The Greatest Performer on the Football Field

At the turn of the century, the most stable and outstanding teams in La Liga were not Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​but Valencia, known as the White Ghost.

Solid defense, efficient counterattacks, and the ability to constantly discover outstanding new stars have allowed Valencia to win La Liga twice and enter the Champions League finals twice.

At that time, Mendieta, Aimar, Vicente, and Albelda formed a team that was famous throughout Europe.

But then Valencia gradually declined. Due to financial problems, they repeatedly sold off their stars. Otamendi, Alba, David Silva, Mata, Villa, Isco, and Bernat left one after another.

It's already 2016, and Valencia no longer has the glory of the past. It's surprising that they can advance to the knockout rounds of the Champions League. Sun Wu shook his head when he looked at the opponent's starting list. He glanced over and saw almost no familiar names.

Well, Mustafi is quite familiar with him. He later went to Arsenal, but it didn't make the Gunners' defense much more stable. Cancelo was also considered one. Sun Wu knew that this little full-back performed well in Serie A. Pa Co... It seems that he later went to Barcelona, ​​but he was just a recognized parallel import.

It's worth noting that Valencia's defensive level is very good. Rolf told the players in the locker room the key points of this game. Manchester United flew to Valencia on February 14 after three days of training.

The two defensive midfielders Banega and Parejo are both excellent, and the defense is also good, so the offense requires more patience and diversified offensive ideas. Rolf pointed to Cancelo, Need Beware of assists from this Portuguese defender, Valencia only scored 7 goals in the Champions League in the group stage and he was involved in 5 of them.”

Sun Wu nodded in agreement, because Lucas has not returned from injury, so Luke Shaw will be the starter.

What this game requires is your offense. Under normal circumstances, you are always within the 40-meter area. Sun Wu patted Luke Xiao on the shoulder, Leave the replacement to Rojo.

Rojo, who has returned from injury, has been in good form recently and won the starting position, and in the absence of Lucas, he is the only left-footed player in the center back.

For the first game of the knockout rounds, Sun Wu made a lot of preparations and was full of confidence and desire for victory.

When leading the team out of the tunnel, Sun Wu couldn't help but lament that Valencia was really in decline. There were large vacancies in the stands of the Mestalla Stadium, which could accommodate more than 50,000 spectators. Even if they entered the knockout rounds, Valencia fans There is no passion either.

Players from both sides have already appeared.

The first match of the 2015-2016 Champions League knockout round is about to begin. Zhan Jun said with a smile: Valencia has been winless for 3 rounds in the league, and although Manchester United was tied by Chelsea to end their winning streak, they immediately swept Black Cat Sunderland 7-1, both in terms of strength and morale. Manchester United had the upper hand.

But football is round. Zhang Lu shook his head. Manchester United's defense needs to be more vigilant. In the last game, Sunderland succeeded in their first attack.

The referee blew the whistle and the game officially started. For this game, Manchester United formed a 343 formation. Van Dijk, Alderweireld, and Rojo formed three central defenders. Luke Shaw and Pavard played wing-backs. Can Te and Sun Wu are in the middle, and in front is the combination of Harry Kane, Griezmann and Salah.

The biggest advantage of the 343 formation is that it has strong control in the midfield, but at the same time, it can take advantage of the repeated attacks of wingers and wing-backs in wing attacks. After Sun Wu briefly controlled the ball and observed it, he immediately focused on the wing. road.

In the 5th minute, Luke Shaw made a pass from the left, and Harry Kane squeezed away Mustafi and his header went slightly wide.

In the 11th minute, Pavar received Sun Wu's exquisite pass into the penalty area and then passed the ball in an inverted triangle. Sun Wu caught up with him and shot the far post with his left foot. Griezmann's follow-up shot was saved by the goalkeeper.

In the 15th minute, Salah and Pavard played in succession. The Egyptian made a fake pass and then suddenly started to cut inside. After hitting the wall with Sun Wu who was penetrating forward, Salah Choosing to go straight to the right side of the penalty area, Harry Kane inserted his right foot diagonally and shot hard from a small angle and hit the side net.

