Chapter 304: The King of the Champions League
After the opening, the Real Madrid players obviously played a little restrained, and the tactical routine was too rigid, and Juventus found the pulse and successfully fought many times. Under the impatience, the offensive means became simpler and simpler, and the high ball from the back field directly found Benzema's head twice in a row, but in front of the opponent's powerful BBC (Juventus's defense also happens to have this combination), the French did not have a chance at all, and the loss of the ball was called a joy.
In the sixth minute, the Bianconeri distributed the ball to the left after a series of exquisite crosses, and the unmarked Mandzukic calmly crossed to the middle of the penalty area, but Higuain made a mistake in judgment when there was no one around him to defend him, and after the jump, he did not hit the ball and was cleared by Varane's header behind him. However, the danger was not over, and Pjanic, who was waiting at the top of the arc of the penalty area, used his chest. After stopping the ball steadily, he volleyed a right-footed volley before two Real Madrid players flew over to block it. The ball went straight to the bottom left corner of the goal like a cannonball, but Navas reacted quickly and flew to block it with one arm.
Mandzukic then intercepted the penalty and crossed again, but the linesman raised it to signal that he was in an offside position, and the ball returned to Real Madrid's feet, but if it wasn't for the brave play of the Costa Rica goal, I am afraid they would have fallen behind soon after the game started.
Seeing that the team they support is so passive, Real Madrid fans began to feel a little uneasy, and a middle-aged uncle sitting on the left side of Li Mudi has even begun to fold his hands and pray to God, hoping to be protected by mysterious powers.
Although she doesn't know much about football, after confirming the relationship with the Turin coach, Lin Yuner also made up a lot of relevant knowledge. Li Mudi responded: "This is not the real level of the two sides, the players of Real Madrid just haven't found their own rhythm of the game, I believe that after a while, when they calm down, they will be able to play at a normal level, but I hope that the score before that time will not change!" ”
Fortunately, Ronaldo is the world's top superstars, and they quickly stabilized their position and showed their technical superiority. Juve had 65 per cent possession in the first seven minutes, but by the thirteenth minute, the two sides were evenly matched. Faced with Kroos, Luka Modric and Isco, three midfielders who may be the best in possession of the ball in football at the moment, Allegri's pre-match high interception tactics instantly lost their due meaning, and the Juventus team's exhausting performance will not only further increase their physical exertion, but also gain fouls again and again.
In the tenth minute, Marcelo made a long pass to the left side of the penalty area, and Ronaldo fell to the ground after making physical contact with Chiellini when he was about to receive the ball, causing the ball to roll out of the bottom line, but the referee signaled that there was no foul, which caused strong dissatisfaction with Real Madrid's top card. A minute later, Dybala brought down Kroos near midfield on a counter-attack, and this time Brich showed the Argentine the first yellow card of the game.
The penalty also bankrupted the Bianconeri's fierce pressing tactics, and without the high-intensity defensive impact, Real Madrid became more comfortable in passing the ball in their own half. However, Juve's defensive strength had to impress others, and sure enough, it was able to keep Barcelona clean in 180 minutes, and the defense in the penalty area was simply impenetrable. In the next five or six minutes, neither Benzema's dribbling, Marcelo's cross, nor Ronaldo's cutting inside on the left side of the penalty area could not get past the Juventus defense led by Giorgio Chiellini, and their defensive ability was truly breathtaking.
However, just when Zizou's team couldn't open the situation for a long time and was hit by the opponent with two unthreatening counterattacks, Ronaldo used the team's first attack in the game to rewrite the score, which came from a counterattack after Real Madrid's backfield broke the ball.
In the 20th minute, it was Carvajal's mistake in the backfield that allowed the Juventus players to intercept the ball very close to the penalty area, but Dybala's dribbling in the front court was too sticky, and he collided with teammate Alves in the face of the press, and handed over the ball in vain. And Real Madrid played a quick counterattack, Kroos passed the midfield on the left side and handed it to Benzema, the Frenchman moved directly to the right side, Ronaldo and Carvajal who was inserted at high speed completed a large kick to the wall, the Spanish fullback entered the right side of the penalty area and knocked back to the middle, Ronaldo met the ball in a step in the big penalty area. Buffon fell to the ground and couldn't make a save, the ball grazed the tip of Bonucci's shoe and flew straight into the bottom left corner of the goal, 1-0, and the defending champions suddenly came out of nowhere to take a one-goal lead.
