May 28, Stadio Olimpico, Rome.

Before the game even started, Crystal Palace and Barcelona fans from all over the world had already packed the stadium.

There are also a large number of Chinese fans here.

As Crystal Palace has dominated European football in recent years, not to mention the Premier League title, even the Champions League final has now become Crystal Palace's repertoire, a box-sealing battle.

More and more Chinese Crystal Palace fans consider going to watch the Crystal Palace’s Champions League final as part of their travel and vacation plans.

Since Guardiola was Chen Ran's assistant coach last season, he led the team to face off against his former club in the Champions League final a year later. Such a dramatic event, not surprisingly, aroused heated discussions among countless fans.

With such a good hype subject, the media, who are best at fanning the flames, will naturally not let it go. One after another, sensational headlines appear in major media outlets.

"An employee's counterattack! Guardiola will bring Barcelona to teach his former boss Crystal Palace a hard lesson."

"It took Chen Ran three years to help Crystal Palace win the Champions League. Now, Guardiola is likely to achieve the achievements of his former boss in just one year."

"The battle between new and old talented coaches. Can Guardiola replace Chen Ran and become the strongest coach in football today?"

"As the champion teams of the Premier League and La Liga, this game will also determine who is the No. 1 football league in the world."

"According to the latest data from the betting company, the funds that are optimistic about Barcelona winning the Champions League this season have now surpassed Crystal Palace, achieving a major reversal. So will this happen in this game? Let us wait and see."

...

Thousands of miles away in China, even though the Champions League final started in the early morning, the popularity of the Crystal Palace forum has remained high since dinner.

Obviously, many Crystal Palace fans had no intention of taking a nap first, but were prepared to stay up all night.

"The situation in Crystal Palace is a little bad in this game. Barcelona's starting lineup has come out, all of them are main players, and they have not been affected by any injuries."

"Damn it! After playing for a season, you can still play with all the main players? Isn't this too unfair?"

"Ahem, there's nothing we can do about it. Who gave them the good luck? In the past few seasons, our Crystal Palace also had no major injuries throughout the season. Now we can only admit that we are unlucky."

"I said you are all worrying. Guardiola was just Chen Ran's assistant before. I don't believe he can do a better job than Chen Ran."

"Upstairs, the key now is that no one is available for Chen Ran. If the Crystal Palace is in good health, no one will worry about this problem."

"That's right. As the saying goes: 'It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice'. No matter how good that guy Chen Ran is, it's impossible for the players to recover from injury immediately."

"Oh, I hope Ji Thiran can continue to surprise us this time."

...

Chen Ran was naturally fully prepared for this Champions League final.

Before the game, he specially called Suarez and Messi to his office.

"Leo, Luis, in the next Champions League final, you two will be at your peak. So I will let you two partner up front and give you 'free fire rights'. You two must take advantage of it."

Do you know this rare opportunity?"

"Okay, boss!"

Suarez, who had already experienced the peak state before, immediately agreed excitedly. As for the subsequent three games of downturn, he didn't care.

You must know that he has just returned to the Crystal Palace club during the winter transfer period, and now he can represent the team as a starter in the Champions League final. Suarez is already very satisfied.

"Boss, peak condition? I think my previous condition has been good."

Messi didn't react for a moment, scratched the back of his head and looked at Chen Ran in confusion.

"Hey, Leo, once you experience the peak state that the boss talks about, you will know what a wonderful feeling it is."

Before Chen Ran could speak, Suarez answered Messi's question for him as if he had experienced it.

...

Since Crystal Palace is now full of wounded soldiers, Chen Ran is very pragmatic and does not adopt the previous offensive tactics.

In this Champions League final, he allowed Crystal Palace to regain its special skill - defensive counterattack tactics.

Forward Suarez, Forward Messi

Defensive midfielder Yaya Toure, defensive midfielder Cesc Fabregas, defensive midfielder Mascherano

Left back Evra, center back Kompany, center back Thiago Silva, center back Vidic, right back Maicon

Cech

As for Barcelona, ​​Guardiola now has a strong army. In addition, he is known for being good at offense, so he has naturally sent out a starting lineup with amazing offensive power.

