There is no danger to reach the quarterfinals of the FA Cup, which is definitely not a surprise for Liverpool, and even a little embarrassing, many people regard this game as a formality before the game, but no one would have imagined that Liverpool almost capsized in the gutter. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The FA Cup quarter-finals are by no means Liverpool's goal, Benitez and Liverpool's management have big goals this year, and the double is no longer satisfying them, they are aiming for a treble.

However, after the quarter-finals draw, Rafael Benitez and Liverpool's hierarchy found it difficult to achieve that goal as they faced Chelsea.

Now Chelsea is still 9 points away from the top of the league, although the head coach Grant has not given up easily, but they have become the smallest of the four giants to win the championship, this point, Grant will not be unclear, the reason why he said to the media not to give up the league, just for the face of the giants, in fact, in Chelsea's heart, the FA Cup and the Champions League status is definitely higher than the league.

To be sure, Chelsea's fighting power is gradually starting to recover after the chaos of the change of manager, and with the start of the Champions League knockout rounds, Liverpool's energy will be divided into three parts, and if Chelsea go all out in the FA Cup, it will not be easy for Liverpool to get past Chelsea.

In the hearts of all the giants, as long as the opportunity is equal, the Champions League must occupy the most important position, a little inferior to the league, and finally it can be regarded as a domestic cup, in the British Isles, the FA Cup occupies a slightly heavier weight because of historical reasons, but it can definitely not be compared with the Champions League and the league.

After learning that the quarter-final opponent was Chelsea, Liverpool's attention turned to the Champions League knockout tie with Schalke 04, putting the FA Cup quarter-final on the back of their minds, and now they are going all out to beat Schalke 04 away from home, as for what the FA Cup can do, they don't care.

Schalke 04 is the full name of Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 Football Club, founded on May 4, 1904, the club's seat is located in Schalke, a suburb of Gelsenkirchen, so it is named Schalke 04, is a traditional powerhouse in German and European football.

Schalke 04 is nicknamed "Coal Miner" because of its location in Gelsenkirchen, the Ruhr industrial region, which was once the center of European coal mining, and is also known as "Royal Blue". The stadium is the 55,000-seat Schalke Stadium, which has created a 129-decibel roar, and is now known as the "Fairtings Arena".

Schalke 04 was a founding member of the Bundesliga when it was founded in 1963, but due to its limited strength, Schalke 04 did not win the Bundesliga title for many years. From 1981 to 1991, Schalke 04 was relegated three times. By winning the German Cup in 2001 and 2002, Schalke 04 embarked on the high-speed road of development in the 21st century, including the second place in the league in 2001, 2005 and 2007.

It can be said that Schalke 04 is now a powerful team second only to Bayern Munich in the entire Bundesliga, although its reputation is far less resounding than Bayern.

If Schalke 04 and Liverpool are compared together, Schalke 04's honor and heritage are insignificant, but no German team can be underestimated, because the blood of every German team is permeated with the strong spiritual strength of the German nation and rigorous and pragmatic style, not to mention Schalke 04, which is now ranked second in the league, even if it is a relegation team, they cannot be regarded as fish belly, and the Germans will always have an amazing performance in the competition.

Liverpool is a team with a lot of European experience, in terms of European experience and glory alone, only Real Madrid and Milan are better than them, and other teams are difficult to match, even the Bundesliga boss Bayern, let alone Schalke 04.

The lesson that this rich European experience has brought to Liverpool is not to underestimate the Bundesliga teams, no matter how strong or weak they are, and to be fully prepared for the game against them.

Rafa Benitez was a steady and conservative manager, and after the FA Cup, he had a morning meeting 40 minutes early the next morning to discuss the midweek match against Schalke 04.

'Schalke 04 is not to be underestimated, their manager Slomka is a figure. Tactical analyst Duff McDonoff has a solemn face, although the eighths final draw Schalke 04 is considered a sign by the outside world, but Duff McDonoff does not think so, in his opinion, this kind of strength is greater than the fame of the team is difficult to entangle, with Liverpool's current strength, fame, status and record, draw any team is not afraid, afraid of their own carelessness.

