Chapter 234: In Time of Crisis
Not long after Pato was replaced, Dortmund also made personnel changes, and Grosskreutz, who played hard, replaced Reuss to increase the team's overall running ability. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info
In the blink of an eye, the game time entered 75 minutes, a critical point in the physical fitness of both sides.
Pato worked hard, and as a strong contender for the 2009 European Golden Boy Award, he always wanted to prove that he was better than Tang Zheng, but his poor private life caused him to be in poor health.
Coupled with Tang Zheng's full form, Pato, who came off the bench, couldn't find a good opportunity to pose a threat to the Dortmund backline.
AC Milan at home have all three substitutions and Allegri has no chance to rest the squad again, all he can do is wait.
Truth be told, he knew that the equaliser would only depend on the stars in this situation.
However, judging from the current situation, the chances of stars shining are low.
As the game time went on, except for the substitutes Shaarawy and Pato, who had plenty of energy, the other players, including Emanuelsen, who came on unexpectedly as a substitute, were seriously exhausted.
As for why, it has to do with Dortmund's continued high pressing.
Pressed by Dortmund's high post for a long time, AC Milan had a time when the overall formation was only limited to defenders and forwards, and the midfield was disjointed.
If you want to connect the two lines in series, you have to run longer distances, but in this way, the physical exertion is more severe.
During the period when the physical fitness entered the critical point, the offensive and defensive rhythm of the two sides changed very slowly, as if they had reached a tacit understanding.
AC Milan made all three substitutions, Allegri had no cards to play and could only rely on the eleven players present to change the home defeat.
Borussia Dortmund's players are more unified, now leading the score, with two more away goals in their hands, as long as the score remains until the end of the game, it is basically certain that the team will advance to the quarterfinals of this season's Champions League.
Of course, that doesn't mean Dortmund are ready to defend on the road.
Instead, they chose to shrink the formation and play a quick counterattack.
With ten minutes of regular time remaining, it was no surprise that the visiting Borussia Dortmund had chosen to do so.
Moreover, Klopp still has the last card in his hand, so he can have a contingency strategy in case of an accident.
During the period when Dortmund contracted their formation, AC Milan gained a lot of attacking space, but due to Dortmund's shrinking formation, it greatly compressed the attacking space that El Shaarawy and Pato needed.
Ibrahimovic has a lot of individual quality, but his strength is based on having the ball at his feet or having the full support of his team-mates, otherwise everything is in vain.
Tang Zheng, who helped Borussia Dortmund score the winning goal, was still active during the period when the team was shrinking the defense, and Klopp gave him plenty of space to move, which perfectly stimulated his ability to read the game.
Pirlo sat on the bench, nodding his head while applying ice packs, nodding in satisfaction to Tang Zheng, who frequently appeared at football drops.
Tang Zheng's performance is as steady as ever, whether it is offensive or defensive.
Thinking of this, he who has played for AC Milan for ten years is inevitably a little emotional.
With a quick counter-attack from Dortmund, Tang Zheng completed the shot and released the anti-aircraft gun, Pirlo smiled and shook his head.
Now that he is part of Borussia Dortmund, the future of his old club is not something he should think about.
Boss Silvio Berlusconi is getting more and more picky, and it is difficult for the team to attract quality stars to join.
Having strong purchasing power is what makes a team thrive.
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As for AC Milan's performance at home, the Italian national TV commentator is not optimistic that AC Milan will equalize at home.
However, the home fans at the San Siro Stadium stood in front of their seats and slashed their throats to cheer for AC Milan.
It's just that Dortmund's defense is very good, and the game is very focused, and it doesn't leave AC Milan a chance at all.
In the history of world football, AC Milan have a not-so-good tradition of reversing others much less than others reversing themselves.
One of the most vivid memories was the 2004-2005 Champions League final, when AC Milan, who led by three goals in the first half, were conceded by Liverpool in nine minutes in the second half......
In the 89th minute of the game, Dortmund made the last substitution of the game.
The incredibly fast Polish demon Kuba replaced Gotze, who had significantly decreased in fitness, and increased the speed of the counterattack while strengthening the flank defence.
Despite this, Allegri had no choice, and the 1-2 defeat at home was somewhat ugly.
Unless you have to, it's hard to accept losing at home.
