On June 6, Rome assembled and flew to Istanbul.
Arriving there five days in advance is also to allow the team to fully adapt to the local weather and venue, and to gradually adjust their physical and mental state to the finals.
When it comes to Istanbul and the Champions League final, probably everyone knows it.
Ataturk Olympic Stadium, named after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of Turkey, was completed in 2002. It was rated as a five-star stadium by UEFA in 2004 and hosted its first major tournament after its completion in 2005 - the Champions League final of that year.
On May 25 of that year, Liverpool and AC Milan, two powerful teams from England and Italy, met here. There is no need to say more about what happened next. The game experience created by the two teams is destined to go down in history.
But I didn’t expect that 18 years later, two teams from Italy and England would meet here again.
There is another coincidence here.
This season, Roma's away jersey is white with red letters, the same as Liverpool's away jersey that year, while Manchester City's away jersey this season is a combination of red and black diagonal stripes, a replica of AC Milan's ancient jersey.
In the 1960s, in order to make the team emulate AC Milan, which was at its peak at the time, the then Manchester City coach Malcolm Allison took the initiative to change the team's jerseys to red and black. After that, Manchester City won the top league championship, FA Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup and League Cup awards in succession, ushering in the club's first golden age.
In the famous "9320" season of 2011-12, Aguero scored the winning goal against Queens Park Rangers in the 93rd minute and 20 seconds of stoppage time in the second half to help Manchester City win its first Premier League title. The team's away jersey that season was also a red and black striped shirt.
Therefore, the purpose of Manchester City adopting such an away jersey this season is self-evident.
In addition to jerseys, there is also the successor. Everyone knows that Chen Xiaoliang's career started under Gerrard, but obviously the fans of both sides have completely different ideas. Roma fans naturally hope that Chen Xiaoliang can copy Gerrard's epic performance in leading the team to defeat the strong enemy, while Manchester City fans hope that Chen Xiaoliang will wear skateboard shoes in the game and copy Gerrard's famous slip scene...
Just one day after Roma arrived in Istanbul, Manchester City also flew over. Like Roma, the Blue Moon team had a complete lineup without any injuries. This gave Guardiola many possibilities in deploying his troops, but it also added considerable difficulty to Roma's preparations.
For Guardiola, who is used to making a fuss in big competitions and likes to win by surprise, Mourinho and his team really cannot guess what kind of starting lineup and formation the opponent will send out.
But there are always more solutions than problems. Since you can’t guess, use the ample preparation time to rehearse all possibilities.
Even the tactical drill plans take into account different score leads or lags.
For example, how to play when leading 1-0, and how to play when leading 2-0. At this time, Manchester City will definitely reduce ball possession appropriately and increase the frequency of direct attacks.
When falling behind by one or two goals, Manchester City will certainly kill time by controlling the ball and reduce the number of attacks Roma may launch. How to has also been a key subject of practice for the entire Roma team in the past two weeks.
On the training ground and in the meeting room, Mourinho repeatedly conveyed a mentality to his players: pragmatism.
Manchester City's value is double that of Roma, and all three lines of defense, including the goalkeeper, are world-class players. Although Roma's offensive and defensive data this season are more "beautiful" in terms of domestic league data, from the perspective of team tactical formation, player cooperation, team confidence, and competition training, Guardiola, who has coached Manchester City for many years, has obviously shaped a new spiritual core for the club long ago.
Facing such opponents, the players must lower their posture, forget about their Serie A championship, forget about those opponents they easily defeated in the league, and forget about those famous scenes that were spread by fans. They have nothing to do with the upcoming decisive battle.
Roma's ball possession rate in the game is bound to be much lower than Manchester City. More often than not, the players need to defend according to Manchester City's rhythm. At this time, mentality is very important. They need to always ensure the compactness of the lineup, judge the direction of the ball transmission, and keep paying attention to the running positions of players without the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang also told the players in the locker room that he would give his all to defend together with everyone to break Manchester City's midfield control, and he hoped that everyone would stick to the word "persistence" under any circumstances.
Only when you succumb to the word "failure" can you truly fail.
The day before the game, at the routine press conference, Mourinho was the first to be interviewed, and Chen Xiaoliang was invited to participate together.
The name Guardiola is always a topic he cannot avoid. Even if he wants to avoid it, reporters will not let him go.
