After the team returned to the station, Nanshan said goodbye, and Schalke followed him into the hotel, and everything was settled. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Magath did not hold a preparatory meeting immediately, he also wanted to know more about the opponent's final absolute, although now Schalke's midfield rapid play has been formed, but this is also a long-known one, he has long become a public enemy in Europe, they have long been thoroughly studied, so he must learn more about Milan as soon as possible.

But the problem is that after watching a few Milan games, he found that the current Milan style of play is very strange, as if they are relying on the individual ability of their players to play, but it is nonsense to say that they have no actual style of play, after all, their fighting ability is very amazing.

At this time, the assistant coach also walked in, with a helpless expression on his face, "Boss, San Siro has already replied to us, they have a power outage tonight, so they can't provide us with infield training, but they are willing to provide us with an indoor training ground." ”

Magath snorted, he had already thought of this situation, so he didn't say anything special, "Oh, since that's the case, then let's leave it at that, let's eat first, and then go there to do warm-up training after dinner." Most of the players in our squad have experience playing here and not playing at home won't make a huge difference for us, so be it. ”

"Okay, so are we still watching the Champions League tonight?"

"Look, of course, we have to know the capabilities of every potential adversary. I watched the video of Milan's game, they have been using their individual ability to play, this kind of team really has no good way, can only face them, so after watching the game, I will have a preparatory meeting, tell the players that this afternoon will only train for an hour, do not do tactical coordination, and then watch the game separately, and then gather in the conference room. ”

The training is not a blockade at all, there are at least 30 reporters there have been at least 30 reporters surrounding the venue, they not only have cameras but also video recorders in their hands, which clearly shows that they don't want Schalke to train well, Ha Zai Schalke has long been prepared, so just after a simple physical exercise, he packed up and went back to the hotel, the local media in Milan didn't feel anything wrong, the only thing that made them a little uncomfortable was that Ai Huan did not appear at the training ground, which made many Milanese people a little strange, could it be that Ai Huan didn't want to play?

The first match of the Champions League began that evening, when Zenit St. Petersburg played Benfica at home, and it was also the first European meeting between the two teams. In the group stage this season, Zenit met Porto, also from the Portuguese Super League, with a record of one win and one draw, and the team is unbeaten against Portuguese teams at home in Europe. Kanennikov, who joined Zenit in the winter window, started the game, with goalkeeper Zhevnov replacing the injured Malafeev.

Benfica, on the other hand, reached the knockout stages for the first time since 2005-06, having last been beaten 2-0 in CSKA Moscow in the 2004-05 UEFA Cup in Russia. Interestingly, Benfica did not have a Portuguese player in the starting line-up, even less than their opponent Zenit, who also had only one Russian player.

The local temperature was only minus 11 degrees Celsius, and the players on both sides couldn't let go of their hands and feet in the bitter cold after the opening, and the kicks were very ugly.

In the 16th minute, Rodrygo was tackled by Bruno Alves, treated in pain and transported off the pitch on a stretcher, but Benfica, who were 10-man players, took the lead with their first shot. Cardoso's left-footed free-kick from 25 yards out on the right side of the near corner bounced in front of the goalkeeper and Rzevnov narrowly fell to the ground, but Maxi Pereira fired into the net in front of goal to give Benfica a goal in all 33 competitive games this season.

The home side quickly countered after conceding the goal, and a minute later a corner created chaos when Krzhakov's volley in front of goal was denied by Maxi Pereira. In the 27th minute, Hubochan crossed from the left, Shirokov did not wait for the ball to land, and volleyed into the far corner from 12 meters from the goal, and Zenit equalized.

After that, the cold was the protagonist, and the players on both sides played very hard. Magath couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly, he was also thinking about what kind of situation it would be if his team went to Russia to play, but the cold was really difficult to control.

In the second half, veteran Shemak replaced Zirianov. In the 57th minute, Gaitan broke the ball on the right and cut inside and curled the ball wide of the far post from a tight angle. In the 65th minute, Krzhakov's diagonal shot from the left went wide of the far post. In the 68th minute, Shemak hit a small angle on the right side of the penalty area.

Zenit was playing at home after all, and they came back from behind in the 71st minute. Krzhakov's right-sided baseline backheel volley, Bestrov's volley went straight to the middle, and Shemak knocked his backheel into the bottom left corner in front of goal, and the score became 2-1.

In the 87th minute, not far from the clearance, Gaitan pushed a left-footed half-volley in front of the goal, goalkeeper Zhevnov accidentally got rid of it, Cardoso made a supplementary shot into the net, and Benfica was lucky to equalize.

However, a minute later, Maxi Pereira made a mistake in front of goal, Shirokov broke the ball past goalkeeper Artur and pushed it into the near corner from a tight angle on the right side to make the score 3-2, which was also Shirokov's fifth goal in the Champions League this season.

Magath's face was full of regret, and it seemed that he was very hopeful that Benfica could win the game, but this ending was also good, after all, Benfica scored two goals on the road, which is already the best result.

"What's the matter, boss, do you think our next opponent will be them?" asked Ai Huan.

Magath shook his head: "It's hard to say, I think UEFA will let us face the toughest opponents, the weather in Russia is so bad, I am afraid that if Zenit does make it to the quarterfinals, we will be sent to Russia." ”

"What's the matter?" Ai Huan rolled his eyes, "It's also March, even if the temperature in Russia is low, that's it, not to mention that the winter in Germany is not good, who are we afraid of?"

"By the way, your China is so big and it is said to span several time zones, what is the climate of your hometown?"

"It's okay. Ai imagined that "the coldest time in winter is more than ten degrees below zero, but the wind is relatively strong, and it is a cold wind through the bones, so the people who come out there will not have any special reaction to the general cold places." Ai Huan replied with a smile.

Magath couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after hearing this, as long as Ai Huan didn't have an impact, it didn't matter.