In the early morning of February 17, Beijing time, the Champions League quarterfinals were played twice. Liverpool won 2-0 away to Inter, with Char khanoglu firing from a tight angle over the crossbar, firmino and Salah scoring goals. In the other match, bayern drew 1-1 away to Red Bull Salzburg thanks to Comand's goal in the 90th minute.
How did your home team perform today?
Inter Milan 0:2 Liverpool
In the 2010-11 season, Tottenham Hotspur under Redknapp Sr. beat Inter 3-1 in the group stage, and in the first round of the knockout round, they beat AC Milan 1-0 in San Siro to achieve a double-win against Milan. After 11 years, once again a Premier League team has embarked on this track. In the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final this morning, Liverpool, who made a strong start, won Inter 2-0 away from home, counting the double kills against Milan in the group stage, the Reds, who won seven consecutive Champions League games, also broke the team history record with three consecutive away wins against Serie A teams.
"This Liverpool team is no longer the same team it was a few months ago. Because Liverpool's goalkeeper has been their best player in every recent game, it speaks volumes about their current defensive performance. Liverpool have weaknesses, but that's true of every team. "Before the game, Capello poured cold water on Liverpool, who were in a hot foreign state, but Alisson did not undergo much testing this game. In the first half, inter Milan was not passive, and they did not have many troops in the front, and several quick attacks were quite threatening. In addition to Lautaro's arcing shot deflected in the opening, Charhanoglu's hit of the goal frame scared the away team into a cold sweat.
After the unsuccessful start, the home team that contracted in time was quite patient in the maneuver. And Liverpool on the side of more to seek the surprise of attack: Thiago's long-range shot, Mane's header stealing point is not a routine routine, and Alexander Arnold, who has assisted several times, although the threat of free kicks is not small, but the space behind him also gives Inter the opportunity, fortunately, Van Dijk from time to time to make up for the right side, the Dutchman who has not been once in the whole game has maximized the safety of the defense.
Despite the slight advantage, it is clear that this is one of the few well-researched and highly targeted 45 minutes of Liverpool's strong conversation this season. Inter's tightening of the fence of the three centre-back system, so that the away team that sent four forwards did not turn the numerical advantage into an opportunity advantage, while Mane, who received a more ample rest after the Africa Cup, continued the blandness of the club, and Jota was replaced at half-time without an advantage in the confrontation and without speed.
Compared with Milan, who lacked experience in the group stage and Atletico Madrid, who lacked morale, Inter was obviously the hardest bone for Liverpool to gnaw so far in the foreign war, and the game came to about 1 hour, and Liverpool, whose concentration had declined after experiencing a vicious battle, was almost attacked by the opponent's group counterattack. After defusing Perisic's cross straight to the front of the goal, Van Dijk shouted twice to Arnold, who had repeatedly lost his position, and the Dutchman's face was full of anxiety.
However, Inter's tactical suppression, accompanied by a decline in physical fitness, gradually became inadequate, and Liverpool, although it failed to break the deadlock, actually paid the same degree of diligence and investment: In the first half, Fabinho alone regained the ball 10 times, and newcomer Konat actually ranked second in the team in the entire running distance. As the game entered the finale, the Reds, with greater fitness and concentration, finally saw the dawn of victory: Firmino received Robertson's corner kick and rubbed it, and Handanovic, who had been crouching at the back point and moving to the front goalpost, could not turn back, and the ball fell into the far net. Since the April 2019 match against Porto, the Brazilian has scored another header in 22 months, and 18 Champions League goals have equalled Ronaldinho.
What helped Liverpool seal the victory was still the set-piece: seven minutes later, Liverpool's free-kick on the right was opened and passed continuously in front of the penalty area, and the patient away team passed to the far point after three backwards. Among the defenders gathered in the box, Handanovic did not see Salah with a low shot at all, and neither goalkeeper completed the save, but the difference was that Liverpool completed 2 shots on target. Egyptian strikers have scored 33 goals in their first 50 Champions League games, with only Cristiano Ronaldo (51 goals) and Levan (36 goals) scoring more goals in a team's first 50 Champions League games than Salah. "Pharaoh" scored away from home in eight consecutive Champions League games, and Liverpool also turned the tide.
'Liverpool are rewarded far more than they performed. After the game, milito, the legendary goalscorer who led Inter to lift the Big Ear Cup 12 years ago, was extremely sorry for the loss of his old club. From the perspective of the main play alone, the performance of Inter's core players is not worse than that of Liverpool, Shkrinial's decision is no less significant than Van Dijk, and Charhanoglu almost allows Inter to see the turning point closest to victory. However, the Nerazzurri, which is highly dependent on veterans, must also face the inability to break the front led by Dzeko and the sight of Handanovic when facing the shot. The only veteran of the away team is Milner, who has completed the 800-game milestone but played less than 10 minutes, and Liverpool can still send second tiers such as Firmino, Luis Díaz and Keita to continue to maintain their impact on inter's hinterland. Such a gap, as before the game to look down on Liverpool Capello's replay: "The difference between the two sides is the change and substitution adjustment during the game, think about the previous Milan derby, Pioli won the game in this way." ”
Trying their best to still lose by 2 goals, how is Inter worse than Liverpool?
