Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Chapter 310 The Champions League begins, Real Madrid VS Inter Milan!

Cagliari's collapse was like an avalanche. After the first goal was scored, their defensive system collapsed as if it did not exist at all!
Less than two minutes after Lin Feng scored the goal, Torres received a cross from Beckham in the penalty area and scored with a header.

In the 79th minute, Vieira's long shot from outside the penalty area helped Inter Milan extend the lead to 3:0.
In just a few minutes, Cagliari conceded three goals.

The morale of the entire team therefore plummeted. The players on the field became less and less confident and made more and more mistakes.

If Inter Milan had not continued to pursue the victory at the last minute in order to prepare for the Champions League match at the weekend, they would definitely have suffered a terrible defeat at the Meazza Stadium today!

After the game, Cagliari players fled in panic, not wanting to stay here any longer.

Inter Milan's players did not celebrate wildly. They just walked around the field as usual to thank the fans who came to support them, then returned to the locker room, showered and went home to rest.

From their indifferent reactions, one could not sense the joy they felt for having just broken the Serie A winning streak record again.

It seems that for everyone in Inter Milan, this is already an insignificant matter and not worth making a fuss about.

But after the game, the good news from another game still made Inter Milan's players smile.

Roma, in a sluggish state, lost 0:1 to Empoli, who played with ten men, away from home.

Inter Milan already had a huge lead in the standings, but now Roma is falling behind.

This made the score difference between the two sides exceed double digits for the first time, reaching 11 points!
There are still fifteen rounds left in the league, and the 11-point gap is a huge advantage for Inter Milan.

In the entire five major leagues, there are only a handful of teams that can make a comeback and win the championship after falling behind so much in the second half of the league.

Lin Feng seems to remember that only in the 95-96 season, Manchester United completed an epic reversal and won the championship when they were 12 points behind Newcastle with rounds left in the league.

It was precisely thanks to this season's stunning comeback that Manchester United established its dominance in the Premier League during the Ferguson era.

Before that, Ferguson only won two top league championship trophies in the nine seasons he coached Manchester United, which was completely incomparable to the era when Manchester United almost monopolized the Premier League championship.

Thanks to the joining of Adriano, Roma this season is slightly stronger than the original Roma, but everything has its pros and cons.

It is precisely because of Ade's joining that Roma has become a little self-inflated. They want the league championship, revenge on Inter Milan in the cup, and even do not intend to let go of the Champions League.

But Roma is not a top club with a deep foundation after all, and their bench depth is still far behind Inter Milan.

In the situation of fighting on three fronts, Rome was bound to be caught between a rock and a hard place.

If you are unlucky, you may end up with nothing.

Not surprisingly, after this round of games, the Italian media began to wail again.

There is still a little more than half of the league season left, but the suspense of the championship has already been killed in advance.

The absence of Juventus, the lack of ambition of AC Milan, and the frequent failures of Roma have made Inter Milan the only team dominating the Serie A this season.

Affected by this, the ratings of Serie A this season have dropped significantly.

It is not known whether it is because the league has become less exciting or simply affected by last year's phone-gate scandal, but the average audience and ratings of Serie A this season have both dropped by more than 10%.

The only region that has grown against the trend is probably Asia, especially the data from China.

……

The significant lead in the league allows Inter Milan to deal with the upcoming Champions League knockout rounds more calmly.

Since Inter Milan had previously beaten Bayern to win first place in the group in the group stage, the schedule of the knockout stage is in their favor.

The first game against Real Madrid was played at the Bernabeu, and Inter's goal in this game was to score a goal.

It would be best if we can win, but if we can't, as long as we don't lose by too much or get shut out by the opponent, that's acceptable.

For Real Madrid, since the schedule is not favorable to them, they face great offensive pressure in the first leg.

If they can't even beat their opponents at home, how can they have the confidence to compete with Inter Milan away from home?

Over the past season, Inter Milan's home record has been quite impressive. Since Lin Feng joined, Inter Milan has changed its past style of being a dragon on the road and a worm at home, and its home field has become extremely terrifying.

Whether it is Juventus, AC Milan, or even the southern king Bayern Munich, they all come here to enter vertically and leave horizontally.

