Grass roots glory

Chapter 241 Prospects for the match: Picking out the strong players

While most of the media's attention is focused on the transfer trends of the strong teams, the No.16 round of the Bundesliga continued on the weekend.Schalke 04 played against Hertha Berlin at home, and Bayern Munich challenged Bochum on the field.

Hertha Berlin is currently ranked last in the Bundesliga. After Zhou Tiancheng came back from a suspension, Magath is not worried about the outcome of the league deputy squad leader.There was no suspense in the first place, but now that Zhou Tiancheng has returned, he has added the most secure insurance.

After a battle, the score was fixed at 2:0. Schalke won easily. Jiang Hao scored again after two games, but it had nothing to do with Zhou Tiancheng. Steals Hertha Berlin defender Janker, single-handedly swayed past goalkeeper De Broni and pushed and scored.

The other goal was also scored by Rakitic with the assist of Asamoah. Although Zhou Tiancheng has no direct statistical contribution, there are still some things in football games that cannot be reflected by statistics-his control of the rhythm in the midfield And the distribution of the ball is the real source of motivation for Schalke. As long as the ball is under his feet, there is nothing to worry about, and the offensive players can press forward without any worries.

"Such dominance will make opponents completely unable to resist the idea."

Marcel Leff's description is not an exaggeration at all. In the past two seasons, a consensus has been formed in the Bundesliga: Zhou Tiancheng in the center arc is more desperate than Zhou Tiancheng in the penalty area.

Of course, Hertha Berlin will be reduced to the deputy squad leader, which is somewhat surprising. Before the season, it was reported that many players were at odds with the club and the head coach Favre. In addition, the top management did not do enough to save money, and the outside world looked down on them. The prospect of the season, but it is a little surprising that three coaches have been changed within three months, and there is still no improvement.This club, which has spent famous players such as Deisler, Marcelinho and Ali Daei, may have to work hard for re-upgrade next season.

The bad news for Schalke 04 is that Bayern beat Hamburg 5:1 on another field.In this way, the two teams still maintain the same points, with a total of [-] points, but Bayern has an extra six goal difference.The rule of the Bundesliga is that if the points are the same, the goal difference will be compared first. With one round left, unless Schalke wins big and Bayern loses as much as possible, Schalke may overtake at the buzzer.

In the next round, Bayern will face Hertha Berlin at home. Taking this game as a reference, it is basically impossible for this to happen.

While the Munich media reported on Bayern's big victory, they have already begun to advocate the possibility of Bayern winning the league championship again-according to historical laws, as long as Bayern wins the half-time championship of the league, the championship for the entire season is basically stable.

As for Schalke 04, they admit that this is a strong rival for the championship in the next few seasons, even more difficult than Dortmund, but if they want to continue to occupy the top spot, the Munich media still do not believe that Schalke has such ability.They can only win a championship in the season when Bayern itself has problems.After all, with the depth of Bayern's lineup, there is no match for it in the entire Bundesliga.

The atmosphere in the Schalke team was not particularly dignified after failing to win the established top half of the standings. After all, there was no gap in points, and it was enough to play a few games in the second half.

Both Magath and Zhou Tiancheng gave similar statements when facing the media: "What if Bayern wins the half-time championship? The real winner will be seen at the end of the season. There is a 70.00% possibility of the Bundesliga half-time championship." Winning the championship, isn’t there another 30.00%, Bayern won the half championship is equal to the season championship? Maybe it won’t be so useful this season.”

For Schalke 04's confidence, the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" cleverly expressed its disdain by looking forward to the Champions League knockout: "There is no doubt that Bayern is still the representative of the Bundesliga in the Champions League. Bayern who has returned to normal has the strength to hit the championship! Facing the superstar lineups of Barcelona and Real Madrid, only Bayern has a chance of winning in the entire Bundesliga."

Although the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" is confident about Bayern, most of the more rational German media still look forward to Schalke's ability to represent the Bundesliga's cutting-edge forces in the Champions League and to make a big difference in the Champions League.Comparing the performance in the group stage horizontally, Schalke 04 performed even stronger than Bayern in Group D where strong players gathered.

Between the No.16 and No.17 rounds of the league, there is also the final match of the Champions League group stage against Atletico Madrid. This game is of no practical significance to Schalke, but Magath is still the main force to face. Atletico Madrid.

