On May 2, the second day of Labor Day, Blackburn no longer had to maintain the status of "model workers" in the third line, because on this day, they were eliminated by Champions League rivals AC Milan. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The reason why AC Milan became Blackburn's Champions League rivals is self-evident, naturally because of the feud caused by the night in Istanbul two years ago.

It is better to say that Blackburn was eliminated by AC Milan, but it is more accurate to say that the Blue Devils were eliminated by one person, that is, Arthur's Kaka.

In 2007, the year belonged to Kaka. This year, Kaka, like the high-spirited alien Ronaldo ten years ago, has become the darling of the whole world. And the alien from ten years ago stood beside him, two generations of Brazilian footballers carrying the flag of Milan fluttering in the wind.

When Kaka boarded a flight from São Paulo, Brazil to Milan four years ago, no one would have realised that the shyly Brazilian boy would put his Brazilian countryman Rivaldo on the icy bench at San Siro. No one would have imagined that just four years later, this sunny boy would stand at the top of Europe as a king.

Carlo Ancelotti's side struggled through Serie A and eventually made up for the points penalized. And in the Champions League, it has almost become Kaka's stage alone from the play-offs. From the shocking long-range strike against Anderlecht in the group stage, Kaka was out of control, and among Kaka's unrepeatable performances, there were hat-tricks in the group stage, and the classic Brazilian long-distance run against Celtic in the knockout round, after a difficult crossing over Bundesliga hegemons Bayern Munich, Milan and Blackburn Rovers combined to dedicate the most classic game of the European club of the year.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who was still a little immature in face and body, opened the scoring for Blackburn, and Drogba's goal was the icing on the cake. Kaka, on the other hand, used his blistering breakthrough to strain the aging Blackburn defence, and his two goals kept Milan's hopes of progressing to the final alive.

After the fierce battle of San Siro, they succeeded in getting revenge on the Blue Devils and obtained a plane ticket to Athens.

Two years ago in Istanbul, AC Milan were at the lowest point of their careers, and Kaka's Milan were looking to challenge for the Champions League title.

To be able to play that mentally and with that kind of content against AC Milan is pretty much the limit of what Blackburn can do at this stage. All that remains to be discussed is probably pure football itself, such as who will score the goal – and that's something that Lippi doesn't have an answer to.

In the 37th round of the league, Blackburn Rovers drew 0-0 with Tottenham Hotspur, and the Blue Devils bid farewell to the league title one round ahead of schedule and locked up the third place in the Premier League this season.

And the clean sheet in this game also brings Blackburn's streak of clean sheets in the league to 6. The Blue Devils have always been known for their incredible consistency, and a solid backline is very important.

Despite the absence of Petr Cech and Carvalho, the central defence-back duo of Cannavaro, Nemanja Vidic and Heinze is still very strong, and goalkeeper Barthez also has a wealth of Premier League experience - in the first half, he first saved a long-range shot from McCarthy, the Premier League's top scorer, and then went on a blistering pace to make Lennon, who had half a chance to shoot at all.

While Tottenham's quick counter-attacks were threatening, Blackburn dominated possession for most of the first half while pressing forward to keep their opponents at bay. In fact, in many games, it is through this kind of control and pressure that Lippi's team makes it difficult for the opponent to hit the ball into Blackburn's danger zone, so it is naturally difficult for the opponent to have a chance to score.

In the second half, substitute Martin Taylor was a little nervous and became the target of Tottenham's attack at the defensive end. However, apart from a reckless foul in front of the penalty area and a yellow card, there was nothing missing in his performance.

Judging from Blackburn's defensive configuration, Cech, who has not been "wiped out" in this life, has a good chance of competing for a place in the world's first goal, and Joe Hart and Barthez are also very competitive.

In the centre-back position, Carvalho and Cannavaro are both in their prime at centre-back, with Nemanja Vidic and Heinze also impressive.

The full-back position was initially criticised, but Finnan has proven himself over the past few seasons, with new signing McConkimich being a surprise; And Ashley Cole on the left is already recognized as the Premier League's No. 1 left-back.

With such a well-stocked defence, it will undoubtedly be very, very difficult for other teams to overcome. Defensively, Blackburn have arguably the strongest defence of any club today.

However, in the game, Blackburn still exposed some hidden dangers.

Didier Drogba will be the starting centre-forward, and the African Monster will be hoping to challenge for this season's Premier League top scorer. However, apart from a timely block from the goalkeeper just before half-time, the Blackburn striker couldn't find much of a chance in front of Tottenham's two centre-backs.

