The strongest winger

Chapter 463
After the 29th round of the league with Athletic Bilbao, the team quickly returned to Valencia, because they still need to prepare for the second round of the 2006-2007 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals against Chelsea in the middle of the week. The result of this game will determine the team that will eventually enter the semi-finals.

Although Valencia won Chelsea 2:1 in the away game, there are countless cases of reversal and advancement in the history of modern football, so they cannot be careless, otherwise they will become the laughing stock of the whole of Europe, and the opponent is last season's Premier League champion-Chelsea!
In addition, Baraja, who is in charge of full-time defense in this game, will miss this crucial second round of the Champions League quarter-finals due to accumulating two yellow cards, which directly reduces the team's ability to defend frontally.

What is also unfavorable to Valencia is that Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien, known as the African bison, will also return in this game. He will directly bring new vitality to Chelsea's midfield, whether it is offensive or defensive.

His comeback directly raised Chelsea's midfield ability to a higher level.

Lampard, Essien, Mikel in the midfield, which one is not a player with excellent physical fitness and abundant energy?

This positive and negative also shocked the team that had underestimated Chelsea before.

After Chelsea ended the weekend league match, Mourinho accepted an interview with reporters. When talking about the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second-leg contest at the Mestalla Stadium three days later, he expressed full confidence, "Conceding a goal at home is not the end, because our 'African Bison' has made a perfect comeback, and he will make his debut in this crucial game. I believe his appearance will definitely elevate the team to a higher level..."

Afterwards, the reporter naturally mentioned how Chelsea planned to contain Valencia's strongest attacking point in the game three days later. Mourinho pondered for a while, then smiled, "We went to the Mestalla Stadium not to defend, but to attack, because only attack can make us win, otherwise we will only be left with failure, so the way you talked about how to contain Ai is not in our consideration..."

Listening to Mourinho's threat to hold high the offensive banner at the Mestalla Stadium, this made Chelsea, who is used to playing defensive counterattacks, feel a little surprised.

So their first reaction was to think that Mourinho was setting off smoke bombs.

But then I thought about it again. They lost at home in the last round and also conceded two away goals to Valencia, which means that they have no retreat, and only offense can make them advance.

Looking at the silent group of reporters, Mourinho said a few words of thanks to the reporters present and left the post-match press conference, leaving a group of reporters looking at each other in blank dismay.

Could it be that Chelsea really want to play against Valencia away?

But...the current state of their team...is a bit worrying.

In fact, Mourinho was only half right in the press conference at the end of the league, because his coaching habit is to divide the two rounds of knockout matches into the first half, which means that the game lost at home is regarded as the first half, and the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals three days later is the second half.

He said that holding high the banner of offense at the Mestalla Stadium is only based on the fact that the team's defense does not concede the ball. After all, in this cup game, defense is the foundation, and what he said is just to confuse Valencia.

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Valencia gave up the weekend league, and Chelsea also chose to give up, so the two sides are preparing for the next quarter-final second leg of the Champions League from an equal perspective.

In order to win the game at the Mestalla Stadium and advance to the semi-finals, Mourinho has decided to reactivate the tactics of flying on both wings last season, and it is also the winger dislocation play that he played when he first arrived at Chelsea in the 2004-2005 season.

Looking at Joe Cole and Kalou who were in good condition during training, Mourinho nodded with satisfaction, recovered and continued to discuss with Villas-Boas the second round of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals at the Mestalla Stadium.

……

Baraja accumulated two yellow cards and was not eligible to play in this crucial game, so Valencia's central defense had a slight flaw. Although Albelda could also complete it well, it was a waste of his offensive talent in organizing the offense, in other words, it was a waste of talent.

Marchena is a good choice, but he was suspended by UEFA for four games. He can only play in the UEFA Champions League final in theory. Edu, who is the next best choice, is also a good choice, but he has been out of battle for a long time, and the state of the game has a big question mark, and the first game is paid in such an important Champions League knockout match.

It was an adventure for both the team and Edu himself. In addition, Flores is not an adventurous head coach, so in the end, he could only compromise and let Albiol return to the position of the midfielder to replace Baraja.

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The second round of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals at the Mestalla Stadium was full of seats. Almost the entire stadium was surrounded by white, and there were not many blue fans belonging to Chelsea.

