Football’s First Defender

With the end of the UEFA Champions League group stage, the third place in the 8 UEFA Champions League group also joined the knockout round of the Europa League. 32 teams will fight each other through the draw!

In the two-round home and away game system, if the total score is the same, the team with the most away goals will advance to the next round. If the away goals are the same again, there will be extra time, and finally a penalty shootout!

Through some "unknown" lottery operations!

Zenit, the new champion of the Russian Super League, has won the La Liga powerhouse Villarreal!

This team, known as the "Yellow Submarine" by Chinese fans, is at its peak in the past few years!

In the 04-05 season, the rapidly rising Villarreal only lagged behind the traditional giants Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga, ranking third, and won the "La Liga" championship (not the Western Super League)! Qualified to participate in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in team history!

In the next 05-06 season, Villarreal created a dark horse legend of their own team in the European arena! After defeating Everton in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, the next group stage also played smoothly, beating Manchester United to qualify for the first place in the group, and the knockout rounds were even better. They went directly to the semi-finals of the Champions League before being eliminated by the Gunners Arsenal! But this also created the history of the team's own European war, allowing many European football people to see the madness of this small team!

These excellent results of Yellow Submarine in recent years are inseparable from the South American factor in the team!

The team coach is Pellegrini nicknamed "The Engineer"! As a rare South American coach in European football, Pellegrini has realized the integration of South American football and European football in the Villarreal team, and led this small low-investment team to create a own history!

There are many good South American players in the team, and under Pellegrini's training, the whole team also has continental European football, tactical rigor, and teamwork. When a group of creative South American players fill the team's offensive system and maintain discipline most of the time, it's no wonder that Pellegrini will become the favorite of the major giants in the years to come!

In fact, this year will be the year when Pellegrini is at the peak of Villarreal. In the original historical trajectory, Villarreal will complete the overtake of Barcelona in the final stage of the season. , becoming the runner-up in La Liga after Real Madrid! Make the team's best history, from the league third place in 2005, a step further!

Although Villarreal's ace striker, Diego Forlan, moved to Atletico Madrid this season, Giuseppe Rossi, who spent nearly 10 million euros to introduce, is also a good shooter, filling most of Forlan's After Lan left, the firepower was blank!

Coupled with the introduction of midfielder Mavuba, defender Angel, and goalkeeper Diego Lopez at the same time, the strength of the entire Villarreal lineup should rise steadily after Forlan leaves!

Although the former core Riquelme was loaned back to South America to play football due to conflicts with the head coach, the overall tactical framework of the team has been drilled for several years and will not change because of one person. As far as the current Villarreal is concerned, it is definitely one of the most powerful!

This draw is not friendly to Zenit!

But would Zenit be afraid today?

It is true that Villarreal is not a vegetarian, but Zenit, who recruited heavily in the winter window, is not a freelancer either!

First, Roman Schrokov, a free agent midfielder, was signed, and then Fazu Ilin was signed as a substitute forward. After all, Tek’s type overlaps with the main forward Pogrebnyak, and Ed Wokat needs a different type of striker to enrich his tactics!

He also introduced Portuguese winger Miguel Dani from Moscow Dynamo with a lot of money to ensure that he has enough substitute players on the wing. Even when Denisov or Dominguez is not in good condition, Danny is completely Have the ability to become the main player!

It's a pity that in the winter window transfer market, there are no defenders who fall into Advocaat's eyes at all, so their own defenders can only rely on existing personnel!

However, before the holiday, Hagen and Skrtel finally improved in defending the opponent's counterattack after such a long time of partnering, and Yang Feng can come back in full condition to catch up with the knockout round of the Europa League, which also makes Advocaat Don't worry so much anymore!

After the lottery result is confirmed, the Zenit players only need to continue their training tasks, and the coaching staff will start working overtime again to study their opponents!

"The strength of this Villarreal team cannot be underestimated!"

"However, their thin lineup can still be used by us. We added several players in the winter window, isn't it just for this kind of physical strength!"

"That's right, after playing two rounds a week, plus the league, I'll see how they play! And I don't believe that Villarreal really wants to make a difference in the Europa League. You must know that his record is only Ranked third in La Liga, Atletico Madrid and Espanyol behind him are only 1 point and 3 points behind him. In the second half of the league, I don't believe that Pellegrini will risk losing the Champions League qualification risk, come and fight with us in the Europa League knockout round!"

"Of course! They don't have a big financial backer like us. The various bonuses obtained by entering the Champions League are something that this low-cost small team must grasp. As for the European honors, it is only the top 32 now. Not In the final, I also don’t think they will fight us to the death!”

"That's right, unless Pellegrini's brain is watted, otherwise he won't play well in the league to qualify for the Champions League, what kind of Europa League!"

"Hey, hey! I say comrades! A tactical seminar is not for you to analyze the general situation and relax your mind. What I want is a tactical response! 'Tactical'!"

Advocaat couldn't help but interrupt when he saw that the members of his coaching staff were going astray in the discussion!

"Back to the point! There is no accident, it should be Villarreal's most commonly used 451 formation! The striker is not sure, after all, both Rossi and Nihat have the experience of starting the game, and the number of goals is roughly the same. I am optimistic about Giuseppe Rossi playing in the first round! The other five midfielders have no accidents and should play together, after all, they don't have any decent substitutes!"

"This kind of team that relies on a set of starters, the substitute players are flawed! The gap between most of their substitute players and the main players is not a star and a half, but a world of difference. One position is injured or suspended, and that position is basically the same. Useless!"

"What are you talking about! There are obviously two good substitute players! They are still on par with the main players in terms of strength!"

"you are right?"

"Substitute goalkeeper! That was last season's main goalkeeper Vieira, and his performance this season is still good!"

"There is also Mavuba, who was transferred for tens of millions of euros, and he is called the successor of Makelele!"

"That's right, but I'm not acclimatized, I don't adapt to the tactics, I spent a few games with 10 million euros, and I just sat on the bench in these rounds, haha!"

"You still forgot one person, the players in their team, but there is also a world-renowned player like Riquelme!"

"Then he was driven away by his own head coach and returned to Argentina on loan!"

Seeing his colleagues' topics go off track again, Advocaat also had some headaches, but at least this cheerful atmosphere showed that his team still had confidence and was not afraid of a team of this level!

Although in the Europa League, Villarreal's strength is definitely at the top level, but today's Zenit must also be the overlord!

In particular, the joining of several new aids has definitely raised its own strength to another level, and the advantages of the Russian Super League schedule have become more obvious. Other mainstream leagues have already entered the second half, such as Villarreal Such a team has to take into account the results of the league, and after playing two rounds in a week, plus the weekend league, Villarreal must make a trade-off and consider physical issues!

If a lineup plays 3 games within 7 days, it is purely self-defeating!

Zenit, on the other hand, has no worries about the schedule. After all, the Russian Super League has not yet started after two rounds!

The problem belonging to Zenit is how to adjust the state of the game. For this reason, Advocaat has negotiated friendly matches with two Russian Super League clubs to find the state for his players!

For Zenit, the most important thing in 2008 is the Europa League, this opportunity to become famous in Europe!

If Villarreal wants to be a stumbling block, then just defeat him and just step over his corpse!