The strongest winger

Chapter 603 A Brand New Home Team
After Liverpool's starting players entered the locker room, none of the players dared to raise their heads, especially the central defender combination of Carragher and Agger who made a fatal mistake.

The first goal was directly related to Carragher, because he fell to the top... The second goal was directly related to Agger, because his recklessness not only failed to stop Aiello, but knocked teammate Mascherano to the ground, a typical 'traitor'!
Benitez is not a domineering head coach like Ferguson, so even if the team falls behind by one goal at home in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, there will not be a "hairdryer".

However, it is his indifferent character that cannot give the most direct help when the team's morale is low, so the home team's locker room seems lifeless.

……

On the contrary, the atmosphere in the locker room of the visiting team was quite good, and teammates kept sending hugs and encouragement to Ai Luo, the best player in the half of the game.

When the team fell behind by one goal, it relied on Ai Luo's personal performance to overtake the score on the field.

In such a crucial game as the Champions League semi-final, any valuable away goal will be crucial. However, Ai Luo directly contributed two goals to help the team overtake the score. If the game ends with this score, then the second round of the Champions League semi-final at home in the middle of next week will take the absolute initiative. A draw at home can advance to the final, or a 0:1 loss is also acceptable.

This has an indelible effect on Chelsea's historic entry into the Champions League final!
"Ai!"

After Mourinho entered the locker room, the first name he called was Aiello.

Everyone consciously turned their heads to look at the biggest hero tonight.

"I won't praise you now, because the game is not over yet!"

Mourinho's eyes are vicious, and he can see at a glance that many players in the team have started to celebrate the game in advance. You must know that this situation is very dangerous when the game is at halftime, and Liverpool has always been a very tenacious team. In the 2004-2005 UEFA Champions League final halftime, three goals behind can be recovered, let alone just one goal?

So it is necessary to pour cold water on the players at this time.

Ai Luo nodded seriously.

Sure enough, after Mourinho finished speaking, those smiling players immediately reacted.

Now is indeed not the time to be happy in advance. The game is not completely over, which means that there is still suspense in the game.

Everyone then turned to look at Mourinho. If nothing else, he should have the latest tactical deployment.

"In the first 10 minutes of the second half, the defense must be solid. Except for Ai Ya, who is cruising around the center line, all other players must stick to their defensive positions..." Mourinho then turned to look at Captain Terry, "John, you are the captain and the leader of the defense. You must remind your teammates to defend more... Don't let the opponent take advantage of it, especially pay attention to Torres!"

Terry nodded solemnly at Mourinho.

If you want to be the most successful captain in Chelsea's history, then Chelsea's roadblock to the Champions League final this season, Liverpool, must be eliminated, and the best way to eliminate them is to keep the goals scored by the frontcourt players!
Next, Mourinho made a small adjustment to the team's overall tactics, letting Elora move to the center position, and let Drogba come to the wing to assist full-back Ashley Cole in defense, so as not to change the overall defensive ability.

※※※

Fifteen minutes passed in the middle of the game, and the home and away players returned to Anfield from their respective locker rooms.

"Huh? It seems...the mental outlook of the home team's Liverpool players is very good! It is completely different from the end of the first half, maybe...the second half will definitely be more exciting than we imagined..." The local commentator of Liverpool said excitedly.

In their minds, the great Liverpool should show what a mature team should show-for example: quickly adjust their mentality, and forget the score behind in the first half!
Only in this way can the second half of the game be restarted and show the best state!
The Liverpool players who had just stepped into the field encouraged each other, and captain Steven Gerrard kept clapping his hands, signaling his teammates to be more passionate.

The Liverpool fans who saw this scene continued to add a bit of momentum to the singing of the team song "You'll Never Walk Alone", and the entire Anfield stadium was filled with their voices.

Mourinho, who sat back on the coaching bench of the visiting team, felt a faint sense of uneasiness, because Liverpool's momentum... seemed to be rising again, which is not a good sign!
※※※

The second half of the game started with the whistle of the referee.

The situation of the game was indeed as Mourinho said during the intermission. Liverpool began to put pressure on Chelsea in the first second of the second half. Fortunately, his prediction was accurate. Except for Aiello cruising in the center circle arc, the other players were compressed in the area of ​​​​about 35 meters from their own side, compressing Liverpool's advancement space as much as possible.

