell, it will still be criticized by the outside world after the game."
Yan Qiang: "That's right. During the game, especially behind the goals on both sides of the stands, there are many fans holding their mobile phones to record the whole process. It can only be said that Smalling was eager to score a goal in a hurry."
After the first 20 minutes, Dortmund's three-pronged attack did not work and the frequency of running also slowed down slightly.
After Roma stabilized its position and gradually got used to the opponent's tactics and player style, it began to become more proactive on the court.
Chen Xiaoliang's opportunities for personal contact with Bellingham also began to increase significantly.
In the 22nd minute, Dortmund attacked from the left. Guerrero and Adeyemi cooperated and bypassed the defense of Dybala and Celik on the left.
Cristante moved over to fill the position, Celik turned around and chased back, while Chen Xiaoliang moved to the right midfielder position to protect the front of the penalty area.
Before being double-teamed, Adeyemi passed the ball to Bellingham at the top of the penalty area.
Chen Xiaoliang immediately rushed over and prepared to tackle.
Bellingham observed Chen Xiaoliang coming towards him, and he immediately passed the ball to Ozcan who was closer to the penalty area. Ozcan passed the ball to the right to right winger Brandt.
Brandt strode into the penalty area and received the ball, then passed it directly to the middle of the small penalty area. Adeyemi and Moukoko had already made their moves!
The ball was blocked by Smalling's right leg halfway through the pass!
Ozcan received the ball and shot, but was blocked by Wijnaldum again!
Ozcan controlled the ball with his back and immediately passed it to Bellingham in the middle. The Premier League new star took a shot, but Chen Xiaoliang flew over and stretched out his right leg to block the ball for the third time!
The ball bounced to the left, Kva took the ball and started to speed up, Wolf and Brandt immediately double-teamed him.
In the middle, Chen Xiaoliang stood up again and rushed forward at full speed. After Bellingham shot, he turned around to look at where the ball would land and found that Chen Xiaoliang had already run ahead of him.
Chen Xiaoliang waved forward, and Kva immediately passed the ball over!
Chen Xiaoliang ran forward and headed the ball forward. Cesco and Dybala in front also rushed up, leading all three lines of Dortmund to retreat and defend.
Midfielder Emre Can did not try to intercept Chen Xiaoliang like the midfielders of other teams. Knowing that there was an obvious speed difference, he retreated at full speed while keeping himself right in front of Chen Xiaoliang.
In the back, a central defender, Schlotterbeck, kept an eye on Cesco, while another central defender, Hummels, retreated deeper to serve as the last layer of protection.
Bellingham was also running, but no matter how hard he tried, in such a spacious and unobstructed midfield, he could not close the distance with Chen Xiaoliang in front of him.
Chen Xiaoliang looked at the situation on both sides, and when he was 10 meters away from the penalty area, he decisively passed the ball to Dybala who was alone on the right.
Dybala received the ball beautifully and then rushed into the penalty area.
He entered the penalty area from the right side with his left foot. Seeing the opponent's central defender Hummels coming towards him, Dybala adjusted his steps, pushed the ball in front of his left foot, stepped low with his right foot, aimed at the far post, and prepared to use his left foot to kick a curved ball with the inside of his foot!
Seeing that it was too late to stretch his legs, Hummels made a direct tackle!
For a "monster" who is 195 cm tall and weighs 97 kg, such running speed and such speed of falling to the ground and making tackles surprised Dybala!
What’s even more surprising is that he not only tackled the ball, but also pressed the ball under his calf when he fell to the ground!
After finishing on the ground, he kicked the ball accurately to the left-back Guerrero behind Dybala, allowing the Portuguese full-back to kick the ball forward.
"Wow, wow, wow!" Uniform applause and cheers suddenly rang out from all directions of the stadium.
Despite having 84,000 seats, Dortmund still only gave Roma 3,000 away tickets. Even if the "three thousand warriors" were loyal and focused, apart from the waving flags that could be vaguely seen, the noise they created was barely audible in the stadium.
Watching Hummels' performance, Chen Xiaoliang, who has always been proud of his unrivaled tackle skills, was both impressed and excited.
This is the strength of the second place in the Bundesliga, and this is the fighting power created by the most terrifying home stadium in Europe!
Three minutes later, Dortmund's cross was intercepted by Malaysia, who passed it to Gvardiol who was close to the inside. The latter was about to pass the ball forward to Kwa on the left, but was tackled by Bellingham who ran over to intercept.
Wijnaldum on the side stepped on the ball, and Chen Xiaoliang who came to assist immediately sped up. When Bellingham just stood up, he flashed past Wijnaldum, brought the ball under his feet, then turned forward, and with one dribble he left Bellingham who was trying to intercept behind!
