Chapter 20 Champions League Qualifiers
In the blink of an eye, 2016 has come to August. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 infoIn the European Championship that ended last month, the Spanish team won the European Championship. The end of the European Championship indicates that the new season of the major European leagues is about to start a new journey. During the summer transfer period, Roma used up two non-European transfer places in order to buy the Chinese twins. Roma also used midfield stalwart Pjanic to bring €40 million from Bayern Munich to keep the finances balanced. Roma brought in the last signing from Real Madrid, but it was from Real Madrid that they bought the versatile Nacho at the back for 7 million euros. Roma did not have any reinforcements up front, with young Argentine striker Poncee moving up from the youth team and Paraguayan striker Sanabria, who returned on loan. Spalletti does not have a high striker position in his tactical system. The former Manchester City center forward Dzeko is now on the bench, but because there is no next home willing to accept the center forward, Roma has to continue to wait for the winter transfer to continue to sell cheaply. Dumbia was dumped at a low price by CSKA Moscow. The current Roma team is very strong on paper, but I don't know how it will be in practice. Roma's former prince Giannini commented that Roma's recruitment in this transfer period is perfect, and he is looking forward to this season to challenge Juventus for the throne they have held for five consecutive seasons. Juventus also brought in strong reinforcements in this transfer period, bringing in the former European Golden Boy winner Isco from Real Madrid. Two veterans were signed from Barcelona, Alves and Mascherano. The biggest part of the summer transfer window is undoubtedly the Premier League and La Liga signings. Manchester United signed Lu Bongschenyi, Real Madrid's J Ronaldo and centre-back Subotic from Borussia Dortmund. Manchester City signed Bayern Munich's Gotze, Borussia Dortmund Gundogan and Roma's Antonio Rudiger. In La Liga, new European champions Real Madrid signed Belgian superstar Eden Hazard for 65 million euros plus Kovacic's transfer conditions. The transfer market is buzzing and it's not over yet, and the summer transfer market in Europe will be full of exciting transfer news until the last minute. But the only way to test the success and failure of the signings is to compete in the real game. Liu Heng and Liu Xin looked at the names of Raul and Ballack, and couldn't suppress their excitement in their hearts, he didn't expect that he could be teammates with the two world superstars in his football career and fight together on the field.
On August 17, Roma held a pre-match press conference for the first leg of the Champions League final play-offs. Roma coach Spalletti brought Liu Heng to attend the press conference. This is also the first time Liu Heng has represented the Roma team at a press conference.
Q&A session with reporters.
"Hello, Liu, please tell us about the feeling of being back in Rome, and from the warm-up match, you are in good shape, and you can't see the feeling of being seriously injured from your body, how did you do it?"
Liu Heng pondered for a moment: "I am very grateful to the Roma team for giving me the opportunity to come back here. Rome is my second home, I love it and I'm happy to work with Coach Spalletti, he's a great coach. I train harder than others every day, and I tell myself every day not to be afraid, that's all. “
"What do you think of this game?"
Liu Heng said without hesitation: "Take the game seriously." Go all out to win. ”
On August 18th, the Olympic Stadium in Rome, where they played their first match of the 16th season. The first leg of the final play-offs of the UEFA Champions League, Roma vs. Ajax. Roma go home and away.
Roma fans are happy this year, and they are full of hope for this season, because they have welcomed a new batch of stars this year, and finally they are not like the previous years of bringing in high-paid and low-energy veterans. Although Pjanic, the core of their midfield, is gone, their former little prince Liu Heng has finally returned, and Liu Heng is already the only successor of Roma Prince Totti in the hearts of Roma fans. Now that Totti has renewed his contract for another year, but he is close to retirement, they hope that there will be someone who will lead the Red Wolves to move forward after Totti's retirement, and that person is Liu Heng. In the Rome locker room before the game, Totti sat next to Liu Heng and talked to him about the Roma team. In Totti's heart, Liu Heng is also the only person who can replace him, and he sees his young shadow in Liu Heng's body, and he also likes this Chinese child very much. Humble off the field, arrogant on the field. Now Totti is no longer enough to be in the main lineup, so he is willing to teach Liu Heng all his experience.
This Champions League qualifying match is not easy to play, and although the strength of the visiting Ajax team is not as good as before, the strength should not be underestimated. Judging from the situation reflected in the warm-up matches in Rome, the Roma team still has a lot of problems. The lineup is not running in enough, the quality of defense is not high, and there are many mistakes in frontcourt. It will take some time for them to get acquainted with each other and run in with each other.
Ajax, known as the world's number one star processing plant, has a large number of stars in its youth training system. On the far side there are Cruyff, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Bergkamp, Van der Sar, these are the names that are thunderous. Recently, there are some of the world's biggest stars who are still active on the field, such as Ibrahimovic, Suarez, Van der Vaart, Sneijder, and Huntelaar. Although Ajax is selling stars every year, their youth hematopoietic strength is very strong, and a steady stream of new stars are sent to the first team, and they have also formed their own unique youth training model. They also live up to the reputation of the world's number one star processing factory. Ajax's core is just as young, with midfield captain Klaassen just 23 years old and he is now a potential recruit for the big clubs. Also catching the attention of the big five league giants are their young Polish centre-forward Milik and Danish centre-forward Fischer. All three of the mentioned young talents were featured in the squad for the evening's competition. Neither manager Spalletti nor De Boer announced their starting line-up beforehand, keeping the mystery alive until the end.
