Chapter 505: The Moment of the Decisive Battle
"CCTV! Cctv! Welcome to the 2015-2016 UEFA Champions League final, I am today's commentator Duan Xuan, restricting me and Zhang Lu Coach is at the Santiago BernabΓ©u Stadium in Madrid, Spain, it is an honor to be able to explain this game for you on the spot, and now the players of both teams have entered the stadium and are guessing the side. β
"Hey, hey. Hello everyone, I'm Zhang Lu. Both teams are ready, Real Madrid have home advantage and you can feel how much support their fans have for them on their home turf. β
Although Zhang Lu and Duan Xuan sat in their commentary seats very closely, the noise at the scene even made them a little unable to hear what the other party said, of course, this is not a problem, because they are both wearing headphones to facilitate communication.
'We see that in the end Ramos won the kick-off and now Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is in the centre circle with Karim Benzema, ready to kick off. Before the game starts, let's introduce the starting lineups of both teams. On the home team's Real Madrid side, the starting goalkeeper is No. 1 Navas, left wing-back No. 12 Marcelo, right wing-back No. 15 Carvajal, and the central defender is their most stable partner, No. 3 Pepe and captain No. 4 Ramos. In the midfield position, after Zidane took over, he focused on cultivating the midfielder, No. 14 Casemiro, and the midfielder No. 8 Toni Kroos and No. 19 Modric. Three forwards, No. 11 Bale on the right, Benzema No. 9 in the middle, and No. 7 on the left, Cristiano Ronaldo. They wore the traditional white jersey today and attacked from the left side of the screen to the right. β
"Real Madrid's squad is indeed star-studded, even Casemiro, who has only begun to emerge this season, has been extremely recognized by everyone, and many people say that he is more in line with the title of 'Real Madrid's last piece of the puzzle' than Lin Yi, who Zidane wants to bring in. It is believed that he will be able to take on the task of protecting Kroos and Modric behind him. β
"Since it comes to Lin Yi, let's take a look at Dortmund led by Lin Yi, today Kyle made certain changes and used a more stable lineup. The goalkeeper is No. 20 Langlak, left wing-back No. 37 Durm, No. 4 Subotic in the middle alongside No. 5 Baltra, and right wing-back No. 26 Piszczek. The backline is still a bit ingenious, but the midfield is more solid, with No. 6 Sven Bender and No. 27 Castro, and No. 8 Gundogan. The trio teamed up to form a midfield that was more playmaking and defensive. As for the front three, No. 11 Reus is still on the left, No. 17 Aubameyang is on the right, and captain No. 10 Lin Yi is at the front as an attacking arrow. β
Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema stood in the centre circle ready to kick off, while Reus and Lin Yi were outside the centre circle, watching them with fierce eyes.
"Okay! Cristiano Ronaldo kicks off! This decisive battle has officially begun! β
"Actually, there was something interesting about the coaches of both teams today, both of them took over in the middle of the season, one as the head coach of the reserve team and the other as an assistant coach of the first team. But when they took over, I'm afraid no one would have imagined that they would be able to do what they are now. Especially Sebastian Kyle. β
"Hey, hey. Yes, in fact, Zidane's performance is already very good, but after all, the hole that Benitez dug for him in the early stage is too big, after Zidane took over, he finally defeated Barcelona in the second half of the national derby, although he was unable to reverse the championship in the end, but it can be regarded as an acceptable result. But Kyle's words, needless to say, helped Dortmund break Bayern Munich's monopoly on the Bundesliga, not to mention, but also won a German Cup, and now it is a double in hand. And it is attacking for the triple crown. So I've always felt that there is no reason to belittle and slander Dortmund and Kell, and they have done a very good job. β
Zhang Lu and Duan Xuan are analyzing here, and the game has begun.
After receiving Benzema's kick-off, Ronaldo turned and fed the ball back to Luka Modric in the middle.
Croatia have continued their best performances and form in the Premier League after joining Real Madrid.
