i am a football star

Chapter 145 Champions League Final ([-])

On May 5, the day before the Champions League final, the Liverpool team arrived in Rome, Italy.

Rome is the capital of Italy and the birthplace of the European Renaissance. Because of its long history, it is called eternity by the Italians. Based on the well-known story of the founder of Rome raised by a she-wolf in Italy, Rome was established in the early days of the Zhou Dynasty in ancient China, but in fact Italian archaeologists believe that Rome was established earlier than that.

At the Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome, many Liverpool fans who arrived in Rome ahead of schedule came to the airport to pick them up.

Outside the airport, Liu Ting saw the three of Dumpty and the three of them. They were holding the scarves of Liverpool fans who won the Champions League in 05, and there was a sign saying "Rome is a good place to win the championship" behind them.Liu Ting also saw Zhang Qiming and others. Zhang Qiming and others were paid by Liu Ting to come to Europe to watch the game, and they also brought a few activists from the fan club.

When passing by, Liu Ting pointed to Zhang Qiming and the others and said to the three of the short fat man, "Bill, take care of these guys. They came from China to support Liverpool. Don't let them be bullied by the Spaniards."

Humpty Humpty's chest thumped loudly and said: "Liu, don't worry, I will take care of them. Those Spanish bastards will never dare to make trouble. You just need to win."

Of course, Barcelona fans are also indispensable at the airport. In fact, Liverpool’s plane and Barcelona’s plane did not arrive at the same time, but there were still active Barcelona fans who ran to the airport to attack Liverpool. Liu Ting saw the slogan "Two damned traitors, you will regret it".

Roma fans also came to join in the fun, and banners in Italian such as "British get out" appeared at the airport.

The reason why Roma fans hate Liverpool is due to historical reasons. In the 83/84 season, the UEFA Champions League final was held in Rome, Italy for the second time. It happened to be a relatively strong period for Roma. Last season, Roma won the Serie A championship with the efforts of the current AC Milan head coach, Roma player Ancelotti and others, and Roma also qualified for the Champions League. Falling short, the penalty shootout lost to Liverpool 1:1 and finished second.

This is the only time in the history of the Roma team that they have reached the Champions League final. The Romans are still reminiscing about the glorious period of Rome for a long time.The glorious period in the history of the Roma team was the 80s, but that era was the era when AC Milan and Juventus monopolized Serie A in the north. The glorious Roma only won one Serie A championship, one Champions League runner-up, and four Coppa Italia championships.It seems that in the glory days of the team, it is best not to collide with others, otherwise someone is more brilliant than you, and you will not win a few championships.

Speaking of which, Ancelotti had a feud with Liverpool from that time, and later became the head coach and met Liverpool in the Champions League final twice.And that's when Roma fans started to hate Liverpool.

In this season's Champions League, the three Serie A teams met the three Premier League teams, and Serie A was wiped out. Naturally, Italian fans also don't like the English team.When Roma played against Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the 06/07 season, they beat Manchester United 2:1 at home. The Romans thought they saw the hope of advancing to the semi-finals. At Old Trafford, Manchester United’s home court, Roma lost 1:7.

The bus that Liverpool prepared in advance did not go to the downtown area of ​​Rome after leaving the airport. The Rome Olympic Stadium, where the UEFA Champions League final was held, was in the northwest corner of downtown Rome. The Liverpool bus drove directly to the hotel on the outskirts of Rome, where the hotel Liverpool reserved was located.

At the entrance of the hotel, Gerrard couldn't help asking: "This is farther away from the final stadium than the hotels in the city, so why did we choose the hotel here?"

Assistant coach Herman said: "The English team and the Italian team have had many conflicts in the past two years. Liverpool and Roma have had grievances before. Living here can prevent those radical Roma fans from coming to make trouble, and tomorrow the whole city of Rome will be boiling for football matches. Living in the city is closer, but it takes less time to reach the stadium."

Having said that, everyone agrees with this reason. After all, Italian fans have been the most impulsive in the five major leagues in recent years, and troubles will arise every now and then. This may be related to the stagnation of the Italian economy for years. The economic downturn has many people focusing on football.

Alcohol has been banned in the city of Rome in recent days. It is said that British fans will make trouble after drinking. British fans will only make trouble after drinking, and Italian fans will also make trouble if they don’t drink. In recent years, Italian teams have been punished by UEFA every year because of fans.

In fact, this idea of ​​living in the suburbs was Liu Ting’s suggestion to Xu Zhengxin. Liu Ting remembered that if it hadn’t been for the changes he brought, Manchester United would have reached the Champions League final this year. Manchester United had no temper in losing to Barcelona in the final.

Although that was just an excuse for Ferguson to lose, it was not groundless. There were indeed Roma fans who interfered with Manchester United on the night before the game. The reason why Roma fans did this was because Rome lost to Manchester United 1:7 two years ago.

You can avoid this kind of trouble by booking a hotel in the suburbs. The downside is that it will be far away to step on the field this afternoon.

