Who made him play as a winger/attacking midfielder?

Chapter 110 Two Red Cards, Coaching Staff Discovers New Problems

"Chang Huan's through ball to Ünder was beautiful!"

"If it were any other player, they would have definitely taken the opportunity to kick him, but he keenly spotted Ünder in his blind spot."

"And he passed the ball accurately!"

"It's like having a god-like perspective in a game!"

In the live broadcast room in Beijing, CCTV-5 commentator He Wei spoke with great passion and eloquence.

The right corner of the Metalist Stadium.

When the goal scorer, Ünder, waited for Chang Huan to run to the corner flag, he knelt on one knee and gestured for Chang Huan to place his golden left foot on his knee, making a shoe-shining celebration gesture.

"Waaaaah!"

Shakhtar Donetsk fans in the stands booed loudly at the Roma players celebrating their goal in front of them.

But the Roma players ignored them.

Some home fans lost their temper and threw their plastic water bottles onto the field.

Fans never shy away from making things worse, and the prevailing attitude is that there's no one to blame but the masses.

You throw one, I throw one too.

Lighter, keychain, coin.

Security at the scene immediately became tense.

One by one, they stood up, as if facing a formidable enemy.

As the Roma players celebrated their goal, they retreated while gesturing with their hands, seemingly unable to understand the fans' meaning.

Stepanenko was in a lot of pain from Chang Huan's powerful shot hitting his face. He was startled by the fans' reaction and quickly went over to persuade them to calm down.

If the referee writes it in the post-match report—

The next Champions League home game might have to be played behind closed doors!

Head coach Fonseca also ran to the corner flag to calm the agitated home fans.

This little incident passed quickly.

The game has restarted.

Once in possession, Shakhtar Donetsk frequently cut inside to shoot or deliver threatening passes, utilizing the dribbling abilities of their two wingers.

Bernard and Tyson are both small, fast, and agile players, making it difficult for them to be limited on the weak side.

Di Francisco adjusted his defensive tactics, giving up the flanks and concentrating his defensive forces in the middle and on both sides.

The effect is very good.

This led to a significant drop in the threat level of the Donetsk miners.

Fred, who is good at making runs from deep into the box to participate in the attack, uses the space created by cutting inside from both sides to unleash his long-range shooting skills.

However, the distance to the goal was too far, and a long-range shot without maximum speed was unlikely to threaten Alisson's goalkeeping.

At the end of the first half, the scoreboard still showed a 1-1 tie.

The players from both teams returned to their respective locker rooms through the players' tunnel.

Replenish depleted energy and water, heed the coach's adjustments during halftime, and prepare for the second half.

For both teams, the Champions League Round of 16 is a battle that can last 180 or even 210 minutes.

There was a slight mishap.

All the hard work of the entire season has gone down the drain.

The fifteen-minute halftime break passed quickly, and players from both teams returned to the field one after another.

Neither side made any adjustments, continuing with the same starting lineups from the first half.

With home advantage, Shakhtar Donetsk continued to dominate the attack.

Roma retreated to their own half, defending the 30-meter zone and waiting for a counter-attack opportunity.

During certain periods, they will also collectively press forward to press high up the pitch, limiting the space for Shakhtar Donetsk players to hold the ball.

After 45 minutes of the first half, the players gradually adapted to the cold weather in Kharkiv.

The success rate of passing and receiving the ball has increased dramatically.

Chang Huan plays the attacking midfielder position with great ease.

His advanced passive ability, Resilience, makes him fearless of potential injury risks, and his ghostly movement makes him difficult for Shakhtar Donetsk defenders to guard.

Man-to-man marking can indeed effectively limit Chang Huan's movement, but Roma has other players who can create threats.

If a player is left out, it's a conceded goal!

That's how Roma scored the equalizer.

"The regional joint defense system cannot monitor Chang Huan in real time, making overall defense somewhat troublesome."