For several seasons, Real Madrid's midfield has been sorted out in an orderly manner, and after Kroos regained his form this season, and with Casemiro behind them, Real Madrid's midfield has become the world's top midfielder who can compete with the Barcelona midfielder.
Of course, this also has something to do with the departure of Xavi on Barcelona's side, and the lack of Rakitic to fill Xavi's vacancy is not enough.
After receiving the ball, Modric controlled the ball at his feet, neither rushed to pass the ball to Toni Kroos, nor did he move forward, just standing near the midfield, unhurried forward, obviously waiting for Dortmund to come and grab it.
Lin Yi is Dortmund's center forward today, although his position is destined to be very flexible in such a key game, but his center forward position is placed there, as soon as the ball is kicked off at this moment, he is the closest Dort player to Modric who has the ball, the Croatian obviously wants to seduce Lin Yi to force himself, he has watched Dortmund's previous games, many games have done this, and he has figured out a way to solve this kind of pressing, and he is here to try it.
"Real Madrid were obviously not in a hurry at all after the start, Modri got up to get the ball in midfield, but Dortmund didn't have anyone to press it. That's a bit of a match for what I think of Dortmund this season. β
Modric didn't expect Lin Yi to be indifferent to his control of the ball, but he didn't bother, seeing that Lin Yi didn't grab him, he pulled the ball sideways, ready to pass the ball forward, but after this move, he suddenly found that Lin Yi did not come up to force him, but he blocked all the routes he could pass forward.
When Modric realized this, he only felt a cold sweat break out on his back for a moment.
Did he do it on purpose? Or is it just an unintentional position? If it was intentional, it would be terrible.
Modric, who had tried for a long time but couldn't find a chance, paused the ball and crossed the ball to Toni Kroos, who pressed up next to him.
As soon as the German stopped the ball, his international team-mate Gundogan pounced on him and scrambled up to kick the ball right from Tony Kroos' feet.
"Huh? Is there some inconsistency in Dortmund's strategy? Lin Yi, who has always been the most fierce in the frontcourt, is not active today, but Gundogan, who appeared in the front position today, seems to be in a hurry to win the ball. β
The football that Gundogan kicked from Kroos' feet was not controlled by himself, but was protected by Casemiro behind Kroos.
Casemiro's offensive ability may be a little worse, but the defensive aspect, whether it is positional sense or protection ability, makes it difficult for Zidane to part with him.
Zinedine Zidane, who has experienced how difficult it is for a team without a midfielder, has been giving Casemiro a chance.
Despite his penchant for technical midfield, Casemiro's attacking skills are immature, but he is not nitpicking.
After all, when it comes to technology, both Modric and Toni Kroos have it, but Casemiro's defensive ability is not available to anyone.
"After Casemiro's return this season, the number of appearances under Zidane has surged, and it is obvious that Zidane has relied on the Brazilian defender after the failure to buy Lin Yi and Pogba, and it is estimated that he should have given him some tasks today."
In addition to defending the overall situation, Casemiro also has a very strong one-on-one marking ability.
In such a game, if Casemiro can stare Lin Yi to death, Real Madrid's backline is estimated to be much less pressed.
Just the moment Casemiro stopped the ball, Lin Yi, who was standing still when dealing with Modric, suddenly started, Casemiro didn't have time to react at all, and Lin Yi cut the ball off from under his feet.
Yes, it was broken, that is, after the ball was hooked, it was still under Lin Yi's control.
"Huh?! As soon as Lin broke the ball, Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ran up the two wings. Wrong! Aubameyang is walking in the middle, what will Lin Yi do?! β
Lin Yi's break can be said to be very sudden, but the Dortmund players seemed to have expected it, and immediately rushed forward when they saw that the football was under Lin Yi's control.
Reus was on the wing, while the quicker Aubameyang opted to lean into the middle.
This is already a common routine for their offense.
There was no Casemiro in front of Lin Yi, and the moment the ball was broken, Lin Yi slipped past him in stride.
