The Young Lion

The European Cup Winners Cup 1/4 first round contest at the Bran Stadium presented a one-sided situation. Bran sat at home and scored three goals in the first half. After playing 15 minutes in the second half, Aldridge replaced Ballack with Pirlo. Ruud van Nistelrooy replaced Trezeguet, and the team began to firmly occupy the midfield control, playing oppressive offensive football.

Bran retreated across the board in the second half after making adjustments in the midfield, and they were a little late in the precipice. At this time, the defense had lost its meaning. However, in order to avoid a big defeat at home, one goal conceded counted as one.

Millwall did not want to charge too hard to avoid injuries, so they slowed down the pace and patiently searched for flaws in the opponent's defense through passing and cutting cooperation.

Until the 86th minute of the game, Larsson made a pass in front of the penalty area, Nedved responded and entered the penalty area, all the way down and then knocked across the middle, Ruud van Nistelrooy missed the first point in front of the goal, and he was pushed down from behind , before he had time to complain to the referee about the opponent's foul, Shevchenko at the far end outflanked the ball and sent the ball into Bran's goal.

In the end, Millwall beat Bran with four goals in an away game, advancing to the semi-finals.

Aldridge left the field straight after the game without intending to shake hands with the opponent's coach. Anyway, this is not a hard and fast rule. Besides, the opponent belittled his team, so there is no need to pay attention to demeanor with the opponent.

At the post-match press conference, England media reporters asked him about his evaluation of the game.

After pondering for a moment, Aldridge said, Unfortunately, we can only take away a draw from Bran.

The reporters in the audience were stunned.

Brother, your team beat the opponent 4-0!

draw?

Have you crossed yet?

Before the reporter continued to ask questions, Aldridge smiled and said: The youth team lost 1:5 during the day, and we won 4:0 at night, with a total score of 5:5. A draw.

The English reporters in the audience laughed loudly, while the local reporters showed embarrassment.

Closer to home, Aldridge answered some questions, and finally said that in the second round in London, Millwall will still pay attention to his opponent. Never give your opponent any chance to come back.

But most reporters have guessed that Aldridge's attention is not important, but it will be for young players to exercise.

Najib, who is far away in Oslo, the capital of Norway, watched the live broadcast of the game with the coach and players in the hotel.

After the game, he said to the youth team players with a serious face: See? You lost people in Bergen during the day. Fortunately, our first-team players saved the team's face. You may think : They are all stars. Winning should be. Let me tell you, this kind of thinking is wrong, you should tell yourself: They are Millwall's present, we are Millwall's future, no matter how old you are, As long as you are wearing the Millwall jersey, you should shoulder the honor of the team. We are not afraid of losing, but we must not lose the game easily, okay, go back to the room now, sleep, and keep your spirits. Tomorrow we will fight The Huanarunga youth team has a good game and then has a day to rest. We can take a stroll around then, and the day after tomorrow, we will face the youth team of Rosenberg, the strongest team in Norway. I hope you can hold your heads high Go home with your chest high, not come here to be laughed at.

The youth players collectively agreed, and then went back to the room to sleep obediently.

Aldridge led the team to fly back to London the night after the game.

According to Millwall's momentum in the Premier League, their four-goal defeat of Bran in the European away game did not surprise Fleet Street in the slightest. One foot has already entered the threshold of the semi-finals. This made the British media sing praises for the Red Devils, because for more than ten years, no team in England has been able to enter the semi-finals of the Champions League. Until this year, the Premier League teams had the luxury of even qualifying for the group stage. This year, Manchester United not only qualified for the group stage, but also saw the possibility of leading to the final. After all, there are only three games left in the final. The second round against Porto will be a semi-final. If they can pass the two final rounds, they will have a chance to win the championship.

Since losing to Millwall in the Premier League in the first half of the season, Manchester United has no defeat in the league until March, with more wins and fewer draws. narrowed the gap to 13 points.

Originally, this gap had been narrowed to 12 points before the start of the last round of the league, but while Millwall had a draw, Manchester United lost to Sunderland in the away game. They missed the opportunity to narrow the points to 10 points, allowing Ferguson The momentum of the war of words has weakened a lot.

Over the weekend, Millwall played against Sunderland, who overturned Manchester United in the last round.

In order to leave more preparation time for the European Cup Winners Cup in April and May, Aldridge intends to use the main lineup in the league to end the suspense of the Premier League championship, so this round of the game against the newly promoted team, he insisted on using the main lineup Anyway, he plans to send some substitutes in the FA Cup next week.

In the clash at the Lion's Den, Aldridge's opponent was Peter Reid.

This coach is still young, he is only 40 years old this year, and he has something to be proud of in his coaching resume. Just a few years ago, he led Manchester City to beat Manchester United in the league, but his coaching ideas gradually followed Without the times, it is difficult for the British style of play to achieve breakthrough achievements in the league.

Sunderland wants to score points for relegation, but Millwall has already tempered the heart of the big scene, leading Manchester United by 13 points, so there is no need to put too much pressure on yourself.

When Aldridge saw Sunderland's starting lineup, he was immediately surprised. He turned his head and asked Jenson, Did I remember wrongly? Why does it feel like there are many players in Sunderland that I don't know?

