The Inter Milan players were warming up before the game.
"Juan!" Juan Mata shouted at Carlos. Juan Carlos turned his head and saw the football flying toward him. Carlos chose to try a long shot, but the ball was high and floated. It flew directly into the stands, which caused the Liverpool fans who had already entered the stadium to boo.
Carlos did not care at all. The young man, who was about to turn 21, had a big heart. The boos of the fans were far less irritating to him than the crazy honking of the car behind him.
"Hahaha." Mata laughed unceremoniously when he saw Carlos's shot hit the plane.
Carlos rolled his eyes and ignored it. He had been practicing long shots and had made progress. Of course, he did not know that it was due to the bonus of the skill card from manager Li Ang. However, most of Carlos's long shots were powerful shots. The football was like a cannonball. The speed of the ball was extremely fast and powerful. Such a long shot would either hit the plane, but as long as it hit the goal frame, it would be very threatening. However, Carlos's current level was still limited to close-range shots. Whether a volley shot that was above the knee could pose a threat to the opponent's goal depended on luck and luck.
Not far away, Inter Milan's goalkeeper, César, was practicing his quick reaction to turn around and save from the side. Balotelli was accompanying him in his practice. Mario did not make the list for the game. When the game started, he could only stay in the stands.
Balotelli played a trick. He crossed his legs and shot with a flower kick. This deceived César. He pounced in the opposite direction. However, the football did not enter the net. After the football bounced on the ground, it bounced over the crossbar and then landed on the net.
Banderas shook his head. Young players always liked to play such tricks to show themselves. In fact, in a real game, such technical moves were not practical. To put it bluntly, if the striker dared to choose a flower kick to shoot when facing the goalkeeper in the game, and the ball hit the goal, then everything would be good and he would win the praise of the media. However, if he did not hit the goal, then it would be terrible. Not to mention the media's criticism, at least Li Ang would be furious.
Diego Milito was also doing shooting practice to get a feel for it. Unlike Balotelli's fancy moves, Milito's shooting practice was very simple. He would shoot volleys, low shots, and occasionally one or two volleys or headers. The Argentine knew that for a striker, the most important thing was stability. In front of the goal, using the most suitable way to shoot the football into the opponent's goal was the most important job of a striker!
*****
Liverpool's players were also warming up in the other half of the field at this time. Unlike Inter Milan's goalkeeper, César, who was practicing his quick reaction to turn and side save, Liverpool's goalkeeper, Reina, was practicing to save high balls at this time. The rest of Liverpool's players were basically doing the traditional warm-up exercises: jogging, hooping, and dribbling.
"Hey, look at that shot!" Babel pouted at Inter Milan's side and said to Lucas, "That shot of his could shoot down a plane! It's far worse than you. "
"You're comparing Carlos to me?" Lucas pursed his lips and glanced over there. He seemed to be a little unhappy that Babel compared Carlos's shooting skills to his.
As he spoke, Lucas motioned for Babel to pass the ball to him. Then he volleyed the ball. The football flew beautifully into the net guarded by Reina. The latter gave Lucas a thumbs up. Lucas was good at long shots. The Liverpool fans in the stands saw this scene and also responded with a burst of applause.
"Did that guy do it on purpose?" Mata said, speaking up for Carlos.
"I've never been good at shooting," Carlos said as he looked coldly at Lucas, who was feeling proud of himself.
Mata laughed happily. He liked to fan the flames. He could guarantee that if that kid was in Liverpool's starting lineup today, Carlos would definitely teach that kid a good lesson.
The cheers of the Liverpool fans also attracted Li Ang's attention. He glanced at the blond Liverpool player.
"Lucas Leiva, the Brazilian player that Liverpool brought in last summer." Pablo Banderas said, "For today's game, Mascherano is suspended. Lucas is very likely to be in the starting lineup."
Li Ang nodded. Of course, he knew Lucas, the Brazilian Gerrard. In fact, in the tactical plan for today's game, there was also a plan for how Inter Milan would respond if Lucas was in the starting lineup.
