When it comes to arrogance, Mourinho is not the only one with it.
From his first year as Barcelona head coach, he shouted to all opponents: "If you have the ability, play offensively", to bringing passing and controlling to Bayern, and then to completely building Manchester City with his own tactical design. Guardiola has always considered himself the most devout believer and the most representative preacher of offensive football.
It is true that he and his Barcelona team, which included Messi, Xhaka, Eto'o, Henry and others, did change the tactical values ​​and development trends of world football.
What’s interesting is that, just as there is yin and there is yang, there is cold and there is heat, some people like oppressive offense, while others like defensive counterattacks that show iron will.
Mourinho naturally takes the other side of Guardiola's football world.
It is for this reason that Guardiola feels more and more disgusted with the football of his old rival. Therefore, although he realized that he should make some adjustments to deal with the formation change just now, he felt in his heart that he was still playing against an opponent who used outdated and backward tactics such as long passes in the 2023 Champions League final.
An idealist versus a pragmatist. At this moment, Mourinho, who took the initiative to make changes, saw that the situation on the field had changed.
Sesco, who kept wandering back and forth on the left, made Stones dare not press forward too hard. He stood in this area like a moving stake. As long as the offense and defense changed and Roma passed the ball to him from the backcourt, he could rely on the altitude advantage to pass the ball to Chen Xiaoliang or Kva.
It was these two that were difficult to deal with, especially the Roma captain.
Akanji is a central defender, but he can also play as a full-back on both sides of the field, which means that he is very flexible and fast.
But Chen Xiaoliang's pass and forced overtaking from outside the boundary just now did not give the Swiss international any time to react. When he turned around and wanted to chase, he had already left him far behind and he couldn't even get a foothold.
Manchester City players were in a state of hesitation, wondering whether to continue the siege and then be counterattacked, and every counterattack would be fatal, or to increase the risk, try to pass the ball into the penalty area more often, create more shots, and widen the score as early as possible.
Guardiola has been here for seven years and is fully aware of the psychological changes reflected in the actions of these young men on the field.
He raised his right hand and kept shouting, and his meaning was very clear: no matter how the opponent played, Manchester City would still play according to its established plan.
Who is he? He is Guardiola, the creator of the first club to win six titles in history, the leader of offensive football, who would retreat and change his tactics just for the slightest change of the opponent?
Impossible, absolutely impossible.
Seeing the head coach emphasize the execution of tactics, Manchester City players calmed down and continued to play the tactics of short pass and lateral transfer, constantly organizing back and forth on the left and right flanks, and continuously mobilizing the position of Roma's defense by repeatedly transferring from the strong side to the weak side, and then from the weak side to the strong side and then to the weak side.
In addition, B Silva, Haaland, Grealish and others made unpredictable runs and position changes in and out of the penalty area to create gaps in Roma's defense.
In the 23rd minute, De Bruyne received the ball on the right rib and faced Wijnaldum's defense. He passed the ball to Kyle Walker on the right and then rushed forward.
This was an obvious two-pass wall-type move. Wijnaldum immediately followed up, and Spinazzola, who was defending Kyle Walker, also took a step back to prevent him from passing the ball back to De Bruyne.
Unexpectedly, De Bruyne's running position would cause delay. After taking away Wijnaldum, Kyle Walker dribbled the ball directly inside. Spinazzola, whose center of gravity retreated, failed to keep up with him in the first step and could only chase him from behind.
In the barrage of comments in the live broadcast room, fans were very supportive of Guardiola's "whole job" tonight. They said that before the game, they were very puzzled and questioned when they saw that Gundogan, Mahrez, Foden and others did not play, but gave way to Kyle Walker, who had been out of action for a long time. However, the fighting spirit and state shown by the England full-back today made everyone forget that he had become a substitute player for Manchester City.
Kyle Walker rushed into the penalty area and saw Chen Xiaoliang in the middle and Gvardiol in front of him rushing over to double-team him, so he swung his right foot and shot a powerful shot towards the goal.