This made Benitez frown...

The posture that Chelsea puts on is completely rushing to defend, damn bus driver!

Benitez could only helplessly curse Mourinho in the home team command area.

The first 10 minutes of the second half were spent in Liverpool's offense.

Of course, Chelsea also played a few quick counterattacks in these 10 minutes, but the effect was not obvious.

Because Chelsea's counterattack target is too obvious, as long as Liverpool's defenders don't care about anything during Chelsea's transition from defense to offense, they will send two players to stick on Aiello.

So in the 10 minutes of the second half, Chelsea could only be tired of defending and had no time to organize offenses.

※※※

"We must score another goal!" Aiello was once again stuck behind the closed goal of Mascherano and Carragher, and he clenched his fists and muttered to himself.

But then again, how do you find opportunities?
Now Liverpool's offense is very high, but the position is very good. Harvey Alonso, who has a certain defensive ability, stands at about 35 meters from Chelsea's defense line to distribute the ball. He doesn't go forward at all.

Fortunately, Chelsea's defensive system is very stable. In addition, the three central midfielders are all able to attack and defend well, and they are very strong. There is no problem in defense, but they have no time to take care of offense.

Mourinho, who was standing on the sidelines, also realized that it was time for a substitution during the game.

Five minutes later, Chelsea took the lead in making a substitution, but what was surprising was that this substitution was not a defensive player for an offensive player, but a match-up substitution on the front line. Anelka, who was more capable of scoring, replaced Malouda, who was more active defensively.

This substitution adjustment also attracted a lot of speculation.

"Mourinho's substitution is really hard to figure out. Anelka, who is relatively lazy but has stronger offensive ability, replaces the French winger Malouda who is very active in defense. This... I have to say, his idea of ​​this substitution is very bold!"

Huang Jianxiang explained.

"Unbelievable! Mourinho actually replaced Malouda, who is active in defense, with Anelka, who is more offensive, a bold substitution!"

"This substitution adjustment can be said to be a rare and bold act in Mourinho's coaching career. I have to say... I like it!"

……

If Mourinho heard the words of praise from the narrator in the studio, he would definitely hold his head high and say: "Cut, little sample! When you have a nuclear weapon Ai, then you will be as bold as I am and change the team lineup!"

With Anelka on the field, Chelsea has one more fulcrum for counterattacks. While counterattacking, they no longer rely on Aiello's performance alone. Therefore, Chelsea's offense no longer relies on quick counterattacks.

The subsequent games were advanced layer by layer, and Liverpool launched a back-and-forth attack, which made the fans in the stands very excited.

This change made Benitez feel a little overwhelmed. According to his thinking, Liverpool had already equalized the score at this time, and then changed and adjusted to overtake the score and expand the advantage...

Why is the plot wrong?

As the game came and went, Liverpool's winger Babel's physical fitness declined, and Benitez had to choose a substitution, replacing Babel with the Israeli Benayoun, and continued to maintain the pressure on Chelsea from the wing.

With more offensive opportunities, Aiello has more chances to get the ball. Mascherano alone can no longer stop Aiello from breaking through. When Liverpool defend more often, Mascherano and a full-back help defend.
Because Drogba and Anelka are players with a very strong ability to grab points, if a good ball is passed from the side, the chances of scoring will be very high.

The current Liverpool has conceded two goals at home. If they concede another goal, it will be the end of the world...

It's just that during this period of time, whether it was Drogba or Anelka, the foot style seemed to be very unsatisfactory, and they could not turn opportunities into goals.

So... Ai Luo decided to stand up again!

In the 76th minute of the game, Chelsea stole the ball from the backcourt, and then the ball holder Ballack advanced layer by layer. After crossing the center line, they encountered the first interferer-Torres.

Facing the striker, Ballack turned around with a 360-degree spike and passed Torres, then passed the ball directly to Aiello, who pulled the ball to the left rib, and he accelerated the attack.

Before Aiello took the ball and turned around, Mascherano and Arbeloa came from left to right, so he could only choose to pass the ball back to Ballack who was plugging in.

(End of this chapter)