The entire Bayern team arrived in Milan the night before the game.
After the team completed training in Munich, they packed up and headed to the away game.
The familiar team bus came to pick him up and he checked into a five-star hotel in Milan. The entire trip was kept strictly confidential, and even many media reporters did not know the whereabouts of Bayern.
After arriving at the hotel, the coaching staff arranged for the players to watch a game video.
AC Milan narrowly defeated Udinese 3-2 at home.
This battle can be said to be fresh and still hot. Everyone at Bayern is looking for the focus of attention according to their different positions. Some pay attention to defensive players, and some pay attention to offensive players.
Bayern is sending all its main players this time, but even now, even the players themselves don’t know who will.
Especially Franck Ribery, he has performed well in two or three consecutive games, but whether he will arrange it remains to be seen.
Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos, two young players, have also performed quite well this season and are also qualified.
After watching the game video, the players went back to their rooms to sleep.
The next morning, a piece of news appeared in the Italian media.
AC Milan head coach Leonardo accepted an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport and mentioned this focus game.
First, he expressed his respect for Heynckes, and then said that he is very familiar with Bayern, because Bayern has been the most dominant team in European football in the past two or three seasons, and he thinks he knows Bayern.
"Many of their players were injured before, but now they are gradually recovering. Their team is very cohesive, their playing style is also very integrated, and they have a very strong flavor of German football."
Leonardo believes that AC Milan has its own characteristics and advantages, and if it wants to win, it must stick to its own style of play.
"The knockout round is a home and away game, with a total of 180 minutes. This is very obviously different from Serie A games, and our phased goal in the first round is to try not to concede a goal."
Leonardo talked about Su Dong and believed that Bayern is a team that is very good at looking for scoring opportunities. "They have the best attacker in the world. Su Dong can break the balance on the field anytime and anywhere. This pair of
It’s a huge test for any team’s defense.”
The head coach of the Rossoneri said that he believed that the team could achieve the desired results at home because AC Milan's defense backbone Nesta returned. After returning to the team, this main central defender immediately removed AC Milan from the league.
He saved the ball from a draw and gave the team a victory.
"Yes, I know that facing Bayern, many people will be worried about our defense, worried about Nesta and Thiago Silva. What I want to say is that Nesta is indeed not in the best condition, but 100%
Nesta, who is 75 years old, is still the best central defender in the world and still has the ability to block any offensive player."
But not everyone agrees with Leonardo's point of view.
Gazzetta dello Sport also published another interview, that is, in an interview with the media, Udinese head coach Debiasi publicly stated that he was more optimistic about Bayern Munich.
"We lost the game at San Siro because of our own fault, not because AC Milan did better. In fact, I don't think they deserved a victory."
De Biasi believes that Udinese's problem is that the pace is too slow. If the pace can be speeded up, AC Milan's defense will be even more difficult.
Although the Udinese coach believes that AC Milan's performance will definitely improve in the Champions League, he still believes that he will not be surprised at all if Bayern Munich defeats AC Milan at San Siro.
The Italian media is also divided into two groups, pessimists and optimists.
Gazzetta dello Sport spent a lot of space reporting on the two different viewpoints, but basically there is nothing new.
Football matches are played at the level of Bayern and AC Milan, especially in the knockout rounds of the Champions League. The outcome is actually unpredictable.
Perhaps from the data point of view, Bayern has the advantage, but AC Milan is not without the ability to fight back.
The media's hype has aroused the attention of the fans. If they win the game, they will praise Bayern and step on AC Milan, and show their wise and unpredictable side. If Bayern loses away from home, that will be easy.
Let’s take a look at Bayern Munich, especially Su Dong and other stars. To reiterate, it’s not about how well AC Milan plays, but the fact that Bayern Munich plays poorly. Then you still have no idea.
No matter who loses or wins, the media all wins anyway, win!
…………
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Reports in the media do not affect Bayern's decision-making.
After breakfast, Heynckes made everyone anxious and announced the lineup for the game.
The goalkeeper is Neuer, the defense is Marcelo, Pepe, Lucio and Lahm, the midfield is Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mascherano and Modric, the frontcourt is Ribery, Su
Don and Robben.
This is basically Bayern's strongest lineup at the moment.
Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos, two players who have performed well this season, failed to do so. Instead, they sat on the bench and acted as surprise players.
But is it just that?
wrong!
If the highest level of technical and tactical competition in the knockout rounds of the Champions League was that simple, then the media would really be winning.