Strength and conditioning coach Giusto Lillo endorses Duff. McDonov's words, "Slomka is really good, he knows people well, he dares to use new people, his team is full of energy and passion, under him Schalke 04 is stronger than under Rangnick, if we don't focus and be vigilant, they will cause us problems." ”

Strength and conditioning coach Giusto Lillo and tactical coach Duff. McDonoff was Benitez's most relied on, but Benitez wanted to hear the opinions of others, so he asked Chief Scout Frank McPalland: "Frank, what do you think?" ”

Frank and Benitez don't have the same relationship as physical trainer Giusto Lillo and tactical coach Duff. McDonoff is close to Benitez, but he has always been meticulous and realistic, and when he heard Benitez ask him first, Frank was in a much better mood, and he smiled: "Slomka has a unique eye for young people, and last season, it was he who spotted the potential of Neuer and Mesut Ozil and single-handedly promoted them to the first team. Since last season, Neuil has squeezed out the "ball tyrant" Rost and began to take charge of himself, you must be careful of him, and Ozil has also begun to share the playing time of Lincoln, Asamoah and other big names, but due to the transfer mistakes of the club's top management to sell Ozil to Bremen, what a fool, geniuses like Neuer and Ozil, it takes ten years to produce one, if there is a chance, I hope we can win them, I believe this will be a good deal, Although it is impossible to compare to Chen Yu's transfer, as Chen Yu gets older and comes to the later stages of his career, I think we should still prepare in advance. ”

Frank's occupational illness came out again, and he didn't forget to talk about things related to his profession at this meeting, but what he said did make sense.

Benitez frowned slightly, he admitted that Frank is a little talented, and what he said makes sense, but now a lot of talk about this time, there are still three days to go to the Champions League quarterfinals with Schalke 04, and now it is a bit out of place to say that player transfers, this Frank is very capable, but his mind is not flexible enough, and he says these digressions all day long.

However, Benitez still gave Frank face, saying: "Frank is right, Neuer must be guarded, but it is imperative that we discuss the game first, after all, it will be played on Wednesday night." ”

Another chief scout, Edualdo Marcia, is a partner and a competitor with Frank, and after listening to Frank's words, he hurriedly said: "Although Neuer is famous, Jones and Westerman are also very good, and they can't be guarded against, and they are likely to start on Wednesday." ”

Benitez said: "Schalke 04's youth is good, but it still takes the old man to play to his full potential, Schalke 04's striker Kuranyi and midfield brain Ernst are the ones we need to focus on defending, and in these few days of training, we have to find a way to deal with them." ”

Tactical coach Duff said with a smile: "Actually, Kuranyi and Slomka have contradictions, in the last round of the league, I remember when Slomka replaced Kuranyi, Kuranyi refused to shake hands with Slomka, as if I heard that Schalke owner Schnusenberg and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Tonis have conflicts with Slomka, they have publicly announced that they want to hire a reputable coach, the coach is not in harmony, and the coach and the boss are not very good, I believe that as long as we can play well in the first leg, The contradiction of Schalke 04 came out. ”

Goalkeeper coach José Ochu Torena said: "In the first leg we were away, the 'Feltings Arena' was not to be messed with, where we would feel the hellish atmosphere of Istanbul and the absenteeism was savage. “

Benitez said: "I'll give the players a reminder in training and discuss what kind of tactics are best for us away from home. ”

This is the scope of tactical coach Duff's position, he said uncompromisingly: "Schalke 04 is a team with strong self-esteem, now they are on the rise, they will definitely not die at their own doorstep, they must hope to use their physical and physical advantages to drag us down, after all, we have been fighting on two fronts recently, and we have to work on expeditions, I think we still play the defensive counterattack that we are better at, Chen Yu is in front, and then set up two wingers to guard the side, I think I will be able to hold back the crazy assists of the two full-backs of Schalke 04. Or let Chen Yu be in front alone, with 5 people in the midfield, and he is not afraid of Schalke 04's attack. ”

Benitez smiled: "Duff and I think about the same, Chen Yu's physical fitness has been a little problematic recently, and there is no time to rest and adjust, we can play a defensive counterattack, but we have to prepare a few more sets of tactical plans, the game is changing rapidly, we must be fully prepared, let's take a look at the candidates for the specific position......"

Benitez controlled the direction of the meeting, and put forward another topic for everyone to discuss, Liverpool's coaching team has been cooperating for a long time, and the half-hour meeting has basically determined the tactical play and the starting main players and substitutes for each position, just waiting to observe the state of the players in training.