Leeds United came to Turin, Italy, holding their breath.
In the Premier League last weekend, although Leeds United beat Huddersfield, Manchester City also defeated Liverpool 1-0 in an away game. This made Leeds United's wish to win the championship two rounds in advance failed to come true.
Although it is only a matter of time to win the championship, the players still hope to settle down as early as possible.
After arriving in Turin, he was attacked again by Juventus, which made him a little confused.
Although Leeds United quickly stabilized their position and began to gradually attack, the players' mentality was a bit anxious.
If you are anxious, it will be difficult to do things well.
As a result, Ronaldo's header gave Leeds United a blow.
Everyone suddenly realized that they had inadvertently made a fatal mistake and gave Juventus a chance.
For a star like Ronaldo, as long as there is an opportunity, he can seize it and convert it into goals.
But this goal also completely woke up Leeds United.
Especially coach Pochettino, who was on the sidelines, was clearly aware of the team's problems.
He made adjustments decisively.
On the one hand, Milinkovic intensified the pressure on Pjanic in order to freeze the core of Juventus' organization.
The whole world knows that Matuidi and Khedira are strong players, but not handsome. They can charge but cannot organize offense.
Choking Pjanic can effectively contain Juventus' offensive organization and disrupt Juventus' rhythm.
More importantly, Juventus' midfield is slightly disjointed.
In order to avoid Milinkovic-Savic, Pjanic stayed back, but Matuidi and Khedira actively pressed forward and the gap in the middle was a bit wide.
On the other hand, Pochettino also realized the hidden dangers in the team's defensive improvement, so he required the team to actively counterattack on the spot and quickly return to defense.
How fast?
A loss of the ball in the frontcourt in the 21st minute best reflected Leeds United's quick reaction.
Dembele and Bernardo Silva formed a cooperation in the right rib of the frontcourt, but the French winger did not take the lead well and Alex Sandro intercepted the ball directly.
If time were frozen at this moment, you would find that Leeds United only had Dembélé left on the right side of the frontcourt.
On the contrary, it was Juventus. Alex Sandro took the ball and was pressed by Dembele, but there were three Juventus midfielders in front of him, including Matuidi who was close to the wing.
Khedira came over to help, Pjanic was behind, and Bonucci was on the defensive line.
It can be said that there are at least four stable ball release points around Alex Sandro.
Judging from this situation, the ball is considered stable anyway, right?
But Leeds United's quick counter-attack quickly came into play, especially the players' running almost without any effort, which made Juventus feel the pressure.
When Alex Sandro got rid of Dembélé and tried to go to the left wing, Vardy was already leaning towards Bonucci, Milinkovic-Savic closed in on Pjanic, and Bernardo Silva
and Rodri also immediately approached Matuidi and Khedira.
Everything happened in two seconds.
This is enough to prove that after losing the ball, Leeds United players quickly woke up, became very focused on the game, and were also very involved. Only in this way can they make the fastest reaction in the shortest time.
Complete the offensive and defensive transition.
As soon as Matuidi received a pass from Alex Sandro, he was immediately entangled by Bernardo Silva. When he returned the pass, Dembélé had already taken the lead and blocked his position.
After the ball changed hands, Alex Sandro counterattacked and fouled Dembele.
Free kick for Leeds United!
This counterattack can well reflect Leeds United's tactical play, which is to use their age advantage and physical strength to speed up the pace of the game, and at the same time use a lot of running coverage to complete the suppression of Juventus.
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Juventus soon discovered that when Pjanic was contained and when Leeds United gradually regained their game rhythm and state, their frontcourt pressing and pressing tactics failed to work.
On the contrary, the frontcourt and defense have been stretched further and further apart, almost to the point of being disconnected.
As time goes by, this problem of Juventus has become more and more obvious, and it is even very difficult to advance the ball.
In Juventus's entire tactical system, Ronaldo is the key factor in the team's scoring.
When all head coaches form teams and create tactics, they tend to focus on strong points.
Over the years, Ronaldo's role has been to score, and if he wants to score, he will be closely guarded by the central defender. However, with Ronaldo's age, if he is more trapped in confrontations with central defenders, his consumption will be very high.
big.
This situation is just like Ibrahimovic accusing Van Gaal of not being able to move too much, or Ronaldo saying that he can't be too involved in defense. In fact, it's the same truth.
For players of this type, the head coach needs to make a choice.
Then the problem comes, if Ronaldo can't fight against the central defender, then someone has to do it.
At Real Madrid, it's Benzema, and at Juventus, it's Mandzukic.
The presence of the center liberates Ronaldo.
This trick has been tried and tested repeatedly.
But now, the problem has arisen again.
