After returning from Liverpool, Yang Chen began to prepare for the final battle of the German Second Division Championship, because after the end of the Champions Cup, Kaiserslautern welcomed the last three decisive matches for the championship.
Away to Mainz, home to Wolfsburg, away to Hertha Berlin, all three opponents are direct rivals of Kaiserslautern for the championship and promotion, and with the current 7-point gap, there is a risk of being overtaken at any moment, so we must be vigilant at all times.
Fortunately, with Vanni's opening, Kaiserslautern has Marshall and Vanni, two great forwards, plus Denilson, Daisler, Fritz and other wing stars, making Kaiserslautern's offense in the 2nd Bundesliga almost unbeatable.
On March 23rd, Kaiserslautern away challenged Mainz, Yang Chen made a rotation for the team, and the back line used Lucio, Kyle and Luis Huete to replace Bremmer's three people. In terms of midfield, Yang Chen used Deko to replace Bellon who started continuously recently.
Although the team's starting lineup has undergone a major change, the players' state and strength are not to be underestimated. Mainz is at home, but they played defensive counterattacks, Kaiserslautern took the initiative, playing attacking football, and successively in the 25th and 68th minutes, Marshall and Barak laid the foundation for Kaiserslautern's advantage.
2: 0 away win over Mainz, Kaiserslautern league two consecutive victories.
A week later, the team played at home against Wolfsburg, and this time Yang Chen did not hold back, sending all his main players to battle, cleanly defeating their main competitor 4-0, thoroughly crushing Wolfsburg's morale. Marshall further solidified his position as the top scorer in the 2nd Bundesliga with a hat-trick in this match.
Riding a 3-match winning streak in the 2. Bundesliga, Kaiserslautern entered April's schedule.
April 6, away challenge Hertha Berlin.
In preparation for the 10th away game against Paris Saint-Germain, Yang Chen made some adjustments to the lineup again, and unfortunately ended up drawing 1-1 with Hertha Berlin.
But on April 10th, Yang Cheng led his team to rush to Paris and challenge Paris Saint-Germain away.
Paris Saint-Germain, sitting at home, showed the momentum of defending champion, and also hoped to rely on the advantage of home court to crush this weak team in the German second-tier league, especially Joel Bats, who shouted out the slogan of ending the battle in the first round.
But in the game, Kaiserslautern, who were always known for their 4-3-3 attacking football, suddenly changed to a 4-5-1 formation.
The back four from left to right were Bremer, Koschyk, Kehl and Clemens Fritz; Gattuso played as a right-sided midfielder, Nedvěd, Ballack and Barak formed a midfield trio, while D?nemark played further forward.
Also more free, Ma Shao alone stood at the forefront.
Yang Chen's sudden change in formation caught Joel Bartz off guard, as according to the intelligence he had gathered earlier, Kaiser Slautern's tactics had always been centered around 343, but now they had changed to a modified version of 442, which was indeed unexpected.
When the big list was announced at the beginning of the game, the outside world was also shocked by Yang Cheng's tactics. After all, Kaiserslautern had not played such tactics this season. Although there were strategies for changing formations in major tournaments before, few achieved results.
In the midst of doubts, only Yang Cheng himself was clear that in the Super Coach Assistant System, the first formation 343 had a cohesion degree of 74 points, and the 442 he had previously arranged and often practiced during training had also reached a cohesion degree of 63 points, so using it in the game would not be a problem at all.
Moreover, it's just a change in tactical formation, but the essence of Kaiser Slautern is still the same as what Yang Cheng instilled.
As the game went on, everyone gradually discovered a point, that is, Kaiserslautern's tactics restrained Paris Saint-Germain's starting lineup.
In this set of tactics, the most threatening players were originally Pulling Easy and Leonardo on the side road. However, now Yang Cheng specifically targets this point, focusing on attacking the side road, using Denilson to contain Leonardo, relying on Denilson's personal ability on the side road, plus the support of Bremen and Nedved behind him, making Leonardo dare not take the initiative to attack.
In the midfield, Gatusso, Veron and Baraja formed a tight encirclement, freezing out Rai and cutting off the connection between Paris Saint-Germain's midfield and backfield. With Kily also able to play in this position, Kaiserlautern deployed heavy troops in the midfield.
Clement on the right flank coordinated with Gatusso to control the offense and defense of the right route, even frequently making sudden insertions, creating a killing machine that made Paris Saint-Germain's attack always so anxious.
Under this tactic, Paris Saint-Germain's offense was unable to open up the situation, but Kaiserslautern relied on Denilson, who was in great shape on the wing, and he brought huge danger to Paris Saint-Germain on both the left and middle roads. His personal breakthroughs were almost unstoppable.
In the 62nd minute of the second half, Kaiserslautern counterattacked after a steal, and Bellon's long pass found Denilson on the left flank. The Brazilian made a beautiful move past his marker and crossed into the box, where Olaf Marshall headed in the ball under pressure from Paul Le Guen to score the opening goal, 0-1!
