Legend of Fengshen

Chapter 248
Just like the Bundesliga, when Barcelona was dozing off, Villarreal achieved No.07 in the league in the 08-2 season and was able to qualify for the Champions League.

In the group stage, they teamed up with Manchester United, Aalborg, and Celtic. In the end, they got 2 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss and 9 points to qualify. The only loss was not to Manchester United, but to The Celtics ranked bottom, which shows that they are quite capable.

As far as Schalke 04 is drawn, both sides can accept it. Everyone's strength is relatively close. Whoever can advance depends on who plays well.

At 2:25 pm on February 6th, the Schalke 04 team set off from the hotel to the Ballad Stadium. The Ballad Stadium was completed on June 1923, 6. It was originally named Villarreal Campo, and it was renamed two years later. Love Song Stadium, and has been in use ever since.The name comes from the name of the neighborhood where the stadium is located, and El Madrigal (El Madrigal) means love song.

Since the stadium is located in the middle of the city, but it is still early before the game time, Zhang Yuan didn't see Villarreal fans from the bus until near the stadium. Many fans saw the Schalke 04 bus passing by and rushed to the bus. The Schalke 04 players inside were yelling, but unfortunately Zhang Yuan couldn't hear what they were shouting, but it was definitely not a good word.

Schalke 04 arrived very early today. For unfamiliar opponents, it is also beneficial to come early to familiarize themselves with the environment.

Now the morale of the Schalke 04 players is very bad, but everyone is still fine on the surface. Zhang Yuan doesn't know what attitude his teammates will have towards the game, but he is already prepared. Anyway, he must try my best.

Wearing headphones and listening to Anna's song, Zhang Yuan followed other teammates out of the car and walked into the locker room. Everyone sat in their seats silently, changing their jerseys and shoes while resting.

"Boys, warm up well and don't get hurt when you play!" Mulder specially greeted everyone as the weather was still a bit cold today.

Everyone listlessly raised their heads and nodded to Mulder, rested for a while, and came to the stadium under Mulder's urging.

Villarreal is a small seaside city, and the Love Song Stadium is only 5 kilometers away from the Mediterranean Sea. When he came to the stadium, when the sea breeze blew, Zhang Yuan shrank his neck unconsciously.

I quickly started warm-up exercises under the arrangement of the coaching staff. This time, the warm-up time before the game is relatively long, and the body must be kept warm, but it should not be too intense.

The players from Villarreal also came to the field not long after. After all, the weather is cold and insufficient warm-up will affect their performance.

Compared with the atmosphere of Schalke 04, Villarreal is much more relaxed. Many players are talking and laughing, looking very relaxed.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Yuan sighed silently in his heart. Where did the atmosphere of Schalke 04 last season go? !
"Hi, everyone! My name is He Wei. Today we are bringing you the match between Villarreal and Schalke 08 at home in the first round of the 09-04 UEFA Champions League Round of [-] knockout round! Our commentator today is guided by Tao Weitao!" The domestic sports stations dedicated to broadcasting the game live, and only one factor was considered, which was Zhang Yuan, because domestic fans wanted to watch Zhang Yuan's game.

Therefore, this game, which is not a strong dialogue, was included in the live broadcast by the sports station to satisfy the wishes of the fans.

"Hi everyone! I'm Tao Wei!"

When He Wei and Tao Wei were busy previewing the game for the audience, the players from both sides were already standing in the player tunnel.

Zhang Yuan is holding a boy around six or seven years old, wearing a Villarreal jersey.

This is a common practice in football games. The little ball boy looked at Zhang Yuan again and again. Zhang Yuan was originally looking forward, but the corner of his eyes still caught the action of the little fan.

He gave the little caddy a friendly smile. This smile seemed to encourage the little caddy's courage. The little caddy pulled Zhang Yuan's jersey with a smile, quickly took out a signature pen from the back, and said wearing something.

Well, Zhang Yuan actually didn’t understand what he said, because he spoke Spanish, but the meaning was still clear, and he wanted Zhang Yuan to give him an autograph.

