What ball king, call me ball god

Portugal, Porto, Dragon Stadium.

This stadium, which can accommodate 5 people, can only admit 2 fans in the Champions League final due to the restrictions of UEFA's epidemic policy.

The entire Manchester United team came to Porto three days before the game.

Before the game, there was a lot of information from all parties.

"Eric! Rodri should have recovered from his injury. There are still three days left. It is expected that Rodri may play."

Hearing Mitchell's words, Ten Hahe smiled and shook his head.

"According to convention, players who have just returned from injury will definitely not start in an important game like the Champions League final. But if it's Guardiola, it's really hard to say."

"But it would be better for us if they start Fernandinho. Fernandinho is 36 years old and has been a substitute this season. In the highest level competition like the Champions League final, If they are attacked by us, it may not work. So it is very likely that Manchester City will form a double midfielder formation." Mitchell analyzed.

Ten Hahe patted his friend's shoulder.

"This season, they have played against each other 4 times. They have played in various formations: 433, 4231, 3241, single and double midfielders, and they have never defeated us. Guardiola has been looking for tactics against us. , but I haven't found it yet. It's the last Champions League final. Everyone will seek stability, but based on my understanding of Guardiola, he may seek change!" Ten Hag said seriously, touching his chin.

Mitchell smiled: "Eric, you haven't formally reached an agreement with Guardiola, you said it as if you know him very well."

"I don't know his people, but I know his tactics very well!"

Time passed quickly, and it was already the day of the competition.

5 month 31 day.

Before the game, both teams released their starting lineups.

What is unexpected is that Guardiola formed a 4312 formation and did not play the midfielder. Yes, neither Rodri nor Fernandinho played.

This was indeed beyond everyone's expectations.

Ten Hag was also confused. He said to Mitchell: "Didn't Guardiola come up with some new tactics?"

Of course Mitchell wouldn't know.

But although Manchester City's starting lineup was a bit strange, it didn't affect anything.

The game is still going on smoothly.

"Dear fans and friends, welcome to tonight's live broadcast of the UEFA Champions League final! Now, let's enter this exciting game together. It's time for the players from both sides to enter the field. Let's take a look at the starting lineups of both sides. line-up."

"First, let's take a look at Manchester City's starting lineup. They arranged a 4312 formation, which is a bit unexpected. After all, coach Guardiola usually prefers to use the defensive midfielder to consolidate the control of the midfield. But tonight, He did not arrange for the midfielder to come on, which is indeed something that no one thought of before the game. At the goalkeeper position, Manchester City arranged for Ederson to come on. He is a very stable and excellent goalkeeper. We will look forward to him A great performance tonight.

"On the back line, from left to right are Zinchenko, Laporte, Stones and Walker. These four players are all very good defenders, and their tacit understanding and cooperation will be an important guarantee for Manchester City's defense. .In the three midfield positions, Foden is on the left. He is a treasure of Manchester City's youth training. He has excellent skills and broad vision. Bernardo Silva is on the right. He is a versatile player who can Capable of playing both midfield and forward positions, his flexibility and adaptability will be of great help to Manchester City. In the middle is Gundogan, who is the hub of Manchester City's midfield. His passing and organizational skills will be of great help to Manchester City. The offense plays a key role.

"On the offensive line, the attacking midfielder position is De Bruyne, who is the core of Manchester City's offense. His passing and shooting abilities will determine the quality of Manchester City's offense. The two forwards in front are Sterling and Mahrez. They are all very fast and technical players, and their breakthroughs and shooting will be the key to whether Manchester City can win tonight. However, Manchester City did not arrange a genuine center on the field."

"Manchester United has a 433 formation today. The goalkeeper is De Gea, the defense is Luke Shaw, Ruben Dias, De Ligt and Achraf from left to right, and the single midfielder is Thomas. , the central midfielder is Rice on the left, and De Jong is on the right. The left winger is Rashford, the right winger is Grealish, and the center forward is Link."

"The lineups of both sides today are a bit unexpected, but the real surprise is Manchester City. They did not send a positive center today, but this is not bad, because Guardiola has also made a forward-less formation before, but did not arrange for a defensive midfielder to play. It's really strange. Gundogan plays in the defensive midfielder position, but Gundogan's defensive ability is definitely not as good as the orthodox defensive midfielder. And Manchester United, in the past month or two, Manchester United basically played two types of football The formations, one is 4231 and the other is 3241. Basically, I have never played the 433 single defensive midfielder formation. However, 433 is often played by Manchester United in the first half of the season, so it is not very strange." Zhan Jun was still playing in the game. Before it started, I made some comments.