"Dortmund's chances!? Lin has been stuffed! Oh! It's a straight stop, it's too fast, and it's very precise. β
In fact, in normal counterattacks, long passes over the top will be a more common choice, and this is also the case for Dortmund, but Lin Yi, who is well aware of Real Madrid's air defense capabilities, has already expected that this method may be difficult to penetrate Real Madrid's defense, so he has trained with Aubameyang and Reus many times in training to cooperate with this kind of ground direct stopper.
Such a straight stopper, whether it is a receiving player or a passing player, is actually very demanding.
Because if the passer doesn't have good footwork, it is difficult for the ball to form that kind of crossing effect.
If the receiver does not handle the ball well, it is also difficult to control the ball well and deal with it during the high-speed forward insertion.
Fortunately, Lin Yi's passing does not need to be doubted, and Aubameyang has also improved his ability to receive and control the ball in high-speed runs after practicing hard, and the two of them showed the special results of their training in the first attack of this game.
The positioning between Ramos and Pepe was already tight, as they were constantly on the lookout for the two wingers to lean inside.
But Aubameyang's speed was too fast, and in a blink of an eye, he went from a winger to the center forward position left by Lin Yi.
"Dortmund's chance! Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang catches up with football, Keylor Navas strikes?! β
In fact, in a team like Real Madrid, Navas is under a lot of pressure, whether it is fame or position on the field, it makes him easy to be the one who takes the blame.
But none of that affected his mentality or the way he played, as if he didn't hesitate to attack right now.
"Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is fast!? Ay?! Ay? What's going on? Pepe knocked down Aubameyang from the side, what did the referee signal? The referee motioned for the game to continue?! It's a foul! We saw Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fall to the ground, and I don't think it's going to be good. β
After Navas threw Aubameyang down, the ball was out of control at his feet, and seeing that no one would threaten him, a short ball was played to Ramos's feet.
Before Ramos could pass the ball, Pepe suddenly rushed to Aubameyang's side with a quick pace, raised his hand to grab his shoulder, and tried to turn Aubameyang who was lying on the ground on his side.
Lin Yi and Reus, who were just a little worried about Aubameyang's situation, rushed up at once, Reus went to see Aubameyang, and Lin Yi was very witty in blocking Pepe and Aubameyang, using his body to push Pepe who seemed to be a mad dog.
"What are you pretending?! You played dead at the beginning of the game? What time is wasted? Get up! β
Pepe was pushed outward by Lin Yi, and at the same time, he was still jumping to Aubameyang.
The rest of Dortmund's players saw that the situation was not right, and they all surrounded them from the back.
Before they could rush to the position, Lin Yi, who was holding Pepe away from letting this mad dog get close to Aubameyang, didn't forget to turn his head and yell at his players, "What are you doing here?" Give me all back. β
Royce stood up at this time, and waved his hand at the field with a very ugly face.
The referee came over at this time, and shouted at Lin Yi while separating Lin Yi and Pepe.
"You seem to have forgotten what you told me before the game started?!"
"No, Mr. referee, I remember it very well, it's just that I want to see if my teammates have something wrong."
Ramos, who still controls the football at his feet, actually wants to drive the ball to the front with one kick, taking advantage of the movement of Dortmund's back line just now to find an opportunity, but seeing the referee's reaction, he can only reluctantly kick the ball out of the sideline, but he kicked the ball out of the sideline of Dortmund's backfield. Apparently he didn't even want to give a throw-in in front of Dort.
The Dort players didn't care about what he was doing, and took advantage of the end of the game to rush up.
After the team doctors came on the pitch and lifted Aubameyang down, the game resumed, and Durm ran to the touchline to throw the throw-in, who would have thought that as soon as his hand was raised, the fourth official on the sidelines suddenly raised a sign.
Down on the 17th, up on the 14th.
Not to mention Durm, even Lin Yi didn't expect it, he turned his head to look at the sidelines, and found that head coach Kyle's face was full of anger.
Durm threw the ball down, and Mechtaryan, who was not yet hot on the stool, came on.