With only a second-place finish in the group stage, Fiorentina played at home in the first leg of the quarter-finals

The pressure on the team playing at home in the first leg will definitely be greater, not only to win, but also not to allow the opponent to get an away goal, even if the strength is higher than the opponent, it is not afraid to say that it will be able to do it, not to mention the strength of Fiorentina and Villarreal.

The pressure was high, and before the game had even started, Fiorentina and Villarreal had a war of words in the air.

The reason is that Fiorentina defender Brocki said in an interview that Riquelme is a master, but his speed is as slow as a walk, and as long as someone is close to him, Villarreal's strong midfield will not be able to exert his power

Brocki was not sarcastic when he said that Riquelme was slow, nor was it excessive, but the reporter compared Villarreal to a submarine and Florence to a Ferrari, saying that in terms of speed, Villarreal was too slow, and such news was more harsh when it reached Villarreal, and it immediately caused Villarreal to counterattack.

Riquelme didn't have a good impression of Italian football, and after listening to Brockie's words, he countered disdainfully: "Quick? Does football need to be fast? Football is not athletics, it doesn't need to be that fast, but Italian football doesn't seem to be fast, what you are best at is defending and counter-attacking, in fact, as long as you are cowering in the box, our midfield will not play a role, but it is better not to give me a chance to take a free kick. ”

Riquelme's shrinkage stung Florence, although the defensive counterattack is the characteristic of Italian football, but the conservative ugliness of Italian football has always been criticized by the world, Fiorentina's head coach Prandelli's philosophy is to change the conservative of Italian football, combining beauty and victory, which also shows that even Italians are dissatisfied with the conservative and ugly of Italian football, but they are dissatisfied, outsiders say, Italian players are still very angry.

Prandelli himself retorted: "Riquelme is a great player, but his perception of Fiorentina is wrong, Fiorentina will not shrink, Villarreal does not deserve to be retreated, in our home stadium we will make the Spaniards understand that in this world it is not only their football that is technical football, not their football that can be played beautifully." ”

Toney said: "Villarreal has a strong strength, but Fiorentina is not a weak team, it is difficult to say who can reach the quarterfinals, Villarreal wants to spread the wild at the Frankie Stadium, first weigh their own weight, maybe who will shrink at that time." ”

Chen Yu said very confidently: "We are not afraid of any team, we are also confident to break the door of any team, in the Frankie Stadium, even Barcelona has not been able to please the good, Villarreal has a kind of to try, I promise that they will experience the ideal is very plump, the reality is very skinny." ”

In the face of Fiorentina's cynicism, Villarreal striker Forlan and midfielder Senna also counter-attacked, making the already somewhat hot war of words even more tense.

'Fiorentina have home advantage, but we have the advantage of away and then home, and away from home we have no worries, even if it is a goalless draw, it is a very good situation for us, and Fiorentina obviously have more concerns, if we can get a goalless draw away from home, our hopes of qualifying can be 80 per cent.

Spanish midfielder Senna said: "Fiorentina strikers are very strong, they can even be called the strongest forward combination in the whole of Europe, but we have the ability to keep a clean sheet against them, our midfielders will contain their midfield, so that their strikers will not be supported, without shells, no matter how good the cannon is, it will not work."

Compared with the more and more arrogant and fiery tone of the players, Villarreal's head coach Pellegrini is a more calm one, he said: "Fiorentina is by no means a good team to play, I have observed them for a long time, they are very strong, the tactics are very flexible, there is no general Italian team conservative, in the battle with the top three of Serie A, Fiorentina rarely suffers, but the game between Fiorentina and Villarreal is a contest of two styles, This is not possible to see the final result based on the comparison of strength on paper, we have the advantage of playing first and then home, and we may be a little more relaxed in the fight. ”

With the opening of the Champions League knockout round, not only the war of words between Fiorentina and Villarreal, but also the war of words between the rest of the major teams, especially Real Madrid and Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea, Milan and Bayern, the newspapers are almost full of their news, and on the Internet, the fans of the major giants are also scolding, all building momentum for their own teams and hitting the morale of the opponent's fans.

The war of words was also an integral part of the game, but in the end it was the contrast of strength and the current state of the two sides that ultimately decided the outcome of the match.

The four games on the first match day of the knockout round, two are the giants, one is the weak team to challenge the giants, and one is the fight between the non-mainstreams, among which Real Madrid is slightly stronger than Arsenal, and they are playing at home, they are more favored than several other teams, but football is always unexpected, and the 9-time champion Real Madrid at home was defeated by Arsenal, which has never won the Champions League, L:0 after 90 minutes of play, and broke out a big upset.

