Chapter 312 Unexpectedly
The day before the semi-finals, Valencia came to the small city of Alkmaar. Valencia, nicknamed the Bat Legion, was not as sensational as when Barcelona arrived, because they, like Alkmaer, participated in the Champions League for the second time.
In 1997, the Italian who coached Valencia, Ranieri combined the Italian defensive counterattack with the traditional Spanish technical football, which established the technical and tactical style of Valencia in the future. In the last 98-99 La Liga season, Valencia defeated Real Madrid with a defensive counterattack of 3:1, 4 : 2 swept Barcelona; after the King's Cup eliminated Barcelona, Real Madrid played 4-0 in the first round of the semi-finals, and the score of 6:30 in the final game made Real Madrid very embarrassed. In the end, Valencia won the King's Cup that year and ranked third in the league, thus participating in the European Cup for the second time in history.
In the summer of 1999, because Ranieri accepted Atletico Madrid's invitation to coach, Valencia, in order to maintain the team's style, Valencia hired Argentine coach Cooper, who led Marolka to win the runner-up in the United and the Winners' Cup, as the coach. In terms of transfer, Killy Gonzalez and Albert Among the main players such as Erda and Gerard, only striker Lopez and Swedish midfielder Schwartz left the team. The thickness of the lineup has not weakened, but has been strengthened.
In the 99-00 season, Valencia, as a new player in the Champions League, was not optimistic. At that time, the group stage of the Champions League was divided into two stages. There were many games and strong team dialogues. Without enough strength, it could not be killed. However, in the first stage of the group stage, Warren, who was in the group with Bayern, Glasgow Rangers and Eindhoven, qualified as the first in the group with an unbeaten score of 3 wins and 3 draws and entered the group stage, but they also paid a certain price - after the first eight rounds of the league, Warren only ranked 18th.
Entering the cruel second stage of the group stage, Warren beat the weak Bordeaux 3-0 in the first round, but the two consecutive away games in November and March were 0: 3 Manchester United and 0:1 Fiorentina, which made them feel the difficulty of the Champions League. However, the good situation of advancing to the top 6 in the league in the same period increased Warren's confidence. After 2-0 at home, he won a 4-1 victory over Bordeaux. In the last game, he only needed to draw to make a 0:0 draw with Manchester United and advanced to the quarterfinals as the second in the group.
When facing Lazio with a luxurious lineup in the quarter-finals, Valencia was also not optimistic. At that time, Parma, AC Milan and Fiorentina had been out one after another, and the Blue Eagles became the only one in Italy in the top eight. In the league, their championship battle with Juventus has also entered a critical moment of life and death. However, Warren, who played at home, played the most classic defensive counterattack. At the beginning, they launched a lightning attack, and the accurate pass made Lazio lose the other. In the second minute, Angulo used Almeida's mistake to launch a counterattack. After Cobra Ilie's shot was saved, Angelo made a make-up shot, 1:0; 1 minute later, the midfielder Herad from Barcelona's youth training, took the ball from the foot of Nedvid and counterattacked, breaking through the Lazio defender's defense and scored, Valencia instantly 2:0 lead. Lazio, who was almost stunned, later pulled back one goal by little Inzaghi, but later became Herad's performance time. He won 4:1 in two cities in the 39th and 81st minutes respectively, during which Valen's solid defense made Lazio difficult to find a good opportunity. Before the end of the game, Salas and Ilie scored another goal each, and the score of 5:2 made Lazio almost directly eliminated. In addition, this game was the first time in the history of the Champions League that a Spanish team scored five goals against an Italian opponent.
Although Valencia is called the Bat Legion not because they use defensive counterattacks, this nickname is very suitable for their playing style. Valencia is also as mysterious as a bat in the night. After Cooper came to Alkmaar, the team began Fully closed practice is implemented. Both fans and reporters will refuse to visit and make every effort to prepare for the semi-finals.
Although the confrontation between Valencia and Alkmaar is not as influential as the confrontation between Real Madrid and Bayern, there is always a lack of topics with Jiang Mu.
Although Jiang Mu and Cooper had a war of words before Valencia came to Alkmaar, and Kub was alert and shut up, Jiang Mu did not let go of Cooper. After Cooper came to Alkmaar, Jiang Mu once again provoked the silent Argentines about training.
"Valencia's method is to challenge the press and fans. Reporters just want to interview. Every team doesn't want reporters to interview. They don't let fans watch it. They don't want to do anything on the court. What do they want reporters to do? Valencia is defending against it at home, and what do they cover it up? I just use my to think. We all know how they will play this game. Valencia does this without paying attention to the fans. I think UEFA should introduce a system in this regard and prohibit the team from training at will.