Left winger Henry, center forward Ibrahimovic, right winger Eto'o

Central midfielder Iniesta, central midfielder Busques, central midfielder Xavi

Left back Abidal, center back Marcos, center back Pique, right back Puyol

goalkeeper valdes

Rome's Olympic Stadium, which can accommodate 100,000 people, was packed today. As soon as Chen Ran walked out of the players' tunnel, he felt the noisy and warm atmosphere in the stadium.

"Boss, long time no see."

As a familiar voice came, Chen Ran saw Guardiola walking over from the Barcelona bench.

"Yeah, long time no see. Josep, you did a great job!"

The two shook hands and exchanged greetings just outside the players' tunnel. The reporters present naturally did not miss this precious shot and kept "kacha kacha" surrounding the two people.

"Boss, are you planning to play defensive counterattack in this game?"

Guardiola had already seen Crystal Palace's starting lineup. Being very familiar with Chen Ran and Crystal Palace, he immediately guessed Chen Ran's plan.

Chen Ran also knew that he couldn't hide it from Guardiola, so he smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Josep, you must also know the current injury situation in Crystal Palace. The offensive players are almost injured. What else can I do if I don't play defensive counterattack?"

"That's true. Boss, then I will take advantage."

"Haha, this is the charm of football. Sometimes you take advantage, and sometimes you lose. Who can say for sure?"

After a brief chat, Chen Ran and Guardiola each returned to their benches.

Seeing Chen Ran approaching, Southgate immediately approached him.

"Boss, what did that guy Josep say to you?"

"He asked me if I wanted Crystal Palace to use a counter-attacking tactic."

"What? How could anyone ask this before a game? Does this guy Josep understand the rules? Boss, you won't tell him, right?"

Southgate was so shocked that he almost shouted.

"I said Crystal Palace did use defensive counterattack tactics today."

"Ah? Boss, how can you tell Josep this? This is our tactical secret."

At this moment, Southgate's eyes almost popped out.

"Haha, do you think that with Josep's understanding of Crystal Palace, he won't know what tactics we use after seeing our starting lineup?"

"Well...that's true. Sigh, it's really a big trouble to meet an opponent who knows us so well."

Southgate was stunned for a moment, then sighed helplessly.

At this time, Chen Ran silently called up the system and first activated an "Eagle Eye Guardian Card".

Then he used a "level one chicken blood card" for Messi and Suarez respectively.

Immediately afterwards, he used a "level one blood recovery card" for Yaya Toure and Mascherano respectively.

Finally, he used a "Free Kick Master Card" for Fabregas.

After doing these things, Chen Ran nodded with satisfaction.

It's time for Guardiola to experience what the real Crystal Palace is.

...

When the referee blew the whistle to start the game, Barcelona immediately pressed forward and launched a flood of offensive against Crystal Palace's defense.

Fortunately, Chen Ran was well prepared and sent enough defensive players to Crystal Palace. Except for Suarez and Messi, all the players stayed in their own half to defend.

Therefore, despite Barcelona's fierce offensive, Crystal Palace did not lose its position and tenaciously withstood the opponent's indiscriminate bombardment.

On the sidelines, seeing the familiar faces of Crystal Palace players on the field, Guardiola also had the illusion of being in another world. He almost regarded the Crystal Palace players as his own players several times.

For this game, Guardiola has already made difficult psychological preparations.

He knows very well that although Crystal Palace is currently suffering from injuries and serious personnel losses, it is still a very strong team with a very strong fighting capacity.

As long as Chen Ran is here, this team will have a backbone and there will be no chaos.

If you want to beat this team, you must not be in a hurry.

As Guardiola has been Chen Ran's assistant coach for three or four years, he knows Chen Ran's coaching style very well.