So first of all, when the Valencia players came out of the player tunnel, the whole stadium seemed to tremble slightly. This shows how awesome the home team fans from the stands are.

When the players from the visiting team Chelsea appeared at the stadium, the home fans didn't boo harshly. They didn't think it was necessary, because this is Mestalla, and any team must bow their heads in this stadium!

It didn't take long for Chelsea's players to feel slighted.

Mikel pouted, "You guys will punish your contempt!"

In fact, it is no wonder that the home fans ignored the Chelsea players. If you want to blame it, you can blame Valencia's home performance in the Champions League this season.
According to the practice of this season, before the start of each game, each stand of the Mestalla Stadium will hang a huge poster of a player, but the huge poster belonging to Aiello is particularly dazzling, because that poster is the largest and is hung on the supreme north stand.

From this point of view, Aiello is already the patron saint of the Valencia team. Any team here must bow down, otherwise, you will be kicked! !
At the same time, thanks to Ai Luo, many Chinese fans who turned on TV could see the national flag belonging to China from the scene. Because of Ai Luo, they fell in love with his country.

In this moment, football is everything to the fans.

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"Judging from the starting rosters submitted by both sides, it is very surprising, because both sides play a four-three-three formation. It is not surprising if only the home team Valencia uses four-three-three. They have used this formation for nearly two seasons, but it will be a bit strange for Chelsea. With Duff's transfer, Robben's frequent injuries, and Shevchenko's arrival, Mourinho's favorite four-three-three formation is rarely played this season, more four-four-two, focusing on offensive and defensive balance..."

The captains of both sides guessed the ball at the referee, and Huang Jianxiang took advantage of this time to express his doubts.

For Chelsea's four-three-three formation, Flores also felt a little puzzled, because Mourinho put Shevchenko, the hero who scored the goal in the last round, on the bench in this game, and sent Kalu and Joe Cole, who are in good form recently, on the wing. The center is the monster Drogba.

However, Chelsea's four-three-three formation is similar to Valencia's four-three-three formation. The three midfielders are Mikel, Lampard and Essien. Among them, Mikel is full-time defense, and Essien is responsible for the connection and defense of the midfield. Lampard and Ballack in the Valencia team basically have the same responsibilities.

The essential difference is that Valencia's wingers are more capable of scoring, while Chelsea's wingers are mainly assists.

But after the start of the game, Chelsea's two wingers, Kalou and Joe Cole, posted not their crosses that broke through the two sides and then made a pass from the bottom, but the wingers' misplaced play, with stronger inside cutting ability.

Seeing this, Flores finally understood Chelsea's thinking in this game. It seems that what Mourinho said before the game was not just smoke bombs, but mixed truth.

Half a minute later, Chelsea's offense came back. Their performance in this game was the same as that of Valencia at Stamford Bridge in the last round. Before the home team reacted, they grabbed a start and didn't have so many temptations at all.

Joe Cole's technical characteristics are very distinctive, especially on the left. Using his technical proficiency at his feet, he can often suddenly dribble horizontally when the opponent's defenders are caught off guard, and then use the inside of his right foot to circle a far corner. His trick not only often helps Chelsea score goals, but also often surprises England fans in national team games.

This is why he was able to get a main position in the England team in the World Cup in Germany last year.

In the 7th minute, Chelsea's attack was initiated from the left, and then quickly moved to the right through Lampard's. After attracting Valencia's defensive forces, Lampard also ran to the right, and quickly passed the ball to Joe Cole with a long pass.

Lampard's long pass can be said to make the commentators in the studio shine, because the speed of the football in the air is very fast, and the movement speed of the Valencia defenders on the field is obviously not as fast as the football in the air. This also gave Joe Cole a chance to single-handedly with Miguel.

Facing Miguel's defense, Joe Cole first stepped on several bicycles in a row, then slammed the ball to the right with the outside of his right foot, and swung his right foot before center back Moretti made up.

If Canizares hadn't been on the lookout for Joe Cole's attack, and had a prediction in advance, this attack was really hanging, saving the ball to the bottom line with a single palm, alleviating the defensive crisis.

Watching the football go over the line, Joe Cole snarled into the sky at Mestalla, clearly angry that his goal didn't go further. .

PS: Thank you EVFA for the monthly pass, continue to ask for tickets, it’s the end of the month, don’t waste it!
(End of this chapter)