Chapter 169: An Unexpected Change of Formation

Compared with Mourinho's arrogance and inwardness, Klopp, who led by two goals on aggregate and took the initiative to advance, is much more low-key.

He didn't go toe-to-toe with Mourinho at the pre-match press conference, but just said calmly:

'We didn't have league ties, we trained for more than a week just for this game at the Bernabeu.

"When the competition is over, everyone will see who has advanced to the finals."

The implication is that Dortmund has already won the Bundesliga ahead of schedule, and without the ties of the league, it is not like Real Madrid who have to play a Spanish national derby between the two semi-finals, and some people are injured.

Without Shahin, a midfielder who is good in attack and defense and has high morale when playing Dortmund, Real Madrid can still play a bit of combat effectiveness, and Klopp is disdainful of commenting.

Not to be outdone, fans on both sides fought a war of words before the game.

Real Madrid fans told reporters that they would turn the Bernabeu into a hell for Dortmund and leave Dortmund crying.

Dortmund said that they followed Cheng Hai to conquer the Bernabeu Stadium, and Cheng Hai will definitely be able to lead Dortmund to capture the Bernabeu, lead Dortmund to the final, and finally win the cup.

At 20:45 on the evening of April 26, 2012, in the cheers of more than 80,000 fans at the scene, with the referee's whistle, the second leg of the 2011/2012 Champions League semi-finals Real Madrid vs Dortmund officially began at the Bernabeu Stadium, the home of Real Madrid.

Mourinho, who trailed by two goals on aggregate, continued his frenzy in the second half of the first leg, sending out a 343 formation with no changes from the first leg, except that Xavi Alonso replaced Nuri Shahin, who was injured in the Spanish national derby, as a central midfielder.

But in fact, Alonso is a player who is stronger in attack than in defense, belongs to the playmaking midfield, and has little ability to defend too strongly.

Mourinho can't care so much anymore.

Real Madrid will have to play a game-winning battle on their home turf to have any chance of qualifying for the final.

From the first minute of the game, Real Madrid bombarded Dortmund's half with the cheers of more than 70,000 home fans.

This is not a typical Mourinho team, Mourinho's team is mostly defensive and counter-attacking, focusing on tight defense and efficient counter-attacks.

But now the Real Madrid team on the pitch does not feel uncomfortable at all, in addition to the reason for playing this formation in the first leg and the targeted training a few days before the game, but also because the players on the field are the world's top superstars.

Their adaptability to tactical formations, as well as their strong individual strength, allow them to adapt well to this formation.

Real Madrid dragged the game into its own rhythm from the first minute of the game, attacking Dortmund with indiscriminate attacks.

Real Madrid's attack played smoothly, hitting the Dortmund goal within 30 meters of Dortmund twice in the opening five minutes, but in the end it failed to form a shot under the defense of Cheng Hai or his teammates.

Everyone didn't think there was anything wrong with the two offensive failures, because in the first two games, Cheng Hai often retreated to his own half to participate in the defense, using his terrifying physical fitness and speed, physique, header, defensive position, and point-grabbing ability to assist in the defense.

However, when the time came to the 10th minute, everyone suddenly realized that something was wrong.

Because Cheng Hai has been staying in the backfield to defend, and there is almost no forward to participate in the attack, Dortmund's 4132 formation has become 4231, and Cheng Hai has become a full-time midfielder.

With the support of Cheng Hai's perverted physical fitness, speed and defensive ability, the fierce attack of Real Madrid's stars will generally be dumb as long as it hits the front, either under the joint pressure of Cheng Hai and his teammates, he can no longer attack the 30-meter area of Dortmund's goal, or the ball is broken and is counterattacked by Dortmund.

The commentators were surprised:

"What's the situation?"

"We suddenly found out that Cheng Hai was not actually playing as a striker in this game, and he didn't participate much in the attack."

"Cheng Hai has been in the backcourt to assist Sebastian Kyle in his defense."

