At 16:00 pm on December 13, Beijing time, the 6th round of the AFC Champions League group stage will stage a game that will attract great attention from Chinese fans.
After the first 5 rounds of the group stage, Shandong Luneng won 4 wins and 1 loss, accumulating 12 points, temporarily beating the second place Incheon United by 3 points and leading the Group G standings. Therefore, Shandong Luneng's prospects for qualifying can be described as bright. As long as the Yokohama Mariners can be drawn in this round, Shandong Luneng can advance to the top of Group G to advance to the AFC Champions League round of 16; even if they lose the game, as long as they don't lose more than 4 goals, Shandong Luneng can still qualify with a high probability. In view of this, in this game against Yokohama Mariners, Shandong Luneng can completely travel lightly, because the pressure is on the opponent, not on Luneng.
Although there is a high probability of qualifying, for the sake of prudence, coach Choi Kang-hee will inevitably sacrifice the strongest starting lineup he can send to play. The following is a brief prediction of the starting lineup that Shandong Luneng may put out in this game.
In the goalkeeper position, it is natural that the main goalkeeper Wang Dalei guards the Shandong Luneng goal; on the back line, it is not surprising that Cui Kangxi will continue to use his usual 4 back formation, and it is expected that the 4 defenders who will get the start will be Liu Yang, Jia Desong, Zheng Zheng and the meritorious veteran Ji Xiang. Among them, Judson and Zheng Zheng will play as a double center-back combination, while Liu Yang and Ji Xiang will play as full-backs on the left and right.
In terms of midfield, Moises and Fellaini, the two aces of foreign aid, have left the team, and it is natural that the local midfielders are in danger. Not surprisingly, the main midfielder responsible for intercepting and stealing in the midfield of Shandong Luneng will be former Evergrande player Li Yuanyi, and the partner with Li Yuanyi to form a double back combination should be former R&F player Huang Zhengyu.
In front of the two midfielders, it is expected that midfielder Liao Lisheng will sit in the front court to be responsible for organizing and planning, serving as the frontcourt commander and leading Luneng's frontcourt attack line, while the two frontcourt attackers who form a strategy around him should be naturalized ace Fernando and national football player Chen Pu. Naturalized ace Fernando was in great form in the last AFC Champions League game, contributing 3 assists off the bench, and his performance in this game is still worth looking forward to.
On the forward line, there is no doubt that it should be the Brazilian ace Cressan who charges for Shandong Luneng in the front court. To sum up the above analysis, it is finally expected that Shandong Luneng's starting lineup against Yokohama Mariners in this game is: Wang Dalei, Liu Yang, Jia Desong, Zheng Zheng, Ji Xiang, Li Yuanyi, Huang Zhengyu, Liao Lisheng, Fernando, Chen Pu, Cressan