The big lead in the first leg finally put Mazzoni at ease, and Brescia's training focus returned to a new tactic. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoIn order to increase the team's competitiveness in the new season, they seized every minute to familiarize themselves with the new formation.

Now their eyes are on next season's league fixture. As for the second leg of the Champions League qualifiers? Will there still be suspense?

It's not just them who think so, but even the Italian media have already released the words, "Brescia can already start looking forward to the draw format for the group stage." This is the difference in the strength of the leagues between the two countries. Even after reaching the Champions League as a dark horse, Brescia still defended the glory of Serie A. ”

It wasn't until four days before the start of the second qualifying match that the entire Brescia team left for Milan, from where they will take a flight to Krakow, Poland.

Krakow, the full name of the Royal Capital of Krakow, is the capital of the province of Krakow. Founded around 700 AD, the city is one of the oldest cities in Central Europe and was once the capital and economic center of Poland. Historically, it was a hub where Eastern and Western cultures met, with travelers from Mongolia and China coming here via Lithuania and Russia and from here into Europe. They came to the culture and knowledge of the East, and before 1600 it was the most prestigious academic capital in all of Europe, where the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was educated.

Today, Krakow is an important land and water transportation hub and industrial center of Poland, and it is also a cultural and educational center second only to the capital Warsaw. If Warsaw is compared to North Beijing, Krakow's position in Poland is similar to that of Shanghai.

Krakow FC is located in such a big city, so it's no wonder they looked down on Brescia before. Compared to Krakow, Brescia is indeed a hillbilly team from a small country town.

But now, it's this hillbilly team that has pushed Krakow to the brink. The score of 3:0 down in the first leg weighed heavily on the hearts of Krakow fans like a boulder.

But Krakow's coaches and players haven't given up yet, and the Champions League is a game that no team can afford to give up. The previous arrogance towards Brescia has disappeared without a trace, replaced by a desperate madness.

Compared to Krakow, the mentality of the whole Brescia team is much more relaxed. On the plane, Zhang Shu was still discussing with Bacchini where to go after the game.

"Zhang, I've asked a friend to check it for me, and the better bars in Karakow are here." Bacchini held a piece of printer paper with large swaths of text written densely.

"You see, this one, their beer is the most famous in all of Poland." He pointed to a name on the paper and said, "It's in the city center, close to the hotel where we stayed, and we can walk back directly after we have fun." ”

"Your friend is really powerful... Zhang Shu propped his elbow on the armrest of the seat, looked at the information in Bacchini's hand and complained. "What kind of organization are you? Pan Mediterranean Professional Nightclub Bio Alliance? ”

"Hehe, who let me travel extensively." Bacchini said proudly.

"But I don't drink, is there anything else to do?" Zhang Shu asked.

Bacini waved his hand arrogantly, "As long as you give me an assist today, you can choose these places!" He shoved the paper into Zhang Shu's hand.

"No problem! Jonathan, just wait for the goal. Zhang Shu said as he casually shoved the paper into his pocket.

"I'm going to score 10 today!" Bacchini was full of confidence.

"How is 10 possible! Krakow is not a fish belly, we can't be proud, okay, you can enter 3 enough, leave a few for me. Zhang Shu looked serious.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey~~" The two looked at each other and let out a yy laugh.

Krakow was already a dead man in their hearts, and they could take what they wanted from each other's corpses if they wanted to.

The mentality of Zhang Shu and Barcchini is just a microcosm of the whole Brescia team. Although Mazzoni would remind the players from time to time that the game was not really over and that Krakow still had a chance, the calmness of the old coach who thought that the overall situation was decided always conveyed the opposite message to the players - the words of the coach were just a professional mantra of a coach, in fact, even the always cautious coach thought that Krakow had lost.

In such a situation, how could the players really listen to Mazzoni's words?

The mentality of the two sides seems to have quietly reversed. Brescia now, like Krakow before the last game, have fallen into the trap of pride and arrogance, forgetting that they are away from home.

As a result, at the end of the first half, they achieved the same result as Krakow in the previous game. 2:0, international convention, home team in front, away team in the back.

Worse than Krakow, Krakow was able to quickly adjust his mentality and shrink the line in the last game. They were trying to return to their home stadium, but Brescia had no chance of returning home, which made their performance after conceding the goal even more unbearable than their opponents.

The 3-0 lead was chased back by two goals, and the mental blow to Brescia was huge. The shortcomings of the young players were laid bare in this moment, and when Krakow recovered two goals, it was as if the Brescia players were no longer able to play. They were in a disarray, their movement was messy, and the frontcourt players were hell-bent on helping the team score a goal and getting the score back to a safe score for them, but the defenders were only thinking about carrying the opposition on the back and waiting for Mazzoni to point them in the direction at half-time.

The result of the disconnect was that they were pinned down by their opponents in their own half, and Brescia's goal looked shaky in the face of a tidal wave of Karakow's attacks.

It is also fortunate that Brescia also has a Guardiola, and at this critical moment, Guardiola helped the team to stabilize the position, and he controlled the rhythm of Brescia with his passing and scheduling. Amid the boos at the Cracovia Stadium, he led the backcourt players to back and forth to eat up the rest of the first half.

When the half-time whistle blew, the Brescia players hurried into the dressing room as if they had been pardoned, knowing that they would face a rebuke from Mazzoni next. But they are more willing to bear the wrath of their boss than to stay on the pitch and relive the painful experience of the first half.

At the very least, being scolded can alleviate some of the guilt in their hearts.

There was silence in the locker room, and even young players such as Zhang Shu, Toney, and Bacchini who usually love to laugh and make trouble lost their joy at this time. Everyone sat in their seats and was silent, the veterans wanted to boost morale, but before that, they had to be educated by Mazzoni's hair dryer.

