The Young Lion

The European Cup Winners' Cup final battle ignited, Aldridge glanced at Barcelona's lineup, feeling a little miscalculated in his heart.

It is not surprising that some changes in the lineup, but the formation made him unexpected.

After Cruyff's sad curtain call, Robson coached Barcelona this season and changed the team's formation from 433 to 442. Today, it is obvious that the usual formation is changed for Millwall, such as Popes in the midfielder position. Ku, is to use a defender to play the midfielder. On the one hand, it strengthens the defense in front of the penalty area, and on the other hand, it liberates Guardiola.

Barcelona's young lineup is really star-studded. As Aldridge emphasized, Ronaldo is Barcelona's superstar this season, but if he doesn't have so many outstanding teammates behind him, he will never be able to rise to superstar status in three months high.

It's just that among the players in this game, behind Ronaldo, Figo's ability is needless to say. Enrique was the absolute main force in Real Madrid before. If he hadn't fallen out with the club on the issue of contract renewal, I am afraid he would not have come to Barcelona. Enrique is not only diligent on the court, but also a team player with a very obvious effect. He is also the type of player that Aldridge admires very much. There is no coach who doesn't like this kind of work. It seems simple and unpretentious, but it is actually very important.

As for De La Pena, who is in the midfielder position, his reputation in the future will be lower than it is now, because he is now a Spanish golden boy with the same reputation as Raul. His ability to make a deadly pass is simply a master. Ronaldo scored goals this season Such as hemp. It is directly related to Dela Pena's first pass.

further back. Guardiola is the hub of offensive and defensive transition. The defensive players are also not unknown. Originally, among the Spanish giants, which player does not have a skill?

Among the players who did not appear on the field, Pizzi, Giovanni, Stoichkov, Blanco... There are always a group of players who are the absolute main players of the first-line team on the bench of the giants.

Although Barcelona used a 4231 formation to limit Millwall. But Aldridge did not make any changes in his tactics.

Unlike the older lineup against Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona are young and the game is decided every 90 minutes.

Comparing the 11 players from both sides alone, Barcelona's offensive ability is absolutely superior, and defensively, everyone may be evenly matched.

Therefore, the outside world is more optimistic about Barcelona.

But there is a word that Americans like to emphasize very much, and Aldridge thinks it is the key point of the game: team chemistry!

The personal ability value of the Barcelona team exceeds that of Millwall.

But the ability value of team chemistry, Aldridge thinks Millwall is better.

Although Barcelona now also plays as a team, it has by no means reached a particularly unusual level. Especially when the team's offense and defense are viewed together.

Not to mention Ronaldo, De La Pena has made very little contribution to the defensive end.

It's no surprise that Barcelona have more firepower than Real Madrid this season. The number of goals in the league is close to 20 more than Real Madrid, but they are still catching up with Real Madrid. The defense is not particularly good. Their number of goals conceded is the most among the top four in La Liga.

Aldridge believes that as long as Millwall plays his own style, this game will have a chance of winning. If you think about how to limit the opponent's personal performance from the beginning, then the game will be difficult to play.

Millwall's main players have rested for almost half a month. Today's game is full of physical fitness and fighting spirit. After the game started, the whole team quickly entered the game state, focusing on running in a large area during the game, with a high degree of concentration, handling the ball Never hesitate.

Pirlo is still the commander of the midfield. When he gets the ball, there are at least three teammates running around to let him choose the route of the ball. And he played the ball calmly, decisively and correctly in de la Pena's symbolic pressing. .

Schneider took the ball from the wing and went forward. Guardiola assisted the guard to press the ball. Schneider crossed the ball in the middle. Nedved pulled the ball back and stopped the ball at his feet, and then left the ball in place. Going forward, this way of doing the ball made Barcelona feel strange, because it seemed that Millwall lost the ball. In fact, it was just Nedved who made sure that Pirlo, who was in the attack, could hold the ball and avoid the back pass. Pirlo's speed of stopping the ball stagnated.

They have dazzling technical displays in training, although it is not the combination of human balls and fancy movements at the feet, but in combination with the time difference and challenges the defensive players' nerves and judgment.

For example, for this ball, Popescu hesitated for a second, and took a step to grab the ball, but it was impossible for him to grab the ball in front of Pirlo, but the ball just stopped there, between lightning and flint, instinct Thinking beyond reason, so he took a wrong step. Just as he retracted his body, Nedved had already run three meters away from him. Pirlo rushed forward and passed a straight pass. Nedved took At the same time as the ball, it also broke through Barcelona's defensive line.

In front of Abelardo, Nedved crossed the ball to Shevchenko on the right. Kicks off and shoots a volley.

Baia didn't respond, bang!

The ball hit the outside of the post and bounced off the baseline!

This wave of offense was so smooth that the Barcelona players couldn't even touch the ball. The audience in the stands were stunned, especially the neutral fans. This is a wonderful thing that they can't feel through the whole scene in front of the TV. football.

Millwall launched an attack from the backcourt, combined with the combination of the side and the middle, and then played deep through the middle, making continuous and rapid passes. The players' passing and cutting movements were like ruthless knives that tore through Barcelona's defense.

There was applause from the stands, but Nedved ran back expressionlessly, and he ran to Guardiola two meters in front of him to make a defensive posture.

Guardiola felt strange. Without the ball, Nedved stood in front of him, and there was a French boy Trezeguet staring at him. This is the rhythm of staring at the striker!

On the wing, Larsson and Shevchenko also retreated halfway, connecting with the full-backs to compress the space of Figo and Enrique.

