Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

On April 21, the highly anticipated Champions League semi-finals kicked off.

After 90 minutes of intense competition, Barcelona, ​​playing at home, defeated Manchester United 1-0, gaining an advantage in the two-legged tie.

Despite losing Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United's performance this season has not declined after the signing of Kaká.

They not only outperformed Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and other competitors in the league, but also maintained their top position.

They've once again successfully made it to the Champions League semi-finals!
In the past three seasons, apart from Real Madrid, who won the Champions League twice in a row, only Manchester United has achieved this feat.

In fact, Manchester United has been very strong in recent years. If they hadn't been unlucky enough to encounter a resurgent Real Madrid, their European performance might have been even more impressive.

This year we finally didn't have to face Real Madrid on the field anymore, but then we ran into Barcelona again.

Many people believe that Barcelona and Real Madrid are on the same level.

Manchester United may be strong, but their prospects are very worrying when facing a team of this caliber.

Before the match, almost no one expected Manchester United to get points away from home.

And indeed, they lost to Barcelona without any doubt.

Ferguson's Manchester United were completely dominated by Barcelona for almost the entire match.

They had less than 40% possession and only one-third of the number of shots on goal as their opponents.

Even Messi's individual shot count is almost matching that of the entire Manchester United team.

Despite being on the back foot, Manchester United performed exceptionally well defensively, denying Barcelona many opportunities.

The only goal of the entire match was created by Messi's exceptional individual skill.

Manchester United's outstanding performance in the first match has given outsiders some hope for their chances of advancing.

The next match is Manchester United's home game. With the effects of the Icelandic volcano still lingering, Barcelona will need to travel by bus to England to prepare for the match.

The long journey will inevitably affect Barcelona's form, giving Manchester United, playing at home, a chance to turn the tide.

"There is still a lot of suspense between Barcelona and Manchester United. If Barcelona refuses to give up the league, they will not be able to go to England in advance to prepare for the season, which will inevitably affect the team's form and give Manchester United an opportunity!"

The pressure is now on Guardiola and the Barcelona club's management.

They have to make a choice: prioritize the league or the Champions League.

"Actually, neither of these options is favorable for Barcelona. They are far behind in the league, and it will be difficult for them to catch up unless Real Madrid makes a mistake."

In the Champions League, with Real Madrid in the mix, even if Barcelona fights tooth and nail to eliminate Manchester United, they'll likely struggle to get past Real Madrid. The head-to-head record between the two teams over the past few years has been extremely unfavorable for Barcelona!

Apart from the Super Cup at the beginning of the season, Barcelona has not won a single competitive match against Real Madrid in the past three years!
With a win rate of only 1 in 10 games, it's hard to be optimistic about their Champions League prospects.

This Barcelona team has great potential and should have achieved even greater things.

But during their rise, they happened to encounter a Renaissance Real Madrid.

The luck that belonged to Barcelona was drained away by Real Madrid in their repeated encounters, and as a result, three years have passed and Barcelona is still stuck in the same place, unable to make a breakthrough.

Real Madrid, on the other hand, has already taken a big step toward its second-ever Champions League three-peat!

……

On April 23, the second half of the semifinals began.

Real Madrid will host Chelsea at home.

Despite Chelsea being a powerhouse club, almost no one believed they could escape the Bernabéu unscathed.

Many fans have already assumed that Real Madrid has eliminated Chelsea and secured their place in the final.

Chelsea fans were furious at being looked down upon like that; they have their pride too.

The Chelsea team managed by Ancelotti is quite different from the Chelsea team under Mourinho.

Their defense remained solid, but their offensive firepower became stronger.

This season, Chelsea averaged 3 goals per game in the league, breaking not only their club record but also setting a new record in the entire Premier League.

Even looking at the top five European leagues, they are second only to the two giants of La Liga.

But both La Liga giants have superstars, while Chelsea does not.

To be fair, Ancelotti's ability to transform Chelsea, a team known for its defense, into such a formidable force in just one season is undeniable.

Given Chelsea's style of play in the league, many expected them to play more aggressively away from home and try to secure an away goal.

The Champions League schedule is favorable to Chelsea, while Real Madrid, like Barcelona, ​​will be affected by the long journey in the second leg.

