The first leg of the European Cup Winners' Cup 1/4 at Bran Stadium was a one-sided situation, Bran sat at home in the first half of the net, and played 15 minutes in the second half, Aldridge replaced Ballack with Pirlo, Ruud van Nistelrooy replaced Trezeguet, and the team began to firmly control the midfield and played a pressing attacking football.

Bran retreated in the second half after midfield, and they pulled back a little late from the precipice, at which point the defense was meaningless, but in order to avoid a big home rout, they could only concede one less goal.

Millwall, on the other hand, were reluctant to rush too hard to avoid injury, so they slowed down the tempo and patiently looked for gaps in the opposition defence through cross-cutting combinations.

Until the 86th minute of the game, Larsson went straight in front of the penalty area, Nedved received the penalty area, all the way down the bottom and knocked on the middle, Vanney missed the first point in front of the goal, he was pushed down from behind, he didn't have time to complain to the referee about the opponent's foul, Shevchenko at the far end was in place to send the ball into Bran's goal.

In the end, Millwall beat Bran by four goals away and advanced to the semi-finals.

Aldridge left the pitch after the game, not intending to shake hands with the opposing coach, anyway, this is not a hard and fast rule, and the opponent belittles his own team and is guilty of not paying attention to the other party's demeanor.

At the post-match press conference, media reporters in England asked him for his assessment of the game.

Aldridge pondered for a moment and then said, "Unfortunately, we can only take a draw here in Bran. ”

The reporters in the audience were stunned.

Brother, your team won 4-0!

Draw?

Have you crossed over?

Without waiting for the reporter to continue to ask questions, Aldridge's expression changed and he smiled: "During the day, the youth team lost 1:5. In the evening we won 4:0. The overall score is 5:5. Draw. ”

The English reporters in the audience laughed loudly, and the local reporters looked embarrassed.

Getting back to business, Aldridge answered some questions, and finally said that in the second leg of the next game in London, Millwall will still pay attention to his opponent and will never give his opponent any chance to turn the tables.

But most reporters guessed that Aldridge's emphasis would be on young players to train.

Najib, who is far away in Oslo, the capital of Norway, watched the game live with his coach and players in the hotel.

Wait until the game is over. He said to the youth team players with a serious face: "See? You lost people in Bergen during the day and thankfully our first-team players saved face for the team, and you might think: they're all stars and they deserve to win. I tell you, that's a big mistake, you should tell yourselves: they are Millwall's present, we are Millwall's future, no matter how old you are, as long as you wear Millwall's shirt, you deserve the honour of the team. We're not afraid to lose. But you can't just lose the game easily, okay. Now go back to your room and go to sleep, get your spirits up, tomorrow we have a good game against the youth team of Warnarenga, and then we have a day to rest and then we can take a walk around the neighborhood and the day after tomorrow, we will face the youth team of Rosenborg, the strongest team in Norway, and I hope you can go home with your heads held high and not come here to be laughed at. ”

The young players collectively said yes and went back to their rooms to sleep honestly.

Aldridge led the team back to London the night after the game.

According to Millwall's momentum in the Premier League, their four-goal away defeat of Bran in Europe did not surprise Fleet Street at all, and the media report was only a passing pass, but Manchester United shouted Porto 4:0 in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals, and one foot has entered the threshold of the semi-finals, which makes the British media sing praises for the Red Devils, because it has been more than ten years, no team in England can enter the final four of the Champions League, the earliest European ban, after the ban is lifted, until this year, the Premier League team even qualified from the group is a luxury, This year, Manchester United not only qualified from the group, but also saw the possibility of leading to the final, after all, there are only three games left before the final, one match with Porto in the second leg, and two games in the semi-finals.

Since losing to Millwall in the Premier League in the first half of the season, United have been unbeaten in the league until March, winning more and drawing less, and the gap on Millwall has narrowed to 13 points with nine games remaining.

The gap had been reduced to 12 points before the last league game, but Millwall's draw coincided with a defeat at Sunderland, who missed the chance to close the point to 10 points and made Ferguson's war of words much weaker.

At the weekend, Millwall host Sunderland, who upset Manchester United in the previous round.

In order to give April and May more time to prepare for the European Cup Winners' Cup, Aldridge intends to end the suspense of the Premier League title with the main squad in the league, so he insists on using the main squad for this round against the promoted horses, and he plans to send some substitutes for next week's FA Cup.

Heading into the Lions' Den, Aldridge will face Peter Reid.

The manager is still young, only 40 years old this year, and there is something to be proud of in his coaching resume, just a few years ago, he led Manchester City to beat Manchester United in the league, but his coaching ideas are gradually not keeping up with the times, and it is difficult for English style of play to make breakthroughs in the league.

Sunderland want to get points for relegation, but Millwall has already tempered the heart of the big game, 13 points ahead of Manchester United, there is no need to put too much pressure on yourself.

When Aldridge saw Sunderland's starting lineup, he was surprised, and he turned his head and asked Jenson: "Is it that I remember wrongly, how do I feel that there are many players in Sunderland that I don't know." ”

In the process of studying the opponents, Aldridge has an impression of the names and characteristics of the players, even in the middle and lower teams, but at least four of the 11 people who started Sunderland today felt that the faces were very unfamiliar.

