Starting with Real Madrid kicking the midfielder

Chapter 20 The Hard-Backed Midfield Trio
On the evening of September 9th, in the star-studded Bernabéu stadium, the players of the two teams who had finished their warm-up were trotting back to the player channel one after another, preparing for the final mobilization and preparation before the start of the game.

Li Ang not only surprised many outside media, but also got the starting qualification as expected by many Real Madrid fans.

The Western media only think that Mourinho is still too bold.

Li Ang performed very well in the first two rounds of the league, and he seemed to be the type of player with a calm temper and a calm mind.

But the Champions League is the Champions League after all, let a player who is only 19 years old and has almost no experience in top competitions start playing as a midfielder in the Champions League
It can only be said that a madman deserves to be a madman, and he does not follow the rules at all, and he is really not afraid of adding burden to Li Ang.

The "normal" approach should be to let Li Ang sit on the bench first in the Champions League group stage.

The first two or three games allowed him to play two or three 10 minutes each.

After Li Ang gets familiar with the rhythm and pressure of the Champions League, he will look at his performance as a substitute, and finally decide whether to let him start in the last three rounds.

At least most coaches take care of the young players they value in this way.

A top talent like Rooney who made his Champions League debut and scored a hat-trick like Rooney back then is hard to come by.

Li Ang looks pretty good at the moment, and his development prospects are also very good.

But compared to Lu Xiaopang, a top talent whose talent exploded back then, it can only be said that he is not at the same level.

The opinions of Real Madrid fans are different from those of the Western media.

After all, they are more familiar with the characteristics of the players in their team, especially after watching the first two rounds of the new season.

Compared with Gago, who is willing to defend but can't keep up with his physical fitness, and Khedira, who can keep up with his physical fitness, but always goes forward and loses his position.

At present, Alonso's best midfielder partner is indeed Li Ang.

Therefore, Mourinho's choice of starting Li Ang is basically expected by most Real Madrid fans.

As for the game experience and pressure, Mourinho dared to start Li Ang, and he had enough confidence in Li Ang's thinking.

So what else do these fans have to say?
Firm support for the young lions coming out of Castilla and that's it.

However, there is one thing neither the media nor Real Madrid fans want to understand.

That is, in the starting 11 list submitted by Real Madrid before the game, in addition to Li Ang and Alonso, there is even the name of Khedira who did not perform well in the last round of the league?
Could it be that in this game, Li Ang and Khedira partnered with double midfielders, and then Alonso's position was premised?

With deep confusion and doubts, Real Madrid fans can only hope that the game will start as soon as possible, and then they will be able to figure out what Mourinho's idea is.

At 20:40 in the evening, with the loud cheers erupting from the Bernabéu, players from Real Madrid and Ajax followed the footsteps of the referee team onto the pitch.

Li Ang was still standing behind Alonso, and he flashed past in the live broadcast.

But the extremely calm and steady eyes made countless Real Madrid fans feel more at ease in an instant.

"The live broadcast camera was shown to Li Ang, and his face was like a flat lake! There was no nervousness on Li Ang's face, this mentality is really great!"

In the studio of ESPN Sports Channel in Singapore, Zhan Junzheng, who commented on today's game, was amazed at Li Ang's calmness.

Zhan Jun has been paying attention to Li Ang, a young player who was still playing in the Second Division at the beginning of this year and caused a storm of public opinion in China, but now has become an important player in Real Madrid's first team.

The Chinese players who lived in Europe and abroad in the past few years are now returning home, and those who have no chance have no chance.

Many domestic fans subconsciously pay more attention to the youth players who are still training in Europe.

And a "talented young player" like Li Ang who has nothing to do with domestic football, stood out in the Real Madrid youth training camp by virtue of his own strength, and was successfully promoted to Castilla.

It is the only one in this family, there is no one in ten thousand.

In fact, Zhan Jun still regrets the "tragic" personal decision Li Ang made at the beginning of the year.

It can be said that domestic public opinion was very unfriendly to Li Ang at that time.

There are many voices of support, but there are also many voices of crusade or even scolding.

To put it bluntly, judging from the public opinion at the time, if Li Ang can't play in Europe in the end, then his return to China will basically be equivalent to retirement.

Because domestic clubs "dare not" to sign a contract with him.

Even if his strength is top-notch in the country, no team dares to take him.

But even under such pressure, Li Ang gained a firm foothold in the second division, and finally won the main position of Real Betis, helping the team succeed in reaching the first division!
At that time, Zhan Jun was really happy for Li Ang.

If you don't come back, then don't come back.

Zhan Jun knows the football environment like a big mud pond in China.

These people in the industry usually don't have much to say, so they can only silently wish the courageous and resolute Li Ang to embark on a smooth career path.

But he never expected that after a few months, he would be able to comment on Li Ang's UEFA Champions League match on behalf of Real Madrid!
Who would have thought of this before.

Li Ang's domestic public opinion environment has even improved rapidly because he was promoted to the Real Madrid first team.

The group of angry fans is still huge, but in comparison, there are more domestic fans supporting Li Ang.

After sighing for a while, Zhan Jun looked at the players of the two teams who had lined up and started shaking hands, and quickly introduced the starting situation of the two teams to the audience today.

"...Real Madrid's Mourinho formed a more offensive four-three-three formation today.

Goalkeeper Casillas.

The defense line is lined up from left to right, namely Marcelo, Pepe, Carvalho and Arbeloa.

In the midfield, Li Ang and Alonso unexpectedly continued to play double defensive midfielders together, while Khedira, who was speculated by the media before the game, might delay and partner with Li Ang, appeared in the central midfielder position.

On the forward line, Ronaldo is on the left, Di Maria is on the right, Higuai is the center forward, Benzema and the new aid Er XX are on the bench."

Accompanied by Zhan Jun's commentary, the players on both sides gradually walked to their positions after the captain's side selection.

Li Ang and Khedira are not as incompatible as the outside world imagined.

On the contrary, at this moment, the two of them are almost head to head, still covering their mouths and gesticulating to actively communicate, not at all unable to see that they are direct competitors as advertised by the media.

Standing on the sidelines, Mourinho also stared intently at the midfield trio he had formed today.

To be honest, during the pre-season training camp, he never thought that he would form such a main midfield combination.

But there is no way. During the training match before, the combination of these three people brought him and the entire Real Madrid coaching staff a great sense of surprise!
So much so that he couldn't resist the temptation to directly use this midfield combination. After two training sessions, he directly put a dead man who was originally introduced as the main force on the bench.

With a talented attacking midfielder, Real Madrid's offense may indeed be more smooth and silky.

But rather than making the entire midfield more powerful and balanced on both ends of the offense and defense, Mourinho also ignored the idea of ​​​​the attacking midfielder.

He feels that he has found the right "key" to compete with Barcelona in the new season!
This Champions League group match is a very suitable tactical preview.

He was looking forward to whether the new Real Madrid midfield combination that he had inadvertently created, which was dubbed by Li Ang as the "hard trio", could suppress Ajax's five-man midfield.

If the three of them really did it, then Mourinho is at least [-]% sure.

Two seasons, he only needs two seasons, and when this new midfield combination is almost done, he will be able to make La Liga and Europe.

Back to the era ruled by Real Madrid!

(End of this chapter)