In the Europa League quarter-finals, Leeds United's home game against Roma begins.
"Huh~"
George Lee let out a breath and felt that the real Europa League had begun. In the previous games, he felt that the strength of other teams was not at the same level as Leeds United.
Even in Stuttgart, which caused a lot of trouble for Leeds United, George Lee felt that he was not strong, but in the end Mario Gomez did pose a great threat to him.
As soon as the game started, Roma, wearing a yellow and red jersey, gave Leeds United a blow.
Simone Perrotta and Rodrigo Taddei, who have strong ball-holding abilities, constantly stand in the midfield to link up Roma's offense. Especially Simone Perrotta stands at the left waist position, because there is Roma's left midfielder Armantino Mancini exists, so Mills doesn't dare to go over to help press.
The two central defenders, Matteisen, have been sticking to Roma's forward, Vincenzo Montella.
Montella, known as the "little plane", is a nimble forward, so Li George did not dare to let Albuchesson mark him for fear of being eaten because of his slow turn.
Before the game, Lee George once wanted Mills to partner with Matteisen as a central defender, because the forwards in Rome are generally not tall, and Kelly or Milner can be used as the right back.
But Li George gave up after thinking about it for a while. The center back not only needs to participate in defense, but also plays a big role in set-piece offense.
On the field, Perrotta and Taddei kept looking for Leeds United's two rib spaces to pass and receive.
In the 3rd and 5th minutes of the game, Roma threatened Leeds United's goal with two consecutive long shots. Both shots were slightly higher than the crossbar.
In the 7th minute of the game, Roma's Aquilani pushed the ball under De Rossi's feet. De Rossi immediately passed it to Tadei on the right, and Leeds United's midfielder immediately passed it to Tadei on the right. Taddei started to scramble, but Taddei passed the ball to Perrotta through a small gap.
Perrotta stopped the ball forward and saw that the two central defenders of Leeds United did not come up, so he shot another long shot. Although the angle of this ball is not very tricky, it is powerful and very fast.
Fortunately, after taking two long shots just now, Van der Sar had already heightened his vigilance and kept staring at the Roma player who had the ball.
When the ball came to the goal, Van der Sar was already in position, fell to his knees and held the ball in his arms.
"Kevin, come back a little bit and help the midfielder."
Off the court, Li saw that the situation on the court was going towards Roma, and quickly asked the team to strengthen the defense in the midfield. He could not let the opponent pass the ball unscrupulously in the midfield.
Today, Leeds United's midfield is composed of Parker, Graveson and Smith, and the frontcourt is composed of Glenchar, Romedal and Kevin Davis.
Van Persie was on the bench today. At first, the fans and spectators were surprised as to why Van Persie, who was in hot form recently, did not play. There was no news before that Van Persie was injured or had a conflict with the coach.
The camera also frequently focused on Van Persie sitting on the sidelines, trying to dig out some news from his face.
But Van Persie let them down. He was smiling and chatting with his teammates, and he was also communicating with several other coaches.
After Roma used up three goals, the game began to enter Leeds United's rhythm.
Today's Leeds United is different from the past. They did not use their best high-position pressure to deal with Roma, but took the initiative to let Roma attack.
Leeds United began to limit the connection between Tadei and Perrotta in the middle. Roma did not have the smooth attack at the beginning and could only rely on Mancini's personal ability on the left.
But little Mancini is really a bit lonely. He can pass a Leeds United player, but he will find that after passing a player, other Leeds United players will immediately come to make up for him, and then the person he just passed will immediately be replaced. Post it here. Then, he was intercepted, and finally he was lost on his left wing.
At the same time, due to Davis's retreat, Leeds United strengthened its connection with Roma's two midfielders De Rossi, Aquilani and the front, and the Roma team was gradually suppressed.
Once Roma's offense was suppressed, Leeds United found a chance to breathe and began to counterattack.
Although Rome's attack today was thunderous, the raindrops were light. The main reason is that their "Wolf King" Totti was seriously injured in the match against Empoli in February. At that time, his left ankle was bent outward at almost 90 degrees. The final diagnosis was that Totti had a moderate fracture of the fibula in his left calf that connects to the ankle, and was accompanied by damage to the ligaments and joint tissue of his left ankle. The season reimbursement is certain, and he may even miss the World Cup.
Because of Totti's absence, Roma's ability to attack in the frontcourt has been greatly affected. Under normal circumstances, we can only rely on Mancini's personal ability, but today he was restricted.
If we say that the side attack here in Rome depends on Mancini's foot skills. Leeds United's wing today has two speedy "sharp knives". In order to let Romedal and Grenciaer take advantage of each other, Lee George did not hesitate to put Van Persie on the bench.
In the 15th minute of the game, Leeds United launched an attack. Romedal, who rarely got a chance in important games, followed George Lee's pre-match instructions and came to swim near the center.
After receiving the ball from Gravesen, he broke away to the right and brought Roma midfielder De Rossi to the right.
Romedal then used an acceleration to shake off De Rossi who was following him, and headed to the right.
De Rossi hurried after him.
But once De Rossi left, the depth of Roma's midfield defense was disrupted, leaving a large gap behind Perrotta and between the defenders. Only Aquilani could not stand such a big gap. of a place.
When Romedal broke through from the wing, Leeds United's Smith and Kevin Davis also quickly inserted in the middle, looking for the gap in Roma's current defense.
When Aquilani was still wondering which of the two he should pursue, he saw a bald man in white clothes coming behind him. But this bald man was very fast, running towards Aquilani, and he deliberately ran fast and slow in a rhythm, pretending to be waiting for the ball.
Aquilani's head was so big that he subconsciously looked at Graveson and handed over the task of defending Smith and Davis to the two central defenders.
Leeds United's two frontcourt players also have a clear division of labor. Kevin Davis ran faster and led Roma's two central defenders Philippe Mexes and Cesare Bovo into the penalty area. , while Smith followed them secretly.
The Italian team's proud defense was finally completely stretched by Leeds United's counterattack. Leeds United's frontcourt players utilized the width and space to the extreme.
Romedal used his good right foot to scoop out a low arcing ball and passed it to the center in front of the penalty area. The ball came to Smith before Roma left back Christian Chivu and De Rossi met.
When the ball came to Smith, it bounced twice and slowed down.
Smith stopped forward, and then hit the middle part of the football with the instep of his foot.
"Whoosh~" flew towards the goal.
The Leeds United fans behind the goal saw the ball flying towards them and raised their hands to celebrate in advance.
