In the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, Barcelona faced Arsenal at home.
Before this game, both teams were in their best form this season.
Barcelona defeated Lyon in the knockout round of 16, and then defeated AC Milan in the knockout round of eight, and then advanced to the Champions League final. Especially in the past few games, Barcelona has played in amazing form and won successively
The league championship and Copa del Rey are also a must-win for the Champions League.
Arsenal's state is even more stable than Barcelona's.
Due to Ashley Cole's conflicts, injuries to players such as Campbell, and the emergence of young players such as Cesc Fabregas, Flamini, Senderos and Reyes, the Gunners have struggled in the Premier League this season.
The record is not ideal, but the top four in the league is safe.
The lack of desires and demands too early in the league caused Arsenal to focus more on the Champions League.
So far this season, they have maintained an unbeaten record in the Champions League. This may not be new, because Barcelona is also undefeated.
But when was the last time Arsenal conceded a goal in the Champions League?
Second round of the Champions League group stage.
In other words, so far, the Gunners have not conceded a goal in eight games in the Champions League, especially after entering the knockout rounds, they have successively encountered Real Madrid, which has superior offensive power, and Juventus, which has superior overall strength.
The ability to achieve such results shows Arsenal's overall strength.
It is precisely because of such an outstanding performance that it has given Arsenal enough confidence.
…
Before going on the field, in the visiting team's locker room, Wenger was still intensively arranging the opening tactics.
He wants to attack.
Arsenal's lineup is 4141. The goalkeeper is Lehmann, the defense is Flamini, Senderos, Kolo Toure and Eboue, and the midfielder is Gilberto Silva.
At the back are Ljungberg, Pires, Fabregas and Hleb in front, and the lone forward is Henry.
This can be said to be the strongest lineup Arsenal has put together so far this season.
Barcelona also put out its strongest lineup. The goalkeeper is Valdes, the defense is Van Bronckhorst, Marcos, Puyol and Belletti, and the midfielder is Marcos Senna.
, Deco and Iniesta are up front, and the front trident is Ronaldinho, Sudong and Messi.
Wenger knows very well that in the Premier League, Arsenal may be famous for controlling the ball, but in the Nou Camp and in front of Barcelona, if the Gunners continue to pass and control the ball, they will definitely be playing tricks in front of Guan Gong and asking for trouble.
.
Therefore, the strategy he formulated for this game was very simple.
He will not compete with Barcelona for possession of the ball, but he must pose an offensive threat to Barcelona during the game.
Henry will undoubtedly be the key for Arsenal against Barcelona.
This player has been linked to Barcelona in the past two or three years. Even Barcelona's management has mentioned it more than once, hoping to bring Henry to Camp Nou and form a dream striker with Su Dong.
Wenger believes that Henry will play particularly energetically at Camp Nou.
The only suspense is defense.
Sudong has been in good form recently. Starting from his visit to San Siro against AC Milan, he has now scored ten goals in four games. This kind of scoring state can be described as crazy, and Wenger cannot ignore it.
Fortunately, Arsenal's defense has been quite good this season, especially in the Champions League.
"Philippe." Wenger looked at the young central defender Felipe Senderos.
The Swiss central defender, who is a few months younger than Su Dong, raised his head, his eyes filled with determination.
Wenger likes this look on young players very much, because it represents the future.
"BOSS, don't worry, I will do my best to freeze Su Dong!" Senderos looked confident.
Young players have such drive.
Other Arsenal players in the dressing room also have full confidence in Senderos.
"Philip, you have to keep this in mind and don't be careless. I believe you can do the job, just like you did when you froze Drogba and Ruud van Nistelrooy!" Wenger encouraged.
This season Senderos can be said to have started low and gone high.
After Campbell was injured, the young Senderos was corrected, but in the Community Shield and the first round of the league, he was horribly abused by Chelsea's Didier Drogba, causing everyone to lose confidence in this young central defender.
But Wenger didn't. He still had full confidence in Senderos and gave him time to gradually build up his confidence.
When Campbell was injured, Senderos successfully filled the vacancy of the Black Tower and became the backbone of Arsenal's defense.
In early January, Arsenal met Chelsea again. Although the game was a 0-2 defeat, Senderos did not allow Drogba to score in that game. Later, he faced Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy and other Premier League stars.
, or facing superstars such as Ronaldo in the Champions League, Senderos performed well.
Now, Senderos has successfully regained his confidence, and with his outstanding performance at Arsenal, he has firmly occupied a place in the defense, making everyone believe that his future will be bright.
"I believe, Philip, you can do it!" Wenger patted Senderos heavily on the shoulder and said firmly.
Senderos nodded solemnly, with a determined look on his face.
…………
…………
Although the game was held at the Nou Camp, it was Arsenal who took the lead in creating murderous opportunities.
