In order to better face Liverpool, Bosque did not send Qin Xiong and Raúl in the 26th round of La Liga on the weekend. Instead, Higuaín and Huntelaar started.
In the past ten days, Bosque had his own ideas on how to transform the team in the face of the predicament, but there was too little time left for him. Coupled with the pressure of the competition schedule and the external environment, Real Madrid's transformation lacked time to adapt.
Atlético Madrid came to the Bernabéu aggressively. The derby could not be used to experiment with new tactics. The consumption would be huge. Three days later, Real Madrid would travel to Liverpool.
Atlético Madrid imitated the defensive tactics of Liverpool and RCD Espanyol. They placed a heavy force in the midfield to carry out a frantic encirclement and suppression, trying to make Real Madrid unable to gain a foothold in the midfield.
Bosque foresaw that Atlético Madrid would line up like this. Real Madrid played extremely simple and rough, and even lost some of the Spanish giants' style of play that pursued delicate technical colors.
At the end of the game, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid tied 1: 1. The two teams shook hands and made up.
Real Madrid had three consecutive draws in the Champions League and Premier League. Barcelona stopped their decline in this round by winning 2: 0 against Athletic Bilbao at home, extending their lead over Real Madrid to four points.
Real Madrid had a Champions League life and death game in front of them. The failure to win the Madrid derby put Bosque under huge public pressure after the game.
Even the president, Bosque, was quite critical of Bosque, but he did not dare to easily say harsh words about changing the manager.
Bosque did not even know if he could continue to sit in the chairman's seat in the summer. At this time, he had no prestige at all and did not have enough social connections. He could fire Bosque, but it was absolutely impossible to find a manager who could convince the public.
Real Madrid parachuted into Liverpool on March 9.
Things had changed with the passage of time. When they visited Anfield again a year later, it was as if the stars had changed. Real Madrid's momentum and Liverpool's momentum were diametrically opposite. The situation was reversed. It was Real Madrid who went to war with the momentum of a mourning army.
When the Real Madrid players came out with serious expressions, the Liverpool manager, Benítez, stared intently at every Real Madrid player who walked out of the players' tunnel.
He wanted to confirm if the information he received was accurate.
Real Madrid's starting lineup for this game was unexpected.
If that was true, then he was not wrong. Bosque's formation should have changed.
When he had a clear look at the 11 players in the starting lineup for Real Madrid, Benítez returned to the technical area and sat down as usual.
Real Madrid and Liverpool began the kickoff ceremony for the Champions League game amidst the momentum of the packed Red Army fans in Anfield.
"Welcome to Anfield, the home of Liverpool in England. The second leg of the 2008-2009 season's Champions League 18 finals between Real Madrid and Liverpool will be played here.
In the first leg of the game, Liverpool played to a 2: 2 draw with Real Madrid. Liverpool, who had the advantage of two goals as the away team, moved to Anfield to play at home. The probability of advancing to the Champions League's top eight was very high.
What would happen in the 90-minute game left for the defending champions, Real Madrid?
Today, Bosque's starting lineup and lineup had changed.
Now, I will introduce the starting lineup of both sides.
Liverpool's starting lineup: 4231.
Goalkeeper: Reina.
Defenders: Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio.
Midfielders: Kuyt, Mascherano, Gerard, Alonso, Riera.
Striker: Torres.
Liverpool's starting lineup was unchanged from the last game. This was also Liverpool's strongest lineup this season.
Real Madrid's starting lineup: 4231.
Goalkeeper: Casillas.
Defenders: Ramos, Pepe, Cannavaro, Heinze.
Midfielders: Robben, Diarra, Raúl, Qin Xiong, Snede.
Striker: Higuaín.
Real Madrid withdrew Raúl to play as the attacking midfielder or the shadow striker today. The arrowhead attacking player was the Argentinian youngster, Higuaín. The duo in the middle of the midfield was Diarra and Qin Xiong.
I don't know if Bosque's lineup will be able to reverse the unfavorable situation for Real Madrid.
Well, the game is about to start. Let's wait and see. "
Bosc made a change in the starting lineup today, but the change in formation did not mean much.
But the control in each area was adjusted.
Among them, Qin Xiong's withdrawal to the midfield as the offensive commander was the most obvious change.
Guti was old and Gago was still young. At this moment, the only way Box could think of was to let Qin Xiong return to the midfield as the commander!
This might be the most intuitive way to improve Real Madrid's control in the midfield.
The game began.
Real Madrid immediately launched an attack from the start.
Qin Xiong dribbled to the right flank after receiving Higuaín's return pass.
In the process of dribbling, he dodged Torres's pressing. When Gerard and Riera formed a double-team defense, he passed the ball diagonally to Robben in front of the right flank. After the ball was passed, Qin Xiong immediately ran in the opposite direction to the middle. After Robben's cross pass reached Qin Xiong's feet, Qin Xiong suddenly sent a straight pass close to the ground.
The football rolled from between Mascherano and Alonso to behind Higuaín.
Higuaín did not have good control of the ball under Carragher's pressing, but he managed to pass the ball back to Raúl.
Raúl then passed the ball to Qin Xiong, who ran to the left position in front of the penalty area.
Arbeloa and Mascherano came together to defend against Qin Xiong, and Qin Xiong leisurely sent a straight ball in the same place!
Snede cut into the penalty area from behind Arbeloa!
He and Qin Xiong's passing and running coordination was seamless. Snede did not stop the ball after he charged into the penalty area and took advantage of the situation to volley with his right foot!
Reina was well prepared and blocked the ball out of the sideline after pouncing.
Anfield Stadium reverberated with the Liverpool fans' horrified uproar.
Real Madrid's offensive fluidity was obviously different from the last game.
It was smoother and more natural!
Qin Xiong calmly ran to take the corner kick. He knew that the game was very difficult, but first of all, he could not have too much psychological pressure. That would only negatively affect his play.
After Qin Xiong took the corner kick, Liverpool's Agger headed the ball to lift the siege.
Alonso passed the ball to Gerard with a header outside the penalty area.
It was obvious that Liverpool's main tactical idea in this game was defensive counterattack!
They did not need to confront Real Madrid head-on. They took advantage of Real Madrid's mentality of needing to score and believed that the opportunity would come at the right time.
Gerard looked back at the situation in the front field. He saw Torres run out of a gap and did not hesitate to pass the ball to Torres's feet.
When Torres controlled the ball in the front field, the eyes of all the Red Army fans in Anfield became heated.
They shouted to cheer for the Holy Boy Torres and encouraged him to wreak havoc on Real Madrid's defensive line!
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