Facing this former companion, later rival, and now more like a stranger, Mourinho obviously has not forgotten the past.
After all, the last time the two met two and a half years ago, Manchester City beat Tottenham 3-0 at home.
That season, Guardiola led his team to win the Premier League title, and Tottenham only ranked 7th in the league. Mourinho was fired by Levy before the League Cup final, and Tottenham became the only team he failed to win the championship.
Mourinho: "I don't know what he thinks, but tomorrow night it's not just about the two of us, or at least not just the two of us."
"He knows me well, if he is willing to tell the truth, and I know him well."
"He'll say some nonsense before the fight, but behind the scenes he'll do everything he can to beat me."
"I believe tomorrow night will be very special for him. Since he came to Manchester City, he has spent more than 1 billion pounds on signings. Someone has calculated that even the net expenditure is more than 700 million pounds, so I am curious why he has not been able to lead Manchester City to win the Champions League until now."
At this time, a reporter from the Times asked: "But statistics show that throughout your career, you spent a total of 1.75 billion euros to buy 108 players, while Guardiola spent 1.61 billion euros on a total of 67 players, but he has won two more championships than you..."
Mourinho's face changed instantly. He didn't expect that the reporter came prepared and was deliberately finding fault with his words.
After pausing, maintaining a confident smile, and tactically drinking from a water bottle, he immediately shot back: "I started my first head coaching job in September 2000, and have worked for nine clubs, including Chelsea twice. In addition to the giants, there are also Portuguese clubs like Leiria that you may not have heard of."
"You all know that I started as a translator and worked my way up. Not everyone has the golden key like him, who had Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Eto'o in his first team."
"You just said that I coached for 23 years and he coached for 15 years. I only have more than 100 million euros more than him, and this includes the Barcelona team. Who can't win the championship with a team like that? Look at Vilanova. Of course, I will not disrespect the deceased. You can also look at Luis Enrique and see what he did with Roma and the Spanish national team. In four words, he had nothing, but such a person can still win all the championships in Barcelona."
"And Bayern, I remember Heynckes left him a treble-winning team, but what happened? Did he lead Bayern to win the Champions League?"
"You are good at statistics, so you can calculate, if he also coached for 23 years like me, how much money would he spend? How much ?"
Faced with the head coach's crazy attacks, Chen Xiaoliang couldn't help laughing on the sidelines, and even when the Portuguese was obviously angry, he reached out and patted Mourinho on the back. After Mourinho finished firing, he took over the press conference and answered some questions about preparations in a calm and steady manner, but still did not mention a word about transfers.
Half an hour later, Guardiola walked in.
When faced with reporters' questions about his confidence in winning the championship, this should be the third time this year that he has brought out his usual "Jordan Theory", meaning that Michael Jordan, one of his idols, did not win the championship every season throughout his career. The important thing is to keep making attempts to win the championship and to ensure that you always have the strength to win.
This is obviously to relieve the pressure on the team and also to actively lower the expectations of the outside world. After all, in the football circle, there has always been a saying that "the favorite is doomed to fail". Since he took over Manchester City, Manchester City has ranked first in the Champions League odds every year, but has failed to reach the top every year.
Next is to respond to Mourinho's fierce attack, Guardiola did not say much:
"Jose Mourinho, he is always a winner, of course, in a press conference. I have never seen anyone beat him in this situation, even if he has just led the team to a terrible defeat, he can still make people feel that he is the winner in the press conference."
"I have nothing bad to say about him, he always tries to irritate me, just like he irritated other opponents in the past, but no matter what he says, we will still play our own football according to our plan."
"There can only be one winner in the end, let's see you after the game."
Compared to Mourinho's few words, Guardiola was obviously more interested in Chen Xiaoliang. He praised Chen Xiaoliang with great words, calling him an unprecedented super genius, and even exaggeratedly said:
"I even sometimes feel like there's some device in his body that can make him improve if I press it. In short, his growth is incredible."
"When we praise other geniuses, we usually say that this person was born for football, but I started following him in the second half of his time in Glasgow. These three years of competition made me feel as if football had been waiting for him to appear for more than a hundred years since its invention. Football is a sport created for him."
"Maybe you will think it's an exaggeration, but I used to be a good midfielder. What he showed in the game is definitely not something that an earthling can do, just like we called Ronaldo an alien back then. His future will be more brilliant than any of his predecessors."