Although the press and fans are not satisfied with the Argentine Cooper's practice, the team's closed training often happens, and they are also used to it. Jiang Mu's so nonsensical attack made the media find a reason. They immediately satirize Cooper's closed training behavior, which extended to Valencia's ugly style of play and Conservative, and later, some reporters began to report some mistakes made by Cooper before and during Europe. At the same time, he vigorously praised Jiang Mu. It seemed that Jiang Mu became the god of the media overnight.
Although some of Cooper's mistakes have long been a thing of the past, and there are also some gossips. It is difficult to have an affair like Cooper's personality, but at this moment, it can disgust Cooper. He has cut off the reporter's financial path, and the reporter certainly does not want to make him comfortable.
At the insting of Jiang Mu, some impulsive Alkmaar fans and neutral fans also booed the Valencia players at the door of the hotel where they stayed in Valencia, and planned to throw rotten tomatoes and rotten eggs at Cooper. Although their plan was stopped by the hotel security guards, Cooper was too scared to go out. .
On the afternoon of May 3, the Champions League semi-final match between the Bat Legion Valencia and Alkmaar is about to begin!
The Dehout Stadium, which can accommodate 8,328 fans, is full and stands seamlessly. Many people come by plane from all over the world. Among them, there are more than 1,000 Spanish fans who came to watch the game with the visiting team Valencia!
Although Spanish fans are not as notorious as English football hooligans. However, Spanish fans and Dutch fans are too **, and there is obviously an overcrowd at the Dehut Stadium, so the club pulled up a temporary barbed wire net in the stands to separate the fans from both sides, and added 300 policemen as security guards on standby at any time on the court.
The game is broadcast live on 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 tickets are too small and the income is limited, the broadcast share has made Dilke's earnings difficult.
The referee of this game is 39-year-old Batista, a Portuguese, bank clerk, who is good at Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. He began his refereeing career in 1983 and became an international referee in 1996, which made Alkmaar's supporters a little worried, because Batista is Portuguese, Portugal and Spain are both in the Iberian Peninsula, and Batista, who are familiar with Spanish, must be much more convenient to communicate with Valencia players. In this way, Alkmaar will suffer losses invisibly.
However, this does not have a big impact on Alkmaar's players. After they eliminated Barcelona, their confidence is high. They don't pay attention to Valencia and have the advantage of home court. They don't think that the referee's slight propensity can determine the trend of the game.
Forced!
With the whistle of referee Batista, the exciting Champions League semi-finals began!
The visiting team Valencia took the lead in kicking off!
Cooper set out the 442 formation he was used to on the road, with a diamond position in the midfield, and the goal will be a strong Canissares. The defender line is the strongest lineup that Valencia can send. From right to left are Angeloma, Jukic, Pellegrino and Gerardo!
The midfield is led by Mendieta, who is in excellent condition this season. The other three generals will be Farinos, Herad and Kiri Gonzalez!
At the top is Angulo, Cobra Ilie, which makes the defenders of the Iberian Peninsula headache and chills.
Such a formation is expected by 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 sideline breakthroughs. Keely Gonzalez, Angulo and Ilier all like to play on the sidelines, and there is no pure center on the court!
However, Jiang Mu's starting lineup surprised the fans and reporters, because Jiang Mu's starting lineup is very different from the last Champions League match against Barcelona, which is understandable. After all, Valencia does not have Barcelona, but Alkmaar's starting lineup is also very different from the previous starting lineup. This is a few A brand-new starting lineup.
The goalkeeper Cesar and four defenders, Riser, Lucio, Ismail and Kloncamp remain unchanged. There are five players in the midfield, two midfielders, Van Bomel and Gattuso, three forwards in front of them, left forward Robben, right forward Kuite, forward Ronaldinho, and single striker Tomasson.
Recently, Drogba and Klose, who are brave, have all been put on the bench. In addition, Robben's starting line-up also surprised fans and reporters. These are not the most important reasons for the fans' surprise. It's mainly because Alkmaar sent a 451 formation. No one knows what Jiang Mu wants to do, defensive or offensive? It's an attack, but there is only one striker and a double waist. It was said to be a defense, but he went to Robben, and Ronaldinho was in the position of the front waist.
At this time, Cooper was sitting in the command table of the visiting team with a depressed face, biting the water bottle lid in his mouth. He was confused and didn't know what to think about, but he must be thinking about Jiang Mu's intention. There is no doubt about this!