long live football

As soon as the Manchester United players stepped onto the lawn of the Dragon Stadium, they immediately felt the unfriendly atmosphere here.

The Porto fans in the blue jerseys in the stands booed them harshly and stomped their feet crazily. The more than 1000 Red Devils fans who came to Portugal seemed a little pitiful, because their voices could not be heard at all in the stadium.

When Porto player Qiqi appeared in the stadium, it was another scene in the stadium. They received enthusiastic cheers from the vast majority of fans, and the voice reached its peak when Mourinho appeared. .

Although this kind of formation looks scary, it still can't scare Manchester United. It doesn't count the games in Europe, only in the Premier League. Whether it's Anfield, Emirates Stadium, White Hart Lane or Stamford Bridge, Manchester United fans are treated there. The "care" is not weaker than this.

Only Carl, who had not had much contact with football before, was very amazed by all this, especially when he saw a move by Mourinho, which made the fans almost shout out of excitement—what kind of situation is this? Influence?Not only the overwhelming popularity, I am afraid that in Porto, many fans worship Mourinho as a god.

Manchester United came to the Dragon Stadium to end Porto's Champions League road this season, but the opponent they want to overcome is not easy to deal with.In fact, since the day before yesterday, Karl has always had a bad premonition in his heart. Will a character like Mourinho be easily defeated by them?

"Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Keane... Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy, this is the starting lineup for this game." After Smith finished speaking, he turned to Karl again: " Do you have anything to add?"

Carl thought for a while, but still shook his head: "No more, everyone!"

The Manchester United players high-fived each other and shouted "We must win", then suppressed their expressions, took a deep breath and walked out of the dressing room one by one.

When Louis Saha walked past Carl, Carl patted the disappointed dark-skinned guy on the shoulder: "Ronaldo used to be a player of Sporting Lisbon, and he has more experience with Porto than you."

But every first-line player wants to sit in the main position, and also wants to start in such important games as the Champions League. Carl understands the feelings of Louis Saha and other players who failed to start. There is Saha's position, but now he is not allowed to play, it is inevitable that the individual is a little psychologically unbalanced.

Ronaldo's interpersonal relationship in the locker room is a bit bad. If it wasn't because he is more familiar with Porto, Smith originally wanted to polish him and let him continue to start. Now the time is ahead of time, but Karl doesn't want to make the change because of a few Champions League games. Things got more complicated in the room.

Louis Saha forced a smile: "I understand what you mean, Mr. Alston."

"We have another match against Porto at Old Trafford in half a month, not to mention the quarter-finals, semi-finals and even the final." Carl said cheerfully: "Be careful during the game. There are more than two months left in the season, don't get hurt."

Saha's eyes lit up: "Understood, Mr. Alston!"

……

At the beginning of the game, Porto launched a fierce attack. The Dragon Stadium is their home court. The Porto people understand that if they can't take advantage of Manchester United here, they want to win at Old Trafford half a month later. It is even more difficult.

This can also be seen from the tactics of the two teams.

Porto is playing 433, which is a purely offensive formation. If the team's wingers are good, the combat effectiveness will be very strong.Mourinho has Marcheni who can attack, retreat and defend, the Brazilian magician Deco, and the center McCarthy with excellent shooting skills. The defense is more fierce and capable, and can intercept opponents' attacks in a large area. Waist Costinha, they use the 433-[-]-[-] tactics very skillfully, and Mourinho has relied on it to win the world since the group stage.

As for Manchester United, due to the reason of the away game, this game uses the 451 formation changed from the 4231 formation. Because the defense line is densely populated, it is also a dense defensive counterattack formation.This is a very popular style of play in world football in recent years, with relatively high flexibility. Of course, in this game, Smith and Carl pay the most attention to defense-they have the world-famous Neville brothers on the defense line. There are Ferdinand who is gradually able to play his own role, as well as Wes Brown and O'Shea, and the souls of the team Giggs and Keane in the midfield. As for the frontcourt, the offensive task is more placed on Van Nistelrooy. , although Cristiano Ronaldo was temporarily placed in the midfield, but at a critical time, he can still stab Porto for the team.

Neither Manchester United nor Porto made mistakes in terms of tactical settings, and they both sent their best main players. It's just that not only player strength, luck and other factors determine the outcome of the game, but also the coach's off-field remote control.

Mourinho set up a style of play for Porto that Manchester United players hated very much. It took effect only 5 minutes after the game started.

Giggs gave the ball to Ronaldo on the right from the center. When Ronaldo broke through with the ball, Porto right midfielder Alenichev quickly chased him from the midfield. He was not in a hurry to steal the ball from Ronaldo, but followed along Ronaldo ran and harassed him with small movements, so that Ronaldo couldn't concentrate on breaking through. He had to pass the ball to Ruud van Nistelrooy when he was about to reach the front of the penalty area.

After Ruud van Nistelrooy got the ball, he observed the situation on Porto's defense line, and decided to break through again and then shoot. After all, his current position is not far from the goal.

