The strongest winger

Chapter 472 What do these mean?
"The game started for nearly 10 minutes, but the situation on the field is still very stalemate. Both sides focus on the control of the midfield and rarely attack from the front. As for threatening the opponent's goal chance, let alone..."

Andy Gray explained according to the trend on the field.

"...A large part of the reason for this result is that this game is no longer the 1/8 finals or 1/4 finals, but the genuine semi-finals. Only the winning side can enter the finals. There is a saying that is very good. Attack wins fans, but only defense can win the championship. At this time, it is still necessary to be cautious."

Taking advantage of a dead ball, the director of the Mestalla Stadium gave Ai Luo another shot.

This game was different from the usual UEFA Champions League matches. After playing for nearly 10 minutes, Aiello felt that Mascherano was not as weak as he looked defending him.

Less than 10 minutes after the start, Aiello gave Mascherano a definition.

However, thinking of this, the corners of Ai Luo's mouth curled up. To put it in a morale-boosting way, only such opponents can arouse his fighting spirit. Otherwise, where would the sense of accomplishment come from?
Want to beat me completely?Then give me the remaining 80 minutes, tighten your nerves!
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If there is one player who is the most active player in this game, it is undoubtedly David Silva. He is no longer a pure winger. He often returns to the deep center to get the ball.

Therefore, in addition to the man-to-man defense used to defend Aiello, the defense of Valencia's other offensive players is to adopt a zone defense.

Before this game, Benitez gave Gerrard more tasks to defend. The offense is generally based on long passes, using the speed of Bellamy and Zenden to open the gap.

Although Liverpool's striker still has a striker in the front line, he used his abundant physical fitness to harass the Valencia midfielders who took the ball more during the opening period. He wanted to find opportunities to help the team score.

Standing on the sidelines, Benitez looked at the situation on the field and nodded. Obviously, he was quite satisfied with the result. In the away game, the first thing is to try not to concede the ball, and the second is to score goals.

Benitez is satisfied with the situation on the field, but Flores is not satisfied. Seeing that the team has not threatened the opponent's goal at this time, this is a bad sign. If it continues like this, it will definitely affect the morale of the team. We must strengthen our offense!

Taking advantage of a sideline kick, Flores gave Albelda a few words.

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As the game progressed, Valencia's advantages were gradually revealed. The offensive players in the midfield had obvious personal technical advantages, especially Aiello and David Silva.

Mascherano is indeed keeping a close eye on Aiello's defense, but Aiello does not take the ball to break through. More often, he chooses to play the ball with one kick, using the tacit understanding with his teammates to mobilize Liverpool's defense.

Slowly, Mascherano felt a pressure.

In the 16th minute, in order to avoid Mascherano's defense, Aiello retreated deeply this time. He reached the position of left back. This running position made Mascherano a little speechless. Is it necessary to leave the goal so far away?So he hesitated a little. Seeing that the position of left back Del Horno was higher than that of Ai Luo, he thought for a while and stopped.

Mascherano doesn't believe that Aiello will stay at the left-back position all his life. He will always run to the frontcourt to participate in the attack. Since you like running so much, let you run as much as you want. Let's take advantage of it.

The football is passed quickly. As Ai Luo is the core of the attack on the field, the football will naturally be passed to his feet. Even if he has retreated to the position of the full-back, it must be passed to him.

In order to maintain a balanced position on the field, both Baraja and Albelda naturally wanted to run forward. Among them, Albelda ran to the defensive area of ​​Mascherano, who was standing on the rib area of ​​his defensive right.

Seeing Albelda running past slowly, Aiello's right foot tended to move the ball in front of him, and the opponent's striker, Dirk Dirk, came up to grab the ball, so he passed the ball to Del Horno, then suddenly accelerated, wiped past Dirk, and then received the ball from Del Horno, which made it difficult for Mascherano.

As an excellent defensive midfielder, Mascherano knows that he needs to protect the space when defending, but at this time Aiello takes the ball forward, while Albelda seldom advances forward. He knows that this will definitely cause his own defenders.

Mascherano gritted his teeth and decided to stand still. In his eyes, Ai Luoke was much more important than Albelda.