So as long as they can score in the first leg and don't lose by too much, Chelsea's hopes of advancing still exist.

But Ancelotti's approach was unexpected. Instead of engaging in an attacking battle with Real Madrid as expected, the Blues parked the bus at the Bernabéu...

Are you kidding me?
Are you suggesting we go toe-to-toe with Real Madrid?
Are they trying to kill us already?
In the entire top five leagues, there are few teams that dare to go toe-to-toe with Real Madrid here.

People who do this kind of thing are probably already buried with grass growing several feet high on their graves.

Faced with Real Madrid's powerful attacking force, Ancelotti chose to follow his heart.

There's no way around it, Real Madrid is just too strong.

Mourinho left Chelsea with a solid defensive foundation, and with Ancelotti's targeted adjustments, the Blues performed quite well in this match.

Although their possession rate was even lower than Manchester United's, at only 35%, possession rate isn't something you can live on, so Chelsea didn't care.

Their biggest concern was the number of goals conceded, and in this respect, thanks to goalkeeper Petr Cech's superb performance and the tireless efforts of Chelsea's defenders, they only conceded one goal!
Although they didn't score the away goal they wanted, losing by only one goal at the Bernabéu is already a very pleasant surprise.

At least Ancelotti is very satisfied with this result, as are the vast majority of Chelsea fans.

But there is one exception: Chelsea's owner, Abramovich!

This guy is practically obsessed with winning the Champions League!

Chelsea had finally made it to the semi-finals, and he wanted to go even further—to reach the finals, and perhaps even lift the championship trophy!

But even if you dream about it, you have to see if the Blues have the ability!
Of the four teams that have made it to the semi-finals, Chelsea is the weakest.

Moreover, they were facing Real Madrid, who are widely recognized as the strongest team!

In this situation, the probability of Chelsea winning the championship is extremely low.

Some European betting companies have even offered odds of 1:16 for them, clearly indicating that they are not optimistic about Chelsea winning the title.

However, Abu doesn't think so!

He felt that after spending so much money and buying so many star players over the years, it was time to produce results!
If there are no results, then it's your head coach's incompetence.

So, after the team lost the first leg, Abramovich began to pressure Ancelotti, demanding that he lead the team to victory against Real Madrid and advance to the final.

Ancelotti was overwhelmed by the demands and almost quit! He now understood why Chelsea changed managers so frequently; it would be a miracle to stay with an owner like that for long.

However, his contract with Chelsea included a release clause, and the amount was quite large. Ancelotti didn't want to pay Chelsea the compensation out of his own pocket, so he had no choice but to continue coaching despite the financial burden.

Although it is very difficult, there is still a possibility of defeating Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge in the second leg.

He adjusted the team's tactics in response to some of the weaknesses that Real Madrid exposed in the first leg.

Chelsea will definitely attack in the second leg, but how to attack and prevent the opponent from launching a counter-attack are issues they must consider in advance.

After three consecutive seasons of refinement, Real Madrid's counter-attacking tactics have become very sophisticated.

Previously, they needed Lin Feng's rapid advance in midfield to speed things up, but now, with Xabi Alonso's accurate long passes, they don't even need to cross the halfway line; they can create a huge threat simply by making long passes from the backfield!

But the core of Real Madrid's counter-attacking tactics remains the same: the midfielders are not the forwards, but the midfielders, or more precisely, Lin Feng himself!

In the first scenario, he would need to act as the dealer, responsible for quickly advancing the game and passing the ball.

In the second scenario, he needs to make a forward run to complete the shot when the forwards cannot shoot directly.

In either case, keeping a close eye on him is the right thing to do!

However, Ancelotti hasn't faced Lin Feng in a long time. It's uncertain whether his previous experience in Serie A will still be effective in the Champions League.

Back then, he was able to devise tactics to limit Lin Feng based on his familiarity with Kaka.

However, now that Lin Feng and Kaka's playing styles are becoming increasingly different, it is no longer practical to limit Lin Feng by following Kaka's model.

So Ancelotti frantically crammed on his knowledge, watching videos of Real Madrid's recent dozens of matches, focusing on those where Lin Feng performed poorly or only moderately.

He wanted to see how other teams in La Liga and the Champions League contained Lin Feng when they faced Real Madrid.

