Chapter 125 European Super Cup vs. Old Club
Although Ricardo has been away from Serie A for two seasons, it is his second hometown after all, and he is also a member of the Italian national team, so it is normal for him to pay attention to the changes and development of Serie A from time to time.
In the summer of 2006, with the World Cup victory and the dust settling on the Calciopoli scandal, the landscape of Serie A inevitably underwent tremendous changes.
The first thing to be affected is the ascension of the new king. Inter Milan, which remained unscathed in the Calciopoli incident, has become the biggest beneficiary of Serie A's summer transfer window. Old man Moratti has made a big splash in the transfer market this summer. Not only has he bought satisfactory players at relatively low prices, but he has also dealt a heavy blow to the confidence of its city rivals AC Milan in the transfer market.
Inter Milan got Argentine striker Crespo for free this summer, and also snatched Swedish striker Ibrahimovic for 2480 million euros. These two deals were snatched from the Rossoneri and the Zebras respectively.
Then Juventus' collapse also allowed Inter Milan to continue to pick up big bargains. Vieira's 950 million euros worth was 50% less than when Juventus introduced the Frenchman last season; in addition, the 550 million euros to introduce Werder Bremen Grosso and the 600 million euros to sign the future world's best right-back Maicon were also two cost-effective deals.
Inter Milan spent a total of 4580 million euros this summer, which also laid a solid foundation for Inter Milan to dominate Serie A in the next few seasons.
On the other side of Inter Milan is Juventus, which was sentenced to relegation. This former Serie A champion was not only relegated, but also deprived of the Serie A championship for the past two seasons. The first-team lineup completely fell apart this summer. Fortunately, there are still experienced core veteran players such as Buffon, Camoranesi, Piero, Trezeguet and Nedved left.
I believe that Juventus will be able to return to the top ranks of Serie A soon.
In addition, AC Milan, one of the top three teams in Serie A, also made major moves in the summer transfer. Unfortunately, Milan, which was penalized, did not make big moves in recruiting players, but instead sent the team's top striker Shevchenko to Chelsea of the Premier League for 5100 million Champions League euros.
Seeing that the Ukrainian nuclear warhead, with whom he had played against in the World Cup, had also transferred to the Premier League, Ricardo naturally clicked on the link and started paying attention to the transfer transactions in the Premier League this summer.
Of course, the most eye-catching one is Chelsea, which won the summer record.
If you were to ask who was the "football politician" who best understood money diplomacy in world football in the early 2000s, the answer would be Chelsea owner Abrahimovic.
Since taking over Stamford Bridge, as of the summer of 2006, Abramovich has invested more than 4 million pounds in Chelsea's signings, with an average annual investment of more than 1 million pounds.
This summer, the Russian continued his arrogant and overbearing "money diplomacy". Abramovich spent 8660 million euros just to buy three players, Shevchenko, Kalou and Mikel. Among them, Shevchenko's worth of 5100 million euros also made the Ukrainian the absolute king of the European transfer market this summer.
In addition to the above three players, Chelsea also poached Ballack from Bayern, and exchanged Ashley Cole from Arsenal for 740 million euros with Galaga, and also introduced Boulahrouz from Hamburg.
Although Maniche, Huth, Gudjohnsen, Glen Johnson, Duff and Crespo have left the team, Chelsea's strength has definitely increased.
After Chelsea, it is the Red Devils Manchester United who are preparing to enter the end of Ferguson's period. However, Manchester United did not make many moves this summer. There are only one in and one out that are worth noting. The in was to spend 2630 million euros to introduce Carrick from Tottenham; the out was to sell the king of the small penalty area Ruud van Nistelrooy to Real Madrid for 1500 million euros.
Tottenham, which had revenue of 2630 million euros, spent an additional 1500 million euros on signings this summer, bringing in powerful stars including Barbatov, Zokora and Chimbonda.
As for another team in London that has received much attention, Arsenal, although the new stadium will be put into use this season, the team has not yet paid off its debts, so it has not made any big signings, but has steadily replaced players. It has transferred out a number of main players such as Pires, Ashley Cole, Segan, and Reyes; it has also imported many semi-finished products such as Rosicky, Gallas, Baptista, and Song for processing...
Another red team, Manchester United's arch-rival Liverpool, did not make many big moves this summer. After all, Liverpool has been in a slump since its miraculous title win in 05. This summer, Liverpool only recruited powerful players such as Kuyt, Pennant and Lescott.
In addition to the above-mentioned teams that fans pay close attention to, Ricardo also noticed West Ham United's small move this summer, which was to loan in two Argentine national team star players, Mascherano and Tevez; if these two players were put on the market individually, they would not be available without tens of millions of euros...
