Chinese champion

Chapter 134 Arrangement
On March 3, Mallorca completed a major reversal in the away game. Eto'o scored twice when they were two goals behind, and before the end of the game, Panovic's long-range shot from the back row beat the Spaniard 2:3. Team, Pei Wei assisted twice, and another goal scored by Eto'o was also instigated by him.

In this game, Manzano's on-the-spot command was amazing. With two goals behind and the core midfielder Pei Wei was marked, he made continuous adjustments in the midfield, pretending to be a strong attack on the wing. After successfully attracting the attention of the Espanyol, Pei Wei, whose defense was relaxed, suddenly made a lightning breakthrough, and Eto'o had already completed the final blow before the opposing defender had time to react.

When the Espanyol saw that the lead was only one goal away and began to defend comprehensively, Pei Wei began to walk frequently on the two sides, which made it very difficult for the two defenders who were in charge of marking him. Follow him, defend The formation is messed up, so don't follow him. If no one keeps an eye on this dangerous person, the consequences may be very serious.

Just when they were in a dilemma, Pei Wei sent a precise cross from the wing after making a switch with Ibagaza. Delgado grabbed a header and hit the post. Shoot through the net.

The Espanyol team, whose two-goal advantage was no longer in disarray, was overwhelmed by Mallorca. Finally, before the end of the game, Pei Wei grabbed the ball in front of the penalty area to attract the attention of several opposing players. Flipping the ball to the other side, Panovich made a long shot to complete the reversal.

On March 3th, Mallorca established the victory in the first half of the game. They showed a different form from the Mallorca team that won seven consecutive victories, but the same powerful attack power. While controlling the situation on the field, they also Gradually wearing down the fighting spirit of the visiting team, one goal each from Delgado and Pei Wei gave Mallorca a two-goal lead into the second half. According to the situation on the field, the score was maintained until the end.

When the team achieved consecutive victories, Mallorca's luck also seemed to improve. In the UEFA Cup quarter-finals draw, they successfully avoided Lazio, Liverpool, Celtic and Porto. Strong team, their opponent in the quarter-finals is the Boavista team from Portugal.

In the first leg of the UEFA Cup home game on March 3, Mallorca continued its recent good form. Eto'o and Nino each scored a goal. The score of 13:2 also made Mallorca's next The road to the UEFA Cup is bright.

This series of victories also completely dispelled the media and fans' doubts about the abilities of the two Mallorca coaches. In less than a month, Mallorca played six games, three league games and three league games. In the Cup match, not only did they not be dragged down by the intensive schedule as predicted by the outside world, but they achieved a good result of four wins and two draws, firmly occupying the No.3 position in La Liga.

Manzano and Ferrando, one on the inside and the other on the outside, can be said to cooperate seamlessly. People have to admire the vision of the old coach Aragones. At the same time, Mallorca's change in style is also seen by those who care. From a glance, they already felt that the current Mallorca has enough strength to pose a threat to several dominant teams in La Liga, and a new force is rising.

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Looking at the huge scoreboard on the wall opposite the office desk, Manzano breathed a sigh of relief.

In the past half a month, Mallorca has completed the strategy of grabbing points from weak teams, except for the 3:20 draw with Boavista in an away game on March 1, successfully entering the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and tying the previous team. In addition to the results of the season, they have achieved two wins and one tie in the league. The gap with No.1 Barcelona has widened to 4 points. With only ten rounds left in the league, this is already a huge advantage. Next season With the qualification for the Champions League almost certain, he can finally settle down and focus on his opponents in the UEFA Cup.

The semi-finals of the UEFA Cup this season are the Soviet Super League champion Celtic, La Liga's Mallorca, Serie A powerhouse Lazio and Portugal's last season's champion Porto.

There is a very strange phenomenon in this season's UEFA Cup, that is, except for Mallorca, the teams that have reached the semi-finals, the other three teams are all teams that were eliminated in the first round of the Champions League group stage , The Mallorcans can be proud. In fact, among the teams that entered the UEFA Cup at the beginning of the season, they are the last team.

"A strangle of a UEFA Cup team by a Champions League knockout?"

This is the headline of Spain's most famous sports media "Marca" about the introduction of the UEFA Cup semi-finals. As the last active force of the Spanish team in the UEFA Cup, Mallorca has also received some attention from the Spanish media—— Part of the reason for concern is that in the quarter-finals of the Champions League that were decided at the same time, the Spanish team had a great reputation and occupied three of them. Except for Deportivo who was eliminated early, the other three teams Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia have all successfully qualified for the semi-finals, which has reduced Mallorca's attention a lot.

The UEFA Cup group came out very quickly. Mallorca's opponent was the Celtics, the defending champion of the Soviet Super League, while Porto and Lazio met together.

Pei Wei is not very satisfied with this matchup situation. He really wants to meet the Lazio team in the semi-finals, and then avenge Inter Milan's loss to the opponent in the last round of the league last season and lose the league championship.

It's a pity that the sky didn't come true. Facing this result, Pei Wei had no choice but to let go of his thoughts of revenge and concentrate on training. At the same time, he prayed that Lazio could eliminate his opponent and enter the final.

And Manzano also felt a bit of a headache for this opponent. Among the three opponents in the semi-finals, he thinks the Celtics are the most difficult to beat, although the Celtics may not be as famous as Lazio , and even a gap with Porto, but since the start of this year, the Celtics have been very strong. They have been invincible in the league and they have already thrown off their old rivals Rangers. It is already a certainty to win the league championship. , they can concentrate all their energies on the UEFA Cup, while Porto is fighting for life and death with old rival Benfica in the Portuguese League. Due to the economic crisis, Lazio is not in a very good state in Serie A this year. They can't even think about it. Totally on the UEFA Cup.