Aiello saw that Mascherano had no intention of turning around to protect the defensive space, so he directly passed the ball to Albelda with the outside of his instep, and then quickly moved forward to help the captain expand the number of defenders.

Seeing that Albelda was unmarked, Gerrard had to leave his defensive area and ran towards Albelda, but just as he left his defensive area, Albelda passed the ball, and in Gerrard's panic, Ballack made a slight adjustment to catch the ball, and suddenly took a long shot 30 yards away from the goal in the middle before Xavi Alonso came up to defend.

If it weren't for Reina's timely response, it is estimated that the ball would have been scored.

"Pay attention to your defense zone!"

Gerrard turned around and growled loudly at Mascherano in shock.

In his cognition, the defensive responsibility just now lies entirely with Mascherano. If he hadn't turned around in time to keep up with Albelda, Ballack would not have gotten the chance of this long shot.

Faced with the captain's scolding, Mascherano could only complain. Who let coach Benitez arrange for himself an "exclusive" defender status for Ai Luo, one defense and two defenses. No matter how he chooses, he will be the one who suffers.

If he chooses to turn around and defend Albelda, he believes that Valencia's attack will be even more dangerous!
For Valencia's attack, Benitez just regarded it as an accident, and did not yell at the players on the field. After all, he is not such an extroverted head coach. As long as the players do not make big mistakes, it is not a problem to limit Valencia's offensive system.

Looking at the football saved from the bottom line, Flores spat hard. If the ball was scored, then the game would be much easier.

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Three minutes later, Valencia's attack made a comeback, and Mascherano once again fell into the situation of one defense and two defenses. This time, he chose to turn around and defend Albelda, but Ai Luo suddenly moved the ball forward.

After this defensive crisis, Benitez immediately noticed something was wrong, and quickly took advantage of the dead ball to explain a few words to left back Riise before returning to the coach's bench.

After using two-on-one twice in a row, Benitez asked the Liverpool striker to go to the right side to help defend, so that without affecting the solid defensive system, it can also make up for the threat brought by Albelda's forward move.

In this case, Liverpool's formation will become four five one.

The defense was resolved, but it seemed impossible to advance when attacking. Bellamy alone could not break through Valencia's entire defense line. In this way, Liverpool fell into a difficult offensive situation.

However, Benitez still decided to continue playing like this. The team must at least ensure that no goals are conceded in the halftime. As for the offense, wait until the end of the halftime before adjusting...

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After Albelda's attack was seen through, Aiello consciously expanded his range of activities, from the entire left side to the right side of his side. Such a wide range of running also caused Mascherano to fall into trouble again.

Mascherano really stared at Aiello so that he couldn't directly participate in the offense, but Valencia's offense was not disturbed too much. Instead, there were two threatening offenses.

In the opening 10 minutes, the shooting ratio between the two sides was four to one, with Valencia leading at home, and in terms of possession rate, the gap between the two sides was also relatively obvious 65% to 35%.

"Javier Mascherano's defense against Aiello was very successful, but Valencia's offense was not disturbed by it. This is the performance of a mature team. Often when key players are restricted, there will be other offensive points. Valencia is like this now. Over time, Liverpool's defense will definitely be torn..."

Huang Jianxiang explained according to the progress of the game.

The England BBC commentator has a different opinion, "The Argentine Javier Mascherano, who was loaned from West Ham United during the winter break, is indeed very useful. In the past 10 minutes, he has completed the defensive tasks assigned to him by the head coach Rafael Benitez. He has no temper in defending Ai. I firmly believe that as long as this continues, the victory of this game must be Liverpool..."

Aiello turned his head to look at Mascherano, and at the same time, Mascherano also looked at Aiello, and the two looked at each other. Aiello grinned first, then quickly looked away, and returned to the midfield, ready to compete for the header.

What do these mean?Mascherano rolled his eyes.

PS: In the new January, has April Fool's Day been tricked?Haha... Fleeting Nian shyly begs for a ticket!Thanks to Yechen, Brother Gui, and Little Angel for the monthly pass...

(End of this chapter)