Volume 3: The Myth of the Gunslinger, Chapter 299, Before the War

On the morning of April 4th, Barcelona, one of the representatives of European art football, flew to London, England, and at Siathrow Airport, the Barcelona stars were warmly welcomed by Barcelona fans and reporters from all over the world.

At the beginning of the dismissal, the Barcelona players reversed the low profile and silence in Spain, and the main players and substitutes spoke one after another, wantonly talking about the upcoming Champions League quarterfinals.

In an interview with the British "Mirror", Messi, who is second only to Li Huan in the "Castrol Player Rankings", said: "The personal rewards are good, but Barcelona and Argentina are the ones who really matter. Money allows you to live a better life, but that doesn't inspire me. I'm willing to play for nothing to be a professional footballer, I live for the sport, not because of financial gain, I play for my team, not for me. ”

Messi then talked about the World Cup in South Africa last summer, and said to Li Huan that he did not participate in the World Cup "Little Flea", "I hope to lead the Argentine national team to win the World Cup for the third time." The World Cup is the only event that can make you great. The best players have played and won the World Cup, and that's what I'm trying to achieve. ”

Valdés told the British newspaper News of the World: "Compared to Manchester United or Chelsea, Arsenal is one of the opponents we want. We don't play conservatively at the Emirates Stadium. Barcelona have the ability to win anywhere. People see Arsenal as favourites, yes, they are favourites, but they have to remember that this contest will last 180 minutes. ”

The clash between Barcelona and Arsenal is also Fabregas' "homecoming", which Valdés also believes is a key figure in Wenger's squad. "The key for Arsenal is Cesc Fabregas and Li Huan. They are the soul of that club. But Arsenal are a team of high talent, they have world-class players in their squad, and they are going to cause problems. ”

Barça's winger Alves said: "Li Huan is an amazing player. The media always praise him, and he will be the one we need to watch out for in London. But Arsenal have Cesc Fabregas and we have Messi. For me, this Argentine talent is number one in the world, there is no doubt about it. ”

Even Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has opened his mouth, Guardiola said: "Not only Arsenal, but also winning the Champions League is the dream of the whole club of Barcelona, when I first became the coach of Barcelona, the chairman talked to me about the club's goal - to win the title of La Liga and the Champions League. For a newcomer like me, this is a huge challenge. At the time, I never wanted to compete for a title – it wasn't realistic, after all. But after winning La Liga, coming here and I can dream of winning the Champions League."

With the arrival of the Barcelona players, the city of London became lively, the atmosphere of the Champions League was stronger than ever, the streets were full of Champions League posters and slogans, and there were fans wearing red and blue jerseys and red and white jerseys everywhere, but the fans of the two teams were also very rational, nothing unpleasant happened, and the occasional small friction in the bar and disco did not cause any bloodshed.

The game kicked off on 6 April, and in the afternoon, after the Arsenal players had trained at the Kearney training base, Arsene Wenger and Cesc Fabregas held a pre-match press conference.

Although Arsene Wenger believes that Barcelona are a strong team with breakthrough stars such as Messi, Professor Wenger does not intend to use man-to-man tactics against Barcelona. "It took us a lot of days to recover and prepare. But Barcelona is a different team, they have stars like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta. Of course, at Arsenal I would never use man-to-man tactics. Once you start man-to-man, it means that in a good team, there will always be two or three players who you have to use man-to-man to mark, but that will disrupt your tactical set-up and not be able to play your own role. So it's important that we have a great formation. The ideal for us is that we win at home and don't concede a goal. ”

Speaking about the Champions League quarter-final clash with Barcelona, Cesc Fabregas also expressed his thoughts and opinions, "I know it's going to be two exciting games, of course we're going to give it our all, you know if you want to win this competition you have to be ready to play against any opponent. ”

'In the Champions League, you can never underestimate any opponent, it's a warning that any team left in the Champions League can beat another opponent, even if the team is not as famous as Real Madrid, Chelsea or Milan, but they can still win'.