The same Times reporter, who was obviously eager to see more fun, asked another tricky question: "Are you saying that without Chen Xiaoliang, Mourinho would never have achieved such success in Rome? After all, he said half an hour ago that your success in Barcelona was all dependent on those talented players."
Guardiola said with a wry smile: "He's right. If I had received that much compensation after being fired in my life, I wouldn't have to worry about finding a job, and I could say whatever I wanted."
Then get up and leave.
This verbal confrontation completely destroyed the atmosphere of the final on the afternoon before the game.
Unlike the more than ten-minute interview between the two, Roma fans and Guardiola fans, Roma fans and Manchester City fans, and even Serie A fans and Premier League fans from all over the world started arguing fiercely on countless web pages, forums, and social groups.
Soon, Chelsea fans and Barcelona fans started to have friendly discussions about the "Stamford Bridge tragedy" and sent cordial greetings to each other's families. Even Beckham fans and Maldini fans started arguing about which country's handsome men were the most handsome...
The whole world began to buzz with excitement because of this game.
The night before the game, Chen Xiaoliang sorted out the system for the last time. In the last round of the league, he scored one goal and made two assists, was named the best player of the game, and obtained 14 training points (0→14), 2 physical recovery cards (3→5) and 3 breakthrough points (7→10).
In addition, during these 18 days, apart from the competition and travel, he also had 16 days of training, extra training, and personal training using physical recovery cards, which saved him a total of 66 training points (14→80) (5→3 for physical recovery cards).
In order to make it round to 80, I also want to improve my dribbling a little more before the game (16→17) (training value 80→0).
On the afternoon of June 11, 2023, the final is quietly approaching.
Istanbul has become the most lively city in Europe. According to official statistics, 300,000 people flocked to this thousand-year-old city for the final.
They were scattered in squares, parks, bars and pedestrian streets of all sizes in the city, waving flags, blowing plastic horns, and even fighting in the streets with opposing fans after getting drunk.
Near the Ataturk Stadium, the roads were blocked and the buses of the two teams were only able to enter the stadium after the local police cleared the main roads in advance.
Countless people were waiting outside the stadium, trying to see if they could get one or two tickets they could afford.
When they got off the bus, reporters on both sides started flashing their cameras. The club had prepared custom-made clothes from top luxury brand Brunello Cucinelli for each player.
Of course, this is a commercial agent that Pinto negotiated. He is not so generous as to spend the club's money to buy each player a set of 30,000 euros worth of clothes.
As the birthplace of the Renaissance, Italians have far greater attainments in fashion and art than in football. When the Roma players got off the bus one by one, many female reporters' eyes widened immediately.
Some reporters even said on social media that before the game even started, Roma was already leading 1-0 in terms of temperament and appearance.
When they arrived at the locker room, everyone changed into the final jersey with the Champions League trophy and the final characters printed on the top of the chest, and then went to the pitch to walk around and warm up before the fans entered.
Chen Xiaoliang jogged, stretched, and did simple laps with his teammates while observing everyone.
It did not surprise him that young players Perrone and Volpato, who were not in the starting lineup, were so nervous that their limbs were stiff and their movements were extremely uncoordinated, like robots.
Kva and Celik, who started the game, were also a little nervous, especially Celik, who had already won the French Ligue 1 and Serie A titles, but still couldn't contain his excitement facing the Champions League final.
Chen Xiaoliang himself was also very excited. After all, this was the highest stage for professional players at the club level. He kept feeding the ball to those players with stiff movements, telling some light-hearted jokes, and even took the initiative to press their shoulders and arms to make them relax as much as possible.
At this time, veterans such as Dybala, Spinazzola, Patricio, Matic and others who had won the World Cup, European Cup or major competitions began to play a significant role in stabilizing the morale of the team. They helped Chen Xiaoliang and other teammates to get into the game, not caring about the success or failure of the final, and trying to mobilize the best condition.
Finally, it’s the locker room talk.
Mourinho delivered one of his most cherished dressing room speeches in his career:
"I am 60 years old, and the oldest among you is only 35 years old. Most of the others are 25 or 26 years old, and even your captain is only 19 years old."
"You all have a bright future, unlike me, who is already an old man. But believe me, an opportunity like today may only come once in a lifetime. Those giants have almost swept the championship of this event. It is really not easy for us to get here."
"I'm not telling you how important it is to win, but I'm telling you how important it is to have no regrets in life."
