Green Journey

Chapter 461 The Beginning of Mars Hitting Earth!
At 19:30 BJ time, the game signal was connected to the LeTV Sports live broadcast room on time.

Today is the nineteenth day of the first lunar month in China, and it is 3:[-] in the morning, but Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu are in good spirits.

It may be because the new year is just over, these two generals are still very festively dressed today.

Zhan Jun was wearing a black suit with a little bit of golden light shining on it, as if he was going to a prom.

And Zhang Lu is all red, radiant, dressed like a red envelope.

As soon as the live broadcast signal was connected, Zhan Jun smiled at the camera and said, "Welcome to the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League quarter-final match between Manchester City and Monaco."

"Since leaving Barcelona in 2013, Bayern coached by Gua Shuai has continuously entered the semi-finals of the Champions League, but unfortunately failed to enter the final."

"Now that Guardiola is making a comeback, it seems that his luck is not very good. He ran into one of the teams with the strongest offensive ability this year."

"Guardiola said at the media conference before the game that the whole of Europe is watching us and analyzing us. If we lose, we will attract endless abuse, and if we win, they will praise us. It’s a very different experience.”

"Beyond that, he said he was very impressed with Monaco. Monaco have players who are physically strong, the full-backs play like wing-backs, the wing-backs play like attacking midfielders, the forwards Then everyone is a fighter, they are all killers in the penalty area, they don’t need too many opportunities to score goals, Monaco is a team that pays attention to overall cooperation, and it will be a severe test for Manchester City.”

"Then Zhang Zhi, what do you think of this match?"

"What do you think?" Zhang Lu chuckled, "Of course I just sit and watch!"

"Haha!" Zhan Jun didn't expect Zhang Lu to be so naughty today, and was instantly teased and laughed.

The joy of the two generals also infected many fans in front of the screen, and everyone couldn't help smiling.

Soon, Zhang Lu returned to the main story and said, "Well, I personally think that the key factor for whether Manchester City can advance in this game is whether they can keep a clean sheet against Monaco."

"Manchester City seems to be very lucky to draw Monaco in the draw ceremony, but in fact this lottery is considered a low-ranking lottery. Because under the strong offensive firepower of Monaco, the weakness of Manchester City's defense line may be magnified."

"Although the performance of Manchester City's defense has improved significantly recently with the return of captain Kompany, it is hard to say whether this change will be an illusion. He has not passed the test of a strong team."

"Manchester City's defense in the Champions League this season is as unstable as in the league. They conceded 8 goals in six Champions League group matches, which is the team that conceded the most goals in the group stage among all the teams that entered the knockout round this season."

"Because of the away goal advantage rule, the most important thing for a team playing at home in the first round of the two rounds is to keep the goal clean."

"But it's probably a bit difficult. Monaco's attack power is extremely strong. It depends on the performance of Manchester City's defense."

"Once Monaco scores two or more away goals, it will be passive to go to Manchester City in that round."

After the words fell, the live broadcast camera released the starting lineups of both sides.

Manchester City: (4141)

Goalkeeper: Ederson
Defenders: Walker, Kompany, Otamendi, Fernandinho

DM: Yaya Toure

Forwards: Sterling, De Bruyne, Chu Zheng, Leroy Sane
Forward: Aguero
"Compared with the last round of the Premier League, Manchester City's starting lineup has three important changes."

"The goalkeeper position, with Ederson's stable performance, it can basically be said that Bravo has been abandoned by Guashuai."

"In this game, Guashuai was unexpectedly bold to use the England right back Kyle Walker who had just arrived in the team, and Fernandinho was also placed in the left back position."

"Veterans like Zabaleta, Sagna, and Kolarov didn't start today. This shows that Guardiola values ​​​​defense in this game."

"On the front line, Guardiola also replaced Gabriel Jesus, who has been in a good state recently. This may be related to the recent recovery of Aguero's state."

"Of course, it may also be to dispel the recent rumors that Aguero will transfer next season."

"In the first few rounds of the Premier League, after the Brazilian teenager Gabriel Jesus performed well in several consecutive starts, rumors about Aguero were flying everywhere."

"Some say that Aguero will transfer next season, and some say that he and Guardio have a conflict over playing time."

After Zhan Jun finished speaking, Zhang Lu said with a smile: "In fact, judging from the statistics of Jesus' four starts, his range of activities and activity are indeed much more than that of Aguero."

"Aguero's problem is that he doesn't like to run and grab after his downturn. This has caused a serious conflict with Guardiola's tactical system."