This score was maintained until the end of the game. Kaiserslautern temporarily led Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 away from home with a bold tactical change.
The result immediately thrilled the Red Devils fans, but since Dortmund and Schalke 04 also won both in the Champions League and the Europa League, Kaiserslautern's victory did not cause too much commotion.
Back to Kaiser's home stadium, the team immediately defeated Leipzig 4-1 in a rotation match. Dutch striker Van Nistelrooy scored twice again, showing his excellent goal-scoring form and confidence on the field, which made Yang Cheng have every reason to look forward to his future.
Every top scorer must cultivate this confidence in continuous goals, only by gaining such confidence can they dare to shoot boldly in the game. Now Van Nistelrooy is on this road, and as he becomes more confident, his performance will get better and better.
But in the 26th round of the league, in the away game against Ghent, Yang Chen made a large-scale rotation of the team's main lineup to prepare for the European Cup Winners' Cup match against Paris Saint-Germain at home. The team eventually drew 1-1 with Ghent, with Deko scoring the winning goal and Van Nistelrooy's consecutive scoring streak being temporarily ended.
But what's worth cheering is that Kaiserslautern returned to their familiar tactics at home and defeated Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 with two goals from Marshall and Bellon. Lajos equalized for Paris Saint-Germain in the first half, but Bellon's direct free kick restored the lead early in the second half.
After two legs of the tie, Kaiserslautern eliminated Paris Saint-Germain with an aggregate score of 3–1 and incredibly advanced to the European Cup Winners' Cup Final.
In Florence, although Fiorentina fought hard in the first leg of the match, thanks to Battistuta's goal in the 65th minute, they drew 1-1 with powerful Barcelona on away soil.
But Batty was sent off in the last minute and had to miss the second leg, leaving Rui Costa isolated, losing 0-2 at home to Barca and 1-3 on aggregate.
Sadly leaving European Champions Cup.
Thus the two teams for the European Cup Winners' Cup final were born: Kaiserslautern from the 2. Bundesliga against Spanish Primera División giants Barcelona, scheduled for May 14 at De Kuip in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
That is to say, from the second round of the four strong knockout match to the final, a total of only 20 days, from the preparation point of view, indeed too hasty, especially when facing the star-studded Barcelona.
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Sitting on the sofa in his own office, the TV in front of him was playing Barcelona vs Fiorentina over and over again.
Although many people outside think that Barcelona was in a predicament after being held to a draw by Fiorentina at home in the first leg, those who actually watched the match and understand the two-legged knockout tie know that Fiorentina seemed to have the upper hand in the first leg but actually laid the groundwork for the second leg.
Barcelona at home is undoubtedly strong, Ronaldo, Figo, Enrique, Guardiola, these are all the top stars in today's football world, and the attacking combination formed by them is undoubtedly the most feared in today's football world.
"If I remember correctly, Barcelona's goals in La Liga this season will exceed 100, it seems to be 102!" Yang Cheng muttered to himself with a wry smile.
Think about it, in the season when Real Madrid bought many superstars like Ronaldo, Kaka, Alonso and Benzema, Pellegrini's team scored 102 goals in La Liga, and at that time, the competitiveness of La Liga was far less than it is now.
It can be imagined how strong this team's offense is.
Of course, this season's Barcelona is very strong in offense, but there are many loopholes in defense. At least Bobi? Robson's team is 8 points behind Real Madrid because Capello understands defense better than Robson.
However, in Spain, fans identified more with Robson and were dismissive of Capello's football style.
Kaiserslautern against Barcelona, defense and counterattack are a must. To play an open game with Barca is to look for death. The key is how to defend and how to counterattack!
Just as Yang Cheng was getting a headache, the office door was knocked on.
"Ah, you're here!" Paul Bayer and Tim Hanks walked into the office one after another.
They came and sat down beside Yang Cheng, seeing the repeated playback of Barcelona's game footage on TV, as well as a worried-looking Yang Cheng.
"It's already past 7 o'clock, aren't you going to eat something?" Tim asked with a concerned smile.
"Oh damn it!" Yang Cheng slapped his own forehead, too busy watching the video to notice the time.
The three of them burst out laughing at the same time.
From the moment he heard that the Champions League final was against Barcelona, Yang Chen looked like he had a lot on his mind.
It's easy to understand because nowadays there are hardly any teams in the world that can take care of Kaizer Chiefs unless they want to bet on a small team to beat Kaizer Chiefs.
Although the vast majority of media are now singing a sad song for us, there are still people who praise us!" Paul Bayer saw Yang Chen's bad mood and deliberately changed the subject.
Oh? Hymn?" Yang Cheng thought this word was very interesting.
"At least we defended the tradition of the Champions League winner's cup and refused Paris Saint-Germain's defending!"