"I have looked back on my career countless times, and maybe you are the same. Every time I look back, I always find something and tell myself that if I had done this or that at the time, the result might have been different."
"But believe me, there's not one time I looked back and said to myself, if only we had been stronger then, that would have been great."
"People don't regret what they have done their best, but they only regret what they didn't do their best. I don't want you to feel the same way when you look back on today in ten or twenty years."
"Remember, this game tonight is the same as all the games you have experienced before. It is a life-and-death battle. It's just that tonight is a little more cruel. So, don't think about being a good guy. In the end, being a good guy will not win anything."
"The guys on the other side won't show you any mercy. They'll do everything they can to destroy your will. You'll have to be a jerk if you want to win!"
"In the end, all that needs to be said and done has been said and done this season. We are ready for everything. Next, boys, good luck to you!"
Chen Xiaoliang didn't say anything else. He just stood up and waved his hands. All the players formed a circle, just like when he first arrived in Rome and brought the Glasgow bad guy slogan over for the first time:
Chen Xiaoliang: "Manchester City!"
Everyone: "Fuck you!"
Chen Xiaoliang: "Manchester City!"
Everyone: "Fuck you!"
Chen Xiaoliang: "Rome!"
Everyone: "Champion! Champion!! Champion!!!"
After shouting, Chen Xiaoliang walked to the locker room door, looked back at everyone, nodded, turned around and opened the door.
Forti handed a handheld team flag to Chen Xiaoliang, and he led the players out of the locker room, turned a corner, and came to the player tunnel, where Manchester City players were already waiting.
Surprisingly, there is also Guardiola.
The Spaniard stood at the end of the team, deliberately keeping a distance from his players, as if he did not want to add pressure to the players, and seemed to be waiting for someone.
The mystery was soon revealed. Seeing Chen Xiaoliang coming out, Guardiola took the initiative to come over and extended his right hand to him.
Chen Xiaoliang was stunned for a moment, then immediately returned to normal.
He did not pretend not to see it. He walked over without hesitation, but did not extend his hand.
Guardiola was clearly not surprised: "It was just a handshake, getting to know each other in advance."
Chen Xiaoliang didn't look back, but he saw the Manchester City players also looked back at him.
He said loudly: "It's ok to shake hands, but it's also okay to celebrate my victory after the game!"
After saying this, many Manchester City players couldn't help but laugh at their head coach's cold response.
Passing the end of Manchester City's team, Haaland, who was shaking his feet to loosen up his muscles, turned his head, gave Chen Xiaoliang a silly smile, and then stretched out his left hand from the right.
This time Chen Xiaoliang did not refuse and stretched out his right hand to shake hands with him.
Both men used strength in their handshake, the kind that would not hurt the other but was enough to express their determination.
They came together and then separated, then smiled at each other.
In front of Haaland, Chen Xiaoliang looked at every Manchester City player, in turn Grealish, Mahrez, Stones, Kyle Walker, Ake, Akanji, Dias, Rodri, Ederson, and the team's vice-captain, De Bruyne, who served as the captain on the field today.
De Bruyne, who was standing at the front, did not move, as if he was defending against air attacks, and seemed not to notice the Roma players coming over at all.
Soon, the fourth official signaled for both teams to enter the field, and then, with the sound of the huge microphone broadcasting in the stadium and the sudden cheers of the fans, the 22 players from both sides walked into the stadium one by one!
A huge UEFA Champions League logo covered the center circle, with more than 20 ball boys standing evenly with one holding a ball.
The starting lineups and formations of both teams were displayed on the screen, and broadcast teams from more than 30 countries were stationed on site to deliver commentary in various languages ​​to approximately 900 million people via television and Internet signals.
According to real-time data released by UEFA, more than 150 million people watched the game in the early morning on various official platforms of the Red Country alone. The 12% viewership rate made it the highest live broadcast program in the Red Country in recent years after the 26% viewership rate of the Spring Festival Gala.
Zhan Jun: "The much-anticipated 2022-23 UEFA Champions League final is about to begin!"
"Today both teams deployed their usual formations that they usually use in big competitions this season!"
"Roma did not adopt a five-back formation as some media predicted. Mourinho still used the 4-2-3-1 formation that is most used this season!"
"Goalkeeper Patricio!"
"The four defenders from left to right are Spinazzola, Gvardiol, Mancini, and Celik!"
