Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Nine: The Battle Between You and Me
"Welcome to watch the live broadcast of the first leg of the 2017-18 Champions League semi-finals presented to you by LeTV Sports. Today we will present to you the match between Liverpool and Roma at home."
"Well, Zhang Zhi, both teams eliminated strong opponents in the top 8. Liverpool eliminated Juventus, and Roma was even more powerful. They came back at home to reverse Barcelona led by Messi, so what do you think is the winner of this game?
In what aspect will the key be reflected?" Zhan Jun asked with a smile in the live broadcast room.
Uh, hehe!" Zhang Lu squinted her eyes cheerfully, "Because these two teams are characterized by, uh, high-speed running, fast attacks, and then crazy pressing in the midfield.
, I think this should be a very fierce battle."
"So physical fitness is a key factor in this game. It depends on who can outrun whom. It will probably be a spark-catching confrontation."
"Yes!" Zhan Jun nodded, "The younger Liverpool will have some advantages in this regard. Liverpool has adopted rotations in the last two rounds of games, and many players have received sufficient rest."
While the two were talking, the live broadcast footage showed the starting lineups of both sides.
Liverpool:(433)
Goalkeeper: Alisson
Defenders: Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson
Midfielder: Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Mo Yang
Forwards: Salah, Firmino, Mane
Rome:(3421)
Forward: Dzeko
Shadow striker: Nainggolan, Yundale
Midfielder: Kolarov, Stroman, De Rossi, Florenzi
Defenders:Juan Jr., Manolas, Fazio
Goalkeeper: Szczesny
At 4:45 pm local time in England, with the whistle blown by the referee Brich from Germany, the game officially started.
Roma, who took the first kick at the beginning of the game, showed their strong offensive capabilities.
At 1 minute and 30 seconds into the game, Roma launched an offensive from the right, attracting Liverpool's defensive focus to the wing. After taking the ball, De Rossi crossed the center line and quickly passed the ball diagonally to the center before Mo Yang and Mane closed the door.
.
In the middle, Dzeko in front of Lovren dropped back to catch the ball. When he saw Wijnaldum rushing towards him, he turned around while receiving the ball, facing the left, and stuck Wijnaldum behind him.
At the same time, Roma left wing-back Kolarov came up.
Dzeko was so entangled by Wijnaldum that he could not turn around, so he had to pass the ball to Kolarov, then turn around and go forward.
After dribbling the ball close to the penalty area, facing the marking of Arnold inside, Kolarov stopped, made a fake pass, shook Arnold and followed suit, and then immediately kicked off a second time.
Suddenly, a half-high ball flew from the ribs at an angle of 45 degrees into the Liverpool penalty area.
Lovren felt that he was being targeted again today, because Dzeko and Nainggolan stood in front of him like goalkeepers, looking like they were preparing to join forces to defeat him.
Seeing the ball coming, Nainggolan immediately took a big step forward, just at the landing point.
Lovren knew what these two people wanted to do at a glance. He was not fooled and just stayed on the spot in front of Dzeko.
The next second, sure enough, the ball was sideways given by Nainggolan, bounced directly to the ground, and fell towards the feet of Dzeko.
Dzeko raised his foot and stopped the ball directly. However, just as he turned to hit the goal, a huge force suddenly came from his back.
Van Dijk directly blocked him from behind, while Lovren moved a few steps forward, turned to face Dzeko, and not only got stuck in front of Nainggolan, but also cut off Dzeko's pass to Nainggolan.
Ball line.
Dzeko was staggered by Van Dijk. The ball was not protected and was stabbed in front of him. In desperation, he had no choice but to pass the ball from the top of the arc and pass it back to Stroman in the middle.
Stroman, who was in front of the top of the key and came in from behind, directly met the ball and fired furiously.
Mo Yang fell directly to the ground at the top of the arc and made a sliding tackle. Fabinho also jumped up. The two of them had an extremely tacit understanding. One defended from the air and the other defended from the ground.
But Stroman's half-high shot still slipped through the gap and went straight to the left post.
Alisson chose the right position in front of the goal and took the ball directly into his arms.
"Wow!"
Red Army fans in the stands were in an uproar, and then burst into warm applause.
On the sidelines, Klopp saw the team's successful defense. He grinned and was very satisfied. He saw the tacit understanding between Van Dijk and Lovren.
"Less than two minutes into the game, Roma completed a shot that hit the target. This is their strong offensive ability."
"Yes! Well, Dzeko is a player. His role as a fulcrum in the penalty area is very obvious. Well, he is tall and strong, and ordinary defensive players really can't do anything to him, and his ability to play the ball is also very good.
powerful."
While Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu were talking, Liverpool's offensive started on the field.
At 2 minutes and 21 seconds of the game, Roma left wing-back Kolarov dribbled the ball from the backcourt and came to the center line to face Wijnaldum and Firmino pressing one after another. He dribbled the ball all the way.
Rely on the middle road.
After crossing the center line, Kolarov fell directly into Liverpool's pressing trap in the center circle, and he could no longer pass the ball.
Firmino stared at him from behind, Mo Yang rushed over from the right, Wijnaldum also slowly approached from the left, and a triangular cage directly locked him to death.
The next second, Kolarov, who was being approached by Mo Yang, was hit by Mo Yang and lost his center of gravity. The ball was also poked away by Mo Yang.
After getting the ball, Mo Yang leaned directly to the right. When he saw Salah running behind Roma's left center back Juan, and in a parallel position with Manolas in the middle, Mo Yang didn't hesitate and started straight away.
plug.
After Salah got the ball, he immediately started to speed up. When he came to the right side of the penalty area, he slowed down and took a charming little step. Then suddenly he made a realistic feint, which deceived Juan's center of gravity to shift to the baseline and he left.
Quickly move the ball to the left with your foot and cut inside along the penalty area line towards the top of the arc.
But Xiao Huan turned around and came back without taking a few steps.
Salah took a few steps in the upper left corner of Roma's penalty area. Without too much hesitation, he directly took off and shot into the far corner.
However, due to the interference of Juan's small movements, he lost his balance at the moment of shooting. As a result, the angle of the ball did not come out.
On the goal line of Roma's small penalty area, Szczesny knelt down and confiscated the ball.
"Salah's shot!"
"Hit it in the middle! What a pity, it was too straight and the arc was not drawn out."
"In less than three minutes, both sides each completed a threatening shot. Sure enough, just as Director Zhang predicted before the game, this was indeed an open and close offensive battle."
On the sidelines, Klopp looked calm and he was very satisfied with the team's current performance.
In this game, he does not intend to fight to the death with Roma in the midfield.
Klopp watched the game when Roma reversed Barcelona's game, and wow, Barcelona, which has strong passing and control capabilities, was robbed in the midfield.
So what he told Mo Yang was to make a long pass when there was an opportunity at the beginning, and use the speed of Salah and Mane to test Roma's back.
Roma's three-centre-back system has a natural flaw in the formation behind the two wingers.
Next to Klopp, Di Francesco, who also wore glasses, looked a little grim.
In this game, he focused both offense and defense on the left side, which not only restricted Salah but also allowed him to attack from Liverpool's relatively weak side.
But Mo Yang suddenly changed positions, connected with Salah, and penetrated their backcourt defense with a through ball, which really made him a little worried.
