When the international referee Carlos Velasco Caballo from Spain blew the whistle to start the game, Manchester City launched a fierce attack on Porto amidst cheers from the sky.
The Premier League team made it clear from the very beginning that they will attack to the end!
It can be said that the morale of both teams is high after playing so far.
Manchester City has historically won its first Premier League title, and has also historically reached the Europa League final. Having already won the Premier League and FA Cup titles, Manchester City is also determined to win the Europa League title.
As long as they win this championship and achieve the Triple Crown, Manchester City is bound to cause a strong earthquake in European football. From now on, no one can ignore this rising upstart in the Premier League.
Porto also performed very strongly in the Portuguese Super League this season. With a 21-point lead, they created an unbeaten record in the season and won the Portuguese Super League championship. Their strength is evident.
Not only that, in the Portuguese Cup, Villas-Boas' team also won the championship.
Both are league and cup champions, and both are aiming for the Triple Crown, which makes the showdown between the two teams full of excitement.
What’s more worth mentioning is that the last time Porto reached the Europa League final was during the coaching period of Mourinho. In the final of what was still called the UEFA Cup at the time, Porto eventually lost to Lisbon led by Su Dong.
sports.
Now, after many years of separation, Porto and Eastern Europe meet again in the Europa League final. It is still unclear who will win.
…
Manchester City still plays with their iconic four-three-three lineup.
The goalkeeper is Joe Hart, the defense is Marcelo, Pepe, Kompany and Zabaleta, the midfielder is Busquets, David Silva and Toni Kroos are in the center, and the frontcourt is
The Trident is a combination of Di Maria, Sudong and Sanchez.
Guardiola still kept the same lineup from the previous FA Cup final. This is also the strongest lineup that Manchester City has polished under his coaching. It can be said that Manchester City is the best able to use the passing and possession tactics in his mind so far.
lineup.
Unlike the previous game against Manchester United, when Guardiola asked Su Dong to retreat and act as a free agent, this time against Porto, Su Dong was still at the forefront. The reason is very simple, Porto is not Manchester United.
Manchester United's defense is made up of the world's top central defenders like Ferdinand and Vidic. Guardiola naturally hopes that Sudong can avoid some of them and show more of his ability to play from the back.
But Porto's central defenders are Otamendi and Rolando, which are far from the strength and level of Manchester United's central defender combination.
Rolando is okay, he is 1.89 meters tall, but Otamendi is only 1.83 meters tall.
These two central defenders are far inferior to Su Dong in terms of height and strength.
In this situation, what Guardiola wants is of course for Sudong to directly press forward and crush his opponent instead of pulling back.
Porto's tactics are also four-three-three. The goalkeeper is Ayrton, the defense is Alavaro Pereira, Otamendi, Roland and Sapunaru, and the midfielder is Fernando, Guarin and Harbin.
Metz Rodriguez is in the center, and the front three is Christian Rodriguez, Falcao and Hulk.
Currently, Falcao is the second-leading scorer after Su Dong in the Europa League scorer list.
Hulk is also famous because he has the same name as the Hulk, and his strength should not be underestimated.
It is worth mentioning that nine of the eleven players in Porto's lineup are from South America.
This is a characteristic of the strongest team in the Portuguese Super League now, in which many players come from third-party ownership.
Villas-Boas's coaching of Porto has achieved such great success. His own coaching ability is certainly one aspect, but the strength of the players is a crucial factor, and behind it is the strong support of agents headed by Mendes.
Now, Porto has reached the Europa League final. Regardless of whether they win the championship or not, these players will become famous and their values will skyrocket. Naturally, it will no longer be a secret to transfer and leave the team.
Also because there are many South American players, Porto's playing style is still very unrestrained and not conservative at all.
This also caused a wave of attacks between the two teams at the beginning of the game.
Faced with Manchester City's opening attack, Porto was not inferior.
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Just three minutes into the game, Manchester City tried to pass the ball into the penalty area but failed. Otamendi made the first kick and kicked the ball out of the penalty area and directly into Manchester City's half.
At the same time, Porto's overall formation was also pressing forward quickly, hoping to organize a quick counterattack.
But just as the big-footed clearance had just passed the halfway line, Manchester City's central defender Pepe took the lead and stood up, grabbed the landing point, and directly headed the ball back to Porto's half.
David Silva cleverly ran into the gap, met Pepe's header, and volleyed up.
As soon as the ball fell, it flew up again and fell directly behind Porto's defense.
At this time, Porto was preparing to press forward as a whole, but was suddenly beaten behind by Manchester City, and the defense had no time to defend.
A sky-blue figure quickly penetrated Porto's defense, chased David Silva's pass, stopped the ball on his chest at the top of the penalty area, and then entered the penalty area.
