Chapter 88 Come here!
"I have a task for you."
When Ronaldo came back from warming up, Gao Shen pulled him to his side and gave him careful instructions.
The Brazilian superstar listened very carefully.
"You will replace Negredo later and play as a striker. You don't have to do anything else. Just strangle Cannavaro and Thuram, interfere with their passing and hit them from behind."
Ronaldo was such a smart man that he understood Gao Shen's intention immediately, "If we have a chance, we should strike them back?"
But Gao Shen shook his head and said, "If there is a chance, you must counterattack. If there is no chance, you must create opportunities for me and push their defense as far as possible. Don't tell me that you can't deal with those two old guys."
Two old men?
Ronaldo's expression suddenly became more vivid.
Are you very old?
Thuram has just turned 34, and Cannavaro will be 33 in September, which is quite old for a professional player.
Although Ronaldo is bloated and his speed has indeed slowed down a lot, he is still very good at counterattacks.
As long as he seizes the opportunity and gets behind the defense, Cannavaro and Thuram will not be able to stop him.
More importantly, behind him, Raul, Zidane and Beckham all have strong passing abilities, even long passes.
Especially Beckham, that precise long pass was definitely a long-range missile.
Damn, you dare to come up?
My handsome Beckham directly fired a Tomahawk missile at your doorstep, and then Rabbit Tooth Luo came in with a single knife and hit every time he hit.
Come here!
Ronaldo nodded and looked at Gao Shen, and found that the head coach turned his head to look at the visiting team's coaching bench and met Capello. The Juventus head coach turned away angrily, while Gao Shen revealed a faint smile.
how to say?
Ronaldo saw two words on Gao Shen’s face: treacherous!
He suddenly realized how stupid he was to think that he was a harmless young man who had just graduated from school. What happened? Wasn't he still completely controlled by him?
Sure enough, this guy looks honest, but he is actually full of bad intentions.
Ronaldo decided that he must have a good talk with his Brazilian teammates after the game and never provoke this guy again, otherwise, he might be beaten to a bloody pulp at any time.
If you can't afford to provoke me, you should be able to hide from me!
"What's the matter?" Gao Shen didn't have the ability to read minds, so he couldn't guess what Ronaldo was thinking. He just saw that his expression was strange.
Ronaldo shook his head guiltily, "Nothing, I... promise to complete the task."
"Well, go ahead." Gao Shen waved his hand.
…
Capello is so angry that his kidneys hurt!
Nima, is there anyone like you?
Don’t you know how to respect your elders at all?
However, he is really in trouble now.
Why Mutu?
Because Nedved can't take care of the ball in the middle of the midfield. Previously Trezeguet, now Sarajeta and Ibrahimovic, can't get the pass in the frontcourt, and the Swedish center's retreat is too late and will miss the opportunity.
Capello has no one available, Piero is injured, so he can only use Mutu now.
Originally according to his idea, Mutu should be brought on to replace Chiellini and the team should play with three defenders.
But now, Ronaldo is going up, and Real Madrid has two forwards in the frontcourt. In this case, can Juventus still press forward?
If Chiellini is not substituted, who can be substituted?
Emerson and Vieira are the double defensive midfielders and neither of them can move. Any movement will affect the defense. In addition, Real Madrid also has Zidane on the field. God knows what level of play Zidane can perform after he gets out of trouble?
Capello hesitated for a while, which made Mutu, who had just returned from warming up, a little confused.
Aren't you going to replace someone? Who?
Why aren’t you talking anymore?
Finally, Capello gritted his teeth and replaced Camoranesi.
…
When Gao Shen saw the substitution number plates on the sidelines, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and laughed.
The position substitution is still 4-4-2.
If it were before, Gao Shen would think that Juventus' lineup was really very strong, but he just couldn't understand why, in his memory, Juventus had never reached the semi-finals of the Champions League since 2003?
Now, he began to understand.
On the one hand, it is because of the overall conservative tactical atmosphere of Serie A, and on the other hand, it is because of the shortcomings of Juventus' own lineup, which is the serious lack of creativity.
Vieira, Emerson, Nedved, Camoranesi and others are all very versatile and capable of both offense and defense, but it depends on the intensity of the game.
In Serie A, when facing weak teams, they can transform into the team's organizational core and are full of creativity, but in the Champions League, especially in difficult matches such as the Champions League knockout stage, their creativity is seriously insufficient.
Without creativity there is no passing, without passing there is no goal.
Unfortunately, Capello is a conservative who is extremely risk-averse.
In addition to these, there is actually another very important detail, which is tactics.
Gao Shen has looked at historical data. Juventus was eliminated in the round of 16 in 2004 and was defeated twice by Irueta's Super Laco in two rounds. It was also in that season that Super Laco lost 1-4 to AC Milan away from home and then reversed the game 4-0 at home.
AC Milan general manager Galliani once said that this defeat would be enough to hurt AC Milan for several years.
Last year in the Champions League, Juventus defeated Real Madrid in the round of 16, but lost to Benítez's Liverpool in the quarterfinals.
