Football’s First Defender

This is a very crucial game for Liverpool.

In the home-to-away game, the team that plays first at home in the two rounds of the Champions League knockout round must still be at some disadvantages.

The most Liverpool can do in the first round at Anfield is to try their best to win the game and expand the score as much as possible.

The second round goes to the Allianz Arena, which is definitely one of the most difficult home courts in Europe.

"The whistle blew, the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, the match between Liverpool and Bayern Munich officially kicked off."

In this game, the Liverpool players definitely put out 200% of their mentality, and they also want to overthrow Bayern at home.

Liverpool's iconic frontcourt press this season was naturally used at the beginning.

Without any tentative style of play, Liverpool wanted to directly "fight the bayonet" with Bayern from the beginning to take advantage of the momentum.

Bayern under Guardiola's coaching, although with strong support like Lewandowski joining, the reform of ball possession tactics has been implemented smoothly, but it is also not perfect.

Bayern's most serious problem at present is actually that the players in individual positions of the team are a little too old.

Just looking at the average age of the team, Bayern has no problem, but as far as the actual situation is concerned, Bayern's average age is lowered by many young talents and future stars.

Among the players who really play the main role, there are several players who have almost passed their real peak period, or are at the end of their peak period.

For players over 30 years old, even though modern medical conditions are much more scientific and developed than in the past, it is undeniable that most players still have the risk of falling off a cliff in terms of game status and physical functions.

As for Bayern players, there are still many key positions, and the players are all around the age of 30.

Franck Ribery, Harvey Alonso, and captain Lahm who started this game are already veterans.

Although they have rich game experience and a strong overall view, the decline in physical function is still very obvious.

Franck Ribery may still be able to show off his courage on the offensive end, and he is still a good guy when attacking from the wing, but on the defensive end, he is obviously more than capable.

Bayern's defense almost always relies on the suppression of offense to make up for the lack of overall defensive strength. In such a situation, it is okay to face some weak teams, but it is very difficult to face some top European teams. It is possible to suffer.

The main offensive aspect of Liverpool's positional battle formulated before the game is actually on Ribery's side. On the one hand, Liverpool must focus on Bayern's defensive ribs. Use your own offense to try to pin Ribéry on the sidelines in Bayern's half to ease the possible impact on Flanagan.

The direction of Liverpool's secondary attack is actually the central area.

Although Lahm is a defensive midfielder from a full-back, he still does not lack speed, and Harvey Alonso, as a meritorious player for Liverpool, is still old and strong, but it is undeniable that no matter how much experience he has, without enough physical support, Liverpool's young players can still use their powerful impact to find opportunities in the middle.

However, the field is changing rapidly, and Liverpool's offense has not really started, and a big gift has been sent to Liverpool.

Bayern took the lead in the first half, and Guardiola's dream is to use Bayern's huge resources to recreate a Barcelona dream team.

For this reason, Guashuai paid a lot of money to buy the "perennial sick" Thiago, adjusted Lahm's position, and also recruited the meritorious player Xavi Alonso of the rival Real Madrid, just to create a world-class pass control midfield.

Facts have proved that Bayern's pass control is doing well, but in the face of the opponent's strong and purposeful impact, Bayern is not doing very well.

This season, Bayern's ball possession tactics are actually quite simple, so single that it gives Liverpool players the opportunity to make targeted arrangements after detailed understanding off the field.

Harvey Alonso, as a typical defensive midfielder, is responsible for playing the ball in the delayed position in today's Bayern pass control system.

Such an obvious arrangement is also to give full play to the advantages of Alonso's long pass, and also to avoid more pressure from the opponent.

Guardiola deliberately dragged Alonso's position to the back, close to the front of the penalty area line, and the two central defenders would pull away from the left and right at that time, allowing Alonso to open up the passing space and prevent Liverpool's The pressing worked.

It's just that the plan can't keep up with the changes.

Many unexpected factors in the game will be intertwined to form an irresistible factor of manpower.

Under Liverpool's fierce press, after Thiago received the ball in the middle, he had no room to advance and could only choose to pass the ball back quickly.

Harvey Alonso responded right in front of the penalty area.

This kind of response passes the ball back from the middle, and then gives the ball to Neuer further back, or passes the ball to Boateng on the left, or even makes a smash by himself, after dunking the defender, he takes it forward. There is a lot of room for choice.

It's just that, watching Sterling rushing over quickly, while lamenting the ability of the young players to run on the court, Alonso also ruled out the idea of ​​dribbling himself.

After stopping the ball, Alonso was ready to pass back to Boateng on the side. If he passed back to goalkeeper Neuer, Alonso was afraid that he might be overtaken by the fast horse Sterling.

However, the moment the ball stopped, Alonso's heart skipped a beat.

What is home field advantage means that as the home team, you can train on a field over time and know the specific conditions of the field and possible problems.

And the visiting team, in the away game, is of course bright and smeared. The so-called stepping training is more about stepping on the field to adapt to the opponent's home turf. It is impossible to be detailed and clear about the ground conditions of each area.

Compared with the Allianz Arena, Liverpool's turf is mowed at a higher height, and the ground conditions are naturally very different from Bayern's familiar stadium.

And Thiago's pass, maintaining the inertia of the past, fast, accurate, and ruthless, this time he was pitted by Liverpool's grass for Alonso.

Alonso has finished stopping the ball. Just before stopping the ball, the ball quickly wiped the ground and jumped irregularly. As a result, Alonso did not stop the football immediately.

"not good!"

Although Alonso reacted immediately, readjusted, and prepared to block Sterling with his back and complete the clearance.

But Sterling's speed is too fast.

Immediately stepped forward to form a press on Alonso.

Sterling is young and full of explosive power. He is not afraid of physical confrontation during the training of the Premier League.

Sterling stepped forward to press fiercely, directly to the body, to bully an "old man" like Alonso.

Alonso's back did not block Sterling, but was rushed by Sterling from the side.

The referee didn't blow the whistle!

Just like that, Sterling snatched the ball from Alonso's feet abruptly in front of the penalty area, and Alonso, after the confrontation, had suffered a loss and fell directly to the ground, staring at him The back of Sterling ahead...

Sterling confronts Neuer.

As the "guard", Neuer has already attacked.

Sterling vs. Neuer.

However, although Sterling may have poor shooting skills, Sterling, who has just entered the penalty area, has enough space to handle the ball.

Directly forcibly changing direction, accelerating laterally to lead the ball, Sterling wanted to avoid Neuer's defense, and then tried to hit an empty goal.

And Neuer's forward momentum was already unstoppable. Neuer, who couldn't keep his forward leaning body, spread his legs desperately, trying to touch the ball at Sterling's feet first.

The result was that the ball did not touch, but Sterling was thrown to the ground directly.

"Beep beep—"

The whistle blew, and the referee pointed to the penalty spot, not just the penalty. This time Neuer's foul may directly constitute a "red dot package". In any case, it must be a fact that Bayern suffered a heavy blow at the beginning !