No matter what the angle or arc is, just kick it first when you have the chance!
Patricio leaned to the right. The ball was too fast for him to catch it directly, so he spread his fingers with both hands and tried to block it.
The ball hit his hand and bounced back. Haaland, who was wandering in front of the goal, suddenly retreated, jumped sideways towards the falling ball, and forced a hook shot with his left foot!
When the ball is not on his side and moves into the penalty area, Matic will retreat and double-team Haaland with Mancini from the front and back.
But he didn't expect that when Haaland encountered such a high-altitude ball, he would not use his head to shoot but choose the extremely difficult side hook.
He wanted to jump up and compete for the header, but he could only watch Haaland complete the shot in an unexpected way.
It hit Mancini and bounced out of the baseline!
Zhan Jun: "Wow! The devil is really extraordinary. If it were other strikers, they would definitely choose to head the ball when they have the advantage in height and confrontation, but Haaland obviously prefers to use his feet."
Zhang Lu: "Heading seems to have always been his weakness. It's not that he is not good at heading, but it seems that he doesn't like to use headers to shoot. He will use his feet whenever possible."
Zhan Jun: "Hmm? There seems to be a dispute on the field! Players from both sides surrounded the referee! They seemed to have objected to Mancini's block just now. Could it be..."
Since referee Marciniak was entrusted with an important task by UEFA, he has made full mental preparations.
In particular, I often reviewed the "famous scenes" that happened when Guardiola's Barcelona and Mourinho's Real Madrid met.
At that time, it was common for players from both sides to argue, clash, and surround the referee to complain almost every time the two teams met.
Seeing the situation before him, he knew that what was coming had finally come.
While waving and whistling to drive away the players, Marchiniak moved to a less crowded area and listened to the feedback from the video referee team in his headphones.
Soon, he made the decision to go to the sidelines to watch the VAR in person.
Unlike that year, although Mourinho and Guardiola would involuntarily look at Marciniak standing in front of the VAR screen, the two ignored each other and did not say a single word to each other.
After all, one is 60 years old and the other is 52 years old. They are no longer at the age when they still have a lot of vigor. What they have in their bodies now is only the still extremely high spirits.
The players from both teams on the field had been separated by their respective captains. Chen Xiaoliang did not look at De Bruyne, and De Bruyne did not pay attention to Chen Xiaoliang. Both of them were staring at the referee who had his back to the field.
The screen was switching back and forth, and the fans at the scene could not see the live images, but the fans watching the broadcast on TV could see it all on the screen.
Haaland's side kick hit Mancini's right elbow solidly, and because Mancini had the subjective intention to block it, his body moved to the right. His arm naturally opened slightly as his body moved, and was not able to stick close to his torso.
Zhang Lu: "It depends on the referee, but I think there is no problem in awarding a penalty."
Zhan Jun: "It seems that Roma is likely to enter a more difficult situation. Now the ball possession rate is significantly behind, the two teams have 72 to 28, a staggering difference of 44 percentage points. At this pace, Roma can launch very few offensive opportunities."
"Different from the previous pure passing mode that was criticized for only passing and controlling the ball but no attacking, Manchester City now has a killer like Haaland. He has superb ability to grab points and confront in the penalty area. However, the person who has the most say in this may be Mancini, who is anxiously waiting for the result of the penalty at this moment."
Fan: "I think Mourinho should consider making substitutions. Even if the other players he replaces have similar abilities, he can no longer use Mancini. If he continues to play like this, his mentality will collapse. Once the defensive players lose their mentality, what they do next may be more serious than giving away a penalty."
Referee Marciniak looked left and right and reviewed the video several times. In fact, he had already made a judgment in his mind and was just weighing the possible consequences.
The referee must uphold the first principle of fairness, while also properly considering the nature of the game and external expectations.
