The Young Lion

Thank you Thieves for your reward!

Although Millwall scored a goal early in this game to equalize the total score, and still had an advantage on the scene, the offensive fluency was far worse than the previous game!

The most obvious change was that the offense was disrupted by fouls by Valencia.

In the first 25 minutes, Millwall had 5 free kicks and directly attacked the goal. Pirlo's three-footed shot was blocked by the wall, and two feet flew into the stands.

Aldridge stood on the sidelines and observed the situation on the field, taking notes of every detail during the game.

Gradually, he also figured out Valencia's counterattack strategy today.

Unlike the previous game where the two wings flew together excessively, the wing attack fell into isolation in the end.

Valencia changed in the counterattack today.

The key point is Aimar and the other side of the non-instigating attack.

Take Gonzales as an example. When he launched an attack on the left and rushed forward, Aimar took the initiative to approach the left to form a connection with him. At the same time, Mendieta on the other side leaned towards the center to form a connection point.

When it comes to the level of the game against Millwall, Valencia's counterattack counts on monotonous offensive methods to open up the situation, which is a dream.

If they were to play other opponents, even some top-notch teams would be able to blow out their opponents unilaterally to form the threat of the last blow or the last pass, but against Millwall, if they were determined to go to the black side, then It would really hit the south wall to death.

Therefore, Valencia actually changed from flying with two wings to a counterattack with one wing, focusing on one side in the counterattack and forming an advantage locally. Create opportunities.

Valencia still has its own advantages in specific circumstances. For example, they fight back. There is a lot of space in the frontcourt, which is an advantage.

When Aimar is crowded on the same side with Gonzalez or Mendieta, Gattuso is faced with a choice, whether to follow Aymar to the side, forming a 2vs2 defense with the full-back teammates, even when the winger returns. In the case of withdrawal, a double team is formed.

Gattuso hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to guard the middle, as long as the opponent does not cut inside and enter the dangerous zone. He only needs to follow the opponent's front point to advance and retreat, compressing the defensive space.

Gattuso is still a bit apprehensive. The opponent's players on the other side will lean towards the middle. If he loses his position, the middle will be wide open, and the back line will lose the protection of the barrier.

Valencia played like this,

The test is the ability of Millwall's central and frontcourt players to return to defense. They have indeed been able to advance the offense on the wing. Millwall's full-back alone cannot prevent the impact of the opponent's two players. But this is just a means of offense, to end. In terms of scoring goals, Valencia obviously lacked a solution.

The offense advances to the wing position of the penalty area line, and then cooperates or breaks through the center. Millwall's full-backs and central defenders form a joint defense. Pirlo's return to defense may be a bit worrying, but Nedved retreats to defend , can definitely be reassuring.

After Aldridge had an insight into Valencia's counterattack routines, he had to look at Cooper differently.

It can only be said that Valencia is unlucky. If Nedved has not recovered to his best condition or is still recovering from his injuries, then according to Millwall's tactics of using Klose in the first half of the season, Valencia will play like this. Counterattack, the quality of Millwall's midfield return defense will drop a notch, if Valencia puts more effort, Albelda and Baraja can assist at random, this flexible unilateral flying wing counterattack tactic, maybe It can really penetrate Millwall's defense. Of course, if Nedved can't play, Aldridge will definitely add a defensive midfielder to strengthen protection.

In the 34th minute, Valencia counterattacked from the side and then crossed the ball and was cleared by Materazzi. Gattuso controlled the peripheral landing and was fouled by Aimar just after stopping the ball. The referee booed Aimar at the Lion King Stadium. Marr is shown the yellow card.

This is Aimar's third foul in the first half. Even if it was an insignificant tactical foul in the frontcourt, the referee still warned the opponent with a yellow card.

Two minutes later, Henry's shot was caught by Canizares. Valencia continued to counterattack. This time Gonzalez passed the ball from the wing and was intercepted by Schneider. Reis tripped Schneider from behind, and he was also shown a yellow card by the referee.

Although Valencia's counterattack was much better than in the previous match, at least the advancing area was closer to Millwall's penalty area, but the opportunity for the final blow was still not created.

This made their offensive players start to get a little impatient.

Millwall's offense can basically form a shot after 3 dangerous attacks, but Valencia's side doesn't even have a chance to shoot.

In the 42nd minute of the first half, Gonzalez and Aimar cooperated all the way to the bottom on the left, and then did not pass. Sanchez in front of the goal was completely marked. The ball was kicked back, and Gonzalez crossed to Mendieta who moved to the middle.

Mendieta saw Millwall's tight defense and there was really no room for passing the ball, so he didn't dare to control the ball too much, otherwise he would be counterattacked if he lost the ball, so he simply took a long shot.

The quality of this long-range shot is so poor that it is impossible to look directly at it.

He didn't fly towards the goal at all, hit Materazzi's leg at close range, and then popped out of the baseline.

Valencia's offense today is exactly the same as the last time the two teams met. The counterattack they rely on for survival can't play any threat in front of Millwall. This gives us an illusion that it is only a matter of time before Millwall scores again. If you can't score, then Valencia must have God's favor.

Valencia took a corner kick and they attacked with a corner kick. There were only three people inside and outside the penalty area, Sanchez, Mendieta, and Baraja who came up.