"There are some changes in the double defensive midfielders, veteran Matic and Wijnaldum will start!"
"There is no change in the front four. It is still the left winger Kvaratskhelia, the right winger Dybala, the center forward Cesco and the captain Chen Xiaoliang who serves as the all-around midfielder!"
"Manchester City, looking at the formation diagram drawn up by UEFA, Guardiola has deployed a three-center-back formation that has been very effective this season!"
"Goalkeeper Ederson!"
"Left center back Ake, center back Diaz, right center back Akanji!"
"The double defensive midfielder is Rodri and Stones, who plays as a guest defensive midfielder. This season, Stones' guest defensive midfielder effect is very good and he is called the 'waist defender' by the outside world!"
"In the winger position, Guardiola made some changes. Instead of using Bernardo Silva, who was in good form before, as the right winger, Kyle Walker started!"
Zhang Lu: "This is obviously aimed at Kwa. With Akanji, Stones and Walker covering the right side, it will be very difficult for Kwa to use his breakthrough ability."
Zhan Jun: "The left midfielder is still the billionaire Grealish!"
"Two central midfielders, De Bruyne is on the right, and captain Gundogan did not start today, but let B Silva appear in the central midfielder position on the left!"
"The one at the forefront is naturally the team's top weapon this season, 'Majin Buu' Haaland!"
Zhang Lu: "Hey, one of the highlights today is to see Xiao Liang go head-to-head with Haaland in the game."
Zhan Jun: "For this game, we also invited two guests, the former captain of the national football team, General Fan! And the well-known e-sports live broadcaster Guan Zeyuan!"
When Mourinho saw this formation before the game, he was not too surprised. The only uncertainty was about Kyle Walker.
Guardiola has used Kyle Walker as a right midfielder before, but because the England international has recently had serious private life problems, and has been exposed for having many extramarital affairs and an illegitimate child, coupled with the fact that Guardiola has begun to use a three-center-back system more often, his chances of playing as a right back have been greatly reduced.
Obviously, this arrangement is aimed at Roma's top wing player, Kovač, who is worth 85 million euros.
Akanji, who originally played as a right center back, can also play as a right back. He is not afraid of wingers at all. There are almost no wingers in Europe who dare to say that they can definitely pass him in a one-on-one situation. Coupled with Kyle Walker who can retreat, Mourinho gave most of the time to Kva and Spinazzola in the tactical arrangements before the pre-match training.
On the field, when walking into the stadium, Chen Xiaoliang saw fans waving the five-star red flag in many places in the stands. He waved to a red country fan who was relatively close.
He even saw a male fan from the Red Country among a group of Roma fans. Perhaps because he failed to buy the Roma jersey that had been sold out, he entered the stadium wearing a red shirt with "For the Tribe" printed on it and sat among the Roma fans.
The two sides lined up, shook hands, the captains exchanged team flags, guessed the sides, and returned to their positions. Everything was the same as in any previous game.
“Beep!”
Zhan Jun: "The referee from Poland, Marciniak, blew the whistle and the Champions League final officially started!"
De Bruyne pushed the ball back, past everyone and passed it to goalkeeper Ederson, and Manchester City's formation immediately began to press forward.
On the Roma side, the wingers on both sides took the initiative to retreat following Manchester City's overall forward pressure. Sharing the defensive pressure with the full-backs was an important task tonight.
The premise of a defensive counterattack is defense. Once you fail to defend and fall behind in the score, the opponent will pass the ball more patiently, making it increasingly difficult to score goals.
Cesco also took the initiative to retreat. His target today was the area between Manchester City's defensive midfielder and central defender.
Chen Xiaoliang, on the other hand, flexibly chooses the area to cover and the target to intercept based on the location of the ball and his own judgment.
After receiving the ball, Ederson moved forward a short distance. When he saw that he was basically in position in the frontcourt, he kicked the ball directly to the left side of the frontcourt, looking for Haaland who was leaning on Matic with his back one-on-one.
Today Mourinho was willing to take the risk of sending Matic to start, knowing that his age has slowed down significantly and because he values ​​his experience. Sending a group of young players into such a game can easily cause serious mental shakes if there are twists and turns in the process.
At this time, Matic was sticking closely to Haaland. If it came to jumping and burst, he, who would be 35 years old in less than two months, was still no match for Haaland. But in terms of experience and means, he was still capable of teaching this young man a lesson.