In terms of Inter's performance, the 0-2 result is indeed too cruel.
Such a game will make the blue and black side can't help but imagine "if". Qarhan Oulu hit the bottom edge of the crossbar with a shot from the first half and cesar, the former triple-crown goalkeeper, said that if the Turks played a few centimeters lower, we would see a completely different game. Inzaghi Jr. said after the game that the team completely suppressed the opponent after the start of the second half, and the performance during that time was worthy of a goal.
However, Inter Milan has no chance to complete both of these assumptions. To put it more cruelly, although the away goal system has been abolished in the Champions League this season, the chances of the team advancing to Anfield with a 0-2 disadvantage have been infinitely close to zero. Inzaghi Jr. decided that the team had never played such a good game against such a strong opponent before. It's hard to blame Inter's on-field performances, but after Italy's current strongest representative has yet tossed the Champions League, the real question is: How far are Inter milans from Liverpool?
The two teams started the 22-man matchup, with Bastoni and Shkrinjar limiting the Reds' African wings well, while the defensive shortcomings of DeFrey were also protected by the likes of Shke and Brozovic, and there was no big difference. Perisic, who was in hot form on the flanks, once suppressed Alexander Arnold. The real problem was on the bench: after half-time, Klopp decisively replaced Jota with Firmino, and the Brazilian striker repaid the manager's trust with a ghostly header in the 75th minute.
The game had been played for an hour, and Klopp had already used up four substitutions. Firmino, Luis Díaz plus Nabi Keita and Henderson, the cost of buying these four players adds up to 164 million euros. In contrast, Inzaghi Jr. made his first substitution in the 70th minute of the match, replacing Lautaro with Sanchez. He then used up the remaining four substitutions shortly before the finale, but Di Marco, Ranocchio, Damian and Gallialdini, who were trailing 2-0, were clearly unable to really help the team.
In Serie A, Inzaghi Jr. repeatedly turned the situation around through "god substitutions". Sanchez has lost most of his martial arts, but chopping melons and chopping vegetables is still reliable, and Damian and DiMarco can repeatedly break the opponent's defense with the impact of the back-end hair plug after coming on as a substitute. In this game, inzaghi Jr.'s substitution is late, but he actually did not do anything wrong: the blue and black generals on the bench are all new forces that can change the game in Serie A, but Meazza's loudly played the Champions League theme song may be too grand for them.
In addition, the goal problem of the blue and black fronts has once again become prominent in such a focus battle. The team's backcourt did not give Liverpool too many scoring opportunities in the front for most of the time, and the performance of the midfield was even more remarkable, Perisic continued to play the side of the explosive point, the endangered Vidal attack and defense, even Char Khan Oulu, who had rarely performed in the previous war, almost became the hero of the team. In contrast, the performances of Dzeko and Lautaro were particularly bleak.
Dzeko had been expecting to make a big splash, with the Bosnian striker scoring goals in his last three games against Liverpool, including the 2017-18 Champions League two-legged semi-final. In this game, Dzeko did send the ball into the net of his old teammate Alisson, but when Vidal sent a direct plug, the Inter center was already offside. In fact, Dzeko's performance in the first half was acceptable, and the opening stage of the second half also helped the team to play a wave of climax, but his physical ability could not survive the Rhythm of the Champions League.
If so, why did Inzaghi Jr. choose to let Dzeko play the whole game and replace Lautaro in the second half? The Argentine had 90 minutes of physical fitness but was invisible for most of the game. Eager to try, Sanchez staged "Lion Out of the Cage" in the social media before the game, and in the end had to wait for the opportunity from the bench. In fact, today's Sanchez is no longer the one who can change the fate of Inter Milan in the Champions League, but seeing Lautaro in such a state, it may be better to give the Chilean striker a chance to start.
Lautaro is embarrassed in the face of glaring numbers: he has played seven games in the Champions League this season, and the 10th of the blue and black has not yet won, not even an assist. Since entering 2022, the Argentine has only scored on the Italian Super League penalty against Juventus, and the sports battle has not yet "opened the beard". Today, Lautaro has scored no goals in ten consecutive games in all competitions.
Looking forward to the Champions League before the match, the Argentine also made a bold statement: he has grown a lot in the past few years and looks forward to becoming a real protagonist in the most important games. His wish ultimately fell short. An attack in the second half was the most iconic: Perisic's cross was accurate to the far end, and Lautaro rushed to grab the point, but still did not catch up. It was perhaps Inter's best chance of the game, and Cesar, who was on the sidelines, quipped to his old teammate Milito: "Think about that goal you scored against Barca..." Just one step away. Lautaro's season is far from disappointing, but his progress is looming like a ghost, and you don't know if such a player can become the star of the blue and black front in the post-Lukaku era.