In the summer of 2007, the Brazilian prodigy, Lucas Leiva, came to Melwood with the honor of being the MVP of the Brasileirão. He had a head of flowing blond hair and a slightly shy but confident smile. The Liverpool fans had high hopes for the self-satisfied Brazilian. When he was in Brazil, Lucas already had a nickname, "Brazilian Gerrard." It was said that this was one of the reasons why Liverpool took a fancy to Lucas and finally brought in the Brazilian.
After Lucas, who was originally the Brazilian Gerrard, came to Liverpool, he was transformed by manager Benítez from a former midfielder to an engineer midfielder. However, Li Ang knew more about this player. He knew that in fact, when Lucas became the MVP of Grêmio in the Brasileirão, he also appeared as a B2B in the midfield under certain circumstances. At that time, Lucas' characteristics were not only his European awareness, excellent tactical discipline, and good at plugging in from the back to shoot, but also his precise grasp of the timing of the steal. Coupled with his good athletic ability, in the larger space of the Brasileirão, Lucas could often be seen accurately stealing the ball from the opponent's feet and directly dribbling the ball to break the goal.
Li Ang once considered bringing in Lucas, but considering Inter Milan's non-European quota, he finally gave up. In the end, the Brazilian young player joined Liverpool according to the trajectory of history.
*****
However, the Brazilian young player's arrival at Liverpool did not seem to be the right time. At that time, Liverpool's control of the midfield was at its peak: Alonso's precise control of the flanks, coupled with Gerrard and Mascherano's physical and speed advantage to achieve the goal of advancing with the ball. In the defense, through the high position in the front field to suppress the opponent's defenders, coupled with the positioning of Alonso, Mascherano, and the defensive line to harvest the ball, they were extremely dominant in the competition for the midfield and the rhythm of attack and defense at that time.
So, under the classic midfield combination, what was Benítez's position for Lucas? While Muhamed Sissoko, who had left Liverpool for Barcelona during the winter transfer, had been put into cold storage by Benítez, Lucas had officially become a utility player who could rotate between the three midfielders. When Mascherano was absent, he was entrusted with an important role. The specific tactical arrangement was for the Spanish midfielder, Xabi Alonso, to block and dispatch, while Lucas would be in front of Alonso as a central midfielder to press, intercept and simply connect. When Alonso was absent, he would also stand in front of Mascherano to connect passes and wait for an opportunity to shoot. When Gerrard was absent, Benítez did not often use Lucas as a substitute for Gerrard. This was because Lucas's physique, skills and explosive power were not enough for him to play the role of an attacking midfielder in the Premier League. Benítez seemed to place more importance on his balance of attack and defense, and his ability to cut in and break the game by shooting from the back.
In short, Lucas was used by Benítez as a utility player, which was both lucky and sad for a young player. Fortunately, being a jack of all trades meant that you could get more opportunities and time to play. However, the sad thing was that this was very detrimental to the growth of young people. If you kept developing in so many ways, you would lose your own characteristics and even become a mediocre player in all aspects.
Lucas continued to show off his long shot footwork, which caused a burst of applause from the Liverpool fans.
"It's normal for young people to like to show off," said Banderas.
"It's good to like to show off." Li Ang said with a faint smile. He took a deep look at Lucas and a cruel smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
*****
Li Ang did not wait for the players to finish their warm-ups. He went back to the locker room early.
In the corridor of the Anfield locker room, Li Ang stared at the commemorative plaque. It was a commemorative plaque by the Scottish architect Archibald Leitch. It was the old man who designed most of the Premier League stadiums, such as Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Highbury, and so on.
Liverpool's visiting team locker room was more spacious. There were commemorative boards on the wall of their home victories over Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Roma, and other teams, which recorded the game times and summaries in detail.
It was a very unpleasant design. It was believed that these teams, which had been defeated by Liverpool, would be very angry when they saw these commemorative boards when they visited Anfield again.