Captain Stepanenko was also carrying a yellow card, making it impossible for him to even cover the defensive tactical area.

Shakhtar Donetsk coach Fonseca frowned, unsure of what to do.

"This is really a headache."

Di Francesco's tactical approach was clear: despite not being in his usual form, he tried to control the ball as much as possible to ensure that the goal would not be conceded again.

As long as we can escape unscathed from the away game, that's fine.

Leave the advancement to the second leg at home.

Ten minutes into the second half, the battle between the two sides was concentrated in the midfield.

While it doesn't result in people falling over, there are still occasional violent physical collisions.

The atmosphere on site was completely unaffected by the cold weather; the shouts of the Donetsk miners as they pressed on were deafening.

In fact, this thing is invisible and intangible, but its impact on the game is unimaginable.

Tyson, Bernard, and Marlos frequently switched positions.

The midfield and defense, consisting of De Rossi, Strootman, Manolas, and Juan Jesus, gradually began to struggle.

They're incredibly good at drilling!

Especially Bernard, who is 1.64 meters tall, is as thin as an eel.

Fast speed and exquisite footwork.

The quality of the long-range shot is also high.

64 minutes.

The Donetsk Shakhtar Donetsk attack down the right flank, quickly passing through the middle to Bernard on the weak left side.

His inside cuts with the ball are very decisive, almost unreasonable.

Shoot once you've created a good shooting angle.

The powerful football was like a cannonball.

Alisson was very focused and stepped up at the crucial moment, diving to his side to keep the ball out of the net.

One minute later.

Chang Huan received the ball in the middle of the field and played a wonderful one-two pass with Dzeko, bypassing Stepanenko who was carrying a yellow card and sending a lob pass with his right foot.

The ball landed precisely in the space behind right center-back Krivsov, who was marking Dzeko.

Right-back Bukot and left-center-back Rakitic were unable to cover.

El Shaarawy made a run into space, stopping Chang Huan's perfectly timed pass and cutting into the penalty area.

"Waaaaah"

Whether influenced by the overwhelming atmosphere of excitement or intimidated by the inherent pressure from goalkeeper Pyatov, his right-footed shot went wide of the far post.

Standing in the away team's control area, Di Francisco roared in frustration, venting his disappointment at missing a chance.

He looked back at the field, focusing his gaze on Chang Huan, and turned to Tome, saying, "Have you noticed that putting Chang in the attacking midfield position is somewhat limiting his performance?"

"A dense defense in the middle makes him easy to mark, while going to the wing wastes his passing ability."

Tommy nodded slightly.

"My head hurts."

Di Francisco turned back to the coaching bench to get a bottle of water, and just as he took a sip, a sharp whistle suddenly rang out from the field.

"Beep~"

He instinctively turned around and looked at the court.

Referee Collem turned to Manolas and pulled out a yellow card.

Upon seeing this, he suddenly remembered—

It seems like he has a card on him.

Coleman took back the yellow card and then pulled a red card out of his pocket.

Two yellows turn into one red!

"Slap slap slap"

The Shakhtar Donetsk fans who scored the goal were ecstatic and applauded the referee.

"+!"

Di Francisco had no time to complain; he quickly had Tomé call Gonalons over to prepare for the game.

Replace Saladin.

Fazio was unable to play due to a fever, so De Rossi had to play as a center-back, with Gonalons partnering Strootman as the two holding midfielders.

Manolas walked helplessly to the sidelines, and Di Francesco called out to Nainggolan again.

Chang Huan is aggressive on defense, but his defensive awareness and positioning are somewhat lacking.

El Shaarawy and Ünder were both substituted off.

Bringing in Nainggolan ensures sufficient defensive depth in the middle while maintaining support for the flanks.

Chang Huan primarily focuses on defensive support, while on offense he coordinates the midfield and defense with the midfield and forward lines.