Yan Qiang: "Good shot! These two counterattacks have at least proved that Xiaoliang is ahead of Bellingham in terms of speed."
Xu Yang: "Indeed, Xiaoliang's strongest point is the start of the first two steps. Once he is given space and allowed to carry the momentum, it will be almost impossible to catch up with him."
After shaking off Bellingham, Wolfe, who was pressing forward, bumped and pulled Chen Xiaoliang as he passed by him, trying to slow him down through physical contact.
Unexpectedly, Chen Xiaoliang swung his right arm and turned his upper body. His body just shook slightly, but his feet did not slow down at all and he passed him cleanly again.
After passing two people and having space to pass the ball, Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball to Kwa who ran into an open space in front of him, and then made a diagonal cut to the middle.
Emre Can, Ozcan, and Schlotterbeck were all attracted by his movement and surrounded him in the middle like a three-point defense.
Kva advanced to the left side near the bottom line, and seeing that Cesco in the middle was almost in position, he sent a half-high cross with his left foot!
Yan Qiang: "It's still Hummels! He used a scorpion tail move to block the ball halfway out of the baseline! Roma got a corner kick opportunity."
Xu Yang: "It's hard to imagine that a central defender of this height and weight can get back to defense so quickly and perform such a deft move."
Yan Qiang: "Speaking of this, we have to mention Manchester United captain Maguire, who has played less and less recently. He is 194cm tall and weighs 100kg. In terms of physique, he is very similar to Sule, but in terms of speed, especially turning and response speed, the two have a clear gap."
Bellingham was very unhappy after being thrown away by Chen Xiaoliang's sudden start twice in a row. The young and energetic person cares very much about this kind of direct confrontation.
Being combative, aggressive and physically fit, he began to actively seek physical confrontation with Chen Xiaoliang.
Roma took a corner kick from the left side, Dybala took it, and it was still Hummels who headed the ball at the first point and headed it out of the penalty area.
Outside the penalty area, Chen Xiaoliang stopped the ball with his chest, and the ball fell on the grass in front of him and bounced up.
Chen Xiaoliang swung his right foot, and Bellingham and Emre Can immediately rushed up to block him, preventing him from volleying a long shot.
Chen Xiaoliang turned his instep into the arch and kicked the ball into the penalty area. Cesco stopped the ball with his chest and was ready to turn and shoot directly, but Strobeck poked him with his foot first. The ball fell to Cristante behind Cesco. The Italian shot directly, but the ball was saved by Kerber who reacted quickly and fell to the ground immediately! Right back Wolf quickly cleared the ball.
Yan Qiang: "Roma, continuous scoring opportunities!"
Xu Yang: "Today their counterattacks and set pieces were very effective and concise, but the finishing touch was a little short, otherwise the score should have been much more than 0-0."
In the 37th minute, Roma counterattacked again.
Adeyemi's cross was saved by Patricio, who fell to the ground. The old Portuguese goalkeeper stood up immediately and kicked the ball into the center circle.
Sesco leaned against Schlotterbeck with his back and headed the ball back to Chen Xiaoliang, who made a long pass to the left side of the opponent's half.
Kva sprinted at full speed, caught up with the wonderful pass from Chen Xiaoliang, and headed all the way to the left side of the penalty area.
This time, the right-back Wolf, who did not make the run, blocked Kva in the penalty area.
Kva did not choose to fight with him. It was not that he could not defeat him, but dealing with him here would only waste the opportunity brought by a quick counterattack.
He cut inside and passed the ball to Chen Xiaoliang who was rushing towards him.
In the penalty area, Cesco had already brought Strobeck to the penalty spot, while on the right, Dybala was moving towards the middle of the penalty area under Guerrero's defense.
Sule, who was standing between Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco, came forward. The whole Roma team could see that the two defenders Strobeck played as man-marking central defenders today, while Sule played as assisting central defender. Wherever there were tough opponents in the penalty area, there would be Sule.
Chen Xiaoliang didn't waste time with him. He faked a shot with his right foot and then dribbled past Hummels, deceiving the center of gravity of Hummels and rushing towards the left side where the defense was weaker.
Although Hummels is definitely fast among high school guards, compared with Chen Xiaoliang, he can only try his best to defend the inside and has no chance to intercept at all.
Chen Xiaoliang rushed all the way to the left and was less than 3 meters away from the small penalty area. Seeing that Hummels could not keep up with Chen Xiaoliang, Kerber rushed out and wanted to take the initiative to attack and intercept the ball by diving forward.