Pirlo and Makelele flanked De La Pena. If De La Pena retreats. Makelele did not move. Pirlo retreated deeper, because Makelele still had to flank Ronaldo with the back line, compressing the space for the alien to move.

This scene cannot be seen in the close-up shots of live TV, but it can be seen clearly on the sidelines and in the stands, the head coach and the fans.

Not to mention that Robson frowned, even Mourinho looked solemn.

It can be seen from the positioning and running of the players on the field that Millwall purposely connected the three lines closely together when defending. Cut Barcelona's formation, but never take the risk. If Barcelona's ball returns to the back line, Millwall's forwards will not fight for the ball.

If Barcelona's central defenders have the organizational ability to advance all the way, then Millwall will only choose to compress the space in the backcourt.

Due to the intensity of the La Liga game and the national derby just played a few days ago, the Barcelona players did not enter the state after the start of the game. Popescu took the ball in the midfield and passed the ball to the front to respond. de la pena.

The speed of this new generation of Spain's new generation of passing organizations is not particularly fast. He seems to be particularly confident in his ability at his feet, provided that Figo and Enrique did not run out of space. He chose to turn around on the spot, trying to get past Pirlo. But Pirlo easily stretched out his foot and poked his ball away.

The ball rolled to the left, and Larsson touched the ball before Enrique, and directly stabbed the ball to the center. Before Makelele received the ball, de la Pena rushed up, and the former easily kicked the ball lightly Going forward, Pirlo stepped forward to take the ball, and then directly threw a long pass to the opponent's penalty area.

When Pirlo succeeded in the first steal, Trezeguet started to run forward. At this time, he happened to press the level line of Cotto, the last man in Barcelona's defense line. Barcelona's attack came to an abrupt end in the midfield. This is something none of their players expected. When Pirlo made a long pass, the defenders were walking forward. Suddenly the ball came back and Cotto immediately sprinted backwards.

Baia decisively abandoned the goal and Trezeguet took the lead when he just crossed the penalty area line with a header.

Baia jumped up midway and stretched out his hand to block it, but his fingertips actually touched the ball!

Trezeguet shook his head regretfully, then immediately turned and ran back to find Guardiola.

The blocked ball landed next to Abelardo, and he made a big clearance and went to the frontcourt, actually a little flustered.

The ball fell to the wing, Figo took the ball, turned around and didn't have a choice of the ball, so he dribbled forward. Today he faced Schneider, and immediately showed his dexterous dribbling skills.

Schneider will never go out blindly to steal. He knows that it will only allow the opponent to break through easily and then get rid of himself.

He was stuck in the inside position, Figo chose to go down, and Schneider still guarded the inside line to press close. Figo, a winger who does not rely on speed, mainly relies on his foot skills. The combination of man and ball is a master. As long as Ned doesn't lose his position and can keep up with Figo in terms of speed, he won't be completely wiped out.

Slowing down the opponent's rhythm, letting his teammates set up a defensive formation, and compressing the opponent's space, Schneider's confidence is getting stronger and stronger.

Figo tricked Schneider with a fake move on the bottom line, but he just pulled the ball on the spot, pulled out the gap and made a cross.

In the penalty area, Elguera overwhelmed Ronaldo with a header to clear the siege. Makelele, who protected two points near the penalty area, made a header relay without waiting for the ball to land, and consciously pushed the ball to the left.

After receiving the ball, Capdevila crossed the ball diagonally, Nedved took the ball, and Millwall's stormy counterattack swept towards the goal of Barcelona again...

Although Nedved hit the goal post with a kick and Trezeguet's single-handed header was successfully saved by goalkeeper Baia, Aldridge did not feel regretful at all.

This is just one of the most normal laws of football games. Not every good opportunity will turn into a goal.

Moreover, the game has not completely entered the winning track of the Millwall team.

He is waiting, watching.

Barcelona's offense was severely hindered, and the midfielder was completely passive. Guardiola, as the core of the midfielder's offensive and defensive conversion, had a sharp drop in the number of possessions. Trezeguet and Nedved sandwiched him in the middle, making Barcelona's Teammates dare not pass the ball to him.

And De La Pena was also restricted by Pirlo and Makelele and had no room to play.

Ronaldo is also isolated in the frontcourt.

Before the game, all the British media were making moves for Millwall, putting forward various theories to limit Ronaldo.

But the focus of Aldridge's team defense is not Ronaldo at all, but the teammates behind Ronaldo.

Ronaldo is a top scorer and the number one great figure in football history, but he is not omnipotent! He needs teammates to make the ball for him, needs teammates to help him get involved, and needs a strong team!

This is true whether in the giants or in the national team.

Ronaldo who got the ball, even if he got the ball with his back, the threat would be full value, but Ronaldo who couldn't get the ball, how could he be a threat? This kind of thinking is similar to the ball possession advocated by Cruyff, except that one is used for offense and the other is for defense.

One is to reduce Ronaldo's chances of getting the ball, and the other is to compress his space for holding the ball. Even if he gets the ball, he cannot get a chance to shoot in the dangerous area!

After more than 20 minutes of the game, Barcelona's offense became monotonous, the midfielder was unable to stop the offense, and individual breakthroughs from the wing became a common means to reverse the situation, but Millwall's defense was very successful.

Gradually, Barcelona's backcourt players had to press up to increase the outlet points, so that they could have more options when attacking.

Observing the starting premise of Barcelona's back line, Aldridge's cold eyes flickered, revealing a ray of fanaticism. (To be continued..) (m)