Another undefeated defending champion Liverpool was also upset by Benfica of the Portuguese Super League, losing 0:1 away from home, and failed to get even a goal difference, casting a shadow on the home life and death battle in the second leg.

Bayern's home game against Milan was as expected before the game, with neither side having a chance to win each other, and it ended in an L:L draw, with Milan scoring an away goal in Munich, which made their second leg at home more favourable.

In the two non-mainstream competitions, Eindhoven's strength is slightly worse than that of Ligue 1 squad Lyon, but Eindhoven is playing at home, and the two sides can be described as half-hearted, but in this game, Lyon played very passively and was sent off, but with Juninho's free kick goal, the Ligue 1 six-time champion won L:0 away and defeated the Eredivisie champion.

The results of matchday 1 made Fiorentina even more wary of the upcoming fixtures, judging by the results of the first round of matches, the visitors won two of the four games, and Milan's draw also got an away goal, which is equivalent to winning half a goal, and only Benfica can be regarded as saving a little face for the home team.

Although every game is different from the others, football is also about luck and momentum, and now the situation and luck are clearly not in favor of the home team, Fiorentina have to be a little more prepared and tactically more solid.

Due to the hot war of words between Fiorentina and Villarreal in front, the players were in high spirits, bent on playing Villarreal at home, so that this small town team understood that their skills and football bullshit were not, and the fans of Fiorentina were also excited, shouting outside all day long to teach the Spaniards a good lesson, at least three of them, in such an atmosphere, Fiorentina's coaching staff also developed a relatively aggressive lineup and style of play.

That night, Fiorentina's coaching staff discussed it after watching the game, the goal remains the same, still to win Villarreal at home, but the style of play and lineup are a little more conservative than the original, the original Prandelli arranged a 433 formation, that is, to storm Villarreal, strive to win by a big score, and set the right to qualify in the first game, but now, Prandelli is ready to turn 433 into a solid 4I to win, but do not ask for the score, as long as Villarreal does not score, Even L:0 is a good score.

The next morning, when Prandelli held a team meeting, he announced his ideas and arrangements to the players and asked for their opinions.

Toni was angered by Villarreal's arrogance before, and after listening to it, he stood up violently and said: "I don't think there is any need to be so conservative, we haven't played a La Liga team, or the leader of La Liga, Barcelona, Villarreal can't even get into the top four of La Liga now, we are so conservative, it's not more difficult to play away." ”

Fiore used to play in Valencia in La Liga, and he didn't have a good impression of La Liga, he also said: "I don't think we have to be so conservative, anyway, we have to fight to the death, it's better to play at our home stadium, if we can win by a big score, the second game will be easy, if we can't win Villarreal at home, I'm afraid we can't count on the away." ”

"It's just, it's either this or that, it's going to be a fight to the death anyway."

"La Liga is so rampant, they think they're the first league now."

"A small team with no history and no background dares to brag to us before the game."

Many of Fiorentina's players have interjected, hoping that Prandelli can be brave and bold, after all, they are facing Villarreal, not a giant like Barcelona Real Madrid, and before today, Prandelli has always put the attack in the most important position, and now it has suddenly become conservative, which makes the Fiorentina players a little uncomfortable, and the players have put out big words before the game, and now if they play conservatively, even if they win, I am afraid it will not be enough for Spanish reporters to laugh at.

Prandley looked at the players who were bent on winning, did not speak, his face was calm, and said to Chen Yu: "Chen, what do you think?" ”

Chen Yu pondered for a while, and said: "Actually, the opinions of our players, I don't think it's important, the coach is more professional about this, but if we change like this, are we a little too cautious, although Villarreal has performed well in the Champions League, but it can play average in the league, if we can't get a big advantage at home, we don't know what will happen to the road." ”

Prandelli said to Dainelli: "What do you see? ”

Dainelli is more calm, "I think, you can't rush it, the team that can beat Manchester United to win the group will never be simple, it's good to play steadily." ”

Prandelli nodded, understood the attitude of the captain and vice captain, and said firmly: "A total of 5 goals were scored in yesterday's game, all teams are very conservative, I'm afraid it won't be so aggressive today, although Villarreal is a La Liga team, their defense is not weak, I think our original tactics are still a little more aggressive, we haven't played in the Champions League for many years, I think it's right to be conservative." Compared with face, victory is more important, and promotion is more important than victory. ”

Seeing Prandley say this, the players stopped talking, and over the past year, Prandley has also established his authority in the team, and since Prandley insisted on his own arrangement, the players could only obey.