Magath still asked to play according to the normal rhythm of the game. In the locker room, he said to the players: "In the league, when encountering such a situation in the game, I will let you all rest, but today I did not. Because of you You must understand that this is the Champions League, and every opponent is worth doing your best to deal with. I don’t want you to slack off because the situation is not harmful to the overall situation. In the Champions League, this is the most dangerous mistake.”

Magath is now focusing on the knockout rounds, instilling this concept with the players, many players' faces changed, and they always feel that the head coach is talking about himself...

Zhou Tiancheng fell into deep thought. He thought of the semi-final against Manchester United last season.Leading by two goals at home in the first round, but being reversed in the away game, it may be a mistake made by laziness.

On the other hand, Atletico Madrid came to the Schalke Stadium with a glimmer of hope of qualifying. They are now only one point away from qualifying for the group. possible.Atletico Madrid must give their best in this game, anyway, their third position in the group must be stable.Even if you can't get the right to qualify in the end, you must increase your confidence in participating in the Europa League.

Both sides have long-term plans for the future. The progress of the game is quite different from the media's predictions. In the opening 4 minutes, Raul Garcia shoveled ferociously from behind while defending. Zhou Tiancheng rolled twice on the lawn due to inertia. , It seems that this is a very serious foul, which caused deafening boos from the fans. Magath immediately ran to the sidelines and looked at the referee.The meaning is obvious: this should definitely be given the card!

In fact, there is no need for him to ask this way, the referee on duty will not let Garcia go, even if he puts on an innocent expression in front of the referee, and keeps complaining to the referee: "Actually, I just touched him a little bit, he fell. It's too exaggerated."

His acting skills were indeed top-notch, but the referee could see clearly that he came from behind with a long-distance sliding tackle to knock down Zhou Tiancheng when it was completely impossible to get the ball, so naturally he would not let him get away with it.

"Yellow card! There is no problem at all. Raul Garcia seems to be very emotional, and he doesn't understand what is there to argue about. If this kind of foul is replaced by some referees in La Liga, it may be a red card directly." CCTV commentator He Wei said.As a CCTV commentator who explains La Liga all the year round, he knows it very well.Although the most heated confrontation is in the Premier League, in terms of temper, it may not be as good as the few weird-tempered referees in La Liga.

But the boos at home did not diminish because of this yellow card. They thought the penalty was too light.Zhou Tiancheng is a person who doesn't play tricks when he plays football. He rolled on the ground twice, maybe he caused some damage.

What a bargain for him!
But this is one of the established strategies of Atletico Madrid today. Raul Garcia mainly relies on experience to conduct destructive defense in the midfield. This defensive strategy does not seek to bring much help to the offense, as long as it can block the opponent's offensive It is success.Of course, Florence is also betting on the penalty scale of the referee today. If the penalty is not particularly strict, after Atletico Madrid tackles from the midfield, there may be a chance to counterattack directly from the midfield.

But getting a yellow card in the opening 4 minutes is the biggest disadvantage to Atletico Madrid. At least Garcia will be cautious when making moves, but facing Zhou Tiancheng, if the moves are not big and the defensive effect cannot be achieved, no wonder he will. So excited.

On the coaching bench, Atletico Madrid coach Flores saw the yellow card held up high, and his face instantly became ugly. He glanced at the bench and struggled mentally. He planned to make a substitution, but It was only 4 minutes into the game, and it would be too impatient to replace the main defensive midfielder in the starting lineup.

He yelled at another midfielder Ignacio Camacho, put his hands together, the meaning was simple, to tighten the space, so that Zhou Tiancheng could not take the ball calmly.

At this time, he can only choose to focus on the person who is the most threatening. As for Rakitic, he can only give him a certain amount of space, hoping that the two central defenders can be stronger defensively.

Seeing that there is enough space around Rakitic, Zhou Tiancheng is naturally not greedy for merit, and passes the ball directly to him, and then he runs without the ball.

This method has been tried repeatedly in the past two seasons. The main reason is that Zhou Tiancheng's goal is too big. Even if the opponent knows that Rakitic next to him is also dangerous, but Zhou Tiancheng has inserted into the penalty area of ​​his side, and the defensive player is naturally impossible. did not see it.

Zhou Tiancheng deliberately moved forward in a small circle from the other end of Rakitic's advancing direction, attracting Atletico Madrid's attention to him. It was relatively easy for Rakitic to find opportunities.