Heynckes' thinking in this game is still to attack, but not blindly.
His requirement for Ribery and Robben is to retreat as much as possible and support the midfield. The purpose is to ensure that Bayern controls the midfield.
"AC Milan's trident is indeed very powerful, but there is a very serious problem. Ronaldinho and Pato are on both sides. They basically do not participate in defense. Even if they press in the frontcourt, it is just a symbol.
He has a very eye-catching defense, not to mention Huntelaar. His speed is slow and he is more in front."
As early as when he was playing for Barcelona, Ronaldinho was known for not liking to defend. When he came to AC Milan, he was even more so.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Pato is similar to all Brazilian players and does not like to defend.
But after a few years, AC Milan's style of play is obviously no longer in line with the current football technical and tactical trends.
If the front three don't return to defense, what will happen in the midfield?
Ambrosini, Pirlo and Beckham, can this three-man midfielder defend the midfield? Can it protect the defense?
If Flamini is played, the defense will be relatively better, but the question is, who among the three can win?
Heynckes then drew a long pass route on Bayern's counterattack on the tactical board. Basically, he went behind the two full-backs, that is, through long passes, allowing Ribery and Robben to hit the opponent's side.
road.
The main purpose of this is to open up the defensive power in the middle and make AC Milan's already weak center even weaker. It is best to allow Su Dong to directly face the opponent's central defender.
In addition, Heynckes also proposed that Bastian Schweinsteiger should press up and play in a position similar to the attacking midfielder, while Modric would drop back and partner with Mascherano to change the midfielder.
It becomes similar to a triangle position.
The reason is simple. He needs Bastian Schweinsteiger to suppress Pirlo when defending and to actively penetrate from behind when attacking.
This feels a bit like cheating.
When Ronaldinho and Pato do not retreat, Bayern's midfielder has more people than AC Milan. If Schweinsteiger can be used to replace Pirlo, then no matter from which angle
Look, Bayern are making a lot of money.
Therefore, Heynckes has a very clear mission for Bastian Schweinsteiger: to use his invincible fighting ability to strangle Pirlo and prevent him from being a threat.
As long as Pirlo is eliminated, what else does AC Milan's midfielder have to fear?
The entire offensive and defensive thinking is clear, and the players basically understand the coach's tactical intentions.
When expressing his personal opinions later, Su Dong made a request. He hoped that Bastian Schweinsteiger would pay due attention to Pirlo's position and try to be between the AC Milan midfielder and the defense when the team is attacking.
Leave some space for him.
"I watched the video of last night's game and the video of AC Milan's central defender in the past few games. I found that Thiago Silva's defense was really taught by Nesta."
"How do you say that?" Pepe asked with interest.
"He is actually not tall, 1.83 meters, but his defense is very similar to Nesta's, because as a short central defender, he is actually very flexible, but his first instinct when defending is not to step forward and block.
Instead, he retreated back to his position."
In fact, there is a big difference between the attacking central defender and the positioning central defender.
The former is proactive, while the latter is passive defense. At a time when more and more emphasis is placed on controlling the ball, proactive central defenders are undoubtedly becoming more and more popular. When Su Dong was playing for Barcelona, Puyol was not there, so he was very defensive.
Barcelona's defensive impact is very large, because Puyol is a attacking central defender.
But here comes the problem.
Taking the initiative is a risk in itself, and there will be a certain probability of mistakes. Any head coach will accept the central defender to attack, which itself allows them to make mistakes, but in the eyes of the media and fans, your central defender is the last line of defense.
Mistakes are unforgivable.
What about the positional central defender?
Since they always return to their positions as soon as possible and try to reduce their own mistakes, they look more stable.
Nesta was praised, to some extent, because of this.
Some people may ask, why would any head coach allow the central defender to attack?
Fans who have a deep understanding of techniques and tactics will definitely know that modern football is all about fighting for every inch of ground.
Ball rights and space must be the eternal themes on the court.
When the positioning central defender is in position, he is giving up space to the attacker. This is a passive tactic.
Therefore, in recent years, the role of attacking central defenders has become more and more obvious, and their role has become more and more important.
Bayern's two central defenders, Lucio and Pepe, are both attacking central defenders, so Bayern's defense will twitch from time to time.
But compared with the benefits brought by the attacking central defender, the occasional mistakes seem unimportant.
Nowadays, AC Milan's two central defenders are both positioned, which undoubtedly gives Bayern's forwards, especially Su Dong, considerable room for maneuver.
