"At Anfield, the two teams are about to meet. I dare say that this game will be more attractive than this year’s final. I don’t mean to belittle Wenger’s team, but they do have a certain gap with the world’s top giants."
"I am very happy to see Arsenal as their opponents in the final, whether Liverpool or Milan A. Although I had hoped that Villarreal, the dark horse of the season, would go further, the strong midfield composed of Ljungberg and Reyes Hleb is the fastest killer in the gunners’ team. Henry Wenger has put a group of young people on the right track."
We have no reason to complain about who is the protagonist in the final. Maybe the big clubs lost their status at the crucial moment, so whoever can win the championship trophy in stade de france on May 17 is entitled to this honor.
This is what cruyff wrote before the Champions League semi-final. Obviously, cruyff prefers the game between Milan and Liverpool, and it is just a passing thing for Arsenal and Villarreal. His views are the same as those of other media.
But by the way, the game is also the semi-final of the Champions League.
The match between Arsenal and Villarreal was better than the match between Liverpool and A Milan. It was amazing that Villarreal was surprisingly tenacious. They scored a goal in the game and almost dragged the score to extra time at the end. Villarreal might take a penalty and Riquelme was responsible for the penalty.
To score this goal, the game will go into overtime.
But in the end, after Riquelme missed the penalty shoot-out under the pressure of’ Diego Maradona style’, some media said, "If Villarreal can’t reach the final, his name will not be remembered."
Riquelme had an ominous premonition before the game, and this pessimism was born with the characteristics of Argentine players
Riquelme guessed the first half of the sentence correctly, but his name is remembered in history because he missed a penalty at the last minute. In this small Spanish town with a population of 480,000, the significance of this misstep for the first time in the Champions League is in the local chronicles. In 1994, Baggio was compared with a gorgeous game, so it ended in such a sad situation, and then it matched his melancholy eyes. What a classic and gorgeous Argentine death style.
About 6% of the people in the city walked into the balcony of every house in el madrigal that night, hanging the club flag, and the mayor of Villarreal, Gerteris, personally visited the camp. The fans also surrounded the stadium with a huge yellow submarine inflatable model. The city was dotted with yellow … All the conditions showed that "victory" was an irreversible historical trend of this battle
However, this trend is not the driving force but the pressure in Riquelme’s pessimistic eyes.
For 89 minutes, Riquelme’s expression was as stiff as marble, which showed that Riquelme was under heavy psychological pressure. He was watched to death by his opponent in the first round of Arsenal’s battle.
In the ninth minute, Riquelme’s eyes flashed with fleeting excitement, which was brought to him by the penalty opportunity, but he was still very nervous. He kissed a football and spat in front of the penalty point to release the pressure in this way, but he didn’t dare to look Lyman in the eye. Lyman had judged that he was going to the left, and he was still sending the ball to the German arms. Of course, this was sending tickets.
"Pressure, a kind of pressure from the outside world to put it on the same footing as Diego Maradona, made Riquelme kick a gentle penalty one yard ago." The Spanish media commented that a team had been waiting for 83 years, and the fate of two rounds of fighting at his feet for 18 minutes was also compressed into his goal.
It seems that all the details of the mission are unbearable for Riquelme. He is like an overwhelmed engine, rooted in the "yellow submarine" ocean.
Such a lonely hero with tragic color naturally won sympathy. pellegrini said, "This is what football people think Riquelme failed because he took the penalty, but his greatness lies in taking responsibility. It is not his fault that he missed the penalty."
Fran also defended that "Riquelme’s performance in the game won the respect of others, even when Diego Maradona made mistakes, it was related to the ball skills."
With Riquelme’s penalty tragedy, this game, which was not optimistic in the future, became a classic for people to remember.
Because of this game, Villarreal, a famous town, became the protagonist of major sports newspapers in Spain overnight, which was incredible for Real Madrid and Barcelona to dominate the media absolutely, but Villarreal, a small team, did it.
Not because it was lucky enough to be an Arsenal opponent, but because it beat the gunman out of temper, Riquelme missed a penalty at the last minute, but it won more sympathy votes
Le Monde said, "The greatest dream in Villarreal’s history was shattered and disappeared with Riquelme’s penalty at the last minute, but the Spanish team’s performance was still glorious. Who would have thought that advocating attacking Arsenal would be blocked without a shot? Villarreal got a good chance to keep shooting. It’s unfair to compare games. It made a great team experience the most incredible tragedy. "
"Daily Sports Daily" also lamented Villarreal that "unfair things often happen in the football world, and the score can’t reflect the real situation. The Spanish team has four chances of lore and even a penalty; On the other hand, Arsenal has no temper at all, especially Henry, who was added to Barcelona’s yellow shirt. He disappeared in front of barbosa! "
Aspen believes that Villarreal is not short of anything but luck. "In the final stage, Riquelme missed that penalty and there is reason for everything to move towards the final of the European Champions League. If Villarreal has scored several shots, it will be a tango style to celebrate in el madrigal today. Unfortunately, Villarreal was awakened from a wonderful European dream in the most cruel way."
