Chapter 311 0708 UEFA Champions League Round of 16, First Round (5.5K Chapter)

2008年2月19与20日，07/08赛季欧洲冠军联赛将在2008年重燃战火，首先开始的是16强淘汰赛第一回合。

其中先进行角逐的4场比赛，奥林匹亚科斯在主场0比0闷平切尔西，罗马在主场惊险的2比1拿下皇马，利物浦也在主场2比0有惊无险的拿下意甲班霸国际米兰，最后沙尔克04同样在主场1比0力克皮尔图。

On the second match day, Arsenal will play against AC Milan at home, while Celtic and Fenerbahce will also face challenges from Spanish visiting teams Barcelona and Sevilla at the same time.

In addition, the Red Devils Manchester United, where Ricardo is, will travel to challenge the French Ligue 1 powerhouse Lyon, which has won six consecutive championships!

Before the Champions League match between Manchester United and Lyon, UEFA awarded Manchester United's Welsh veteran Giggs, who was confirmed to be in the starting lineup, a commemorative medal for his 100th Champions League game.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson also praised Giggs as a role model for professional players in an interview with the media. It is not easy to achieve the honor of 100 Champions League games:

"Only a handful of players have ever reached that milestone. It's all because of Giggs' quality, his stamina and his preparation for the game and for life... and of course he's at a successful club and he's definitely a role model for us."

In addition to Giggs' milestone start, Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United starting formation was a brand new 4-4-1-1 formation:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Van der Sar;

The back line from right to left is No. 6 Wes Brown, No. 15 Vidic, No. 5 Ferdinand and No. 3 Evra;

The midfield quartet is No. 7 Cristiano Ronaldo, No. 18 Scholes, No. 4 Hargreaves and No. 11 Giggs;

The frontcourt combination is No. 17 Li Qi and No. 9 Rooney.

Originally, Sir Alex Ferguson did not want to try to change the formation in such an important match as the Champions League knockout stage. However, Tevez's poor form in training a few days before the game made Sir Alex Ferguson want to make a tactical surprise attack on Lyon just like he did on Arsenal.

Moreover, the dual-core engine of Ronaldo and Li Qi in the front court is also something Sir Alex is looking forward to;

There is a tank-like center forward in front to lead the way, and two veterans, Scholes and Giggs, are in charge of the back. In addition, instead of choosing Carrick who is balanced in offense and defense, a full-time defensive midfielder is specially sent to provide protection, in order to ensure the success of this formation change and tactical innovation.

In fact, Sir Alex Ferguson believes that this lineup should be a combination of aggressiveness and conservatism. After all, Manchester United's current forward line is indeed short of people;

When Tevez is in poor form, playing Li Qi, who can actively retreat to the midfield to assist in defense and organization, as a shadow striker or attacking midfielder is definitely a flexible tactic for winning in a stable manner, and is better than using the younger Anderson or the engineer-type Park Ji-sung.

Lyon, who are at the peak of their powers in Ligue 1, are not afraid of the visiting defending Premier League champions. After all, Lyon's lineup is always very capable no matter when.

Lyon started with their usual attacking 4-3-3;

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Coupe;

The back line from left to right is No. 11 Grosso, No. 32 Boumsong, No. 29 Squillacci and No. 20 Reveille;

The iron triangle in the midfield is No. 6 Castren, No. 28 Turan and free kick master No. 8 Juninho;

The front three is the youthful whirlwind No. 14 Gove who is not inferior to Manchester United, No. 10 Benzema and No. 2 Clark who plays as a guest right winger;

Also sitting on the bench were Brazilian striker Fred and the left-wing genius Ben Arfa who was constantly touted by the media.

Of course, the media's focus in this game is still on the two teams' young top stars, the 23-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo and the 21-year-old Benzema; as for Rooney, Lizzie and Ben Arfa, they are just extras for this game.

2008年2月20日晚上20时45分，在热尔兰球场，黑衣黑裤的里昂即将在0708赛季欧冠八分之一决赛的首回合，迎来红衣白裤的曼联的挑战！

Before the game, the two sides' situations in the weekend league and cup matches were very different.

