Chapter Seventy-Four: After the Chaotic Race
No one expected that the long-awaited battle would end in such a way, Manchester United only played a good game for ten minutes, and then after conceding a goal, they did not fight back, but were defeated.
The fighting style of the new and old generations of world-class head coaches, on the contrary, Prandelli showed a calm and spicy style that did not match his age, but Ferguson showed his immature side in front of people because he wanted to save face, everyone thought that Ferguson had already cultivated to a certain extent at this age, but he never expected him to be recruited.
One of the biggest mistakes made by Ferguson was the arrangement of the midfielders in this game, before the game, no one expected that Ferguson would arrange for Giggs to start the game, and also play the position of a defender. As a result, Ferguson unexpectedly sent Giggs, Giggs was in front, and even played himself as a second center forward, which was the biggest mistake, Ferguson let Anderson and Carrick keep their eyes on Modric and Montolivo, no matter who it was.
In fact, it can be imagined that when choosing the lineup, Ferguson also hesitated, when he chosen, it was not difficult, or learn from Hiddink, completely defended, but he hesitated when he should not hesitate, Giggs took the lead, the interception ability of the midfielder was gone, Rooney was in the position of the center forward, on the left and right sides was Kim Maur, on the other side was Park Ji-sung, there was a lack of protection behind him, Kim Mauro and Park Ji-sung had no advantage, Park Ji-sung did not exist in front of the Italians in terms of flexibility and impact, The strength is also not dominant, the Golden Mulo has the advantage, but the technique and speed cannot be brought into play.
Ferguson's arrangement of Ryan Giggs to start is actually to show a mentality, Manchester United has a person in the midfield who controls the ball, passes and receives the ball, which is to attack, but in fact, it turned out later that in the face of Fiorentina's midfield, no one should fantasize about attacking, and can destroy him with a frontal attack.
Manchester United's smartest choice should be mainly to play with defensive counterattacks, come up and play first, the best can score, if you can't score, insist on playing defensive counterattacks, as a result, although Ferguson said before the game that he will not play according to the other party's wishes, Manchester United must adhere to their own style of play, control the rhythm of the game in their own hands, as a result of the game, he still hit Prandley's pre-game agitation.
It was already a mistake to start Ryan Giggs, but it was another big failure to replace Anderson in the second half, Anderson made some mistakes in the first half, but the interception was successful.
As a result, after replacing Anderson, the midfielder two Ryan Giggs and Tevez went up, and the top played a role, and the two went up to suppress Fiorentina in the second half, but in this way, the gap behind him was completely exposed, just giving Fiorentina a chance to counterattack.
In short, people's predictions before the game are wrong, this is not a so-called dragon fight at all, at best it can only be regarded as an egg hitting a stone, Manchester United gave up its own characteristics, and Fiorentina top bull, as a result of hitting a head and breaking the bloodstream, in fact, from the tenth minute of Degan's goal, although the game is not over, but the suspense is over, the rest of the time Fiorentina according to the brain, early pre-made blueprint run, so beautiful, so calm.
People say that Barcelona is the representative of artistic football, and Florence's football is very utilitarian, but in fact, after saying this, it is completely a kind of discrimination, and the fundamental reason is that Fiorentina is not a giant.
In fact, Fiorentina football and Barcelona's artistic football are completely comparable, when Barcelona plays, the first thing is clear is whether they play well or not, whether they can please the fans, and Fiorentina is just the opposite, they must first make it clear that they win, and then on the basis of victory, make victory beautiful.
There are also people who say that Florence is always the same, people who are familiar with Florence know that the Purple Lily mainly plays the 4312 formation, in fact, it is not the same thing at all, the formation of Florence is different with the opponent, the time of the game is constantly changing, to put it bluntly, Florence does not have a set of fixed tactics at all, because for the characteristics of Florence, the formation tactics can no longer meet all the football they play, and all the tactics of Florence revolve around football. There are only two things they really hold onto: to push the ball in as many directions as possible, and to push the ball as fast as possible to get it closer to the opponent's goal.
Compared with Fiorentina's football, Manchester United's football should be said to be ugly, of course, Sir Alex Ferguson is also changing, but his changes are all passive, a set of lineup is not thoroughly studied by the opponent, it will never change easily, 10,000 years of unchanged side-to-middle combination, 10,000 years of unchanged 433 formation, in front of the Italian coach who takes studying the opponent's tactics and finding a way to restrain the opponent as fun, it is simply looking for death.
