Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

In the 1961 European Cup final, Benfica beat Barcelona 3-2 to win the title. In 1992, current Benfica coach Koeman scored the winning goal in extra time to help Barcelona win the title, and Barcelona also eliminated Benfica on the way to winning the title...

The two sides fighting tonight also have a history of grievances and hatreds in the Champions League, but now is not the time to reminisce. Li Qi quickly focused his attention back on the ball rolling in the center circle waiting for the referee's whistle.

However, before Eto'o officially kicked off, Li Qi jumped on the spot to continue warming up, and turned his head to look at his partner Oleg who was also stretching on the spot beside him.

The young man was shaking a little when he was in the player tunnel just now. Li Qi, who was standing behind him, clearly felt that he was shaking, but he didn't know whether it was because of nervousness or excitement.

After all, it is the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, and the old brothers in the team's defense are not there, and it is the turn of two young guys to take the lead... and Oleger has always believed that he will be the commander of Barcelona's defense at present, rather than the 1-year-old full-back Van Bronckhorst, nor will it be Valdes who has served as Barcelona's number one goalkeeper for four consecutive seasons.

"Okay... I hope there won't be any big trouble in this game. I'd better stay behind and let Oleg do more to grab the ball..." Ricardo turned around and heard the whistle. Eto'o had already kicked the ball out, and Ronaldinho's father immediately passed the ball back to Deco for organization.

Barcelona took the advantage after the opening and basically controlled the situation on the field. The game was mainly played in Benfica's half.

In the 5th minute, after Barcelona had been passing the ball around the perimeter, Van Bommel suddenly sent a straight pass in the middle, trying to pass it to Eto'o who was cutting into the penalty area. However, the ball was successfully intercepted by Benfica's central defender Anderson, who then faced Eto'o's counterattack and quickly passed the ball back to goalkeeper Moreto.

However, goalkeeper Moreto, perhaps because he was too nervous or didn't react, actually caught the return pass with his hands! The English referee Bennett was also a little confused for a while. He hadn't encountered such a low-level mistake for a long time. After being reminded by the Barcelona players, he awarded an indirect free kick in the penalty area.

(Voiceover: There are two types of free kicks in the penalty area: direct free kicks (i.e. penalty kicks) and indirect free kicks in the penalty area. Indirect free kicks in the penalty area do not allow direct shots. The attacking team must touch the ball more than twice for the shot or goal to be valid. Otherwise, even if the ball is scored, it will be judged to have gone out of bounds and the other team will take a goal kick.)

This indirect free kick about 14 yards in front of Benfica's goal was taken by Ronaldinho's father and Van Bommel.

Li Qi, who was lying in ambush outside the penalty area to intercept a possible counterattack, had been watching the development of the set piece. He saw Van Bommel step back slightly to step on the ball, and then teamed up with Oleg to block the defensive players who flew out from both sides of the wall of people in front of the goal line.

Ronaldinho's father shot the ball towards the side of the goal where there was no wall blocking it. Moreto, who had just made a mistake, did not let him down this time. He reacted quickly and bravely blocked Ronaldinho's shot in the face!

Benfica's defense hurriedly cleared the ball, and Li Qi intercepted the ball lightly outside the penalty area, and then passed it to Ronaldinho's father who was pulled to the corner of the penalty area. The latter made a fake shot and shook off a flying defender, and then shot again with his left foot from 16 yards on the left side of the penalty area, but it was blocked by the densely packed defensive players and went out of the baseline.

In the 15th minute, Iniesta made a wonderful fried meatball connection on the left, then faked a right-angle pass, passed two people and broke through to the edge of the penalty area. He stepped on the penalty area line and shot directly into the near corner. Unfortunately, the ball hit the near post and went out of the bottom line.

In the 17th minute, Simao passed the ball into the penalty area from the left, but it was blocked by Li Qi. Manuel Fernandez shot the bouncing ball from 25 yards in the middle, but the ball hit the crossbar and went slightly higher.

Barcelona missed a golden opportunity in the 18th minute. Ronaldinho’s father was unwilling to be outdone by Ronaldinho and also performed a wonderful dribbling breakthrough on the left. After dribbling past the opponent and creating an opening, Ronaldinho’s father passed the ball to the far end. Eto’o jumped up at the far post to stop the ball and then swept the ball in front of the goal...

Deco made a forward run and had a good chance to shoot from 11 yards in front of the goal, but facing a half-empty goal, Deco used the arch of his foot to push the ball out of the far corner.

"Oh my god! This is a ball that even my great-grandmother could kick into the goal! Brother Deco, didn't you brag before the game that we have never lost a game in this stadium during regular time? Why are you letting us win?" Li Qi raised his hands high in the backcourt to celebrate, but he ended up hugging his head in embarrassment...