"What Guardiola wants to build is a team that can run and grab, especially after losing the ball in the frontcourt, it needs to counter-attack and press on the spot. This requires forward players to run actively."

Monaco: (442)

Forwards: Mbappe, Falcao

Midfielders: Jiang Lai, Bakayoko, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva

Defenders: Mendy, Andre Raj, Glick, Sidibe

Goalkeeper: Subasic

"There are four changes in Monaco's starting lineup today."

"French new Henry's 18-year-old Mbappe on the striker teamed up with Falcao, who is in extremely hot form this season. These two goals accounted for half of Monaco's total goals."

"Because Monaco's main central defender Germerson was suspended in the backcourt, the Italian central defender Ragi was the starting lineup today, and Sidibe was also replaced as the right back."

"Today, Bakayoko and Fabinho, the Brazilian midfielder who has recently attracted the attention of many Premier League giants, are partnered in the midfielder position."

"The last player change is on the wing. Chinese player Jiang Lai squeezed out Jardim's regular player Lemar in the starting lineup in this game."

"This is the first time the two teams have met in European history."

"Prior to this, Monaco has advanced to all 5 European knockout rounds against English teams. Manchester City has scored 1 win and 1 draw against French teams twice at home..."

At 19:45 London time, the game officially started.

On the field, Monaco, who was wearing a red and white jersey, pressed up immediately after the kick-off, with a very obvious anti-customer stance.

Manchester City's formation, attacking from left to right, was pushed back to the backcourt.

The position of the players on Manchester City's side is very clear, which is a 4141.

Guardiola's thinking today is also very clear, Yaya Toure single midfielder, Chu Zheng and De Bruyne push forward.

In Manchester City's transition from defense to offense and holding the ball, left back Fernandinho will come to the midfield and partner with Yaya Toure as a double midfielder.

On the sidelines, Guardiola saw that Monaco was attacking fiercely. He stood on the sidelines and made continuous gestures and shouts, signaling that Manchester City players on the field should not be afraid of the opponent's pressing even if they are in the backcourt. Let the ball pass and break Monaco's high press.

Guardiola's targeted tactics in midfield.

Chu Zheng and De Bruyne headed up to the two midfielders, Bakayoko and Fabinho.

Guardiola's instruction was very clear before the game, that is, to limit the two initiators of Monaco's offense and not allow these two comfortable passes.

At 1 minute and 34 seconds of the game, Chu Zheng retreated along his ribs to his left rib area outside the penalty area. Jiang Lai, who was holding the ball in front of him, was unable to turn around and face the penalty area.

But Jiang Lai was not a vegetarian either. He knew exactly how strong Chu Zheng's physical fitness was, so he didn't dare to have too much physical contact with Chu Zheng. He walked back one meter and then turned sharply to the left.

Then Chu Zheng was pitted by his own turf, and his right foot slipped a little in the process of changing direction to the left.

Fortunately, Chu Zheng had strong core strength, so he quickly got up and chased after propping up on the slippery turf with one hand.

But this short time of one or two seconds is enough for Jiang Lai.

After taking the ball half a meter horizontally, Jiang Lai knew how fast Chu Zheng started, and he quickly sent the ball to the side.

Beside the sideline, Sidibe didn't stop the ball and went straight to the bottom.

But today Manchester City's defense has Kompany in charge.

Under Kompany's command, Otamendi quickly followed and blocked Fabinho's cross from the baseline before the baseline.

Monaco wins the first corner.

Manchester City retreated to the defense, but Monaco played a short game and quickly passed back to Manchester City's left rib through Sidibe next to the sideline.

Fabinho plugged in from behind and made a slash pass without stopping the ball.

The ball went straight to the back point, the right rib area of ​​Manchester City's penalty area.

Near the landing point, three players from Monaco beat Walker to one player.

But Walker is not Zabaleta. He is tall enough, and his positioning is very accurate, and his physical confrontation is not at all afraid of Monaco's 190-meter-high right center back Glick.

In a blink of an eye, Walker put Glick behind him, shook his head to the right before Mendy and Mbappe on the left and right came over, and cleared the ball out of the sideline.

"Clap clap clap clap!"

On the sidelines, seeing Walker's one-on-three successful clearance, Guardiola smiled and applauded continuously.

This defense fully demonstrated Walker's sense of danger in the penalty area, judgment of landing points and strong physical fitness.

