Liverpool's schedule this season is very strange, among the big four are the first to play, if they play well, then they will put a lot of psychological pressure on the opponents in the next games, but if they don't play well, the opponents behind will have the motivation to catch up. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Manchester United, who started an hour later than Liverpool, did not play well, the game was a stalemate, although Manchester United had more than 60% possession, but few chances, but Liverpool's forced draw gave Manchester United a great encouragement, they continued to put pressure on Everton, seven minutes before the end of the game, Nemanja Vidic stepped up to head home, following the defeat of Sunderland in the previous round, Manchester United again used a corner to score.

Ferguson was very happy with the 1-0 result after the game and praised Vidic's contribution. 'Nemanja Vidic is an amazing centre-back and it won't be easy for anyone to come here and play, so we were able to get three points, which is a good result, and now we are only three points away from Liverpool, which will be very good for us in the next round against Chelsea.'

Arsenal's game came after Manchester United, with United's three wins in a row and Liverpool's first defeat also motivating the Gunners' youngsters, who were unafraid to go one goal down against local rivals Tottenham Hotspur and beat Tottenham Hotspur back in the second half with three goals in quick succession from Cesc Fabregas and Bam Adebayor.

Compared with Arsenal and Manchester United, Chelsea's sense of crisis should not be lower than Manchester United, they have now drawn a loss and lost one, if this game can not be won again, they will have the same record as Manchester United with a bad start, and his opponent in this round is not the strongest, but the game is like this, the more Chelsea wants to win, luck does not favor them, this game Chelsea played very well, the attack is no longer like the last game can only be harassed by boots, However, Shevchenko, who had been absent for a long time, repeatedly missed good chances to score, and Blackburn's goalkeeper Friedel played bravely again, so that Chelsea's countless threatening attacks were in vain, and it was easy for Kalou to break through Friedel's ten fingers, but it was blown offside by the linesman, and finally the referee Webber gave 7 minutes of stoppage time, but Chelsea still could not break through Blackburn's door, and could only draw with Blackburn at home.

At the end of the sixth round, Liverpool, with four wins and two draws, is still at the top of the table, but the points gap with the other three giants has been seriously reduced, and it was originally five points ahead of Manchester United, but now there is only one game gap, although it is 6 points ahead of Chelsea, but Chelsea has one less game, and the gap with Arsenal is only three points, and Arsenal has one less game, if Arsenal wins the make-up game, Liverpool may not be able to keep the top position.

Liverpool's owners are certainly not happy with such a result, but Liverpool's record last season was so good, Gillette and Hicks certainly did not want to criticize Benitez for a game, and after the game, Gillette and Hicks even came to the dressing room to comfort Liverpool's generals, so that they could learn a lesson and try to play the next game well.

The boss didn't say anything, but Benitez, who has always been rigorous, could not forgive himself and the team for the mistakes they made in this game, after the game, Benitez made a self-criticism to the players, admitting that he underestimated the difficulty of the game and did not prepare enough, which was the main reason for the draw by Portsmouth, and then Benitez criticized the players, thinking that they were too impatient in the game, lacked the necessary patience, lacked hard work, too much individual brutality, and lacked overall cooperation.

Benitez also sternly warned his players that although serious mistakes were made in the game with Portsmouth, but because Portsmouth was weak, Liverpool did not lose, and next week is the Champions League group stage, Liverpool's opponent is Porto, who has won the Champions League, if Liverpool makes another mistake, the consequences will definitely be unimaginable.

However, Benitez's warning did not play a big role, Liverpool's arrogance was not formed in a day, and it certainly cannot be changed with a scolding, and in the hearts of Liverpool's players, the reason why this game was drawn by Portsmouth, in addition to bad luck, there is also a reason for Chen Yu's absence, if Chen Yu is present, they will definitely not lose to Portsmouth, and for Porto's international match, Chen Yu, who is banned in China, can play, with Chen Yu, a big killer, Liverpool's players don't think they'll capsize in the gutter again.

Of course, Benitez can't get into the hearts of the players to see what they think, besides, since Chen Yu joined, Liverpool is almost invincible in the domestic and international arenas, even giants like Barcelona Milan can only bow to the upper hand, Benitez is not afraid of a team like Porto, and the loss of the game against Portsmouth is also thought in Benitez's heart is because of Chen Yu's absence, but such words can't be said in front of all the players.

Instead of taking a day off or a half-day off as is customary, Liverpool have returned from Portsmouth and have gone straight ahead to prepare for the Champions League group stage against Porto.

Although the current Porto cannot threaten Liverpool in terms of strength and fame, from the perspective of historical records, Liverpool has not taken much advantage of Porto.

Liverpool eliminated Porto in the 2001 UEFA Cup semi-finals, but drew 0-0 away from home. Porto also seem to have a special handle on Premier League sides, having been unbeaten in their last nine home games against English sides in the Champions League, including the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Looking at Liverpool's record at Portugal, the win dates back 23 years, when the Reds beat Benfica 4-1 away in 1984, while Liverpool have failed to win their last four Champions League games against Portuguese sides, drawing twice with Boavista in 2001/02 and losing to Benfica twice in 2005/06.

Benitez coached Liverpool for three years, the history of Liverpool is very clear, he himself is a person who likes to study, but he is now a little superstitious Chen Yu, he believes that the original Liverpool lost to the Portuguese team more because of Liverpool's lack of world-class strikers, the ability to grasp opportunities is too poor, with Chen Yu, Liverpool's strength directly up a notch, if it was originally first-class, then now it is super first-class, in the away away can not be said to win, but there should be no doubt about getting a draw.

In training, Benitez did not emphasize the attack, although the mainstream of the Premier League is attack, but Benitez, who was born in La Liga, knows very well that there is still a certain gap between the technology of the Premier League and the Portuguese Super League and La Liga, and he can't control the midfield, he can't control the ball, and it's not easy to beat Porto by attacking.

