Just like the Bundesliga, when Barcelona was napping, Villarreal finished second in the league in the 07-08 season and qualified for the Champions League. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the group stage, they and Manchester United, Aalborg, Celtic group, in the end they got 2 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss and 9 points to qualify, the only loss was not to Manchester United, but to the bottom of the ranking Celtic, which shows that they are quite strong.

Draw Schalke 04, both sides can accept, everyone's strength is relatively close, who can advance depends on who plays well.

At 6 p.m. on February 25, the Schalke 04 team departed from the hotel for the Love Song Stadium, which was inaugurated on June 17, 1923, and was originally named Villarreal. Campo, two years later was renamed the Love Song Stadium and is still in use today. The name derives from the name of the neighborhood where the stadium is located, and El Madrigal means love song.

Because the stadium is located in the city, but it is still early before the game time, it was not until near the stadium that Zhang Yuan saw the Villarreal fans from the bus, many fans saw the Schalke 04 bus passing by and yelled at the Schalke 04 players in the bus, but unfortunately Zhang Yuan couldn't hear what they called, but it was definitely not a good word.

Schalke 04 arrived very early today, and for unfamiliar opponents, it is also beneficial to arrive early to familiarize themselves with the environment.

Now the morale of the players of Schalke 04 is very bad, but everyone is still nothing on the surface, Zhang Yuan does not know what his teammates' attitude towards the game will be, but he is ready, no matter what, he must do his best.

Wearing headphones and listening to Anna's songs, Zhang Yuan followed the rest of his teammates out of the car and walked into the locker room, where everyone sat silently in their respective seats, changing their jerseys and shoes while resting.

"Boys, warm up well, don't get hurt when you get on the field!" It's still a little cold today, and Mulder greets everyone.

Everyone looked up listlessly and nodded to Mulder, rested for a while, and only came to the stadium at Mulder's urging.

Villarreal is a small seaside city, and the Love Song Stadium is only 5 kilometers away from the Mediterranean Sea.

Quickly started the warm-up exercise under the arrangement of the coaching staff, this time the warm-up time before the game is relatively long, and the body must be kept hot, but not too intense.

The players from Villarreal's side also arrived at the field not long after, after all, the weather was cold and the lack of warm-up was very affecting the performance.

Compared with the atmosphere of Schalke 04, Villarreal is much more relaxed, and many players are talking and laughing, looking very relaxed.

Zhang Yuan sighed silently in his heart when he saw this scene, where was the atmosphere of Schalke 04 last season?!

"Hello everyone! I'm He Wei, and today we bring you the first leg of the 08-09 UEFA Champions League round of 16 knockout round Villarreal home match against Schalke 04! Today's guest speaker is Tao Weitao! "The domestic sports station specially broadcast this game, and there is only one factor to consider, that is, Zhang Yuan, because domestic fans want to watch Zhang Yuan's game.

So this game, which is not a strong dialogue, was included in the live broadcast by the sports station to meet the wishes of the majority of fans.

"Hello everyone! I'm Tao Wei! ”

When He Wei and Tao Wei were busy previewing the game for the audience, the players from both sides were already standing in the players' tunnel.

Zhang Yuan was holding a boy about six or seven years old, wearing a Villarreal jersey.

This is a convention in football games, this little ball boy looked at Zhang Yuan again and again, Zhang Yuan was originally looking forward, but the afterglow of his eyes still swept the actions of this little fan.

He smiled kindly at the little caddy, this smile seemed to encourage the courage of the little caddy, the little caddy smiled and pulled Zhang Yuan's jersey, quickly took out a signature pen from behind his back, and said something in his mouth.

Well, Zhang Yuan didn't understand what he said at all, because he spoke Spanish, but the meaning was still clear, and he wanted Zhang Yuan to give him an autograph.

Zhang Yuan did not refuse, picked up his pen and quickly signed his name on the jersey he was wearing, and returned the pen, Zhang Yuan patted his head smoothly.