Just now being fooled by Monaco's short corner kick, Manchester City's players at the front of the penalty area all pushed out of the penalty area collectively, but Walker was a bit slower and dragged behind. This clearly smelled danger, or saw through Monaco's offense Routine.

Guardiola is very satisfied with Walker's steady performance, and he and Begiristan have racked their brains to get him to Manchester City.

Soon, Monaco sent a throw-in near the left corner.

It was Walker again, following Mendy from the sideline of the penalty area to the sideline, and then stretched out his foot from the crotch of the Monaco left back to stab the ball to De Bruyne in front, helping Manchester City get a counterattack opportunity in the backcourt.

De Bruyne quickly sprinted to the wing to get the ball, and then strode the ball forward.

But Mendy is also very smart. He chased back along the inside and stuck De Bruyne on the touchline.

In a blink of an eye, De Bruyne dribbled the ball to the outside of the penalty area.

De Bruyne knew very well that continuing to the bottom line was a dead end, so he suddenly stopped the ball, faced the ribs, grabbed the ball before Bucky York was close, and suddenly rubbed the ball with the instep of his right foot to the left of Monaco's empty top of the arc. rib.

In the next second, Chu Zheng slapped the horse and slammed the ball straight into the ribs without stopping the ball.

Sterling entered the Monaco penalty area from the upper corner of the penalty area and received a through ball from Chu Zheng.

But Monaco goalkeeper Subasic came out so resolutely that he didn't have many shooting angles to choose after he got the ball outside the sideline of the small penalty area.

Soon Sterling made a choice, not to play, he wanted to cross the middle or the back point, and give the ball to Aguero in the middle or Sane who outflanked the back point.

But Subasic seemed to see through Sterling's thoughts, and he jumped in front of Sterling with a two-stage acceleration, just in time to save Sterling's ball off the bottom line.

Soon, Manchester City took a corner kick.

De Bruyne passed directly with his left foot and hit Chu Zheng.

However, under the interference of Fabinho and Sidibe, Chu Zheng missed the best time to take off and failed to hit the ball.

Then, as time passed, Manchester City continued to withstand Monaco's high press in the opening stage, and gradually controlled the ball.

When the game entered the 10th minute, Guardiola's game strategy had been displayed very clearly on the court.

Gua Shuai's strategy today is to use short passes to control opponents, and then use medium and long passes to speed up.

And Fernandinho's partnering with Yaya Toure in the defensive midfielder position during Manchester City's holding stage also greatly relieved the pressure on Chu Zheng and completely liberated Chu Zheng. Organization has great significance.

On the other hand, Monaco is still scrambling, and the offensive and counterattacks are played vigorously, and the situation is not at all inferior.

In the 11th minute of the game, Chu Zheng suddenly sent a long pass on the arc on the left center circle of Manchester City to speed up Manchester City's attack.

Chu Zheng and De Bruyne formed an excellent pass and run tacit understanding.

In the right rib area of ​​the top of the arc in Monaco, De Bruyne rushed to the landing point in time, sucked the ball with his right foot, and then stuffed the ball into the right rib area of ​​​​the Monaco penalty area.

But the speed of the ball was not fast enough, allowing Glick to successfully intercept on the left side of Aguero and kick forward to clear the siege.

In the right rib area about 40 meters away from Monaco's goal, Falcao and Fabinho ran to the landing point in time.

Finding that the running was a bit heavy, Fabinho quickly pulled out to his right.

After Falcao unloaded the ball with his back, he immediately passed to the left in front of Fabinho. As soon as the ball went out, Chu Zheng suddenly killed the ball halfway and directly intercepted the ball.

"Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Seeing Chu Zheng's wonderful interception this time, there was an uproar in Ittihad.

It was inexplicable for them to see Chu Zheng's sudden acceleration and advance in the first second, but they understood it in the next second.

Because this is Chu Zheng.

As long as Chu Zheng lags behind, when the forward team loses the ball, he will inevitably appear as a knife on the main artery of the opponent's transition from defense to offense, and then Zila will cut down and kill the opponent directly, just like this time.

On the court, after Chu Zheng took the ball, he saw Sidibe quickly go up to the top, cutting off his path to the center, and without a word, he just kicked the ball forward.

Sane stopped the ball from the side and saw Aguero and Sterling in the middle and back of Monaco's penalty area. He swung his left foot and passed directly.

But after all, it was a bit hasty. Sane's low and flat pass gave people a feeling of no brains, allowing Glick to successfully clear the siege in the right rib area of ​​​​the penalty area.

