Chapter 055: What Ancelotti Worries About
"Whoa—"
Tang Zheng's goal helped Real Madrid overtake the score to 3:2, and the huge chanting created by the tricky Real Madrid fans resounded over the Bernabeu Stadium.
Although Juventus was the team that qualified for this season's Champions League final according to the current scoreline, there were more than 20 minutes left in the game, and there was plenty of time left for Real Madrid, and the Real Madrid fans in the stands knew this, so the cheers were wave after wave.
They firmly believe that Real Madrid, sitting at home, will definitely expand the score, reverse Juventus, and advance to this season's Champions League final!
Juventus coach Allegri kept in touch with his assistant as Real Madrid celebrated his goal, discussing how to solve the team's current predicament.
Although Juventus will end the game with the current score and qualify for the Champions League final, Allegri has a very bad feeling that Real Madrid will likely score another goal in the coming games.
Real Madrid's real threat came from Tang Zheng, who came off the bench in the second half, but the problem is that the team has paid a lot of attention to Tang Zheng's activities, and if other players are asked to pay more attention to Tang Zheng, then it is easy to cause one to lose sight of the other.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and James Rodriguez are all players with the absolute ability to kill the game, so they can't make targeted adjustments in order to limit Tang Zheng.
So...... How do you stay in the rest of the game to make sure you don't concede any more goals?
Still is...... Offensive?
Thinking of this, Allegri subconsciously shook his head.
It's not that they can't score goals at the Bernabeu, but it's that they are likely to have a different situation when they are away – they don't score in front and concede goals first.
So Allegri decided to defend solidly first and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack.
However, many times the reality is very cruel, Juventus, who have the advantage of the kick-off, did not pass a few kicks to the feet of the Real Madrid players, so they had to retreat to their own half of the defense and wait for Real Madrid to attack.
Defending the counterattack is Juventus's strategy in this game, but Real Madrid's offensive is like a tide, and in the case of strengthening the attack, it does not neglect the defense, and Tevez, who stays at the front, is taken care of by Varane and Ramos in turn, even if Juventus gets the opportunity to switch from defense to attack, it is difficult to pass the half.
In addition, Real Madrid's frontcourt players strengthened the high pressing in the front court and solved Juventus' quick counterattack at the source.
Real Madrid's offensive at home continued one after another, and the Real Madrid fans in the stands became more and more excited, creating a loud shout that resounded in the sky.
The Real Madrid players on the pitch seemed to be influenced by the fans in the stands and were getting better and better, so Juventus coach Allegri couldn't sit still, and he stood on the sidelines and made colorful body movements to remind the players on the pitch to concentrate on the game.
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon also fulfilled his captaincy duties, constantly reminding his teammates to run while the team was defending.
In the blink of an eye, the game came to the physical critical point of 75 minutes.
Most of the players on both sides have played a full season of competition, and their fitness reserves are now close to depletion, and even if both sides make most of their rotation for this game in the league last weekend, they will not be able to withstand the second leg of the Champions League semi-final.
In other words, the players on both sides of the game have persevered with willpower until now, so the excitement of the game has decreased to a certain extent.
Of course, the spectacle has not decreased much, after all, Real Madrid and Juventus are both symbolizing the top level of La Liga and Serie A.
Real Madrid was able to score two goals in the second half to overtake the score, and the biggest contributor was undoubtedly the substitute Tang Zheng, who led Real Madrid's overall attack with his excellent performance, and inspired Cristiano Ronaldo as well as Benzema and James Rodriguez.
In the face of Tang Zheng in such good form, Juventus players have no good way to do it, so they can only adopt a relatively clumsy way - pay more attention to Tang Zheng's activity area.
Tang Zheng, who has been closely watched, has become a lot more cautious in handling the ball, which has also indirectly affected the quality of Real Madrid's attack, but Tang Zheng is very satisfied with the reaction of the Juventus defenders.
If you focus too much on yourself, then ...... The pressure on the rest of your teammates will plummet!
Opportunities don't necessarily need to be created by yourself!
