Chapter 33: Opponents to Be Taken Seriously

Although Wu Lei has become a substitute in Lazio, he is still the main core of the Chinese national team. Who told him that he is the most experienced in the current national team?

At the age of 29, he is still in his prime.  M

Although he can't be a main player in Lazio, if he is willing to leave Lazio and go to any other team, he may be a main player.

He is still the highest level player in Asia.

It is normal for such a player to be the main core and captain of the Chinese national team.

When Wu Lei first came to Lazio, he was still a young man of 20 years old.

After staying in Lazio for ten years, he has become the most successful player in Chinese football in Europe. He is also the first Chinese player to win the European Champions League.

Such a status in the world makes him very high in Chinese football.

Although Ji Ming has better potential than Wu Lei, he is still too young and lacks a lot in experience.

However, everyone also thinks that he will be the core of the Chinese team in the next ten years after Wu Lei.

This is really a good process.

The Chinese team always has a core and will not fall into the situation of being leaderless.

Wu Lei played as the core player of the Chinese national team for ten years, and the best result he led the team to was the runner-up in the Asian Cup.

This is mainly because, apart from Wu Lei, the level of other Chinese players is far behind.

And at that time, the "Star Plan" company had just started in China, and the environment of Chinese football had changed little from before.

But it is different now.

More and more Chinese players are active in leagues of all levels in European countries, and they are the cornerstone of Chinese football.

Today's Chinese players are much better than Wu Lei's time, and the number of registered Chinese players has also increased rapidly.

The success and struggle of these Chinese overseas players abroad have also ignited the fighting spirit of more people to pursue their football dreams.

So more and more children have become players.

Now around Ji Ming,

there are already many players with level and talent, most of whom play in European leagues.

The background of playing in the same European league. It is not difficult for them to understand each other, and they have a common language in their understanding of football, and their cooperation on the court has become more tacit.

So now the Chinese team finally has the hope of entering the World Cup finals, which is also a very normal thing.

Even if Wu Lei goes downhill in the future, the Chinese team still has Ji Ming.

What happens after Ji Ming?

Everyone has their eyes on Chang Sheng.

It's not that they hope Chang Sheng will recruit another young Chinese player to Lazio for training.

It's because the future hope of Chinese football lies in Chang Sheng, or strictly speaking, in Chang Sheng's family.

Chang Sheng's son Chang Wei, although only twelve years old this year, has fully demonstrated his football talent.

In the future when Ji Ming is getting older, Chang Wei will emerge.

No matter where his father goes in the future. I believe that Chang Wei will have a bright future under his father's training.

By then, Chang Wei will definitely be the core of Chinese football in the next decade.

Starting with Wu Lei, the 30 years of Chinese football have been inseparable from Chang Sheng.

In China. There is even such a voice.

After Chang Sheng broke up with Lazio, the Chinese Football Association could actually invite Chang Sheng to coach the Chinese national team.

But Chang Sheng did not respond to such a voice.

Maybe he is waiting for his son to grow up...

※ ※ ※

The first league match after the national team match day was the ninth round of the league, where Lazio challenged Atalanta away.

This match was affected by the national team match day, and the Lazio players looked very tired.

So in the end, Lazio drew 1:1 with Atalanta away.

This is the first draw for Lazio this season.

Although they did not win, Lazio's ranking rose instead.

They rose from third to first in the league in one fell swoop!

Because in the same round of the league, Naples and Juventus, who were ranked at the top, both lost.

Naples lost 0:2 to Roma away, and Juventus lost 2:4 to Fiorentina away.

In this way. The three teams have 19 points, but Lazio has an advantage in goals, goals conceded and goal difference, so Lazio surpassed Naples and Juventus and ranked first with a goal difference advantage!

In fact, Changsheng did not have much hope for this game. His attention was focused on the Champions League group stage next week.

In the end, the team tied with Atalanta, and he didn't feel dissatisfied.

Unexpectedly, Napoli and Juventus both lost, but Lazio became the first in the league.

This is a pleasant surprise.

※ ※ ※

There is a reason why Changsheng attaches great importance to the Champions League group stage.

Next week, Lazio will face Nottingham Forest, the fourth-tier team in the group, at home.

Currently, two rounds of group stage have been played. The first in the group is Lazio with six points.

Then the second is neither Real Madrid nor Dortmund.

But Nottingham Forest!