"It's not right to talk about assistance, because Cheng Hai's defensive ability is too perverted, and Cheng Hai has even become the absolute main force on the Dortmund defense."

"His perverted physical fitness, the world's No. 1 speed, as well as defensive positioning, tackling ability, grabbing points, physique, headers, etc., all allow him to cover all areas of his own backfield, becoming an iron gate blocking the offensive line of Real Madrid's stars, so that Real Madrid's attack is basically dumb as long as it hits the frontcourt."

"Cheng Hai's defensive ability is comparable to the world's top midfielder, and may even be surpassed."

"Even Makelele doesn't have the defensive effect of Cheng Hai."

"It can be said that Cheng Hai alone stopped most of the attacks of the Real Madrid stars, leaving Ronaldo, Kaka, Di Maria, Ozil, Benzema, Higuain and a bunch of superstars helpless in the face of his defense."

"Moreover, Cheng Hai also has an amazing ability to assist with long passes, if it weren't for Cheng Hai's vision that seems to be a little flawed, and sometimes he can't see the running position of his teammates, I'm afraid Real Madrid has lost the goal."

"Is this the surprise that Jurgen Klopp had in store for Mourinho?"

"It's a surprise, I think Mourinho is going crazy."

Indeed, this is the new formation that Dortmund has been practicing hard for more than a week before the game, a new formation with Cheng Hai as the defensive back.

There are so many superstars in Real Madrid that Klopp can't tell which one will shine in the game.

If there is a big offensive battle with Real Madrid, just like in the second half of the first leg, even if Dortmund has Cheng Hai, the number of goals may not be as good as Real Madrid.

Because there are so many superstars in Real Madrid.

Therefore, in view of Cheng Hai's current perverted physical fitness and speed, defensive position, tackling ability, etc., Klopp changed the tactics of the second leg, allowing Cheng Hai to play defensive midfielder and intercept the impact of Real Madrid stars on the Dortmund penalty area.

With Cheng Hai's physical fitness, speed, defensive position, and tackling ability, his role in the back position will be more terrifying than that of Makelele, Gattuso and others.

In addition to defense, Cheng Hai also has a brilliant dribbling and long pass ability in the air, not afraid of the opponent's counter-robbery after breaking the ball, and it is also possible to use long passes to directly launch a counterattack and hit the attack to the hinterland of Real Madrid.

That's Jurgen Klopp's killer plan for the second round.

The 4132 starting formation released before the game was simply deceitful, and in the game, Zhonghai retreated from the forward position all the way back to the back position, becoming an iron gate that could not be crossed on the offensive road of Real Madrid.

In fact, Mourinho discovered Cheng Hai's abnormal position earlier than the commentators.

As the world's top coach, his eyes are much sharper than those of the commentators. Therefore, from the moment he discovered Cheng Hai's abnormal position, Mourinho has been gloomy, but he still can't come up with any countermeasures.

Because Real Madrid's 343 offensive formation is already the strongest offensive method he can come up with at present.

This can't break Cheng Hai's defense, so what else can be done?

He can only pray that Ronaldo and Kaka will play extraordinarily and use their superstar flashes to break through the defenses of Cheng Hai and Dortmund.

However, to Mourinho's despair, not only did the goal he hoped for not arrive, Real Madrid conceded the first goal in the 23rd minute.

In fact, Real Madrid's fierce attack on all fronts has long caused their own backfield to be full of holes, but because Cheng Hai did not participate in the attack, Dortmund's several counterattacks failed to form a goal in the end.

Lewandowski, Gundogan and others have always had much worse shooting skills than Cheng Hai.

But there were many counterattacks, and after all, they broke through Real Madrid's goal in the 23rd minute.

And the assister was Cheng Hai, who unexpectedly withdrew to the back position.

He first forced the Real Madrid stars to constantly cut and cut through a quick rush, and then made a mistake in the process of passing, and Di Maria's ball ready to cross to Kaka was suddenly intercepted by Subotic with a flying tackle.