Before the game, people were obviously more optimistic about Manchester United's revenge at the Olympic Stadium, but Prandelli was in the game, let people see, what is called creativity, he boldly let the two fullbacks press the assist, in order to squeeze the midfield, so that the originally dominant Fiorentina midfielder completely controlled the rhythm, after withstanding the pressure of the first ten minutes, Florence's real organizational core Modric, distributed the ball to Degan, and then Fiorentina slowed down the pace of the game with super control ability, avoiding playing fast attack with Manchester United, so that the whole Manchester United could not exert force, The characteristics of the past on-the-spot counter-offensive have completely failed under Fiorentina's style of play.
Camuro even did not have the support of the midfield, exposing his shortcomings in the competition, this is because of his lack of Degan, he needs a wider space to run at high speed to play to his full strength, when the opponent adopts a pressing style of play in the game, so that he loses the space to run, of course he is not like a superstar, and Deegan does not need to, he can stand still and take the ball, he can always pose a threat to Manchester United's goal.
Not to mention Park Ji-sung on the other side, Koryo kicked the stick very hard, but it was sudden but not broken, and the efficiency was too low to make him seem inactive on the court, and the script that the Koreans expected Park Ji-sung to become the focus of the game had no chance to be staged at all.
Rooney was entangled by the equally strong Kompany to play the past points and compete for the second advantage, of course, Ferguson's biggest failure was to start Giggs, because the veteran is better at defending the counter-attack, Prandelli seems to have seen that Giggs is going to start, so he played slowly and fast, so the experienced star was missing most of the time.
Mistakes in personnel arrangement are one aspect, and Fiorentina's victory over Manchester United is because Fiorentina has too many connection points, so it eventually forms a beautiful picture, while Manchester United only has lines, such a thick line of play still plays in the Premier League or Champions League qualifiers, but when the opponent uses the magic of touching the ball every three seconds, Manchester United is very weak.
Let this dragon fight become a tiger game, the most critical issue is the control of the ball, when Digan, Mutu, Montolivo and Modric and others step by step to draw a small circle, people were surprised to find that Fiorentina at this moment actually possessed the soul, before the game with Barcelona, Fiorentina used a chain defense, was criticized by countless media for its ugly style of play, as a result in the face of Manchester United, Fiorentina played more and more Barcelona.
In front of such a transformed Fiorentina, Manchester United's defense has turned into resistance to the shadow army, the best defense in Europe this season is the Premier League, and the best defense in the Premier League is Manchester United, but Manchester United can't capture these freewheeling artists, it's like using a machete to fight the dazzling fog.
In the end, Fiorentina defeated Manchester United 4-0, and Digan scored a hat-trick in the Champions League final for the third time in a row, and Fiorentina also became the second team to successfully defend the Champions Cup after AC Milan since the Champions League was restructured, achieving the goal they set at the beginning of the season and becoming the first six-time champion in history.
The fighting style of the old and young coaches, Prandelli is better, 10 minutes before the game, has decided the direction of the whole game, and then the balance of victory and defeat has been tilted, Manchester United only played 10 minutes of good balls, maybe the free kick of Camuro, if Park Ji-sung can make up for it, the situation on the field may be turned upside down, but unfortunately Manchester United did not do it.
From the whole game, Fiorentina was passive in the first 10 minutes, with players on the pitch making mistakes from time to time, but in this case, United did not score.
In the end, the performance of the top stars of the two teams became the key point that affected the direction of the game, directly affecting the quality of the team's attack, and it was clear that Degan had done a good job, he was on the front line, able to attack the weaknesses of the opponent's defense, and the whole game could be said to be like a fish in water.
On the other hand, in the case of the Camuro, it was a battle of trapped beasts, and after 10 minutes, most of the time Manchester United played a passive role, falling into a rhythm that Fiorentina was very familiar with, which led to Fiorentina beating Manchester United and Digan beating Camuro in the end.
Manchester United due to the arrangement of personnel positions, did not give full play to their side attack, as well as the advantage of pressing the opponent's side defense, the performance of Carrick, Anderson and Ryan Giggs throughout the game was bleak, and they were not able to bring greater threat to the opponent's backline, but let their number one star Golden Mauro enter the opponent's encirclement, and there was no way to release their sharpest weapons to the fullest, which made this duel between the two strong have changed the taste. It is a pity that the fans lost the opportunity to enjoy a high-level game.