Yang Cheng was taken aback at first, but soon burst out laughing, which somewhat alleviated the pressure brought by Barcelona's strength. However, the giant-like Barcelona remained a lingering shadow in Yang Cheng's mind.
In the history of the Champions League, there have been six instances where the defending champion from the previous season reached the final of the current season with the intention of defending their title, but none of them have ever succeeded in doing so. This season's Paris Saint-Germain is no exception.
In fact, Yang Cheng knew that even without Kaiserslautern's appearance, Paris Saint-Germain would not be able to beat Barca, because this is almost one of the strongest teams in football today. No need to say more, just think about it, Ronaldo, Figo, and Guardiola gathering on one team, what a spectacular scene that would be.
Florence's Lanelli may have had a poor record this season, but they are still one of the strongest teams in Serie A. The combination of BatiStuta and Rui Costa is almost perfect, yet they still lost to Barcelona, which can't be attributed solely to BatiStuta's red card!
To know that in the second round of the game, Ronaldo scored a goal at the beginning, but was blown invalid, otherwise the result of this game should be 3:0 victory, although Florence's defeat is due to Ranieri's conservative tactics, but Barcelona's strength is also unquestionable.
In addition, there is another point, which is the schedule of the league and the influence of Real Madrid.
The first round of the match was between La Liga's 32nd and 33rd rounds. In the 32nd round, Real Madrid unexpectedly drew at home against a weak team, which was a great opportunity for Barcelona, who had been left far behind by Real Madrid. Therefore, in the mid-week match against Fiorentina, Barcelona seemed somewhat distracted, with their minds already focused on the weekend's away match against Atletico Madrid.
As a result, the first round match was tied, but Barca narrowed the gap with Real Madrid from 9 points to 7 points, and Barca saw the hope of turning defeat into victory.
However, in the next two rounds of the league, Bar?a unexpectedly lost away to Valladolid, while Real Madrid was tied away by Valencia, and the gap between the two teams expanded to 8 points. With 7 rounds remaining in the league, this gap is already irreparable.
Additionally, with La Liga suspended for two weeks at that time, Barcelona devoted all their energy to the European Cup Winners' Cup and thus achieved a resounding victory in the second leg.
I watched La Liga's schedule. On May 11th, in the 37th round of La Liga, Barcelona will host Real Madrid at Camp Nou Stadium. Currently, the two teams have an 8-point difference in points. As long as neither team widens the point gap further in the 36th round, this match will be a do-or-die for Barcelona!
Paul Bier pointed at a La Liga schedule in front of him and began to introduce the upcoming La Liga situation to Yang Cheng.
A 3-point game, as long as the home team takes down Real Madrid, the gap between Barca and Real will narrow to 5 points, with 6 rounds left in the league, anything is possible!
Yang Cheng couldn't help but start agreeing with Paul Baier's analysis as soon as he thought of this.
In the 38th round on May 17, Barca will be away to challenge Celta. If the situation in the 37th round is slightly inclined towards Barca, Bobby Robson has no reason to give up this game. At that time, the winner of the mid-week Champions League final will definitely be affected! Paul Breitner continued to analyze.
But with Real Madrid's momentum this season, it's unlikely that Barca can overtake them. Would they really risk affecting the almost certain victory in this final for an unknown situation?" Tim Hank thinks Bobbi Robson is unlikely to do so.
But Yang Cheng suddenly burst out laughing and said with great certainty: "It will work, it must work!"
Others may not know the grudges between Barca and Real Madrid, but Yang Cheng knows it very clearly. Although the hatred between the two teams has not been thoroughly ignited yet, the importance of the century derby is self-evident. Moreover, with the impact on league points, Bobby Robson will definitely go all out in the home game against Real Madrid.
This is Kaiserslautern's chance!
As soon as he thought of this, Yang Cheng suddenly felt a sense of relief, the feeling of being almost suffocated earlier was greatly alleviated.
When the head coach is indeed inhumane abuse, especially in terms of resistance to pressure and blows, Yang Chen, if he were just a fan, would think that Bayern's defeat by Barca, even if they lost, although it would be painful, although it would be difficult to bear, but his life would still go on as usual.
But when the head coach is not working out, because this game relates to every player's efforts and struggles throughout the season, they put all their hopes on Yang Cheng. One decision by Yang Cheng could potentially negate their entire season's worth of effort at any time.
It was also at this time that Yang Cheng could understand why there were often so many players leaving the team that had treated him well in the past. The reason was simply because they couldn't win a championship. If you hadn't experienced it personally, you wouldn't be able to understand that kind of despair.
Yang Cheng is now trying his best to prevent this downturn from happening to his own team!
At the same time, he also needs to start thinking about and formulating a training and match plan for the team over the next 20 days until the final against Barcelona. He even decides to use the achievement points in the super coach assistant system, sparing no effort to adjust the players' state and morale, so that they can reach their peak state when facing Barcelona.
Only in this way can Kaiserslautern have the strength to fight against Barcelona!