Gonzalez and Aimar played a tactical corner kick, Schneider stepped forward to mark Gonzalez, Aimar ran back to make room, and after receiving a pass from Gonzalez, he hung into the penalty area.

The quality of his inward-spinning cross was not high, and it landed in front of the penalty spot, where only Baraja was able to grab the spot.

Pagliuca moved his position, and there were many tall Millwall players in front of him. Even if Baraja headed the goal, there was not much angle at all.

The fans in the stands of the Lion King Stadium witnessed an incredible scene.

Baraja didn't touch the ball, and he made the top rush. But the neck seems to be short. The ball flew past his eyes. Immediately afterwards, the ball hit, well, it hit Gattuso's head, and the flight trajectory changed.

Pagliuca's pupils shrank slightly, and he almost cursed: Don't bring such a trick!

The ball turned into a hanging goal and flew to the dead corner at the far end of the goal.

Pagliuca moved over to save, but it was obviously too late.

Including Gattuso himself. All the players in the Millwall penalty area turned their heads to look at their gates with horror or bewilderment.

Wow!

There was an uproar and sighs at the Lion King Stadium.

The goal was scored! Valencia equalized the score of the game, 1:1, 1:1, they now lead Millwall with a total score of 2:1, and because they have the advantage of away goals, unless Millwall can score twice The ball will win, otherwise, Valencia will step on the defending champion and advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League! This ball, this ball, should be considered an own goal. If no one touches Aimar’s cross, it will definitely not fly into the goal. Gattuso headed into his own goal. Poor Gattuso, he probably wanted to ask Baraja why he didn't hit the ball?

Gattuso didn't just want to question Baraja, he wanted to beat him up!

He was less than one meter away from Baraja, and he was about to turn his head and look at his gate to see the result of Baraja's summit, but the ball accidentally hit his head, and he became an impeccable Hang the door, hang Pagliuca!

This own goal not only made the Valencia players seem to be frozen for two seconds, even Cooper on the sidelines rubbed his eyes, trying to make sure that he was not dazzled or hallucinating!

Afterwards, Valencia's players rushed to celebrate. If they couldn't hug Gattuso, they would have surrounded him and kissed him frantically. In the end, they surrounded Aimar to celebrate.

Cooper waved his arms excitedly too, what a fucking surprise!

How the team should play offense, how to solve the opportunity to create the final blow, he racked his brains to think about it, and his mind collapsed!

Well now, someone has solved this problem for him, it is their opponent, Millwall!

With this away goal, as long as Valencia defends the rest of the time and is not scored by Millwall, then they will advance to the semi-finals!

The cheering sound that had been ringing through the stadium since before the game suddenly stopped, and the whole stadium fell into a dead silence. The Valencia fans couldn't make much momentum. Compared with before, it was mosquitoes at most.

Wild Lion fans were confused by this own goal.

Everyone knows that the future situation is not optimistic, and the sudden blow makes everyone feel like they have been poured cold water.

The Millwall team themselves behaved as usual after conceding the ball, Southgate didn't say a word, just walked up behind Gattuso and patted him on the head before pushing him forward, as if to give him motivation .

Aldridge suddenly raised his arms on the sidelines, and his expression did not show loss or suffering. He walked back and forth indifferently, using body movements to revitalize the court.

The fans in the stands saw that their king was inspiring the atmosphere of the stadium, and without saying a word, they continued to shout and cheer for the team.

Nothing else, cheer for the team, put pressure on the opponent, and never be stingy!

In less than half a minute, the Lion King Stadium returned to a fiery atmosphere.

Aldridge stopped moving, and stood on the sidelines, thinking sharply.

He suddenly felt that Valencia was an evil team.

What's wrong with Millwall's defense? Basically no problem.

For the ball just now, Baraja's own distance to the top is not a distance that is absolutely threatening with a header. In addition, there is a defender blocking the angle in front of him. Even if he hits the top, the possibility of scoring is very low.

But just like Carew's fake stop cover in the first round, Baraja rushed to the top and didn't touch the ball to create confusion, saving his teammates the task of attacking the goal, and simply asked Millwall to help them. Hand in hand to present an oolong gift.

Things have gone from bad to worse.

1:0 to 1:1, this is a world of difference.

On the basis of 1:1, Millwall not only wants to win, but also wins at least 2!

The situation in Valencia is completely reversed. They will defend more resolutely and take risks to fight back. After 1:1, the offensive enthusiasm and investment should be further adjusted and decreased.

It can be seen from Millwall's re-kick-off that Valencia didn't even have a player who passed the half-time. Forward Sanchez ran back and actively participated in the defense, blocking the inside and outside of the penalty area.

The first half of the game came to an end quickly, in response to Valencia's strategy to further strengthen its defense, Millwall did not play a threatening offensive in the last few minutes.

When the half-time whistle sounded, Aldridge turned around and walked into the player channel with a thoughtful look.

Conventional offensive methods will be difficult to play great opportunities in the second half. Is it luck to watch players improvise?

Aldridge recalled the details recorded in the first half of the game observation, sorted out each link, trying to find Valencia's weaknesses or places that can be used.

Before entering the dressing room, he suddenly stopped, raised his head and said without thinking: Will this have a miraculous effect? (To be continued...) ()