At this time, in the stands of the People's Park Stadium, there was a special audience who was also paying attention to this game.
He is the current sporting director of FC Barcelona, Zubizarreta.
This meritorious goalkeeper who played for Barcelona for a long time during his player days, once represented the team and won the UEFA Champions League in the 1991-1992 season, and is also the main goalkeeper of the Spanish national team.
After retiring, he became a professional sports person, and in 2010 he followed Rosell to take over the position of sports director of Barcelona Football Club. In fact, he was the second-ranking figure in Barcelona's management.
Tonight, Barcelona also has the second leg of the Champions League round of 16, but Zubizarreta chose to come to Hamburg to watch another game. Of course, he has his own purpose.
He is here to observe Pan Yi!
This is preparation for Barcelona's coaching change next season.
The main reason is that the performance of Barcelona led by Martino this season is really not very good.
There are currently 27 rounds in the league, and Barcelona is ranked third in the standings behind Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. The prospect of winning the championship is not very optimistic.
In the Champions League, Barcelona only qualified as second in the group and met Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16. As a result, they lost 1:2 at home in the first round.
Although these results cannot yet seal the final conclusion for Martino, Barcelona's top brass can no longer sit still.
They must plan ahead and find a new helmsman for Barcelona!
Their first choice target is current Celta Vigo head coach Luis Enrique.
I chose Enrique not because of his outstanding results at Celta Vigo.
Enrique's advantage is that he played for Barcelona for eight seasons (1996-97 to 2003-04) as a player and served as captain. After retiring, he served as coach and coached Barcelona's B team for three seasons. Taking over the team is conducive to continuity.
Barcelona’s tactical system.
After leaving Barcelona B team, Enrique went to coach Serie A Roma and La Liga Celta. Compared with Guardiola and Vilanova who previously coached Barcelona, he has an advantage because he has already coached.
First team experience.
At the same time, Enrique has a good relationship with Barcelona captain Puyol, which also helps him quickly take over the team.
However, after the two matches between Barcelona and Hamburg, Pan Yi also entered Zubizarreta's sight.
To be honest, it is not unusual to see a team that can beat Barcelona. It is impossible for Zubizarreta to check out the head coach who beats Barcelona every time he sees it.
But Pan Yi is so special!
His Hamburg actually dared to compete with Barcelona in possession of the ball, and it succeeded!
He finally defeated Barcelona using the method that Barcelona is best at, and pushed Barcelona to the second position in the group.
This is really surprising.
Generally speaking, those who can defeat Barcelona in La Liga often use defensive counterattack tactics, compressing Barcelona's ball control space and then seeking to quickly counterattack and score goals.
Zubizarreta also looks down on this kind of coach. After all, it does not conform to Barcelona's tradition, and there is no way to continue Barcelona's passing and controlling system.
Barcelona fans are also one of the most picky fans in the world. They will definitely not accept their team using anti-counterattack tactics to win the game.
But Pan Yi is different.
He can play beautiful passes and win in Hamburg, and theoretically he can do the same in Barcelona!
So Zubizarreta began to pay attention to Pan Yi, and today he specially came to Germany to watch such a powerful dialogue.
After all, if you just play pass control and suppress the offense in the Bundesliga, this is nothing.
But if he can suppress a Premier League championship-level team like Manchester City in a head-to-head match like the Champions League knockout round, it will speak volumes about Pan Yi's level.
And so far in the game, Hamburg has really played well!
From the very beginning, they fought fiercely against Manchester City, who were eager to grab points, and gained the upper hand.
Manchester City has always been able to play with ease in the Premier League, which is good at fast-paced offense and defense, and full of impact. But today, when they encountered Hamburg who were attacking with all their strength, they realized what a real fast pace is and what impact is.
Even Manchester City’s footwork, which they are proud of in the Premier League, cannot take any advantage against Hamburg!
And Zubizarreta also saw that even if Hamburg's backcourt was constantly harassed and oppressed by Manchester City players, they would not blindly move forward.
Whether it is the two full-backs Robertson and Carvajal, or the center backs Van Dijk and Rudiger, including the three midfielders who sometimes drop back to support, they always pass the ball calmly in the backcourt.
They can always find gaps in the opponent's pressure, pass the ball out of the danger zone through continuous passes, and then organize a new wave of offensive.
Isn’t this how Barcelona play?
When Guardiola was at Barcelona, he emphasized that the offense starts from the backcourt, from the goalkeeper to the defender, and is slowly transmitted up. He will not take big shots unless it is absolutely necessary.
It seems risky to play like this. After all, if the ball is intercepted by the opponent's forward in the backcourt, it will be an opportunity to face the goalkeeper almost directly.
But Barcelona players have such confidence.
Most of their years of training are spent practicing passing and controlling the ball.
