The Young Lion

Before the second round of the UEFA Champions League semi-final, the situation of the Premier League changed suddenly, and Manchester United, which had occupied the standings for more than half a year, slipped to second place in the standings!

The gutter capsized!

Manchester United did not expand their lead in the league after being eliminated by Monaco in the Champions League. Instead, they drew at Old Trafford with Newcastle United, who were still in danger of relegation. In the same round, Arsenal swept their city derby rival Wenzhou 5-0 at Highbury. Bourdain surpassed Manchester United by 1 point to top the list.

With the last three rounds of the Premier League remaining, the situation of winning the championship has undergone earth-shaking changes. Not only has Manchester United lost the initiative, but they may even lose the runner-up!

In addition to Leeds United and Crystal Palace, Manchester United's opponents in the last three rounds also have a guest at the Lions Den to challenge Millwall in the last round. The goal difference between the two teams is only 2. Manchester United leads, but in terms of points, Manchester United leads Millwall Wall scored 3 points.

Arsenal's opponents in the last three rounds are Barnsley, Everton and Aston Villa.

Millwall is 4 points behind the leader and 3 points behind the second place Manchester United. With only three rounds left, Aldridge declared bluntly: defending failed!

Fleet Street found that the current situation is very similar to the final championship situation of the previous season, except that Newcastle United, Manchester United, and Millwall were ranked in the top three at that time. Now Arsenal has replaced Newcastle United, and Newcastle United Similarly, with three rounds left, they still lead the standings. The only difference is that Arsenal no longer have to compete with their direct competitors. Instead, Manchester United and Millwall will have a confrontation. Obviously, the probability of Arsenal winning the championship Far surpassed Newcastle United two years ago.

From August to April, Millwall was completely relieved in the league. Although it was a blow that they could not defend the title, they have been chasing since September. The psychological blow is definitely not as strong as Manchester United. In the Champions League, this is no longer a secret. No matter how stubborn Aldridge was before, the attitude they showed was to hit the Champions League and the league can always maintain pressure on the leaders. Fleet Street said that this is still a very successful season for Millwall, at least they have already won the trophy.

The second round of the Champions League semi-final is imminent, and the whole Millwall team is unaware of the situation in the Premier League. They are united and embark on the journey to Monaco.

Monaco, Stade Louis II.

Aldridge led his team here today and showed a very low-key attitude before the game. Even slightly pessimistic.

He emphasized that Monaco has the advantage of home court. Millwall did not win the game in the first leg. Coupled with Southgate's suspension, they have lost the opportunity to advance to the final.

this time,

Aldridge did not talk to Tigana before the game, and the other party was the owner of the place. Came over to shake hands with Aldridge before the game, then patted each other's arms and then separated. The two were actually not at peace.

As a young coach of the new generation, no matter who gets the ticket to enter the Champions League final after this game, it will be the peak moment of his personal coaching career, which will undoubtedly make his personal fame and achievements reach a new level in European football and world football. the height of!

The second leg of the Champions League semi-final, Monaco vs. Millwall is about to start, before this season. Not many people would guess that one of these two teams will reach the Champions League final. Monaco will succeed the previous coach. After Wenger led the team to win the Ligue 1 championship, it has been nearly ten years since they played in the Champions League. However, the new coach Tigana won the Ligue 1 title last season, and this season he embarked on the UEFA Champions League that Monaco has not seen for many years. From the group stage to the knockout stage , went all the way to the semi-finals, and drew 0-0 with Millwall in the first leg. Now at their home court, the situation of advancing to the final is very favorable for them. Millwall is led by the young coach Aldridge- Led by Hall, the club competed in the Champions League for the first time in more than a century. He also achieved a brilliant record. He shocked Europe with a complete victory in the group stage, double-killed Barcelona in two classic games, and relied on tenacious will in the quarter-finals. We have eliminated Juventus, the favorite to win the championship. Although they are not favored at the moment, they must not be underestimated. In Turin, they created a miracle. In Monaco, what will they bring? We will wait and see!

Southgate, who was fined and suspended, took his family to the away game in a suit and leather shoes to watch the game. His suspension was only for one game. If the team advances to the final, he will definitely be able to play as long as he is not injured.

Today Millwall's starting formation is 4231, and there are two changes in personnel.

Materazzi replaced Southgate's starting central defender partner Elguera. In the past two league games, Aldridge specifically let Elgla and Materazzi partner in the league, and consciously put the opponent's offense to test the two. The tacit understanding between people is not bad. Materazzi has been in the team for four years and has been steadily improving. Moreover, his brave and tenacious style of play is also very suitable for the characteristics of the Premier League. His technical ability has reached the finalized stage. The performance of more than 25 league and cup appearances has won praise.

Another personnel change saw Andriy Shevchenko sitting on the bench, replaced by Danish golden winger Glenciel.

If Millwall wants to play conservatively today, it needs some personal abilities when attacking from the wing, especially the speed characteristics. The two Nordic wingers, Larsson and Glenshire, are the most critical points in the team's counterattack.

The game started quickly, and Monaco took advantage of the home court to control the rhythm of the game, playing unhurriedly, and testing the opponent's state first.