Seeing his teammates successfully break the ball, Cheng Hai immediately switched to offensive mode, his full speed and off-ball running position made him run to the unguarded gap in an instant.

Immediately after, the ball that was shoveled by Subotic to Schmelzer's feet was passed by Schmelzer.

Although Cheng Hai faced Higuain's counter-attack immediately after receiving the ball, Higuain is not an all-round striker like Cheng Hai.

Cheng Hai can almost easily break through in the face of defenders one-on-one, let alone face a striker who is not good at defense?

Therefore, there is no doubt that Higuain, who was anti-robbery, was shaken by Cheng Hai with a simple Matthews feint.

Cheng Hai, who shook off Higuain, did not dribble the ball to Real Madrid's half, because the rest of Real Madrid's players had already begun to retreat frantically the moment they lost the ball.

When Cheng Hai rushed to the opponent's penalty area with the ball from the side of the backfield to shoot, he didn't know how many interceptions he would encounter on the way, and he didn't know when he would be cut off and delay the attack.

Therefore, after Cheng Hai shook off Higuain's counter-robbery, he did not run long distances with the ball at all, but directly kicked up, and a long pass in the air of more than 50 meters sent the ball to the right side of the front court.

Because of the total score behind, Real Madrid's every attack is almost full of strength, even Ramos, Marcelo, often rush through the half to participate in the attack.

And this time Dortmund's counterattack hit the vacant space after Marcelo stepped forward, and Shinji Kagawa, who was counterattacking at high speed, received the ball.

Shinji Kagawa, Gundogan, Mario Goetze, and Lewandowski fired four arrows together, and when only Ramos and Pepe were left in the Real Madrid backfield, a four-on-two situation was formed in an instant.

Ramos and Pepe, no matter how strong they defended, were always on the passive side, and with the ball at their feet, they were forced to run with it.

But where can two people run over?

When Pepe was about to intercept Shinji Kagawa, Shinji Kagawa passed the ball to Lewandowski.

When Ramos wanted to intercept Lewandowski, Lewandowski passed the ball to Gundogan.

Although Gundogan had a frantic Marcelo not far behind him, his pace could not match the speed of Gundogan's burst into the box and shoot.

When Marcelo had just rushed behind Gundogan, ready to make a tackle on the verge of fouling and blocking Gundogan's shot, Gundogan, who had dribbled into the penalty area, had already shot with his feet.

Marcelo could only give up his intention to tackle from the back in despair, and watched in despair as Gundogan's ball flew against the turf towards the bottom left corner of the Real Madrid goal.

The preoccupied Casillas had already saved two Borussia Dortmund shots from the woodwork, and Gundogan's shot was the first to save.

Casillas' goal-line saving ability is among the best in the world.

However, Casillas, who had already saved two dangerous shots from Borussia Dortmund, could not save Gundogan's shot this time.

Gundogan fired a powerful shot into the corner, but Casillas made a narrow save and couldn't touch the ball, only to watch as the ball scurried past his finger and into the far post into the goal.

The moment the ball flew into the goal, the more than 70,000 Real Madrid fans at the Bernabeu fell silent, leaving only a few thousand Borussia Dortmund fans who accompanied the team on the expedition to roar and scream in celebration in a corner of the stands.

The German TV commentator in the commentary seat also roared frantically:

"The ball is in!"

"Gundogan's shot broke through the goal guarded by San Cassie!"

"It was an attack from the back of Cheng Hai's long pass, and in the end Lewandowski assisted Gundogan to break through Real Madrid's goal."

"Borussia Dortmund have a 5-2 aggregate lead, Real Madrid are three goals behind on aggregate, and their hopes of promotion are already quite slim."

"Klopp unexpectedly let Cheng Hai play the back midfield, which played a quite significant effect on the spot."

"Cheng Hai's crazy sweep at the back has become an iron gate that the stars of Real Madrid can't pass, so that Real Madrid's attack always stops abruptly and cannot enter the Dortmund penalty area."

"And Dortmund often takes advantage of Real Madrid's attack to be cut off to counterattack."

