A dream start, passionate celebrations, everyone on the Roma side was immersed in excitement, but Manchester City did not feel frustrated, lost or anxious like the opponents Roma had faced before. These negative expressions were not seen on Manchester City's players at all. Even Guardiola on the sidelines, although he was waving and shouting at several midfielders and backcourt players, did not have any unhappy expression on his face.
It seemed that they were not surprised by Roma's goal, or rather, they didn't care too much at all.
De Bruyne kicked the ball off again, but this time he did not pass it directly back to goalkeeper Ederson from the center circle, but passed it to midfielder Rodri.
At this point, Manchester City stopped attacking and started their traditional style of play - passing and controlling the ball.
56%…
62%…
68%…
73%…
Five minutes later, Manchester City's possession rate continued to increase, surrounding all 11 Roma players in the offensive third zone, constantly passing the ball back and forth, trying to penetrate or explode on both sides of the ribs.
After experiencing the counterattack route and speed of Roma's frontcourt, Manchester City does not try to attack easily, and two of the three central defenders and two defensive midfielders must always maintain their positions in parallel and fall back to guard against the quick counterattack that Roma may launch after the switch from offense to defense.
Chen Xiaoliang has retreated to the position of central midfielder, while Matic and Wijnaldum stand on the ribs on both sides, one on the right and the other on the left, forming a strategy of outnumbering the defense with the wingers and full-backs.
Many of Mourinho's old fans couldn't help but sigh that 13 years have passed, Mourinho is still the same Mourinho, Guardiola is still the same Guardiola, and their football philosophy remains consistent, as if tonight is a replica of Inter Milan, which was about to win the treble that year, against Barcelona, ​​which achieved six championships last season.
It’s just that Messi was replaced by Haaland, Sneijder became Chen Xiaoliang, and only Guardiola and Mourinho on the sidelines were left. Although they had more wrinkles and vicissitudes, they were still pursuing their next goal.
However, they can only plan strategies on the sidelines, and the victory in the game still depends on the players on the field.
If Chen Xiaoliang is the defensive barrier of Roma on the defensive, then Haaland is naturally the siege hammer that Manchester City relies on to score points.
In the 8th minute, De Bruyne faced Wijnaldum after receiving the ball on the right rib. The two were 2 meters apart and tested each other. One did not blindly rush forward and the other did not try to break through immediately.
Suddenly, De Bruyne didn't even make a feint, but very casually kicked the ball to the right with his right foot. Kyle Walker suddenly started and flashed past Spinazzola.
The 32-year-old English defender is still the fastest defender in the Premier League, and may very well be the fastest. Although Spinazzola's speed is not slow, Kyle Walker's sudden start still prevented him from keeping up in the first place.
De Bruyne's seemingly random over-the-top pass was very accurate, landing in front of Kyle Walker who was making a forward run exactly one foot or one inch away.
After receiving the ball, Kyle Walker rushed directly to the baseline and pretended to make a cross!
His offensive route towards the bottom line pushed the offside line directly forward to a place close to the bottom line. The attacking side had almost no possibility of offside, and the back line in Roma's penalty area was forced to retreat due to the forward advances of Grealish and Haaland.
Kyle Walker slows down slightly and raises his right leg!
Spinazzola immediately fell to the ground and slid to block!
Kyle Walker dribbled the ball, tapped it with his heel and passed it back!
The one who received the ball was De Bruyne. When Kyle Walker broke through the wing and attracted the attention of the defense, he had already moved to the empty space on the right side and was waiting for the ball!
When the ball was passed back, De Bruyne didn't even look into the penalty area, but used his right foot to kick a flat and fast half-high cross. This was the first time in this game that he delivered a shot directly into Roma's penalty area.
The ball passed over the penalty spot and went to the back post. Mancini and Matic, who was returning to defense, were teaming up to double-team Haaland, while Celik was watching Grealish rushing into the penalty area from the inside!
