magic coach

On the day before the semi-finals, Valencia came to the small city of Alkmaar. Valencia, nicknamed the Bat Legion, did not cause a sensation like Barcelona's arrival, because they, like Alkmaar, participated in the Champions League for the second time. Contest.

In 1997, Ranieri, an Italian who coached Valencia, combined Italian defensive counterattack with traditional Spanish technical football, which established Valencia's technical and tactical style. In the past 98-99 La Liga season, Valencia He beat Real Madrid 3:1 with defensive counterattacks and swept Barcelona 4:2. After knocking out Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, he beat Real Madrid 4:0 in the first round of the semi-final and ended with a score of 6:0. It was very embarrassing for Real Madrid. In the end, Valencia won the King's Cup that year and ranked third in the league, thus being able to participate in the European Champions Cup for the second time in history.

In the summer of 99, because Ranieri accepted the invitation of Atletico Madrid to coach, Valencia, out of the perspective of maintaining the team style, hired the Argentine coach who led Mallorca to the third place in the league and the runner-up in the Cup Winners Cup Cooper became the coach, and the transfer introduced Kiley Gonzalez, Albelda, Herald, etc. Among the main players, only forward Lopez and Swedish midfielder Schwarz left the team. The thickness of the lineup did not weaken. got strengthened.

In the 99-00 season, Valencia, as a newcomer to the Champions League, was originally not favored. At that time, the Champions League group stage was divided into two stages. There were many games, and there were many dialogues between strong teams.However, Varen, who was in a group with Bayern, Glasgow Rangers and Eindhoven in the first stage of the group stage, qualified with 3 wins and 3 draws and entered the second stage of the group stage as the first place in the group. But they also paid a certain price-Valen only ranked 1th after the first 8 rounds of the league.

进入残酷的第二阶段小组赛，瓦伦首回合3：0轻取实力较弱的波尔多，不过11月份和3月份的连续两个客场分别0：3曼联和0：1佛罗伦萨，令他们感受到了欧冠的艰难。不过同期联赛中挺进前6的良好形势让瓦伦随后信心大增，主场2：0回敬紫百合后又4：1大胜波尔多，最后一场只须打平即可基本确定出线情况下0：0战平曼联，以小组第2身份晋级八强。

When facing Lazio with a luxurious lineup in the final of 14, Valencia was not optimistic. At that time, Parma, AC Milan, and Fiorentina had been eliminated one after another. The Blue Eagles became the only seedling of Italy in the top eight. The championship battle has also entered a critical moment of life and death.However, Valencia, who played at home, played the most classic defensive counterattack. They launched a lightning attack at the beginning, and the accurate delivery made Lazio care about one thing and lose another.In the 8nd minute, Angulo took advantage of Almeida's mistake to launch a counterattack. After Cobra Iliyer's shot was saved, Angulo scored with a supplementary shot, 2:1; 0 minute later, midfielder Gerard from the Barcelona youth training Valencia took a 1-2 lead in an instant.Lazio, who was almost stunned, got a goal back by Inzaghi Jr., but then it became Herald's performance time. He scored two consecutive cities in the 0th and 1st minutes to seal the victory 39:81. Varen A solid defense made it difficult for Lazio to find a good opportunity.Before the end of the final, Salas and Illie scored 4 goal each. The score of 1:1 made Lazio almost eliminated directly. In addition, this game was the first time in the history of the Champions League that a Spanish team scored 5 goals against an Italian opponent.

Although Valencia is not called the Bat Legion because they use a defensive and counterattack style of play, but this nickname fits their style of play very well. Valencia is also as mysterious as a night-moving bat. Cooper came to After Alkmaar, the team began to implement fully enclosed training. No fans or reporters were allowed to visit, and they made every effort to prepare for the semi-finals.

Although the duel between Valencia and Alkmaar is not as influential as the duel between Real Madrid and Bayern, but with Jiang Mu, there is always no shortage of topics.

Although Jiang Mu and Cooper had a war of words before they came to Alkmaar in Valencia, and Cooper shut up alertly, Jiang Mu did not let Cooper go. , Jiang Mu once again provoked the silent Argentine about training.

"Valencia's approach is to challenge the press and the fans. Reporters are there to interview. Every team does not want reporters to interview, and fans are not allowed to watch. Why do they need the stadium? Why do they need reporters? They all play anti-counterattack at home, and what are they doing under the covers. I just think with my toes, and I know how they will play this game. Valencia did not take the fans seriously. I think UEFA should introduce a system in this regard to prohibit teams from closed training at will."

