After Larsson scored, Aldridge gave a signal to the players before Barcelona kicked off, and the players on the field understood it immediately.
After the restart, Millwall's offense began to lean left, Pirlo's offensive planning began to tilt towards Larsson, and Larsson also became the key figure in Barcelona's defense.
Until the end of the first half, Barcelona did not recover from the blow after conceding the goal. Millwall kept suppressing the situation on the field. Throughout the first half, they barely controlled the midfield for a minute!
At halftime, the two teams walked into the locker room. Robson had a serious look on his face, but he was still a little lucky that he didn't concede a second goal in the first half.
Aldridge returned to the locker room, closed the door, and asked loudly: "Is anyone tired?"
Although the players' jerseys were soaked with sweat, they collectively shouted: "No!"
The entire main force has been preparing for nearly half a month just for today's 90 minutes. They worked harder, were more active, and ran more distances than Barcelona in the first half, but they were not tired at all. Their physical advantage is not just lip service.
All are intuitively reflected in the game.
Aldridge nodded with relief and continued: "Give us 45 minutes, we can score a goal for Barcelona, give us 90 minutes, we can completely destroy Barcelona! In the second half, we can't relax, we can't make stupid mistakes! We are not
Popular, but we just want to tell the world openly: Barcelona is not our opponent! We are the stronger team, I believe you are not afraid of them, we had more chances in the first half, and they had almost no power to fight back.
In the second half, we have only one enemy: ourselves! Don’t be distracted, don’t think about how to celebrate after winning the championship, and don’t adjust yourself to the opponent’s state. Just show your best state and face the game with the most serious attitude.
No matter what happens, remember our tactics and implement them firmly, we will win. I don’t want to see anyone relax and make mistakes. In that case, you will make yourself regretful and let down the efforts of your teammates.
But I firmly believe you won’t, because we are?”
"Crazy Lion!"
...
Aldridge did not make tactical adjustments in the midfield. Their tactical changes were adjusted easily during the game. Aldridge gave a gesture and the players knew what to do.
Barcelona was suppressed in the first half. Aldridge didn't want to mess up the situation and make any adjustments.
If he starts to protect the one-goal advantage now, then he will be giving the initiative back to Barcelona. He cannot do this. He inspires the players and makes them think in a unified way. Don't worry about the score and concentrate on defending every opponent.
Attack. Do your best to score more goals!
This will be a landmark battle. What Aldridge wants to take away from the Netherlands is not only a dazzling championship trophy, but also to show Millwall's football to Europe and the world!
At the beginning of the second half, Barcelona's frontcourt players retreated to catch the ball in an increasingly wide range. Millwall's offense continued from the end of the first half, still hitting Larsson's side.
Enrique's suppression on the right was not strong enough. This allowed Capdevila to have space to step forward and assist when attacking, and the two teams' fight became intense.
Larson received the ball on the left wing, and Freier was closely guarding him. After Larson took the ball, he took a step laterally and passed the ball to the left baseline.
Capdevila quickly stepped in, and Enrique desperately chased back. The former met the ball and passed the ball. Trezeguet failed to grab the point. The ball was cleared by Cotto at the front point, and the ball bounced out of the penalty area and landed in Popescu.
At his feet, he was a step too slow to handle the ball. Nedvěd successfully counterattacked and knocked the ball across to Larsson who came to the penalty area. The latter took a long shot and the ball slid out.
Larson shook his head regretfully, then turned back and ran toward the backcourt to defend.
Seeing the movements of Millwall's players on the field, the person who was most shocked on the sidelines was Mourinho.
Millwall's forward who scored 50 goals in all competitions that season, what was his first reaction after taking the shot? He ran back to defend!
How can such a team not be strong?
And he also saw that precisely because Millwall's forwards returned to defend, they had more space to attack forward during the counterattack. When advancing quickly, the defenders could intercept from the front without making mistakes in judgment, and in terms of speed,
A forward who is running at high speed from the front rushes over. Once the defender is hit by the ball, he must turn around and accelerate again. It is natural that he will be easily thrown away.
Barcelona's crux is not too difficult to discern. The front line is too long and the three lines cannot be connected. Millwall uses active defense to cut through layers.
The forwards are in front and the midfield is frozen. If the defenders stay at the back, the success rate of organizing the attack will be very low. This requires the forwards to retreat, the midfielders to run more to create gaps, and the back line to participate in the support.
, and this seems to be exactly what Millwall wants.
How to break Millwall's trick, Mourinho racked his brains and finally found that maybe it was how fast the opponent ran that made the advantage so obvious.
The blurring of roles is also thought-provoking.
Not only Nedvěd, but also the responsibility of forwards to return to defense, backcourt players to participate in support, multiple offensive starts, etc. In Millwall's entire tactical system, it is difficult to place a fixed responsibility on a certain player.
Even Makelele, with his accurate short passes, is also sharing Pirlo's organizational tasks. Pirlo is an important commander, but he is not the only organizer. When Nedvěd needs to pass the threatening ball, Pirlo will
Devide can also achieve this effect.
How to play Barcelona?
As an assistant coach, Mourinho had a headache, but Barcelona scored!
After Figo retreated to catch the ball, he did not choose to go down because he retreated very deep and Schneider did not stick to him. After all, if he pressed forward, there would be a large space behind him, and protecting the space was more important than personal marking.
Figo unexpectedly dribbled in and cut into the middle. Dela Pena attracted Makelele's attention. Pirlo reflexively ran to intercept Figo, but Figo easily passed him.