After that, Benfica did not get any advantage in front of the young defense that was ready to fight. Oleger's steals were very swift, and Li Qi's replacement and interception were also very clean and neat. The two of them cooperated without any mistakes, at least in the first half.

This forced Benfica's midfielders and forwards to frequently take long shots from more than 30 yards away. Even if some of the balls slipped through the net, there was no way to test Valdes, who was concentrating and easily caught them one by one.

Barcelona missed three good opportunities in a row.

In the 26th minute, Moreto kicked the ball from the backcourt but it went wide. However, he then jumped on Ronaldinho's father and made a timely tackle to clear the ball out of the sideline.

In the 33rd minute, Li Qi intercepted Simao's dribbling and passed the ball to Van Bommel who retreated deep. The latter then dribbled the ball all the way from the backcourt to the opponent's penalty area, dribbling at high speed for more than 70 yards. Finally, his left-footed shot at the edge of the penalty area was quite exciting, with a good angle and strength, but unfortunately it was magically blocked by Moreto's leg and went out of the baseline.

Barcelona missed another good chance in the 43rd minute. Ronaldinho's father made another excellent pass after breaking through the middle. Central defender Anderson made a decisive tackle, but his foot was a few centimeters shorter and the ball still slipped past him...

Eto'o received a wonderful pass in the penalty area, and with two fake moves 10 yards in front of the goal, he knocked down Leo who was defending, and calmly shot after gaining enough space! However, Moreto once again performed like a vicious dog pouncing on its food, oh no, it should be like a tiger pouncing on a rabbit, and magically blocked the ball under his body.

"Oh My God! This didn't even go in?!" Li Qi in the backcourt raised his hands to celebrate again, but then he sighed with his head in his hands...

Before the end of the first half, Moretto, who was always able to save the ball with divine help, made another low-level mistake in passing the ball and actually kicked the ball directly to Van Bommel. However, the latter's shot from 10 yards on the left side of the penalty area once again slipped wide of the goal...

Then the referee seemed to be unable to bear it anymore and blew the whistle to end the first half. The two sides tied 0-0 in the first half, but Barcelona took the absolute initiative in the game and had several golden opportunities, but they did not seize them.

After the halftime break, not only Li Qi, but even Rijkaard was speechless: "Is this a curse? So many good chances and he couldn't score a single goal?!"

At the beginning of the second half, Benfica made a personnel adjustment, replacing Robert with Miccoli, aiming to change the sluggish offensive situation. However, it was useless, Benfica could only shoot long shots from the perimeter, and several attempts to penetrate Barcelona's defensive third zone were intercepted by Oleguer and Li Qi in a few seconds!

In the 56th minute, Ronaldinho's father took a corner kick from the right side. Oleg seemed to be unprepared at the far post 12 yards away. His shot went wide of the bottom line and was completely powerless.

In the 57th minute, Ronaldinho's father broke through the middle again and made a straight pass. Larsson got the ball and made a diagonal cut to the right side of the penalty area 14 yards away and shot. However, Moreto miraculously flew to block it and the ball hit the near corner post and bounced out of the bottom line.

Then Ronaldinho's father took another corner kick from the right side. Oleg got a good chance to score for the second time in 3 minutes, 12 yards in front of the goal. He jumped high and headed the ball. His head was good even though his feet didn't work. The ball was headed with considerable force and arc, and Moreto, who had been performing bravely, couldn't react!

However, the ball hit the far post and bounced back to the front of the goal, hitting Moretto who was unable to move in time. He quickly held on to it...

While Barcelona was unable to break through the defense for a long time, Benfica launched a general attack around the 60th minute of the game, suddenly increasing the speed of pressing and passing in the midfield and frontcourt, and unexpectedly set off a wave of offensive climax in a short period of time.

In the 59th minute, Oleguer made a mistake in stealing the ball, Simao and Petit made a wall-like cooperation, then dodged Li Qi's block and sent a straight pass. Miccoli broke into the left side of the penalty area after offside and shot at a small angle 12 yards in front of the goal!

Valdes made the first difficult save of the game, blocking the ball.

Then Petit intercepted the blocked ball on the wing and made a strong low cross, the ball went straight through the side of Li Qi who had just returned to defend the near post...

Giovanni rushed over and shot from 12 yards in front of the goal, but fortunately Van Bronckhorst who came to defend in the middle made a tackle and blocked the ball out of the bottom line.

After defeating Benfica with two consecutive attacks, Barcelona once again found a good opportunity.

