Time passed, and on February 20, the pre-war flames of the Champions League round of 16 knockout rounds began to spread.

Various countries and media outlets are analysing the eight matchups in the round of 16, the most notable of which is undoubtedly the clash between Barcelona and Chelsea.

Barcelona's strength is unquestionable, and Chelsea, the England upstart, has swept the whole of England this season under the leadership of Jose Mourinho, and even Manchester United and Arsenal, the two traditional giants, cannot compete with them, both teams are very strong, which is only one of the reasons, and Mourinho's own experience can also become the attraction of the game.

Twelve years ago, in 1992, when Mourinho had not yet become a football coach, because he was proficient in eight Chinese languages, he could be said to be talented in language, Mourinho was favored by Bobby Robson, who was the head coach of Porto FC, as his translator and assistant, in 1996, Mourinho followed Robson to Barcelona, Spain, still as a translator and assistant, after Bobby Robson left Barcelona, Mourinho continued to serve as the translator and assistant coach of the new coach Van Gaal, It wasn't until Louis van Gaal left that Mourinho left Barcelona.

Mourinho and Barcelona have a four-year relationship, he used to be just a translator for Barcelona, no one expected that five years later, Mourinho has led a strong Chelsea and Barcelona to meet in the knockout round of the Champions League.

So, the truth is really impermanent.

In the end, the clash between Chelsea and Barcelona has been the focus of the world and the most watched match in the eight matches of the round of 16 knockout rounds, with matches such as AC Milan and Werder Bremen and Inter Milan clash with defending champions Porto that are less eye-catching. After all, whether it is Werder Bremen or last season's defending champion Porto, they are not the same team as Milan.

The Italian media believe that the luck of the Milan duo is unknown, and there is no suspense that they will reach the quarterfinals.

The other one they are more concerned about is the matchup between Juventus and Lyon, who are the best team in France in recent years and have a very good table in the Champions League. It's a tough opponent, and although it's a French team, it's definitely not to be underestimated. The Italian media generally agreed that this match would be a tough one.

In contrast, the clash between Roma and Manchester United was considered by the Italian media to be a 'miracle barring a miracle' match...... MeaningAs the name suggests, unless there is a miracle, Roma will definitely be eliminated by Manchester United.

That's what the Italian media have to say about the game.

It's not that they discriminate against Roma or anything, it's all about strength, squad and history, and Manchester United and Roma have no record of playing each other in history. There is not much in the way the two teams have crossed paths, but Manchester United have a lot of experience in the Champions League and Roma have little experience in the knockout stages of the Champions League, so it is natural that United will win in this regard.

In terms of strength, although Manchester United have been overpowered by Chelsea this season, the quality of Manchester United should never be underestimated, and the Champions League is different from the domestic league, after all, it is a two-game tie-breaker between home and away. It's not like a league team with a season's worth of form, Manchester United. Even if the league is weaker, it will definitely be a strong team in the Champions League, not to mention that Manchester United's strength itself is stronger than Roma.

In short, no matter how you analyze it, the chances of victory for Rome are not very good.

However, Italy will still have some coverage of the two sides, after all, Roma is also the team that represented Italy in the Champions League and reached the knockout rounds.

A lot of the news is good for Manchester United.

Two days before the game, United confirmed the return of their number one striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy. Will play against Roma, before that, Van Ni had been off for more than three months due to hernia surgery.

Boss Alex Ferguson said in an interview: "Ruud van Nistelrooy is the perfect number 10 in my mind. He was ready to await Rome's arrival. ”

Ruud van Nistelrooy is United's greatest European goalscorer in history, scoring 36 goals in 37 games and is expected to return tomorrow to face Roma, although Ferguson clearly doesn't intend to let Roma guess his cards and will not reveal whether Ruud van Nistelrooy will start or be in the 16-man squad, although he does confirm that the Dutchman has fully recovered from injury.

Speaking to the Manchester City Evening News, Ferguson revealed: "Ruud is back in shape, he's in good shape in training, he's ready to come back and play. Against Everton, I didn't schedule him to play and was concerned about the quality of the turf at Goodison Park. I won't say if he's starting or not, but he's always had a good record of goals in European competitions and he's a great goalscorer. ”

Ruud van Nistelrooy's return is good news for Manchester United, with Ferguson having one more card to play, and a very good one.

Until then, Ferguson had been partnering Rooney and Smith as a striker.