Just like in the 2010 World Cup final, De Jong of the Netherlands team kicked Alonso of Spain in the chest during a scramble, but the referee Weber only gave him a yellow card and a warning in the end.
Because the game had not even started for 30 minutes, once a red card appeared, the balance between the two sides would be seriously disrupted, and the viewing experience and suspense of the game would most likely collapse.
Fortunately, Spain won in the end, and the controversy over Weber's penalty did not last long.
If history had gone the other way and the Netherlands had lifted the World Cup trophy, this decision would have been destined to forever remain one of the major controversies in World Cup history.
Many times, in such major competitions, the referee considers these factors when deciding whether to sentence a case or not, and whether to impose a heavy sentence or a light sentence. After all, no one wants to live their whole life under the condemnation of public opinion.
Marciniak let out a long sigh and turned his head. He knew that he couldn't stand here forever. If he continued watching, it would be like watching a TV series.
He turned around and ran back to the field with a determined expression, blew a whistle, gestured with both hands, and then pointed to the Roma penalty area!
"yeah!!!"
On the west side of the stadium, Manchester City fans' stands suddenly erupted in cheers, and Manchester City players on and off the field also raised their arms to celebrate the "fair judgment."
Zhang Lu: "If this goal had gone in, Roma would have had a very difficult time playing. One reason is psychological. They took the lead at the start and had a dream start, but then they were tied with two goals in a short period of time. The second reason is the situation. They had so little possession and had so few opportunities to attack. Once Manchester City took the lead, they would pass the ball more calmly, and it would have been more difficult for them to attack."
Guan Zeyuan: "The gap in tactical level between the two sides is still very obvious."
Zhang Lu: "I don't agree with this. Hehe, the players' abilities are already quite poor. For example, Mancini did everything he could, but if you ask him to defend Haaland alone, he really can't do it. Even if you change the coach or the tactics, even if you let Guardiola be the head coach of Roma, Mancini still can't do it."
"There is a clear gap between the players. Mourinho has no other way to play. Letting this back line press forward to compete with Manchester City for the ball will only lead to a worse loss."
Zhan Jun: "That's right, especially the Italian internationals like Spinazzola and Cristante in Roma, who also play Italian-style defensive counterattacks in the national team."
Guan Zeyuan: "I agree with this. I believe that fans must have thought of something when they heard this. There is a team that has changed many head coaches and even invited a World Cup champion coach, but still can't play well, right, Uncle Fan?"
Fan smiled his classic smile: "How many people have been replaced in each term... ah? Even though they have been put in, is it useful?"
Before he could finish his words, the entire broadcast screen was filled with comments like "The medicine remains the same, just a new soup".
Haaland took the penalty kick. He placed the ball on the penalty spot, took a few deep breaths, then slowly stepped back, waiting for the referee's whistle!
In the first half, behind the Roma goal was the stands where Manchester City fans gathered. At this moment, they seemed particularly quiet and did not cause any interference to Haaland.
Zhan Jun: "Haaland has a record of missing penalties this season. In the second Champions League match against Bayern, he kicked the ball away. But after that, Guardiola still supported him to continue to be the team's first penalty taker. I wonder how he will deal with Patricio!"
“Beep!”
Referee Marciniak blew the whistle. Except for the two players taking the penalty and preparing to save the ball in the penalty area, the rest of the players from both sides bent down slightly outside the penalty area, ready to rush in at the first opportunity.
Haaland started to run, and after three simple and powerful steps, he shot the ball to the right side of the goal with his left foot!
Patricio analyzed Haaland's penalty data before the game and knew that he liked to shoot with great force, so while betting on one side of the goal, he moved two steps in advance and bet to his left side!
Zhan Jun: “He caught the ball!”
"It hit the post and bounced back! Shoot again!"
"Haaland! Majin Buu! The penalty was saved, but he made the follow-up shot and scored another goal!"