Later, in the reporter's question session, the professor answered the reporter's question about defending the Champions League, "It's a little early to talk about defending the title, we should be talking about Barcelona, for me, winning the league with a complete record is much more difficult than defending the Champions League." ”

There are many questions about comparing Li Huan and Messi, and Professor Wenger once again talked about his opinion, "Both of them are the best players in the world, it is difficult to say which one is more dominant, but Li Huan is a defender, he can help the team in both offense and defense, if two people must and can only choose one, I will choose Li Huan......"

Cesc Fabregas also answered several questions from reporters, and many people were concerned about whether he was going back to La Liga, to which Fabregas explained, "We don't have to talk about my future, I can't understand so many rumors about me. I have always said that I am very happy at Arsenal and I can say a thousand times that I have no plans to go to a club in Spain, but no one believes me, Arsenal is my home and I have no intention of leaving. ”

Fabregas was also asked by reporters who is better between Li Huan and Messi, Fabregas is a Spaniard, he and Messi are still playmates when they were young, teammates in the youth training, in the face of reporters' questions, Fabregas said: "Both of them are very good, Messi's passing, breakthrough, shooting are proficient, he is the winner and loser when Barcelona is in a stalemate, but Li Huan has won the World Footballer and the Golden Ball Award in a row, which has already explained the problem." ”

Barca, who occupy Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, also held a press conference in the press conference hall after training, attended by Pep Guardiola and Andres Iniesta, where Iniesta thanked the team doctor and God for allowing him to be in time for the match against Arsenal.

Guardiola, on the other hand, sent a final invitation to the professor, hoping to use these two quarter-finals to make the two teams complete the real showdown of artistic football, neither team should be conservative, both play offensive football, and dedicate the feast of abnormal art football to fans all over the world, rather than utilitarian for the sake of victory.

At 7:30 p.m., the Emirates Stadium was already packed, and with fifteen minutes to go, fans were waiting eagerly for both teams to come out of the dressing room.

rumble

With a thunderous round of applause, players from both sides walked out of the mixed tunnel with their caddies in tow.

The big game is about to start, and the players on both sides are excited and nervous, and after the caddies leave, the players on both sides are bouncing around and waiting for the game to begin.

"Ladies and gentlemen, fans and friends, this is the quarter-finals of the 2010-2011 Champions League, and the two teams present on the pitch are the home team Arsenal and the away team Barcelona. If you look at the number of fans attending today, there will be at least 60,000 or more, and in the last two seasons, the attendance at the Emirates Stadium has basically been the first in the Premier League.

Arsenal are the defending champions and they are one of the only teams to have a chance of winning all of them, but they now have to deal with Barcelona and the Champions League curse...... Now let's take a look at the line-ups for both sides.

Barcelona remain unchanged in a 4-3-3 formation:

Goalkeeper 1 - Valdés, the butter player of the year is now more and more stable, and has faintly pressed Reina to become the first substitute, he is not the best goalkeeper, but he is the most suitable goalkeeper for the current Barcelona team.

The four defenders are 2-Alves, 3-Pique, 16-Busquets, 21-Adriano, and it is a danger for Buskos to retreat to the position of central defender, after all, Buskos has not played at central defender, only at the back.

The three midfielders: 6-Xavi, 14-Mascherano and 15 Keita, the midfield combination is still surprising, with Guardiola using a combination of two defenders and one attacking defender. This is to increase the protection of the backfield, but to weaken the combat effectiveness.

The three forwards are 7-Villa, 10-Messi, 8-Iniesta, Iniesta appears in the winger position, which has a great impact on Arsenal's defense, whether it is Villa or Iniesta, they have a strong ability to break through.

Arsenal are also in a 433 formation, with goalkeeper No. 1 Almunia.

The four defenders are: Li Huan, Koscielny, Squeerac, Klich.

The three midfielders are Cesc Fabregas, Song, Nasri. It's an offensive combination.

The three forwards are centre-forward Robin van Persie, two speedy Theo Walcott and Arshavin on one side......"

The commentators of the Imperial Court TV also began to announce the starting lineups to the fans in front of the TV, and then appropriately commented on the lineups of both sides.

Duan Xuan thinks that Barcelona's lineup today is a bit conservative, while Tao Wei thinks that Guardiola's invitation before the game is actually a smoke bomb, and Barcelona doesn't want to play against Arsenal at all, because they suffered last season.

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