After half an hour of intensive attack, Jiang Hao finally got rid of the entanglement of Colombian defender Perea, and got a response from Pablo Ibanez, who turned slowly. The speed of the two people is like the difference between Ferrari and Santana. Before Ibanez turned around, Jiang Hao's dribbling has already escaped his control. The next step is to face goalkeeper Asenjo single-handedly. For Jiang Hao, this is a shot with a difficulty factor of half a star.He directly pushed and shot calmly, piercing Asenjo's crotch and rolling into the net.

Jiang Hao's first goal in the UEFA Champions League also inspired the whole team. In stoppage time at halftime, Asamoane cut and shot a long shot, locking the halftime score at 2:0.

This score made the atmosphere in the midfield dressing room very relaxed, and everyone began to talk about the opponents in the knockout round.

"Well, I think it's good to be second in the group now, so that we can meet Manchester United, Barcelona, ​​​​Real Madrid..."

Jiang Hao just said something casually, and was immediately "attacked by a crowd". His teammates all looked at him, and immediately glanced at Zhou Tiancheng, Westerman reminded in a low voice: "Jiang, have you been poisoned by Zhou? , like to challenge high difficulty? But you don't have the role of Zhou, so it's best not to say that."

Seeing the unsightly faces of his teammates staring at him, Jiang Hao quickly explained: "Hey, no...you misunderstood me. I want to say that if we play against these strong teams, we can go to Camp Nou and Bernabeu , Old Trafford is playing. Don't you want to?"

"No, Old Trafford, I've already been there, but you didn't go." Rakitic replied smoothly.

"Uh..." Jiang Hao was immediately at a loss for words. He had one season less experience than others, and indeed he lacked a lot of common language.

Zhou Tiancheng smiled at the side, and opened his mouth to resolve Jiang Hao's embarrassment: "It's okay, Haozi, this season will definitely satisfy you. You just said Bernabeu, Nou Camp, Old Trafford, these places, we will all go! "

A group of teammates looked at the two, lowered their heads and covered their faces.

In the Atletico Madrid locker room, Flores didn't say much, but encouraged everyone not to give up and continue to strengthen their offense.

In fact, he knew in his heart that the situation was over.Not to mention whether this game can be reversed, Chelsea already has a two-goal advantage in the game that kicks off at the same time on the other side. In other words, Atletico Madrid's exit from the group is already a certainty.

Atletico Madrid did set off a wave of counterattacks in the second half, and the Atletico Madrid players realized that they had no chance if they didn't work hard.

But the consequence of this is that the space in the backcourt will be enlarged, and Jiang Hao's speed can be fully released.

No. In the 60th minute, Jiang Hao successfully scored another goal against offside, and the score was locked at 3:0.

After the game, in the mixed interview area, both Zhou Tiancheng and Jiang Hao were stopped by the reporters. The questions Jiang Hao answered were all related to his scoring twice in this match, while the questions he asked Zhou Tiancheng were related to the next knockout round. related.

"Zhou Tiancheng, you said that the team has a bigger goal this season, and now that it's qualified, can you reveal it... Don't worry, even if it's the championship, no one will say anything."

Zhou Tiancheng smiled and replied: "You may have misunderstood, I am not afraid of being questioned by others, wouldn't it be more interesting to just leave some suspense?"

A group of reporters were speechless, they are the champions, what's the point of selling it, let's shout it out in a high-profile way, so we can hype it openly.

But now I can only change the subject: "Then let's talk about the knockout round of the top [-]. The lottery will be drawn in a few days. Who do you want to touch the most?"

Zhou Tiancheng thought about it, Schalke is already the first in the group, so they can only play second in the group.

"Who is second in the strongest group?"

The reporters were taken aback by Zhou Tiancheng's rhetorical question. Many took out their mobile phones and began to check the real-time standings online, and some searched by their own memory.

"Sevilla, has won the Europa League twice."

But someone immediately refuted: "In the latest standings, Inter Milan is the second in Group F, and it should be the strongest."

Zhou Tiancheng was stunned for a moment: "Inter Milan ranked second?"

"That's right, the first is Barcelona." The reporter replied, but secretly complained in his heart, he wouldn't want to touch Inter Milan now, would he?With the state of Inter Milan this season, encounters are more or less ominous.

As a result, Zhou Tiancheng's answer once again refreshed what they thought was "impossible": "Okay, it's them."

(End of this chapter)