FA Cup final on the 13th.

18th Champions League final.

The day after the championship, the team was on holiday, but the coaching staff met in the club's conference room to discuss how to face the two finals.

In the past, they have also played in consecutive finals, and even added the league, and continued to play big battles on different fronts.

However, this season is different, due to the upcoming World Cup, the European competition ends early, and the interval between matches at the end of the season is shorter.

After inspecting Liverpool's form in the closing stages, Villas-Boas said with dismay: "We have to send the main players to play, and we can't hold back, Liverpool have qualified for the Champions League, and in the semi-finals they have eliminated strong opponents like Chelsea, they will do their best for the last leg of the season!" If we are careless, this final could be a Waterloo and have a negative impact on the subsequent Champions League final. ”

Even though Millwall is the champion in the league and Liverpool only finishes fourth in the league, the number of points Liverpool has won this season has exceeded 80 points!

This is a point that can definitely compete for the title in the past Premier League era, which shows that Liverpool, under the leadership of Benitez, dare not say that it has regained its former glory, at least reaching a peak for Liverpool in the past decade.

Aldridge sat at the top of the conference room with his legs crossed, and in the heated discussion among his colleagues in the coaching staff, he waved his hand to quiet the conference room, and said: "There is a saying that the times make heroes, and it is not enough for us to do our jobs well, it depends on the situation and whether we can create an environment for us to produce heroes, Liverpool, Chelsea." These are all familiar opponents. Worst-case scenario. We can foresee, be mentally prepared for this, and then, when the reality comes, we will deal with it on the spot. ”

The problem in front of Millwall is that it is easier for opponents to target them, and it is difficult for them to target opponents!

Like Chelsea in the Champions League final, what is Millwall's question?

Break through the dense defense!

Instead of thinking about how to limit Chelsea's attack.

Stanceally, Chelsea are certainly conservative. In this case, it is not difficult to spend time thinking about how to limit Chelsea, but most of them are a waste of time, and the opponent will not take the initiative to attack, so what's the point of trying to limit the other party?

In the end, what tricks will Benitez and Mourinho use against Aldridge in the game?

It was useless for him to guess, and his main focus could only be on his side, determining the starting line-up for two games, and paying attention to the physical condition of the players. Physical condition, as much as possible to combine all aspects of the team to send out the strongest lineup.

May 13th. Millwall and Liverpool meet at Cardiff Millennium Stadium in Wales.

In the full stands, the red blood of the Red Army Liverpool fans who seemed to dye the sky red was particularly eye-catching!

Although he has won the League Cup in the past, he has never met Millwall, the European hegemon, in such a scene, like an improvement in status and a leap in strength, and finally be able to truly stand in front of the king, draw his sword, and declare war!

Before the start of the game, Aldridge and Benitez shook hands on the sidelines, and Aldrich leaned in front of Benitez and whispered: "Rafael, how about we settle the battle in 90 minutes today?" ”

Benitez pushed his glasses and replied in a deep voice, "What? Don't you think it's too late to play psychological warfare at this time? ”

Aldridge shrugged his shoulders and smiled indifferently: "I'm just telling the truth, you know, Millwall can't spend 120 minutes with Liverpool today, not to mention how heavy the penalty shootout will have a heavy impact on the players' psychology, it's okay to win, it's really a loss, hehe, is Millwall going to France on his knees to fight Chelsea again?" ”

These words are quite straightforward and to the point.

Benitez nodded subconsciously, and then his face was nervous, staring at Aldrich vigilantly, with a suspicious sense of immediacy.

That's right, when Benitez is figuring out the mentality of his opponents, there are both good and bad factors.

How he wished that Millwall was going to play Chelsea and then Liverpool again!

Regardless of the success or failure of this game, Benitez feels that he is helping Mourinho, and he and Mourinho, hehe, just like Ferguson and Wenger, are rivals!

But there are also positive factors, the Champions League is more important than the FA Cup after all, Millwall has the baggage of ideas, and Liverpool can let go of a qiē to go all out in this game.

"If Millwall wants 90 minutes to settle the fight, then try it."

Benitez shook off the words and turned to walk to his dugout.

Aldrich smiled.

"The 2005-2006 season of the English FA Cup final is about to begin, this year's division final is England's two giants, Millwall and Liverpool, Millwall needless to say, they are the world's top teams, Liverpool as a traditional giant, the past many years have not been very good, and long absence from the Champions League, when the outside world thought that Liverpool may fall into the abyss like Nottingham Forest, Benitez took the second year in charge, won the fourth place in the Premier League this season, next season, Reds Liverpool return to the Champions League! Rafael Benitez has restored faith in Liverpool and could give them a big gift today: the FA Cup! Although Millwall still have a Champions League final in five days, they should not easily let Liverpool take the trophy away as trophy collectors! ”

With all eyes on it, the FA Cup final officially kicked off.

