Chapter 378: Preparing for the Champions League

After winning the Serie A title, celebrate for a night and rest the next day. On the third day, Inter Milan began training and preparing for the Champions League.

All of Lu Wenbin's clean sheets so far, as well as Hoffenheim's last three games against Bayern Munich, have been the subject of Mourinho's repeated research.

The character is proud of himself, but intellectually Mourinho will not relax his preparations for the final.

He was able to achieve such great success now, but he didn't rely on his words.

Hoffenheim have won every competition they can in the last three seasons, a record that cannot but wary Mourinho.

Moreover, Lu Wenbin's attack power must also be paid attention to.

After the German Cup final, Lu Wenbin played a total of 50 club games this season, scoring 92 goals, an average of 1.84 per game.

This efficiency is definitely the best in football, and Mourinho can't help but pay attention to it.

That's why he was so concerned about Bayern Munich's clean sheet against Lu Wenbin in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals.

It is difficult for other players to score goals, but it is difficult not to score for Lu Wenbin.

On such an important occasion as the Champions League semifinals, Lu Wenbin must have done his best, and Bayern Munich can still keep Lu Wenbin clean in the first leg, so their defense must be unique.

Therefore, that game was the focus of Mourinho's research.

Of course, he didn't start working on it after the league was over.

When the final opponent was Hoffenheim, Mourinho's team began to study Hoffenheim.

After this period of research and summarization, the coaching staff unanimously agreed that the game in which Bayern Munich kept a clean sheet against Lu Wenbin was accidental.

Bayern Munich's home game, excellent defense, Lu Wenbin's poor goal luck, etc., all kinds of comprehensive factors led to Lu Wenbin's full play in that game but did not score a goal.

In the Champions League final, Inter Milan has to achieve the same clean sheet against Lu Wenbin, which is difficult, difficult.

In terms of probability, the probability of Lu Wenbin scoring in the final is much higher than the probability of not scoring.

This is not only the reason why Lu Wenbin has the body, speed, technique, superb shooting skills, and is a thief when running without the ball in the sports battle, but also Lu Wenbin's free kick skills.

Including the national team matches, Lu Wenbin has scored a total of 18 free kicks this season. This efficiency is also the best in football, more than the total number of goals scored by many strikers in a season.

Lu Wenbin even scored twice from a free-kick.

Even if Lu Wenbin's sports goal is blocked, it is difficult to guarantee that Lu Wenbin will not use a free kick to score.

Of course, there must be some inevitable factors in everything.

Bayern Munich's clean sheet against Lu Wenbin in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals must have some advantages to learn.

After continuous analysis and research, Mourinho made targeted tactical arrangements for Hoffenheim's main lineup, especially Lu Wenbin.

First of all, the formation, Inter Milan can't play 532 like Bayern Munich, so the back line shrinks too tightly, there is no strategic depth, and it will be pressed and beaten by Hoffenheim all the time, too passive.

It's hard to have a team that can hold on for 90 minutes without conceding a goal, as evidenced by Bayern's elimination by Lu Wenbin with two goals in the second leg.

Therefore, Mourinho chose a relatively balanced 4231 formation, retaining a more advanced counter-attacking ability on the basis of taking into account the defense.

When defending, in addition to the forwards, Inter Milan can have all nine men shrink back to defend, and there are three lines of defense.

When attacking, with the full-backs assisting, you can have up to eight people involved in the attack.

As analyzed by the coaching staff, they can't guarantee a clean sheet against Lu Wenbin, so they must retain their ability to counterattack and score, and they can't completely defend it, let alone completely shrink within 30 meters of the backfield.

Another reason for pressing forward in such a formation is that Mourinho does not want to give Lu Wenbin too many free-kicks in front.

Even if you have to commit a foul, it is best to do so more than 30 meters away from the goal.

At the same time, in order to curb Hoffenheim's attacking football, Mourinho also asked the whole team to step up their running and press Hoffenheim all over the field, even the forwards.

From the second the goal is conceded, the whole team has to go on the defensive.

In order to prepare for the Champions League final, Mourinho even asked the fitness coach to reserve the fitness of the players with the goal of the Champions League final even before the league ended.

That's why Inter Milan struggled to win the final round against relegation rivals Siena, as their preparations weren't entirely focused on the league and a large part of their focus was on the Champions League final further afield.

This resulted in a poor performance in their final league game, winning by just one goal.

After the end of the league, the whole Inter Milan team trained and prepared for the game under the tactical framework set by the coaching staff.

The Nerazzurri, who have been waiting for almost half a century, are hungry for the Champions League trophy from top to bottom.

Inter Milan are preparing intensively, and Hoffenheim are not idle.

The lure of the Champions League title also stimulates every Hoffenheim player. Even Lu Wenbin, who knows that he will not lack the Champions League in the future, is full of desire for the Champions League this season.

Hoffenheim's German Cup final ended a day before Inter's final league game, so Hoffenheim had one more day of training and preparation than Inter.

Before the training began, Lu Wenbin used 3 skill points to increase his header attribute to 14/14, and the remaining 2 skill points were useless there.

Then, in training, Lu Wenbin also deliberately strengthened the set-pieces, mainly corner kicks and free kicks on both sides of the forbidden area.

Jose Mourinho's team has long been labeled as a defensive counter-attack.

Inter Milan defended better than Bayern Munich, and Lu Wenbin was not sure that he would be able to score with a breakthrough shot.

In the second leg of the Champions League semifinals, Inter Milan relied on their bus in front of the Camp Nou goal to block Barcelona's wave of attacks, and finally eliminated Barcelona to advance to the final.

Therefore, Hoffenheim will certainly face Inter Milan's dense defence in this Champions League final, and set-pieces have become a very important way to score goals.

The 14/14 header, coupled with Lu Wenbin's speed, physique, height, and running without the ball, made it easy to score from set-pieces.

As for the formation, Ralph didn't play any tricks.

Hoffenheim has long been accustomed to the offensive formation of 433, and the players in both the front and back fields are quite tacit, and the rash change of formation may not catch the opponent off guard, but will overwhelm his players.

As a result, Ralph decided to stick with his attacking football, no matter how Inter responded. (Ask for a commuter pass)