Chapter 318 Starlight Glimmering

"Viewers, this is CCTV Sports Channel. We are currently broadcasting live at the Toulouse Stadium in Toulouse, France."

"Although it is already late at night in China, I still believe that there are many fans sitting in front of the TV at this moment to watch this focus game that attracts worldwide attention, the sixth game of the European Cup quarter-finals, played by Portugal. team versus Belgium!”

"This is the sixth consecutive time that the Portuguese team has entered the knockout stages of the European Cup. Since 1996, they have never missed the knockout stage of the European Cup. Among them, in the 2004 European Cup in Portugal, they also reached the final Unfortunately, they lost to the Greek team in the final, which became a Greek myth."

"Although Belgium currently ranks second in the world in FIFA rankings and is the highest-ranked European team, this is the first time that they have entered the European Cup knockout rounds after 36 years. Since they won the European Cup in Italy in 1980, After reaching the final but losing to the German team, Belgium fell into a trough. It has not reached the European Cup knockout rounds in more than 1988 years, including missing 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, and . The main stage of these six European Cups."

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"Many people say that these two teams are currently at their strongest period in history."

"The Portuguese team, in addition to Cristiano Ronaldo, a three-time Ballon d'Or winner, also has Bruno Fernandez, a new Ballon d'Or winner. It can be said that in the current world football, there are two active players. Portugal is the only team that has won the Ballon d'Or. In addition, they also have Pepe, Cancelo, Moutinho and many other stars who play in the five major European leagues. This also makes the Portuguese team widely optimistic , is one of the favorites to win this European Cup."

"Although the Belgian team is not the favorite to win this European Cup, they are the highest-ranked team in the world among the participating teams in this European Cup. They have Chelsea's offensive core Eden Hazard and Manchester City's organizational core. Kevin De Bruyne, Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, the main forward Lukaku of the traditional Premier League team Everton, the midfielder Nainggolan of the Serie A giant Roma and many other stars, these people all play for They are top European leagues such as the Premier League, Serie A, and Bundesliga, and they are all major figures in their respective teams."

"Many people believe that Belgium is the strongest team on paper in this European Cup. However, due to various reasons, Belgium has performed poorly in the World Series in recent years, which has also led to them not being favored. "

"In this European Cup, Belgium and Portugal are recognized as the strongest teams in the top half, but they have to face a head-on showdown in the first round of the knockout round. Once any of them advances to the quarterfinals, it will be very difficult for them to do so. It is possible to reach the finals because it will be difficult for the other teams to stop the progress of these two teams.”

“在历史上，两支球队一共有过17次交手，葡萄牙队取得6胜6平5负稍占上风。双方最近的一次交手是近年的3月30日，葡萄牙队在主场2:1力克比利时。不过那一场比赛布鲁诺并没有进入葡萄牙队的大名单。”

"Let us wait and see who will win in today's game!"

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Live TV footage arrived at the scene.

Players from both teams entered the court one after another under the leadership of the referee.

After the pre-match ceremony, the starting lineups of both sides were also displayed on the screen.

"We can see the Portuguese team's formation in this game. Santos still arranged a 442 formation."

"The double forwards are a combination of Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani, which is also the main configuration of the Portuguese team in this European Cup, while the midfielder is Bruno's starting midfielder, Joao Mario, William Carvalho and Andre ·Gómez forms the back three. The defense is still led by Pepe, and the other three are Fonte, Guerrero and Cancelo."

“The Portuguese team is well-organized, and the Belgian team is also very well-organized. They still play a 4231 formation, with their main goalkeeper Courtois, defenders Meunier, Alderweireld, Vermaelen and Vertonghen. The double defensive midfielders are Nainggolan and Witsel, the forward line consists of Hazard and De Bruyne partnering with Mertens, and the little monster Lukaku is forward with a single arrow."

"In addition, on their bench there are Tottenham midfielder Dembélé, Manchester United general Fellaini, Atletico Madrid forward Carrasco, Liverpool forward double star Benteke, Origi and other star players. Obviously this Belgian team's The strength is better than the Portuguese team."

"Tonight, it will be a tough game for the two Ballon d'Or players, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno."

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"This is Bruno, the midfield brain of the Portuguese team. He defeated Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the FIFA Ballon d'Or award at the beginning of this year, breaking Melo's seven-year monopoly on the Ballon d'Or. He is considered the world's best An epoch-making event in the history of football. In this European Cup, he has already contributed 1 shot and 2 passes, and is also one of the best players."