It was Cristiano Ronaldo's sixth goal in his fifth game against the Old Lady, and he became only the third player after Mazzola and Rott to open the scoring in two Champions League finals, and the first man in history to score in three finals. At the same time, this is also the 500th goal scored by Real Madrid in the Champions League, the crown of the entire European football, so many milestones, enough gimmicks!
But they didn't wait for the Real Madrid fans to be happy for too long, and they were shocked by a super world wave, which was an upside-down golden hook that was difficult to appear in the finals in the past, and the classic level was only under the 2002 Zizu's flying immortals.
As soon as the score was rewritten, Juve stepped up their attack, and the assists from Sandro on the left began to increase, and the benefits of Allegri's inclusion of Barzagli in the starting line-up were evident, and Juve could switch to three centre-backs at any time, leaving no chance for opponents who wanted to play on the counter-attack. After the Brazilian left-back moved more up front, Mandzukic moved into the box and acted as a pillar centre-forward, allowing crosses from both sides to be targeted.
In the 27th minute, it was Bonucci's precise long pass in the midfield that found Sandro almost as a left winger, who shook off the defense and volleyed to the middle of the penalty area in front of the baseline, Higuain stopped on his chest and pushed the ball to Mandzukic on the left with the arch of his foot. After the Croatian center unloaded the ball on his chest, he carried Carvajal, who was more than one head short, with his back to the Real Madrid goal, and directly hit the goal with a half-sideways barb, and the ball drew a wonderful parabola, which happened to pass the fingertips of Navas who flew to save and fell into the net. 1-1, with Manjoo's second goal in the history of his Champions League final, Juve equalized soon after conceding the first goal.
The cheers were replaced by Juventus supporters, who shouted the names of the players and waved the team's flag, in stark contrast to the Real Madrid fans who were in the same stadium and were sighing with their heads together.
For this wonderful but extremely rare goal, Li Mudi can only sigh that Qi Zu's luck is a little bad, this kind of ball may not be successful if Manju kicks ten times, but let them catch up today. But don't regret it since you ran into it, it's a man who has to have the courage to bear all the consequences, after all, judging from the previous situation, Real Madrid still has a slight advantage, as long as you can maintain ball control and a fast attacking style, I believe there is still a chance to take the lead again.
After the restart, both sides put a lot of energy into the attacking end. First, Ronaldo also tried to replicate Manjoo's barbed shot in the opponent's penalty area, but it was blocked by Chiellini. Then Juve's counterattack was also quite sharp, Alves's breakthrough with the ball forced Ramos to take a more dangerous tackle, and as a result, Shui Ye also received the team's first yellow card. Isco then crossed from the left after dribbling past Barzagli on the left, and Ronaldo's header in the middle was deflected off the post under pressure from the opposition defenders. After the switch between attack and defense, Dybala's direct free kick from the middle of the penalty area also failed to cross Real Madrid's human wall, and for a while both sides were fierce in attack, and the scene looked very exciting.
In the 41st minute, Carvajal tripped Mandzukic behind the midfielder and also received a yellow card. Since then, the game has gradually evolved into the tone of Real Madrid's attack on Juventus, but the latter's solid chain defense kept the score 1-1 until the break, and the two teams have to look forward to a battle in the second 45 minutes.
Judging from the data, Real Madrid has a certain advantage in possession, number of passes, success rate and other links, but the crosshairs are a little exaggerated. Compared to Juve's record of 8 shots and 4 shots on target, Zizou's side were only 1 of 5, which is a bit too ugly, and hopefully they can use this quarter of an hour of adjustment time to find their shooting boots, otherwise this game will be in big trouble.
At halftime, Li Mudi took Lin Yun'er to get up, squeezed towards the seats of Raul and Guti not far away, and after saying hello and chatting a little, he couldn't bear the crowd of fans around him and hurriedly returned to the distance. It took exactly fifteen minutes to go back and forth, and you can imagine the enthusiasm of the fans on the way.