But Glick didn't clear the ball far.

The ball bounced off the ground and flew to the right rib of the top of the Monaco arc.

Chu Zheng was right in front of the ball.

But as soon as Chu Zheng started, Fabinho on his left front suddenly came out, jumped forward and kicked the ball towards the front of the arc in the middle.

Jiang Lai, who was on the right side of the top of the arc in the middle, quickly turned around to follow up, but Walker who inserted in the back was faster, and when he reached the landing point, he leaned over with a header and hammered the ball into the middle of the penalty area.

In the top area of ​​the arc, Mendy rushed out quickly, stuck Aguero behind him, and kicked the ball with his right foot directly to Falcao at the front of the top of the arc.

Falcao stood sideways and saw Yaya Toure, who was dragging behind Manchester City on the right, rushing up. He turned his right knee out, rubbed it with the inside of his foot, and the ball flew diagonally towards Monaco's left rib.

The ball bounced in front of Jiang Lai, who was thrust forward from the ribs, but he didn't take it, but gave it to Mbappe in front of him.

On the left rib of Monaco's center circle, Mbappe started to speed up directly after taking the ball.

At this time, only Kompany and Otamendi are left behind Manchester City, and the two full-backs are not there.

Seeing Mbappe's rocket-like acceleration, Guardiola's heart immediately hung up on the sidelines. He didn't know whether the seasoned Kompany could resist the impact of the 18-year-old French striker.

In a blink of an eye, Mbappe hit the right rib at the top of Manchester City's arc, and Kompany stepped back and got stuck in front of him.

At this time, Mbappe has two options, one is to split to the left and give him Jiang Lai on the left.

Another option is to cut inside to the right and single out Kompany.

Mbappe didn't know how to write fear words at all, and he didn't even look at Jiang Lai, and directly gave Kompany two consecutive bicycles on the end line of the penalty area at the top of the arc.

Kompany really couldn't resist, and was thrown half of his body.

Seeing a breakthrough line on the front right, Mbappe was about to accelerate from the front right to the middle of the penalty area, and then hit the goal directly.

However, at the moment when his right outer instep was about to go out, he suddenly came back from the blind spot on the right rear side, and a light blue figure directly poked his ball out of the baseline.

"fool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, there was a short and violent fright at the Etihad Stadium!
"Kyle Walker!!"

"Return to defense in a very timely manner!" Zhan Jun exclaimed!
Zhang Lu said with a smile: "It was a very smart choice. He suddenly grabbed the ball from the blind spot. Even if he didn't touch the ball, he could still get Mbappe behind him."

"And you see, Walker didn't go to the side to guard Jiang Lai at all when he came back, which shows that he is sure that Mbappe will come by himself."

"Yes, Kompany should thank Kyle Walker for defending Kompany this time. Otherwise, even if Otamendi in the middle moves over in time, it will probably be extremely dangerous."

"The most frightening thing about Mbappe, a young French striker, is his sudden speed-up ability, which is extremely fatal to a central defender whose movements and turns are slow." Zhan Jun said with a smile.

On the sidelines, Guardiola applauded frantically again, affirming Walker's effort to return to defense this time.

At this moment, Guardiola is very fortunate to let Walker start today.

Otherwise, if it is changed to Zabaleta or Sarnia, let alone break it so beautifully, even if they come back in time, they will not be able to do it.

The Monaco coach Jardim next to him frowned, feeling very sorry for this counterattack.Mbappe was a bit too independent and wasted a great scoring opportunity.

He had a hunch that Mbappe might face a test today.

This kind of test is a higher level than in Ligue [-], but Jardim believes in Mbappe, because this little guy is a rare super talent in the world.

On the field, Chu Zheng was terrified just now.

Good guy, the ribs in the middle circle started, and they reached the front of the penalty area in less than 4 seconds with a swish. The visual impact brought by Mbappe's impact is extremely strong.

There is also Jiang Lai, who is also fast.

If Mbappe took advantage of the situation to split the side to Jiang Lai just now, then Jiang Lai could pass directly to the back.

On the way back to chase, Chu Zheng could clearly see that Fernandinho was marked by the center from his ribs because of Falcao's back thrust in the center.

So as long as Mbappe divides the side, Jiang Lai will send the ball to the back point, and Bernardo Silva, who is inserted along the back of the rib, will directly get a single goal.

Fortunately, Mbappe, a French super genius, like other young players, has the shortcomings of being independent and loving to express himself.

(End of this chapter)