Zhang Lu then said: "Indeed, not arranging Rodri may be because he has returned from injury and cannot start, so he will be arranged as a substitute. But in this case, Fernandinho can be arranged in the starting lineup. Although Fernandinho Dinho's level has dropped a bit this season, but after all, his defensive ability is still there. If Gundo is arranged to play the midfielder position, I am very worried that after the game starts, Manchester City's backcourt will be robbed by Manchester United. After all, Manchester United's high position is too high. Outstanding."

"Anyway, the game is about to start. In the first half, Manchester City took the lead."

With the referee's whistle, the first half of the Champions League final officially began.

Manchester City's Sterling kicked the ball towards De Bruyne, and then he and Mahrez rushed forward.

Manchester City seemed to be attacking forward as a whole, but Manchester United quickly pressed forward.

Pressing high, De Bruyne passed the ball to Sterling, but as soon as Sterling got the ball, Rice rushed up and intercepted it.

Rice stole the ball and immediately sent it forward with a through ball.

It was given to Rashford on the left. Rashford immediately ran towards Walker after taking the ball. Walker did not retreat, but immediately rushed forward to grab the ball.

At this time, Rashford pulled the ball with his left foot and moved forward, trying to get rid of Walker, but failed to get rid of Walker and had to stop. At this time, Lin Ke's opponent had already reached the middle. Rashford observed After a moment, he knocked his left foot sideways.

Link blocked the ball with his right foot, stopped the ball, then moved forward, dodged Gundogan, and hit a long shot.

It was just a casual kick.

But the ball hit the post, and with a "bang" sound, Ederson broke into a cold sweat.

Although Manchester United failed to get a corner kick opportunity, this shot set the tone for the game.

Manchester City, which had no defensive midfielder, was able to penetrate the defense with a simple coordination from Manchester United.

Subsequently, Manchester City took a goal kick.

There is no high point in Manchester City's frontcourt to grab the ball, so Ederson can only pass the ball to the defender.

Of course, Manchester City's tactics originally require the goalkeeper to be involved in delivering the ball.

After Ederson handed the ball to Laporte, Manchester United's press immediately came up.

Laporte can only continue to play the ball and pass it to Gundogan in front of him. Naturally, he will not continue to cross or pass back to the goalkeeper. This will create a threat in front of the goal. He can only pass forward. This is also Part of Manchester City's tactical system.

So when Laporte passed the ball to Gundogan, everything was doomed.

Because Manchester United's frontcourt is staring at Gundogan. From the moment the entire Manchester United team knew about Manchester City's starting lineup, no need for Ten Hag to say it, everyone knew that the key figure in Manchester City today must be Gundogan. Staring at He just goes and grabs the ball.

And now, for the first time since the game started, Manchester City passed the ball to Gundogan from the backcourt. It would be stupid for Manchester United not to seize this good opportunity.

So, Lin Kedi took the lead and rushed forward. Originally, Lin Kedi's plan was to rush forward from the front. Gundogan would definitely distribute the ball to the midfielders on both sides. Then Rashford and Grali He will double-team him from both sides.

With such a tactic, Lin Kedi A went up, thinking that things would develop as he expected. What Lin Kedi did not expect was that Gundogan did not pass the ball, but took the ball and prepared to break forward.

This time it's even better.

Lin defeated the enemy in three steps and took two steps to reach Gundogan, and then successfully intercepted the ball with his opponent's foot.

After intercepting the ball, Lin immediately distributed it to Grealish on the right.

Then he rushed towards the penalty area. Grealish didn't stop after taking the ball, and immediately made a pass.

Lin Kedi rushed towards the penalty area and jumped high. The reactions of Laporte and Stones were not unpleasant. After seeing Lin Kedi rush into the penalty area, they immediately jumped up.

But neither of them could jump as high as Lin Kedi. Lin Kedi accurately grabbed the point and flicked the ball with his header.

A downward force was exerted on the ball, and it flew towards the lower right corner of the goal with a roaring wind.

Ederson was highly nervous. When he saw the ball coming, his first reaction was to rush into the corner.

But he didn't expect that Lin Kedi would hit the lower corner, and the ball didn't bounce off the ground, but flew directly towards the lower right corner of the goal.

By the time Edson reacted, it was already too late.

The ball flies into the net.

Manchester United lead 1-0.