Of course, as a fulcrum with a wide range of activities, Drogba also sent a clever pass to Ballack, but the latter's shot from inside the box was saved by the goalkeeper.

Drogba was aggressive up front, dropping back to receive the ball and distributing the ball in a timely manner, but it wasn't enough to create enough threat for the opposition.

As Blackburn's top scorer in midfield, Cristiano Ronaldo, who came off the bench in this game, also created some threats. He first stabbed home from McCann's cross, but was whistled offside; He then curled a left-footed curl in front of the box, but it was wide of the goal.

Although Blackburn had occasional bright spots, the Tottenham goalkeeper was actually not busy throughout the game.

Blackburn's academy has a strong talent pool, which also allows Lippi to have a lot of young people to look at in the warm-up games, and the average age of Blackburn's starters today is only 24.3 years old. Although the younger generation is growing up quickly and many newcomers have also performed well, Lippi has not yet found suitable fresh blood in the important position of center forward.

On Blackburn's side, centre-forward Larsson, who scored the winner in the FA Cup semi-finals, is 35 years old, but the difference in game conditions with or without Larsson in the FA Cup semi-finals is enough to prove the importance of a centre-forward for Blackburn.

Relying on Larsson, who is no longer young, is not a long-term solution, and the "no striker" in front of Didier Drogba or Cristiano Ronaldo does not look good.

With four Blackburn Rovers named in the Premier League's top 20 scorers in 2006-07, it seems that scoring goals for the Blues is not a big problem, but a closer look at the list reveals Lippi's concern.

Blackburn's top scorer this season is Cristiano Ronaldo in the winger position, who has scored 17 goals as of May 3, including 13 goals in the Premier League and 4 goals in the Champions League, which is remarkable, but compared with the data of Blackburn's top scorer in previous years, the league's 13 goals are not worth mentioning at all.

Blackburn striker Drogba has scored 15 goals this season, including 13 in the Premier League, and is tied with Cristiano Ronaldo for third place in the scorers' list, with Drogba in first place with 628 points and Berbatov with 611 points.

But Drogba is not the kind of goalscorer-type striker who scores goals, he is perfect as the tactical fulcrum of the striker, but in terms of scoring ability alone, the African monster really has to be thrown two streets by the former Blue Devils striker Ibrahimovic.

Blackburn's third-highest scorer is Frank Lampard, who has scored 11 goals as a midfielder, including nine in the league. But to count on a striker to solve the problem of the team's weak striker can only be said to be a rush to the hospital.

The last Blackburn team to finish in the top 20 of the Premier League's top scorers was Robin van Persie, who has grown well this season.

Van Persie has been a regular winger in Blackburn's league this season and has been a consistent performer in the first half of the season, scoring a stunning volley in Blackburn's win over Charlton Athletic - when Van Persie picked up a poorly placed cross from McCone just outside the box, quickly adjusted his pace and slotted a brilliant left-footed ball into Charlton's corner with an unconventional kick. This goal can be called a classic in the more than ten years of the Premier League's history.

Between the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, Van Persie was in excellent form, scoring six goals in seven games. Annoyingly, however, Van Persie has since been struggling with injuries, which have been repeated, making it difficult for Blackburn to put their forward hopes on him.

Can he become Blackburn's next generation of strikers?

Until the final answer to this question is reached, the selection of a centre-forward will be a conundrum that plagues Lippi from time to time.

Just looking at the forward lineup of Drogba + Van Persie + Larsson + Ronaldo, Blackburn does not seem to need to worry about the forward problem next season, but the problem is that Larsson has decided to leave the team to return to his hometown team in Sweden this summer, 08 is another Africa Cup of Nations year, Drogba will leave the team for at least a month in January next year, relying on the injured Van Persie and Ronaldo who appears more in the midfield, the Blue Devils' forward line looks extremely thin.

Originally, when Arthur saw that the team had Drogba, Ronaldo and Van Persie, the three top scorers in the Premier League in a single season, he thought that he would never be bothered by the problem of weak strikers, but he ignored that Ronaldo was still a midfielder before going to Real Madrid; The season in which Drogba won the Golden Boot was also the season with the fewest Premier League Golden Boot goals in any year; Van Persie was far from a general before he beat his injuries.

If such a squad is maintained, the question of who will score next season is likely to be unanswered. (To be continued.) )