host must win

Chapter 160 Careful Ferguson

On the evening of May 5, British local time, the Manchester United team set off from Manchester International Airport on a chartered flight and arrived in Turin, Italy.

The whole Manchester United team is still immersed in the joy of winning the league championship. Coupled with the victory at home in the first leg, everyone has a smile on their faces and looks very relaxed.

On May 5, at 14:[-] pm local time in Italy.

Turin, Stadium of the Alps.

In the second round of the 2002-2003 UEFA Champions League semi-final, Juventus' home game against Manchester United is about to begin.

Players from both sides have entered the field.

After a brief pre-match ceremony, players from both sides took their positions, and the battle was about to start.

The starting lists of both sides were also displayed on the big screen in the stadium.

For Manchester United, the goalkeeper is Carroll, the back four are Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Wes Brown and Sylvester, and the midfield four are Yin Jun, Roy Keane, Stanley. Coles and Giggs, Solskjaer and Ruud van Nistelrooy formed a double forward.

Juventus is still the 4321 Christmas tree formation they are good at. The goalkeeper is Buffon. In the midfielder, Nedved and Del Piero acted as the avant-garde, and Trezeguet made a single arrow.

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Ferguson stood on the sidelines, his eyes fixed on the field.

After the start of the game, Juventus, who played at home, showed a strong aggressiveness, and they put a lot of pressure on Manchester United's goal.

This is also something that can’t be helped. The old lady lost 1:3 in the first round away. If you don’t work hard in this round, you can only watch Manchester United advance and join forces with AC Milan at Old Trafford on the night of May 5. The Champions League final at the stadium.

Ferguson turned his attention to Buffon, the Italian goalkeeper of Juventus. The latter appeared to be very leisurely after the start of the game. Juventus took the initiative and once formed a half-court siege against Manchester United, which left Buffon with nothing to do. Even a little boring.

I don't know whether it was intentional or really sleepy, the Italian goalkeeper even yawned, which also caused cheers from the Juventus fans in the stands: they are very proud.

Ferguson stared at Buffon with a gloomy expression, and the information about the Italian national team began to emerge in his mind.

Seeing Buffon walking back and forth in front of the door boredly, bouncing up and down from time to time to warm up his body, Ferguson showed a cold smile at the corner of his mouth.

"If I read correctly, Buffon yawned just now." BBC commentator John Mortensen said, "Maybe Buffon's move will make Manchester United angry, but the fact is that Manchester United is now completely passive. , they did not pose any threat to Juventus' goal. Although Ferguson's team defeated Juventus 3-0 here in the second group stage, they faced Juventus again today at the Alpine Stadium Tus, they are extremely passive!"

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Juventus firmly occupied possession from the beginning of the game, which made Juventus coach Lippi in a good mood.He even joked to his assistant that maybe in 10 minutes, the team will be able to break the deadlock on the court.

However, it was 10 minutes into the first half of the game. Although Juventus still had the initiative and suppressed Manchester United, the score was still 0:0.

The relaxed expression on Lippi's face disappeared, and his expression became serious, staring at the field.

Although Manchester United seems to be very passive, their defense has been maintained well, and they did not give Juventus any chance.Therefore, it seems that Juventus's offensive drums are thunderous, but there are very few truly threatening shots and opportunities.

"Damn dense defense!" Lippi muttered a little irritably.

Juventus, which has Trezeguet, Del Piero and Nedved in the offensive line, has quite good offensive capabilities. Therefore, Juventus is not afraid of pressing the team that comes out against them. They are at home The 2:1 victory over Roma proved it, but Juventus has nothing to do with those teams that are strictly defending.

Break the dense defensive world football problem!
"Set the ball! Make a foul!" Lippi walked to the sidelines and shouted.

At the moment when the opponent is intensively defending, fouling and using the opportunity of set kicks to create goals are the basic operations.

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Almost when Lippi was making adjustments on the sidelines, Ferguson also came to the sidelines. He took advantage of a dead ball and shouted Yin Jun's name.

Yin Jun, who played right midfielder in this game, was already close to Ferguson's side. When he heard the old man's voice, he immediately ran to the sidelines.

Ferguson wants to put his arms around Yin Jun's neck, but he only looks like 1.8 meters, and Yin Jun's height has grown to 1.8 meters, which is much taller than Ferguson, which makes him feel a little awkward.

So he glared at Yin Jun and said, "Yin, bow your head and bend over."

Yin Jun obeyed subconsciously, and then Ferguson was satisfied. He put his arms around Yin Jun's neck and said concisely: "The defense line is pushed forward! Strengthen the fight in the midfield! I only have one request, I don't want to see Juventus players There is space to get the ball easily!"

As he spoke, Ferguson clenched his right hand into a fist and waved vigorously: "Forcing them! Let them think that damned ball is a baked potato, no one wants to eat it!!!"

Yin Jun nodded and said, "Understood!"

"Also, tell Paul, Ryan and Ole to try long-range shots! Shot when you get the chance!" Ferguson said, "Buffon is a goalkeeper who likes to attack, very active and excited, but his defense against half-high balls is short. Board, and the guy makes some low-level mistakes every once in a while."

"You know what to do?" Ferguson didn't listen to Yin Jun's answer, but pushed him back into the field, "Go, tell everyone, I'm very satisfied! Come on!"

Queiroz didn't quite approve of Ferguson's adjustments. He said: "Buffon, as a world-class goalkeeper, is reassuring because he doesn't like to throw the ball like Fabian (Butters). The advantage of his size also makes him He is not afraid of receiving high-altitude balls. And he is more accurate in the choice of timing, one-on-one ability is very strong, he can quickly respond to the opponent's striker's shot in the first time, and Buffon always grabs the striker's kick Try to block as many angles of the opponent's shots as possible."

Ferguson didn't say much, just asked: "He yawned just now, did you see that?"

"I see, this is a provocation." Queiroz nodded.

"I don't care if he is provocative or not. This guy is really boring. The other players are all active, and he is the only one standing there alone." Ferguson said.

(End of this chapter)