The year 2000 is already the beginning of the 21st century. The development of European football is also becoming more and more obvious. If the end of the nineties and the beginning of the twenty-first century, European football can still have an era of Valencia, Deportivo La Coruna, Lazio, Roma, Bayer Leverkusen, Dortmund and other strong teams are rampant. Then after entering the 21st century, these strong teams will slowly decline. Because the Bosman Act first looted the good players of the Eredivisie and Ligue 1, and then the giants began to bully the European powerhouses that were against them.

European football in the 21st century is a real era of widening gap between rich and poor. The big clubs are getting stronger and stronger, they will divide most of the resources of European football, and they will gather good players into their clubs. And those strong teams that were able to compete with the giants before are all in trouble due to economic reasons. Unless it has the support of oil conglomerates, many strong teams are about to go bankrupt and cannot support it at all.

The future of European football is the era of giants. But for Rist now, it was still a distant time. It was a relatively smooth time, so Rist was able to catch his breath. Rist also used this time to straighten out his almost six-year career as an agent. Let's see how it develops later. So I didn't bother to move all the time and stayed in Prague for a while.

But today is different. Rist finally got himself moving again and came to Spain. Because there is an important match waiting for Rister.

"Jaime, how is Raphael?"

"It's much better than we thought it would be."

Otti looked at Benitez below and remembered that Benitez had been chosen in the first place. At the time, Otti was hell-bent on bringing in Cooper as a coach. The subsequent choice of Benitez was the product of a complete mistake and compromise between all parties. But this season, Benitez's quality is not too bad.

Valencia remain third in La Liga, just one point behind second-placed Barcelona and seven points behind Deportivo La Coruna at the top. Barcelona's recent form has not been very good, and they often drop points against underdogs. As things stand, many people think Barcelona can't even hold on to second place.

And now Valencia has passed the second round of the Champions League group stage and entered the Champions League quarterfinals. The opponent was Lazio from Italy. Today is the first match of the Champions League quarter-finals, with Valencia facing Lazio at home.

Cortés is the president of Valencia and Llorente is the general manager of Valencia, but they are not usually present. Every time it was Otti who watched the game on behalf of Valencia. It's like Otti is the president of Valencia. But it's true. Otti is the sporting director of Valencia. But the rights are no different from the president of the club.

"Hello, Mr. Ottie."

While the two were talking, Craniotti walked in. Because López's negotiations were relatively smooth, Craniotti was friendly to Otti.

"Rist. You're here too. ”

Saw Craniotti come in. Both Rist and Ottie stood up to say hello. Craniotti doesn't care about people. One thing is undeniable. This dude has money and can spend money. For example, if López is sold to other clubs, even if it is sold to Inter, it may not be able to exceed 30 million euros. But sold to Lazio. Sold to Craniotti for more than 30 million euros.

'Today was an important game, so of course I came over and watched.'

…………

"Doodoo-"

"The quarter-finals of the Champions League have begun. The two sides are Valencia in La Liga and Lazio in Serie A, and today is the first match of the knockout round at the Mestalla Stadium, the home of Valencia. ”

"Let's take a look at the starting line-ups. From the away team the goalkeeper is Maciegiani, the back line is Favali, Nesta, Mihajlovic, Negro, the midfield is Nedved, Veron, Simeone, Conceição, and the forward line is Salas and Simeone. Inzaghi. ”

'Look at Valencia's starting line-up. The goalkeeper is Canizares, the backline is Carboni, Pellegrino, Ayala, Angeloma, the midfielders are Makelele, Albelda, Gerrard, Mendieta, López, and the forward line is Jankole. Since beating Bayern Munich in the fifth game of the first round of the group stage, coach Rafael Benitez has continued to play this style in the Champions League. ”

After almost a season of play, Benitez has begun to slowly find the best way to play in Valencia. Angulo, who was still a regular at the start of the season, was taken down by Benitez and the midfielder began to reuse Gerrard.

Valencia are now playing 4-5-1, using Claude Makelele and Albelda as a double midfielder, with Gerrard becoming an all-round midfielder. Gerard can go up and down, go up and shoot from behind Jankoller and drop back to protect the back line with Makelele and Albelda. The original Valencia frontcourt core Mendieta was squeezed into the right midfield position by Gerrard, and Lopes also began to play the left midfielder and left winger positions.