Zhang Yuan did not refuse, picked up his pen and quickly signed his name on the jersey he was wearing, and returned the pen, Zhang Yuan patted his head smoothly.

The little caddy gave Zhang Yuan a thumbs up, so proud of him, the other little caddy envied him, wow, he was so witty, he even brought the signing pen inside his jersey.

After this little incident, Zhang Yuan's mood immediately improved a lot, and he was full of confidence and strength for the game.

Schalke 04's starting lineup today is still 433.

Goalkeeper: Neuer
Defender: Rafinha Degan Hewedes Westerman

Midfielder: Engelal Jones, Rakitic

Forward: Zhang Yuanfar van Asamoah
Pellegrini used a 442 formation for Villarreal
Goalkeeper: Diego Lopez

Defender: Godin Fuentes, Bruno Angel

Midfielder: Urgrun Ibagasa Cazzola Senna

Forward: Rossi Joseva Llorente

La Liga, like Dutch football, used to attach great importance to wingers. This has something to do with their offensive football style. La Liga was prevalent in the past few years, and each team has its own wingers.

But after Pellegrini came to Villarreal, he did not use winger tactics, but set up midfielder tactics. Riquelme occupies a very, very important position in his tactics. Kerme is gone.

His replacement is not so easy to find. Pellegrini uses a 442 parallel position. Senna's main responsibility is still defense, but he now has a side job to help the midfield organizer organize the attack.

After Pires arrived, Pellegrini began to use winger tactics, but there was no winger in his position. Pires was a full-back who played an offensive role on the wing.

But in this game, Pellegrini didn't dare to be careless when facing Schalke 04. The 4 midfield positions are three midfielders, with Cazorla in front of the front midfielder.

Schalke 04's tactics are almost unchanged. Pellegrini has studied it deeply. To limit Schalke 04's offense, regardless of his 433, the key is actually in the middle, as long as the midfielder is cut off With the connection with Zhang Yuan, Schalke 04's offense is basically in a state of half useless.

This is not to say that Zhang Yuan is so strong, but because Zhang Yuan is in the center position. Schalke 04 is such a style of play. Heading is not Zhang Yuan's strong point.

So Pellegrini gave his two central defenders Bruno, Fuentes and midfielder Senna a very simple task, that is, the three of them strangled Zhang Yuan and restricted him from taking the ball.

After the opening game, Zhang Yuan played really hard. Two central defenders in the penalty area stared at him firmly, and outside the penalty area, a veteran Senna stared at him.

Senna is not a simple character. He is the first black international in Spanish history. He followed Spain to win the European Cup in 2008. His defensive area is quite large. At the same time, as a Brazilian player, he also has good skills and certain Organizational skills.

In the 2008 European Cup, he was the absolute main force of Spain, with a single midfielder.Now this game was arranged by Pellegrini to help the defender defend Zhang Yuan, which made Zhang Yuan very uncomfortable.

Although Senna is over [-] years old and cannot compare with Zhang Yuan in terms of speed, his kicks are not slow at all, and he is very accurate in predicting the ball.

The main duty of the defensive midfielders is to intercept and steal and launch an attack. Senna's interception is particularly powerful. Several times, the ball given to Zhang Yuan by the midfielder has not reached his feet before being predicted by Senna in advance. counterattack.

Zhang Yuan also thought of a way later, continue to retreat his position, shorten the distance between himself and his midfielder, and avoid passing the ball from being intercepted.

Zhang Yuan now looks like a midfielder rather than a center forward, and the two wingers Asamoah and Farvan are ahead of him.

Seeing this situation, Senna followed Pellagrini's instruction, "Marcos, when you are in your defense zone, you must keep a close eye on Zhang Yuan, and don't let him get the ball easily!"

Remember this sentence when Senna plays. This is what makes him different from other Brazilian players. Many Brazilian players are free and undisciplined, but Senna listens to the coach’s arrangements, obeys the team’s tactical arrangements, and works hard. Compared with many European players Still strict!

This is probably one of the reasons why he was appreciated by Aragones and entered the Spanish national team.

(End of this chapter)