"Not only does he eat children alive, today when facing the 35-year-old goalkeeper Patricio, he eats both young and old!"
Fan: "It was not easy for Patricio to save the ball in the first attempt. The ball bounced off the post and then bounced back. I can only say that this goalkeeper was unlucky today."
Zhang Lu: "Ah, indeed, it's good enough to touch the ball with this kind of save. With such a fast speed, it's impossible to control the hand shape."
In the 26th minute, the score was 1-2 and Roma went from being the leading side to being the lagging side.
Haaland ran to the sidelines again and sat cross-legged on the ground.
Patricio kicked the ball towards the midfield, then stood helplessly on the goal line with his hands on his hips, looking ahead blankly.
In front of him was the equally bewildered Mancini. Although the frowning Gvardiol patted him on the shoulder to show encouragement, the Roma vice-captain knew that he had become a burden to the team today.
He tried his best, but his opponent was stronger than he had imagined.
Ibrahimovic, Giroud, Lautaro, Osimhen, Immobile, Lukaku, Dzeko, none of these famous strikers in Serie A are like Haaland, who seems to be full of endless energy and gives him an unprecedented sense of oppression.
In addition, the two sides were unfamiliar with each other, so Mancini had no way of predicting what Haaland would do next. Just like the handball just now, he was clearly ready to jump up to block Haaland's header, but he didn't expect this guy to do a sideways hook...
"Fuck, I met another pervert again!"
Mancini couldn't help but curse at him.
"Why should I say again?"
Thinking of this, he looked at Chen Xiaoliang involuntarily.
The man who "inherited" the captain's armband from Pellegrini at the age of 17, had just finished waving his arms and encouraging the Roma fans in the stands to cheer in unison, and was now shouting encouragement to his teammates.
Yes, he is also a pervert...
Mancini could not help but think of the team's incredible journey over the past two years. The most obvious sign, apart from the championship trophies won time and time again beyond expectations, was the young man wearing the captain's armband on his left arm, who was omnipresent and omnipotent in good times or bad, offense or defense.
Looking at Chen Xiaoliang, who had already encouraged the frontcourt and was now shouting encouragement to Wijnaldum and Matic, and perhaps the next one to shout at him, Mancini knew that their captain would not give up and had never given up on anything related to football.
Mancini smiled bitterly in his heart: "Forget it, it's embarrassing. With this little ability, I have already accepted my fate. People like me are destined not to be the protagonist, nor to become a superstar. The worst that can happen is that I will end up with nothing and be laughed at when I return home."
"But if I don't fight tonight, even I will look down on myself."
The Roma captain's immediate statement to the stands was undoubtedly a declaration to the fans that the team would never give up even if they were reversed.
Seeing the players' firm expression, the fans became more motivated and tried their best, some waved flags, some sang, some shouted and some clapped.
They are the twelfth man of Rome, and as long as the other eleven are still fighting, they will fight to the end alongside them.
Mourinho on the sidelines was extremely upset after losing the ball.
As a bystander, it was impossible for him not to be aware of the situation on the field at the moment.
But after seeing the obvious changes brought about by Chen Xiaoliang's encouragement to the fans and teammates, he shouted to the players who were about to kick off:
"Attention! Attention!"
Then raise your right hand and extend three fingers.
Barrage:
[Is Bird crazy? He is still dreaming of the treble after playing like this? ]
[This is completely crazy...]
[No, I should tell the players that they will definitely lose the third one, hahahaha]
[Ugly football doesn’t deserve to win the championship]
As the Manchester City fans started to mock collectively, the Roma fans immediately hit back:
[Guardiola has the highest odds in the Champions League every year, but he loses every year. His value is much higher than other teams, and he still has the nerve to say that his tactics are ahead of an entire era]
[A player worth 1 billion played against 500 million, and he went crazy just because he was one goal ahead. It seems that he forgot how Real Madrid taught him a lesson last season]
…
Unlike the fans who were unaware of the situation, the players naturally knew the meaning of Mourinho's gesture.
