Last summer, Inter Milan and Barcelona made a player swap deal with cash.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eto 'o swapped clubs.
It was a deal that left the outside world puzzled.
Eto 'o performed well in Barcelona. Although Ibrahimovic was also very good, it was nonsense to say that there was a huge gap between the two.
Moreover, Eto 'o had proven that he could succeed in Barcelona's system. Bringing in Ibrahimovic represented a risk.
It turned out that Ibrahimovic's transfer to Barcelona was not very successful so far.
The outside world always talked about the tactical "conflict" between Ibrahimovic and Messi. There were also conflicts between Ibrahimovic and Guardiola over work.
It was conceivable that Guardiola did not make the deal in a daze.
With Barcelona's success, the storm set off made many opponents fearful. Then, using tight defense to deal with Barcelona would become normal.
Barcelona could not often create opportunities for Eto 'o to counter offside through passing and cutting from behind as they did in the past. When breaking through the dense defense, Guardiola needed a center forward who could stand in the offensive danger zone and had a huge advantage as a fulcrum. This was also the condition for serving Messi.
In theory, Ibrahimovic was a very good candidate. His presence in the penalty area was very strong. What Guardiola did not expect was that Ibrahimovic was not the kind of player who was willing to serve others.
Others said that Messi was competing with Qin Xiong for the world's best player. Perhaps in Ibrahimovic's mind, he was the world's best player.
It was not new to talk about Ibrahimovic's arrogance. How could such an arrogant player serve others?
Because of this, Ibrahimovic was a player who needed others to serve him. His days in Barcelona were not easy. Even if his goal efficiency was good, when he transferred to Barcelona, he did not simply swap with Eto 'o. Instead, Eto' o and cash exchanged for Ibrahimovic, which meant that Ibrahimovic's value was much higher than Eto 'o's.
However, his good goal efficiency did not reflect the difference in value compared to Eto 'o's in the past. This naturally caused him to be pressured by public opinion and was not very happy.
When Ibrahimovic and Qin Xiong hugged, both of them had the emotion of not seeing each other for a long time.
"Zlatan, I'm glad to see you again, but you won't be in a good mood when you leave today."
Ivan could hear the subtext in Qin Xiong's words. He smiled and replied in Qin Xiong's ear, "Perhaps. In any case, you've become more and more arrogant these past few years, becoming more and more like me. Right now, I just want to tell you: Speak with your strength!"
Qin Xiong patted him on the back and said with a smile, "I've always spoken with my strength. Although today is a game between Liverpool and Barcelona, my opponent is not you, Zlatan. You shouldn't have gone to Barcelona. In Barcelona, you will never be the king. You know who my opponent is."
"Aren't you afraid I'll beat you up?"
"You have to beat me first. Do you want to go to the boxing gym to train?"
"There will definitely be a chance."
After Ibrahimovic and Qin Xiong let go of each other, he looked at Qin Xiong with some reluctance in his eyes as he walked to the front of the Liverpool team. The person standing parallel to Qin Xiong was the king of Barcelona: Messi!
The two men tacitly turned their heads to look at each other, nodded to each other, and then withdrew their gazes. At the same time, the corners of their mouths rose slightly. In a flash, a strong fighting spirit rose in them at the same time!
This was a real battle between kings, a battle between superstars!
Under the lead of the referee team, the players of the two teams walked into Anfield. The theme song of the Champions League echoed in the stadium.
"The first leg of the Champions League 14 final will be played at Liverpool's home ground, Anfield!
Last season's Champions League champion, Barcelona, will challenge Liverpool in the first leg. This is a battle between the two favorites to win the title this season.
Liverpool has been reborn this season. They are on the verge of winning the title in England's top domestic league. In the Champions League, they eliminated the Champions League's ten-time champion, Real Madrid, with a thrilling score of 10: 3!
The two teams may have met too early, but this made the fans feel even more excited. Liverpool's attention has skyrocketed!
Let's take a look at the starting lineup of both sides.
Liverpool's starting lineup: 442.
Goalkeeper: Reina.
Defenders: Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio.
Midfielders: Mascherano, Alonso, Lucas, Gerard.
Forwards: Qin Xiong, Torres.
Comain's lineup today was relatively conservative. Kuyt sat on the substitutes' bench and the midfield was a tough defensive combination in a small diamond shape. It was foreseeable that Liverpool would rely on Qin Xiong and Torres to charge in front. The heavy responsibility of offense was handed over to these two players.
Barcelona's starting lineup: 433.
Goalkeeper: Valdés.
Defenders: Alves, Puyol, Pique, Maxwell.
Midfielders: Keita, Xavi, Iniesta.
Forwards: Messi, Ibrahimovic, Pedro.
Barcelona still adopted the 433 formation today. Guardiola repeatedly emphasized that Barcelona's strong point was their technical and tactical system. However, Barcelona's performance this season was not as brilliant as last season. Perhaps the fine-tuning was not as smooth as the ideal plan.
In any case, let's see how the two teams perform in the game. "
After the pre-match kickoff ceremony, the battle between the two teams began.
Barcelona kicked off first. With the cheers of the Anfield Red Army fans, the game began.
Comain looked at ease on the sidelines. Barcelona and Real Madrid had different styles after all.
In particular, the gap in strength was still very big. In terms of the team's characteristics, Barcelona also focused on oppressive offense, but their ability to control the game situation was definitely a hundred times stronger than Real Madrid.
Therefore, even at home, Comain still adopted the tactical strategy of defensive counterattack.
After the game began, the audience could see that Liverpool's overall formation was relatively contracted. The rear defensive line retreated to defend near the penalty area, and the midfield adopted a strategy of frantic pressing. The key area of pressing was in the area forty yards away from the goal. This could prevent the defensive formation from being torn apart by Barcelona's skillful passing and cutting attack.
Barcelona adopted a stable tactical strategy at the beginning of the game. They did not let the Red Army players touch the football once in the first three minutes of the game, and they did not create any shooting opportunities. This caused boos to ring out in Anfield Stadium.
The Red Army fans were not interested in Barcelona's technical and tactical play at all. They thought that Barcelona's football was a lullaby that only made people sleepy!
The fans shouted in the stands, asking Barcelona to shoot if they had the ability! Shoot! Shoot!
Sometimes Barcelona did seem to be a little obsessed with passing and control, which caused Barcelona's godfather, Cruyff, to criticize the team's lack of desire to shoot.
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