AC Milan recklessly stepped up their attack and wanted to equalise or even overtake in the final moments of the game.
But this style of play is not their characteristic, the players are adapting, so the attack seems to be thunderous and rainy, and it does not make much difference.
When the referee blew the full-time whistle, the scoreboard showed 1:2
The home team is in the front, the away team is in the back.
Borussia Dortmund beat seven-time Champions League winners AC Milan at the San Siro.
AC Milan fans in the stands did not complain and chose to accompany the team they support.
Serie A is in decline, and AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi is unwilling to invest a lot of money, and it is difficult to succeed in today's world football.
You win, and you will reign with the world.
If you lose, I will accompany you to make a comeback.
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The game ended with Dortmund defeating AC Milan 2-1 away, and many on-site commentators have announced in advance that Dortmund has entered the quarterfinals of this season's Champions League, after all, they have been unbeaten at home for two seasons, and now this AC Milan team wants to beat Dortmund at the Westpharan Lun Stadium, which is extremely difficult!
In his regular post-match press conference, Klopp was very pleased with the team's away win over AC Milan, but he did not say that the team's chances of promotion had increased significantly, but that there was still a tougher game to go to qualify for the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League.
AC Milan coach Allegri spoke to the media and said that there is still a chance for away games.
Even if Borussia Dortmund are unbeaten at home for more than two seasons in all competitions, he believes that records are meant to be broken, and AC Milan's tradition is to break records.
In this regard, the German media scoffed, believing that Allegri is a dead duck with a hard mouth.
However, they did not directly refute Allegri, after all, Bayer Leverkusen and Barcelona have lost the first leg at home, which is basically equivalent to only Dortmund and Bayern Munich in the Champions League this season, so it is better to keep a low profile.
Also not very optimistic about AC Milan's away game is the Chinese media, who believe that Tang Zheng is currently in hot form, and both offense and defense have played a huge catalytic role in the team.
The next day, the focus of the media was still on the past Champions League matches, but the players on both sides quickly collected their emotions and prepared for the domestic league.
Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, return to North Rhine-Westphalia with a league game this weekend, hosting Hannover 96.
And this league game is also Dortmund's last game in February.
Then, it was an international break.
As for the remaining second leg of the Champions League 1/8 finals, there is still more than half a month.
Hannover 96 have 34 points from the last 22 league games, ranking seventh in the league, and belong to the upper middle of the league, but there is still a clear gap compared to Dortmund at the top of the table.
The score at the end of the 90-minute match also reflected this, with the cheers of 80,000 home fans in the stadium, Dortmund beat the visiting Hannover 96 3-1 at home.
The end of this game also means that the international break is coming.
Tang Zheng was once again called up by the Chinese Football Association to prepare for the final match of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil in Guangzhou early next month, which will also determine the final qualification place in Group A.
In the previous five rounds, Group A was ranked first in the group by Jordan, which had four wins and one loss and accumulated 12 points, and the Chinese team ranked first with 9 points with three wins and two losses, and ranked second in the group by virtue of their mutual wins and losses.
Nevertheless, considering that Iraq's opponent in the final round is Singapore, which was eliminated from the group early, this game at home must be won!
As expected, Iraq beat Singapore and occupy one of the qualifying spots with 12 points.
As for the other place, it will be between Jordan and China.
Originally, Jordan won all the first four rounds, and as long as they drew at home to Iraq in the fifth round, they could advance to the top of the group.
But the result?
They lost at home to Iraq in the last round, resulting in a final round that became a do-or-die battle.
For this match, both Chinese fans and Jordanian fans are very nervous.
However, the most nervous are the Chinese fans, if the Chinese team has no way to win at home, then it will have to prepare for the 2018 World Cup in Russia in advance.
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Tang Zheng and Hao Junmin arrived in Guangzhou on the 28th, just two days before the Chinese team's match against Jordan at the Tianhe Sports Center, which means that they have no extra time to train with the team.
It is precisely because there is not enough time for this international break that the Jordanian media has some hope for the national team.
This is also where the Chinese media and fans are worried, the last game of the Chinese team was in November last year, Tang Zheng, Hao Junmin and the members of the national team did not play together for more than three months, and the run-in was a problem.