Chen Xiaoliang pushed with the inside of his left foot and shot into the upper corner!
Kerber subconsciously stretched out his hand as he attacked.
In a split second, even Chen Xiaoliang didn't see clearly whether Kerber's fingertips touched the ball, but the crisp "bang" and the ball bouncing back told him that the crossbar rejected the shot!
Chen Xiaoliang first stopped, looked at the goal and shook his head, then he smiled helplessly, turned around and waved to Kwa to express his gratitude.
Yan Qiang: "Oh my god, today at the Westfalen Stadium, Dortmund's goal seemed to be cursed, and they didn't even score!"
Xu Yang: "The replay is here, eh? Hmm? Oh! As expected! Kerber's fingertips touched the ball, and the trajectory of the ball slightly lifted up. If not for this, it might have hit the bottom edge of the crossbar and scored!"
Mourinho was standing on the sidelines. When the ball bounced back from the crossbar just now, he couldn't help but tilt his head back and close his eyes.
But in any case, the team's tactical execution so far has been very successful. The Bundesliga's second-placed team has not had any decent chances, and Roma, under a series of threatening attacks, only needs a shot with a little better luck to take the lead.
Faced with such a wonderful drama of running back and forth and constantly exchanging offensive rounds, the battle roar of the Westfalen Stadium was like a giant pacemaker.
Their fans were not intimidated by Roma's sharp counterattack. Instead, like the dwarf shepherd, the more dangerous the situation was and the more wounded they were, the more excited they were for finally escaping danger.
It seemed that they never doubted whether their favorite team could win at home.
In the 43rd minute, Bellingham received a back pass from Adeyemi who broke into the left side of the penalty area in a tactical corner kick, and made a long shot with the inside of his foot from the top of the arc outside the penalty area. The ball went over the crossbar and flew out of the bottom line.
This was also the first time he directly threatened Roma's goal in this game.
In the first half, Roma had 60% to 40% possession of the ball, but had 5 to 9 shots and 2 to 4 corner kicks. As the visiting team, Roma performed very calmly.
In the locker room, both teams were listening to the head coach analyzing the opponent's on-the-spot tactics for the day.
Mourinho repeatedly stressed that the team should not simply retreat to deal with the opponent's midfield pressure. They used this artificial pressure to widen the distance between the back line and the midfield line. On the one hand, they could quickly pass the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt under relatively less pressure, and on the other hand, they would not lose their position when Roma counterattacked.
At the same time, the overly large midfield area can also allow the two central midfielders, Ozcan and Bellingham, to actively retreat to occupy large unguarded gaps when the backcourt is unable to pass the ball, thus forming a new receiving point on the ground.
In short, he asked Wijnaldum and Cristante to cooperate with Chen Xiaoliang and try more actively not to retreat so deep to cut off the opponent's defender's passing line when the opponent's midfield moved forward.
Either force the opponent's midfield to retreat, using the strategy of surrounding Wei to save Zhao to reduce the pressure on the defense, or force the opponent's defender to push the ball forward to create space for the team to counterattack.
In another locker room, Terzic was also formulating tactics for the second half based on Mourinho's arrangements.
Both sides knew how the other side played in the first half and were guessing how the other side would play in the second half. Then they arranged targeted tactics like a game in the hope of gaining the upper hand in this first round of competition.
Especially Dortmund, their current performance at home has not met the team's expectations before the game.
The second half came quickly, and the referee Markle blew the whistle to start the game. Neither side made any substitutions, and the game continued.
Roma's attack was unsuccessful and Gvardiol's long pass fell into the control of Emre Can, who also kicked a high ball directly to the left.
Adeyemi used his speed to beat Celik to the ball, then dribbled all the way to the baseline.
The wing was penetrated, and the two defensive midfielders and Chen Xiaoliang had to return to defense.
Seeing that there were many people in the middle, Adeyemi turned around and passed the ball back to the left-back Guerrero. Guerrero shot directly from the left side of the penalty area. The ball was very straight, but its flight path was a bit erratic. Patricio did not dare to catch it directly. He jumped up and used both palms to block the ball out of the penalty area.
Facing the ball falling high, Chen Xiaoliang looked up to observe the landing point while rushing forward, while outside the penalty area, Bellingham also rushed over to compete for it!
As the ball flew out of the penalty area, Bellingham, who was standing outside the penalty area and facing the ball, jumped first.
In the blink of an eye, Chen Xiaoliang also jumped up with all his strength!
All the players from both teams gathered near the Roma penalty area raised their heads slightly and stared at the two people gliding in the air and about to collide.
