Soon the day of the game came.

The whole Barcelona team came to London the day before, they rested in the hotel for a night, and the next morning they entered the prepared stadium for normal training, during the whole process, a lot of media tracked and reported, some media wanted the two teams to be hotter before the game, they wanted to interview the coaches and star players of the two teams, but Barcelona was very low-key before the game, and they refused to interview a lot.

The same was true for Chelsea, with manager Grant and stars such as Zhang Tiehan and Frank Lampard not being interviewed before the game, much to the disappointment of the media.

However, as the game time approached, the players of both teams still appeared in the public eye.

This game attracted a lot of fans, and some fans who did not follow both teams did not want to miss this big game, so many TV stations that broadcast the game live began broadcasting from half an hour before the game.

The picture begins with the two teams warming up.

The two sides occupy half of the pitch at Stamford Bridge, separated by the halfway line, but this can't stop the 'communication' of the players on both sides, they use all kinds of superb skills to communicate, no language, no communication, but the players on both sides continue to perform the warm-up, which is enough to feast the eyes of the fans.

Soon as the clock wore on, the warm-up was over and the players returned to the dressing room, while Grant and Rijkaard were also in attendance at the press conference.

Last season, Rijkaard sat with Mourinho, and at that time Rijkaard could only watch Mourinho talk eloquently, holding his breath to eliminate Chelsea in the game, and in terms of war of words, he was really far from Mourinho.

But now that the opponent has been replaced by Grant, Rijkaard has become much more relaxed.

He smiled at the reporters and said about the game. 'I'm sure Barcelona will win because we have a stronger squad than Chelsea, we have a solid squad, it's a team I've built over the years and we have confidence in the game.'

Rijkaard's smile also showed confidence in the game.

If Grant said such a thing, it is estimated that he will definitely be questioned by the media. Chelsea can claim to be better than other teams, but compared to Rijkaard's Barcelona, it is really not much higher, no, it should be said that it is weaker than Barcelona, which shows Xiàn in terms of overall strength and cooperation.

Those who are familiar with Rijkaard know that when Rijkaard was a player, he was well versed in the concept of all-attacking and all-defensive football in the Netherlands, especially when he was influenced by the founder of this concept, Michels, and had a very deep understanding of the concept of all-attack and all-defense.

In 1998. Rijkaard retired as assistant coach of the Netherlands, finished fourth at the 1998 World Cup in France, and replaced Guus Hiddink as head coach of the Netherlands in August of the same year in preparation for the 2000 European Championship in the Netherlands.

When he led the Dutch national team at Euro 2000, he fully embedded his insights in the team, and the Dutch reached the semi-finals with an unstoppable victory, having swept the former Yugoslavia 6-1 in the previous game, and it seemed that the title was within reach.

But maybe God is testing the young coach. There was a joke against the Netherlands in the semi-final against Italy, who were eventually beaten by the Italian defence. After reaching the semi-finals, Rijkaard also left the position of coach in a huff, leading the Dutch team to 22 games during his tenure, with a record of 8 wins, 12 draws and 2 losses.

In the 2001-02 season, he became the coach of the Eredivisie Rotterdam team, and was relegated along with Fortuna because he led the team to only 34 games, 4 wins, 12 draws and 18 losses, accumulating only 24 points. Resigned after the season.

Although he did not have a brilliant record in coaching, he was still favored by the president of FC Barcelona Laporta, and on June 24, 2003, he officially replaced Antic as the head coach of Barcelona.

Rijkaard has been in charge of Barcelona for three years now, and since coming to Barcelona, the Black Swan has continued to stick to his philosophy. It was a lot of trouble at the beginning, the team didn't have a good record, and he was under a lot of pressure.

In the 2004-2005 season, Rijkaard's Catalan Legion began to flourish after bringing in a number of much-needed players, and although the Blues were defeated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Barca eventually won the league trophy this season.

In the 2005-2006 season, Barcelona continued to win the league trophy, but unfortunately still lost to Liverpool in Europe and were eliminated.

But two consecutive league titles have proven the quality of Barcelona, Chelsea are strong in the Premier League, but they have been having opponents for two years, and Barcelona are stronger in La Liga, they have no opponents at all.

After three years of consolidation, Barcelona has matured quite well.

No one doubts that the strength of this Barcelona team led by Rijkaard has reached a peak, and in the peak state of this giant club, Barcelona is favored by many people this season, and they are the most promising team in the Champions League.

Chelsea are also strong, but they have changed managers

Chelsea have always won the league, but more because they have a lot of stars, but Barcelona has a lot of stars, no worse than Chelsea, their skills are mature, they are much better than Chelsea, their beautiful attacking football is pleasing to the eye, this Barcelona team is really strong.

In fact, the mentality of the Barcelona players is the same.

They are the best team in the world, there is no one!

Many Barcelona players think so, although they didn't win the Champions League trophy last season, but the reason why they didn't get it was just that they didn't play well, maybe it was because they met Liverpool with Zhang Tiehan, and now facing Chelsea, the opponent also has Zhang Tiehan, which is a point they are worried about, but they believe in their overall strength more.