"Although Cheng Hai has not been involved in the attack much, a lot of Dortmund's counterattacks have been wasted."

"But the number of counterattacks is too much, and it always works. After all, Lewandowski, Gundogan and others are not amateur players, and they are also the top offensive players in the five major leagues. ”

In the end, Borussia Dortmund scored the first goal in the 23rd minute, kicking the Galacticos Real Madrid into the abyss of elimination.

"Real Madrid are just 70 minutes away from being eliminated. With a three-goal difference, time is running out for Real Madrid. ”

As the commentator said, the goal made Real Madrid's players and fans look quite frustrated.

With a difference of three goals, it is already difficult to get it back. Otherwise, the Istanbul miracle would not be called a miracle.

The reason why a miracle is a miracle is because the probability is low and the number of occurrences is very small and very small, so it is called a miracle.

Moreover, not only the difference in the score, but also from the first 23 minutes of the game, we can see that Cheng Hai's crazy sweep in the back position has indeed greatly hindered Real Madrid's attack, so that the attack of Real Madrid's stars is always forced to interrupt, and it is difficult to score into the Dortmund penalty area to form a threat to shoot.

Originally, the shooting skills of the Real Madrid players were not as good as Cheng Hai, and Cheng Hai blocked most of the offensive routes, leaving the Real Madrid players with very few shooting opportunities.

And if there were, it was mostly long-range shots from outside the box that were not threatening.

They don't have the same shooting skills and shooting power, long-range shots, and curling ability as Cheng Hai, and their long-range shots from outside the box will fly out of the net most of the time or be easily confiscated by goalkeeper Weidenfeller.

That's why Real Madrid players and fans are so frustrated.

Because everyone can't see the hope of Real Madrid's comeback, even if the Galaxy Battleship on the field is bright and superstard, everyone can't see hope.

That's where everyone gets the most frustrating.

Of course, there is one person who will not admit defeat so easily.

This person is Mourinho, he calls himself the second person under God, the arrogant Portuguese, even if the game is over, he will not admit defeat, let alone the game?

Therefore, even though he knew that the probability of a comeback was already low, Mourinho still waved his arms at the Real Madrid stars on the sidelines, pointed at the Dortmund goal and shouted:

"Attack! Offensive! Offensive! ”

"Give me a crazy attack, give me to break down the opponent's defense and put the ball into their goal!"

Finally, Mourinho also called out Ramos and Marcelo by name, telling the two to ignore the defense and give him a bold participation in the attack.

Real Madrid don't need to defend anymore, he just needs to attack, he just needs to score.

Mourinho's personality charm is extremely high, and even world superstars such as Ronaldo and Kaka are also affected by his emotions.

After the resumption of the game, Real Madrid really launched a frantic attack on the heart of Dortmund under the command of Mourinho, and even Ramos and Marcelo rushed across the halfway line to participate in the attack.

Because of the huge score gap, if you don't attack, you have to die.

Real Madrid had no choice.

I can't even take care of defense.

At the same time, the home fans in the stands also stood up and cheered for Real Madrid with all their might.

The entire Bernabeu stadium was plunged into an atmosphere of destruction and a fight to the death.

Real Madrid's frantic attack also put the Dortmund defence to the test.

Although Cheng Hai's defensive ability is indeed the best in the world, he has only one person, not a god, after all, and cannot really cover the entire Dortmund backfield.

When he's on the right, Real Madrid will pass the ball to the middle and to the left.

When he was on the left, Real Madrid would play the ball to the right.

Although Cheng Hai's speed is the world's first, as long as the Real Madrid players don't pass the ball one-on-one with Cheng Hai, Cheng Hai can't beat the passing speed after all.

And these Real Madrid superstar players are quite strong in terms of individual strength, and when they play against other players in Dortmund except for Kai Cheng Hai, the breakthrough success rate is still quite successful.

Coupled with the coordination of each other's passes, Real Madrid's attack finally paid off in the 35th minute after a few failed attempts.