Jenson was also puzzled, so he communicated with Benitez, Craig and other coaches, and gave Aldridge a positive answer after many verifications.

"Half of them are members of the reserve team. No more than 5 appearances this season. ”

Aldrich rubbed his head. I wondered in my heart: Is this Nima a strange soldier?

If yes. That's a bit of a lot, isn't it?

He asked Benitez, "What tricks is Reid playing?" ”

Benitez said disdainfully: "It's no trick, it's just to keep the strength and wait for the next round to get points at home to Nottingham Forest." ”

I have to say that Aldrich still lacks the consciousness of a strong man.

Sunderland came to the Lion's Den Stadium to fight Millwall, the most firepower in the Premier League?

What are the odds of scoring points?

If Reid thinks he can get a point by holding on, he will look down on Millwall too much, except for Middlesbrough, who won here at the start of the season, and then lost all of them as a visiting team! And Millwall is averaging 3.6 goals per game.

If he dares to go to the main force. In case of a rout, the spirit of killing Manchester United at home in the last round will be completely lost!

In the next round, they will return to their home stadium to face Nottingham Forest, who have little hope of relegation at the bottom of the league, and Sunderland certainly wants to take advantage of the home advantage to step Nottingham Forest into the abyss and go ashore by themselves, so Reid wisely chose to preserve his strength.

Aldrich's head is a bit of a bull's horn, and he thinks that even if the other party defends, it should be a sneak attack on the basis of resistance.

I didn't realize that Millwall now has the strength to make other teams scared before they fight.

Faced with such an almost patchwork Sunderland side with no team chemistry, Millwall won the game comfortably despite a trip to Norway in midweek.

During the game, his team-mates tried to create as many chances as possible for Larsson. There was a one-on-one ball, and Trezeguet also opted for a cross to Larsson, who cut diagonally into the middle. Let the latter complete the scoring goal.

After the goal, Larsson smiled and shook his head at Trezeguet, but the latter picked him up and smiled nonchalantly.

When the game was over, the stands applauded thunderously, and in the south stands, the Roaring Fans held up Larsson's No. 11 jersey and shouted in unison: "European goalscorer king!" ”

The full-time result was 6:0, Larsson scored a hat-trick, and the number of league goals has reached 30.

The Swede was moved at the end of the game, applauding the fans in the stands and hugging each of his team-mates, knowing that he had been able to score so many goals not only because of his own ability, but also because of the selflessness and support of his team-mates.

Aldridge was much calmer, he took the initiative to walk towards Peter Reid at the end of the game, the two met a year ago, that was at the coach association dinner, Aldridge was elected the best manager of the Premier League, the other party led Sunderland to the Premier League, was the best manager in League One last season, and the two had an in-depth exchange at that time.

'Aldridge, congratulations, Millwall's first ever league title, it's amazing.

"I was just lucky, the big team dropped the chain, and the players did well."

"Don't be modest, be hypocritical. Hopefully we'll see you again in the Premier League next season. ”

"Hey, why are you discouraged? With the momentum of killing Manchester United, there are still eight rounds in the league, and relegation is not hopeless. ”

"You're right, see you next season."

"Hmm."

After chatting for a while, Aldridge walked into the tunnel and in the mixed zone, reporters were in a state of flux, as if Millwall's win had not made much noise.

However, someone still picked on the thorn and asked Aldridge: "Sunderland sent half of the reserve team players, which is obviously a voluntary disarming, is Millwall a little invincible?" ”

Aldridge shook his head and sneered: "I don't think so, I always send a lot of new players to play in some games, and a team is not only composed of 11 players, or 16 people on the bench list, can you last the whole season with these people?" Your question is so stupid, if I say yes, the opponent surrendered before the game, then if I send a few new faces in the future, it will be the same as saying: Millwall also surrendered? ”

The reporter who asked the question was choked, and the words sounded fine, as if they could not be refuted, but in fact there was an essential difference, but the reporter was no longer entangled.

Manchester United won Sheffield Wednesday by two goals at home, with eight games left in the league, Millwall led by 13 points, and Ferguson weakly rebuked Sunderland's line-up after the game, but also had to admit: Manchester United failed to defend the title!

Even if United win all eight games in the last eight, will Millwall lose five?

Moreover, from the schedule, Manchester United is more focused on the Champions League, Millwall also has European competitions, but it is easy to advance all the way, the real tough battle, maybe only the semi-finals, that is also in April, it is estimated that at that time, Millwall can be completely freed from the league, and Manchester United still has to protect the second Champions League ticket in the league.

The new week is another double fixture, with the FA Cup quarter-finals kicking off with Millwall hosting Wimbledon, who knocked out Manchester United.

It was a local derby, and Wimbledon's strong style of play has returned to strength this season, so Aldridge has also put out a muscle formation.

Goalkeeper: Keller.

Defenders: Mills, Materazzi, Ferdinand, Zambrotta.

Midfielders: Gattuso, Lampard, Ballack.

Forwards: Toney, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Phillips. (To be continued......)