After Pjanic was restricted, the ball was not advancing smoothly.
Could it be that we expect Khedira and Matuidi to advance with the ball, organize and plan the attack?
Mandzukic has to go up front and assume the role of Leeds United's two central defenders. The one who can retreat is either Cristiano Ronaldo or Dybala.
First, Dybala retreated, but found Robertson pressing forward step by step, making Dybala's retreat ineffective.
As a result, Ronaldo also began to retreat.
For example, this time in the 31st minute, after the Portuguese retreated and before he could get the ball, Militao suddenly jumped out from behind and knocked the ball away first.
This young and strong Brazilian central defender is like a bull, and even knocked down Ronaldo.
The Portuguese signaled a foul, but the referee smiled and passed.
Tonight, Leeds United used Militao on the right instead of Arnold, just to choke Ronaldo.
All the above details occurred during the game, which condensed into a period of nearly 20 minutes. It seemed to be a stalemate. Neither side was able to create good opportunities, and it was even a dull game.
Until the final stage of the first half, 40 minutes later, the game situation was completely controlled by Leeds United.
Juventus couldn't hit the frontcourt at all.
Let alone shooting, it is difficult to pass the ball into the penalty area.
Leeds United, on the other hand, is constantly creating threats, and every counterattack seems to be pressing them step by step.
It was not until the 41st minute that the struggle between the two sides' tactics and strength finally began to tilt.
That was when Leeds United intercepted the ball on the left and launched a counterattack on the spot.
Milinkovic took the ball with his back and distributed it to the left, passing it to Robertson, who then passed it directly to Mbappe.
The French winger dribbled the ball and tried to break into the penalty area, but was caught by De Sciglio and was forced to pass it back to Robertson on the left, and he penetrated the penalty area diagonally from the left corner.
After Robertson received the ball on the left side of the penalty area, he attracted the attention of the defense.
At this time, Mbappe, Vardy and Dembele were all in the Juventus penalty area.
The Bianconeri's defense was also facing a formidable enemy, fearing that Robertson would break through and pass into the bottom line, so De Sciglio defended tightly and blocked Robertson's bottom line. Pjanic also retreated into the penalty area to help defend and protect.
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But at this time, the outside of the penalty area was exposed.
This is the consequence of disconnection.
Robertson got ahead of De Sciglio and passed the ball back to the front of the penalty area.
I saw Milinkovic stop the ball with his right foot.
Everyone in the Juventus penalty area was shocked, and Pjanic immediately rushed towards Milinkovic-Savic.
But as soon as the Serbian midfielder stopped, he stood with his left foot, straightly raised his right foot and hit.
A powerful and heavy long-range shot flew out from Milinkovic-Savic's feet, penetrated Juventus' defense with lightning speed, and hit the upper right corner of the goal.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"Leeds United managed to equalize the score!"
"Milinkovic's kick hits the world!"
"Oh my God, Leeds United used a world-wide kick to break Juventus' goal before the end of the first half."
"A long shot from Serbian midfielder Milinkovic-Savic."
"What a wonderful goal!"
The entire Allianz Arena was shocked by this sudden shot.
No one would have thought that this goal would come so suddenly.
Except profound.
When Milinkovic scored, Gao Shen could no longer suppress his inner excitement. He stood up from his seat, clenched his hands into fists, and cheered loudly.
This goal is very beautiful and very timely.
Andrea Agnelli sitting next to him looked in disbelief.
Because, just over twenty minutes ago, Gao Shen just told him that before the end of the first half, Leeds United had a chance to reverse the situation and equalize the score.
Unexpectedly, Leeds United actually scored a goal.
This is simply amazing!
If Andrea Agnelli had some doubts about his profound judgment before, now he is really convinced.
"Milinkovic, this player is really good," Andre Agnelli said.
Judging from this game, this Serbian midfielder not only has this long shot, but also not only his height and header, his skills and speed at the feet are quite good.
"Now, the game officially begins!"
After Gao Shen sat down, he chuckled at Andrea Agnelli.
He was quite looking forward to seeing what Andrea Agnelli would look like after he lost his composure.
"We will definitely make adjustments in the midfield," the Juventus chairman said stubbornly.
Gao Shen smiled and said, "But some problems cannot be changed. For example, what can you do if Pjanic is pinched?"
Now Leeds United has tasted the sweetness. During the halftime break, Pochettino will definitely strike while the iron is hot and work hard. In the second half, Leeds United will launch an even more intense full-court press, and the players' firepower will be output like crazy.
When the time comes, will Juventus be able to withstand it?
The game has progressed to this point, and the situation is actually very clear.
The key depends on whether Leeds United can seize the opportunity.