At the beginning, Benitez's style of play was ugly. But with these days of training, Benitez has slowly figured out a style of play. Ways to win. More importantly, as everyone is familiar with this style of play, everyone's tacit understanding is getting better and better.

Playing cup games is definitely Benitez's forte. Before the match against Lazio, he had already laid out a series of targeted plays against Lazio. And Benitez is a conservative coach, but he's definitely not the kind of coach who doesn't know how to be flexible. After the start of the game, Valencia at home suddenly intensified their attack.

And Valencia's attack didn't have the same regular style of play as before. Instead, he suddenly hit Lazio on the left, and not with Mendieta. Mendieta plays well at right midfield, but he is not a true winger. He had breakthroughs and crosses on the wing, but lacked pace. Therefore, it cannot be considered a true wide attacking player.

So Benitez chose a different style of play. The chosen break point was on the right side, but it was Jankoller who suddenly pulled the side to the right. Then he took advantage of the high ball and suddenly hit Favali. Favali was stunned.

"Albelda, pass the ball to Gerrard. Herard, passing...... Jankoller, header back! ”

Valencia has never played this tactic. It was the first time Benitez had been used against Lazio, and Gerard had become the heart of the midfield in Benitez's hands. It is more heavily used than Mendieta and Albelda.

It's really because Gerrard defensively, on the ball, on the ball, on the ball and on the ball, is a very well-rounded midfielder. As the season progressed, Gerrard's role grew. The game was played in front of Claude Makelele and Albelda in midfield, completely dominating Valencia's attack and defence.

When Albelda handed the ball to Gerrard, Gerard sent the ball straight to the right with a long pass. According to the original style of play, the ball should have been given to Mendieta on the right side. But at this time it was Yankoller who came to the right, and Yankoller leaned on Favali. Favali is 1.82 meters tall, and there is no way to be pushed behind by Yankoller. Jankoller saw Gerrard's high ball and calmly headed it back.

When Jankoller came to the right to help, Mendieta was already running forward along the right flank, and he happened to receive Jankoller's header as he ran. It was a simple combination, but because Jankole rarely ran wide, Favalli didn't think about it at all. Before the game, Eriksen had been emphasizing how Nesta and Mihajlovic defended Jankoller's header and never looked into Jankoller's running to the wing.

But because Jankole suddenly went to the right side to support, he broke through the left side of Favali's defense. When Mendieta got the ball, there was no one around him. Mendieta's speed was not fast, but because it was so sudden this time, no one came to defend at all. Favali was completely left behind.

"Mendetata, Mendeta is a thing of the past. Nesta, Nesta is already out. Mendieta, cross!! ”

Lazio's backline is outstanding. Nesta saw that Favali had lost his position, so he hurried out to fill in the position. Mendieta couldn't be allowed to push on, and Mendieta saw Nesta come out and it was a cross. Nesta is a good defender, but Mendieta is not bad either. Mendieta, though, didn't want to get tangled up with Nesta, as he didn't want to waste his time. So it was a cross right away.

At this time, you can see Valencia's current tactical play. Lopes appears to be a left-sided midfielder, but will cut straight into the box whenever he has the chance. He looks like a left midfielder because he plays on the left, but he plays more like a left winger. This time Jankole ran to the right and Lopes cut into the box.

It stands to reason that it is Negro's responsibility to defend López, but unfortunately because López's insertion was too sudden, Negro did not follow. Therefore, it can only be Mihajlovic who follows López.

It's a pity that Mendieta's cross didn't go into the box, but made an arc to the vicinity of the big box. Mendieta is not an authentic full-back, but he was able to squeeze out Angulo because of his excellent jishu and crossing.

"Herad, this is Herad. Simeone was next to him but couldn't keep up with Gerrard, who shook his head and struck the goal! ”

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！”

"It was only six minutes into the game, and in six minutes Valencia had already taken a 1-0 lead at home to Lazio. The attack was very simple, but it broke down the formidable Lazio defence at once. It was already his fifth goal in the Champions League. (To be continued......)