Only one minute into the game, Henry relied on Eboue's breakthrough pass from the right. After getting rid of Marcos' defense, he volleyed from close range. Fortunately, Valdes fell down and blocked the ball, giving Henry no chance to score.
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But soon, Arsenal once again created a threat. After Henry got the ball from the left side of the penalty area, he cut inside and kicked a long shot, which once again threatened Barcelona's goal and made the Camp Nou stadium scream.
After all, world superstars are not foodies.
Henry took the lead right from the start and directly showed Arsenal's momentum.
Perhaps seeing Henry being too active, the fans at Camp Nou began to quit.
This is Barcelona's home ground, how can you allow Henry to be so majestic here?
Immediately, Barcelona fans started shouting for Su Dong.
"Su Dong! Su Dong!! Su Dong!!!"
Needless to say, they all hope that Su Dong will stand up as soon as possible and regain his prestige!
…
Su Dong felt a little funny about the "momentum" of Barcelona fans.
How can a football match be like this?
Basketball may still allow you to fight against each other, but how can it be possible in football?
But Su Dong quickly found an opportunity, diagonally inserted to the left side of the penalty area, and after receiving a direct pass from Ronaldinho, he directly passed down the bottom line, but no one in the middle could follow up, which led to Su Dong's move.
The ball passed by the foot was wasted.
Messi raised his hand to apologize to Su Dong from a distance, he didn't react just now.
But Su Dong didn't pay much attention.
Senderos followed Su Dong all the way, and when he saw that he was forced to the left wing and no one was able to respond to the cross, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"I won't give you a chance." As the two walked back, the Swiss central defender said to Su Dong.
Su Dong turned his head, glanced at the young central defender who was younger than himself, and immediately laughed.
Damn, I didn’t even bother to provoke you, but you provoked me instead?
Do you really think I'm a soft persimmon?
"I heard that you suffered a lot of losses from Drogba?" Su Dong asked with a smile.
A sharp look flashed in Senderos's eyes, "We played three games, he won the first two times, but I didn't lose this time."
"Oh." Su Dong smiled and nodded. He noticed the news when he was checking information before the game. Senderos was badly beaten by Drogba in the Community Shield before the season. I wonder if there was any shadow.
?
"What do you mean?" Senderos asked.
He has played very well in the past six months, so much so that he is so confident that even Su Dong is confident that he can compete.
"It's nothing." Su Dong was still smiling, "Did you know? Drogba was my defeated opponent, and someone had provoked me like this before, but later, every time he saw me, his legs would tremble. You
Want to try that feeling?"
At this moment, Su Dong thought of Carvalho.
Maybe these unlucky kids will meet in the Champions League final this year, which must be a very interesting thing.
Senderos was obviously taken aback. He couldn't help but think of the Community Shield match before the season and the helpless feeling he felt when facing Drogba. But no matter how you look at it, Sudong is not like Drogba.
A big black and hard guy.
The name of the person, the shadow of the tree, and Su Dong's words made Senderos feel a little wary.
"You're looking forward to it, right?" Su Dong laughed again, "You'll know soon."
Senderos suddenly hated Su Dong's smile so much that he had the urge to punch him in the mouth so that Su Dong couldn't laugh anymore, but he didn't have the guts.
…
Soon, when a pass came from the midfield, Sudong blocked Senderos with his body, blocked him directly with his back, stopped the ball with his foot, and quickly passed it to Deco.
The latter was then passed to Ronaldinho.
The Brazilian superstar dribbled the ball from the left into the penalty area and then passed it across to the front of the penalty area.
Sudong got ahead of Senderos and stopped the ball. After being blocked by Kolo Toure and Senderos, he knocked the ball back to Deco. The latter stepped in and tried to kick the ball directly.
Door.
Gilberto Silva blocked Deco's long-range shot and resolved a crisis for Barcelona.
But this time, Senderos felt Su Dong's dominance.
In both confrontations, he was fended off.
"How's it going? Compared with Drogba, I'm not bad, right?" Su Dong asked with a smile.
Senderos glared at Su Dong fiercely, his eyes seemed to be spitting fire.
"Don't worry, I haven't used my full strength just now, take your time!" Su Dong said with a smile.
He also deliberately wanted to dampen this kid's energy, otherwise, Senderos would have thought that he was easier to bully than Drogba.
Senderos thought to himself, "It's already like this, yet you haven't tried your best?"
"Don't be fooled, he is deliberately trying to hit you, this kid is very sinister!" Kolo Toure, who was standing next to him, reminded him.
Senderos immediately came to his senses and couldn't help but nod his head.
He suspected that this was Su Dong's psychological warfare.
Su Dong is indeed very tall, but he doesn't believe that Su Dong will be stronger than Drogba.
You know, he has fought with Drogba, who is afraid of whom?
But soon, both Senderos and Kolo Toure realized that they were wrong!