Wayne Rooney transferred to Manchester United from Everton last summer, when the nineteen-year-old Rooney was worth as much as 27 million pounds, almost equivalent to 40 million euros...... There is little comparison.

However, Rooney's value is young, famous, and not bad, but he is still very immature compared to Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has scored only seven goals in 24 appearances for Manchester United this season. When Ruud van Nistelroy was on the pitch, Rooney could only pull back to play as a shadow striker.

Alan Smith also arrived at United last summer.

He is valued at £7 million but is slightly worse than Wayne Rooney, scoring just six goals in 27 appearances. It is worth mentioning that Alan Smith is the first player to play since Cantona in 1992 and Leo Smith in 2002. Rio Ferdinand was followed by another star who switched from Leeds United to Manchester United.

Wayne Rooney's partnership with Smith sounds great, but the English media believe this is one of the main reasons why United have not been able to compete with Chelsea in the league this season, and the duo is not as efficient as Ruud van Nistelrooy himself, so it's no wonder that Ferguson is unhappy with the attack.

So Ruud van Nistelrooy's comeback means a lot to Manchester United.

……

Media reports are naturally indispensable for celebrity interviews, and among the several celebrities interviewed, Italian coach Lippi still has a heavy weight in speaking.

Speaking about the game, Lippi commented. "Roma are good in the league, Drinel's tactics are very effective and they are now more able to use their advantage. However, it will be very difficult for them to win against Manchester United, and the Red Devils have been in excellent form of late. They can easily find a way to win in the game. ”

After making his prediction for the game, Lippi also praised the two rising stars in the Manchester United squad, saying: "Manchester United's Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are going to be superstars in football, and I have to applaud their recent performances. Although, in their respective national teams, they will be my enemies. ”

In addition to Lippi, Maradona, the recent champion in Italy, also commented on the Champions League matches of the four Italian teams, and when talking about Roma, Maradona specifically mentioned Zhang Tiehan's name, "He is very good, I believe he can give his old club a blow at Old Trafford, but in the end it will be Manchester United who wins." ”

In short, the media and football legends, as well as ordinary fans, thought that Manchester United would win.

Not only them, but even Roma fans are not confident, a Roma fan said in an interview. "It's acceptable if the team stops in the round of 16, we don't have much hope this season......

It can be seen how disappointed the Roma fans are with the team.

There are also optimistic Roma fans who expressed their hope that the team can win, "I will go to Manchester to give the team the team when the time comes, look, this is the ticket, I have already bought it", the Roma fan also showed the reporter the ticket in his hand.

Tickets went on sale two days ago. There are only 3,000 tickets issued by the club of Roma, and it is not easy to buy one of them.

……

Most people are not optimistic about Rome.

Roma within the team. The players are looking forward to the game, but they are also not confident that they will be able to beat Manchester United. Everyone wanted to win, but when they thought it was Manchester United, and they discussed the result in private, they were all not confident.

Zhang Tiehan also knows the situation of the team.

It's somewhat inconceivable that this could happen to a would-be Serie A giant, after all, in European football. Even in world football, there is no such thing as a team that can definitely beat an Italian quasi-giant, no team dares to say so, so Roma should have a chance anyway, but Roma players just don't have much confidence. This is also related to the current situation of Roma, as the media said, Roma's biggest problem is that the defense is too poor.

Everyone knows what the problem is, and manager Drinel is trying to figure it out, but with Manchester United on the horizon, it's almost impossible to solve it quickly.

That's why people don't have much confidence.

Zhang Tiehan is also aware of the situation and he wants to score at Old Trafford, so he will work hard and have confidence in that, and he also wants his team to beat Manchester United.

But his teammates didn't have confidence, and he didn't know what to do.

So in this day's training match, Zhang Tiehan vented his worries on the goal, one, two, three, in just thirty minutes, Zhang Tiehan scored three goals by himself, you know, Drinel assigned him to the bench team, he faced Ferrari and Mex's defense.

This kind of performance surprised the teammates.

At the same time, Ferrari and Mexes can only defend Zhang Tiehan with a bitter face, they really don't want to do this job, Zhang Tiehan is not so easy to defend, if you don't defend seriously, you will get Drinel's anger, but if you are serious, you will be ...... It's definitely not a pleasure to go toe-to-toe with this guy.

After a few collisions, Ferrari felt pain all over his body.