The ball came very quickly, and by the time Celik judged the landing point and turned to pounce on Grealish, the ball had already landed on the head of the billionaire.
Grealish headed the ball back and a wandering Manchester City player quietly appeared on the left side of the penalty area, with no one guarding him closely!
Zhan Jun: "In the penalty area! Seat B is empty!"
"Low left-foot shot!"
"Patricio has done a great job!"
"Haaland shoots again!"
"Wow! What a pity for this ball, it went slightly over the crossbar!"
Zhang Lu: "This ball is too dangerous. B Silva just slipped past and there was no one around him. His goal was on Haaland."
"Xiaoliang is in the middle with Stones next to him and Rodri outside the penalty area. He can't leave the middle open to mark B Silva. If that happens, when B Silva passes the ball to him, Stones won't have any protection and can shoot directly."
Fan: "Dybala should be guarding him, but he missed the ball."
Zhan Jun: "That's right. Argentina 's little magic fairy Dybala just glanced at B席 outside the penalty area, but did not move back. Then he was attracted by De Bruyne's cross and did not continue to follow B席 into the penalty area."
"Fortunately, Patricio's first shot in the upper corner, which was almost certain to score, was blocked by him. Then Haaland overpowered two defenders, took a step back, and then looked back at the moon!"
"Looking at the replay, Haaland's shot was really just a little bit off!"
Fan: "Roma's defense should be on alert. The two wingers on both sides did not follow the important targets. Just now, Kva did not actively retreat to mark De Bruyne, allowing him to easily cross the ball without any interference. This must be a very dangerous thing."
Guan Zeyuan: "It seems that the two wingers are still thinking about how to get forward and how to counterattack, and their defensive ability does not seem to be very strong."
Haaland, who missed the goal, ran back, showing his white teeth and smiling at B席: "Brother B, give me more balls."
Seat B gestured a few times with his hands, meaning "You have to run like this, run like this, run like this."
Haaland nodded repeatedly after hearing this.
On the other side, Chen Xiaoliang was asking Matic who had returned: "Old Ma, is it okay?"
Matic spat and said, "This kid is just like you. I don't know what he ate to grow up. It's okay. I should be able to deal with him."
Roma finally got the chance to control the ball. Patricio chose to make a short pass to Mancini in front of him from the goal kick, but as soon as the ball went out, Grealish rushed over!
Mancini received the ball and was about to turn around when he heard Guevadiol and Patricio shouting "behind" to him. Realizing that something was wrong, Mancini didn't know the situation behind him and didn't dare to pass the ball back to Patricio and Guevadiol who were too close to the goal. He hastily chose to use his left foot to sweep the ball out of the penalty area.
But because he was too hasty, the ball was not kicked up, neither high nor far, and it just flew to Haaland who had not run many steps back.
Haaland unloaded the ball on his chest and pressed it downwards, then rushed into the penalty area with the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang had no idea that Mancini would do such a trick, and he immediately sped back.
Matic, who was closest to Haaland, also rushed forward, but Haaland was not affected at all and took two steps to the penalty area line.
At this time, Matic was already close, Haaland blocked him with his left hand, slightly adjusted the direction and continued dribbling to the front right.
Gvardiol also came up to block the attack, entering the penalty area and facing the front, which meant that Haaland could shoot at any time. He had to block the shooting space at the end farthest from Patricio as much as possible.
Haaland kicked the ball! He ran to the right and forced his body to the left in a very awkward way. Then, he twisted his left foot outwards and used the inner instep of his left foot to push the ball to the left side of the goal!
This action was completely unexpected by Matic and Gvardiol. The ball was hit very quickly and rolled towards the goal along the ground.
Mancini wanted to fall to the ground and stretch his legs to block the shot, but when he saw Patricio had already moved over, it would be no problem for him to block the ball. If he touched it and was unlucky, it would most likely be an own goal, so he did not take any action.