He first hid his hands between his and Haaland's chest and back, and tried to pull Haaland's clothes on the back, but found it quite obvious, so he immediately went to pull Haaland's tight-belted shorts.
The moment Haaland jumped, Matic pulled hard and then immediately let go, and even raised his hands to make it look like his movements were very clean. Haaland's jump was blocked and the ball went over the top, and the ball fell at the feet of Celik who was further behind.
Celik didn't even look at the direction and kicked the ball directly towards the midfield. Near the center line, Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco ran towards the landing point, attracting Ake and Rodri.
Rodri, who is 191cm tall, held up Cesco, while Ake, who is 180cm tall, held up Chen Xiaoliang. The pressures they were under were completely opposite.
Rodri relied on his experience and physique, and although there was a 4-centimeter difference in height, he still beat Cesco.
But Ake, who started out as a left-back, was surprised to find that he was actually pushing against a wall that could not possibly move!
"What did this brat eat? So hard?!"
He quickly looked back and saw that B Silva and Grealish had come over to support him, and continued to use all his strength to restrain Chen Xiaoliang.
The ball fell above Rodri, he headed it forward, but was affected by Cesco and didn't head it far.
Chen Xiaoliang stuck his butt out to hold Ake, rushed back a few steps to catch up with the ball, and when B席 approached him to stretch his legs to steal the ball, he pushed the ball to the right side of his body and did a standard Xavi turn!
"oh!"
“Pah pah pah pah…!”
Roma fans exclaimed and applauded in unison for this clever escape.
Seeing Chen Xiaoliang starting to dribble the ball in the middle, Rodri, Ake and Grealish did not stop and all pressed towards Chen Xiaoliang.
Even though he was mentally prepared, Chen Xiaoliang was still shocked by the scene. It seemed that the people who came today had bad intentions. Guardiola must have made sufficient targeted plans for him!
The problem was that in front of him, Cesco was right next to Rodri and had not left him. Dybala and Kva did not rush forward because they were retreating to assist in defense, so he had no way to pass the ball.
So Chen Xiaoliang gently pushed the ball to the front left, preparing to use his speed to break out of the encirclement and then wait for his teammates to join in.
I didn't expect that after I dribbled the ball out, I just took two steps to catch the ball, when a familiar force attacked me from the left side of my body!
He swayed and lost his balance, and actually fell down!
Chen Xiaoliang looked back in disbelief. He wanted to know which immortal could knock him down when he had few rivals in strength and confrontation. Sure enough, it was Haaland who retreated from the front to defend, knocked Chen Xiaoliang down and then fell down himself!
Not only Chen Xiaoliang himself was surprised, but also the players and coaches of Roma were surprised.
They hadn't seen two people falling to the ground one on one for a long time.
As for Chen Xiaoliang himself, the last time he felt such great strength was from the Belgian player from Inter Milan who was always ready to help!
"Beep!" Referee Marciniak blew the whistle and awarded Roma a free kick in the backcourt.
Without waiting for others to react, Matic rushed forward, positioned the ball and kicked it towards the front left!
This is where the veteran comes in. Before Manchester City returns to defense, quickly take the free kick!
Kwa has appeared on the left, and next to him is one of tonight's opponents, Swiss international Akanji.
Akanji, who is worth 30 million euros, passed the ball in front of Kvarr at the moment he adjusted after receiving the ball, bent sideways and took a defensive stance.
Kva knew that he had to move forward as quickly as possible. If he delayed, Kyle Walker, who was somewhere behind him but was definitely returning to defense quickly, would soon appear next to him and double-team him.
Tonight is the stage he has always dreamed of. He wants to prove to the world that a child from an ordinary family in Georgia can also stand on the highest podium of professional players through his own efforts!
After two tentative steps, seeing that Akanji had blocked the breakthrough route from the wing, Kwa immediately cut inside. As soon as he turned around, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Kyle Walker had indeed caught up to him and was less than 5 meters behind him.
When Akanji saw him cutting inside, he immediately retreated to the left rear. In the three-center-back system, what the wing center back has to do, especially when he is in a very forward position in the attack like he did, is to delay the opponent's offensive rhythm as much as possible and buy time for the other defenders to arrange their defensive formation.
Blindly kicking the ball will only leave the defense line open.