So far, Inter Milan has only lost one game at home in the Champions League, which was last year's semi-final where they lost 1:2 to Arsenal.

So for Real Madrid, this schedule is quite stressful.

If they fail to win at home, their hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals will be very slim!

But even so, at the pre-match press conference, Real Madrid coach Capello still expressed confidence in defeating the opponent:
"Victory? Of course, we are the best team in the world, this is our home court, I can't find any reason to lose!"

However, the reporters did not buy into Capello's bold words, and one reporter immediately stood up and questioned:
“But Inter Milan has been in very hot form recently, not only winning 16 games in a row in the league, but also remaining undefeated in the Champions League;
On the other hand, Real Madrid was not only suppressed by Barcelona in the league, but also suffered humiliation from Lyon in the Champions League group stage, and could only advance as the second in the group. ”

The reporter did not continue with the rest of the words, but the meaning was very clear: Real Madrid is not in good shape at the moment. As the head coach of Real Madrid, aren't you a bit too optimistic to say such brazen words?
Capello looked at the reporter who asked the question with some anger, wanting to see which blind guy was pestering him like this.

However, after seeing clearly that the other party was a reporter from Barcelona's mouthpiece, Mundo Deportivo, he was immediately relieved.

How could Barcelona's mouthpiece speak for Real Madrid?
However, the opponent's attacks were not fabricated out of thin air. Real Madrid's record this season is indeed not very good.

In the league, they have just been tied by Real Betis and are already 4 points behind Barcelona, ​​who are at the top of the standings.

What's even worse is that both Sevilla and Valencia have surpassed them, and Real Madrid's ranking has dropped to fourth place. If it drops one more place, it will not be able to play in the Champions League next year!

But even if the other party's words were true, how could Capello accept them humbly?

"I have fought against Inter Milan in Serie A for many years. Inter Milan has no secrets in front of me. This is our biggest chance of winning!"

After saying this, he walked away in a huff. The reporters protested. Many people didn't even have the chance to ask questions. Is this the end?
Mancini, who arrived at the press conference later, couldn't help laughing when he learned that Capello had walked away in anger:

"Maybe Mr. Fabio has been under too much pressure recently, so he can't control his emotions. But he is right about one thing. He does know Inter Milan and even me very well, but I also know him very well. I am fully prepared for his style of play!" The head coaches of both teams said before the game that they had found a way to deal with each other, but they refused to disclose specific details. This move has aroused the curiosity of many people. Everyone wants to know what method they have.
On the evening of February 2, at 21:20, the Bernabeu Stadium was brightly lit.

The huge stadium was filled with supporters of both teams. Real Madrid fans wearing white jerseys occupied most of the stands, while Inter Milan fans wearing blue and black jerseys were relatively few in number and could only be seen in some of the northern stands.

Judging from the number of people, there were about 4000-5000 people, which is definitely not comparable to the scale of more than Real Madrid fans on the scene.

However, considering the distance between the two places, it is already quite good that so many Inter Milan fans have flown over to support the team.

In the past few seasons, thanks to Inter Milan's ever-improving performance, the enthusiasm of the Nerazzurri has become increasingly high.

Considering that it is only the first stage of the knockout stage, the fans' enthusiasm has not yet been fully ignited.

When Inter Milan advances to the next round and reaches the quarterfinals, semifinals or even the final, the Nerazzurri's enthusiasm for watching the game will definitely be further enhanced, and the number of fans traveling with the team will definitely increase dramatically.

But all this is based on winning the game. If Inter Milan can't even get through the first round, what about the future?

Half an hour before the game started, the media reporters finally got the starting lineups of both teams.

After seeing the starting lineups of the two teams, the reporters' faces turned strange.

So this is what Capello and Mancini meant by being prepared?
In this game, both teams sent out three defensive midfielders.

Capello has rarely used this style of play since he came to Real Madrid.

After all, Real Madrid fans are pursuing gorgeous offensive football, not sending a group of muscular men to wrestle on the field.

On the contrary, Inter Milan fans do not have such high aspirations. Playing well is important, but as long as they can win the game, they will use whatever method works!
So at the beginning of this season, Mancini often used this style of play in the league.