The little caddy gave Zhang Yuan a thumbs up, so proud, and the other little caddies were very envious of him, wow, wow, he was so witty that he actually brought the pen to his jersey.

After this little incident, Zhang Yuan's mood suddenly improved a lot, and he was full of confidence and strength in the game.

Schalke 04's starting lineup today is still 433.

Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer

Defender: Raphinha Diganh Wades Westman

Midfielder: Engal Jones Rakitic

Forward: Zhang Yuanfar, Van Asamoah

Villarreal's side Pellegrini sent a 442 formation

Goalkeeper: Diego. Lopez

Defenders: Godin, Fuentes, Bruno, Angel

Midfielder: Oguren Ibagasacrazorasena

Forward: Rossi Joseva. Llorente

La Liga, like Dutch football, used to attach great importance to wingers, which has something to do with their attacking style of football, La Liga has been popular with wingers in previous years, and each team has its own winger.

However, after Pellegrini came to Villarreal, he did not use the winger tactic, but set up a forward tactic, and Riquelme occupied a very, very important position in his tactics, and now Riquelme is gone.

His replacement was not so easy to find, with Manuel Pellegrini playing in a 442 parallel position, and Senna's main responsibility is still defence, but he now has a side hustle to help the playmaker in midfield organise the attack.

It was only after Pire's arrival that Pellegrini began to use winger tactics, but there was no winger in his position, and Pire was a full-back who played a playmaking role on the wing.

But in this game, Pellegrini did not dare to be careless against Schalke 04, and the position of the 4 midfielders was three midfielders, with Cazorla in front of him in the midfield position.

Schalke 04's tactics are almost immutable, Pellegrini has studied deeply, to limit Schalke 04's attack, don't look at him playing 433, in fact, the key is still in the middle, as long as the connection between the midfielder and Zhang Yuan is cut off, then Schalke 04's attack is basically a half-abandoned state.

This is not to say that Zhang Yuan's strength is so strong, but because Zhang Yuan is in the center position, Schalke 04 is such a style of play, and headers are not Zhang Yuan's strong point.

Therefore, Pellegrini gave his two central defenders Bruno and Fuentes and the defender Senna a very simple task, that is, three people to strangle Zhang Yuan and restrict him from taking the ball.

After the opening, Zhang Yuan really played hard, the two central defenders in the penalty area stared at him, and there was a veteran Senna staring at him outside the penalty area.

Senna is not a simple figure, he is the first black international in Spain's history, he won the 2008 European Championship with Spain, he has a sizable defensive area, and as a Brazilian player, he also has good skills and some playmaking skills.

At Euro 2008 he was the absolute mainstay of Spain, a single midfielder. Now this game was arranged by Pellegrini to help the defenders help defend Zhang Yuan, which made Zhang Yuan very uncomfortable.

Although Senna is over 30 years old, he can't compare with Zhang Yuan in terms of speed, but his feet are not slow at all, and his prediction of the ball is very accurate.

The main responsibility of the back players is to intercept and steal to launch an attack, Senna's interception is particularly powerful, several times the ball given to Zhang Yuan by the midfielder has not reached his feet, he was predicted by Senna in advance, intercepted first, and launched a counterattack on the spot.

Zhang Yuan later also thought of a way to continue to retreat his position and shorten the distance between him and his midfielder to avoid the pass being intercepted.

Zhang Yuan now looks like a midfielder rather than a centre-forward, with two wingers, Asamoah and Farfan, up front.

Seeing this, Senna followed Pelagrini's teachings, "Marcos, when you get to your defense zone, you must keep an eye on Zhang Yuan, don't let him get the ball easily!" ”

Senna remembers this sentence when he comes on the field, this is what makes him different from other Brazilian players, many Brazilian players are free and loose, but Senna listens to the manager's arrangement, obeys the team's tactical arrangement, is conscientious, and is stricter than many European players!

This is probably one of the reasons why he was appreciated by Aragonés and entered the Spanish national team. (To be continued.) )