"Rub, what a failure, I only injured three substitutes."

Dick spat in his room, "poof, poof", he held the senior injury card until today, and hoped to make Liverpool's core and important players such as Owen, Gerrard and a McAllister all injured, so it is estimated that it will be extremely easy to win, but it is very likely that God can't stand Dick's shameless methods, and he forced the injured three players to become Liverpool's three substitutes......

"Forget it, it's not without effect." Dick held his chin and thought, as soon as these three people are injured, Liverpool's main lineup is basically about to come out, Carragher will definitely be sent to the left-back position, and in the midfield, Hamann and Gerrard are very solid, and the wings McAllister and Murphy can basically be sure - the two of them are in good shape this season, better than Barmsby and others, no need for them to be abnormal, and the striker will only be a combination of Owen and Husky.

This kind of help is actually not small, not only makes the opponent's main force obvious, but also makes Houllier's adjustment in the game will not have much leeway, no wonder Houllier will be very low-key before the game, because compared with the strong Atletico Madrid, although Liverpool's first team has as many as 29 people, but the players who can be used are really not much......

Liverpool's current player waste also seems to be very serious, such as Ziggy, Diomede, Traore and others' transfer fees are not low, and the salary is not low, but it does not play a big role, Redknapp and Fowler, the two local stars, have declined very much because of injuries, and they can't play a big role, if it weren't for McAllister's unexpectedly good performance this season, then Liverpool may also look stretched in midfield.

May 17 finally arrived.

Looking at the energetic players, Dick laughed, and then he waved his hand: "Go!" ”

Their destination is the venue for this UEFA Cup final, Borussia Dortmund's home stadium Westpha-Len.

Playing in Germany, it is relatively fair for both sides, although Liverpool has German players such as Babel, Zigger, Hamann, etc., but the gap between the British and the German is not small, and Babelziger and Hamann have played for Bayern before, for the local fans of Dortmund, they don't have much affection for these three German players - you must know that throughout the nineties, it was Dortmund that could cause trouble for Bayern and indeed steal the championship and honor from them, They won the Bundesliga title and also won the Champions Cup, stealing the limelight from Bayern.

Since the two sides are rivals, then don't expect Dortmund fans to support Liverpool because Liverpool has three Germans, in fact, in this game, there are not many neutral spectators, 20,000 Liverpool fans and 20,000 Atletico Madrid fans occupy almost the entire Westfa-Lun, neutral fans only occupy the two stands behind the goal, blocking the fans on both sides.

When the Atletico bus drove outside the stadium, the Atletico fans who were still lingering outside the stadium immediately cheered, and they had a lot of confidence because they firmly believed that this season must be the most glorious season under Hill, even more glorious than the double of the 95-96 season - anyway, the League Cup is also much more valuable than the Copa del Rey!

The Liverpool bus arrived as soon as the Atletico players walked onto the pitch – and the Atletico fans cheered again, which in their eyes was a good sign that Atletico would gain an advantage on the pitch.

"About the tactics of the game...... I've said a lot and now I don't want to talk about that. ”

When the players returned to the locker room after the warm-up, Dick looked at the players with his chin and asked a question.

"Of all the people present...... Who has won the European Championship at the club? ”

Ice.

After a while, Thuram raised his hand with some embarrassment – he had won the UEFA Cup in Parma in the 98-99 season, his only European title for the club.

"Although the UEFA Cup is only a foil to the Champions Cup, none of us have won any honours in Europe except for Lilian...... I didn't have either, I would love to win the UEFA Cup so I could tell everybody that I was a European champion...... Whether it's the UEFA Cup or not, I'm a European champion. I'm a good-looking, vain guy and I want to be able to put a European champion on myself...... What about you? ”

"We want to, sir." Jadel replied that he now feels that he is the right thing to do to join Atletico, that the league title is now in sight, that he has already proven himself in the top flight, and that he will make up for one of his regrets if he wins the UEFA Cup......

All the Atletico players nodded at the same time, and no professional player would refuse honour unless he was tired of it – and it was clear that Atletico players were far from getting tired of honour.

"Then let's go, follow the tactics I have arranged, and we will definitely be able to win...... Remember, be careful when advancing, don't give them the opportunity to break the ball in the midfield when pressing, when there is a chance to counterattack quickly, then speed up, in short, we don't have enough people in the backfield, we have to be careful not to make mistakes in the attack, there are enough people in the backfield to defend, then take two or three people as a group to quickly maneuver and attack, this is the basic requirement of this game, understand? ”

The players nodded their heads, and Dick's tactical intent had already been evident in previous training, so Dick only needed to stress it, and then they walked out of the dressing room under Molina and headed out for their most important game of the season.