The lineup of three defensive midfielders, Cambiasso, Vieira and Stankovic, is indeed useful.

If Serie A teams encounter this combination, they can forget about the midfield, as they simply cannot withstand Inter Milan's stranglehold.

However, how effective this tactic is against top teams remains to be tested.

It’s a good opportunity to test the waters with Real Madrid coached by Capello!
Seeing the lineup Mancini arranged, Capello couldn't help but twitch his mouth.

This guy is so shameless that he actually dared to steal my tactics!

But it doesn’t matter, the advantage is mine!
This style of play was developed by himself and is what he is most familiar with and proficient in. Mancini is just copying and may not have learned the essence of it!

Due to the offensive pressure, Real Madrid took the initiative to attack Inter Milan after the start of the game.

Compared with the league lineup last weekend, Real Madrid made some personnel changes in this game.

Veteran Carlos started the game, and Argentine youngster Higuain, who joined from River Plate during the winter break, played in the Champions League for Real Madrid for the first time. In this game, the young player replaced Brazilian Robinho.

Cycling Prince Robinho has not had a good time in Real Madrid recently because of too much negative news off the field, especially too much gossip, which has caused Real Madrid president Calderon to be somewhat dissatisfied with him.

In addition, his poor attitude towards team training also caused Capello's dissatisfaction, which led to his absence from such an important game.

There are rumors that Real Madrid intends to sell the Brazilian this summer to free up salary space to pursue Kaka or Lin Feng with all their strength.

Although we don’t know whether the news is true or not, it may not be groundless.

Back on the field, after five minutes of mutual testing, Real Madrid's attack gradually became more fierce.

In the 5th minute of the game, Real Madrid threw the ball out of bounds on the sideline, and the ball went straight into Inter Milan's penalty area.

Materazzi got stuck in position and jumped high to clear the ball.

However, he made a mistake in clearing the ball. After he headed the ball, it not only did not go away from his own penalty area, but was headed into his own penalty area and fell in front of Real Madrid striker Van Nistelrooy.

Fortunately, Van Nistelrooy himself was startled, and his hasty volley shot failed to keep the angle right and hit the target.

But this ball was really dangerous. When Van Nistelrooy shot, he was only 11 meters away from Inter Milan's goal!
The mood of the head coaches of the two teams watching this game went up and down like a roller coaster!
When Mancini saw Materazzi make a mistake in clearing the ball, he was suddenly worried. It was not until Van Nistelrooy also made a mistake that he finally felt relieved.

On the other side, Capello saw Materazzi make a mistake and said to himself, God help me. Then he saw Van Nistelrooy kick the ball into the stands. His heart was finally at peace...

It is rude not to reciprocate. Although Inter Milan focused on defense in this game, they did not forget that their task is to score as many away goals as possible.

So after enduring Real Madrid's offensive round, it was Inter Milan's turn to counterattack.

In the 7th minute, Grosso made a cross pass from the left, Lin Feng cut across and changed direction before sending a straight pass.

Unfortunately, Cannavaro predicted the ball in advance at the penalty area and blocked it with his foot.

But just as Real Madrid was about to launch a counterattack, they were intercepted by Inter Milan's midfielder.

Vieira made a beautiful move, pushed Guti over and successfully snatched the ball from his feet.

Perhaps because the referee of this game was from Britain, he not only did not call a foul on Vieira, he even signaled for the game to continue, as if he was encouraging physical confrontation.

The referee's way of judging the game was exactly what Vieira wanted.

Since leaving the Premier League, he has never been accustomed to the penalty standards in Serie A.

Today he finally found the familiar feeling, which greatly boosted Vieira's confidence. After taking two steps, he decisively kicked a long shot.

The ball had plenty of power, but unfortunately it was too high.

Lin Feng, who was in an open position at the side, shook his head helplessly. Figo was in an open position just now. If Vieira passed the ball to him, he and Figo would have the opportunity to cooperate and the chance of scoring a goal would be obviously greater.

But unfortunately, Vieira did not see such an opportunity, or maybe he was too excited and wanted to take such a kick.

(End of this chapter)