Such a team has returned to the Champions League after 40 years. It is worthy of being the biggest dark horse in this season's Champions League.

In this death group full of strong players, they and Lazio remain unbeaten!

Lazio has two consecutive wins, while Nottingham Forest has two consecutive draws.

Against Dortmund, they drew, and against Real Madrid, they also drew.

The results of both games were the same - 0:0.

Nottingham Forest did not score a goal, but did not concede a goal.

You should know that the three strong teams in this group are all good at attacking. Lazio is not to mention. Real Madrid and Dortmund are both teams that play offensive football, and their offensive power is very terrifying.

Even Lazio lost a goal in two games against them.

Only Nottingham Forest did not concede a goal against them!

Nottingham Forest, which has two draws, is currently ranked second in the group with two points.

Real Madrid and Dortmund both have one draw and one loss, with only one point.

And the Spanish super giant Real Madrid is still ranked at the bottom of this group.

Because there was no goal, the number of goals was one less than Dortmund, which had one goal, so Real Madrid ranked fourth in this group. That is, the last one...

It is said that after the draw with Nottingham Forest, Benítez has been given an ultimatum by the top management of the Real Madrid club.

If he still cannot win in the Champions League group stage, he will be fired.

So this match with Dortmund will be a life-and-death battle for him.

Fortunately, he is playing at home, otherwise it would be even more dangerous.

※ ※ ※

The above is why Changsheng attaches great importance to this game.

The previous two games proved that Nottingham Forest is definitely a very difficult team to deal with.

Because, their defense is really good...

They can not lose a goal against Real Madrid and Dortmund, which is really very skilled.

Dortmund will not talk about it. In the first game against Nottingham Forest. Dortmund may still be a little proud and underestimate the enemy, and not fully prepared.

But Real Madrid is different. They lost to Lazio in the first group match, so they will definitely go all out in the second game in a hurry to win.

In fact, it is also true.

Real Madrid bombarded for 90 minutes away from home, but didn't score a goal...

After Lazio achieved great success with offensive football. More and more teams have also raised the banner of offensive football.

For a time, offense became the mainstream trend in European football.

The team that defended with all its strength was criticized by public opinion.

So a team like Nottingham Forest seems very strange in today's environment.

They got two points by defending these two games and ranked second in the group.

There are already such voices. Some media said that if such a team were allowed to enter the top 16 of the Champions League, it would definitely be an insult to the Champions League, the world's highest level football event...

The game against Nottingham Forest will also be a very difficult task for Lazio's offense.

Changsheng and the coaching staff have carefully studied the game videos of Nottingham Forest and found that this is not a team that can only defend. They also have their own unique features in offense, but in general. Their overall style is indeed defensive counterattack.

Solid defense and sharp counterattack, these eight words can well summarize the characteristics of this team.

Under the leadership of their head coach Tony Twain, Nottingham Forest plays a kind of football that is incompatible with this era. With this kind of football, they qualified for the Champions League, and with this kind of football, they eliminated Lyon. Entering the Champions League, with this kind of football, they are currently unbeaten and ranked second in the group.

The defensive tactics of Tang En's team in the game were called "wall defense" by the English media, which means that their defense is like a wall.

Others park a bus in front of the goal to defend, but they built a wall in the penalty area and completely blocked the goal!

Many teams were helpless in the face of their defense.

Then when they launched a large-scale attack, the back line was unknowingly empty.

At this time, Nottingham Forest launched a fierce counterattack again, which was very efficient and could win the game with one counterattack.

In the Champions League qualifiers, Lyon died like this.

After losing 0:3 away to Lyon, Lyon returned to their home court and planned to use offense to deal with the opponent.

Not long after the game started, they did score a goal, tying the total score to 1:3, which was only two goals away.

Lyon's morale was boosted, and they attacked more desperately, turning a blind eye to the defensive gaps behind them.

In this way, Lyon bombarded Forest at home, but ended up losing four goals.

Nottingham Forest scored all four goals by counterattack.

Lyon soon found out that they had made a mistake, but they had no better choice but to attack. If they attacked, they would lose more goals, but if they defended, the current score would be enough to kill them.

In the end, Nottingham Forest scored four goals in one go, completely securing their place in the finals.

In the end, Nottingham Forest defeated Lyon 4:1 away from home and eliminated Lyon with a total score of 7:1.

How to break Nottingham Forest's dense defense will be a difficult problem for the entire Lazio team.