Although the press and fans were dissatisfied with the actions of the Argentine Cooper, the closed training of the team often happened, and they were used to it. Jiang Mu’s nonsensical criticism gave the media a reason, and they immediately satirized Cooper’s closed training. The behavior of training, and extended to Valencia's ugly and conservative style of play, and later some reporters began to report some mistakes made by Kuber before he came to Europe and during his stay in Europe, and at the same time praised Jiang Mu vigorously, it seemed overnight , Jiang Mu became like the God of the media.

Although some of Cooper's mistakes have long been a thing of the past, and there are still some gossips that are based on rumors. It is difficult for Cooper's personality to have scandals, but bringing it up at this moment can disgust Cooper. He cut off the reporter's money. , the reporter definitely didn't want him to be comfortable either.

Instigated by Jiang Mu, some impulsive Alkmaar fans and neutral fans booed the Valencia players in front of the hotel where Valencia stayed, and planned to throw rotten tomatoes and rotten eggs at Cooper, although Their plan was stopped by hotel security, but Cooper was too scared to go out.

On the afternoon of May 5, the UEFA Champions League semi-final match between Bat Corps Valencia and Alkmaar is about to begin!

The De Hoult Stadium, which can accommodate 320 eight fans, is full of seats and stands seamlessly.There are many people who fly here from all over the world.Among them, there are about 1000 Spanish fans who came to watch and cheer with the visiting team Valencia!

Although Spanish fans are less notoriously cared for than English football hooligans.But the Spanish fans and the Dutch fans were too passionate, and the De Hoult Stadium was obviously overcrowded, so the club pulled up a temporary barbed wire fence on the stands to separate the fans from both sides, and added [-] policemen to act as security Always be on call in the stadium.

The game is broadcast live via satellite.Fans from more than 100 countries around the world will be able to watch the live broadcast of the game at the first time. Although the ticket revenue is limited because the stadium is too small, the broadcast share has already made Dirk earn a lot of money.

The referee for this game is 39-year-old Batista, a Portuguese, a bank clerk who is good at Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. He started his career as a referee in 1983 and became an international referee in 1996. This made Alkmaar's supporters a little worried, because Batista is a Portuguese. It must be much more convenient for Testa and Valencia players to communicate, so Alkmaar will suffer virtually.

However, this has no major impact on Alkmaar's players. After they eliminated Barcelona, ​​their confidence was high, and they did not put Valencia in their eyes. Can determine the trend of the game.

force!

With the referee Batista's whistle, the exciting semi-final of the Champions League began!

The visiting team Valencia kicks off first!

Cooper played the 442 formation he is accustomed to in the away game, with a diamond-shaped midfielder and a strong Canizares goalkeeper.The back line is the strongest lineup that Valencia can dispatch, from right to left are Angloma, Djukic, Pellegrino, Geraldo!

The midfield is led by Mendieta, who is in excellent form this season.The other three generals will be Farinos, Herald and Keeley Gonzalez!

At the forefront is Angulo, Cobra Iliye, who makes the defenders of the Iberian Peninsula headache and chills.

This formation exceeded the expectations of the experts and reporters before the game. Valencia's lineup has basically not changed much in the Champions League. Valencia's tactical thinking is still based on defensive counterattacks and wing breakthroughs. Reis, Angulo and Iliye all like to play on the wing, and there is no pure center forward on the field!

However, Jiang Mu's starting lineup surprised the fans and reporters, because Jiang Mu's starting lineup was very different from the last Champions League game against Barcelona, ​​which is understandable. Marr's starting lineup is also very different from the previous ones. This is an almost new starting lineup.

Goalkeeper Cesar and four defenders Riise, Lucio, Ismail, Kronkamp four defensive players remain unchanged, midfielders send 5 players, two midfielders Van Bommel and Gattuso, in front is Pin The shape of the three midfielders, left midfielder Arjen Robben, right midfielder Dirk Dirk, midfielder Ronaldinho, single striker Thomason.

Drogba and Klose, who have been in a brave state recently, were all placed on the bench. In addition, Robben's start also surprised fans and reporters.These are not the most important reasons why the fans were surprised. It was mainly because Alkmaar sent a 451 formation. No one knew what Jiang Mu wanted to do, defense or offense?It is said to be offensive, but there is only one forward and two midfielders.It was said to be defensive, but it was Robben, and Ronaldinho was in the position of the midfielder.

At this time, Cooper was sitting on the commanding seat of the visiting team with a depressed face, biting the cap of the water bottle in his mouth, with a confused face, and didn't know what to think, but he must be thinking about Jiang Mu's intentions. doubt!