Santiago Bernabéu, the Temple of Football.
On the night of March 11th, the stars were shining brightly. The Bernabéu stadium was brightly lit, and the stadium was illuminated as if it was daytime.
When the players of Real Madrid and Liverpool walked onto the pitch, the most anticipated highlight of the outside world was Qin Xiong's return to the Bernabéu.
This did not create much of a commotion.
The emotions of the Real Madrid fans in the stands were relatively rational and restrained.
There was no fanaticism of reminiscing about the past, nor was there any targeted boos attacking Qin Xiong's return as an opponent.
This just reflected the different side of the Real Madrid fans.
They loved the club and wanted to see a high-level game.
For them, their mentality was more open-minded.
It was my fortune to get it, and it was my fate to lose it.
What left was what left. As long as it was not a player joining a mortal enemy, then everything could be accepted naturally.
Moreover, they now also had the players that the outside world thought were the best, such as Ronaldo and Kaka.
This atmosphere made Qin Xiong even happier.
He did not think that there was a grudge between him and Real Madrid. It was just fate that brought them together when they were together and separated when they were not.
The Real Madrid president, Florentino, sat in the box waiting for the game to start.
His expression was more dignified and he could not relax at all.
When Liverpool came to the Bernabéu with a 5: 3 lead, and when the Real Madrid people were looking forward to the birth of a miracle, Florentino could not be optimistic because as a leader, he always had to first think about how to deal with the defeat.
Real Madrid's top management would naturally think about how to build and develop the team once they were eliminated by Liverpool at the Bernabéu.
The first thing to bear the brunt was: who should be the scapegoat?
For the journey of the second generation of Galactica, if they could not soar, how to move forward with their head held high in the difficult world was a topic that could not be avoided. The problem had to be solved no matter how difficult it was.
Now, Florentino was like a ruler waiting for the judgment of fate. He could only see what kind of trajectory the wheels of reality would take before he could make new decisions.
No matter what, this was a competition where superstars gathered. Countless fans from all over the world were paying attention to it.
The magnificent Champions League theme song echoed in the Bernabéu stadium, indicating that the game was about to begin.
"Welcome to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. The second leg of the UEFA Champions League 18 finals will begin here. The La Liga powerhouse, Real Madrid, will be hosting the Red Army from the English Premier League, Liverpool. In the first leg of the game at Anfield, Real Madrid regrettably lost to Liverpool by 3: 5 in the away game. They want to advance at home today. They have to win by at least two goals over Liverpool to have any hope of making a comeback.
The good news was that the members of the two teams were very complete, and there was no shortage of soldiers or generals. This allowed the commanders of the two teams to not fall into a predicament when it came to arranging troops.
It was worth mentioning that the superstar Qin Xiong, who transferred from Real Madrid to Liverpool before the season, returned to the Bernabéu after a nine-month absence. He had won a lot of honors and titles for Real Madrid here. Today, he returned here as an opponent. No one knew how he would perform.
But Qin Xiong, who was jokingly called the "Master Killer" by Fleet Street, was definitely the top enemy that Real Madrid had to put first in their defense. Otherwise, Real Madrid would definitely regret it.
Well, let's take a look at the starting lineup of both sides.
Real Madrid's starting lineup: 433.
Goalkeeper: Casillas.
Defenders: Ramos, Pepe, Albiol, Arbeloa.
Midfielders: Las Diarra, Guti, Kaka.
Forwards: Ronaldo, Benzema, Higuaín.
Real Madrid obviously stepped up their offense today. They had to score goals at the Bernabéu, and more than one, so Pellegrini's move to step up the offense was not surprising.
Liverpool's starting lineup: 442.
Goalkeeper: Reina.
Defenders: Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio.
Midfielders: Lucas, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerard.
Forwards: Torres, Qin Xiong.
In fact, Liverpool's lineup was more like a 4312.
Lucas, Mascherano, and Alonso played as the three defensive midfielders, Gerard played as the central midfielder, and Qin Xiong and Torres played as the two forwards.
Comain removed Kuyt today and used the defensive midfielder, Lucas. It seemed that Comain also had some scruples about the game at the Bernabéu. He was afraid of Real Madrid's offense, so he further strengthened the midfield defense.
The game is about to start. Let's see who will advance to this season's Champions League quarter-finals between Real Madrid and Liverpool after 90 minutes! "
When Pellegrini saw Liverpool's starting lineup, he frowned.
Liverpool could recklessly go head-to-head with Real Madrid in Anfield.
But when they came to the Bernabéu, they clearly put on a defensive posture and counterattack posture!
This was naturally disadvantageous for Real Madrid.
Because Real Madrid first required them to attack, to attack wildly!
And at the Bernabéu itself, Real Madrid seemed to be on steroids and only had offense in their eyes!
With multiple factors, Real Madrid was most afraid of the opponent's counterattack.
Pellegrini could not imagine what kind of terrifying power Liverpool would show when they played counterattack.
He could not think of it because Liverpool had almost never played like this before!
Now, in order to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals, Liverpool wisely chose to play defensive counterattack in the away game.
The game began and Real Madrid played at the Bernabéu. At the beginning of the game, they accelerated the pace of the game to push the offense into Liverpool's danger zone to launch a threatening offensive.
In the second minute, Ronaldo received Kaka's pass from the left wing and dribbled the ball forward.
He also wanted to crush Glen Johnson, but Liverpool added a defensive midfielder today and did a better job of compressing the space in the backfield. Johnson would have Lucas by his side as a helper, so Johnson would not panic too much. Secondly, the space in front of the penalty area for Ronaldo to cut across would be greatly reduced.
Sure enough, Ronaldo dribbled the football into a dead end. He had to pass the ball back to Arbeloa at the back, and then Real Madrid made offensive adjustments.
Kaka wanted to organize and dispatch in the middle, but after half of the game, his space of movement was limited.
In the end, he could only pass the ball back to Guti.
If it were not for Gago's difficulty in taking on the big responsibility, the veteran Guti might not have appeared in the starting lineup.
This time, Guti sent a diagonal pass.
He wanted to create a chance for Higuaín to cut inside, but the football was intercepted by Skrtel in a scramble.
Real Madrid's positional play encountered great resistance at the beginning of the game.
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