"It should be said that this game will be a duel between Bruno and De Bruyne, the two best midfield playmakers in world football today."

"The captains of the two teams, Cristiano Ronaldo and Hazard, were guessing, but it seemed that Cristiano Ronaldo had bad luck and lost one game first. But this is good news for the Portuguese team. After all, it is already night and the light is against The impact on the game is very small, but Portugal can take advantage of the opportunity to kick off first and launch a wave of offensive."

"The game is about to start. We can see Ronaldo and Nani standing in the center circle, preparing to serve."

With the whistle of the referee Viktor Kashay, this European Cup quarter-finals, which attracted worldwide attention, finally kicked off.

The game is on!

Portugal pressed heavily from the start.

The Belgian team was obviously well prepared to face the Portuguese team's aggressive attacking tactics and began to retreat into its own half.

The most impressive thing about the Portuguese team in the previous games was the smooth and skillful offensive cooperation in the midfield and frontcourt. On the defensive end, it always gave people a feeling of instability. Therefore, when formulating the game plan before the game, Mark Wilmots He also carefully studied the possibility of the Portuguese team attacking on a large scale. He even believed that this possibility was very high, so he also made targeted arrangements.

<divclass="contentadv">Since there is only four days between this game and the third group match, it is difficult to go deep into targeted tactics, but they have been practiced in the end.

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The Belgian players quickly established their rhythm in the midfield and backfield.

The Portuguese team took advantage of the momentum of the opening attack to successfully control the ball and patiently pressed the Belgian half. But in the face of the Belgian team's tight defense, it was really difficult for the Portuguese team to create opportunities.

In particular, the Belgian team's midfielder and backfield closely monitored Bruno, intending to cut off the connection between other Portuguese players and Bruno. This made the Portuguese team repeatedly want to pass the ball to Bruno, but failed.

In the fifth minute of the opening, the Portuguese team made a pass error and the Belgian team counterattacked. De Bruyne quickly dribbled the ball forward, rushed all the way to the edge of the penalty area, and then passed it to the right side. Belgian midfielder Mertens followed up and directly shot a long shot from the right side of the penalty area, but failed to hit the goal.

"The Belgian team took the first shot of the game and seemed a little anxious. A long shot from outside the penalty area by Mertens."

"Although I failed to create a threat, it still made people break out in a cold sweat. If I had been more patient and cooperated, maybe this kick would have happened."

"The Portuguese team still needs to pay attention to the Belgian team's counterattack."

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After the goal kick was taken, the Portuguese team still quickly passed forward along the wings. The Belgian team still adopted the strategy of retreating and counterattacking, deliberately avoiding the Portuguese team's opening spirit.

Bruno learned from the previous experience and further expanded the scope of his activities.

When the ball reached the frontcourt, Joao Mario passed the ball through the ball to Bruno's feet at the front of the penalty area, but the Belgian players blocked him behind him and did not give him any chance to turn around.

Bruno passed the ball diagonally back to the left side of the midfield, and Nani ran over to catch the ball.

At this time, the Portuguese team's offensive shortcomings were also reflected, that is, the lack of support from the two wings.

The two full-backs are relatively conservative and do not intervene easily. This makes the Portuguese team rely more on the cooperation between Bruno and Nani on the wing. But with only two players, the offensive methods are much monotonous.

On the contrary, at this time, if the left back can quickly intervene, the methods will be rich and three-dimensional.

But sometimes football matches are like this, and there is no way to force everything to go smoothly.

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Nani failed to get a chance on the left and passed back to the backcourt to reorganize.

Bruno applauded vigorously, affirming Nani's actions.

Instead of passing the ball forward in a hurry and handing the ball over to the Belgian team, it is better to pass the ball back and reorganize the backcourt.

After that, the Portuguese team tried to attack again along the left, but still failed to create a threat and passed back to the backcourt again. The Belgian team stared closely at Bruno.

Pepe got the ball in the backcourt and noticed Bruno's gesture in the frontcourt. When he saw Ronaldo coming out to the right, he immediately drove forward with a big kick.

Facing the Belgian team's defense, which is generally under 1.9 meters tall, Ronaldo's header still has a certain advantage. This time, he pulled out of the penalty area, faced Pepe's pass, immediately got stuck in position, and headed the ball back to the midfielder.

After William Carvalho caught the ball, he feinted a shot and tried to rush to the baseline, but suddenly dunked and drove the ball to the middle.

Bruno was also mentally prepared and ran all the way from the left along the edge of the penalty area to respond.

William Carvalho crossed the ball to Bruno.