Because of the personnel arrangement, the gap in Manchester United's midfield is reflected, there is no offensive support, Carrick, Anderson and Ryan Giggs are not threatening from long range, and when Camuro on the forward line, as well as Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-sung, need these three players to give lethal passes, the three of them cannot do this.
Manchester United's midfielders have a big gap with Fiorentina's duo of Luka Modric and Montolivo, and they are not very mature in terms of passing heat. And in the offensive support can not go up, the passing is not hot, the role of the defense is not effective, Carrick and Anderson have too much to bear, these two players are more balanced in ability, but in today's defense, have not been able to help the back line limit the opponent's offensive combination, in this way, the gap in the midfield, due to the debatable arrangement in the position, has been magnified, the whole game into the rhythm of Fiorentina, Manchester United played without characteristics.
As for Fiorentina, Prandelli's clever trick has been continued, in fact, he had such an arrangement in the previous game against Chelsea, moving Degan's position slightly to the side, as close as possible to the two cores of his midfield, and being able to maximize his advantage in midfield possession.
United's two centre-backs are physically strong and have a strong frontal defensive ability, but because Deegan is often pulled outside the box and moves more on the wing, this has caused a lot of problems for Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, leaving the two centre-backs at a loss.
Whether to keep up with Digan makes the two hesitate, this question makes them hesitate a lot of times, if they keep up with Digan, the space behind them will be grasped by the extremely fast, strong individual Mutu or the Fiorentina middle combination inserted in the back.
When United's frontal defensive advantage was not reflected, the disadvantage of the two centre-backs, who were tall and slow to turn one-on-one, was revealed, and their disadvantage was grasped by the opposition when defending on the flanks. Therefore, in the first half of the one-on-one attack, Fiorentina scored the first goal, and in the second half, Fiorentina seized the opportunity and stabbed three times in a row.
4-0 was the scoreline of the match, but Fiorentina won more than just one game, Prandelli defeated Alex Ferguson, who was trying to become the supreme player in Europe, and Digan beat the Golden Mauro in the battle for the world's number one player.
This match was originally considered the most fantastic and anticipated Champions League final since AC Milan and Barcelona met Athens in the 1993/1994 season.
Although the game lasted 90 minutes, the revenge-bent United were scarred in the 10th minute and then utterly desperate an hour later.
In the early stages of the game, Manchester United took the lead, which was the inspiration that Hiddink left to Ferguson in the decisive battle at Stamford Bridge, and it was also the harvest of the knight in the victory at the Emirates Stadium. Camuro's direct free-kick allowed Frei to save, before the Portuguese had two more shots from the perimeter, both of which were off target.
The Reds' three-pronged axe didn't work, but Fiorentina's first attack broke the deadlock, as the Fiorentina broke through in midfield and split to the feet of Degan, who stabbed past Rio Ferdinand and stabbed the ball before Van der Sar could only block the ball but could not prevent it from conceding. It was this brilliant goal that changed the game and Ferguson admitted after the game: "This goal was the killer of the game."
Carlos Tevez replaced Anderson in the second half and United's attack picked up, but Fiorentina were still more of a threat, with Degan, Mutu and Luka Modric all having chances to single out Van der Sar, and David Beckham hitting the post from a direct free-kick.
Beckham's counter-kick then went straight to the net from a free-kick to help Fiorentina extend their lead, but the real fatal blow came from the combination of Beckham and Degan, the former's precise cross allowed the early skipper Degan to use his head to hoist the ball past Van der Sar.
Ferguson finally got a taste of it against Prandelli, who was younger than him, and he said after the match: "We lost to a better team. ”
In front of the scheming Ferguson, Prandley did not have the panic of the "rookie" coach at all, and his extremely targeted tactical deployment completely disrupted the lord's on-the-spot arrangement.
Sometimes, there will be some accidental factors in the team's defeat, but today's defeat of Manchester United, but can not find too many accidents, from the pre-match cards of the two sides, the two sides are evenly matched, Manchester United is more optimistic, but Manchester United ultimately failed to convert the established advantage into a victory, the reasons for this are many, many.
Golden Mauro was blocked by Fellaini and Pasquale, perhaps a very important reason, the number one firepower point on the field is basically dumb, Ferguson will not turn a blind eye, so the old man soon made adjustments, let Golden Mauro retreat to the midfield, in order to let Golden Mauro get a better understanding of the offensive space, but without Golden Maurro's containment, Fiorentina's defense was completely freed, because of this, Fellaini will repeatedly dribble forward, and the situation is more and more in favor of Fiorentina.
