Real Madrid came to Milan with a mournful attitude - after losing to Inter Milan at home, their chairman resigned, and now the vice-chairman is temporarily in charge of Real Madrid. They will wait until the end of the season to run for the chairman, and in that game After the defeat, they also performed poorly in the three rounds of the league. Although they defeated Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the Madrid derby, they lost to Mallorca, and then were tied by Valencia. They only won 10 points in the three rounds. Four points, already nine points behind Barcelona, ??missing out on the league title for three consecutive years seems to have become a certainty
However, Dick will not underestimate Real Madrid just because of this. The centipede will never die. A strong team like Real Madrid cannot be killed casually, so despite the obvious advantage, he still sent out a team in this game. He lost all his main players - the knockout round is not a group stage. No matter how big the advantage is, you have to deal with it carefully. In the history of the Champions League knockout rounds, there is no shortage of people who achieved enough advantages in the first round but were overturned by the opponent because they failed to concentrate in the second round. Examples are common.
It's just that the advantage they gained is indeed huge, and after concentrating their attention, they did not give Real Madrid too many opportunities. Although Inter Milan, which mainly focused on defense, was scored by Baptista with a header. , but Sneijder's direct free kick also scored a goal for them. Inter Milan tied with Real Madrid at home and entered the quarterfinals of this Champions League!
Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Juventus in Serie A, Barcelona and Villarreal in La Liga, Arsenal in the Premier League, Benfica in the Portuguese Super League, and Lyon in Ligue 1 make up the top eight of this Champions League. In the knockout rounds that followed, Inter Milan had pretty good luck. They did not encounter the other two opponents in this league, nor did they encounter strong teams like Barcelona and Arsenal-Villarreal from La Liga. became their opponents in the quarter-finals.
After the draw came out, Inter Milan fans rejoiced. In their view, even Real Madrid, second in La Liga, was easily defeated by them, let alone Villarreal - although Villarreal Yal finished third in La Liga last season, but this season their performance in the league has been affected, and they are now only ranked seventh. Of course, this also means that their attention is more on the Champions League. Relatedly, they surprisingly defeated Manchester United in the group stage, leaving the Red Devils at the bottom of the group. They failed to enter the knockout rounds for the first time since they failed to qualify in the 1994-95 season. In the knockout rounds, Villarreal Yal struggled to draw 3-3 with their opponents in two rounds, and advanced to the quarter-finals with a 2-2 away draw. Compared with Inter Milan's performance, they were still much worse. of.
Even if Inter Milan is in a disadvantageous situation by playing home games first and then away games on the schedule, given our strength, what does this disadvantage mean? Just beat Villarreal at home! ¡ª¡ªInter Milan fans think so.
In the other three games, Juventus faced Arsenal, the only young team in the Premier League, and it was a close match. In the other two games, whether it was AC Milan versus Lyon or Barcelona versus Benfica, they had a great chance of winning - Inter Milan and AC Milan. And Barcelona only entered the quarter-finals after defeating strong teams in the quarter-finals. As compensation, they also encountered relatively weak opponents in the quarter-finals. This is also a feature of the Champions League, and Juventus The opponents between Sri Lanka and Arsenal in the quarter-finals were relatively weak, and it became natural for them to encounter strong opponents in the quarter-finals.
The other two teams in the half zone where Inter Milan is located are Juventus and Arsenal. If they can pass Villarreal, then they will face the winner of Juventus and Arsenal¡ª¡ª Serie A is already looking forward to the situation where three teams will encircle Barcelona
However, Dick would not be so optimistic. He knew that the Inter Milan team in history was eliminated by Villarreal. It was also after playing against Villarreal that Inter Milan fell into a trap in the Champions League. He started a cycle of excellent results in the league, but started to feel weak as soon as he reached the knockout stages of the Champions League, until the season when he won the Triple Crown - even though the Inter Milan he led was stronger than the one led by Mancini in history. He has learned a lot, but facing such an opponent, he cannot take it lightly.
Villarreal is a dark horse. The characteristic of a dark horse is that it does not seem to be very famous, but it is quite powerful. Only in this way can it have the true qualities of a dark horse. This season is the best performance of Villarreal in history. In the season of , they entered the Champions League semi-finals. Because Riquelme failed to score a penalty kick, they missed the opportunity to enter the finals. Arsenal, who defeated them to enter the finals, only lost to Barcelona, ??which was a pity. If No matter how lucky Villarreal is, they are fully capable of hitting the championship. Facing such a team, it is absolutely impossible to win the championship.Not as easy as it looks.
It¡¯s just that the game against Villarreal is half a month later, and now Dick¡¯s focus is still on the league.