※※※

After the Liverpool team got ready at the hotel, they went to the Stadio Olimpico to step on the field. The step happened to meet Barcelona and arrived, but neither side said much. The sidelines were surrounded by reporters from all over the world, and any problem would attract attention.

The two teams stepped on the field and adapted to the field on their own. Only the head coaches of the two teams came forward to say a few words to each other, which disappointed the reporters who were waiting to see if there was any news before the game.

On the evening of May 5th, the most important and most eye-catching game in Europe came.

In the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the two teams are warming up before the game.

Zhan Jun was talking about the situation of the two teams: "The two teams did not hand in the final starting list until one hour before the game. This is also the norm in the Champions League finals over the years. After all, in such an important game, personnel changes in every position may have a great impact. No one wants to expose the starting lineup early."

"Liverpool is their most common starting lineup this season. Goalkeeper Reina. The back four are Gareth Bale, Carragher, Agger and Arbeloa from left to right. The three midfielders are Xavi Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard. The three strikers are Liu Ting, Torres and Dirk. Liverpool is lucky. There are no injuries or suspended players before the final."

"Barcelona has changed a lot here. Their main left back Abilda and right back Alves are all suspended. Guardiola had to make a big adjustment. Barcelona's starting lineup is goalkeeper Valdez. The back line from left to right is Sylvinho, Yaya Toure, Pique and Puyol. The three midfielders are Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta. The striker is the trident Messi, Eto'o and Henry who are the most scoring goals in Europe this season. The suspension of the two main full backs, Guardio La let the veteran Sylvinho start at right back, Yaya Toure withdrew from the midfield to partner with Pique at center back, Barcelona captain and former main center back Puyol changed to play at right back, Puyol's change of position should be to limit Liu Ting, Guardiola started in the midfield with young teenagers Busquets and Xavi Iniesta.

When Zhan Jun was commenting, the Spanish commentator was also saying: "La Masia is worthy of being a famous youth training camp in Europe. In this UEFA Champions League final, the two teams started together. There are a total of 9 people from La Masia, 7 from Barcelona and 2 from Liverpool. On the bench, there are 5 substitute players from La Masia in Barcelona, ​​and even the head coach of Barcelona is also from La Masia."

The warm-up of the two teams was almost the same. They went back to the locker room and put on clean jerseys. They led the ball boy in the channel and prepared to play. Liverpool used the visiting team's locker room.

Music was played in the stadium. Amidst the singing of Italian blind tenor Bocelli, first the models dressed in gold entered the stadium holding the cup with big ears, and then the singing changed to the theme song of the Champions League, and the players of the two teams entered the stadium slowly.

62467 people attended the final, including Spanish King Juan Carlos, Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero, Italian Prime Minister and AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi, Prince William of the British royal family, Prince Albert of Monaco, two princes Pierre and Andre, and UEFA FA Michel Platini.

In addition, Beckenbauer, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Dalglish and others were present, and of course there were many male and female stars from various European countries.

The referee of this game is the 40-year-old Swiss Busacca. He was the one who enforced the law in Barcelona's home game against Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League semi-final last season.

Busacca blows the whistle and the Champions League final begins.

Liverpool kicked off the ball first, and after two inversions in the midfield, Xavi Alonso transferred the ball to Liu Ting on the left. Liu Ting took the ball to the front to face Puyol's defense.

Puyol is tall but not bulky. Guardiola asked him to defend Liu Ting. The experienced Puyol really made Liu Ting feel a little difficult to deal with.

But it's just a little bit, there is Bell behind Liu Ting, as long as Bell speeds up, not to mention Puyol, even Messi can't keep up.As long as Bell can step forward to help at the right time, Liu Ting believes that he can handle the blond lion king.

Both sides made a tentative attack at the beginning of the game, and did not invest a lot of troops. This situation lasted for about 10 minutes.

In the 11th minute, Liu Ting and Gerrard cooperated to throw Puyol away and made a cross from the left. Torres stopped the ball 13 meters in front of the goal and volleyed it wide of the far post.

This kick was not too threatening but beautiful enough, and it directly ignited the audience. Both Liverpool fans and neutral fans applauded for this kick. The atmosphere on the field was also ignited, and the rhythm of the two teams began to speed up.

In the 14th minute, Liu Ting caught the ball outside the penalty area and flashed past Busquets to shoot a long shot over the crossbar.

Liverpool continued to attack, but Barcelona broke Reina's goal with the first threatening shot.

In the 17th minute, Iniesta dribbled the ball through the middle and then slanted it to the right side of the Liverpool penalty area. Eto'o moved there and received the ball.

This result caught people off guard. After the opening, Liverpool seemed to have the upper hand. Barcelona, ​​who were absent from the two, seemed to be a little timid in the face of Liverpool, but they threatened to shoot for the first time and shot through Liverpool's goal for the first time.

(End of this chapter)