Manchester United's wave after wave of offensives made it difficult for Valencia to parry, and the high press after losing the ball made them even more scrambling.

Within a quarter of an hour, Manchester United completed seven shots, including one on the post and three on target. Valencia could only say it was good luck not to concede a goal.

But the Bat Legion's resistance only lasted 20 minutes.

Harry Kane pulled to the left to form a numerical advantage with Griezmann and Luke Shaw. Griezmann broke through and was intercepted, but Luke Shaw successfully counterattacked and then blocked the ball. Harry Kane resisted Mourinho. Staffie carried the ball into the left side of the penalty area and passed the ball vigorously.

Counterattack... oblique pass... Kane, Kane crosses!

Salah...Best!

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

Best opened the scoring for Manchester United and Manchester United led 1-0.

Mike Phelan and Rolf celebrated by high-fiving on the sidelines. This goal seemed ordinary. Sun Wu easily pushed it into the net from the back point, but it reflected Manchester United's clear tactical thinking in the 343 formation attack.

Harry Kane pulled out to take the ball and cross from the left. Right winger Salah suddenly moved in to grab the front point. Sun Wu, who suddenly moved forward, and the Egyptian crossed paths and appeared at the back point.

Although there were only two points, Harry Kane led to Mustafi, and the cross-running of Salah and Sun Wu caused the Valencia defenders to lose their defensive goals, and the goal came naturally.

Regarding the 343 tactic, the Manchester United coaching staff has actually always had objections, because Sun Wu is a chess player who is used to controlling everything from the outside. He rarely penetrates into the penalty area to grab points. His goals often appear outside the penalty area, but Sun Wu did a good job this time.

The Valencia players looked a little numb after losing the ball, and Sun Wu did not celebrate. For the current bat army, this Manchester United has an overwhelming advantage almost everywhere.

After the restart, Valencia launched a wave of offensive. Sun Wu was not in a hurry. He directed the team's formation to retreat. However, it was difficult for Valencia to come up with effective offensive methods after attacking the frontcourt. Once they encountered an interception, I could only keep sending back passes... There were already boos in the stands.

However, Sun Wu did not take advantage of the trend to push the formation outwards, but maintained the numerical advantage in the backcourt. Griezmann moved in to maintain a suitable distance from Sun Wu. Harry Kane in front contained the opponent's defense line, and Salah moved flexibly.

The Valencia players also knew that it would be dangerous to continue like this, but they were unwilling to shrink back... The fans were booing.

As a result, before the end of the first half, Manchester United made another victory to seal the victory. Luke Shaw suddenly went around to steal the ball, made a cross pass to Sun Wu, and then dribbled the ball forward at high speed, and drove straight in from the middle.

Griezmann moved to the left to open up Valencia's defensive formation, Salah quietly moved in, and Harry Kane's two consecutive acceleration movements firmly restrained the two central defenders.

In an instant, Manchester United's frontcourt attack formed a 5-on-4. Luke Shaw got ahead of Parejo and passed the ball to the right rib. Salah immediately accelerated the ball into the penalty area and then spiked the ball back.

Sun Wu followed up and made a fake move to directly volley, causing Banega to get down to block. Then he spiked the ball with his left foot and sent a pass. Griezmann nodded the ball from behind and Harry Kane was in the penalty area. Nei force overpowered Mustafi and scored with a header.

A beautiful counterattack goal, smooth and without any sloppiness. The players' movements are clear and layered.

Zhan Jun gave this counterattack a high evaluation, Although there was no wonderful dribble, Manchester United used the movement of the players to pull Valencia's defense into a mess. Every offensive player touched the ball at least once, which was very short. It was sent into the penalty area within the time limit, and finally Harry Kane scored with a header.

It's not as artistic as MSN, but Manchester United's frontcourt attack is more efficient.

Valencia's nickname is the Bat Army, but today Manchester United was more like 11 bats. They seemed to have no eyes and were flying around to great effect. Valencia's defense had nothing to do with them.