The whole is always stronger than a point, what is there to be afraid of Chelsea except for Zhang Tiehan?

Last season, they can be said to have eliminated Chelsea lightly, and now they are stronger, and Chelsea has just undergone a change of manager, and the performance will definitely be affected somewhat.

As for what the English media said, "Chelsea have Zhang. It's not easy for Barcelona to win", the Barcelona players think it's just an excuse, the whole is stronger than the individual, this is inevitable, no one can break this law, modern football is about cooperation. No matter how strong a person is, it is impossible to drive the whole team, which is why it is difficult for Maradona to appear in modern football, and in the 21st century, where the overall cooperation is approaching maturity, even if Maradona appears, it is impossible to play like that again.

What's more, what else can the English media say besides Zhang Tiehan?

Compared with the strength of the two sides, Chelsea really has no advantage!

In terms of stars. Chelsea have Zhang Tiehan, they have Ronaldinho, they have Messi!

Yes, Messi!

Messi is the most outstanding talent in La Masia's training camp in recent years, and he is only 19 years old this year, but his skills and strength have been recognized by the whole team, and he has already begun to officially represent Barcelona. And there is quite an excellent table xiàn in March of this year. Messi recuperated for two months with a calf strain, but after his comeback, his table was even better, especially after the start of this season, Messi's appearance even overshadowed Ronaldinho's brilliance, and he won the best player honor in the league three times in a row.

This kind of watch xiàn is really shiny!

The new edition of France Football already believes that Messi will be the best talent in the world in the future. Now his skills have surpassed Zhang Tiehan, of course, but there is still a little gap in his skills and personal performance, after all, Zhang Tiehan's body is too strong.

In the summer, Real Madrid wanted to poach Messi. The transfer fee they offered was 60 million euros, but Barcelona was not moved at all, which shows that Messi is valued in Barcelona and Spain.

Such a player is not the future, but the present, now his table is quite good, many players in Barcelona think that Ronaldinho's table is actually not as good as Zhang Tiehan, although the position guide zhì table xiàn is difficult to compare, but last season's game with Liverpool has proved that Zhang Tiehan can lead Liverpool to beat Barcelona, naturally his table is much better than Ronaldinho.

But what about adding a Messi?

Barcelona played with that mentality.

However, they still attach great importance to Zhang Tiehan's defense, there is an old Chinese saying that 'tactically value the opponent, strategically despise the opponent', the whole team thinks that they will be the winners, they are stronger, but in the specific game, they still have to give their best efforts.

They are already familiar with Zhang Tiehan.

Rijkaard was on the edge of the box and focused on defending, but Barcelona's style of play was there, they were not a defensive player, they couldn't be in front of the box like Liverpool and Chelsea did. Set up a bus', their defence is more integrated into the attack, constant interceptions, constant scrambling, that's their defense, but when Chelsea open up and attack, they focus on the area in front of the penalty area, at least in this area, and can't let Zhang Tiehan take his feet calmly.

Zhang Tiehan has faced this kind of defense many times.

He didn't care about this, when the opponent launched an attack, he wandered in the front court, and when he saw the football pass to the feet of the opponent's midfielder Deco, he slowly approached Deco, wanting to come to a counter-robbery, but unfortunately Barcelona passed the ball too quickly, usually they don't stop the ball, and the football came directly and quickly passed.

Deco handed the ball to Iniesta, or passed directly to Messi, Messi transferred to the feet of Van Bronckhorst behind, and then passed to Puyol, Puyol took the ball and only took one step, and then passed to the feet of Zambrotta on the side, Zambrotta's front pass Iniesta was dazzling, Zhang Tiehan had to admire Barcelona's many passing cooperation, because he knew very well that for Barcelona, such a simple and ordinary cooperation could not be played by Chelsea.

In the face of Barcelona's continuous backward cooperation, Zhang Tiehan has no good way, and when he really experiences Barcelona's attack on the field, he can really understand the meaning of what the media said 'Barcelona is the strongest team in the world', indeed, such Barcelona is really too strong.

Fortunately, Chelsea didn't know Zhang Tiehan alone.

Chelsea's defense is still very good, perhaps because of the lineup sent by Grant for Barcelona, the three back Frank Lampard, Makelele, and Ballack form a tower-like midfield, and the three of them are constantly running and defending, so that Barcelona's offensive coordination must be careful and careful.

Barcelona's attack didn't find much of a chance. Then they played the ball to the back and then forwarded to find an opportunity, and Chelsea as a whole didn't have much to do with that constant pass.

The football has always been at the feet of the Barcelona players.

In the opening two minutes, Barcelona looked for another opportunity to attack, and they played the ball quickly to the wings. Deco stepped in and Messi to link up and play the ball to the outside of the Chelsea box, before Ronaldinho followed up and took advantage of the opportunity to dribble past Frank Lampard and stab Samuel Eto'o on the side.

The moment Samuel Eto'o received the ball, there was an exclamation from the Stamford Bridge stands because he was in a good position!

