Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 269 Bayern's Show of Force
The pre-match warm-up is over.

When the players from both sides walked off the field, the stands around them were completely filled with fans.

The majority of them were Bayern Munich fans, and there were also quite a few Manchester City fans, totaling more than 4000. They were die-hard Manchester City fans. Of course, more than 1400 of them were English women who were die-hard fans of Shan Yongzhuo.

In addition, there is a large group of neutral fans on the west side of the stadium, consisting of tourists and international students.

The vast majority of them were Chinese students studying in Germany, and many even came from places as far north as Hamburg, specifically to support Shan Yongzhuo.

At this moment, standing at the entrance of the Allianz Arena's home locker room was an elderly man in a suit and tie, with his silver hair neatly combed. He looked somewhat dignified, but was actually a kind old man.

He is Jupp Heynckes, the famous interim coach of Bayern Munich.

Heynckes has achieved remarkable success in both his playing and coaching careers.

He was one of the most famous center forwards in German football during the 1960s and 70s, and helped Borussia Mönchengladbach achieve a three-peat.

Heynckes ranks third on the Bundesliga's all-time goalscoring list with 220 goals. He has also performed well in European competitions and is the only player to have won the Golden Boot in all three major European competitions.

After retiring, he became a head coach, starting at Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he led the team to the UEFA Cup final that same year.

Last season, Heynckes led Bayer Leverkusen to a runner-up finish in the league, surpassing Bayern Munich. Then, in March of this year, Heynckes took over Bayern for the third time, once again managing the team during a time of crisis.

Heynckes knew exactly what Bayern needed most right now: to regain dominance over Dortmund in the league and reclaim their Bundesliga dominance.

Secondly, Bayern Munich's management would prefer to see Bayern Munich achieve something in the Champions League.

This achievement refers to winning the championship.

This puts considerable pressure on Heynckes.

Leaving aside the very strong Dortmund in the last two years, Bayern Munich has been suppressed by Dortmund for two consecutive years. Heynckes himself is not absolutely certain that he can defeat Klopp's team.

Secondly, the Champions League.

Winning the championship is incredibly difficult.

Now, Heynckes is having a terrible headache.

Manchester City is the team that Heynckes values ​​most in the group stage.

He was very well prepared for the group stage match against Manchester City. He even discussed Manchester City with the coaching staff more than half a month ago.

In Heynckes' view, this was a very strange team.

It's true that some teams can achieve good results through the outstanding performance of a superstar player, but the best they can do is only fourth, fifth, or sixth place, especially in the highly competitive Premier League.

However, in top-tier teams, it becomes extremely difficult to rely on the performance of a single star player.

Manchester City is different.

According to Heynckes, while Manchester City has other star players, such as Silva, Aguero, and Milner, these players are not true superstars.

In Heynckes' view, Silva and Aguero are Manchester City's two most valuable stars besides Shan Yongzhuo, but they are still a cut above stars like Robben and Ribery.

With such a squad and Mancini's coaching ability, winning the treble is almost impossible.

Therefore, in the eyes of Heynckes' coaching staff, Manchester City is actually a one-man team led by Shan Yongzhuo.

Their ability to win the treble last season and achieve such outstanding results this season is entirely due to number 10, Shan Yongzhuo.

"This is a terrifying, yet bizarre, super shooter."

This is Heynckes' conclusion about Shan Yongzhuo.

Heynckes said he couldn't quite understand Shan Yongzhuo. In his opinion, Shan Yongzhuo was actually useless in every aspect except for his shooting skills.

Whether it's dribbling skills, speed, physical strength, passing, or tactical ability.

These are all very ordinary.

Even if he occasionally has some outstanding performances, most of the time, he is far from being a star player.

But what makes him truly formidable is his shooting technique. In his football philosophy, no other player can hone their shooting skills to such an extent.

And Shan Yongzhuo did it.

Therefore, Heynckes was somewhat unsure how to limit him.

This is also normal.

Almost every club in Europe is looking for ways to limit Shan Yongzhuo, but so far, no team has been able to truly restrict his performance.

If they can reduce his goal tally by a few, that would be considered quite good.

Some even abandoned offense altogether and focused entirely on defense.

This is certainly not something that could happen to Bayern Munich.

Heynckes' strategy was to engage in an attacking battle with the opponent and score more goals than they did.

As the match was about to begin, Heynckes rallied his players, saying, "We need to play more strategically and score more goals than our opponents!"

"We are Bayern Munich!"

"I believe you know your opponents well. They have the best strikers in all of Europe, but we are a team. We will not be overwhelmed by any one of their players, not even Pelé or Maradona!"

"I have only one requirement for this match: to score more goals than our opponents!"

"..."

Soon, the players from both sides entered the field.

The game is about to begin.

When the referee blew the whistle to start the match, the game officially began, with Bayern Munich kicking off and launching an attack on Manchester City.

The two teams knew absolutely nothing about each other.

This is the first time Manchester City has faced Bayern Munich in an official match. After all, Manchester City used to be too weak and never had the opportunity to play against a powerhouse like Bayern.

Generally speaking, when teams that are not familiar with each other play against each other, they will first try to probe each other's strengths and weaknesses.

But Bayern had no such intention; they moved at a fast pace and launched a quick attack right from the start.

Bayern's formation is 4-2-3-1, a formation that relies heavily on the performance of the wingers.

Of course, Bayern Munich has the resources to do so on the flanks, with Robben and Ribery forming one of the most lethal duos in Europe.

In addition, there's midfielder Müller and center forward Gomez at the very front.

Bayern's attack is initiated by Robben and Ribery on the flanks, with Gomez acting as a bridgehead to disrupt the opponent's defense. Müller then lurks in the back, using runs to stretch the defense or pick off loose balls.

The two defensive midfielders, Schweinsteiger and Kroos, are responsible for sweeping and pushing forward, and for organizing and orchestrating the attack.

In addition, there's the Bundesliga's overall open and expansive style.

All of this makes Bayern's attack appear concise and sharp, often delivering a fatal blow.

Once the match started, Robben quickly received the ball on the right wing and then sprinted down the flank like a thoroughbred horse.

Silva was almost immediately and completely outmaneuvered by Robben, who couldn't catch up at all.

After getting past Silva, the whole world knew what Robben was up to.

And he did.

After arriving near the penalty area, Robben didn't linger on the wing with Clichy. Instead, he shook off Clichy, cut inside, and unleashed a long-range shot.

The shot was of very high quality, almost grazing the crossbar as it flew towards the stands, giving the Manchester City players a real scare.

Bayern Munich gave Manchester City a rude awakening right from the start.

(End of this chapter)