Kwa kept rushing diagonally, and Akanji kept retreating at the same speed as him. Although on the surface he was unable to stop the advance of the Roma winger, Kyle Walker had already run to the right side of his own penalty area.
If Kva dribbles the ball diagonally towards the middle like this, he will eventually fall into the crowded crowd of defenders in the middle.
As expected, as predicted before the game, right defensive midfielder Stones has landed on the right side of Dias, actually forming a double central defender formation, while Rodri, B Silva, Grealish and others are also returning to defense at full speed, and beside them is Chen Xiaoliang who is sprinting at full speed!
Kwa knew that he couldn't carry the ball any further, as if he did he would fall into Akanji's trap. Not only would he encounter more defensive players, but his running route would also be hindered.
But Akanji's positioning was very clever. On the left, there was Kyle Walker who had already run in a straight line in front of him. If he changed direction to the left at this time, he would also face a one-versus-two situation.
At this moment, a teammate in red appeared in Takva's peripheral vision on the right. He made a powerful pass with his right foot and pushed the ball over!
Dybala took the ball forward and headed diagonally towards the right side of the penalty area!
Ake on this side was not in position to defend Chen Xiaoliang yet, so center back Diaz came up to block him.
Although Dias is the central defender in the three-center-back system, because of Stones' retreat, the formation changed to 4-4-1-1, so he could block the left side when there was no one defending, and he did not have to worry about the middle of the penalty area being unguarded.
Zhang Lu couldn't help but admire in the penalty area: "In just a dozen seconds, so many Manchester City players completed the formation change while running at high speed. Guardiola's tactical training is absolutely the pinnacle."
There has never been a clumsy central defender in Guardiola's team, and Diaz, who now shoulders the responsibility of defense in Manchester City, is certainly no exception.
Although the absolute speed is not fast, facing Dybala, who is also not good at absolute speed, the Portuguese defender's strong defensive hardness and strong one-on-one ability can be fully utilized.
Dybala naturally knows his strengths and weaknesses. Counterattack is all about efficiency, either passing the ball or simply stopping and fighting a positional battle.
But today the head coach made arrangements. In order to prevent Manchester City from launching a quick counterattack at the start of the game and attacking their own defense which is not fast enough, the attack will not have the ultimate goal of falling into positional warfare unless it is absolutely necessary.
Dybala took a feint forward and Diaz immediately moved his center of gravity back.
At this moment, Dybala instantly pulled the ball to his left foot and cut into the middle.
Diaz hurried forward, but Dybala had already drawn his bow and arrow and was ready to shoot!
Diaz did not stretch his legs to block the ball, as the distance was too far and he was already blocked in front of him. The only route Dybala could shoot was a curved ball in the far corner. He believed that this would not be a difficult task for goalkeeper Ederson behind him.
However, half a second later, Diaz regretted it!
Because the ball kicked out by Dybala after his left foot landed was obviously not at the right speed, it was not a powerful arc shot with the inside of the foot at all!
Diaz immediately turned his head to look. He was puzzled. There was no one in the penalty area of ​​Roma. Who was the ball for?
He was right. There was indeed no one there when Dybala passed the ball, but after the ball flew out, the person appeared!
When Dybala passed the ball 5 meters away from the penalty area line, Chen Xiaoliang had already run to the top of the penalty area. Rodri and Ake now truly realized how abnormal the speed of this red Chinese man was, who had made his head coach wait in the player channel to shake hands before the game.
At this speed, it is clearly three points faster than Kyle Walker, the fastest player in the team!
Ederson realized something was wrong and immediately left the goal to attack. Chen Xiaoliang raised his head and glanced at the ball falling in front of him!
It is not possible to shoot with a raised leg. After touching the ball, it is 100% necessary to kick it to Ederson who is attacking with all his strength. It is not a question of foul or Ederson being injured. The problem is that at this distance and relative speed, even if he touches the ball, he will probably be saved by Ederson.
If the feet can’t help, then the head is the only option. Chen Xiaoliang ran out two more steps and jumped with all his might!
When two brave men meet on a narrow road, the brave one wins!
Ederson clasped his fists and hit the ball, and Chen Xiaoliang leaped towards the ball!
The two were about to collide. Chen Xiaoliang closed his eyes and felt the top of his head hit the ball. Then there was a violent impact. The force spread from the top of his head along his head to his shoulders and upper body!