Every Barcelona player has very good foot skills, and many of them have practiced together since childhood. They are very familiar with each other and the cooperation is very smooth.
And this kind of self-confidence can also make their offense more efficient, because short passes from the backcourt are of course more secure than going to the middle and letting people grab five or five balls.
Now it seems that Hamburg's players also have such confidence.
And their pace is faster!
Under normal circumstances, the faster the pace of the game and the faster the speed of passing and receiving, the turnover rate will inevitably increase.
This is what Manchester City is like now.
They followed the rhythm of Hamburg, so the offense and defense transitioned very quickly. As the players kept widening, the distance between the players also increased.
The farther the passing distance, the greater the passing force, the faster the ball speed, the player's control of the ball will definitely become weaker.
But Hamburg's passing success rate is much higher than Manchester City.
This is not to say that the personal abilities of Hamburg players are much better than those of Manchester City, but because Hamburg players are obviously better at running!
With the substantial increase in running, the distance between Hamburg players is compressed to less than ten meters in most cases, which reduces the possibility of passing errors.
In comparison, Manchester City's running can't keep up, which is why they are more passive now in the game.
This is why Zubizarreta values Pan Yi very much.
Being able to pass and control and run at the same time, isn't this just...
A combination of Barcelona and Real Madrid?
Moreover, there is another reason for Manchester City's pass turnover rate.
That is, the Hamburg players press very fiercely and are very aggressive!
Look at Vardy on the forward line. He fought so hard. It felt like a bandit was robbing him. A gust of wind passed by and not a single blade of grass grew!
Under such intimidating pressure, it is understandable that Manchester City players make passing and receiving errors or have the ball intercepted.
Hamburg's counterattack after stealing the ball is also very fast. Basically, three passes and two passes will reach Manchester City's backcourt, and then form a threatening shot.
This is basically how Hamburg's first two goals tonight were scored.
So, this hamburger can pass and control, run, fight, and counterattack, wouldn't it...
Barcelona Real Madrid Atletico Madrid???
Isn’t this invincible?
Zubizarreta watched and forgot about classmate Luis Enrique.
If Pan Yi can be acquired, Barcelona's next dynasty will definitely arrive soon!
Think about Messi and Neymar under Pan Yi, as well as Xavi and Iniesta... Wow, it's really picturesque.
With Barcelona's reputation and status in world football, Pan Yi shouldn't refuse their invitation, right?
In addition, Pan Yi approached Messi twice to get the jersey, and there are rumors that Pan Yi is a fan of Messi. With this relationship, wouldn't it be easy to get it?
Zubizarreta couldn't help but have a smile on her face.
He looked at the court again, and at this time, there was a different scene in front of the benches of both sides.
The visiting team's Pellegrini was obviously very anxious. He had not sat in his seat since the game started and had been standing directing the game.
On the home team's side, Pan Yi was as calm as ever, sitting firmly on his buttocks and chatting and laughing with the people on the side.
What is a world-class coach?
This is a world-class coach!
Don't be happy with things, don't be sad with yourself. Those who are famous all over the world must have a strategy in their chest!
……
Under the watchful eye of Zubizarretta, Hamburg once again launched a threatening attack.
David Silva wants to pass the ball to Yaya Toure, but the distance between the two is relatively far now, and the passing line seems too obvious.
As soon as the ball was passed halfway, it was blocked by Paulinho and flew into the air.
Kanter quickly stepped forward and tipped the ball to De Bruyne in the gap.
These three Hamburg midfielders can always appear in the right place at the right time, and they can always play well together.
And the last person to receive the ball is often De Bruyne.
This is the role of the offensive core, allowing De Bruyne to take advantage of his vision and passing to organize the most effective offense.
At this time, De Bruyne was still facing the direction of the attack, but he seemed to have seen the positions of all the players on the field and the positions they were about to run to.
After he stopped the ball in his chest, he picked it up with his right foot and distributed the ball to the left. At this time, Robertson had already quickly stepped in and started to advance quickly after taking the ball.
Hamburg’s counterattack suddenly accelerated!
But this time Manchester City responded very quickly. Their players all returned to their own half in time and organized a tight defense.
Especially in front of Robertson, Sabaleta and David Silva are already in place defensively.
So this time Hamburg's quick counterattack failed.
But Robertson was not in a hurry to rush forward, but passed the ball back to Van Dijk and started to organize the offense again.
This is Hamburg’s now mature tactical system.
If there is a chance to counterattack, they will speed up to attack the opponent, but if the opponent defends properly, they will switch to a positional battle and patiently look for the next opportunity by controlling the ball.
At this time, Manchester City pressed up the formation again to press Hamburg's backcourt personnel in the frontcourt.
Hamburg, on the other hand, passed the ball continuously and played very patiently.