The arrangement of the lockers in Anfield's visiting team locker room was similar to that of the home team's locker room. Since the beginning of the Shankly era, the layout of the goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, and striker seats from left to right had been maintained. This relatively fixed allocation method could eliminate the hierarchy system and allow the players to get along more harmoniously.
Li Ang did not have much dissatisfaction at this time. Anyway, these items, which were treasured by the Liverpool people to show off, had nothing to do with him. He appreciated the Liverpool people's approach and began to wonder if he should do the same in Inter Milan's locker room.
The players finished their warm-ups before the game and filed in.
Li Ang waited for everyone to quiet down before he began to speak.
"Using passes and techniques to tear apart the opponent's defensive line is our tactical advantage. We must make good use of it. Try to control the ball at your feet as much as possible. I don't want to see blind long passes and clearances. If the opponent forms a defensive advantage in a small area, it means that once we tear apart their encirclement, we can achieve a numerical advantage in another direction … "
"You have to be steady in your control of the ball. The Liverpool people will emphasize pressing. You have to be mentally prepared for this."
"Liverpool may send the young Brazilian, Lucas Leiva, in the midfield. I've already said about the targeted arrangement for this player before. Now I want to emphasize one more point. This player may be called Liverpool's weak link. So, what we have to do is to suppress him, make him panic, and when necessary, crush him!" Li Ang showed a "cruel" smile. "I believe Mr. Carlos will be very motivated by this!"
There was a burst of laughter in the stadium. With Mata's gossipy mouth, everyone knew that there was a guy named Lucas on the Liverpool side who deliberately shot in the air to make a dig at Carlos for hitting the plane.
*****
Later, Li Ang talked about some of the tactical details to pay attention to. Then he crossed his arms and looked at his players. "Are there any questions about the tactics? If there are, you can speak up. "
Everyone shook their heads, indicating that there was nothing to ask.
"Very good, it looks like everyone has no questions!" Li Ang said with a smile. "In fact, I don't think there will be any problems. I'm very glad that you are all players with a strong ability to understand. Well, high ball intelligence. That's the word, right?"
His words amused a lot of people.
"Some people say that Liverpool will create trouble for us. Some guys who are waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves are also clamoring. They are looking forward to our defeat at Anfield. Here, I want to say that these guys are destined to be disappointed because we are the strongest, and you are the best. The sweat on the training ground and the enthusiasm on the playing field have forged our glory! I have confidence in everyone, but — "Li Ang raised his voice.
"I still want to remind everyone to cheer up, have high morale, and don't give the opponent any hope! Remember, guys, let them despair. From the beginning of the game, control the rhythm of the game in your own hands! The strong are the most intolerant of failure, because failure is shameful! This sentence is even more so for the strong! Please remember this sentence, and then, after the ninety-minute game is over, leave Anfield with your head held high amidst the despair of the opponent! "
*****
Walking from the locker room to the field was Anfield's famous and extremely narrow players' tunnel. It was said that such a design was to put more psychological pressure on the away players.
Above the players' tunnel was the famous "This is Anfield" sign. The establishment of this sign began during Bill Shankly's era. The legendary manager of Liverpool in the 70s and 80s wanted to use this way to remind his players who they were playing for, and at the same time, to remind their opponents who they were fighting against. Many Liverpool players raised their hands and patted the sign before entering the field to seek good luck. It had almost become a tradition.
Every time the players passed through the tunnel to enter the field, they would always see the sign hanging there. In the 1980s, when Liverpool dominated the world, this sentence constantly reminded the frightened away players: This is your hell.
Li Ang led the coaching staff and substitutes through the players' tunnel. He stopped in front of the sign and took a deep look at the world-famous sign.
This is Anfield!
I am Li Ang!
I have come, I have conquered!
The supreme glory of the past, the glory of the past, in the face of today's powerful conquerors, the greatest contribution was to let the conquerors press the former noblewomen to the ground and conquer them!
Then, the China coach bowed slightly and passed through the narrow players' tunnel. In front of him was the narrow exit. Outside the exit, there was a hubbub of voices.
More than 50,000 Liverpool fans were singing in unison: You will never walk alone …
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