With a one-man advantage, Shakhtar Donetsk seemed to see a glimmer of hope for a home win, and their offensive surged into Roma's half like a tidal wave.

but--

Their starting lineup primarily relies on wingers cutting inside and defensive midfielders making runs forward to attack.

There really isn't a good way to infiltrate Rome's formation of three forward lines.

Long-range shots, set pieces, and crosses are powerful tools for breaking down dense defenses, but the area in front of the penalty area is full of players, making it difficult for long-range shots to bypass the players and hit the corner of the goal.

Crossing then became the main attacking tactic.

However, Ferreira, who is 1.86 meters tall, has a hard time winning against De Rossi and Juan Jesus in the penalty area.

After a series of unsuccessful attacks, Fonseca decided to make personnel adjustments.

Just then, an unexpected scene unfolded on the field.

Stepanenko's forward pass was too deliberate and was intercepted by Nainggolan who moved ahead of time.

Chang Huan immediately created space to receive the pass and shoved the ball forward as Nainggolan passed it.

Fred was out of position, so Stepanenko had to clean up the mess himself.

Faced with Chang Huan's deceptive rhythmic swaying after slowing down, he was caught off guard and lost his balance.

He realized that Chang Huan had strong dribbling skills, and the full-backs on both sides were too far forward in the attack.

There were only two center-backs behind him.

Rome also had a Dzeko.

That means if we let them pass, it will be a 2v2 situation.

As the person responsible for the passing error, I bear the unshirkable responsibility.

Lifting his left foot, he extended his toes and kicked Chang Huan's left ankle, which was dragging behind him.

"Beep~"

Chang Huan, who had fallen to the ground, used the momentum to roll twice while clutching his left ankle, and then the whistle blew.

The frenzied atmosphere instantly plummeted to freezing point, with all the Shakhtar Donetsk fans nervously watching the referee.

"That's a clear tactical foul!"

Sky Sports Italy commentator Fabio Carreza exclaimed, "Letting him go would be a 2-on-2 situation, a classic yellow card offense!"

After a moment's hesitation, Kolem faced Stepanenko, who was pleading for leniency, with a solemn expression, and pulled out a yellow card from his right breast pocket.

What did the Shakhtar Donetsk captain, coach, and fans in the stands realize when they saw this?

Another red card was pulled out of his pocket.

Two yellows turn into one red!

"In the 78th minute, Roma's quick counter-attack resulted in Shakhtar Donetsk captain Stepanenko receiving his second yellow card!"

CCTV-5 commentator He Wei exclaimed loudly, "Ten against ten!"

"I hope Chang Huan is alright. He's Roma's hope for winning both Serie A and the Italian Cup this season—"

As soon as commentator Xu Yang finished speaking, Chang Huan was pulled up from the ground by Dzeko: "Chang Huan's physical abilities are truly remarkable; he can remain standing even after being repeatedly fouled by defensive players!"

"The primary condition for becoming a superstar is being resilient enough."

He Wei laughed and said, "Chang Huan has this kind of body!"

A deafening chorus of boos erupted at Metalist Stadium, directed at referee Coleman.

In their view, this was pure biased refereeing!

With ten minutes remaining in the game, Fonseca decided not to make any adjustments to the attack, but instead to ensure that the defense remained intact.

A striker was substituted and replaced with a defensive midfielder.

Ensure sufficient personnel in the midfield and defense.

In this context, the two sides seem to have reached a tacit understanding.

The attack will not commit too many troops to the core area.

The main focus is on ensuring a solid defense.

Chang Huan's ability to transition from defense to offense was somewhat hampered by a lack of physical strength, and he didn't have many effective ways to counter the physical attacks from Shakhtar Donetsk players.

In addition, his teammates weren't particularly eager to move forward, so sometimes when he received the ball, he was left to carry the team alone.

After three minutes of stoppage time, referee Coleman blew his whistle to signal the end of the match.

Ultimately, Roma drew 1-1 with Shakhtar Donetsk away from home.

This sets a good tone for the two-round knockout stage.