Who knew that when the ball passed in front of him and was about 2 meters away from Patricio who was bending over and preparing to fall to the ground to hold the ball, Grealish, who had just pressed him and caused him to hastily pass the ball, jumped out from behind him, took a step forward, stretched out his legs to catch the ball, and immediately prepared to push it to the other side of the goal!
In a flash, Patricio, who had just seen Grealish rushing out, risked his old bones, mobilizing the strength of almost every muscle in his body, and pounced to his left front, in front of Grealish!
The ball was hit out, and Patricio fell to the ground and reached out to grab it!
Zhan Jun: "There was a change of direction! He touched the ball!"
"It hit the far post and bounced back!"
" Haaland comes up and makes a follow-up shot!"
"At the critical moment, Xiaoliang ran all the way back to the penalty area and shoveled the ball out of the baseline before Haaland started again!"
Chen Xiaoliang and Patricio stood up and looked at each other. They clenched their fists and shouted together. One of them made a desperate save and the other ran to clear the ball, and together they kept the team's goal safe.
Zhang Lu: "Although the ball was defended, Roma still played too passively. There is nothing we can do about it. There is no such pressure in Serie A. Mancini was obviously not prepared just now."
Guan Zeyuan: "I guess Uncle Fan was probably thinking, 'Mancini and others are playing as central defenders, can he play? No, he doesn't have the ability, you know!'"
Everyone: “Hahaha!”
Fan: "This player has some ability, otherwise Mourinho would not have chosen him to start tonight, but compared with Manchester City's front line, the gap in strength is still quite obvious."
Referee Marciniak blew a corner kick for Manchester City on the right side, and De Bruyne stood behind the corner flag.
Zhan Jun: "This Manchester City team is very different from the Barcelona team back then, that is, the attack from set pieces!"
"Whether it's Haaland, Grealish, Stones or Rodri in the midfield or frontcourt, they are all tall and have good header abilities!"
De Bruyne took a corner kick, which was a perfect combination of speed, arc and landing point. Even Chen Xiaoliang, who had excellent passing and crossing abilities, had to admit it.
The ball fell quickly to the back point, and it was Grealish, who was still playing as a left midfielder, who beat Celik to get the first point and headed the ball back to the middle.
In this set-piece, Mancini and Gvardiol swapped their marking targets. Gvardiol stuck to Haaland, and the two jumped together. Gvardiol, who was stuck inside, still headed the ball despite slightly losing his balance in the air.
The ball flew towards the penalty area line, Stones held off Cesco and headed the ball back into the penalty area. Rodri made a run, but Chen Xiaoliang got there first and headed the ball out of the penalty area!
There were four consecutive aerial duels, with both sides refusing to give in and trying hard to head the ball in a direction that was beneficial to their side.
Cesco received the ball from Chen Xiaoliang, made a beautiful turn to get rid of Stones, saw Kva who had already started on the left, and passed the ball to him!
Kwa ran forward, and opposite him, Akanji, who stayed behind, also rushed towards the direction of the ball!
The two players seemed to have similar speeds and were about the same distance from the ball. Everyone in the stands was nervously watching to see who would touch the ball first.
After all, there are only Diaz and Ake behind Manchester City at this time. Once the left side is penetrated by Kova, Roma's counterattack team can rush directly to the heart of Manchester City!
However, the advantage of the defensive players was revealed at this time. Just when both of them were about to catch up with the ball, Akanji fell to the ground and stretched his legs to make a sideways tackle. As the defending side, he could actively choose to destroy the ball, while Kwa on the attacking side had to control him after touching the ball, otherwise it would be equivalent to wasting this counterattack opportunity.
Akanji fell to the ground and made a horizontal tackle, passing the ball to Diaz in the middle, and Kwa could only jump up and jump over the fallen Akanji to avoid a collision between the two while running at high speed.