Slowly and step by step, they pushed the ball control area forward from the midline.
"Hamburg's skillful passing and cutting cooperation makes it really impossible for Manchester City's pressing players to do anything."
"Although Manchester City's four frontcourt players are all actively running, Hamburg's backcourt players are not panicked at all. They can still control the ball steadily at their feet and then pass the ball to the front."
"This makes the Manchester City players feel like they are being punched on cotton. I heard that there is a boxing technique called Tai Chi in Longguo, which can move a thousand pounds in four or two. Is this the skill that coach Pan Yi brought to the team?"
"Since Manchester City lost the ball in midfield, they haven't touched the ball again for two or three minutes!"
"Now we see that Hamburg has passed the ball to the right, and Carvajal is taking the ball."
"Nasri grabbed it, but Carvajal immediately distributed the ball to Rudiger in the middle. Rudiger gave it to Van Dijk, and Van Dijk passed it to Robertson..."
"Hamburg's continuous passes took the ball out of Manchester City's pressing area, and now the ball has reached the feet of Kanter in the midfield."
"Kante did not choose to pass the ball to De Bruyne this time because he found that Wu Lei in front of him had begun to speed up! Kanter pushed forward and Wu Lei started running!"
"Beautiful! Wu Lei made a fake move and passed Sabaleta who came up to defend, and went straight into Manchester City's penalty area!"
"At this time, Manchester City's centre-back Kompany, who was trailing behind, faced a dilemma. Should he step forward to stop Wu Lei, or should he continue to keep an eye on Vardy behind him?"
"Ah, Wu Lei did not continue to move forward, nor did he sweep the ball to Vardy in front of the goal. He chose to pass a high-altitude pass. The ball crossed almost the entire penalty area and landed at the back point, where he received the ball
The Hamburg players are..."
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"Salah! This Egyptian winger who quickly stepped in did not have any defensive players around him at this time! Wu Lei's pass was just right. Salah swung his left foot and fired a volley!"
"The ball...went in!
Another world wave!"
"gooooooooooolllllllll!"
"In the 42nd minute, Salah helped Hamburg change the score to 3:1 with a beautiful volley!
”
……
In the visiting team's locker room after halftime, everyone had a look of confusion on their faces.
Pellegrini was also helpless.
Before the game, he could imagine that Hamburg would be more difficult to play at home, but he did not expect it to be so difficult.
We were two goals behind at halftime and three goals behind in the two rounds combined...
This means that Manchester City must score at least three more goals against Hamburg to have a chance to win.
But it’s really difficult.
As far as the performance of the first half is concerned, apart from Manchester City scoring a goal in the opening period, the rest of the time was basically controlled by Hamburg.
Although Manchester City has been working hard to deal with Hamburg, they have been exposed to more problems under the high-intensity and fast-paced attack.
Hamburg has created more than three opportunities.
These three goals are just the three that finally came to fruition among their countless shots.
Moreover, it seems that there is no choice between Pellegrini and Pellegrini.
It seems that he can only continue to attack and strengthen the attack!
But he was also worried.
If we really keep playing like this, there is a high possibility of conceding the ball again.
Being eliminated means being eliminated. When two teams meet, someone will always win and someone will lose.
But if you lose a big score and get kicked out by Hamburg, it will be hard to accept.
Whether you give someone a 0:1 or a 0:10, it’s definitely different!
If that happens, the morale of Manchester City players will be affected, and not only will they be eliminated from the Champions League, but the domestic league will also be affected.
His position as commander-in-chief will not be guaranteed!
Look at the expressions of these Manchester City players in front of you. It feels like they don’t have much confidence at this time. It’s hard to imagine what it will be like if they are scored again.
Think again about Hamburg's performance after 60 minutes in the first round. If Manchester City continues to use up their energy with strong attacks like this... I don't dare to think about it.
After much thought, Pellegrinis made a decision that went against his heart:
Stay steady first, hold still and don’t lose the ball again!
……
"The second half of the game has reached 70 minutes, and the current score is still 3:1, with Hamburg leading."
"During the 25 minutes of the second half, Manchester City seemed to have taken the initiative to slow down their offense and put more energy into defense. This is really confusing."
"Did Pellegrini read the scoreboard wrong? Hamburg is leading now! He is still thinking about defense?"
"If his head is not clear, there is only one explanation: he gave up! He gave up! He didn't want Hamburg to score more goals. In order to avoid an even more embarrassing return to Manchester, he chose to surrender!"
"This is really a rare thing. How can Pellegrini, a world-class coach who has coached a wealthy team like Real Madrid, be scared by Pan Yi's burger?"
"Pellegrini, you are a Chilean engineer, not a Frenchman!"