When Mazzoni returned to the dressing room and motioned to Merricini to close the locker room door, many players couldn't help but shrink their necks at the thought of the next scolding.

Mazzoni looked around at the lifeless players, and he spoke.

"I apologize to everyone. The result of the first half was my responsibility. ”

To everyone's surprise, Mazzoni's tone was without a hint of anger.

'Our complacency has given us a bitter taste and as the head coach of the team I have to apologise to everyone.

"Coach, you don't need to apologize, it's us..." Filippini said, standing up.

Mazzoni interrupted Filippini with a wave of his hand.

"Yes, I've been telling you before, 'Don't be proud, we haven't really won two rounds yet.'" But in fact, I must admit that even I myself fell into pride. ”

"I'm telling you in words that the game isn't over yet, but my actions keep sending you the wrong message. After the last game, the team resumed preparing for the league, until this game, we did not do any targeted training for the opponents in this game, the coaching staff did not analyze the opponent's intelligence again, in the face of the pride in the team, I will tell you not to be proud, but in fact it is not in my heart. ”

"Because I, like you, have fallen into the trap of pride."

"Actions speak louder than words, so the biggest responsibility for the team is that we are in the bad situation we are in. It is my responsibility to let everyone go through such a hard battle, and I apologize to everyone. ”

Mazzoni bowed his head to the players.

Seeing an old man in his 70s make such a move, all the players got up from their seats.

"Carlo, it's not your responsibility... Baggio stood up, "It's us who are complacent, even if you don't remind us, it's still us who make mistakes, and you don't have to apologize." ”

"That's right, Daddy, it's our fault." Tony also said eagerly.

"Everyone is an adult, and we have the obligation and ability to control our mentality, coach, you don't need to apologize, it's us who should apologize." Di Biagio, who was still sitting on the bench today, said in a serious tone.

"Well, I'm a minor... Before Zhang Shu finished speaking, he was slapped on the back of the head by Guardiola, "Pep, what are you doing, I haven't finished speaking!" He dodged Guardiola's hand and continued, "Even if I'm a minor, I can be responsible for my own thoughts, so you don't have to treat me like a child, Dad." ”

One by one, the other players also stepped up to express their determination to Mazzoni.

'We won't do that again in the second half.'

"Yes, we will never lose to them."

"Just assume that it's 0:0 now, calm down and we have the advantage in strength!"

"Fight harder! Have you forgotten your previous training? Use it in a high position! ”

They were talking about it.

Seeing that the team's morale had regained, Guardiola and Igor looked at each other, and they learned another trick from the old manager.

Being honest with your players and admitting your mistakes unabashedly can sometimes achieve better results than scolding.

At the start of the second half, Brescia regained their morale, but the players in Krakow looked like no difference. In their eyes, this is just the last remaining courage of the opponent.

It's normal for morale to recover after a half-time adjustment, but we've got two goals back and if we score one more, their morale will definitely break!

Feeling victory in sight, the Krakow players pressed hard and were ready to deliver the final blow to Brescia.

Zhang Shu kept intercepting in the midfield, although Brescia's formation in this game was still the 442 formation last season, but the new tactical drills for many days still had a huge impact on Zhang Shu. He has now been able to spontaneously devote himself to the team's front court defence.

The same is true for the rest of the players, Brescia's formation has not changed, but the tactical thinking has changed. In the past, the frontcourt players were only responsible for attacking and only a few people were involved in the defence, but now, everyone except Baggio will try to slow down the opponent's progress and create a high pressing situation.

In addition to being more involved defensively, Zhang Shu's position has also become more flexible than he was in his new tactics, just like in the previous game, he can cut inside from the left to score, he can also play through the middle to assist Toney, and he can also send crosses from the right side to the bottom.

The current Brescia is between the old and the new tactics, wearing the skin of the old formation, but it is wrapped in a core that is beyond the times.

As Zhang Shu thought before, Bacchini really started this game, and Mazzoni's previous lack of attention to this game made the old coach use this game as a warm-up game to get Bacchini back in shape. As a result, under the toughness of the opponent, Bacchini's performance in the first half was average, and he still looked a little uncomfortable when he returned from a serious injury, not to mention that his presence was greatly weakened in Brescia's new tactics.

When Zhang Shu appears on the right side, he can only run to the middle, leaving enough room for Zhang Shu to move, while he will fall into a tighter encirclement of the opponent in the middle.

No matter how you think about the jokes with Zhang Shu on the plane before, let alone 3 goals, now Bacchini doesn't even dare to think about a goal, as long as the performance is not too bad, it is his greatest wish to be able to play the 90 minutes completely without being replaced in advance.

So he worked hard to run and defend in the front court, opening up space for Zhang Shu when attacking, and at the same time staying near the midfield to guard against the opponent's counterattack, just hoping that his diligent performance could be seen by the coach.

As a result, he heard Zhang Shu shouting at him.

"Jonathan, rush up!!"

Bacchini looked ahead, there weren't too many people there, Krakow was now full of thoughts on another goal to defeat Brescia, and the defence was relatively weak. But if you go up, you will definitely attract defensive players, and won't the probability of the team's successful counterattack decrease at that time?

At this time, Zhang Shu had already run to his side, "Jonathan, you go to the penalty area, how can I give you an assist if you stand so far away!" ”

Bacchini opened his mouth in surprise, "Zhang, at this time, we just need to score goals, who scores and who assists shouldn't be considered now, right?" ”

"Isn't it a goal to assist you in scoring a goal? Like you said, as long as you can score goals. Zhang Shu tilted his head and said to him, "Come up, go up, go up." The whole midfield is my turf, don't come and take my place. ”

He pushed Bacchini on the back, "You're waiting in front, I said I was going to give you an assist, I'll talk!" (To be continued.) )