Facing goalkeeper Ayrton who was halfway through the attack, Su Dong deceived the Brazilian goalkeeper with a flexible fake move and easily pushed the ball into the empty goal.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!"
"In the first three minutes, Manchester City only needed three minutes for Sudong to score Porto's goal!!!!"
After Su Dong scored, everyone rushed out of the stadium with excitement, ran all the way to the stands where the Manchester City fans were, and kept encouraging the Manchester City fans to shout louder and more passionately.
The players from Manchester City also chased after him and hugged him.
A goal in the first three minutes, could there be a better start than this?
This is the Europa League final!
This goal almost allowed Manchester City to grab the championship trophy with one hand!
"It's so exciting! Manchester City defended and quickly counterattacked. David Silva's volley pass was very beautiful. Su Dong's counter-offside kick was also very sharp and the speed was really fast.
."
"Porto central defender Otamendi is not tall, but he was immediately left behind by Su Dong and couldn't catch up at all."
"One to zero! Manchester City takes the lead!"
"Porto suffered a blow. I wonder if this was part of Villas-Boas's plan?"
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On the sidelines, when Villas-Boas saw Su Dong scoring, he stretched out his hands in an exaggerated manner and grabbed his hair hard.
He thought that Porto would concede the ball first, but he never expected that the goal would come so quickly and suddenly.
It's only been three minutes and you've already lost the ball?
So how can we play this game?
Su Dong!
Why is it Su Dong again?
Villas-Boas was very angry. He had obviously made enough preparations to ask Otamendi, Roland and Fernando to double-team Su Dong. As soon as Su Dong got the ball, they would immediately surround him.
Three to defend one, that's enough!
Unexpectedly, Su Dong still seized the opportunity.
"Why did you let them get behind you so easily?" Boas still didn't understand.
…
In the coaching bench behind him, assistant coach Victor Pereira also sighed helplessly.
He has always felt that Villas-Boas overestimated himself and underestimated Su Dong, Ferguson and others.
If Su Dong could hold on so easily, would Ferguson still need to adopt such conservative tactics?
Isn't this a joke?
Who is Ferguson?
How many times has he fought against Su Dong?
Didn't he know about Su Dong's threat?
How is this possible?
And Mourinho, he has been ridiculed that he is the person who knows Su Dong best, but he loses to Su Dong every time. Is there any problem with this?
Understanding doesn’t mean you can keep it!
Villas-Boas's formation obviously underestimated Sudong, and also overestimated Porto's defensive quality.
How much quality does the Portuguese Super League team's defense have? Villas-Boas has no idea?
The result was good, the talk before the game was so loud that even I believed it, so this scene happened, and a goal was scored in the first three minutes.
What to do next?
Attack!
Even if it equalizes the score and stabilizes the morale of the army!
But the question is, can you beat Manchester City in grabbing possession of the ball?
Once pressed out to attack, how likely is it that Manchester City will break through the defense again?
Thinking of this, Victor Pereira quickly stepped forward, leaned into Boas's ear and whispered for a while.
…………
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On the court, Porto showed a strong desire to counterattack after conceding the ball.
Especially the several South American players in the frontcourt.
Falcao, Christian Rodriguez, Hulk, Guarin, James Rodriguez and others are all from South America. This made Porto not only have no intention of retreating after conceding the ball, but also actively counterattacked.
Press forward and attack.
In the seventh minute, James Rodriguez passed a diagonal pass to Hulk on the right.
After the Brazilian forward got the ball, he relied on his strong personal strength to dribble the ball from behind Marcelo and broke into the penalty area. When facing Pepe, he forced the ball to stop. In the process of twisting and turning, he volleyed the far corner with his right foot.
Slightly off.
Porto's first shot of the game threatened Manchester City's goal, which further boosted Porto's momentum.
Even though coach Villas-Boas called on the players to calm down on the sidelines, Porto still chose to press out and play.
The players on the field were somewhat anxious.
Manchester City still organizes their formation in an orderly manner, passing and controlling the ball when they have it, and actively grabbing the ball when it doesn't exist.
Especially the trident in the frontcourt.
With Porto finding it difficult to pass through the midfield, the ball is more often left in the midfield.
The three players Di Maria, Sudong and Sanchez started to press Porto's defense. Coupled with the pressure and cooperation from the midfielder, this style of play made Porto's players a little uncomfortable.
In the 11th minute, when Rolando wanted to pass the ball to Otamendi under the threat of Su Dong, he did not expect that Su Dong was tall and had long legs and blocked the ball directly into the frontcourt.
Otamendi and Sudong chased forward at the same time, but the Argentine central defender was directly knocked away by Sudong.
Yes, as soon as the two bodies came into contact, Otamendi was bounced away.
Su Dong once again dribbled the ball into the penalty area to form a single shot.
