Chapter 712: Milan vs Barcelona
On September 29, the AC Milan team arrived at the Camp Nou, and Inzaghi brought Zhang Shujie to a press conference, where Inzaghi patiently answered questions from reporters.
Chen Hui first asked: "May I ask Mr. Inzaghi, your team won the last round, but this has a lot to do with the strength of the opponent, tomorrow your opponent is Barcelona, how will you defend the MSN combination?"
Inzaghi replied: "It's difficult to keep Messi, Neymar and Suarez at bay, but so what? I'm not going to send someone to guard Messi alone, because Messi is not afraid of one-on-one defence at all. β
Inzaghi did not disclose the exact style of play, and none of the managers will disclose their tactics before the game. Chen Hui asked Zhang Shujie again: "Two years ago, you led Bayern to a 7-0 victory over Barcelona over two legs, and you scored three goals and assisted once in those two games. Do you still have confidence against Barcelona this time?"
Zhang Shujie said with a smile: "Scoring goals is something that every striker desires, and winning is what every team wants to do. I want to break through Barcelona, Messi wants to break down Milan, AC Milan wants to beat Barcelona, Barcelona wants to beat AC Milan. It's not the same feeling to play at Bayern and it's not the same as playing at Milan, the only thing that's the same, it's two great teams, and I'm going to give it my all to score goals and win. β
Zhang Shujie didn't give an answer at all, and Chen Hui was already surprised. How smart Zhang Shujie is now, when answering reporters' questions, he is always playing official.
Another reporter asked Inzaghi: "As a meritorious service of AC Milan, you won too many honors in this team when you were a player, and now that you have become the manager, have you ever thought about winning the Champions League again?"
Inzaghi said very bluntly: "Of course I thought about it, if you ask other managers, he must think about it, but the idea may not become a reality, but everyone is working in this direction." β
While every answer to Inzaghi's and Zhang's press conference was tactful, Enrique was different, saying: "First of all, I want to congratulate AC Milan on returning to the Champions League, a great team deserves to play in such a great competition. My opinion for this game is that we have to win because we are at home and no team wants to lose on their own turf!"
"Will you focus on Zhang Shujie?"
"Yes, he's the most dangerous man in the AC Milan squad and I'll tell the backline to look out for him!"
On the day of the game, many of AC Milan's players were inexplicably nervous. It stands to reason that they have accumulated a little experience after experiencing a Champions League, and it will not be like this, but this time the opponent is Barcelona. You must know that just last year, many players never dreamed that they would meet such a strong team as Barcelona on the stage of the Champions League.
The players came out of the hotel and boarded the bus to Camp Nou, which arrived on the outskirts of the Camp Nou about twenty minutes later. It just so happened that Zhang Shujie, who was sitting on the sidelines, saw a bus with the Barcelona team logo on the opposite side driving over, and the two-step car passed opposite each other, Zhang Shujie looked into the car and saw that Messi was communicating with Pique about something, both of them had smiles on their faces, judging from their expressions, they looked very relaxed.
Zhang Shujie looked at his teammates again, many of them had serious faces, which formed a strong contrast with the ease of the Barcelona players. Zhang Shujie shook his head, sometimes, the gap can be seen in these places.
After arriving at the court, the players went to the locker room to change their clothes and went to simply adapt to the field. The Barcelona players were opposite, and Romagnoli looked at Messi from time to time during the game, and quietly said to Yan Tao: "It won't be long before we have to face Messi." β
Yan Tao let out an "um" and said, "It's okay, don't be nervous, just let it be." After saying that, he went to the side to warm up.
Half an hour later, the players left the pitch and went to the locker room, where Inzaghi was waiting for everyone. After coming in, everyone did their own thing, and Inzaghi laid out the tactical play.
"We play on the flanks, Cerci and Bonaventura, Antonelli and Desiglio need to form a link on both sides. Inzaghi said and drew a few arrows: "It's very difficult to break into the Barcelona defense from the middle, so the wing is our main attacking mode. In addition, we counter-attack defensively, this is BarΓ§a's home stadium, and we demand stability. β
Inzaghi was well aware of Barcelona's quality and knew what kind of play they would use, so he gave up the ball defensively, seeking Barcelona to be blocked in attack, and then counterattacking. This is also the way many teams play against Barcelona, the most representative of which is Real Madrid.
In other aspects, Inzaghi did not say much, but repeatedly emphasized the role of Zhang Shujie. He asked Zhang Shujie to maximize his range of activities and hand over the entire frontcourt to him, so as to maximize his role. In addition, in defence, Inzaghi asked the back line to defend MSN, Inzaghi said: "Barcelona do not have many attacking points, mainly the front three people, as long as the midfield is cut off from them, their power will be reduced a lot." β
In fact, many people understand this principle, but whether it can be done or not is another matter, and Inzaghi hopes that his disciples can do it.
In the Barcelona dressing room, Enrique didn't say much, just to warn the players to keep an eye on Zhang Shujie, and AC Milan's attacking threat was more than half of his place. In addition, pay more attention to the defender named Yan Tao when attacking, Enrique believes that this is a very well-rounded defender, one of the strongest defenders in AC Milan and even the entire Serie A.
In terms of tactics, Enrique has nothing to explain, no matter which coach Barcelona has been using Pep Guardiola's Tiki-Taka for so many years, and Enrique is naturally no exception.
The managers of both teams had almost finished saying everything and the game was about to start, and the players walked out of the dressing room. Zhang Shujie was still standing at the end of the team, and at this time, he recalled the scene of the 4-0 victory over Barcelona in the first leg of Bayern, where Zhang Shujie scored two goals. At that time, although Barcelona only had M: Messi, "S (Suarez)" and "N (Neymar)" in MSN were not in the team, but they also had a top midfield combination of Xavi and Iniesta. Today's Barcelona does not have Xavi, Iniesta is older, but there are Suarez and Neymar, in Zhang Shujie's eyes, this Barcelona team is similar to the one two years ago.
It's just that Barcelona's opponents have some gaps in strength, the previous time they met Bayern at their peak, and this time they met AC Milan, which is restructuring and is still on the road to revival. Zhang Shujie wants to win another 4:0, which is not realistic at all.
The teammates in front of him began to move, and Zhang Shujie also followed his teammates, slowly walking out of the players' tunnel and towards the Camp Nou.
(End of chapter)