Cesco, who originally wanted to respond to Kvar's fast break, and Chen Xiaoliang beside him had also rushed up. At this time, Cesco did not choose to look back, but continued to pounce on Diaz, trying to put pressure on him to force him to make a mistake.
Diaz calmly made a short pass to the left, Ake received the ball, and Dybala who was counterattacking from the right also rushed up at this time.
Ake was also calm and unhurried. He gently passed the ball forward, and it went over the head of Dybala who was rushing towards him, and was passed to B Silva who had already retreated out of the penalty area.
B received the ball and turned around. There was no one around him and he started to dribble forward.
At this time, the Roma players who rushed forward to prepare for counterattack could only quickly retreat and re-engage in defense.
Matic blocked B Silva to prevent him from passing the fatal ball without any pressure, but before he could make any move towards B Silva, the latter passed the ball diagonally to the front left.
Grealish also retreated out of the penalty area and received the ball in the left corner of the penalty area.
Matic and Celik immediately double-teamed Grealish, but the 100 million man pulled the ball back two steps, then aimed at the gap between the two people defending him and made a short pass.
At this time, B Silva had already run into the penalty area from behind Matic, took a step forward with his right foot, and caught Grealish's pass with the inside of his foot.
Zhan Jun: "Nice penetration, Manchester City has passed the ball into the penalty area!"
At this time, Chen Xiaoliang ran over and stood in front of Seat B.
As a main player under Guardiola, B席 is a typical technical player who relies on his brain to play football.
With his style and physical fitness, he always avoids violent physical confrontations with opposing players, not to mention Chen Xiaoliang, the person who focused on explaining, analyzing, researching and arranging the tactical analysis meeting of Manchester City before the game. Guardiola's countless nagging has already brainwashed these players.
In addition, Ake and Rodri chased for most of the field but failed to catch up, so the Manchester City players had a more intuitive feeling of what kind of player Chen Xiaoliang was.
Without waiting for Chen Xiaoliang to approach, B Seat immediately pushed the ball to the top of the penalty area to the right rear. Seeing that he took the initiative to transfer the ball, Chen Xiaoliang ran towards the top of the penalty area again.
There, Stones also chose to avoid Chen Xiaoliang's defense and kicked the ball directly to the right without stopping.
The ball moved all the way from the left and came to De Bruyne's feet again.
Manchester City's midfield brain and the Premier League's assist king once again demonstrated his crucial and irreplaceable role in Guardiola's "20-zone" stadium division and the corresponding "positional passing and control" tactical system.
Unlike most coaches who divide the field into 18 zones, Guardiola specifically divides the vast space in the middle of the midfield outside the penalty area into three parts, focusing on the area outside the penalty area, from the sideline of the small penalty area to the sidelines of the penalty area, which is commonly known as the rib area outside the penalty area.
The main activity areas of the two central midfielders, De Bruyne and B Silva, are the two rib areas on the left and right.
The middle is more of an area where Stones, Rodri, and even the retreating Haaland play the main role.
At this time, De Bruyne was standing on the right rib one meter outside the penalty area line. Like the previous teammates who passed the ball, he passed the ball with one foot, not giving Wijnaldum any chance to block him, and passed the ball slightly to the right in front of him.
Seeing the ball being passed, Kyle Walker, who was trying to press forward along the outside line, suddenly stopped and then walked towards the inside line from in front of Spinazzola. He stopped and passed the ball, and the moment he received the ball, he cut inside and passed Spinazzola, and successfully entered the penalty area!
At the same time, all Manchester City players in the Roma penalty area started moving!
B Silva sprints towards the penalty spot from the left side of the penalty area!
Grealish made a run towards the far post from the left side of the penalty area!
De Bruyne moved to the front left and entered the penalty area!
In the middle, Stones stood behind the penalty spot, and farther behind him, Rodri was already in position outside the top of the arc!
In an instant, there was panic in the air and every tree and grass looked like an enemy!
Every Roma player was actively defending, but they seemed to realize in an instant that their own penalty area was full of Manchester City players.