Then he saw Zhang Tiehan coming again...... Not again...... He's endless! Ferrari kept cursing in his heart, seeing Zhang Tiehan coming over with the ball, he was just about to make a move, but Zhang Tiehan took the first step and waved his right foot directly 30 meters away and chose to shoot!

Rumble!

As many Italian commentators said, "This is Zhang's signature goal!" ”

A long-range shot directly pierced the door of Pellizzoli's handle, and as a result, Zhang Tiehan got a lot of cheers from fans outside the stadium, while Ferrari and Pellizzoli were both angrily reprimanded by the little old man of Drinel, "What are you doing!" Defend! Defend! Be careful! ”

After reprimanding Ferrari, the little old man looked at Pelizoli again, "If you meet an opponent, Ivan, your goal has been pierced four times in half an hour, yes, we don't have a chance." ”

What else can Pelizzoli say? He could only smile wryly.

Who made their team such a pervert...... A long-range shot from thirty meters away, even in training, this is a bit shocking, especially this kind of shot is very common for this pervert, it is impossible for him to keep his eyes on Zhang Tiehan when he is guarding the goal, but as long as Zhang Tiehan takes the ball, his goal is in danger.

I want to keep the ...... forever It's too hard.

But no matter how you say it, conceding four goals in more than 30 minutes is too much, and Pelizzoli can only accept the little old man's saliva.

In the forty-minute training match, Zhang Tiehan scored four goals alone, which almost became his personal goal performance, but Zhang Tiehan didn't feel anything, the defense of such a training match was much looser than the normal game, just like Ferrari, he took the ball forward Ferrari Even if he couldn't defend, he wouldn't foul, not even a small action, after all, it was just a training match.

So he doesn't think it's okay to score four goals.

Drinel also felt very helpless, he initiated the training match in the hope that everyone could find their feelings and confidence before the big game, but Zhang Tiehan scored four goals alone, and the training match lost its meaning.

Just look at Ferrari's face and see that his defensive confidence is worse than it was just now.

At the end of the training match, Zhang Tiehan walked to the sidelines and sat down with an expressionless face, took the mineral water thrown by Totti, and poured a big sip of it, and Totti also came over and sat beside him.

Totti said, "Zhang, you're awesome, you can score four goals!" ”

"They don't take their defense seriously." Zhang Tiehan shook his head, he didn't think it was a big deal, his state and performance were not as good as in ordinary games, but the opponent didn't work too hard.

Totti shrugged, "That's also good, I can score two when I'm good, but usually I don't even have a chance to score, let alone you were on the yellow team just now." "The yellow team is the substitute team, and the main team wears red training uniforms.

was praised so directly by Totti, Zhang Tiehan was also a little embarrassed, he was rarely modest, "It's just luck"

Totti smiled, "Zhang, why did you suddenly become unconfident, you obviously look good, why do you say it's bad, or it's down to luck?" ”

Zhang Tiehan was stunned and wondered, "Is this the modesty of the Chinese?" "He's not sure.

"Humility?"

Totti was a little incomprehensible, as an Italian, it was difficult for him to understand why he didn't recognize his appearance and had to shirk the excuse, and finally he affirmed, "Zhang, I still think you are not confident." ”

Zhang Tiehan shrugged helplessly, "Okay, Francisco, I'm a genius, you know, the best genius in world football in the past century!" Not one of them! ”

Totti chuckled.

"That's right, Zhang! The day after tomorrow, you should do the same, and work hard to show Xiàn, then our hope of victory will be great. ”

"Of course, I'll try." When it comes to the game with Manchester United, Zhang Tiehan did not hesitate at all.

Looking at the back of Totti leaving, Zhang Tiehan suddenly felt inexplicable...... Was he encouraged by Totti? Or what? What does this guy mean by talking for a long time?

It didn't take long for him to find out.

Because many people came to 'congratulate' him on scoring four goals, and mentioned the game with Manchester United, looking at everyone, especially Cassano's appearance, Zhang Tiehan gradually understood that he was not here to comfort himself, but to find confidence here.

Yes, I'm not Rome's 'soy sauce player' anymore.

He is the best in the team and has scored the most goals. Now when you meet a strong opponent like Manchester United, it is very important to show your confidence, if you have confidence, then your teammates will be confident when they see you, and if you can score, your teammates' confidence will be even more sufficient.

Before you know it, you are also the 'spiritual pillar' of Rome.

Thinking of this, Zhang Tiehan suddenly felt a little happy, this feeling of being valued, although there will be more pressure, but it is still very good! (To be continued......)