"It looks like West Ham United is going to do something big?" Ricardo, who couldn't understand how West Ham United performed such magical operations, continued to pay attention to the situation in the Bundesliga.
The Bundesliga's transfers have always been known for their rationality and prudence, with few heavyweight signings, with transfers out being an exception.
Although the core midfielder and standard-bearer Ballack left for Chelsea, Bayern Munich, the weathervane of the Bundesliga transfers this summer, only invested a total of 2750 million euros in Champions League signings, namely 1100 million euros for Podolski, 1050 million euros for Van Buyten, and 600 million euros for Van Bommel.
Bremen, which originally planned to introduce Ricardo on loan, also made a heavy investment this summer, including 500 million euros to introduce national team main central defender Mertesacker and 600 million euros to purchase Brazilian talented midfielder Diego.
The last report that Ricardo read carefully was the transfer news that old Li Qi and Chinese fans paid the most attention to. After Munich 1860 lost the chance of promotion to the Bundesliga due to their poor performance in the second half of last season, Chinese player Shao Jiayi transferred to Cottbus and landed in the Bundesliga!
However, there were not many reports about Cottbus and Shao Jiayi. After all, in European football, this was not a major transfer. Ricardo closed his computer, picked up his backpack, and set off to meet up with the team, ready to go to Monaco with the team to prepare for the European Super Cup!
……
Time soon came to August 2006, 8, and the 25 European Super Cup was about to start at the Stade Louis II in Monaco. The two teams were last season's Champions League champion Barcelona and UEFA Cup champion Sevilla. This was the first time since the European Super Cup was founded in 2006 that two teams from La Liga competed for the championship.
Players from both teams had already entered the stadium. Unlike Sevilla, who arrived in Monaco a day earlier for warm-up training and to adapt to the field, Barcelona arrived at the stadium in a hurry on the day of the game, and the warm-up was hastily conducted for only half an hour.
After all, Barcelona's schedule this summer is too tight. In the year of the World Cup, the players have less summer rest time. However, as the hottest Dream Team II in the world this summer, they are still stubbornly continuing their trip to the Americas.
However, after returning to Europe in mid-August, Barcelona played two consecutive home and away games in the Spanish Super Cup, followed by a Gamper Trophy against Bundesliga giants Bayern. The Super Cup against Sevilla was Barcelona's fourth official game in 8 days, and it was only 7 days away from the end of the US tour.
However, the victory over Espanyol to win the Spanish Super Cup, followed by a 4-0 humiliation of the Bundesliga giants Bayern, the two big wins made the atmosphere of the red and blue camp unprecedentedly high. In the history of the European Super Cup, Barcelona has lost the championship twice, beating Bremen 1992-3 in 2 and Dortmund 1997-3 in 1; so although they were exhausted before the game, the Barcelona team firmly believed that they would win the third European Super Cup trophy in history.
Previously, the starting lineups of both teams have been announced. Rijkaard continued the lineup from last season, with summer new signings Gudjohnsen, Zambrotta and Thuram on the bench; Saviola, who was loaned to Sevilla last season, was not included in the match list.
Sevilla coach Juande also put stability first in his lineup. The only new face is the Nordic strongman Paulsen from Schalke 04, while new player Li Qi and the hero of the championship Maresca stayed on the bench. The specific starting lineup is as follows:
Barcelona played in a 4-3-3 formation;
The goalkeeper is No. 1 Valdés;
The defense line is left back No. 16 Sylvinho, right back No. 2 Belletti, and the center back combination is No. 4 Marcos and No. 5 Puyol;
The iron triangle in the midfield is No. 20 Deco, No. 6 Xavi and No. 3 Motta;
The forward trident is No. 19 Messi, No. 9 Eto'o and No. 10 Ronaldinho;
替补席上坐着7号古德约翰森、8号久利、11号赞布罗塔、21号图拉姆与24号伊涅斯塔等顶级球星。
Sevilla used a 4-4-2 formation;
The goalkeeper is No. 1 Palop;
The right back in the defense lineup is No. 4 Alves, the left back is No. 3 David, and the center back combination is No. 2 Navarro and No. 14 Escude;
The midfield lineup is composed of right midfielder No. 15 Navas, left midfielder No. 6 Adriano, and the cool midfield combination of No. 11 Renato and No. 8 Poulsen;
The double striker is a combination of No. 12 Kanoute and No. 10 Fabiano.
In addition to Li Qi and Maresca, Sevilla's bench also includes Puerta, Hinkel, Marti and Dragutinovic.
With the referee's whistle, the battle between Sevilla in white shirts, white pants and black socks and Barcelona in blue and red jerseys, shorts and socks began.