But Tang Zheng gave fans a shot in the arm when he was interviewed by the media, saying: "We have won two consecutive victories, why should there be an accident at home next? At least...... In my dictionary, there are no accidents! Because the victory belongs to the Chinese team!"
In an interview with the media, Hao Junmin also expressed his confidence in the team's victory: "What should be worried about is the Jordan team that dropped the chain at a critical time, why? If they took the last round of home games seriously, they could even send all the substitutes in this game, but ...... That's the beauty of football and to impress them, we're going to win!"
The Guangzhou fans were very enthusiastic, and Tang Zheng fully appreciated it when he arrived at the New Baiyun International Airport.
Due to the limited time, Tang Zheng and Hao Junmin will play on the third day of their return to the team, which means that there are only two days left for them to run in with domestic players.
Fortunately, the last game was a home game, and the rest of the time at the Tianhe Sports Center was for the Jordanian team to adapt to the venue, except for the time stipulated by FIFA for the Jordanian team to adapt to the venue.
Head coach Camacho knows that if the Chinese team wants to win Jordan at home, they must make the most of Tang Zheng and Hao Junmin.
Therefore, the upcoming game is still centered on Tang Zheng and Hao Junmin, among which Tang Zheng has the greatest degree of freedom in the team, and even does not restrict his position on the field, directly copying Tang Zheng's style of play in Dortmund.
However, the pace of play is different between domestic players and European players, and the pace of play in the domestic league is slower.
With this in mind, Camacho has set up a special tactic for the combination of Tang Zheng and Hao Junmin to ensure that the deadlock is broken as soon as possible at home.
The game is crucial for both sides.
Of course, there is much less pressure on Jordan, who only need to draw with China away from home to qualify, while China will have to win Jordan if they want to qualify for the Asian top 10.
Chinese media speculated that this game was a test of the Chinese team's ice-breaking ability.
Sure enough.
The Jordanian team set up a 54 formation at the Tianhe Sports Center, waiting for the Chinese team to attack.
With a capacity of 56,000 fans, the Tianhe Sports Center was packed to capacity, creating an amazing wave from the first second of the game.
Jordan, which was a guest, was in a stubborn posture, and the Chinese team fighting at home naturally had to attack.
However, for the sake of insurance, Tang Zheng did not press too much at the beginning, but controlled the team's offensive rhythm relatively safely.
As time passed, Tang Zheng determined that Jordan was ready to defend to the end, and his attention was fully focused on attacking.
The game entered the tenth minute, and it completely turned into a half-court offensive and defensive drill for the Chinese team.
For this situation, Yang 5 commentator He Wei thought about it before the game, but he was a little excited when it really happened.
The same is true for the fans at the scene, the Tianhe Sports Center entered an extremely frenzied atmosphere of the game, and the offensive of the Chinese team was also higher and higher.
However, the Jordanian team's defensive attention was very focused and did not give the Chinese team much space to attack.
In addition, Tang Zheng and Hao Junmin did not run in with domestic players enough, and the rhythm between them was not at the same point, so they failed to create suitable opportunities at all.
In this case, Tang Zheng and Hao Junmin each tried a few long-range shots.
As a result, the Jordanian player either hit the goalkeeper or missed the post.
The West Asian players are very cunning and will choose to fall to the ground whenever there is physical contact between the two sides, delaying the game time and disrupting the Chinese team's attacking rhythm.
At the end of the first half, the scoreboard was still 0-0
At the same time, at the Singapore National Stadium, the visiting Iraq has a 3-0 lead over Singapore.
In other words, if the Chinese team wants to have a chance to qualify, it must win Jordan, otherwise it can only prepare for the 2018 World Cup in Russia in advance.
In the second half, the Jordanian team had a successful defense in the first half, and in the second half, they became more and more courageous, and they fought hard.
As the game ticked by, Iraq led Singapore by five goals in the other game, while the Chinese team playing at home was slow to break the deadlock.
Feeling the huge pressure, the Chinese players on the field gradually became impatient and frequently chose to shoot from a distance.
The Chinese team is becoming more and more impatient and is playing into the hands of the Jordanian team.
Seeing that half an hour has passed in the second half, the score has not changed.
If that's the end of the game, Jordan and Iraq will advance to the top 10!