Makelele retreated to the penalty area and started to press towards Figo, only to see Figo shoot an earth-shattering long shot from 30 yards outside the penalty area!
The ball was hit with great force and heavy, and hit the crossbar with a bang. Bute had already jumped out, but because of the tricky angle, the ball came suddenly and he did not touch the ball. Fortunately, the ball bounced out.
Dela Pena got the ball in the penalty area, and Makelele quickly made up for it. However, Dela Pena passed the ball to the right side of the penalty area with a through ball.
Enrique rushed to pass the ball across the field, and Ronaldo stopped the ball near the penalty spot in the penalty area!
Southgate and Helguera happened to double-team Ronaldo one after another. The alien swung his leg and made a shot. Helguera immediately raised his leg to block it. Southgate came from behind Ronaldo.
If you dare to make an action, you can only use your body to squeeze the opponent.
Helguera felt that his body could block the opponent's shooting angle, but the next second, Ronaldo moved the ball horizontally.
Fake action!
Helguera lost his center of gravity and Southgate was helpless. When he slid to block Ronaldo's real shot, the ball had already flown towards the goal.
The football rolled against the inside of the goalpost and into the blind spot of the goal.
Barcelona equalized the score in the 67th minute of the second half!
"Ronaldo shot, no, he didn't. He got past Helguera and shot! It went in! Ronaldo scored the equalizer and he deceived everyone in the Millwall defense! He will definitely be
A great striker, he will definitely do it. Although Larsson has scored more goals than him, Ronaldo is only 20 years old!"
After Ronaldo scored, the Barcelona bench was in jubilation. When Mourinho saw the goal, he immediately rushed out and waved his arms to celebrate. Although coach Robson was happy, he still stepped forward to calm Mourinho down.
It was just an equalizing goal!
But the Barcelona players were very excited. They were direct participants in the game, and they knew better than anyone how difficult it was to score this goal!
Millwall has always had the advantage, but failed to expand the score. The players couldn't help but look at Aldridge.
However, Aldridge clenched his right fist and gestured in front of him, then pointed his thumb at the gate of Barcelona.
The players quickly put away their frustration after losing the ball.
When the game restarted, Barcelona seemed to want to pursue the victory. As soon as Millwall kicked off, they pounced.
The ball rolled back and forth under the feet of Millwall players, and the players passed the ball calmly and accurately.
All 11 passes after the restart were successful, and the ball went from the midfield to the backcourt. Then it returned to the midfield, and then came to Larsson's feet.
Barcelona pounced too hard, and now the ball came to the feet of Larsson, who in their eyes was the greatest threat. This made their defense feel like they were facing a formidable enemy. They rushed forward in panic, and Larsson passed the ball back to Ned.
Wade, the latter did not stop the ball and kicked it through. Larsson moved out of position, but the ball did not come to his side.
All the Barcelona defenders thought it would be Larsson who would move forward to complete the final blow, but unexpectedly, Nedvěd's pass passed to Shevchenko on the other side.
The Ukrainian nuclear warhead accelerated and got rid of Sergi and went straight into the penalty area. Baia saw that the situation was not good and rushed to grab the ball. However, Shevchenko was half a step faster. He poked the ball away first. The direction of the ball rolling made Baia startled.
:In front of the door!
The goal is already empty!
Abelardo flew out to make a clearance, but he failed to touch the ball. Trezeguet got ahead of Cotto and also flew his body from the back point. With a shovel shot, he touched the ball first with his toes and knocked the ball in.
At the gates of Barcelona.
When the goal was scored, the audience fell into a brief moment of tranquility.
The audience were all dumbfounded.
what happened?
The commentator was even more excited and could not contain himself.
"Larson passed the ball back to Nedved. Nedved kept the ball and went straight to the right side of the penalty area. Shevchenko appeared there! He passed the ball to the center before Baia, and Trezeguet fell to the ground.
Shovel shot, the ball went in! The ball went in! Millwall quickly took the lead again after being equalized, and Barcelona didn't even touch the ball after the restart!
Let's count, count, Millwall used 13 passes in the whole process and then Trezeguet ended the attack. He turned the efforts of his teammates into a golden goal! The first ball was
He kicked off the ball from the center circle, and he also completed the last shot! What else can we say? This is a model of team football!"
Trezeguet roared and rushed to the sidelines, taking off his jersey to celebrate.
With 20 minutes left in the game, Aldridge made a substitution.
Ballack, Gianluca Zambrotta and Grenciare were already on standby in front of the bench.
Benitez, Jenson, and Craig each explained to the three players their roles and responsibilities after playing.
Barcelona had just equalized and fell behind again within a minute, which dealt them a huge blow.
Robson also immediately mobilized his troops. The old commander was going to fight for his life!
It is rare that both teams make substitutions at the same time, and each substitution involves three substitutions!
Millwall replaced Capdevila with Gianluca Zambrotta, Grenciare replaced Trezeguet, and Ballack replaced Pirlo.
The formation changed to 4231, with Shevchenko at the front, Larsson and Gronzal on the wings, and Ballack and Makelele as defensive midfielders.
Barcelona replaced Popescu with Pizzi, Stoichkov replaced Freire, and Giovanni replaced Abelardo.
What formation did Barcelona play after the substitutions?
God knows!
The only pure defensive players on the field, excluding goalkeepers, are Sergi and Cotto! Even if midfielder Guardiola is added, there are only three players!