Marca newspaper believes that this misnomer makes people accept that "it is very difficult for Villarreal to score two goals in the face of defending Arsenal. They finally stopped one step before the Champions League final. Riquelme missed a penalty and Lehmann was lucky to save it. Villarreal absolutely suppressed the gunners in the game, so it seems so unacceptable at this time!"
Even English Sky Sports said after the game that "Villarreal had the opportunity to drag the game into overtime, but Riquelme finally became a sinner, and he let el madrigal finally sing the Gunners’ victory song".
On the Tragedy of Football Created by Riquelme.
While there was a sad music, Arsenal had the last laugh. Although they didn’t perform well in the game, although they didn’t score a goal, they eliminated Villarreal, which was close to the Champions League final.
No Arsenal player wants to talk about the game after the game.
They are more looking forward to the final. Arsenal Spanish teenager Reyes commented on the match between Liverpool and A Milan. Finally, he said that he wanted to meet A Milan in the final. "It will be a great final!"
"I’d rather meet A Milan than Liverpool in the final," Reyes said. "It will be a great Champions League final and a great challenge for us."
"For me, reaching the final means a lot, and so does the team. We are all very excited and eager for the final. It is difficult to describe it now. I feel that the dressing room is full of excitement, but no one is happier than Wenger."
Other Arsenal players were also interviewed. They also talked about the match between Liverpool and A Milan.
More players want to play against A Milan.
"We hope it’s A Milan because it will be a wonderful game." Henry and Reyes have similar views. Few Arsenal players want Liverpool.
This situation is very strange.
In the media reports, Liverpool players naturally know these news. Zhang Tiehan vomited, "These guys must be afraid of us!"
He can say so.
Not only in the dressing room the night before the game, Zhang man of iron also told the media, "They are afraid. We just look at the season when we played them twice and they didn’t even get a draw. I believe that if we meet them in Paris, it will be a boring final."
"What? Because we can easily win the Champions League trophy. "
Zhang Tiehan’s words annoyed many Arsenal players and fans, supported Arsenal media, and constantly criticized Zhang man of iron’s arrogance. But in fact, Zhang Tiehan is not arrogant. He still thought in his heart,’ You are the first to get old.’
That’s right!
Other Liverpool players feel the same way. Before the war, those media supported A Milan, even if they were optimistic that they could win. But Arsenal? What reason do they have to support A Milan and say that playing A Milan in the final will be a classic battle? Doesn’t that mean playing Liverpool is not interesting?
After all, the atmosphere between Liverpool and A Milan was peaceful before the game, but they quarreled with Arsenal first.
However, this did not affect the team’s preparations.
On the day of the game, the Liverpool team did a simple warm-up in the afternoon. Zhang Tiehan felt that he was in good shape. He was still very excited that he was going to play against Milan A today. This was his first time to participate in the semi-finals of the Champions League, and he was also very excited by the world attention.
The good news is that he is in excellent condition!
Although he has just participated in the semi-final of the FA Cup against Chelsea, his state base has not been affected by the previous round of league break. The game against Milan A is today. He feels that he has no reason not to play well, not only in his state of mind, but also in other emotional problems, such as his bon voyage and Lola’s good feelings. Zhang Tiehan will not bring them into football.
Manager Zhang man of iron is already looking forward to the game.
Except for Zhang man of iron, other players in Liverpool are in good shape. Garcia, Riise and others have recovered from injuries, and Alonso has no problem. The good physical condition of the players also gives Liverpool more confidence in the game.
On the day of the opponent’s match, A Milan’s injury has also been answered. It has always been doubted whether Stahl will be called up in the second leg against Liverpool, but this does not mean that his physical condition will definitely allow him to get a starting position. It is said that A Milan team doctor will diagnose Stahl one hour before the game to see if he is qualified for the game.
However, compared with staying at home with a broken fibula, Ambrosini pulled Starr’s groin and was much luckier.
Among the other players, Shevchenko, Kaka, Cafu and Maldini have all been included in the big list, although they are not in the best physical condition. Because of the shortage of manpower, Ancelotti also brought the teenager Mazzolati to Liverpool just in case.
The game against messina brought great harm to A Milan. In the shadow of injuries and attrition, A Milan arrived in Liverpool to prepare for a game.
Kaka expressed his confidence in the game.