Green Journey

Chapter 124 The Evil Dnipro

On May 5, with the joy of returning to the top of the list, Wolfsburg ushered in the semi-finals of the Europa League at the Volkswagen Arena, and the Ukrainian Super League club Dnipro.

The Volkswagen Arena was once again overcrowded for this game.

Because every Wolfsburg fan wants to witness the team make history again and advance to the Europa League final.

In the eyes of Wolfsburg fans, they have never heard of the Dnipro team.

Almost everyone thinks that Dnipro's ability to make it all the way to the semi-finals of the Europa League is their luck.

In fact it is.

Dnipro scored a total of 9 goals from the play-offs to the quarter-finals.

In Wolfsburg, from the group stage to the present, they have already scored 26 goals.

Regardless of the personal ability of the players or the overall strength of the team, Wolfsburg is enough to kill this club from the Ukrainian Super League.

But the outside media is not as optimistic as the Wolfsburg fans.

Because Dnipro was too evil.

Although there are cases of dark polo teams overturning traditional strong teams every year in world football.

But if you study carefully, you will find that within a certain period of time, these dark horses are actually not inferior to those traditional tycoons in terms of tactical literacy, technical ability, and player fighting spirit, and they are even much stronger in certain aspects.

And Dnipro also meets these conditions.

Although their players are not as good as Wolfsburg in terms of skills, they are not inferior to some European teams in terms of tactical quality, discipline, and fighting spirit.

As for Wolfsburg, although their results this season are very good, their state has fluctuated a bit, and they often lose the chain inexplicably at critical moments.

Moreover, Wolfsburg's old problem of not scoring in the game has been going on for a season, and Dieter Heiking still failed to solve it.

Therefore, in the eyes of some professional football media people, this game is actually full of suspense.

For example, an audience with a very special identity came to the stands today.

Italian head coach Claudio Ranieri.

Although this player is not well-known in world football, he is a well-known figure in the industry.

Ranieri made his debut very early and became famous in the early 90s.

From 1989 to 1991, Ranieri led Cagliari from the third division all the way to the Serie A.

Since then Ranieri has coached Naples, Fiorentina, Parma, Juventus, Roma, Inter Milan, Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Monaco and other clubs.

In the past 20 years, he has had glory and trough.

But if you study his coaching resume carefully, you will find that Ranieri's coaching career is not bad, but he will always be fired, always leaving the moment before the team's best era, Make a wedding dress for the successor.

Therefore, when this Italian was also coaching Chelsea, he was also given the ugly title of "tinker" by the English media, which was defined as "a coach who constantly tries to change formations and lineups".

In May last year, Ranieri, who brought Monaco to Ligue , was fired again by Monaco's top management.

In Monaco for two years, Ranieri brought Monaco from Ligue to Ligue in the first year.

In the second year, he led Monaco to the Ligue 2013 runner-up. In the 14-80 season, he scored points, second only to Paris Saint-Germain.

Yet he was fired again!
In November last year, Ranieri received an invitation from the Greek national team to coach the national team for the first time, filling the gap in his resume.

Yet just four months later, Ranieri was sacked again because of a 0-1 home loss to the Faroe Islands, ranked 187th in the world.

After a few months of unemployment, Ranieri has come back to life recently.

This time it was an olive branch from the Premier League club he was thinking of. The Premier League had just changed to a new owner, Leicester City Club.

Today, he came to the scene just for Chu Zheng.

Since negotiating a coaching contract with Leicester City last month, he has been looking for players for himself.

Before coming to Germany, he just made a trip to Caen, a city in northern France.

Chu Zheng was the last player on the signing list he submitted to Leicester City Club.

Sitting in the stands where the neutral fans belonged, looking at Chu Zheng who was warming up on the field and chatting happily with his teammates, Ranieri's kindly and bitter face didn't show a smile at all.

"Sir, do you have any dissatisfaction with Chu?" Leicester City scout Steve Walsh next to Ranieri asked, frowning.

"His value has risen too fast!" Ranieri shook his head and smiled, halfway through his words.

Steve Walsh suddenly realized that Ranieri was worried about this.

Indeed, although Chu Zheng has never entered the transfer market, his worth has been estimated at 2000 million euros on the German transfer website.

Although this is just an assessment, if Chu Zheng wins the Bundesliga title with Wolfsburg, then Leicester City will probably spend a lot more if they want to buy him.

Steve Walsh has been following Chu Zheng for a long time.

He has seen Chu Zheng's performance, and he personally feels that it will be difficult for them to take away this young talent from Wolfsburg with 2000 million euros.

Not long after, the game between Wolfsburg and Dnipro started.

In this game, Dieter Heiking did not underestimate the enemy. He dispatched all the main players and strived to advance to the final.

After the start of the game, as expected by the media before the game, Wolfsburg had an overall advantage and bombarded Dnipro's goal indiscriminately.

In the 6th minute of the first half, De Bruyne sent a second pass.

Perisic brazenly fired a long shot on the left side of the top of the arc.

Perisic's angle was very tricky, but he still failed to break the ten fingers of Dnipro goalkeeper Boyko.

Just 3 minutes later, De Bruyne's corner kick was sent back.

Chu Zheng hit the goal with a header from close range, and it turned out to be Boyko again.

This guy actually raised his hand at close range to block the ball out of the penalty area and made a world-class save.

After Chu Zheng landed, he was stunned!
Since then, various methods such as long-range shots, free kicks, crosses from the wing, and inverted triangles have blossomed in Wolfsburg.

However, there is no result.

Either he missed the goal or was blocked by the goal post, or he helped Dnipro train the goalkeeper, allowing Boyko to show his crazy state for the fans one after another.

On Dnipro's side, they made the defense to the extreme of their abilities, and the players firmly implemented the defensive counterattack tactics of the head coach Markovic.

In the second half, Dnipro's defense was strengthened again after the adjustment of the intermission.

In the 55th minute of the game, Dnipro, who stubbornly resisted Wolfsburg's offensive, got a chance to counterattack quickly through the right flank.

It's a pity that they are not as fast as Chu Zheng.

Their cross made Chu Zheng, who came back in time, directly block the bottom line.

Subsequently, Dnipro's corner kick was sent back.

Dnipro striker Kalinic won the header fight with Knoch, and the header flew across the middle, followed by right center back Douglas with a header.

Douglas tops the ball with extremely high quality!

The ball went straight to the upper right corner of the goal.

However, although the ball avoided Benalio's ten fingers, it still failed to score in the end.

Because Chu Zheng miraculously appeared next to the goal post again, he took off from a dry land and pushed the ball back to the front of the arc.

(End of this chapter)