Millwall launched a stormy attack from the first minute!

This came as a surprise to the outside world.

Because Millwall still have an FA Cup final, it stands to reason that this game should be more conservative.

Aldridge held his chin high, he really couldn't let Millwall go crazy for 90 minutes, maybe even 120 minutes.

He's just stealing the start!

Set the tone for the whole game.

In the first 30 minutes, try your best to decide the game!

If it can't be realized, then you have to take back and fight patience with Liverpool, and the more time passes, as long as there is no physical problem, Aldridge believes that Millwall's championship temperament will definitely overpower Liverpool!

Benitez was caught off guard on the sidelines.

In fact, Aldridge said that the battle should be resolved within 90 minutes, and Benitez listened to it in reverse, even believing that Millwall would wear down Liverpool from the start and wait for Liverpool to show their impatience and recklessness.

And the tactics he formulated for Liverpool are also to grab the start!

In terms of momentum, you can't lose to the Wild Lion!

Otherwise, the whole game will be in the shadow of the wild lion!

It was precisely the situation that Millwall feared most did not materialize.

For Millwall, what was the most difficult situation for the FA Cup and Champions League finals?

Liverpool and Chelsea are on the bus!

Millwall, then, will need more fitness and patience to win, and the mentality will be a crucial test.

But Benitez didn't set up the bus, and Liverpool went head-to-head with Millwall after the opening kick-off, pulling the scene away to attack!

Aldrich breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, although the situation was not too good, but it was certainly not the worst!

The most worrying image for Benitez came in the 14th minute of the first half.

Millwall's vision of destroying Liverpool's defensive system in the league is back in the picture!

In the 14th minute of the game, Lahm came to the vicinity of the midfield, stopped the ball and directly cut inside the middle to advance the offensive diagonally, disrupting the defensive system of the Liverpool midfield, and after attracting a number of defensive players, he immediately handed the ball to Ronaldo on the other side, at the same time, Xiao Luo pulled the side, Kaka stepped forward, but Ronaldo also took the ball and cut into the middle diagonally, and then attracted Sissoko and Carrick to defend, he passed the ball to Xiao Luo, who already had a passing space in front of him, and sent the ball to the ribs of the penalty area with a precise hidden straight stopper, Kaka outflanked the middle of the goal at this time, Henry pretended to cross after receiving the ball, and the key moment was that Hyypia lost his center of gravity in order to block the passing line!

After Hyypia exchanged his weight, a cold sweat appeared on his forehead, because he saw that Henry was kicking the ball back, and then took a sideways step and shook Hyypia away!

Diagonally towards the goal, Henry calmly pushes the ball into the net!

"Millwall started the game! The combination between Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry, with Thierry Henry slotting past Hyypia in the box, left Liverpool terrible, trailing early on, leaving them in a difficult position for the rest of the game. ”

Liverpool's generals may have been aware of this goal conceded, because against Millwall, no team in Europe dares to say that they will not concede a goal!

Liverpool's morale did not suffer too much and continued to play with determination in attack!

The whole Millwall team hesitated.

In terms of their pre-match preparation, the coaching staff's requirements for the game are to attack fiercely in the first 30 minutes, return to balance after taking the lead, focus on control, and attack boldly when the offensive opportunities are better.

Now that the score is ahead, they naturally take it back, but Liverpool is like a wild beast, regardless of the fact that it has been hurt once, and the attitude is wild to attack!

Millwall restrained their scruples and soon, just 3 minutes later, they were equalized by Liverpool!

Gerrard, who has played an unusually eye-catching game this season, shot from a distance outside the penalty area, the ball was refracted and bounced on the leg of Schneider, who was defending in the penalty area, and he immediately stepped forward to clear the ball, but Colwill stabbed the ball in front of the goal, and the moving Owen stretched out his foot in front of Bout and stabbed the ball into the goal!

The Millwall defender immediately raised his hand to signal that Owen was offside, and judging from the slow-motion replay, Owen was suspected of offside, but it was just a millimeter, and it was difficult to blame the referee.

'Liverpool equalised! The scorer is Owen! The score changed twice in 3 minutes, 1:1, Liverpool's goal will boost their morale! ”

That's right, 0:0 and 1:1 have a very different impact on Liverpool's morale, and an equaliser is very effective in boosting morale, especially against opponents like Millwall. (To be continued......)