After the start of the game, Sevilla was extremely active; on the contrary, Barcelona was a little out of shape, it seemed that the whole team was a little absent-minded, and there were many mistakes in passing the ball.
Just one minute into the game, Alves broke through on the right and passed the ball to the middle. Fabiano made a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, but unfortunately the ball was caught by Valdes; but this also set off a wave of attack for Sevilla.
In the 4th minute, Renato made a cross from the free kick on the right, and Escude made a diving header from 8 yards away, but it was unfortunately confiscated by Valdes.
However, there is no such thing as a third time. Sevilla broke the deadlock in the 7th minute.
First, Paulson intercepted Barcelona's pass in the midfield, and then launched a counterattack and sent a good ball while Barcelona's midfield was sieging him.
Renato made a beautiful stop in the air from the middle and then passed the ball straight into the penalty area; Fabiano followed up and shot with his left foot into the far corner from 12 yards in the middle of the penalty area without stopping, but Valdes flew out to block it.
However, the blocked ball bounced back in front of Renato who was following up. Renato easily shot the ball into the empty goal before Puyol could make a defense!
Sevilla got off to a dream start, leading Barcelona 10-1 within 0 minutes of the start.
Sevilla continued to control the game after the goal, with Poulsen performing particularly well. It was not until the 16th minute that Barcelona got their first shot from a free kick from Ronaldinho.
Although Barcelona gradually regained more ball possession afterwards, Sevilla, with only about 30% ball possession, played with extremely high offensive efficiency, created more shooting threats, and frequently used fouls to block Barcelona's smooth cooperation. The European champions' final pass in front of the goal also lacked quality, and there was not much connection between the trident.
While Barcelona seemed to be at a loss in their attack on Sevilla, Sevilla once again expanded its lead in the final moments of the first half.
In the 45th minute of the first half, just before the injury time, Kanoute broke through on the right side and used his height and long legs to beat Sylvinho to win a corner kick. Then Alves took a corner kick and Valdés attacked again, punching the ball over Navarro's head.
After the ball flew out of the penalty area, Navas, who was lying in ambush outside the penalty area, got in front of Deco and headed the ball back to Barcelona's small penalty area, but on the other side of Valdes... The 1-meter-tall Kanoute jumped up 92 yards in front of the goal, leaning on Marcos, who was only 10 meters tall, and headed the ball towards the goal. Marcos and a group of Barcelona players could only watch the ball fall into the empty goal.
Sevilla once again successfully knocked the ball into Barcelona's net; and successfully entered the halftime break with a 2-0 advantage.
In the first half, Sevilla relied on better physical reserves, more active running and more fierce fighting to suppress the poorly-formed Barcelona. However, Juan Ramos also knew that Sevilla could not maintain such a high-intensity game rhythm throughout the game, and Barcelona would definitely make adjustments in the second half.
So Ramos made personnel and tactical changes in the midfield first, replacing Fabiano, who was not in the best condition after recovering from injury, with the World Cup's best newcomer, Italian talented midfielder Riccardo Ricci, and arranged a formation recovery.
Ramos specifically told Li Qi on the sidelines that the main task in the second half was to assist in the midfield defense and take the rhythm of the game away from Barcelona, and if he couldn't take it away, he had to interrupt them; after all, they were leading by two goals, and as long as they didn't make any mistakes, they could drag the opponent to death.
After Li Qi came on the pitch, although he was standing in the forward position, he retreated very deeply, more like a midfielder, and frequently participated in Sevilla's midfield back-passes and sieges.
The addition of Li Qi, who is very familiar with Barcelona's technical and tactical characteristics, with his precise passing and accurate reading of the game, has given Sevilla a second fulcrum in the midfield besides Kanoute, and he is also the frontcourt organizing hub who can successfully control the ball and pass it to Barcelona's weak defensive side.
As a result, the White Army successfully transformed the style of the first half, which was to move the ball back and forth, into a relatively slower-paced midfield transition style; the tempo of the game also slowed down a bit.
However, due to Sevilla's formation recovery, Barcelona still had more possession of the ball, so Li Qi actually had to bear more defensive tasks.
Just as Li Qi knows Barcelona's big brothers very well, Barcelona's midfielders and backcourt players also know Li Qi well and know that this Italian guy is not easy to deal with. Once they are entangled by him, it will be difficult for them to get rid of him or even pass the ball... Therefore, Barcelona's midfielders and backcourt players will try their best to bypass Li Qi's defense area.
"Damn, it seems that my characteristics as a defensive midfielder are still recognized by my former teammates! Let's see how I can better complete the tasks assigned by the boss." Li Qi's eyes rolled around, and he suddenly had some immature ideas...