But the Celtics are different. They are eager for the honor of the European arena. After they have basically won the league championship, they attach great importance to the UEFA Cup. They must fight to the death with Mallorca, and Mallorca's attention It also needs to be placed in the league. It can be said that the balance has tilted towards the Celtics before the game even started.

Although the results of the Celtics in the European arena have not been very good, their strength is not that simple. The top scorer Sutton is a strong opponent, and Larson is a scoring machine with more than [-] goals every season. He is a strong contender for the European Golden Boot every year. If the reason for the European second-tier league held him back, he would have been the winner of the Golden Boot award long ago.

In the midfield, the Belgian international Steve Gupi and the Bulgarian international Stilien Petrov are their two sharp knives on the wing. They are both players with strong breakthrough ability. Their offensive strength is very strong. , which can be seen from the Celtics scoring nearly one hundred goals in the Scottish Premier League every season.

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"This game is very important for us!"

Before the start of the game, Manzano routinely cheered up the players. As a master of psychology, he has a good idea of ​​how to boost the morale of the players. He knows that if the players' psychology reaches an excited but rational state .

The players in Mallorca have already had a deep understanding of him. The tactics formulated by Manzano have been verified in the previous games. He can make the team win the games that should be won, and also win very It was easy, so Mallorca was able to maintain plenty of physical strength in the previous very intensive schedule, which made the Mallorca players have begun to respect Manzano, and his tactics were also determined by the players on the field implement.

"The Celtics' wing attack is very distinctive. They have always used a 4-3-3 formation. Hartson is a Welsh international and a player with high prestige in the Welsh national team. He is extremely fast. Off the ball, his speed is even higher than that of Manchester United's 'Left Angel' Giggs. Although his technique is not very good, his breakthrough is still very threatening. Curtis, you have to be careful. "

Curtis nodded, and Manzano sighed in his heart. Although Curtis has always been Mallorca's hard-hitting left back, his lack of strength makes Mallorca's left flank often become the weakness of the opponent's breakthrough. , He can't do anything about this situation, who wants him to have no other good defenders?Fortunately, although Curtis's strength is not very good, he is steady and hardworking.

"As long as there are no major mistakes!"

Manzano thought so in his heart, but he continued to say: "Their center forward is Sutton. In the 97-98 season, he was still at Blackburn. He scored 18 goals in the Premier League. Michael Owen tied for the top scorer list in the Premier League that year, with a height of 1.8 meters [-], a strong body, and a good header, but since that year his condition has deteriorated, otherwise he will not be reduced to only the European secondary league Even in the Soviet Super League, he only scored a little over ten goals a year. His role on the field is basically to cover for Larson. Captain, although you are a little shorter than him, but You have much more experience than him, so Sutton will leave it to you, are you confident?"

"Don't worry, coach." Nadal said: "I have experience in dealing with such a striker. No matter how strong he is, he is no better than Urses of Bilbao. I just need to stick to him."

"Very good." Manzano nodded. He was also very relieved of Nadal. At the same time, Sutton's strength was there, and it was impossible for him to break through Nadal's defense.

"Now let's talk about the most important opponent." Manzano turned around and pointed to the number 11 of the Celtics on the tactical layout board: "Larson is undoubtedly the most dangerous figure of the Celtics. Last year, he scored 31 goals in the Scottish Super League. In terms of the number of goals scored, he is definitely the first in Europe. Although the Scottish Super League teams are not worth mentioning except for Celtic and Rangers, such goals The rate is also quite scary, if not for his age, the giants of the four major leagues would definitely rush to get him. If that's the case, it would be good, and it wouldn't make us such a headache here today."

The players all laughed, and Manzano laughed too: "Of course, we can't shrink back just because our opponents are strong. You know, our strength is not bad. Being in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup for two consecutive years shows that our strength is not enough." It’s also available in Europe.”

"Now let's talk about Larson's technical characteristics. Although the Celtics have a three-forward formation, they are not the traditional configuration of two wingers and a center forward-although their three forwards have technical characteristics. It looks like this from above, but Larson’s position is very active. He is not active on the wing, but habitually ambush behind Sutton, attacking through Sutton’s cover or ferrying the header. This gives us The defense will cause a lot of passiveness, so we can't just send someone to mark him."

Manzano turned around and drew two circles on the tactical layout board: "Because the Celtics don't have an attacking midfielder, you don't have the task of defending the penalty area today, Panovich. I will give you a new one now." The task, that is, when Larson is ambushing behind Sutton, you mark him to death, Pablo will help you fill the position, and when Larson pulls to the left, Pablo will be responsible for marking He, Panovich, is in charge of defense, understand?"

"Very well, now let's talk about offense. Since the Celtics' wing attack is very sharp, and Guppi and Petrov's offensive desire is very strong, so in today's game, the two wingers must Focus more on defense. Pablo and Curtis may not be able to separate themselves to help defend today. You can only attack when Pei Wei in front controls the ball. Pei Wei, your task today is very important. Heavy, the offense is all up to you. They have only three midfielders, two of whom are offensive, and only one midfielder will defend you. Today, you aim at their weak defense in the middle, boldly The breakthrough, Delgado and Eto'o are pulling in the penalty area, their defense is not strong, today is away, we must score an away goal!"

"We have already rehearsed the tactics of today's game. Now what you have to do is to reproduce the training content of the past few days on the field! I believe that the final victory must belong to us! We will definitely be able to stand on May 5. Go up to the Olympic Stadium (the home of Sevilla in La Liga, the venue for the UEFA Cup final in the 21-2002 season)!"

Manzano's last words completely inspired the fighting spirit of the Mallorca players. They walked out of the dressing room with confidence and walked towards Celtic Park!

(End of this chapter)