Red Bull Salzburg 1:1 Bayern Munich
It is not an exaggeration to describe Bayern's performance in Salzburg as "wretched". Although Comand's last-minute win before the final match brought Bayern to a 1-1 draw, continuing Bayern's glorious record of 22 consecutive away games in the Champions League, this match was definitely the most thrilling scene in 22 games, and Red Bull Salzburg was only one step away from making history. For manager Nagelsmann, his three-back style of play is likely to end in the Champions League.
Compared to the weekend match against Bochum, Nagelsmann switched to a three-back formation complemented by a double-back formation – given That Kimmich alone was not up to the single-back position, torriso, who had been in good form recently, started and the strike five was retained. Bayern beat their opponents twice last season, but neither won easily, and they were strongly blocked by the Austrian team in this game. Just 12 minutes into the game, Okafor on the front line was replaced by Adamu due to injury, but he did not expect that this substitution was actually blessed: in the 21st minute, Adeyemi cut inside on the right and crossed, Aronson poked his toes, and the ball reached the feet of the unguarded Adamu on the left, who easily scored.
Bayern were clearly ill-prepared for this lateral move at the edge of the penalty area, and three minutes later, Urreich made a thrilling save for Aronson's shot to ensure bayern were not caught up in the awkward situation of falling behind by two goals. Adeyemmi's speed has caused a lot of trouble for the Bayern backline, and his performance must have left a deep impression on the German coach Flick, who was watching the game in the VIP box. Before the end of the midfield, Adeyami took advantage of Pavard's negligence to create a good opportunity to take a penalty, but the video referee, after watching the video, actually let Bayern go.
Although Bayern occupied 60% of the ball in the first half, the two sides were on par with each other in terms of the dangers created on the pitch, and Salzburg also held the 1-0 lead. Austrian Sky platform guest and former Salzburg Red Bull manager Marsh believes that Bayern appears to be very passive in the face of Salzburg's lateral movement, Lucas Hernandez was directly thrown away by Ademier, and Jules defense also lost position, resulting in the final loss of the ball, this kind of winger's incision, to the three-guard Bayern is quite fatal.
Throughout the second half, Bayern were completely unable to open the situation through two flanks, so that in the 77th minute Nagelsmann had to replace Shubo Motin with Levan in a double forward. In the 90th minute, Pavard crossed diagonally from the right, Müller's header from the middle of the road was tipped over and the ball landed at the feet of Comand, who pushed into the net to make Bayern finally survive and luckily score a point.
Bayern have lost 4 league games this season, 1 cup match, and usually rebound strongly after losing: 5-2 against Berlin after losing 0-5 in the cup, 5-1 against Bayer Leverkusen after losing to Frankfurt, 4-0 against Cologne after losing to Borussia Moncheng, and only after losing to Augsburg is a small 2-1 win over Dynamo Kyiv, which is also caused by slack after early promotion. The German media had hoped that Bayern would be able to get out of the haze of defeat with a victory, but they did not expect the entire team to hand over a failing answer.
After the defeat to Bochum, Mateus criticized the Bayern backline, arguing that the Bayern defence had rarely performed such a catastrophic performance, and specifically mentioned Hernandez and Pamecano: "One of these two people has to fight injuries for a long time, and the other needs to adapt to the environment first. But now Lucas is in good health, and Yu Palmecano has been in Munich for 7 months. For both of them, the grace period was over. ”
In this game, Yu Pamecano did not play because of poor form, and the Bayern defender who played three defenders was also messy under the impact of Salzburg, if it were not for Pavard's successful goal line clearance in the second half plus the equalizer, Bayern's backline was definitely a zero-point performance, and Hernandez was rated as the worst player in the game by the Spex website. However, substitute goalkeeper Ulreich has repeatedly performed well in high and low blocks, and his contract is about to expire, and he is likely to get a new contract for a year because of his performance in these games, which also means that Nibel, who is unwilling to play as a substitute, still cannot get a chance at Bayern.
Wagner, a former Bayern player who commented on dazn, believes that the bayern draw is not a matter of mentality: "I don't see any psychological problems with Bayern. They wanted to defend, but once or twice it was too late and it wasn't easy against Salzburg. It's not a matter of attitude. The draw was reasonable and Bayern had plenty of chances but didn't send the ball into goal. ”
It is not an attitude problem, but it is naturally a question of playing style, and during the absence of Alfonso Davis and Neuer, how the Bayern backline is adjusted is a huge problem. Bayern's second leg clash with Salzburg kicks off on March 8, when Davis may be able to come to the rescue, but Neuer still can't count on it.
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