"Beep!" Referee Marciniak blew the whistle again. Dybala kicked the ball to the backcourt and Roma started to attack.
Because it was a positional battle, except for Grealish and Haaland who were still in the front, the others of Manchester City retreated voluntarily, especially Stones. Seeing Cesco standing in the left rib area again, he also moved over to prepare for assistance.
With the addition of Kva, Spinazzola and Wijnaldum who had already moved forward a little, the left side suddenly became a densely populated key area.
But this time Matic did not pass the ball to the left. After Gvardiol passed the ball to him before Haaland pressed him, the Serbian veteran dribbled the ball forward for a while until B Silva moved horizontally in front of him and he stopped while pulling the ball.
He passed the ball to Celik on the right, and Grealish immediately pounced on him. Celik didn't dare to hold the ball and passed it directly back to Matic.
B Silva made a gesture to intercept, Matic took the initiative to run forward to meet the ball, and then passed it directly to the right side behind Ake with his left foot!
Instantly, the Manchester City players who were focusing on defending Roma's left wing were immediately puzzled:
Huh? Everyone is here, why did the ball go to the right? !
Diaz glanced at Dybala who was not far in front of him. He was supposed to be on the right side, but now he was still in the middle.
"That's not right. Who was the ball passed to?"
Just as Diaz was observing Dybala in front of him and expressing his doubts, Diaz saw Chen Xiaoliang running from the middle to the right about 10 meters behind Dybala.
At this time, Ake was jogging towards the landing point of the ball with his back turned. In his field of vision, there was no Roma player rushing up from this wing at all. He was ready to receive the ball and then move forward for a while before passing it to his teammates in the midfield for organization.
"Ack! Ack!"
Diaz shouted at the top of his lungs. Since Ake was far away from the coaching bench, he could not hear Guardiola's shouting at all. He could only hear Diaz's shouting in the penalty area.
Ake subconsciously looked back, and was shocked, but it was too late to do anything.
Chen Xiaoliang overtook him in an instant, caught up with the ball and took it away!
"What the hell is this?! I've seen straight passes and diagonal passes, but I've never seen a straight pass and diagonal pass from such a long distance!"
However, Ake is by no means an ordinary person. He knows that if such a mistake occurs on the training ground, he will definitely be singled out and scolded by Guardiola, who is extremely demanding on details.
The memory formed by his muscles stopped him from chasing the ball. Instead, he quickly retreated to the baseline, blocking Chen Xiaoliang inside, and intentionally maintaining a distance of about 2 meters.
If you want to advance, I will let you advance. As long as the defense line in the middle is set up, what can you do if you advance alone? But if you want to get past me, no way!
Chen Xiaoliang dribbled the ball forward two or three meters, while Ake kept retreating.
While the two were testing each other, the players of both sides in the middle began to gather in place. Roma's three lines were stretched very far away. Although Wijnaldum also pressed forward, the back line still retreated very deep.
It’s not that they don’t want to go, but once they go, they really can’t go back.
Chen Xiaoliang suddenly lowered his shoulders and pretended to push the ball towards the baseline with his right foot.
Ake, who was concentrating on the game, thought that Chen Xiaoliang was going to eat him alive with his speed after dribbling the ball, so he immediately took a step back.
Chen Xiaoliang gently pushed the ball to the front left with his right foot, and took advantage of Ake's retreat to rush towards the right corner of the penalty area!
"not good!"
Guardiola now understood what the opponent was trying to do by pulling the center forward to the side and forming such a formation!
It turns out that the fulcrum and the dense accumulation of offensive players on the wing were all a cover. Their goal was to use the momentum of high attack and low attack to pull Stones away, forcing him to go to the wing to support Kyle Walker and Akanji who have relatively weak aerial abilities. In this way, Rodri became a single defensive midfielder in the middle, and the gaps on both sides of the ribs, especially the right rib on the weak side, were all exposed!