This season, if I go by my deep memory, Juventus should have lost to Arsenal.
It is worth noting that all three teams played 4-2-3-1.
Is this a coincidence?
If so, once is a coincidence, twice is still a coincidence, what about three times?
Although coincidences are everywhere on the football field, there must be inevitability behind every coincidence.
That is, Serie A, which once led the tactical changes in European football, is now gradually falling behind.
Whether it is youth training talents or tactical changes, Serie A has not caught up with this wave in recent years.
Therefore, the current Italian teams are still clinging to their 442 formation.
AC Milan will be able to win the Champions League next year precisely because Ancelotti gave up the 4-4-2 formation and switched to the 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation.
Gao Shen has said before that the biggest advantage of 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 over 4-4-2 is the effective use of space on the field. The reason why Nedved has to appear in the middle is because in the 4-4-2 formation, when two retreating midfielders are arranged, there is a huge loophole in the middle of the midfield, and the ball's advancement is extremely unsmooth.
Gao Shen had been afraid of Juventus’ strength before, but now, he suddenly realized that if they did not have an advantage at the tactical level, or were at a disadvantage, no matter how strong the lineup was, it would not be effective.
And this is the key to Real Madrid defeating Juventus!
…
After the two teams completed the substitutions, the situation was still in a stalemate.
Real Madrid focused on intercepting and pressing from the 30-meter area in their own half to the center line, and was also quite active in the midfield and frontcourt. Juventus, on the other hand, was wary of Ronaldo, who often roamed near the defense line, and did not dare to press forward easily.
In this situation, it is difficult for Juventus' attack to pose a threat.
On the contrary, Real Madrid, after seeing through Juventus's weakness, began to signal the players on the field to increase the intensity of the stranglehold and counterattack in the midfield and frontcourt.
In the 78th minute, Zidane fell to the ground near the center line, stole the ball from Mutu's feet, stood up and took the ball away, launching a counterattack.
Ronaldo retreated in the frontcourt in time, received a pass from Zidane in an open space, turned around and sent a ball behind his back, passing the ball directly to the side and behind Thuram.
Raul quickly cut into the penalty area from the left rib, received the pass from Ronaldo, and without waiting for Zambrotta and Thuram to double-team, he shot directly, but the ball went slightly wide of the left post.
The Bernabeu fans expressed their regret.
Just two minutes later, Juventus made a long pass from the backcourt to the frontcourt, looking for Ibrahimovic.
The Swedish center forward had an obvious advantage in high balls and was physically strong. After he stopped the ball with his chest, he was double-teamed by Ramos and De La Red. De La Red took the lead to steal the ball and passed it to Beckham.
As soon as Beckham stopped, he made an accurate long pass.
The ball flew directly to Juventus' half. Outside the penalty area, Ronaldo took the lead and kicked the ball to stop it. Although the ball was touched by Cannavaro, it was not lost. The Brazilian still controlled the ball, broke into the penalty area, dribbled past Thuram, and shot directly.
Buffon made a key save and pushed the ball out of the small penalty area, and Chiellini followed closely and kicked the ball directly to the front court.
Ronaldo didn't score a goal, but he gave Beckham a thumbs up from afar.
This long pass was really beautiful and stopped very comfortably, except that it was touched by Cannavaro. Otherwise, the action could have been connected better and the goal would have been scored.
In the 83rd minute, Juventus launched another attack. Mutu dribbled the ball and wanted to pass it directly to the front of the penalty area to find Sarajevo, but Woodgate suddenly came around, intercepted the ball and passed it to Gravesen.
Gravesen didn't wait for Juventus players to react and quickly passed the ball diagonally to the left rib.
Raul followed and strode forward with the ball.
Zambrotta tried desperately to chase back, but Raul didn't wait for Zambrotta to catch up. He made a cross pass to Ronaldo from outside the Juventus penalty area.
In front of Ronaldo were Thuram and Cannavaro. The Brazilian decisively chose to stop suddenly, protected the ball, and quickly passed it to the right side of the top of the arc. Zidane followed up quietly and shot before Emerson.
This shot once again allowed Buffon to make a crucial save, keeping the goal safe.
In just five or six minutes, Real Madrid launched three threatening quick counterattacks in a row, and each time they hit the back of Juventus, creating shooting opportunities.
This is actually a reminder to Capello and Juventus.
Don't press on!
If you come up here again, I'll smash your glass with my slingshot!
This wave of counterattack can be said to be the most exciting attack by Real Madrid or even the two teams in the two-round match. The fans of the Bernabeu were so excited that they felt like they had been injected with chicken blood.
This is the kind of football Real Madrid should play!
After Juventus' goal was threatened repeatedly, they began to become cautious again.
Capello also knew that since Juventus sold Zidane, the Zebras' attack has been like shooting iron.
How likely is it to attack Real Madrid without conceding a goal when they are one goal behind at the Bernabeu?
When the time entered the 85th minute, the Juventus players on the field gave the answer.
