"Dortmund played a bit fiercely today."

In the Sky Sports studio, host Lineker looked at the big screen showing the game and said.

"It's indeed a bit surprising." Alan Shearer also said, "It feels like Klopp is not playing away from home today, but rather as if he is going to fight Chelsea to the end."

As he said that, everyone turned their attention to a man in the guest seat.

The guests who came to watch the game today, in addition to the regular Gary Neville, Alan Shearer, and Chelsea star Zola, there was also a Dortmund star.

In May 1997, at the Munich Olympic Stadium, a sunny boy wearing a yellow and black jersey shot an arrow that changed the color of the world and shocked the gods and ghosts.

He used a 35-meter volley to hit Juventus, the zebra running wildly on the European continent, and brought another Champions League championship to the entire German football world.

At the same time, this is the first and only Champions League trophy in Dortmund's history.

His name is Lars Ricken!

He is an outstanding product of the famous Dortmund youth training camp, and his career has only played for one club, Dortmund.

The 38-year-old has retired for five or six years and now serves as the youth training director of Dortmund.

Today, due to the battle between Chelsea and Dortmund, he was also invited to the studio to watch this focus battle with everyone.

"I guess he also feels the pressure." Ricken said with a wry smile, "He doesn't want to lose to Pan Yi in this game anymore."

Everyone at Dortmund understands how much pressure Klopp has been under in these two seasons.

After Pan Yi came to the Bundesliga, Klopp and his Dortmund went from being a championship team to fighting for a Champions League spot.

It is difficult for them to even squeeze into the top two, and the Bundesliga has completely become a two-man game between Bayern and Hamburg.

Klopp, the "best coach in the world" in the eyes of Dortmund fans, has gradually been overshadowed by Pan Yi.

Competitive sports are like this. Comparison is inevitable in everything.

But the question is, who can compare with Pan Yi now?

He has only been in professional football for three years and has already won two Triple Crowns!

Even a coach like Klopp can't compare!

What's even more disgusting is that in the head-to-head confrontation between the two, Klopp was completely at a disadvantage...

After Pan Yi left the Bundesliga, everyone speculated whether Klopp would be relieved.

But I never thought that Pan Yi would still be there in the Premier League, and that the Champions League group stage would draw Dortmund and Chelsea together again.

Therefore, you can imagine Klopp's mental state. He must use this opportunity to prove himself again, play his beautiful offense at Stamford Bridge, and defeat Chelsea!

This may be the so-called "pressure is also a kind of motivation".

"In the past two seasons, he has won and lost against Guardiola's Bayern, but he has not fallen behind." Carragher also analyzed, "And Bayern is also good at playing offensive football based on passing and controlling. Maybe this

It also gave Klopp the confidence to compete with Chelsea."

"But Pan Yi's Chelsea, his passing and possession tactics are very different from Guardiola's." Ricken shook his head and said, "They have a lot of long passes from the backcourt. Such deep passes are very difficult for Chelsea."

It happens very often in games, but it's something you rarely see in this current Bayern team."

Guardiola used the same pass-and-control tactics at Bayern that he used at Barcelona, ​​focusing on small-scale cooperation and ground advancement. He did not do a good job in deep passing.

As for Pan Yi's Chelsea, since they use three central defenders and have an excellent ball-playing central defender like David Luiz, they can safely and boldly use tactics such as central defenders inserting or long passes.

"The movement of Chelsea players is also different from that of Bayern and Dortmund." Ricken continued. "They are more flexible and can change positions to a greater extent. It's like the whole team is flowing."

Everyone nodded.

Even Gary Neville has to admit that Pan Yi is superior to Klopp or Guardiola in this aspect.

Currently on the field, let alone the forward line, these three positions of Chelsea have always been erratic.

Looking at the midfielder, Kante and Ramirez are basically in a state of being unable to run to death. Wherever the ball develops, their figures will appear.

And sometimes they can press very high, but sometimes they can retreat very far back, and their positions are not fixed.

They also have a very close connection with the two wing-backs Cancelo and Ivanovic, and sometimes there will even be a switch between the two. For example, Kante suddenly appears on the left wing, and then

Then insert the attack.

Coupled with David Luiz, Terry, and Gary Cahill, although most of the time these three central defenders use David Luiz to complete forward penetration or long passes, Terry and Gary Cahill

He also doesn't stick to his fixed position and sometimes dribbles the ball forward.

Of course, at this time, when the central defender moves forward, one of Chelsea's two defensive midfielders will be dragged to the end to prevent Dortmund's counterattack.

Now Dortmund's players are playing very hard and fighting very fiercely, but sometimes they feel like they can't use their strength, or they don't know who to turn to for strength.