In an instant, from the perspective of an observer, there are at least four passing options in front of Kyle Walker: a header after passing the ball, a pass in front of the goal, a reverse triangle shot from the penalty spot, a pass back to De Bruyne for a 45-degree shot, or another pass.
But unlike those bystanders, in Kyle Walker's mind, there has always been only one option!
He swung his right leg, and before Gvardior could get to him, he swept the inside of his right foot across the goal with great force!
A giant figure rode up on horseback, fell to the ground behind Gvadior and shot!
Zhan Jun: "In the 15th minute of the game, the second goal came!"
"Manchester City took advantage of the opportunity of Roma's formation pressing forward during the transition from offense to defense, through continuous short passes, from the backcourt to the left side of the frontcourt, from the left side to the right side, and then across the goal, nine consecutive passes, and finally Kyle Walker assisted Haaland to score the equalizer!"
Zhang Lu: "The ball almost went into the goal, typical Guardiola style."
Zhan Jun: "This goal, like Xiaoliang's goal just now, perfectly demonstrates the Norwegian's terrifying physical fitness and keen sense of smell in front of the goal!"
Guan Zeyuan: "Gvardiol, Haaland is not Lukaku. His positioning ability and explosiveness are far superior to Lukaku now."
Zhang Lu: "Anyone who has watched a lot of Roma games knows that the opposing center forwards basically focus on attacking Gvardiol's partner and rarely take the initiative to cause trouble for him. Today it was Mancini, sometimes it was Smalling. This is normal. If there is a weak target, who wouldn't want to come up and give it a try?"
Fan: "I used to play football, from a junior sports school to England, and finally retired. I played for more than 20 years. After retirement, I led a team, commented, or watched football myself for more than 20 years. Really, I have never seen a player like him or Xiaoliang. I really have never seen such a player."
"We generally believe that people who are too tall will have relatively poor speed and flexibility, while people who are shorter will have good flexibility but relatively poor confrontation and header abilities."
"But look at these two players, their explosive power, extreme speed, jumping height, jumping rate, confrontation intensity, change of direction, turning, none of them is bad. This is really God's gift. I think what Guardiola said at the pre-match press conference is not an exaggeration. Football is tailor-made for these two people."
Zhang Lu: "That's true. Some people, like Xavi and Pirlo, have perfect acquired skills and superb awareness, but their innate physical qualities are limited. For example, heading, confrontation, and speed cannot be improved no matter how much you practice. There is a limit."
"But it's hard to say what the upper limit is for these two people."
After scoring the goal, Haaland ran all the way to the edge of the field, sat cross-legged and performed his classic meditation celebration.
Manchester City players waited for him to sit up and then came forward to hug him and celebrate.
Guardiola on the sidelines also jumped up at the moment the goal was scored.
Even though he once reached the pinnacle of success, the lack of a Champions League trophy has always been a concern for him during these years at Manchester City.
However, everyone quickly shifted their attention from Manchester City to Roma.
Chen Xiaoliang trotted to the sidelines and was having a quick discussion with Mourinho with his hands covering his mouth.
Chen Xiaoliang: "Coach, we can't defend against this kind of kick."
Mourinho: "You can't have doubts, Chen, you know what you mean to this team! If even you don't believe it, then others will be shaken!"
Chen Xiaoliang: "I have no doubts. I am very sure that if we continue to defend like this, we will definitely lose the ball!"
Mourinho: "You have to believe me, the Barcelona team back then had a stronger lineup than this Manchester City team, but we also held on!"
Chen Xiaoliang: "But we don't have Samuel, Lucio, Maicon, Chivu, Zanetti, Cambiasso! And Kvart and Dybala are completely different types of players from Pandev and Eto'o!"
Mourinho was a little angry: "What do you mean? Go head-to-head with them?! Fight for ball possession?!"