In the 61st minute, Eto'o made a cross from the left side of the penalty area, and Van Bommel shot from 12 yards. The ball was about to go into the far corner, but was miraculously pushed out of the bottom line by Moreto with his fingertips on the goal line.

Then Ronaldinho's father took another corner kick from the right side. Van Bommel won the header and headed the ball from the near corner to the far post, but Eto'o, who was lurking at the far post, failed to touch the ball; the ball hit the post and flew out of the bottom line.

In the 63rd minute, Van Bommel, Deco, Eto'o and Ronaldinho launched a series of wonderful wall-to-wall cooperation and one-foot passes from the left. The ball was passed and cut by Barcelona players for more than 10 times. After entering the penalty area, Ronaldinho and Eto'o made another pass. After attracting the defensive attention of the entire Benfica team, Deco suddenly faked a shot and passed the ball to the right...

Belletti cut in at high speed and, without being marked, shot from the edge of the right penalty area... but missed!

"Damn... He missed the shot again! This is a golden opportunity. He could have stopped the ball, moved deeper, or made a triangle pass back! He completely penetrated the ball! Big brother Belletti, why are you so impulsive?!" Li Qi, who initiated a short pass in the backcourt and paid attention to the whole process, wanted to pull out his handsome golden short hair...

In the 70th minute, Rijkaard finally made a personnel adjustment, replacing Van Bommel, who had missed many scoring opportunities in this game, with Motta, who was obviously eager to play on the sidelines.

However, perhaps because he was too excited when he first came on the pitch and hadn't even warmed up yet, Motta immediately made a big mistake.

In the 72nd minute, Simao made a cross from the right side at a 45-degree angle, but the ball clearly hit the arm of Motta who was defending in the corner of the penalty area and bounced out of the bottom line... But the referee Bennett refused to award a penalty. Miccoli was given a yellow card warning because he complained about the penalty.

In the 76th minute, Rijkaard played his last two cards, replacing the exhausted Larsson and the slightly impatient Deco who had a yellow card with Giuly and Gabriel Gabri respectively.

But after the substitution, it didn't have the desired effect, and Barcelona's frontcourt attack came to a standstill. So in the final period of the game, it was Li Qi's turn to be busy for a while.

However, in the final period, after receiving a straight pass from Petit on the left, Simao made an offside and his low shot from 10 yards on the left side of the penalty area was blocked by Valdes with his legs, and neither side made any further progress.

Finally, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. In the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Barcelona drew 1-4 with Benfica away.

……

Benfica goalkeeper Moreto's footwork is hard to praise, but his saves are the only contributors to Benfica's escape from conceding goals.

At the press conference after the game, Rijkaard also somewhat helplessly emphasized the many opportunities wasted by Barcelona players, and believed that it was a pity that they failed to seize the opportunities: "We failed to reflect our advantage with goals, but getting a draw away from home is still a good result. It is still unknown who will advance, and now we have to complete the task at home."

Benfica coach Koeman is full of confidence in the second round of the game: "Although we have suffered a lot of injustice on the court (referring to Motta's missed handball), I think if we can play at the same level as in the second half of today's game away from home, then we will have a chance to eliminate our opponent, although Barcelona will play more aggressively after returning to their home court..."

……

In the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Arsenal faced Juventus at Highbury. Arsenal won the match 1-4 with a goal and assist from Fabregas, which also resulted in Camoranesi and Zebina being sent off for accumulating two yellow cards.

The second night after the Barcelona team returned to Barcelona was the second match day of the first leg of the 05/06 European Champions League quarter-finals, and two games were played.

其中AC米兰在客场也是0比0战平里昂，这是两队首次欧战交锋。本场比赛也是AC米兰参加的第180场欧洲冠军杯比赛，不过AC米兰7次作客法国4次告负，近4次作客法国未尝胜果。

而本场收获平局的里昂则将2002年10月以来欧战主场不败纪录增加到15场(10胜5平)。

In another match, Inter Milan reversed Villarreal 2-1 at home.

首先国际米兰在3月14日晚间的1/8决赛次回合的主场比赛中，凭借着斯坦科维奇的精彩进球以1比0的比分轻取阿贾克斯，而以两回合3比2的总比分晋级1/4决赛。

In the first leg of the quarter-finals, Villarreal scored the first goal in the 1th second by Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan, while Inter Milan quickly recovered the score in the 4th minute by Adriano and overtook the score in the second half by Martins.

In this campaign, Inter Milan also ended Villarreal's previous unbeaten streak of 11 away games in European competitions.

欧冠1/4决赛的次回合战将在7天之后的4月4-5日展开！

For Ricardo, the second leg of the European quarter-finals will be followed by the Easter break for Italian high schools! Sarafina, who turned 1, will be staying in Barcelona for a week...