"Wow! Only 5 minutes into the game, Lin Kedi intercepted the ball from Gundogan and distributed it to the wing, creating the first goal of the game! This is Lin Kedi's 22nd goal this season. The goal in the Champions League has tied Lin Kedi’s own record of 18 goals in the Champions League in a single season in the 19-22 season! And now the game has just begun, Lin Kedi still has a chance to surpass his own record!”

The Manchester United fans at the scene shouted wildly. The regret of not being able to witness the team win the Champions League last year has been made up for now. It seems that Manchester United's victory in the Champions League this year is already a certainty.

Manchester United fans were celebrating wildly, while Manchester City fans immediately began to cheer loudly for their players after a brief silence.

On the sidelines, Guardiola was having a heated discussion with his assistant.

Guardiola's assistant coach said to Guardiola very seriously: "If you change the midfielder now, we can stop the decline! If you insist on waiting until halftime before changing, we may-"

Guardiola frowned and felt complicated: "I know that it is the most rational choice to switch to a midfielder now, but have you thought about a question? If you want to switch, you can only switch to Ford. Our first time In the Champions League final, Foden was replaced in less than 20 minutes. How big a blow do you think it would have on him?"

The assistant coach was outspoken and anxious: "You didn't treat other players like this before! Now you have to make a decisive decision at this time!"

"Hey, let's try again. You can't change whenever you encounter setbacks."

The assistant coach knew that Guardiola had made a decision, and it would be difficult for him to change it no matter what he said.

But everything is changing on the court.

After the restart, Manchester City continued to attack, hoping to equalize the score as soon as possible.

During this wave of Manchester City's attack, Manchester United temporarily avoided the attack and retreated. Then when Manchester City attacked, Manchester United immediately began to press high.

Manchester City's frontcourt players are very capable of holding the ball, but after Manchester United's press came up, Manchester City's frontcourt attackers could only pass back, trying to reorganize the attack, and Manchester United's players were like a tide, you retreated , I will go.The space occupied by Manchester City players was immediately occupied by Manchester United players.

Manchester City players had no choice but to conduct in the backcourt and find passing paths.

Time passed by minute by minute.

In the 30th minute, Manchester United found another opportunity. The breakthrough point was indeed Gundogan. Manchester United drove straight in and broke through Gundogan. Then, Lin Kedi dribbled the ball to the penalty area and hit the Manchester City defense. Surrounded, a long shot missed slightly.

Although the shot was not on target, it still shocked the Manchester City players into a cold sweat. They all knew that if no substitutions were made, Manchester United would definitely continue to break through.

In the 42nd minute, Manchester United successfully intercepted the ball in the frontcourt. The ball was intercepted by Walker on the wing. Then, Rashford directly found Lin Ke with a cross.

Lin Kedi got the ball and faced Manchester City's first line of defense Gundogan in the middle.

In a very simple and crude way, Lin Kedi directly accelerated and sprinted to pass the German.

Subsequently, facing Laporte's attack, Lin Kedi ducked from an angle and shot another long-range shot.

This time the shot was on target, but it was saved by Ederson and the shot was slightly on target.

One shot missed, and the other was already on target. For Manchester United, the goal is getting closer and closer.

For Manchester City, the threat is getting bigger and bigger.

Finally, the game lasted until the end of the first half.

At halftime, Guardiola looked livid. Although after conceding the first goal in the first half, Manchester City did not concede a goal for almost 40 minutes. Judging from the score, it seemed that it was better than the previous games. Much better.

But for Guardiola to judge, this half was nothing short of crap.

Because in this entire half of the game, Manchester City did not have a shot. Yes, it was not that there was no shot on target, but not a single shot.This is simply outrageous!
And judging from the data at the end of the first half, Manchester City is lagging behind in all aspects. None of the data is close to Manchester United. This is something that has not been seen in the previous games.

This troubled Guardiola immensely.

This is the most important showdown. How could it be like this?

All this is caused by Guardiola not starting the defensive midfielder.

As for why he doesn't start as a defensive midfielder?
Why not start at center?
This is a question many fans have when they see the starting list.

Like domestic fans, as soon as they saw this starting lineup——

"Steady, steady. Manchester City couldn't beat Manchester United in the first place, but now they are still trying to survive without a waist. Aren't they looking for defeat?"

"It's really strange. There is no striker and no defensive midfielder. It's the Champions League final. Why does Guardiola have to reorganize it?"

Many fans are very confused. In fact, not only the fans are confused, but also the Manchester City coaching staff is confused.

Although Guardiola explained his reasons before the game, he wanted to play an offensive role and let De Bruyne play at the 10th position. Then Gundoan stepped in to attack, and Foden and Bernardo held back when defending. , plug in when attacking, so there are more attackers, which is a strange formation.

