Highbury Stadium was built in 1913. It has only two tiers of stands, and the four corners are not yet enclosed. This makes it difficult to contain the noise in the stadium on match days, and the atmosphere is greatly reduced.
Due to its age, especially since the British government abolished all standing seats and converted all stadiums into seats, Highbury Stadium can only accommodate 38,000 people, which is very few among wealthy teams.
What's more, it's even more difficult to get a ticket in London, the most prosperous city in the UK.
Arsenal was also hampered by the obstacles of their home court, so they decided to build a brand new stadium. The capacity was increased to 60,000 people in one go. Coupled with various VIP boxes, this will inevitably increase Arsenal's match day income astonishingly.
.
Real Madrid's away game against Arsenal was called "the first thing that comes to mind when I wake up this morning" by British fans. It attracted the attention of media and fans around the world and filled the Highbury Stadium.
The chief referee is Rubeus Michael from Slovenia, who has very rich experience in law enforcement.
Amid the cheers of the entire audience, players from both teams entered the court under the leadership of the referee.
Afterwards, Gao Shen also walked out of the players' tunnel.
Standing at the entrance of the players' tunnel, he happened to see himself appearing on the big screen in the stadium. At this moment, the live TV broadcast was giving him a big close-up.
That battle three days ago made him the youngest head coach in the history of La Liga.
And tonight, he once again created history, becoming the youngest head coach in the history of the Champions League and even the European League.
At the age of twenty-five, when many players are still called rookies, he accidentally became the helmsman of Real Madrid. This is an incredible legendary experience.
But everyone feels that his legend will come to an abrupt end tonight.
…
"Hello, young head coach."
When Gao Shen stood at the entrance of the players' tunnel and looked around, a very strange baritone voice came to his ears.
Looking around, Wenger came face to face with a smile on his face.
The professor looks thinner than on TV, with more and deeper wrinkles on his face, and his hair is gray.
Obviously, working in the front line of coaching under huge pressure for many years has brought him huge psychological pressure and burden.
Seeing Wenger reaching out his hand, Gao Shen quickly stretched out his hands.
"Hello, professor, nice to meet you."
Wenger had a kind smile on his face and looked very harmless, "To be honest, you really gave me a big surprise."
"Really?" Gao Shen looked flattered, "In college, we often discussed you. It is my honor to compete with you, and it is something I could not imagine before."
Wenger didn't take it to heart. He probably had heard similar remarks countless times.
"I'm curious, how are you going to play tonight?" Wenger asked tentatively.
Gao Shen's smile suddenly faded, and then he said slyly: "Guess."
Wenger laughed out loud. The more he looked at the depth, the more pleasing he became. This kid is very cunning, the kind of cunning that reveals cleverness.
"I don't need to guess. You didn't use Ronaldo and Carlos. I guess it was to ensure the team's rhythm of the game. If these two people are here, it will indeed have some impact, so I guess you still want to attack."
Gao Shen really couldn't laugh now.
As soon as Wenger saw his expression, he immediately knew that he had guessed correctly.
"If I were you, I would consider attacking from the beginning, trying to score a goal, and seize the rhythm and initiative of the game first. As long as the score is equalized, we will be the passive ones.
"
I have to say that Wenger's guess was absolutely correct.
Gao Shen suddenly felt that Wenger's eyes hidden in the ravine were full of wisdom. He seemed to have no secrets in front of these eyes. This feeling made him quite uncomfortable.
"Professor, guess why I didn't arrange for Woodgate to start?" Gao Shen refused to let Wenger continue.
Wenger stalled, Woodgate performed very well in last weekend's derby, but was put on the bench tonight.
Gao Shen arranged for Helguera and Ramos to partner as central defenders, which was somewhat beyond Wenger's expectation.
Logically speaking, Woodgate is in good condition and is familiar with the Premier League and Arsenal, so he should start.
"I specially rotated him to let him recharge his batteries for the weekend game against Valencia."
After saying this, Gao's profound expression seemed to be hinting to Wenger, taste it, taste it carefully.
Wenger was speechless, and for a moment he couldn't tell whether it was true or false.
Could it be that this kid really has some secret secret? Is he so confident in the game?
Only Gao Shen knew in his heart, why did he deliberately rotate Woodgate?
It is true that the team doctor was not very sure whether Woodgate could play the entire game and strongly recommended that Gao Shen not arrange for him to start, so Helgra was given the role.
Otherwise, how could Gao Shen let Woodgate sit on the bench?
But naturally he would not tell Wenger this and let the Arsenal coach guess for himself.
…
Although it was an away game, Real Madrid still wore white jerseys, while Arsenal wore dark brown jerseys and white shorts.
Raul was very successful this time. He beat Henry when guessing the side and won the right to kick-off for Real Madrid.
When the players from the two teams lined up, Gao Shen immediately saw Arsenal's formation.
Somewhat unexpected.
In the last game against Fulham, Ljungberg played as a left midfielder. This time Wenger placed him in the attacking midfielder or shadow striker position. Reyes played on the left and Hleb was still on the right.