"Faced with such a situation, how will Hamburg's head coach Pan Yi respond? Will he also be very reasonable... Oh, he responded, he started to make substitutions!"
On the sidelines, in front of the home team's bench, Mitrovic and Sun Xingmin had already stood up, preparing to replace Vardy and Wu Lei.
The intention of such a matchup substitution is obvious, that is, without changing the formation and style of play, change the thinking and continue to attack Manchester City's goal!
At the same time, it can also allow the two strikers who have played for more than 70 minutes to rest.
This game has basically been won, there is no need to waste any more energy.
And this substitution seemed to have an effect 10 minutes later.
In the 82nd minute, Hamburg played a simple coordination in the frontcourt.
Due to Manchester City's retreating formation, it is now easier for Hamburg to pass through the midfield, and the ball quickly reaches Paulinho's feet.
The Brazilian passed the ball to Son Xingmin on the left again.
After Sun Xingmin stopped the ball, he immediately started dribbling the ball, crossing the center line as quickly as possible and moving forward.
After changing the angle, Sun Xingmin glanced into the penalty area, then directly used his left foot to curl the ball into the small penalty area.
I saw Mitrovic and Kompany taking off at the same time.
The bodies of the two strong men collided directly, and as a result, neither one of them could really hit the ball.
The ball didn't know where it hit, so it rolled towards the top of the penalty area.
At this time, De Bruyne, who was catching up from behind, quickly rushed forward and hit the football that bounced off the ground with a furious shot.
The ball was as fast as a jingle bell and rushed towards the lower right corner of the goal against the turf.
The ball was so fast and tricky that when goalkeeper Joe Hart reacted, he had no time to save it and could only watch the ball pass by.
"This goal... didn't go in!"
"What a pity, it was just a little bit close! The ball rubbed the outer edge of the post and went out of the baseline."
"However, considering that the current score is 3:1, the Hamburg generals did not seem very upset about missing this opportunity."
"Coupled with the result of the first round, they are already three goals ahead! And their opponent Manchester City's confidence has actually been gone for a long time. It can be seen from the fact that they have been busy defending in the second half."
"But Pan Yi still persisted and used the tactics of high center forward and wide crosses, and almost scored Manchester City's goal again!"
"Although the goal was not scored, we can still see Pan Yi's magic in substitutions. He can always create a huge threat suddenly!..."
And the next game is meaningless.
The Manchester City players on the field had dull expressions and staggered steps, and they did not look like they could devote themselves 100% again.
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Hamburg still created several opportunities after De Bruyne's shot, but was unlucky and failed to score.
In the end, Hamburg defeated Manchester City 3:1 at home and successfully advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals with a total score of 5:2!
……
For the media and fans, the result of this game is reasonable.
After all, Hamburg defeated Manchester City convincingly on the road, and there is nothing difficult to understand when they return to home and win again.
At the post-match press conference, Manchester City coach Pellegrini also said that Hamburg did perform better in the two rounds and their advancement was natural.
"Pan Yi said after Hamburg qualified for the group stage that Hamburg had the ability to compete for the Champions League. I didn't really believe it at the time."
"But after playing two games against them, I am convinced that Hamburg is the favorite to win the Champions League this season!"
"In front of them, we exposed many problems. And I also learned a lot from Pan Yi. It is a brand-new, advanced tactical concept, and it is something worthy of research and learning by all football coaches.
”
"Finally, congratulations to Pan Yi and Hamburg, and wish them good luck!..."
In the domestic forum of Dragon Kingdom, fans also expressed their opinions on this Champions League knockout match:
"Every time Hamburg advances to a round, it is creating the history of Dragon Country football! Head coach Pan Yi and player Wu Lei have been moving forward together!"
"They defeated all strong teams, and this is what makes us feel good!"
"If Manchester City still looked like a strong team in the first round, this game was like being rubbed on the ground by Hamburg!"
"Pan Yi's hamburger is really terrible! Manchester City was the Premier League champion and runner-up in the past two seasons, and they were just played like this for a whole game?"
"Didn't Gary Neville say that Hamburg will be finished if it encounters a Premier League team? Why don't you speak out now?"
"He said that only if he can beat Manchester United! Now Manchester United has entered the quarter-finals, right? I just hope they can touch it and shut up Neville's big mouth!"
"Haha, is Manchester United worthy of having a porcelain hamburger now? In the Premier League this year, they can only compete for the Europa League..."
"I miss Manchester United so much. When Ferguson was still here, how majestic it was, how could it end up in this situation today?"
"I still remember when Giggs and Rooney flew together to defeat Bayern in 1999"
"The person upstairs, your id Barcelona☆ football expert, indeed... what he said is very meaningful and experienced."
"By the way, I remember a media reporter said that if Hamburg reaches the quarterfinals, they will live broadcast naked running. What about others?..."