Headache treatment, foot pain treatment, obviously, the red-nosed old man standing on the sidelines of today's game is not a familiar Ferguson, but what can the lord do at this time?
Fiorentina scored so early, although this point will definitely be considered before the game, but due to the mistake of the on-the-spot arrangement, Manchester United at this time can only feel the stones and cross the river, one step at a time.
Replacing Tevez with the intention of counterattacking, this matter is just a beautiful misunderstanding after the game, the beast's play, not only did not play a role in changing the tide of the game, his appearance also made Rooney's number of balls further compressed.
Rooney, who could still make a difference in the first half, could only devote his energy to defense after changing sides, and today Xiaofat played the whole game and only completed two shots on goal.
As the saying goes, if you make a mistake, you will lose the whole game, and Ferguson made a mistake in the formation of the lineup, and then he could only go all the way to the black.
Seeing that Tevez's chess piece failed to work, the lord waved his hand, and Berbatov, who had lost the Champions League final with Bayer Leverkusen, got a chance to make up for his regrets.
However, this move of the lord is incomprehensible, "the score is behind and the striker is soaring" Isn't this Mancini's invention in Inter back then?
At that time, Mancini's move was ridiculed by the Italian media as "driven crazy", but Ferguson, who has always been resourceful, was possessed by Mancini's soul today, after Beba's debut, Manchester United seemed to intend to strengthen the firepower, but in fact, it was at the expense of midfield control as an agent, and it was precisely because of the initiative to give up possession, after Beba's debut, Digan completed a hat trick.
Mis-deploying Ryan Giggs, misusing Wayne Rooney, making a substitution mistake and making three mistakes in a row in a game is a rarity in Ferguson's managerial history, but there are more problems with United in attack today.
In the first half, when Carrick, the core of the organization, was forced by Fiorentina to make it difficult to play, the lord never decisively pulled Giggs back to Carrick's side to assist, but blindly insisted on fighting with Fiorentina in three ways, and finally "entered the rhythm of Fiorentina" as Prandelli expected before the game.
Making bigger mistakes to cover up a mistake is not the familiar Ferguson, but to be honest, when facing a team of such ability as Fiorentina, the Lord has no better choice in terms of personnel, because under his account, there is no strong center forward who can give Fiorentina the most headaches, such as Drogba.
Falling at the feet of the same opponent on the same field for the second time in a row is a lot to reflect on for United, but either way, a strong centre-forward in the squad next season should be included in the club's plans, and as for who to chase, there are not many such players for Ferguson to select, but it is not entirely impossible.
The loss of the Champions League trophy has left Manchester United all downcast, and World Footballer of the Year Camuro is no exception, and the Portuguese made no secret of the fact that today was the most disappointing day of his career.
'It was the biggest disappointment of my career, we were full of confidence before this game, but unfortunately we didn't win the Champions League, it's always bad to lose in the final, not to mention that the same thing happened twice and although we were disappointed, Fiorentina did perform better today.
'Fiorentina scored four very good goals and it made it very difficult for us and if you don't take your chances against them then you will be punished, as happened today, we have to forget about this game as soon as possible and start again next season.'
Immediately afterward, Camuro angrily pointed the finger at Alex Ferguson: "Today we didn't use the tactics well, everything was not done right, we only played 10 minutes of good balls, and then it became a mess. ”
The defeat in the Champions League final has also deepened speculation about the whereabouts of Camaro this summer, and when it comes to whether he will leave Manchester United, the Portuguese still seems very ambiguous, "I don't know", maybe these words are enough for the British media to hype.
In fact, although Kim Mauro was controlled by Fiorentina most of the time in this game, he was still the best man in Manchester United's midfield, and it is fair to say that the Portuguese was the one who caused Fiorentina the most problems. He threatened from a free-kick and a volley in the first half, and he almost had a follow-up shot in the second half. But for the most part, the United midfielder provided him with limited support, leaving Camuro under siege, which made him more and more irritated and questioned Ferguson's tactics after the game.
Degan performed well in this game and completed a hat-trick, and the media will naturally mark the gimmick of "Degan beats Camuro", but the key to Degan's victory over Camuro is that he has more midfield support, much more than the support Kim Mauro received from Manchester United, which also makes Deegan even more eye-catching.