Although Chen Xiaoliang felt a little dizzy after landing, he immediately opened his eyes and looked towards the direction of the goal!
He didn't know whether Ederson touched the ball or not. Anyway, he just saw it fly like a lob shot, drawing a parabola that was so exciting that it made people breathtaking. It fell from a high place, and then fell again, and flew towards the goal!
Just when the ball seemed to have gone through the goal line, a blue figure flew over and kicked the ball hard upwards!
"yeah!"
"oops!"
The fans on the opposing sides of the East and West stands immediately made completely different shouts!
It's Kyle Walker!
He chased all the way back from the front court and did not give up until the last moment. He used his speed to rush to the front of the goal to clear the ball!
The ball flew high and was caught by Ederson, who jumped up with a painful look on his face and desperately stood up to chase back.
Although everyone had their own judgment based on common sense, they all looked at the referee Marciniak!
“Beep!”
With a quick whistle, Marciniak pointed to the center circle!
"yeah!!!!!!"
The fans on the red and yellow side all jumped up as if they were going to overturn the stadium!
Mourinho couldn't contain his excitement. He clenched his fists tightly, shook them back and forth on both sides of his body, and shouted loudly.
Zhan Jun: "Oh my god! This ball actually went in! Just 43 seconds into the game, Roma got off to a dream start!"
General Fan: "This is a chance that was fought for, not a chance of chance. If it was anyone else, if they were a little slower or timid and didn't dare to confront the opponent's goalkeeper head-on, this ball would not have been able to go in. Dybala didn't even have a place to pass the ball. It was great, Xiaoliang, really great!"
Zhang Lu: "Manchester City still underestimated Xiaoliang's speed and fighting spirit. However, their defense was also good. They used three players to double-team him in the midfield. However, when Haaland came back and committed a foul, it gave Matic the opportunity to quickly take a free kick. This quick kick completely disrupted Manchester City's defensive rhythm. A group of people in the middle were chasing Xiaoliang. How many people could catch up with Xiaoliang without the ball at his feet?"
Guan Zeyuan: "We thought of all kinds of possible scenarios before the game, but we really didn't expect the game to start this way! From Matic's free kick to Xiaoliang's header, there were only three passes in between."
Zhan Jun: "This is the Champions League final, and we see many red country fans waving national flags in the stands!"
De Bruyne went up to ask the referee, but Marciniak said that the goal-line technology would not lie. Sure enough, the Hawkeye projection of the ball as a whole crossed the goal line in the air was released on the screen.
Roma fans cheer again!
Chen Xiaoliang originally wanted to celebrate passionately, but the collision just now was indeed a bit too strong. Fortunately, the system did not prompt that he was injured. He lay down for a while before standing up, twisted his neck, hugged his teammates who ran over to celebrate, and then turned around to thank the fans who came to support him.
At this time, a song in a language that was both unfamiliar and familiar to Xiao Liang was heard from the stands behind the Roma bench:
"Xiaoliang~Goal!"
"Xiaoliang scored a goal!"
"Old eggs! Old eggs! Old eggs!"
Chen Xiaoliang turned his head and saw that the fan wearing the "For the Tribe" shirt was also inside, singing and dancing shoulder to shoulder with his compatriots.
He waved to the group of fellow villagers and gave a thumbs-up with both hands.
The Roma fans around didn't know what the red people were singing, but they knew the melody. Seeing that Chen Xiaoliang approved of the song, they began to hum along. Gradually, more and more people joined in, and their singing could be heard throughout the stadium.
General Fan seemed to be infected by Zhang Lu. He smiled and said away from the microphone: "Chen Na, what an old fool!"
The live broadcast director cut the camera to the stands, where the VIP area's crowd of European football stars and legends had different expressions.
Roberto Mancini, Southgate, followed by Zidane, Beckham, Sir Alex Ferguson, and two team legends such as Totti and Kompany.
Finally the camera focused on Gerrard who was clapping.
Zhan Jun: "There are rumors that because Liverpool coach Klopp failed to lead the team into the European war this season, and Fenway Group is unwilling to provide huge funds to fully meet his requirements for the team's lineup transformation next season, the German coach may take the initiative to resign and choose to rest for a while."
"And once this comes true, Liverpool will seriously consider choosing Gerrard as the team's next head coach. This is also the reason why the soul of Liverpool has not accepted coaching invitations from other clubs after leaving Aston Villa!"