He knew that Chen Ran liked to strike from behind, waiting until the opponent's physical fitness declined in the second half of the game, and then strike to deliver a fatal blow to the opponent.

Therefore, when he saw Barcelona's aggressive attack on Crystal Palace's defense for half a day with no results, Guardiola immediately and decisively ordered the players on the field to slow down the offensive rhythm, shrink the formation, take a breath, and restore their physical fitness.

On the other side, seeing that Barcelona did not launch a continuous offensive in one go, but retreated back to their own half, Chen Ran couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth slightly.

Damn it, having an opponent who knows you too well is really annoying.

"Boss, why didn't Barcelona attack? Is that kid Josep holding back some bad water?"

Southgate muttered under his breath, he was very puzzled by Barcelona's abnormal performance.

"This guy is afraid that if he attacks too hard, the Barcelona players' physical energy will be exhausted too quickly. In the second half of the game, we will seize the opportunity to kill him."

"Um...Boss, that boy Josep really understands you."

Southgate glanced at Chen Ran with a wry smile. There was nothing he could do about this situation.

Chen Ran had no opinion on the current situation on the court.

Guardiola's arrangement can certainly reduce the physical exertion of Barcelona players.

But, similarly, Crystal Palace's defensive players also got a chance to breathe.

It’s not certain who will take advantage in the end.

In the next game, Barcelona's offense showed a wave-like rhythm.

Attack for a while, rest for a while, peaks and troughs, the cycle repeats.

On the Crystal Palace side, the players strictly followed the plan made by Chen Ran before the game.

Even when Barcelona contracted its formation and entered the trough, Crystal Palace had no intention of attacking.

Except for Messi and Suarez, the other players are almost in the middle.

Until the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, Barcelona still failed to break through the goal guarded by Cech. The score on the field remained 0:0 without any change.

During the halftime break, Chen Ran did not make any substitutions except giving the players blood injections as usual.

On Barcelona's side, although they failed to score in the first half, Guardiola was not in a hurry.

In addition to encouraging and motivating the players, he also did not make any substitution adjustments.

At the beginning of the second half, the trend of the first half continued.

The game was played tepidly, and the spectators were drowsy.

"Holy shit! Is this still the Champions League final? What a mess!"

"That's right. It's understandable that Crystal Palace was seriously injured and had to defend and counterattack, but Barcelona didn't take advantage of this opportunity to attack, but instead played nine shallow and one deep. What on earth was Guardiola thinking?"

"Mao's side is nine shallow and one deep. All I see is shallow, how can there be any depth? They can't penetrate the Crystal Palace's defense at all."

"Hahahahaha, the people upstairs are laughing so hard at me. I guess Guardiola is too afraid of Chen Ran, so he keeps holding back his kicks and doesn't dare to use his full strength."

"Indeed. Guardiola has been Chen Ran's assistant coach for such a long time. I guess no one knows Chen Ran better than him."

...

Just when the audience complained that the game was silent and boring, the situation on the field suddenly changed.

After firmly holding Ibrahimovic's header in his arms, Cech quickly got up and sent the ball to the frontcourt with a big foot.

Seeing Cech launch a counterattack, Suarez and Messi started at the same time. One went to grab the ball and the other started to advance towards Barcelona's penalty area at high speed.

At this time, Barcelona's defensive midfielder Busques also rushed to the ball's landing spot and was preparing to unload the high-altitude ball.

Suddenly, a little man rushed over and intercepted the ball in front of him.

It's Messi!

After Messi intercepted the ball, he immediately dribbled the ball along the right wing and advanced at high speed.

Barcelona's midfielder Iniesta can't catch up with Messi at all.

Realizing that the situation was not good, left back Abidal had to rush to intercept.

Facing the tall Abidal, Messi flicked the ball, and the ball just passed between Abidal's spread legs, playing a crotch pass.

Leaving Abidal with no time to react, Messi continued to lead the ball towards Barcelona's penalty area.
Chapter completed!