The time has come, with 10 minutes to go to the Champions League final play-off first leg at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. In the dressing room, Spalletti only said one word to the players, fight for the fans!
The Stadio Olimpico in Rome is packed. The passion of Roma fans is famous in Serie A, and today is no exception. Lekan Sports, one of the domestic online sports stations, is also broadcasting the game live. The Serie A matches against Roma in the 16 and 17 seasons were also broadcast live by them. Liu Hengxian's parents were sitting at the computer watching the game.
"Come out, come out, look at the youngest son and Liu Xin. The youngest son looks stronger than before. Mother Liu looked at Liu Heng's picture and said happily.
The players from both sides had already walked out of the dressing room and immediately entered the pitch on the pitch. The starting lineups for both sides have also come out. Roma's starting eleven looked like this. Raul, Salah, Liu Heng, and Shaarawy make up Roma's front four. The midfield was started by two physical and range-bound De Rossi and Na England partners. At the back, Digne, Manolas, Rudiger and Nacho were in order. The position of the goalkeeper is Liu Xin. On the bench were players such as veteran captain Totti, Ballack, Stroman, Kastan and Perotti. Today, for the first time, the twin stars of Chinese football started at the same time, which also created the history of two Chinese players starting at the same time in the Champions League. Ajax's starting line-up is No. 1 goalkeeper Cillessen, and the back line has Tate, Feltman, Ferhefer, Van Leyen. The midfield trio is Sereiro and Klaassen, and the midfielder is Guerje. The front three are central striker Milik, with Fisher and Ghazi on the left and right wingers.
The game starts right away. Liu Heng and Raul stood on the halfway line and prepared to kick off. Liu Heng stared firmly at the opponent's goal, thinking that I was back, and I wanted to score.
The referee's whistle blows, and the game begins. Liu Heng passed the ball to the captain De Rossi at the back. De Rossi is affectionately known as the eternal vice-captain by domestic fans. De Rossi passes to Naeng on the right. Naeng found Raul with a long pass, and Ajax centre-back Feltman got stuck in position and slipped the ball to goalkeeper Cillessen. Cillessen made a short pass to left-back Tate, who in turn passed the ball to Klaassen, who saw that Roma were in a tight formation and couldn't find a chance to get the ball, so he had to make a long pass to Milik, who grabbed the first point and unloaded the ball, turned and fired a long-range shot high into the goal. The first ten minutes of Roma and Ajax were all tentative, and the scene was a bit dull. Spalletti took advantage of a Rome throw-in, called Liu Heng to the scene, told him to control the ball more, break through more, and then distribute the ball to both sides or shoot directly. Roma threw a throw-in in Ajax's half on the right side, Liu Heng took the ball and made a one-two collision with Shaarawy near the touchline. Liu Heng ran directly to the middle to get the ball, and Shaarawy ran to the bottom line on the right side. Ajax fullback Tate, who was originally defending Shaarawy, suddenly ran to the middle to defend Liu Heng. Liu Heng found the right time and tore apart Ajax's defense with a left-footed cross, when Tate came back to his senses and wanted to defend Shaarawy, Shaarawy had easily won the ball and used his speed to run to the penalty area to complete the cross, Raul caught up with the central defender Ferhuffer to block the ball into the near corner of Cillessen, Cillessen couldn't save, and the ball rolled into the goal from under the crotch. Stylish combination!! Roma get off to a dream start!! The enthusiasm of the fans at the Olympic Stadium in Rome was completely ignited by this goal and they excitedly sang the Roma team song (Rome, Rome, Rome). Liu Heng, Shaarawy, and Raul worked together perfectly to create this goal. Spalletti also jumped up excitedly on the sidelines, and Liu Hengxian's parents were also excited. De Boer was not too disappointed with the goal conceded, they arrived at Roma with no chance of a sure win, and their guaranteed hopes were an away goal from the Stadio Olimpico. De Boer made a tackle and a steal gesture at the midfielder on the sidelines. This is an instruction for Liu Heng to take the ball. Judging from De Boer's warm-up performance of the Roma team, Liu Heng is still a little afraid of physical confrontation on the field, and when there is physical confrontation, his performance is often unsatisfactory. When Liu Heng passed the ball just now, there was only one player on Liu Heng's side, Klaassen, who was defending. He is now signaling the midfielders to step up their midfield defence and make their tackles more frequent. In the next five minutes, the Ajax players firmly implemented De Boer's tactic, and whenever Liu Heng got the ball, there were always at least two and at most three defenders by his side. And Liu Heng's next picture is either to be put to the ground, or the ball is stolen. You must know that the only world football superstars such as Messi, Ronaldo, and Hazard can make the opposing team have such luxurious defensive care in the current football world. However, there is still a certain gap between Liu Heng and their football skills. Liu Heng gradually remembered the broken leg in his heart after being fouled frequently, and every time he saw an Ajax player tackling the ball towards him, he felt nervous and hesitated. This hesitation makes him very confused on the pitch, always losing the ball or passing the ball to the opponent in a panic. Spalletti looked at Liu Heng, who had fallen again and again, and shook his head helplessly, thinking that he should be replaced in the second half.