The premise of defensive counterattack is to be able to defend, Liverpool's defense has always been good, the last defensive crisis was because of the injuries of Hyypia and Ager, and now Hyypia is back, and the fullback Aurelio is also injured, Benitez is very confident in his backline, although Porto has an advantage in midfield, but Liverpool's midfield is very tough, and the ability to run and tackle is strong, Benitez is not worried that Porto can play the same attack as mercury.

Two days of training is unlikely to play a decisive role, and the main thing to get a good result is to play with your own style and characteristics, and Benitez is well aware of this, and in addition to training, he spent a lot of time watching the video of the game with the whole team to watch Porto's game, study the technical and tactical characteristics of the opponent, and try to know himself and his opponent.

Rafael Benitez held a pre-match team meeting at Anfield on Tuesday morning to cheer up his squad before leading the 18 Champions League group stage players to the airport and to Porto, Portugal.

Located at the mouth of the Doro River, Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, with the Doro River winding through the city and a maritime temperate broad-leaved forest climate. Winters are warm and humid, and summers are dry and cool.

Porto has a long history, settled long before the Portuguese state, the city was founded in the 5th century, but it is their wine and their football that make Porto famous.

As the representative of Porto and Portuguese football is the Porto club, founded in 1893, if there is anyone who does not know Porto, he must know the madman Mourinho, and Mourinho led Porto to the Champions League before making his fortune.

Porto were the first two editions of the Portuguese Serie A to dominate, but with the rise of Sporting Lisbon and Benfica, Porto have won only four league titles in 45 years. By the end of the 80s, the club had won 27 league titles, making it the second-most Portuguese league champions, and in the Champions League, it was on an equal footing with Benfica.

The status of football in Portugal is by no means lower than in England, the big battle between Liverpool and Porto, the fans of Porto and the Liverpool fans of Porto have been waiting for a long time, and when they heard that Liverpool was coming, the fans of Porto and Liverpool came to pick them up.

As soon as the Liverpool players got off the plane, they found that there were many Porto fans at the airport, and they could see from looking at the jerseys that there were a small number of Liverpool fans in the middle, which made the Liverpool players puzzled, they thought that there were Porto stars on the same plane with them, but soon they found out that this group of Porto fans was here to pick them up, but they were not here to do the friendship of the hosts, they were here to demonstrate.

Porto fans waved towels with the words Porto must win, chanting the slogan "Porto must win, Liverpool must lose", and when Liverpool's players were interviewed by reporters, they also stopped from time to time to stimulate Liverpool's players with loud boos and put psychological pressure on him.

Liverpool's players know that Portugal is a country that loves football, and Porto is also a giant team in Portugal, but they didn't expect Porto to be so crazy, thousands of people waited at the airport for more than an hour just to boo them.

In this case, it is naturally not suitable to communicate with fans, nor is it suitable to accept too long interviews, because the delay is too long, the fans on both sides are likely to have conflicts, this is not the stadium, the security work is very well prepared, there are only a few airport security guards here, if something really happens, I am afraid it will be difficult to control the scene, Liverpool players are almost the fastest to say hello to the reporters and fans who have been waiting for a long time, and then get into the bus prepared by the club staff and go to the hotel.

Although Liverpool has played a lot of international matches and experienced all kinds of scenes, the fact that Porto fans attach so much importance to the game has caused Benitez to be wary, and Porto fans attach so much importance to it shows that Porto FC does not think that they will lose to Liverpool at home, at least they think they have the strength to fight.

Benitez once again emphasized to all the players at the team meeting that they should pay attention to their opponents and strive to win the game away from home, if they can't win, then a draw is acceptable, after all, this is an away game, and the opponent is also a team that has won the Champions League twice, with a strong sense of honor, if you want to win here, you need to overcome great difficulties, with the strength of Liverpool, it should be okay to return to Anfield and win Porto again, there is no need to fight with Porto here.

Although Benitez did not put too much pressure on the players in the team meeting, just asked them to try to win and a draw was acceptable, when it came to the press conference, Benitez said differently.

Benitez's press conference was a briefing and an appearance, with the aim of giving journalists and fans an idea of the team's situation and intimidating opponents.

At the press conference, Benitez was full of aura and did not look depressed at all because he was drawn by Portsmouth in the league, "Porto is a team worthy of respect, they have a glorious tradition in the Champions League, in Group A, only Porto can compete with Liverpool for the top spot in the group, but it is not necessarily the dialogue between the two sides that determines who is the top of the group, Marseille and Besiktas can also cause us problems, Liverpool will not underestimate any team, This game is our first Champions League game of the season and this game is important for us and for Porto and I hope to get off to a good start and I'm sure Porto have that in mind so it's going to be a good game. ”

Benitez then spoke about Chen Yu and Aurelio, saying: "Chen Yu was banned for four games in the league, which caused us a lot of problems, but we are lucky to have him in the Champions League, there is no doubt that Chen Yu is the guarantee of Liverpool's victory, with him, the team-mates have the bottom of their hearts." We had an injury crisis at centre-back, which eased after Hyypia came back, and now that Aurelio is back, we have more options in terms of our line-up, which is very important for us to play our first game in the Champions League. ”

Later, the reporter asked who would partner with Chen Yu in tomorrow's game, and Benitez did not make it clear that "Kuyt, Crouch, and Volenen are all excellent forwards, they and Chen Yu can have a good cooperation, I will match our forward line according to the needs of the situation, of course, Chen Yu will definitely be on the field." ”

After the press conference, Benitez went back to rest before taking his players to the Stade d'Oeil to acclimatise to the Champions League group stage tomorrow night.