Lyon lost to Drogba's former club Le Mans, and suffered their sixth league defeat shortly after being eliminated from the cup, reducing their lead to 1 point.

Manchester United came out of the slump of drawing with Tottenham and losing to Manchester City, and won 4- against Premier League leader Arsenal in the FA Cup.

In addition, in the historical confrontations between the two sides, Manchester United had only lost 10 of the previous 2 away games in France, and won 2 games against Lille last season; however, the direct confrontation between the two sides on the same field 3 years ago ended in a 2-2 draw.

After the game started, both sides were a little cautious, but they also had their attacks and defenses.

In the 2nd minute, Ronaldo received a straight pass from Scholes on the right, but instead of choosing to cooperate, he turned around and started to dribble the ball. He got to a distance of about 25 meters outside the top of the penalty area and took a long shot, but unfortunately it missed the far post.

In the 5th minute, Gove's shot in the chaos in Manchester United's penalty area was blocked by Vidic and went out of the baseline;

Then Juninho took a corner kick, and Benzema headed the ball from a small angle at the back post, but it lacked power and was easily confiscated by Van der Sar.

……

However, after only 10 minutes of play, Li Qi discovered the problem:

In this game, Ronaldo seemed to be a little bit off! Ronaldo's mentality changed. He basically didn't pass the ball, and just went it alone with the ball. His intention was very obvious!

Based on Ronaldo's position in Manchester United, no one can refuse to give the ball to him when he is in an open position. After all, his personal ability is still top-notch. Maybe he can score a goal by breaking through or shooting from a long distance?

But Li Qi knew that this was not right, this was not Ronaldo in his normal state; even if he was an iron-headed guy, it was impossible for him to face the defense line that was on high alert and just rush in, ignoring even his own efforts to get close to him for support. At least he could do some wall-like cooperation and then rush in!

After thinking about it, Li Qi couldn't help but be shocked. How could this troubled boy be so stubborn? !

It must be because of the last two games, when he played well in the core position and was praised by Sir Alex Ferguson, the arrogant Ronaldo got jealous, or worried that his position was unstable, so he had to win a single game to prove that Ronaldo was still the top star of Manchester United;

At the same time, it should also be to prove that even without Li Qi's new tactical core role, Manchester United can still do well with a single core, and having Ronaldo is enough for Manchester United!

Damn! Do you have to be so childish? You are already an adult at the age of 23...

But Li Qi didn't expect that he had been completely immersed in the joy of being the core of the tactics these days, and had completely forgotten to have a heart-to-heart with his good friend. He even looked complacent, smug, arrogant, and looked down on others in his expression and behavior...

Alas, I don’t know whether I have to temporarily describe Ronaldo as his former best friend.

So Li Qi decisively changed his style of play, retreating deeper when defending, and filling in behind Ronaldo when attacking to grab the second point. Suddenly, it felt like Li Qi and Ronaldo had switched positions, but this seemed to overlap with Scholes' position and function.

Fortunately, although Manchester United's eager attack and counterattack did not create much threat, after all, they had the advantage in numbers in the midfield and were able to stabilize the formation and have a slightly higher ball possession rate.

In addition, Li Qi also dared to cooperate more with Rooney and Giggs in the frontcourt through passing and cutting; he was worried that the sensitive Ronaldo would see it and become even more suspicious. If he suspected that Li Qi was trying to form a small group, the misunderstanding would be even greater and it would be even more difficult for him to turn back.

So Li Qi not only had to play the way he usually does, but also had to feed the ball to Ronaldo without hesitation, even though he knew that it would be like sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth, and the ball would never come back...

Sir Alex Ferguson on the sidelines also noticed the problem. It turned out that dual-core was difficult to handle. Now the original engine was acting up and the function of the other core was simultaneously destroyed.