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Tang Zheng was the focus of Juventus players, Ancelotti saw it, he adjusted the team's game tactics through the change of tactical gestures, Tang Zheng's position began to move back, and Modric had a position swap.
As Tang Zheng's position moved back, the defensive pressure on him dropped a lot, and he could handle the ball calmly.
But the impact of the shift back was also clear, with Tang Zheng and Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez moving farther away, and in order to maintain control of the game, he had to increase his crosses and arrange the direction of his team's attack.
Originally, Tang Zheng wanted to repeat the old trick and use Evra's age to make a fuss, but Allegri's adjustment was timely, putting two wide crosses, and then focusing on Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and the area at the top of the arc of the penalty area.
Even if the ball came to Marcelo or Carvajal and sent a cross, there was no way to threaten Buffon's goal.
Therefore, Tang Zheng also used his brain to run at high speed in the continuous running, thinking about how to solve the team's attack.
The team is one goal away from reaching the Champions League final for three consecutive seasons, but that is based on not conceding a goal.
As the core of the team, Tang Zheng must be more thoughtful.
At the same time, the on-site commentator Xi Yang 5 commented: " The game came to eighty minutes, leaving Real Madrid with ten minutes, plus regular injury time, at most thirteen minutes, Real Madrid is still one goal away from qualifying for this season's Champions League final, there must be plenty of time, but the first thing they have to do is to keep defending and not conceding goals, followed by leaving no effort in attack, if Juventus equalizes at this juncture, then Real Madrid must score two more goals in the remaining game time, so it is reasonable that Tang Zheng, who moved backwards, did not fully participate in the attack......
It is true that there is plenty of time left for Real Madrid, but it is an ordeal for the side who are desperate to score goals.
Of course, the same is true for the defender.
Force, it's mutual, and so is pressure.
Juventus can qualify for this season's Champions League final by virtue of the advantage of away goals as long as they maintain their current scoreline, but the problem is that they will not be at home, but at the Bernabeu, and they will have to face a huge psychological pressure from close to 80,000 Real Madrid fans.
At the same time, the pressure exerted by the Real Madrid players on the field is also very high, so the Juventus players on the field are worried that Real Madrid will score another goal at a certain stage of the game, so the chances of advancing to the Champions League final will be ......
Nope.
Allegri is hoping to change the current situation of the team through substitutions, after all, the continuous defense does not do Buffon any benefit in keeping the goal, and the team must play one or two quick counter-attacks, put some psychological pressure on the Real Madrid players, and thus limit the number of people involved in their attack.
However, Allegri turned his head and swept across the bench to find that there were very few players who could come in handy.
"Hey~"
Allegri couldn't help but sigh as he thought for the first time that the team needed to make more additions to the squad if they were to go further in the Champions League......
In the home team's coaching area, Carlo Ancelotti is already planning a second substitution.
In the 83rd minute, Isco replaced James Rodriguez.
In Carlo Ancelotti's view, the team needs a player of Isco's type more in this situation, and James Rodriguez is the kind of player who needs more dominance to play at his best, but Real Madrid is star-studded, and football is more in the hands of Tang Zheng or Cristiano Ronaldo.
With the exception of each other, James Rodriguez has a lot less dominance in football.
Isco also needs football at his feet, but he is able to control the ball effectively in a limited amount of time before getting it to the players in Carlo Ancelotti's system who create or take chances.
Isco is also quite skilled at his feet, able to maintain control of the ball in a multi-player package.
While most of Juventus' defensive focus is on Cristiano Ronaldo and Tang Zheng, Isco, who is skilful and penetrating at his feet, may be able to help Real Madrid open up Juventus' defensive breakdown from the other direction.
Carlo Ancelotti's idea is good, but whether it will work as well is another matter.
Unfortunately, Isco's dribbling did not give Real Madrid a new opportunity.
As a result, Real Madrid's offensive responsibility came to Tang Zheng again.
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Isco came off the bench for five minutes and the score was still 3-2 ahead of Juventus, but Real Madrid was one goal away from qualifying for this season's Champions League final due to fewer away goals than Juventus.
It's been 20 minutes since Juventus conceded their last goal, and as the clock ticked, their confidence gradually replenished and they no longer worried about Real Madrid's attack, which did not seem to be as threatening as they thought.