When the players from both sides were ready to play, they didn't talk in the tunnel, Atletico Madrid and Liverpool didn't have any entanglements, there was no personnel communication between the two sides, there was almost no intersection between each other, and naturally there was no conversation.

The fans on both sides in the stands have already begun to shout their own voices, warming up for the next game in advance - for them, the next game is also their battle!

"The players from both sides are about to play...... There are no changes in the starting line-up for this game, whether it is Atletico Madrid or Liverpool, they have adopted the main lineup that they are most accustomed to. Atletico started 451, goalkeeper Molina, defenders Héctor, Capdevilla, Thuram and Marchena, who has recently become a mainstay, Makelele, Baraja and Belleron in the middle, Vicente and Camoranesi as wingers, and Jadel stepped forward. Liverpool fielded their usual 442 line-up, with Dutch international Westerved in goal, right-back Babel, left-back Carragher, Hyypia and Huntez in the middle, Gerrard and Hamann in the middle, Scottish veteran McAllister and homegrown midfielder Danny Murphy on the wings, and Michael Owen and Heskey up front. In terms of substitutes, Atletico Madrid's seven substitutes are goalkeeper Moura, defenders Aguilera, David, Gamarra, midfielder Bonovic, forwards Cruz and Jardel, Liverpool is goalkeeper Frenchman Afesa, defenders Zieg and Biscayne, midfielders Smitchell, Bambi and Diomede, striker Lite Maning, both sides of the bench have a characteristic, that is, there are more generalists, Dick only brought one midfielder, that is because Atletico Madrid's two fullbacks can also play full-back, anyone injured will have a substitute, The same is true for Liverpool, with Mitchell and Diormet both playing as midfielders and strikers, Biscayne as centre-back and midfielder, and Barmsby as versatile on the right, with the choice of substitutes also a test for both managers, and it now appears that Dick and Houllier have done a good job. ”

In the chatter of the commentators, the game is about to start - there are also many big names in the stands, including UEFA President Johansson, Liverpool celebrities such as Dalglish and Rush have appeared in the stands, Atletico Madrid's old Hill also brought all the club's senior management to Westpha-Lun to help the team, compared to history, Atletico Madrid naturally does not have the glory of the Red Army that once shocked Europe, but who this championship belongs to, it still depends on the players on both sides to speak with their feet on the field.

As the players from both sides dispersed across the pitch, the referee looked at his watch and blew the whistle for the start of the game!

Numerous cheers poured into the stadium from the stands, and Irving, standing in the center circle, kicked the ball to Husky and ran forward.

Meanwhile, Vicente and Camoranesi, who were standing on either side, ran towards Liverpool's half, and it was Jardel who pressed up in the middle - and the game started!

Gerrard didn't take much of the ball back from Heskey, and the future Reds soul had just become an absolute mainstay at Liverpool, facing the rushing Jardel, he passed the ball directly to McAllister on the right.

As soon as the veteran Scotland stopped the ball at his feet, Vicente was already rushing towards him, McAllister turned and took control of the ball, and then passed it straight back.

Hyypia catches the ball, then he looks up at the front court, and suddenly makes a long pass!

The ball flew straight into Atletico's half, looking for Heskey.

Marchena and Heskey rushed to the spot at the same time, and then jumped up with Heskey - and then he was suppressed by the big black man, and in the face of the flying ball, Heskey's header quickly swung towards the edge of the Atletico penalty area - and he still trusted Owen's speed.

Not only did he trust, but Liverpool fans also trusted, and they cheered early when they saw Heskey head the ball towards Atletico's edge of the box - a simple tactic, but with Heskey's bouncing duel and Owen's speed shooting, Liverpool didn't score once or twice in this way......

When Owen accelerated to the ball landing point, a dark figure followed him closely, slightly slower but not much worse, and when the ball was about to fly into the penalty area, he had already raised his foot to break the ball halfway!

It was Thuram who broke the ball! He did a good job of cutting off the connection between Owen and the ball's flight path, and stopped Liverpool's attack in advance - after he broke the ball, Owen tried to cut the ball from behind, but was stopped by Thuram, and then Thuram quickly passed the ball to Belleron in front, and Atletico turned to attack.

"Nice defense! I have to say that the more than $20 million that Atletico spent on Thuram is definitely worth it! Although it is a new record for the transfer of defenders, Thuram has made Atletico's defense much better, and if it weren't for an excellent backline, Atletico might not be able to achieve the results they have now! ”