……

Chelsea are studying Real Madrid's weaknesses, while Real Madrid are also preparing for their next match.

"This schedule is too packed; it's really disadvantageous for us!"

Under normal circumstances, Barcelona and Manchester United, who played the first leg, should also finish the second leg first.

However, the first to kick off the second leg were Chelsea and Real Madrid, who had played their first leg match.

The next match between the two teams is on April 28, which means there are only six days in between.

In a normal year, six days would be enough.

Even though there is a league match in between the two Champions League matches, they still have three days to go to England to prepare after the league match.

But this year is different from previous years. Due to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, flights between Spain and the United Kingdom have been suspended.

They could only travel to the away game by bus.

Although Madrid to London is not as far as to Moscow, it is still more than 1300 kilometers away.

If you drive, it will take at least a whole day to get around.

It takes at least two days to recover after a day on a bus.

If they wait until after their league matches to go there, it won't be enough time.

So Real Madrid had no choice but to continue to forgo the league.

On April 23, the entire Real Madrid team departed ahead of schedule for London to prepare for the match.

Barcelona had originally planned to leave, but after seeing Real Madrid leave, they changed their minds.

If Real Madrid hadn't given up on the league, Barcelona would have had absolutely no chance of catching up.

But now that Real Madrid has given up, it means that Barcelona has the opportunity to narrow the gap between the two sides to 4 points!
With four rounds remaining in the league, a four-point gap is significant, but compared to the seven points from the previous five rounds, their hopes of defending their league title have greatly increased.

As for whether not going to England in advance to prepare for the match would affect the players' form, Guardiola felt it wouldn't have a significant impact.

Their league season starts a day earlier than Real Madrid's, while their Champions League season starts a day later.

In total, they had two extra days to prepare.

As long as the playing time of the key players is allocated reasonably, and they are not allowed to play the entire game, and then they depart overnight after the game, there should still be enough time!
It's hard to say whether his decision was right or wrong.

Because Real Madrid did indeed lose in the 34th round of matches.

Real Madrid, missing key players, lost 1-2 away to relegation-threatened Zaragoza, handing their opponents a pleasant surprise.

Barcelona, ​​on the other hand, decisively defeated Zaragoza 3-1 at home, with key players like Messi and Xavi being substituted after only playing half the game.

After this round of league matches, the gap between the two teams has been narrowed to 4 points, giving Barcelona fans a glimmer of hope.

……

Compared to their previous long journey, Real Madrid's trip this time was much smoother.

After all, they don't need to change trains along the way and can stay on the team bus for the entire journey.

But the more than 20-hour drive left the players exhausted.

Upon arriving in London, the entire team went straight to their hotel to quickly recharge.

Upon learning that Real Madrid had arrived in London so early to prepare for the match, Ancelotti expressed his regret several times.

They had originally planned to take advantage of the opponent's poor form to bully them, but Mourinho didn't give them the chance at all.

They'd rather give up the league than not bring the team over sooner—that's incredibly prudent!

Now, Chelsea's advantage in physical fitness is no longer so obvious.

Fortunately, the team is in good form. After losing to Real Madrid in the previous match, they returned to the league and thrashed Stoke City 7-0 at home, making a good start for the second leg against Real Madrid.

If they can replicate their form from the last match, they'll dare to challenge even Real Madrid.

While Abramovich has his flaws, he also has his strengths, namely his willingness to spend money lavishly when necessary.

Although he made some excessive demands on Ancelotti, he didn't just talk the talk and leave everything to his subordinates.

To boost the team's morale and inspire the players to fight hard on the field.

Before the match, Abramovich personally contributed £500 million in bonus funds, which he carried directly to Chelsea's dressing room in five suitcases.

"Guys, if you win this game, all this money is yours!"

Since ancient times, wealth has been a powerful motivator. Although these top professional players are all very wealthy, they could become millionaires just by earning their salaries.

But who would complain about having too much money?
If the £500 is split evenly, the key players will receive at least £30, which is equivalent to their monthly salary!

Spurred by the huge bonus, Chelsea's already high morale was now at its peak, with the players practically itching to storm the pitch and tear Real Madrid apart! (End of Chapter)