Over the weekend, Inter Milan ushered in the 30th round of the game. Their opponent was Lazio - Lazio's performance this season was average. The serious financial crisis allowed them to continue to streamline their lineup and save money. Under such circumstances, the players Their performance is naturally not particularly good. Now they rank ninth with 42 points, a full 28 points less than Inter Milan. They were always Inter Milan's nemesis before, and it seems that they can no longer become Inter Milan's opponent.
However, in the first round of the match, due to Dick's suspension, Lazio drew with Inter Milan at home, giving Inter Milan their longest three consecutive draws this season. In this game, Inter Milan had already I can't afford it.
Because the game was played in midweek, Dick also made some fine-tuning in the league. Goalkeeper Cesar, defenders Maggio, Chiellini, Cannavaro and Zanetti, midfielders Zanetti and Yaya Toure, Perrotta and Figo, the strike partner is Cruz and Toni.
Figo, who has performed well recently, continued his good form. He took the lead in scoring for Inter Milan with a free kick in the 37th minute. However, Lazio soon equalized the score with Rocchi, and after the start of the second half , Dick began to make consecutive substitutions. Cruz, who was not performing well, and Figo, who was in declining physical fitness, were replaced by Di Natale and Stankovic, while Tony showed his excellent form. He scored his 26th goal of the season with a header from inside the penalty area, and substitute Di Natale made it 3-1 in the 71st minute.
This victory allowed Inter Milan to continue to chase behind Juventus - Juventus defeated Livorno in this round and continued to lead Inter Milan by one point.
However, the most eye-catching thing about this game was Figo's goal - the reason is very simple. Figo's free kick was the 100th league goal scored by Inter Milan this season!
In the previous 29 games, Inter Milan has scored 99 goals. Although Inter Milan's number of goals has dropped after the winter break, it still maintains an average of nearly three goals per game. Goal scoring rate, after this game they have scored 102 goals, over 100 goals for two consecutive years!
There are still eight rounds of games left before the end of the league. Is it possible for Inter Milan to break Turin¡¯s record of 125 goals? You must know that when Turin set this record, they played forty games in a season, while Inter Milan only played thirty-eight!
Eight games, a gap of 23, that is to say, if Inter Milan can once again achieve an average goal rate of three goals per game in these eight games, it will be able to break the goal record set by Turin!
"Being able to score such a number of goals for two consecutive years is obviously something to be proud of. It proves that our offense is starting to become betterBreaking Turin's record? It's not sure yet, and we don't know either. I will do things that affect the Champions League in order to barely break this record. For me, catching up with Juventus is the most important thing now.¡±
Dick said at the press conference after the game, but many reporters also lamented that Inter Milan has now scored 73 points in the league. In a league with only 34 rounds, such points are enough to win. When it comes to the league championship, Inter Milan has scored so many points in only thirty rounds, but it is still only ranked second. Juventus's ability to grab points this season is indeed very fierce
"The next round of the league will be a watershed. I am confident that I can win this league while maintaining more physical fitness. What about Juventus?" Dick began to continue to provoke Juventus.
This midweek is a rest period, and after the weekend league games, Inter Milan and Juventus will both face Champions League matches. Juventus will obviously have a more difficult time against Arsenal. Dick dares to say this, but It's not aimless - and Juventus can't refute it. Although Juventus's opponents in this round are stronger than Inter Milan's opponents, Inter Milan's opponents in the last round were stronger than Juventus. Who makes it? Why did Juventus have such a difficult time facing Werder Bremen?
After a week of rest, Inter Milan and Juventus ushered in their respective opponents.
This round of Inter Milan is an away game against Parma, while Juventus is at home against Roma, which has been in very good form recently.
Seeing this matchup, you can understand why Dick was so confident and provocative. Roma is now ranked fifth, only one point behind Fiorentina, who is ranked fourth. They had previously beaten Inter Milan at home and could only win. With the goal of keeping the tie, we are about to face the Champions League away challenge.??Can Juventus in the Arsenal match, even at home, be able to defeat Roma and maintain their advantage?
The results of this round of the league are very disappointing to Juventus fans.
Although Capello did not stay in this game and sent out all the main players, they still failed to win Roma at home. After Roma blocked Inter Milan, they also blocked Juventus, showing a touchstone. style!
Inter Milan performed well against the tenth-ranked Parma. After conceding a goal first, they relied on goals from Adriano, Cruz and Yaya Toure to defeat them 3-1. He defeated his opponent, successfully surpassed Juventus by one point, and climbed to the top of the standings!
"It is a wonderful thing to be at the top of the standings at this time. Our advantage is unshakable. In the next games, we will expand our lead even more." Dick said after the game. said with a smile at the press conference.