With a concerted effort, it is very possible to maintain the current score until the end of the match.
"Whoa—"
As the clock ticked by, the frenetic atmosphere at the Bernabeu Stadium improved qualitatively.
Real Madrid fans believe that the team they support will eventually work miracles, while Juventus fans believe that the team they support will return to the Champions League final for the first time in 12 years and then win the Champions League for the first time in 19 years.
The frenzied atmosphere of the game is a double sharp blade, which not only stimulates the fighting spirit of the players, but also easily stimulates the deep anger of the players.
Vidal even shoveled Modric to the ground with the ball in a defense, and he did not have a trace of remorse for the foul, and he did not even apologize, so it caused Toni Kroos to be extremely dissatisfied, and Real Madrid players, including Tang Zheng, had signs of emotional outbursts under great pressure.
Thankfully, the referee on duty, Atkinson, appeared in time to act as a barrier, and then played 50 boards each to Vidal and Toni Kroos.
Time is running out and the Real Madrid attack group led by Tang Zheng can only create a killing opportunity through long-range shots.
It's just that the odds of scoring from a distance are very low, and quality can only be exchanged for quantity.
For Real Madrid, it seems that there is not much time.
In the 87th minute, Isco won a free-kick in front of the goal through a pass, about 28 meters from goal.
The free kick distance is within the range of Tang Zheng and Cristiano Ronaldo, in this game Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice, in excellent condition, Tang Zheng passed and shot, and even more than that, they all wanted to give it a try.
There's only one free-kick and the problem is that no one wants to concede.
Until the Juventus wall was ready, Tang Zheng had to say, in order to take care of the overall situation: "You will kick this ball, and I will come next." ”
"Good!"
Cristiano Ronaldo saw Tang Zheng give up the right to take the free kick, and he didn't listen to the latter half of the sentence, or selectively ignored it.
The scene of Tang Zheng and Cristiano Ronaldo competing for the right to take free kicks was successfully captured by the on-site director, and Yang 5 commentator He Wei frowned: "According to the rules of Real Madrid last season, Tang Zheng and Ronaldo took turns to kick free kicks, but in the past two seasons, the quality of Ronaldo's free kicks has decreased significantly, and Tang Zheng's free kicks are of high quality and have a very high goal conversion rate, so I personally think that Real Madrid's direct free kicks should be punished by Tang Zheng, but this scramble will not affect the Real Madrid dressing room ......"
Noticing that Tang Zheng and Cristiano Ronaldo are competing for free kicks and Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, although the two got back together last season and became good friends again, the rivalry between the two is real, and no one is convinced from the bottom of their hearts.
Ancelotti was a little worried and didn't know if it would affect the unity of the dressing room.
Cristiano Ronaldo's free-kick ended up with an anti-aircraft gun and a goal kick straight to Juventus.
Tang Zheng didn't say anything, and ran back directly.
Another minute later, Luka Modric's possession forced Pogba to foul and referee Atkinson blew the whistle again to give Real Madrid a free-kick in front.
The distance given by the broadcaster was 30 metres, which was more suitable for Cristiano Ronaldo than the free-kick created by Isco.
Tang Zheng took the football directly and put the ball at the foul site, but what he didn't expect was that Cristiano Ronaldo picked up the football again, put it down again, and then said to Tang Zheng: "Hey~ I feel that this ball will definitely be scored, so ...... Would like to try again. ”
"I didn't say yes just now. Tang Zheng frowned, and said unhappily: "Shall I kick the next free kick?"
"Huh, is there one?" Cristiano Ronaldo spread his hands, then raised a finger and smiled: "Let me kick again, just kick." ”
As the saying goes, don't stretch out your hand and don't hit the smiling person, now that the time is getting less and less, Tang Zheng doesn't want to fight for anything anymore, so he has to tap his chin: "Just this once." ”
In front of the home team's coach's box, Ancelotti frowned, what he was worried about...... It seems likely that the first signs will emerge in this game......
Ten seconds later, Cristiano Ronaldo's direct free-kick went over the crossbar again......