The Camuro did not have the support of the midfield, the United forward line could not move the ball effectively through half the pitch, and the Portuguese had to play alone in front. It can be said that Camuro did his best in this game, but he was too lonely alone.
After the game, Ferguson's face was also ugly, but he had to patiently come to the press conference to answer reporters' questions.
Ferguson began by acknowledging that Fiorentina's victory was well deserved: "We didn't play at the highest level, but you have to cheer for Fiorentina, they played better, I don't have any excuses for that, in fact, we started the game very well and confidently, in the first 10 minutes we wanted to score first, but in the 10th minute, Degan's goal was really deadly, we were a little caught off guard by conceding so early and we couldn't turn the situation around, that's it. ”
After a few questions, a reporter asked in a less proficient English: "After such a defeat, do you still have the motivation to lead the team to continue the pursuit of victory?" ”
The question, which was like pouring salt on a wound, obviously annoyed Ferguson, who paused for a few seconds before he said firmly: "I don't understand what you mean by that." ”
The journalist hastened to explain: "I have no ill intentions! ”
But Ferguson did not appreciate it, and without waiting for him to finish explaining, he interrupted him and said unceremoniously: "I don't answer stupid questions." ”
Seeing that the situation was not good, the host of the press conference hurriedly said: "Now for the next question." ”
But after that, other reporters did not "dare" to ask Ferguson too much, and after two or three questions, it ended hastily.
Manchester United is a team of countless disappointments, but for the Fiorentina players and coaches, another victory over Manchester United, the Champions League trophy is a great achievement, everyone in Florence will feel very proud and proud, after the game, the Fiorentina players expressed their great excitement.
The heart of the midfield, Luka Modric, was so excited that the Croatian youngster was speechless after the team won the title: "We are the best, there are no words to express this great victory, it is a perfect result for us this season, last season's Champions League final, I missed because of injury, Rod promised me at that time that he would bring me to this stage, he did it, we won in the end, it was just perfect." ”
Fiorentina's defensive stalwart Vincent Kompany also expressed his opinion, and although he is a defender, Kompany's assists in this game were very positive, which also stood out: "This is the last title we are looking for this season, it is also a very significant season, we scored in 10 minutes, which is really great. ”
David Beckham's mood is a bit more complicated: "I don't really know how to celebrate, I'm very mixed right now, if I was a spectator I would have been cheering for Manchester United, but the situation doesn't allow me to do that, I have to fight for the Purple Lily, to win the Champions League again, I'm really excited, and I scored a goal in the game, but I think more important than the goal is our victory. ”
Mutu didn't score in the game as Digan's striker, but the Romanian contributed a lot to the team and set up Dugan's third goal in the game: "People always remember the winner, it's different, you can play good football but it doesn't mean anything if you can't win the title, I'm very excited, we won the title in the end, it was like a dream. ”
Marouane Fellaini also expressed his feelings: "It's very special because we really played really well, since I was a kid, the Champions League final was the stage of my dreams, and now my dream has come true, it has really been a dream season. ”
As the captain of Fiorentina, the core, Degan was also a little difficult to control his emotions when he was interviewed, only he knows best, how much pressure he has matured this season, before the start of the season, he said that he wanted to win the six crowns, God knows, how many people were waiting to see his jokes, but in the end Deegan did it, he really did it.
"I think I can take a good break now, I'm really tired this season, but I'm very happy with the result, six titles, I don't think anyone will stand up and doubt what I say now, perfect, all I can say is perfect, everything is perfect, we have become a myth in the history of world football, I don't think this time no one will say that I am arrogant, because we have the qualifications! Don't ask me about next season, I just want to have a good rest now, I'm tired, yes! Really tired! ”
There are some things that Deegan is reluctant to say to reporters, but in fact, he already has a plan in his heart, what he wants to do is a challenge, if this season's six crowns are a challenge, then next season, to defend the six crowns, that feeling must be different.
Syllable!
Kaka turned off the TV and looked up at the ceiling.
Caroline sat beside little Gaudí with her arms: "Ricardo! Aren't you happy for Rod? ”
Kaka was stunned for a moment and smiled: "Of course, but if possible, I still want to be the brother who makes Rhodes proud, Caroline!" What do you think of us living in Madrid? ”
Caroline was stunned, she didn't understand why Kaka mentioned life in Madrid, could it be ~~~~~~~
Caroline looked at Kaka with a look of astonishment, as if saying to herself, "Go to Madrid~~~~~~"