Because their positions are relatively fixed, they will defend in the area as arranged by the coach before the game.

This approach is certainly not wrong, but when faced with a "fluid" movement like Chelsea's, it looks like the Dortmund players are being pushed around by their opponents, which is very passive.

"Watching the Chelsea game, I have a feeling that most teams and Chelsea are not playing the same kind of football at all." Carragher also said, "Pan Yi's tactical level is much higher than this era.

.”

"You're right." Ricken looked worried. "In this case, we should be more cautious. But obviously Klopp doesn't think so. He just wants to use offense to defeat Pan Yi!"

How to deal with a super offensive team?

In fact, Pan Yi already gave the answer when he played against Barcelona in Milan.

This is of course a choice that most coaches around the world will make, which is to defend low, keep the formation compact and meticulous, compress the opponent's space, and respond with defensive counterattacks.

But today, Klopp still chose to press high and press!

Although this is his signature skill and Dortmund's best style of play, this is Stamford Bridge after all, and the opponent is Pan Yi's Chelsea after all.

Therefore, in Ricken's view, this is also a very uneasy and radical choice.

"Maybe Pan Yi is afraid of such an opponent?" Gary Neville chuckled, "At least we haven't seen a team in the Premier League that can really compete with Chelsea. Maybe Pan Yi is not good at it.

This is the way."

At this time, Dortmund was seen on the screen stealing the ball through hard work in the midfield.

Then they quickly attacked. Royce passed the ball to the left. Aubameyang took the ball and faced Ivanovic. He made continuous fake moves, suddenly accelerated towards the baseline, and passed the ball into the penalty area.

However, Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois had a very wide range of control. He decisively abandoned the goal and used an extremely stretched saving action to grab the ball before Immobile grabbed the point.

The entire Stamford Bridge stadium burst into applause again.

Gary Neville pouted: "Actually, Dortmund still had a chance to score. If Courtois hadn't struck the ball in time, Dortmund's offense would have been completed."

"But it didn't work out?" Carragher said with a smile, "This is actually what coach Pan Yi requires of his goalkeeper, that is, the attack range must be wide, the control range must be wide, and the ability to launch an attack must be..."

"The goalkeeper should just do his job well." Gary Neville sneered, "Like Bayern's Neuer, he runs outside the penalty area less often? But he also gets hit a lot. I don't believe it.

Ask Stankovic... I think goalkeepers like De Gea from Manchester United are very good. They save well, react quickly and do their duty."

"That's why you are not playing football of the same era." Carragher retorted, "How about we look at the Premier League standings and see where Chelsea and Manchester United are at?"

Seeing that the two enemies seemed to be quarreling again, Lineker quickly came to smooth things over: "Having said that, Dortmund can steal and create offensive opportunities in the midfield. In fact, it seems that they still have a chance to score. And if it does.

If we score a goal and take the lead in the away game, then the game will be much easier to play."

Ricken nodded: "I hope so. But..."

He was still a little worried.

After all, everyone knows Pan Yi's coaching ability!

If it's so easy to score goals, then why haven't Dortmund had a truly decent shot?

——

The game lasted ten minutes.

In fact, in these ten minutes, neither side created a good scoring opportunity.

Everyone fought very hard, which also made the game seem a bit fragmented, and it was naturally difficult to come up with offensive routines.

But in Champions League-level games, sometimes the final result cannot be judged by the scenes in the first few minutes.

After all, both sides have many stars who can decide the game. As long as one side accidentally exposes a flaw and is struck by an inspiration from the opposite player, it is likely to cause a fatal blow.

Of course, whether you can seize the flaws, or more advanced, lure the opponent to reveal the flaws, depends on the skills of the coaches on both sides.

Now, after ten minutes of observation, Pan Yi slowly saw the weakness of Dortmund's formation.

That is the position of the left winger, which is where Aubameyang is!

This Gabonese striker is unparalleled in terms of physical condition and technical ability. He is absolutely world-class.

But in terms of mental attributes, especially teamwork, work commitment, including defensive positioning and enthusiasm, there is still a certain gap compared with Royce and Mkhitaryan who are in similar positions.

This is actually the reason why Pan Yi only regarded Aubameyang as a surprise player when he was in Milan.

He is very fast and explosive, and is very suitable for counterattacks, but if he wants to have a hard time with the opponent, he needs to be a pressing forward in the frontcourt to press and fight, and there will always be some compromise in completion.

Like a Chelsea pass from the back two minutes ago.

When Ramirez retreated to the edge of the penalty area to get the ball, Immobile and Royce immediately rushed over to press him high.

Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan on both sides also stepped forward at the same time, preparing to block Ramirez's passing route.
To be continued...