Chapter 988: The Battle of Stamford Bridge (1)
On April 27, the world-renowned Champions League semifinals finally kicked off.
The first to start the battle are Barcelona and Real Madrid, who have the highest call to win the championship.
Real Madrid is the team with the most Champions League titles, while Barcelona is the head of attacking football and is known as the European dream team.
These two teams are home to some of the world's best stars, and each is coached by a superstar coach, so the match has been hailed by fans and the media as the battle of Mars and Earth.
Real Madrid and Barcelona would have fallen apart even if they played a friendly match, let alone such a crucial game.
The game was very miserable, Real Madrid central defender Pepe was sent off for stepping on Alves, coach Mourinho was also sent off with a red card, and Barcelona substitute goalkeeper Pinto was also sent off for hitting people and eating a red card.
Due to the lack of one man, Mourinho's steel defense finally collapsed after the 70th minute, in the 77th minute, Messi grabbed the goal, ten minutes later, Messi singled out Real Madrid's back and the entire back line to complete the goal, and finally Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 2:0 away, one foot into the final.
The match between Real Madrid and Barcelona touched Chelsea a lot, because Chelsea is a team dominated by iron-blooded defense, such a team is greatly influenced by the referee, and the referee is lenient, they will play very well, and the referee will be strict, and they will not be able to play their own characteristics.
It was Spaniard Marenco who officiated the match between Manchester United and Chelsea, which is not a good thing for Chelsea, because Spanish football is more delicate, and the referee may enforce the law more harshly.
At the pre-match press conference, Ancelotti talked about the referee's enforcement scale in advance about the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, he said that although Pepe should be sent off, Alves also has some performance components, football is a very intense sport, and the referee's penalty scale has a great impact on the fluency of the game.
Ferguson is also a veteran of football, and he understood Ancelotti's intentions as soon as he heard it, but he did not refute it, because Manchester United is not a technical team, and the penalty scale is relaxed, and it is not sure who will make a profit.
The first leg of the semi-final was played at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home ground, and it was a big deal for Blues fans.
Although Manchester United have not taken advantage of Chelsea since Abramovich took charge, and have been robbed of several league titles, it was the 08 Champions League final that Chelsea lost to Manchester United on penalties and missed out on the first European title in the club's history.
Although Chelsea's hierarchy and coaches have avoided talking about revenge, fearing that it will affect the mentality of the players, the shadow of the penalty loss to Manchester United in the Champions League final is already in the minds of Chelsea players, and it is not impossible to talk about it, and goalkeeper Petr Cech publicly said some time ago: "Although the record says that Manchester United were the winners, they didn't really win the final in 2008 at all, they were just luckier than us in the penalty shoot-out." ”
There are no qualms for Blues fans, who have long been clamoring for revenge on Manchester United at Stamford Bridge to reclaim their Champions League title.
The game started at 8.45pm, but Blues fans from all over the world waited around Stamford Bridge in the afternoon, cheering on the team in a variety of ways to intimidate the United.
At half past six o'clock in the evening, Stamford Bridge opened to allow early entry, and the Blues fans who had been surrounding the pitch immediately lined up at all exits.
At around eight o'clock, there were barely any empty seats in the stands at Stamford Bridge, with Blues fans wearing blue shirts, scarves and flags in the air, looking out like a sea of blue.
Monkey, Xiao Le, Zhang Qi, and Chen Qiang also came to the scene with a group of Chinese fans.
This is a game related to the success or failure of Gao Xiaodong's season, and the opponent is Manchester United's rival Chelsea, Zhang Qi and Chen Qiang both chose to come to the scene to support Gao Xiaodong.
It was still early in the game, and clips of Chelsea's matches were shown on the big screens in the stadium for fans to see.
Chelsea's promotional work was done well today, with footage of Chelsea scoring the Manchester United goal on the big screen.
The Chelsea fans who were waiting for revenge watched the video and almost climaxed, and from time to time there was a burst of cheers, as if the game had already begun, leaving the United fans speechless.
With half an hour to go, the Chelsea players came out to warm up, which drew another wave of cheers from the Blues fans.
At this moment, the commentators on the scene have already obtained the starting lists of both sides, and when the players are warming up, they have also begun to introduce the lineup formation of the two sides to the fans and analyze it.
Chelsea lined up in a 442 formation, with Torres and Didier Drogba up front, Frank Lampard, Essien, Ramirez and Russia international Zhirkov in midfield, with the likes of Malouda and Nicolas Anelka on the bench, and Branislav Ivanovic back to partner John Terry at centre-back, with Bosingwa and Ashley Cole on the flanks and Petr Cech in goalkeeper.
Manchester United is also in a 442 formation, goalkeeper Van der Sar, the backline of the iron man Ferdinand and Vidic in the central defenders, on both sides of Rafael and Evra, the midfield combination of Gao Xiaodong, Fletcher, Nani, Valencia, Rooney and Hernandez in the forward line, Berbatov on the bench.
Sky Sports' on-site commentator Andy Gray analyzed: Although both teams are in a 442 formation, Chelsea focuses on hardness and strength, while Manchester United focuses on speed and strength;
CCTV's commentator He Hui analyzed that Ancelotti actually has a lot of ideas for this arrangement, there are so many muscle clubs in the midfield, it is estimated that he thinks Scholes will start, and wants to strangle Scholes;
As for Manchester United, He Hui is more familiar with Manchester United, he has not started from veterans like Scholes and Ryan Giggs, judging that Manchester United is estimated to use strength to consume the opponent in the first half of the game, and use the opportunity to counterattack with speed, and it is estimated that the second half will focus on attack.
As the players warmed up and returned to the dressing room, Abu walked into his luxury box at Stamford Bridge, with Zhukova and Emma behind him. Watson.
Sitting down in her seat, Zhukova smiled and said to Emma: "Emma, as a fan of the Blues, you still need me to invite you to watch the game, this is too unusual, do you think that the opponent is your sweetheart, you don't know who to support, so you just don't watch it." ”
Hearing Zhukova say that Chelsea's opponent was Emma's sweetheart, Abu raised an eyebrow, but did not speak, just stared at the pitch with all his thoughts.
Emma frowned slightly and said, "Don't talk nonsense, Sister Zhukova, people are not my sweetheart." ”
Zhu Keva asked in surprise: "What's the matter, didn't the news hype you and Gao Xiaodong every day some time ago?"
Emma said, "It's nothing, it's not there." ”
Zhukova sighed and said, "It looks like that kid made you angry." ”
Emma frowned and said, "Sister Zhukova, let's not talk about it, okay." ”
At this time, Abu spoke, "The game has begun, watch the game." ”
Zhukova smiled and took Emma's hand and whispered, "If that kid really offends you, I'll go to him for trouble." ”
Emma said, "No, it's okay, let's watch the game." ”
Zhu Keva saw that Emma's eyes had been staring at Gao Xiaodong who appeared, and said in her heart, it's okay, there must be something, I just don't know what happened, take time for me to interrogate this girl.