Lu, Henry plays center.
After seeing this, Gao Shen walked to the sidelines and made a gesture to Delaraide and Graveson, telling them to pay attention to Ljungberg. This guy has been in very good shape recently.
As for Beckham, he must pay attention to returning to defense in time to assist the defense and the double midfielders.
After finishing the arrangement, Gao Shen took another look at the home team's coaching bench and found Arsene Wenger sitting there, as if everything was certain to win.
At this moment, the referee Lubbers blew the whistle to start the game.
…
Negredo kicked the ball to Raul, and when the latter passed it back to Zidane, three players, Henry, Ljungberg and Reyes, rushed towards Real Madrid's half at the same time.
Zidane did not pass back again, but moved directly to the left wing and handed it to Felipe who stepped in. However, Hleb blocked Felipe immediately and forced the Real Madrid left back to pass the ball back.
Graveson.
The midfielder passed the ball again and Ramos stopped the ball.
At this time, Real Madrid's entire midfield and frontcourt had already moved forward quickly.
After passing it back and forth between Ramos and Arbeloa, he handed it over to Helgra.
When the Real Madrid central defender stopped the ball, he was already close to the center circle.
After glancing ahead, Helgra directly kicked the ball into the frontcourt.
Zidane suppressed Fabregas with his body, stopped the ball with his chest, turned sideways, and passed the ball to the right side of the top of the penalty area.
Negredo took the lead and headed the ball into the penalty area.
Raul also suddenly stepped in at this time, but goalkeeper Lehmann attacked decisively and intercepted the ball from the air before Raul.
Although he failed to grab the ball, Raul still gave Negredo a thumbs up.
Highbury Stadium gave Lehmann a round of warm applause.
…
The first attack failed, and Arsenal quickly launched a counterattack by throwing the ball.
After Flamini stopped the ball, he passed it to Reyes who came back to respond.
But just when Reyes was about to start dribbling the ball, Arbeloa suddenly fell to the ground and shoveled the ball out of bounds.
Real Madrid's right back did not immediately return to defense, but followed Reyes closely and appeared near Arsenal's 30-meter area. Especially when Arsenal was preparing to throw the throw-in, Real Madrid's entire formation remained the same.
Maintain forward pressure.
Negredo, Beckham, Zidane, De La Red, and Arbeloa, these five players were all pressed into this area. As a result, after Arsenal quickly threw the ball out, Arbeloa took the lead.
The header went back, and Beckham headed it back to Zidane.
After Zidane dribbled the ball laterally, he suddenly sent a direct pass to Raul.
The Real Madrid captain got rid of Kolo Toure and sent a through ball into the penalty area again.
But this time, Negredo failed to understand Raul's intention and missed a good opportunity.
But even so, Real Madrid still did not retreat and continued to press and press from a high position.
Now, everyone can see clearly.
Real Madrid is going to start the attack!
…
Even though he was well prepared, when Wenger saw Real Madrid pressing Arsenal with such strong pressure from a high position, making it difficult for the Gunners to pass the ball across the midfield, he was calm on the surface, but he was still worried in his heart.
surprise.
On the one hand, he felt Gao Shen's determination and courage, especially in the absence of Ronaldo, Gao Shen dared to go all out to suppress Arsenal, which required tremendous courage and courage.
On the other hand, he was also surprised by the superb skills, especially the ability to make superstars such as Zidane, Beckham and Raul run so hard to cover. With this ability, he was not surprised why Real Madrid was able to defeat
Atletico Madrid.
Thinking of this, Wenger walked out of the coaching bench for the first time and came to the sidelines, indicating that the team should recycle the formation appropriately and stabilize the defense first.
Although there is no Ronaldo on Real Madrid's side, the superstar lineup composed of Raul, Zidane and Beckham still cannot be underestimated, and Wenger does not dare to blindly rely on it, especially when Real Madrid shows such an aggressive momentum.
Real Madrid also quickly stole the ball from Graveson near the center line and quickly moved to the right.
Arbeloa played to the right side of the frontcourt. Zidane ran over and received the ball, but was blocked by Flamini. He failed to make a pass and instead knocked back on the right side of the penalty area.
Beckham stopped, made a slight adjustment, and sent a precise diagonal pass into the penalty area with his right foot, sending the ball directly to the back point.
Raul stepped in smartly, got ahead of Kolo Toure, and headed the ball from close range into the lower left corner.
This attack was extremely dangerous and sudden, especially Beckham's long diagonal pass which was quite accurate. Fortunately, Lehmann made a flying save at the critical moment and blocked the ball out of the baseline with one hand.
The ball barely missed the post and went out of bounds, a foul ball.
The entire Wembley Stadium exclaimed in surprise, followed by applause for Lehmann.
This was the first shot of the game, a close-range header from Raul.
It's a pity that we almost failed to score Arsenal's goal.
But this attack was enough to make Arsenal break into a cold sweat.
Beckham, who returned to the right, showed amazing strength, especially his cross.