Sir Alex was also frowning for a while, chewing gum hard, but he couldn't make a substitution after ten minutes in the first half, right? And this was obviously not Li Qi's problem, but Ronaldo's problem. Replacing Li Qi would probably not help, and he couldn't go back to the way he was before.

As for replacing Ronaldo? According to Sir Alex Ferguson's understanding of Ronaldo, this arrogant kid can't stand this. If he doesn't handle it well, it may ruin Manchester United's good situation in the past few seasons.

Sir Alex could only choose to trust Li Qi and Ronaldo for now, and decided to observe for a while, hoping that the quarreling children could reconcile themselves:

"That bastard Cristiano Ronaldo! When I discussed tactics with him before the game, he agreed without hesitation. He was so full of energy but he didn't say anything... Hmm? Did I not see it? Or is he hiding it too well? If we lose this game, I will punish him after the game..."

However, afterwards, when Li Qi learned that Sir Alex had decided to wait and see, he couldn't help but give him a thumbs up, saying that he is indeed an experienced head coach!

That’s right, according to psychology, this kind of problem is best handled by the parties themselves. The intervention of external forces will most likely be counterproductive, and often the best result can only be to suppress the conflict and delay its outbreak.

However, this is tough for the Manchester United teammates on the field. Before the game, they had never expected that they would be in a tough battle. Even if they were facing Lyon at its peak, according to the previous tactical analysis and deployment, Manchester United is absolutely capable of suppressing the opponent. Their offense would not be completely blocked, right?

Once the offense gets bogged down, defense will inevitably run into problems because the opponent can counterattack with impunity!

In the 22nd minute, Juninho made a cross from the right, and Rio Ferdinand, who was under pressure from Benzema, made a mistake in clearing the ball, and almost kicked the ball into the back corner of his own goal! Fortunately, the ball hit the post and bounced back into Van der Sar's arms.

In the 26th minute, Benzema received a pass from his teammate on the right side of the penalty area in a counterattack and shot directly from a long distance, which was slightly above the crossbar.

Facing difficulties away from home, not only Manchester United teammates are anxious, but Ronaldo, who has failed to break through alone many times, is also very anxious. But as a professional, who doesn't know where the problem on the field lies?

Even if they didn't react at first, after almost half an hour of kicking, even the dumbest and slowest ones would have noticed the problem long ago.

Ronaldo knew this, but he hadn't proven himself yet! He couldn't just change it back, right? Wouldn't that be like surrendering? Ronaldo, who has a strong sense of self-esteem, couldn't afford to lose face.

However, taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, the knocked-down Li Qi rolled and crawled to protect and pick up the ball. When everyone thought that Li Qi was going to take the penalty himself, the latter took the initiative to hand the ball to Ronaldo and said loudly: "C Ronaldo, it's up to you, come on! Give them a hard time!"

It sounded like a greeting, and actually it was a greeting, which brought a turning point in the game!

When Ronaldo received the ball, he was stunned at first, then his face changed from cloudy to sunny, and he even raised the corners of his mouth unconsciously.

Although Ronaldo failed to test Lyon goalkeeper Coupet in the last direct free kick from 33 meters on the left, his performance returned to normal afterwards and he began to pass the ball to his teammates.

Although he probably didn't pass the ball to Li Qi due to his awkward mentality, he at least passed the ball to Rooney, Giggs, Scholes and others for cooperation!

Less than 3 minutes after Ronaldo regained his normal game mentality, Manchester United got the last chance to score after the opening.

In the 32nd minute, Li Qi intercepted the ball in the backcourt and made a long pass to counterattack. He immediately leaned on Turan and headed the ball to Ronaldo on the wing.

This time, Ronaldo changed his previous iron-headed kid's style of rushing forward, and instead sent a straight pass diagonally, which was beyond the expectations of Lyon's defense.

Rooney deftly dribbled past the opponent with a sideways move, avoiding the French international Squillaci who was trying to steal the ball, and broke directly into the penalty area from the middle.

But unfortunately, due to Boumsong's interference, Rooney's final single-handed shot missed the target and was bravely saved by Lyon goalkeeper Coupet.