In the process of researching opponents, even in the middle and lower reaches of the team, Aldridge has an impression of the names and characteristics of the players. However, among the 11 players who started Sunderland today, he felt that at least 4 of them had very strange faces.

Jansen was also puzzled, so he communicated with Benitez, Craig and other coaches, and after many verifications, he gave Aldridge a positive answer.

Half of them are in the reserve team and have played no more than five games this season.

Aldrich rubbed his head, wondering in his heart: Is this Nima a surprise soldier?

if. Are there too many Raiders?

He asked Benitez: What kind of tricks is Reed playing?

Benitez despised: No tricks, just reserve the strength and wait for the next reincarnation to score points against Nottingham Forest at home.

It has to be said that Aldridge still lacks a little self-consciousness of the strong.

Sunderland ran to the Lion's Den Stadium and smashed against the most powerful Millwall in the Premier League?

What are the chances of getting points?

If Reed thinks that he can get a point by sticking to it, he would look down on Millwall too much. Except for Middlesbrough who won a victory here at the beginning of the season, all the teams that were guests here later lost! And Millwall averaged 3.6 goals per game.

If he dares to play the main team, in case of a rout, the spirit of killing Manchester United at home in the last round will be completely defeated!

The next round of their return home is to face Nottingham Forest, who are at the bottom of the league and have little hope of relegation. Of course, Sunderland wants to use the advantage of the home court to step Nottingham Forest into the abyss and go ashore on their own. Therefore, Reed wisely chose to preserve his strength.

Aldrich's head was a bit of a dead end, he thought that even if the opponent defended to the death, he should play a sneak attack on the basis of resistance.

I didn't realize that Millwall now has the strength to make other teams timid before fighting.

Faced with such a team that is almost patched together and has no team understanding, Millwall easily won the game despite the expedition to Norway in the middle of the week.

in the game. The teammates tried their best to create scoring opportunities for Larson. There was a one-handed goal. Trezeguet also chose to pass a cross to Larson who was diagonally in the middle, allowing the latter to complete the goal.

After the goal, Larson smiled and shook his head at Trezeguet, but the latter hugged him and laughed indifferently.

When the whole game ended, there was thunderous applause from the stands, and the South Stand. Roar fans held up Larsson's No. 11 jersey and shouted in unison: European top scorer!

The result of the game was 6:0, Larson scored a hat-trick, and the number of goals in the league has reached 30.

The Swede was moved at the end of the game. He applauded the fans in the stands frequently, and hugged every teammate. He knew that he could score so many goals. selflessness and support are inseparable.

Aldridge seemed much calmer, and he took the initiative to walk towards Peter Reed at the end of the game. The two met a year ago. It was at the dinner of the Coaches Association. Aldridge was elected the best coach in the Premier League. The two had an in-depth exchange at that time.

Aldrich, congratulations, Millwall's first league title in history, it's amazing.

I'm just lucky. The giants' teams have lost the chain, and the players under them performed well.

Don't be humble, it's hypocritical. Hope we can see you in the Premier League next season.

Hey, why are you discouraged? Show the momentum to kill Manchester United. There are still eight rounds in the league, and relegation is not hopeless.

You're right, then, see you next season.

Ok.

The two chatted for a while and parted ways. Aldridge walked into the tunnel. In the mixed zone, the reporters were less interested. It seemed that Millwall's win could no longer create any sensational news.

However, someone still picked a thorn and asked Aldrich: Sunderland dispatched half of the reserve team players. This is clearly disarming on their own initiative. Is Millwall a bit invincible?

Aldridge shook his head and sneered: I don't think so, I will always send a lot of new players to the game in some games, a team is not only composed of 11 people, or 16 people on the substitute list, only With these people, can you last the whole season? Your question is too stupid. If I say yes, the opponent surrendered before the game, then if I send a few players with new faces in the future, isn’t it equivalent to saying: Millwall Did you surrender too?

The reporter who asked the question was choked, and his words sounded innocuous, and it seemed that people could not refute them, but in fact there was an essential difference, but the reporter stopped pestering them.

Manchester United won Sheffield Wednesday with two goals at home. There are 8 rounds left in the league. Millwall leads by 13 points.

Even if Manchester United win all the last eight rounds, will Millwall lose five games?

Moreover, in terms of the schedule, Manchester United is more focused on the Champions League, and Millwall also has a European game, but it is extremely easy to advance all the way. The real tough battle may only be the semi-finals, and that will be April. It is estimated that Millwall will be there Can be completely freed from the league, but Manchester United still has to secure the Champions League tickets for the second place in the league.

The new week is another double match. The quarter-finals of the FA Cup kicked off. Millwall played at home against Wimbledon, which eliminated Manchester United.

This is a derby in the same city, and Wimbledon's powerful style of play has returned to strength this season, so Aldridge also developed a muscular formation.

Goalkeeper: Keller.

Defenders: Mills, Materazzi, Ferdinand, Zambrotta.

Midfield: Gattuso, Lampard, Ballack.

Forwards: Tony, Ruud, Phillips. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users, please go to m. to read.) (m)