Chen Xiaoliang: "Coach, we are out of time. We won't even get the ball if we keep playing like this. We practiced this before, but you didn't decide to use it in the end. We will just attack from a single point and beat them back one way. This is also the tactic we prepared."
Mourinho looked at Chen Xiaoliang, as if he wanted to confirm in Chen Xiaoliang's eyes how determined he was.
Chen Xiaoliang: "Believe me, coach. I want to win more than anyone else. If we can cripple one of their flanks and force them to retreat, we will have a chance to defend. Believe me, if this continues, Mancini's point will soon collapse completely!"
The fourth official reminded them once, but the two were still discussing until head coach Marciniak blew the whistle to remind them, and then Chen Xiaoliang ran into the venue.
But his eyes are still on Mourinho, waiting for clear feedback from the head coach.
Unlike the players on the field who were at a loss, Forti, who was standing by, heard the conversation clearly. He walked over and said, "Jose, I think what Chen said is right. Why don't we just..."
Mourinho instantly turned around and glared at Forti with a look as if he wanted to kill him.
Forti shut up instantly, but about 10 seconds later, just as Cesco was about to kick off, he spoke again: "Jose, even if you fire me tonight, I have to speak my mind. Everyone knows your past, the grudge between you and the man opposite, and everyone knows that you hope to use a completely different tactical philosophy of your own to defeat your opponent again."
"But Jose, times have changed, players have changed too. These guys are not the ones who followed you in 2010. They have their own characteristics and their own style of play. We can't find the next Sneijder, the next Milito, the next Zanetti, but we have Cesco, Kvar, Dybala and the unique Chen Xiaoliang!"
Mourinho still didn't speak.
At Real Madrid, he did not fully live up to people's expectations of him. After that, he moved to many places, had brief moments of glory at Chelsea and Manchester United, but more often than not, he was fired again and again, which was a pity.
Especially in the summer of 2016, he and Guardiola took over the two Manchester City clubs at the same time, which created a temporary news explosion. He has been waiting for an opportunity to completely knock this old rival to the ground.
But he didn't succeed until he left Manchester United.
After many twists and turns, since both of them left the two La Liga giants at the same time in 2012, they finally have a chance to win the final victory.
He has been waiting for 11 years for an opportunity to completely defeat his mortal enemy and reverse all previous defeats in one battle.
Countless nights, he wanted to replicate the night at Camp Nou when he woke up in the middle of the night, when he led Inter Milan into the Champions League final and then ran wildly in celebration at Barcelona's home stadium, provoking the fans wantonly, and completing the score to vent his inner pride.
He is so conceited that he still believes that his unique defensive counterattack is the only way for him to win all the European finals, and today will be no exception.
The opinions raised by his captain and core player, the assistant coach with whom he cooperated the most in the work, hit his ego and caused his natural anger.
But as time passed second by second, the words spoken by the two people just now seemed to echo back and forth in the valley, lingering in his ears and unable to dissipate.
Until finally, a door opened in his heart, as if a beam of light shone in.
They are right.
What he saw was Dybala, even though he was also left-footed and was placed on the right, but Dybala was Dybala, he could not be the second Robben.
He thought of Lukaku who had come earlier. It was because he wanted him to become the second Drogba that he embarked on the path of gaining a lot of weight.
He has always felt sorry for this incident.
On the field, Cesco kicked the ball back to Matic. Roma's formation pressed forward slightly, but because they were afraid of not being able to pull it back, the extent of the pressure was very limited, basically limited to the four players in the frontcourt.
Matic passed the ball to Chen Xiaoliang, Stones immediately moved forward, De Bruyne and B Silva also rushed over from the left and right directions to double-team him.
After the first goal was scored, Guardiola emphasized on the sidelines that when defending Chen Xiaoliang, he must make him turn his back.
As long as he is forced to receive the ball with his back to the goal and is not allowed to head towards his own goal, his super explosive power and speed of dribbling the ball will not be used immediately, and the defensive tolerance will be greatly improved.