But before Ruud van Nistelrooy picked up the ball and moved forward, Porto right back Ferreira, a player known for his fierce defensive actions, simply and rudely brought Ruud van Nistelroo down with a swift tackle!

Fanny fell hard on the turf, and it took him a while to get up.He stomped on his right foot, which was not injured.

This kind of tackle action is very common in the game. Seeing that Van Nistelrooy's right foot was fine, the referee only verbally warned Ferreira once and ordered the game to continue.

But Poll’s image seems to be to carry forward this style of play to the extreme. Their defense is getting rougher and their fights are getting more and more fierce. A purely technical forward like Ruud van Nistelrooy has nothing to do with this simple and rough defensive style. , The moment before the shot was also interfered by the Porto players, the football's accuracy was affected, and it flew out against the post.

In the 17th minute, Porto's midfielder Costiani handed the ball to Deco near the midfield. Deco advanced at high speed, but Keane failed to intercept him because of his speed. Deco broke into the left side of the penalty area and passed the ball Passed to Alberto, Alberto faced the ball and raised his leg to hit the far corner of the goal!

Manchester United goalkeeper Howard instinctively saved to the right and successfully held the football in his arms!

The Manchester United members on and off the pitch breathed a sigh of relief.

Porto players have played very hard from the beginning of the game to now, not only referring to their morale, but also their fierce fighting.As long as Manchester United players get the ball, there will always be two or three Porto players surrounding them. They don’t make major foul moves, but they just keep making small tricks, forcing you to be unable to attack or pass the ball, and if Porto gets the ball, they will They will immediately launch a fierce attack. If it weren't for Howard's outstanding performance, it is estimated that Manchester United's morale will have been severely hit by now.

In the 26th minute, Manchester United launched a counterattack.Gary Neville took a long shot and passed the ball to Giggs. Giggs and Keane made a two-for-one cooperation and drove the ball straight into the Porto half.Porto players Alenichev and Maniche immediately clung to Giggs, like a brown candy, and they couldn't shake it off. Not only that, they also kept harassing Giggs with their movements, which not only made him He couldn't pass the ball, and his speed with the ball was getting slower and slower.

Giggs made a fake move, trying to sway Marcheni, but Marcheni, relying on his physical strength, forcibly followed in front of Giggs, and finally Giggs had no choice but to return the ball. Passed, another attack by Manchester United was resolved.

Seeing this, even Karl couldn't help cursing, "Insidious!" And the other coaches had already started opening and closing their mouths non-stop.

Porto's tactic is to use fierce fighting to firmly control the ball on the field. If any Manchester United player wants to break through, he must withstand their endless entanglement.

This is simply a stalker tactic.

In the 41st minute of the game, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo had already been tackled twice by Ferreira in the penalty area, before the referee showed the opponent a yellow card.

The anger of the Manchester United players gradually burned up, and their actions gradually became rough.

Karl stood up from the coach's bench, and just as he was about to walk to the sidelines and ordered the players to calm down, Porto scored a goal!

They took advantage of a hole in Roy Keane's defense and quickly seized the opportunity to attack.Passing the ball from Macheni to Deco, Deco broke through to the Manchester United penalty area and then crossed to Carlos. It took only 2 minutes, and Carlos volleyed at the dead corner of the goal!

Howard couldn't react in time, the football hit the net!

1:0!Porto lead at home!

The Manchester United players were shocked first, then angry!

At this moment, the first half of the game is over!

……

"What kind of bullshit is this in Porto? What they stick to is not the ball at all, but people!"

As soon as they got back to the locker room, the Manchester United players complained one after another: "You still say that you are the overlord of the Portuguese Super League. Judging by your playing style, you are just a nouveau riche!"

"How will we play in the second half?"

"They are rough, we are rougher than them!"

I don’t know who yelled such a sentence in a rough voice. Before Smith could refute, there was a echo in the locker room: "Yes, relying on physical confrontation, are we still afraid that they will fail?!"

"That's it, kill them!"

The traditional English football style relies on physical confrontation, brutal scrambling, and long passes. It is fast-paced and has a distinctive style.And Manchester United is a master of English football. Not only is the offensive and defensive balance, but also the power flow and technical flow are gone.

There is a saying in English football, "Kick someone if you can't kick the ball". Among the professional players in the British Isles, who hasn't had a few fights?

The discussion among the players was in full swing, and Smith, who was not very good at dealing with this situation, was at a loss. He turned his head and looked at Carl with pleading eyes.

Karl nodded at him, and immediately raised his voice and said coldly: "How rough do you want to be? Foul? Smash? Retaliate the tricks they have done to you one by one?"

His hand suddenly pointed to the door of the locker room: "Then why don't you just go to Porto's locker room now and beat up all their players so that you can't continue the game! Then there is no need to continue the game, we will go back to Manchester immediately , Wait for UEFA's fine!"