It turns out that the real individual blasting is not on the left, but on the right!
Just like a one-on-one game in basketball, all the players move apart and let their ace player play one-on-one with the opponent's defensive player!
At this time, Ake, who knew he was deceived, immediately walked sideways into the penalty area, and Rodri, who found that Ake was thrown away at the top of the arc, also rushed over, wanting to form a double team with Ake again!
Chen Xiaoliang has already rushed to the right corner of the penalty area.
He advanced too fast. At the same time, except for Dybala in the middle who entered the penalty area, Kva and Cesco who were feinting on the left had not yet entered the attacking position.
Because he cut in from the right, Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson was positioned closer to the right goal post.
For a moment, Chen Xiaoliang silently said in his heart: "It's been three years! Today I am finally standing here!"
"To all the great players who have made history, today I will borrow your strength to win this great game that will also make us go down in history!"
[The peak Robben cut-in shooting card has been used, left foot +2, left foot 20, shot +2, shot 18]!
[Activated skill: good at long-distance shooting]! !
[Active skills are good at powerful shots]! ! !
At that moment, Rodri and Ake, who were closest to Chen Xiaoliang, seemed to see that even though there was no wind in the stadium, Chen Xiaoliang's jersey was obviously fluttering, and the source of the energy seemed to come from his body!
Guardiola on the sidelines was in a straight line with Chen Xiaoliang and the goal.
These three people saw the same thing from three different angles.
That is, Chen Xiaoliang used his left foot, which he seldom used to shoot, to kick the ball half a meter outside the penalty area line on the right side of the penalty area, with an explosive sound as if he was going to kick the football to pieces.
All his actions were very similar to that of the legendary Dutchman who only had one trick: cutting inside from the wing, but the ball he kicked out was nothing like that.
There was almost no arc, and the sword energy was like a straight sword stabbing out, flying to the left side of the goal!
“Bang! Bang!”
The two clear sounds were obviously different, but they seemed to be made almost at the same time!
The ball hit the bottom of the crossbar with the first crisp sound, then bounced down heavily on the grass inside the goal line with the second dull sound!
Ederson, the Brazilian goalkeeper whose value is tied for third in the world, failed to react to the shot. In his subconscious, such a shot should not have happened in theory.
Guardiola was stunned for a moment, and his hands, which were originally used to give commands and gestures, froze in front of him.
He didn't expect that there would be a destroyer of his tactics, and he didn't expect that this person could force the score to be equalized in an unreasonable way.
At this moment he realized that if he continued to be stubborn in this game, he might miss the Champions League trophy again.
Haaland, who was in the distance, was stunned for a moment, then watched the Roma players rushing towards Chen Xiaoliang to celebrate like crazy, with a smile still on his face.
"Very good, this kind of opponent is very interesting!"
Mancini, who had just performed a rich inner drama, almost had tears in his eyes when he rushed over to hug Chen Xiaoliang!
What captain or not, fighting hard or not, at this moment, I will unconditionally give my entire career to this man, and I will accept it!
In the live broadcast room, Zhan Jun could not find the right words to describe the scene at that moment except to follow the replay and repeat the process of the goal.
He was speechless, and the only words left from those people were "Oh!", "Ah!", "Oh my God!" and the likes of which echoed in the live broadcast room.
At this time, in a small area of ​​Red Country fans in the stands facing the crowd of people celebrating in Rome, a small poster attracted the director's attention.
Maybe they couldn't understand the words on it at all, but it was still enlarged and displayed to fans all over the world.
Cardinals, the Pope, all of that belongs to European culture.
In this poster, in addition to the eye-catching No. 33 jersey, Xiao Liang is portrayed as a swordsman holding a sharp sword, fighting alone against thousands of troops.
There were seven words written on it. After seeing these seven words, Zhan Jun finally found the words that best described the situation:
One sword was once as powerful as a million men!