Surrounded by three people, Chen Xiaoliang could only pass the ball back to Matic, and then retreat to ask for the ball again.
But as the hub of the team, when other teammates dare not press forward, once Chen Xiaoliang retreats and cannot share the opponent's defensive attention, the other three players in the frontcourt will easily fall into targeted defense.
Mourinho raised his hand and made a tactical gesture.
Forti's eyes suddenly seemed to shine, he immediately raised his hand and made the same gesture, then kept shouting: "Pay attention to adjustment! Pay attention to adjustment!" to let the players on the field know as soon as possible that Mourinho had made changes on his own initiative.
The players who saw and heard all this reacted immediately, while Guardiola on the opposite side became even more confused.
They collected and studied almost all the videos of Roma's more than 100 games in two seasons, and asked a luxurious analysis team of dozens of people to conduct detailed analysis, but they had never seen what was happening on the field at this moment.
Cesco ran to the left side, and Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball back to Matic and also moved to the left side. Kva and Spinazzola were already on the left side, so there were five players on the left side all of a sudden, and Dybala on the right side moved to the middle.
What formation is this? What tactics are these?
The dense crowds on the left forced Kyle Walker and Stones to retreat on a large scale. In Manchester City's frontcourt, suddenly only De Bruyne was active on the right side of the midfield.
Matic then made a long pass to reveal the answer.
His long pass went over 50 meters and landed on the head of the center forward Cesco. The 183cm tall Kyle Walker couldn't help but hallucinate, is he playing as a center back today? But he remembered that he was clearly a winger and had just assisted Haaland to score.
Facing the 195cm tall Cesco, he did not struggle at all on the high ball. He watched Cesco head the ball back and the ball fell at the feet of Chen Xiaoliang who was making a forward run.
Akanji still bent over, turned sideways, lowered his center of gravity, with his body facing the inside line, but his position blocked the outside line.
The only difference is that the target of his defense changed from Kwa to Chen Xiaoliang.
After heading the ball, Cesco started to move diagonally to the front right, ran towards the left rib, and took Stones with him. Kva was on the right side of Chen Xiaoliang, dealing with Kyle Walker who was defending him.
Chen Xiaoliang was one-on-one with Akanji. He flicked the ball and pretended to take two steps, then looked back at Kwa and moved his left foot.
Akanji saw that Chen Xiaoliang was going to pass the ball to Kva and then make a one-two pass, so he immediately moved forward and prepared to use his body to block Kva's return route.
However, this was just a feint by Chen Xiaoliang. He kicked his right foot forward and the ball flew over Akanji's head!
Akanji was shocked. Did Cesco run behind him? ! Was Chen Xiaoliang passing the ball to him?
Just as he was about to turn around, he saw Chen Xiaoliang coming from outside the sideline with unpredictable steps and overtaking him in an instant!
【Good at passing the ball】!!!
This is the first time that Chen Xiaoliang has used this skill in an official competition after unlocking it!
The teammates were surprised to find that their captain's first three steps were even faster than before!
"Oh!" The first sound was an exclamation with a little confusion when Chen Xiaoliang made a lob pass.
"Oh!!" The second sound came when Chen Xiaoliang overtook Akanji the moment he started, and the fans exclaimed with disbelief.
"Oh!!!" The third sound came when Chen Xiaoliang received the ball that he had picked out and rushed to the left side of the penalty area like the wind. The Roma fans raised their hands in exclamation, with infinite expectations!
At this time, Cesco and Dybala in the middle had entered the penalty area from the left and right sides, and Kva also followed to the rib area outside the penalty area on the left.
That’s right, the attack is still carried out by these four people, but the width of the attack is simply reduced from the entire field to one-third of the left side of the field!
It is very difficult for four people to cover the left, middle and right lines without the help of teammates. However, with four people in one-third of the area, relying on their abilities and expertise, they can easily play a penetration cooperation of outnumbering.
