Chapter 126 Belgium's Away Stadium

The Champions League clash with Gent was United's first Champions League knockout game in two seasons. It would be humiliating for a club like Manchester United not to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League, or to be eliminated in the round of 16. After all, they invest so much every season.

Gent were the dark horses in this season's Champions League group stage, where they finished second with Zenit St. Petersburg ahead of two powerhouses, Valencia and Lyon. And currently in the Bundesliga standings, Gent is also at the top of the table.

Gent's Champions League group stage qualification can be described as quite thrilling. Their manager, Van Heyserbruck, played a crucial role in this, and in the group stage, they faced Lyon, Valencia and Zenit St. Petersburg, with Gent picking up just one point. However, Van Heiserbruck studied his opponents thoroughly, and in the second meeting with these three teams, Gent beat them all and made it to the last 16.

Van Hazebruck is regarded as one of Belgium's most tactically thoughtful managers, with an eye for detail, careful study of each opponent and a great deal of flexibility in terms of tactics and game plans.

In fact, Gent was a dark horse last season, under the leadership of Van Heiserbruck, Gent beat the giants of Belgium Brugge, Anderlecht, Standard Liege, breaking the monopoly of the Belgian First Division troika on the Belgian top league championship, and won the club's first domestic top league championship in 115 years!

…………

'This team is quite strong at home and we can't take it lightly. In the pre-match tactical meeting, Carlo Ancelotti was analysing the Gent squad for the players.

The team arrived in the Belgian city the day before the game.

If you had met the Ghent team, the first thing that would have come to mind was not Ghent's football, but the city's European medieval architecture. The city where the Scheldt and Rhine rivers meet, with a wealth of ancient architecture, is a tourist city with a strong medieval atmosphere.

When the Manchester United players entered the city of Ghent by bus, they felt like they were in medieval Europe, and the players frequently took pictures out of the car window with their cameras. The streets are bustling with tourists, injecting a different kind of vitality into this beautiful old city.

Manchester United's players are certainly not here for tourism, the scenery along the way is just a concoction for the road trip, and the real key is to beat the opposition in football.

The Reds had lost at Sunderland just three days earlier, and the team had no time to make any adjustments, arriving in Belgium the day before the game. One game in three days, the time is too tight, and there are many things that are too late to make targeted training.

The good thing is that Manchester United are the stronger side in terms of quality, and they just need to play what they are good at to guarantee a beat.

Due to the dense schedule, playing away from home, winning this game in a cost-effective way is the primary goal set by Carlo Ancelotti.

First of all, of course, you have to win, but you can't let the team consume too much. How do you achieve this?

Ancelotti still paid attention to Li Qingshan's head.

There is no doubt that if you want to defeat the opponent at the minimum cost, pass the ball to the penalty area, and let Li Qingshan fight with the opponent's defender for the header is a good way. Although everyone knows that Li Qingshan's header is powerful, and Gent will definitely make targeted arrangements for this, as long as Manchester United can continue to create crosses, it will be too difficult for the opponent to prevent Li Qingshan's impact throughout the game.

And if you want to give full play to the power of Li Qingshan's header, of course, you have to arrange a few helpers for Li Qingshan, otherwise if Li Qingshan is a point in the penalty area, it will be much easier for the opponent to defend - I can't prevent you with one defense, so what about my multiple players to defend?

Therefore, Ancelotti arranged Rooney to start in this game, and Di Maria also had to enter the penalty area to help Li Qingshan attract the defense of the opposing defenders, and as for the crossing, it was more left to the two fullbacks to complete.

Carlo Ancelotti's goal in this game is to beat his opponent with the least amount of effort possible without conceding a goal. And if they win away from home, Manchester United will basically have one foot in the last eight of the Champions League.

Li Qingshan is also very happy with the head coach's arrangement, after all, he still likes to take on more offensive responsibilities, so that there will be more goals.

"Leave it to me, boss!"

Due to the poor soundproofing of the visiting team's locker room and the huge noise created by the fans in the stands, Li Qingshan had to shout out so that his teammates could hear him clearly.

Ghent's home stadium is the Guelangco Arena, which has a capacity of 20,000 spectators, although not comparable to Old Trafford. But the momentum created by 20,000 people crowding the stands was still very impressive.

Compared to the away team's dressing room, which is poorly soundproofed and relatively close to the stands. The conditions in the home team's dressing room are much better. Even as the fans in the stands created a wave of cheers and noise, the players at Gent essentially shut out the sound as soon as they closed the doors and windows of the dressing room.

The conditions in the home and away locker rooms are different, which can be regarded as some small tricks to deal with the away team and interfere with the away team. It's not new, and many teams will play their tricks against the visiting players.

Van Heyserbrock seized the last bit of time before the start of the game and highlighted the details of the game to the Gent players.

Defending is what Van Hazebruck emphasizes the most, and although this is Gent's home stadium, Van Haizerbruck also knows that with Gent's strength, facing a strong opponent like Manchester United, even at home, most of the time it will be a passive defense. Therefore, the key for Gent is not to concede goals, especially not at their own home stadium, even if it is a 0-0 draw at home, and by the time it comes to the second leg, Gent will have a chance to advance. However, if Manchester United get an away goal, then the probability of Gent trying to turn the tables at Old Trafford is too low.

And the focus of defense, of course, is Li Qingshan.

Speaking of which, Li Qingshan's characteristics have long been thoroughly studied by coaches from all walks of life, headers, long-range shots, grabbing points in the middle, and strong body. Although Li Qingshan has improved a lot in other aspects this season, what he relies on the most is his header.

This is a somewhat traditional center forward, and it seems that it is always a little out of tune with the requirements of modern center forwards, but Li Qingshan can score goals. As long as you can score goals, who cares about your style.

As long as you can score goals, let alone use your head, even with your butt.

And to defend the header, it is natural to put two good headers in the penalty area. That's not enough, the key to defending Li Qingshan is not to give Manchester United too many opportunities to cross from the wing, so the one on the side can't give Manchester United too much space.

Van Heiserbruck did his homework for this game. Now that Gent has reached the round of 16 of the Champions League as a dark horse, although everyone is not optimistic that they can pass the hurdle of Manchester United, Gent himself cannot admit defeat in advance before the game is played.

On the football field, anything can happen. But if you admit defeat in advance, there is only one possibility.