The striker who won the African Footballer of the Year in 2003 and 2004 for two consecutive years, has become more stable this season. He has become Barcelona's top scorer up front, with the likes of Giuli and his rivalry not at all dominant.

As many people know, Samuel Eto'o played hard against Chelsea, because Chelsea had his rivals, arguably direct rivals on the pitch, Didier Drogba, who wanted to join Chelsea in the summer of 2004, but in the end Mourinho chose Drogba. Abandoning Samuel Eto'o, although the option to join Barcelona seems to be better. But Samuel Eto'o still wants to prove that he is better than Drogba.

Now's your chance!

Samuel Eto'o received a pass on the edge of the box, ahead of Chelsea's main centre-back, captain John Terry, who hesitated and was ready to block Eto'o's shot from behind, but Eto'o didn't choose to shoot directly. Instead, he suddenly flicked the ball to the side and followed up with a direct volley, a move that made it too late for John Terry to keep up, only to watch Samuel Eto'o finish from outside the box.

Following the flight of the soccer ball, Terry saw that the soccer ball was shooting a little high. Flying off the crossbar, he exhaled as much as the fans in the crowd let out a sigh of relaxation as Samuel Eto'o held his head and felt annoyed by the shot.

In fact, long-range shooting from the periphery is not what he is good at, but before the game, coach Rijkaard still emphasized letting them shoot more, because in this game, Chelsea's starting goalkeeper is Hilario, and his ability is much worse than Cech and Cudicini, which is a flaw in the Chelsea squad, they can create more pressure on Hilario, and more shots may increase the chances of scoring

Just into the game, Samuel Eto'o threatened the Chelsea goal with a shot on target.

Zhang Tiehan, who was in the front, looked back and saw Barcelona's goal, and also called it a fluke, but now is not the time to praise the watch, and soon goalkeeper Hilario kicked the goal, and it was Chelsea's turn to attack.

When many Barcelona fans in the audience were still sorry for the wave of attacks just now, the football reached the Barcelona half after three or two passes.

Chelsea's attack is still very different from Barcelona's, Barcelona is constantly cooperating with the feet, stretching the formation to look for opportunities, and they have even reached the extreme of doing so - they always use passes to tear apart the opponent's defense, so as to look for direct shots, while Chelsea's attack is more simple and direct, between three or two passes, the football is at the feet of Zhang Tiehan.

Chelsea's attack doesn't have much skill right now, just using passes to find opportunities, or using the individual ability of the stars to tear apart the opponent's defense, and it is clear that Zhang Tiehan is one of the stars who have the ability to tear apart Barcelona's defense.

When he gets the ball, he slowly moves forward.

Soon two Barcelona players posted over, Zhang Tiehan did not break forward with the ball in the middle, but Lampard made a pass, his position was biased to the right, Barcelona wanted to defend this point difficult, after combining with Lampard, he shook off Deco lightly, and then quickly dribbled forward.

In this game, Zhang Tiehan's position is the right forward, it can also be said that there is a striker, in short, he plays on the right side of the midfield in the 433 formation, the running range of this position is still very large, and the right half is his range, so he brings the ball very casually, even if he cuts directly to the middle, it will not affect the overall formation of the team.

This time he combined with Frank Lampard and got straight into the middle of the pitch, but he was blocked in front of goal, with Deco following from behind and centre-back Marcos running in front of him.

Zhang Tiehan did not hesitate, glanced forward, and passed directly to the front of the space.

Robben followed there!

Robben's position is symmetrical with Zhang Tiehan, playing the left forward, he saw Zhang Tiehan with the ball, he ran slowly towards the middle, and when Zhang Tiehan cut into the middle, he immediately rushed forward a few steps, directly received the pass, the position is quite good, Robben was going to find a chance to shoot, but Barcelona is very important to the defense in front of the penalty area, he can't find a gap at all, only one step, he pushed the ball to Zhang Tiehan.

Robben's action was unexpected.

He put on a shooting posture and passed the Barcelona player in front of him, but he chose to pass the ball, and the football passed out very lightly, Zhang Tiehan did not hesitate at all, and met the ball directly to the door!

This clean shot made the Barcelona players in front of him have no time to react!

All eyes were on the Barcelona goal.

Barcelona goalkeeper Valdés, who was standing in front of the goal, couldn't react at all, and his vision was blocked a little, but when the football flew over, he didn't have time to react, but fortunately, a knock saved his handle's goal.

"Bang!"

There was a head-on impact between the football and the goalpost.

The right post in the middle of the ball popped off the bottom line, causing the Barcelona fans in the audience to exhale and the Chelsea fans sigh that they were all sighing for the missed goal.

It's just a little bit!

When Valdés reacted, he was immediately afraid, and he yelled at his teammates in front of the penalty area, "Don't let him take his feet lightly!" ”

The rest of the Barcelona players shrugged.

They don't want to!

But just now their defense really couldn't be stopped, the opponent's feet were too crisp, and that kind of action was not something that could be stopped if they wanted to. (To be continued......)