This is not a new tactic. When he was at Manchester United, Mourinho used another Belgian, the explosive-haired Fellaini, in the same way, but at that time he was used as an aerial midfielder inside and outside the penalty area.
Now, as long as the players in the backcourt launch a long pass, they can directly cross Manchester City's entire midfield line and hit the left wing directly. Even if Manchester City head the ball, they cannot launch a quick counterattack immediately because the players on this side retreat significantly to defend.
Chen Xiaoliang rushed into the penalty area and met the retreating Rodri.
But at this time, Chen Xiaoliang had already stepped on the accelerator of the Bugatti, so there was no need to brake at all.
He adjusted his direction slightly and rushed straight towards the left sideline of the small penalty area. Rodri, with his back to the goal, turned around and accelerated as hard as he could, but still fell behind by two body lengths in an instant.
Ederson blocked the near post, waiting for Chen Xiaoliang to kick out his signature shot at any time.
The goalkeeper coaching team gave Ederson a detailed list of the goal-scoring clips and scoring habits of Roma's main scorers, including the number and proportion of goals scored with the left foot, right foot, head, and other parts of the body. For Chen Xiaoliang, the most common way he scores goals is to shoot hard into the upper corner of the near corner or above the goalkeeper.
But Chen Xiaoliang was not ready to shoot. He was running at full speed and had no chance to adjust his pace, which was not conducive to the power of the shot. When the ball rolled to the edge of the small penalty area, he stretched out his left foot, leaned back to the left, and swept the ball to the other side of the goal!
Cesco and Dybala rushed up together to grab the ball!
The ball passed over Cesco who was lying on the ground and shooting with his legs stretched out in the middle. He was about 20 centimeters away from the ball , while Dybala who was already in a shooting posture at the back post was just right!
Seeing that the ball was about to pass, Diaz, who had been retreating, rushed over and slid in front of Dybala.
Dybala's lightly volleyed ball hit Diaz's leg, bounced upwards, but still flew towards the goal!
Seeing that the ball was about to fly over the goal line again in mid-air, Ederson, who was guarding the near post, dived sideways, grabbed the slowed-down ball with both hands, and pressed it to the ground!
And when the team landed on the ground, half of it was still over the goal line!
Everyone turned around and looked at the referee Marciniak again, but this time the Polish referee waved his hand to indicate that there was no goal!
Zhan Jun: "What a pity! Roma suddenly changed their formation, and Xiaoliang almost assisted Dybala to score another goal for Roma!"
Zhang Lu: "This is why the Manchester City team is worth 1.05 billion. Mancini here should take a good look at Dias. Why is Dias worth 75 million euros and you are only worth 20 million? This is the difference."
"There is also Ederson, who is worth 45 million euros, which is one of the highest in the world among goalkeepers."
Fan: "Coach Zhang Lu is right. Players are not just about ability. At critical moments, they can always judge the most worthy target to defend and make the best choice. This is the embodiment of consciousness beyond ability."
"To put it in a more mysterious way, it is a state of mind."
Zhan Jun: "Although it didn't go in, that goal must have made Manchester City break out in a cold sweat!"
"The center forward moves to the side, the wingers move inwards, and they use more players to defeat fewer players, and use faster players to defeat slower players in certain areas. It seems that after Xiaoliang's communication with Mourinho just now, Roma seems to have used their best tactics in advance!"
"The score is 1-1 now, the game is in the 19th minute, and it depends on whether Guardiola will make any new changes!"
Zhang Lu: "I think there will definitely be some. In addition to the above-mentioned use of more players against fewer and use of faster players against slower players, Sesco's use of tall players against shorter players is obvious. Roma avoids competing with Manchester City's strong midfield in passing and organization. This way, they can directly bypass the midfield."
"This is what we have been talking about for two seasons. Cesco's value lies not only in his goals. He scored less than 20 goals in the whole season, which is not very productive. But this fulcrum role is unmatched in the Roma team."