At the beginning of the second half, the situation continued before the break, with one team attacking and one defending, which looked very obvious. Zizou made adjustments to Real Madrid's attacking routine, and Marcelo sent long-distance pick-and-roll passes on the left side of his side twice in a row, allowing Ronaldo and Isco to fight with the aging Barzagli for their sprinting ability, although they failed to form a direct attack, and also put a lot of pressure on the opponent. Isco's corner kick caused Bonucci to be hit in the face by Varane's front pad, and the Italian centre-back had to go to the sidelines for some treatment before he could recover.
Defensively, Zizou also asked his players to step up the front, a strategy similar to the one used by Juventus in the first half. Although Kroos was booked for stomping on his international team-mate Khedira in the 53rd minute, the team's relentless high interceptions also disrupted the rhythm of the opponent's counter-attack, and Real Madrid also grabbed the ball on several occasions and launched the attack on the spot. Luka Modric seized a chance to get a long-range shot from the middle of the box, but his left-footed shot couldn't get enough angle and was caught by Buffon with both hands to clear the danger.
For the next seven or eight minutes, Real Madrid took the opportunity to form a siege in front of the Juventus penalty area, and the latter's sporadic counter-attacks ended outside the box, completely failing to create a threat.
In the 55th minute, after a series of passes, Marcelo's long-range shot from the left side of the edge of the box went wide of the post. Two minutes later, Varane suddenly cut forward from the back, inserted a dragon into the right side of the penalty area and knocked on the middle, which was cut off by Chiellini on tiptoe, otherwise it is likely that Ronaldo will have the opportunity to hit the empty goal by Ronaldo who is ambushed behind him. Forty seconds later, Real Madrid successfully counter-attacked in front, and Isco ignored the interference of someone in front of him on the left side of the arc of the penalty area, and shot directly from a distance, a little impatient.
Subsequently, after Marcelo received the ball on the left edge of the penalty area, he did not dribble, but unexpectedly chose to cross from the spot, the ball bypassed the two central defenders of Juve and went straight to the back post, but unfortunately the grabbing Cristiano Ronaldo missed the ball with his right foot under the interference of Sandro and failed to form a shot.
However, the third goal that most people predicted would arrive came as promised. In the 61st minute, Benzema cut into the box on the left and crossed back to the middle, Kroos's left-footed push on the line of the penalty area was very reluctant, lacking power, and was destroyed by Sandro. However, Casemiro, the Brazilian defender who successfully made a steal in the backfield more than ten seconds ago and started the attack, suddenly hit the landing point and directly hit the goal with his right foot at a position about 30 meters away from the goal. The ball grazed the heel of Khedira, who jumped sideways to block, and the line changed and slid into the bottom left corner of the net through the narrow gap between the palm of the pounced Buffon and the post.
At 2-1, Real Madrid took the lead again, and the players had been attacking tirelessly since the start of the second half, and finally reaped the rewards, with the balance of victory tilting in favor of the defending champions for the second time.
It was Casemiro's sixth goal of the season, and it was somewhat surprising that he had transformed into a world-class midfielder who could play both offensively and defensively. Even Li Muddy did not expect that Real Madrid spent 6 million euros in the summer of 2013 to buy the little fat man from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to achieve what he is today. The Galaxy was so successful in those two years that the likes of Kroos, Luka Modric and Asensio were all bought during that period, laying a solid foundation for the team's world domination during this period.
After conceding the goal, Juventus naturally had to step up their attack and wanted to replicate the pattern of a quick equaliser in the first half, but no one expected that the goal that made them desperate would come so quickly.
In the 64th minute, Casemiro made a mistake in front of the long pass in the center circle, Sandro cleared the ball to his teammates without top strength, and Manju was waiting for the ball, but the shrewd and active Modric stabbed Carvajal on the right first. The latter paused slightly after winning the ball, and then went straight to the Croatian midfielder who stepped forward, and the magic flute took the ball to the bottom line before getting up and crossed, and Ronaldo scored with a half-volley from a small angle 3 meters from the goal, rewriting the score to 3-1.
Within three minutes, Real Madrid let everyone see the power of the Champions League king, and Li Mudi couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "This championship is stable!" ”