But judging from the performance in the first half, it was obviously a failure.

This season Manchester City often plays without a striker, and when they need to break through a dense defense, Gundogan's late insertion often plays a role in breaking the deadlock.However, Guardiola wants De Bruyne to play the real No. 10 position in this game, letting Foden, Gundogan, and Bernardo share the responsibilities of the defensive midfielder, but Foden and Bernardo are both pure goal scorers. , Gundogan is also a central midfielder whose offensive attributes are more prominent than his defensive attributes. When they are withdrawn, it directly makes it difficult to show their offensive strengths. The three offensive players cannot sweep or intercept in the midfielder position. Function, Manchester City's midfielder is almost undefended!
This is also the reason why Manchester City was beaten by Manchester United in the first half.

So at halftime, everyone thought Guardiola would switch to the midfielder.

Everyone felt that Guardiola would switch to the defensive midfielder at the beginning of the second half.

But Guardiola surprised everyone again. At the beginning of the second half, Guardiola made no substitutions.

At this moment, Manchester United's players immediately began to press forward.

Since you don't change people, then we'll take over!

As a result, Manchester United began to continue to attack.

The pace is very fast, and Manchester City can no longer defend it.

In the 55th minute, Grealish received the ball from the wing and suddenly cut inside, but was knocked down by Foden.

The referee immediately ran over and gave Manchester United a chance to take a free kick in the frontcourt.

The Manchester City players immediately began to protest, because the distance and position of this position from the goal are more suitable for taking free kicks, but the referee gave an order to let all Manchester City players leave their side.

Lin Kedi naturally stood in front of the penalty spot without hesitation.

Take a deep breath.

When Lin Kedi was retreating to measure the distance, he had a strange feeling in his heart.

He felt the ball was there.

Then, the whistle sounded, and Lin Kedi swung his arms and kicked the ball with his thighs.

Subsequently.

The ball goes in.

cheer.

celebrate.

All in one go.

"Lin Kedi! Scored twice! The 23rd goal! Lin Kedi surpassed his own record!"

"Manchester United is leading 2-0! If Manchester City doesn't change their defensive midfielder, I'm afraid they will continue to concede goals!"

Guardiola should understand this, but he has not made any move yet.

Instead, the first substitution adjustment was made.

In the 61st minute, Aguero came on and replaced Sterling.

Adjustments were made on the front line.

It wasn't until the 65th minute that Guardiola replaced Bernardo with Fernandinho.

In the 70th minute, Jesus was replaced by Mahrez.

But these three substitutions have nothing to do with the overall situation.

Manchester United also began to make substitutions after 70 minutes.

Guimarães, Bentancur and Richarlison came on respectively.

The score never changed.

However, Manchester City at least still had shots in the second half, and it would not be so ugly in terms of statistics.

But as time passed by, not only the fans of Manchester City, but also the players on the field of Manchester City roughly knew that there were not many opportunities.

Finally, the sign indicating 3 minutes of added time came out.

Although Manchester City's players are still running on the field.But it is already a mechanical movement.

Because time was running out and the ball was still under Manchester United's control.

"Beep--"

The referee blew the whistle to end the game.

"At the end of the game, Manchester United won this season's Champions League with an absolute advantage of 2-0, four crowns! Successfully defended the four crowns! This is definitely the first time in history!"

"Manchester United won the UEFA Champions League in the 2020-2021 season. They became the second team to successfully defend the Champions League after the reform! At the beginning of the season, when Lin Kedi said that he wanted to defend the quadruple crown, Although Manchester United had a strong army at that time, many people still would not believe Lin Kedi's heroic words, but now, at this moment when everything has been achieved, we must admire Lin Kedi's heroic words! We must admit that the current Lin Kedi The opponent is already a player of historical level, and everything he has done this season proves that the gap between him and Melo is only time!"

"Look at these statistics. He scored 32 goals and 64 assists in 30 games in the Premier League, 23 goals and 12 assists in the Champions League, and a total of 98 goals and 45 assists in the season. Lin is only two goals away from defeating the enemy in one season. Completed a double-100 record! Lin Kedi has broken too many records this season. This season is an absolutely great season for Lin Kedi and Manchester United!"

When the song "we are the champion" sounds.

Manchester United lifted the Champions League trophy high.

"we are the champion!"

Amid the cheers of the fans and under the fireworks and ribbons, the sight of Lin holding the championship trophy high will be engraved in the hearts of countless fans.

At this moment, Manchester United started a new dynasty. (End of chapter)