Millwall is not so polite. Once the defense is successful, they immediately pass forward quickly. Although the number of offensive players is not large, the offensive threat from the wing is very intuitive.

The dribbling lines of Glenshire and Larson after taking the ball today are very clear: cut inside, cut inside, cut inside crazy!

Glenn Shire is the dribble king of the team. The average number of dribbles he created in the limited number of appearances ranked first in the Premier League, which gave Larson room to start. He is also very fast with the ball, but Due to his role, he doesn't often dribble. Instead, he moves to cut the opponent's ribs in the penalty area and directly threatens the opponent with a shot.

The two were deliberately told by Aldrich before the game today, to go inside after getting the ball, and to dribble, as long as they pass one of the opponent's defenders, it is good, and they must not dribble consecutively, as long as they pass one person, they must start with a clear mind Observe, when the opponent has a second player to intercept, the defense must be free, so it is necessary to seek cooperation with teammates.

In static defense. Nedved was marked by the two midfielders of the opponent, and Trezeguet was also flanked by the two central defenders of the opponent. However, in a dynamic game, as long as the gap on the side is opened and the line is cut inside, the opponent will inevitably attack the ball. Players pay attention, especially Larson. If he dribbles the ball in front of the penalty area and no one goes up to block it, then his long-range shot may pass through his own gate.

Monaco fans are more optimistic. They played a friendly match at the beginning of the season. Monaco played 4:4 with the opponent in the away game. In the first round of the contest that ended half a month ago, Monaco also took away a draw from the away game. Today at home, the hope of winning the game is very high.

But they were wrong. Big mistake.

The friendly match is negligible. After the start of the last game, Millwall was hit by a wave of fatal counterattacks, which led to Southgate's red card. He lost one player early, and Millwall naturally seemed to have no threat.

But in this game, Monaco wants to win and resolve the battle within 90 minutes. In addition, at home, the posture must be more positive than the away game in the previous round. On the other hand, Millwall has set up a fence. In the attack, relying on a small number of troops in the front field to attack the opponent's defense in a targeted manner. Between this opening and closing, Millwall's characteristics and power are far stronger than the previous game.

Monaco played positional warfare and wanted to tear apart Millwall's defense. They found that Millwall was monolithic, even Henry, who made Southgate's red card in the last game. In the case of no sprint space, he cannot directly threaten the opponent's gate at the winger position. In a sense, he is not the Henry of the King of Highbury, not only in terms of technical experience and ability, but also in terms of kicking awareness!

The two teams came and went, 20 minutes passed, and no one had a great opportunity, but the situation changed little by little.

Aldridge was watching the game with his chin raised and his hands in his pockets. Monaco's defensive formation had fallen into a passive rhythm. Approaching the middle, the intention is to compress the forward space of the two wingers after cutting in, and it is also to prepare for the replacement when teammates rush to block.

In the twenty-eighth minute of the game, Makelele stole the ball and handed the ball to Pirlo. Pirlo passed the ball to Glenciel. Someone was marking him close to him, but this time Glenshire cleverly stopped the ball, knocked the ball back to Pirlo, and then ran forward by himself.

Pirlo also kicked the ball in the face of the return ball and turned the ball to the left. Larson broke forward with the ball, and at the same time there were teammates running forward at high speed behind him. Larson wiped the opponent's defender After midfield, the ball was passed to Nedved who ran out of the middle.

Monaco shrunk the defense in the middle. Nedved took control of the ball and observed the situation. Then he kicked a pass to the bottom line area on the left. Capdevila who assisted him unexpectedly rushed past the entire defense line of the opponent. This time Monaco The entire defense line turned pale with fright.

Capdevila kept the ball in check, waited for Monaco's entire defense to move back, and then knocked the ball back in front of the box before someone pressed him.

Pirlo appeared in that position, the position that gave Juventus fans a chill, and it was in this position that Pirlo killed Juventus!

Monaco also realized that Pirlo cannot be allowed to play here, absolutely not!

The defensive line came out again for a while, and between closing and releasing, there was a loophole in their marking. Pirlo calmly did not kick, but passed the ball past the Monaco defenders.

Trezeguet ran horizontally on the left side of the small penalty area line. Facing the wonderful assist from Pirlo, he pushed the ball without stopping the ball.

Monaco goalkeeper Bathezi fought hard to save, but his reaction was still a step slow. The ball rubbed against the goal post and rolled into the goal!

Trezeguet! Millwall opened the scoring in the away game. The Millwall team scored a goal through pleasing cooperation. The whole process is endlessly memorable. Pirlo's calm pass at the end is a master. I thought he would shoot from a long distance, but he passed the ball, and he passed it after making sure that his teammates were not offside. Trezeguet's shot also showed his killer qualities. He did not hesitate at all, and pushed with the inside of his foot. The speed of the ball is not particularly fast, but the angle is very tricky. It rubbed the post and rolled into Monaco's goal! Millwall leads 1-0 away, Monaco is in danger, they must now score two goals in the remaining time to qualify, when After this goal, it was declared impossible to have extra time in this game.” ()