"Did you all watch the Min derby st night?" Gao Shen asked with deep during the first coag meeting of the m at Valdebebas.

  He was sitting on an office chair, gently turning from side to side, looking a little distressed. His idea had been stolen!

  The members of Real Madrid's coag staff had long known about Gao Shen's pn to attack A as soon as the game began. This required the team to have good physical fitness and be able to support the team's frontcourt pressing. Bueura had been fog on this project for a while.

  But no one expected that Mani, without warning, would ge the formation and adopt the same tactical style as Lyon. What's worse, Inter Mihe same way as Lyon, pressing and attag intensely.

  This was very iing. Lyon and Inter Min adopted simir tactics with great results, suppressing A's offense. However, their own offenses were not very effective. What about Real Madrid?

  Ai had been pyed like this by two teams for three secutive games. Would he make targeted adjustments?

  "I'm very puzzled," Bueura said, looking at Gao Shen. "It stands to reason that this derby wasn't that important, but Ai still pyed his main lineup."

  "I assessed A's situation st night. I dare say they were very exhausted. This will definitely affect their midweek Champions League match, so I don't uand why Ai did this."

  Gao Shen and the others nodded. If it was a Scudetto title race, it would be uandable. But fame that could at best decide participation in the Champions League qualifiers, was it worth it?

  "Maybe it's really for the city derby?" Maqueda guessed.

  "In the first derby betweewo sides, A lost 2-3 to Inter Min. Ai might want revenge and doesn't want to waste time pying the two Champions League qualifiers season. It is uandable."

  Many people nodded in agreement. Gao Shen smiled slightly. "Theher uimates us and thinks he easily defeat us, or he doesn't want to fight with us in the first round and trates all his efforts on the sed leg at home."

  There were only these two expnations. Otherwise, why fight Inter Min to the death before the first round of the Champions League semi-final?

  "Actually, A did this st season," Lucas said.

  Gao Shen looked at Lucas, nodding slightly, encing him to tihese were all in his early m report.

  "If everyone remembers, in the Champions League semi-final st season, A insisted on a two-litle. They were the leaders of Serie A a PSV Eindhoven 2-0 in the first leg. They almost lost the sed leg. If it wasn't for Kaka assisting Ambrosini in stoppage time, A wouldn't have reached the final, and there would be no Istanbul miracle. Three days after losing to PSV, they lost 1-0 to Juventus at San Siro, gave up the league lead, and ended up empty-handed."

  Lucas's point was clear: Ai had a criminal record in this regard. He always waoo mud ended up with nothing. If he won, he'd be a legend, but the price of losing was high, and everyone would criticize him for it.

  Ai had used the 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation back then, with almost the same lineup as ter. Ironically, Ai would win the Champions League with the criticized 4-3-2-1 formation the following season. But right now, he was still pying with two strikers.

  A made obvious adjustments for this game. For instance, Inzaghi was repced by Girdino, who could run more, creating pressing in the frontcourt. The midfield was more pact, fog on the middle, effectively curbing Inter Min's attacks.

  Lyon and Inter Min were weak offeeams, but Real Madrid was different.

  "A's ball possession rate reached 60% in this derby, but I made statistics. Many of their possessions were from the backcourt, making their offense ck threat and speed. At the Bernabeu, we should stick to our previous pn: rush to get the lead in the first leg, and then py defensive terattacks away from home," Lucas suggested.

  The first leg of the semi-final was at the Bernabeu, with Real Madrid pying home first. Gao Shen had always wao attack at home. Now, the showdowween Ai and Mani made him specute. Ai, a famous old fox, surely anticipated Gao Shen's tactics.

  Judging by his strategy against Mani, Ai was familiar with 4-2-3-1. Liverpool pyed 4-2-3-1 during the Istanbul miracle. Gao Shen had seeez's memory of this game iactical library. His substitutions were a bit lucky, and the halftime tales of A celebrating were media misinformation. A pyers just felt victory was in hand with a three-goal lead.

  This miracle had a lot of luck, aez took advantage of it. Iingly, Benitez's Liverpool were also weak in attack.

  Gao Shen wondered if Ai did this on purpose. fident in his defense, he allowed pressing and sought stability, terattag whenever possible. Given A's age, they couldn't sustain a fast pace, which suited them.

  Liverpool, Lyon, and Inter Min all struggled simirly against A.

  Of course, the risk was if A's defense was broken. It would be disastrous.

  This strategy resembled Capello's Juventus.

  Suddenly, Gao Shen looked at Bueura. "Lorenzo, if Ronaldo starts, do you think he st the first half?"

  Bueura and others were stunned. Start Ronaldo? He also started against Real Sociedad, but the iy differed from a Champions League semi-final. The 4-2-3-1 forward ter o suppress the oppo's ter-backs, a task Negredo usually handled, which was exhausting. Ronaldo couldn't achieve this effect but had strong personal ability and high sg efficy, boosting Real Madrid's attack.

  "For this game, we've been preparing for over a week. The pyers' physical fitness and state have been adjusted. ging our minds now would only cause chaos, so..." Gao Shen paused, staring at the assistants. "We stick to the inal pn and attack after the opening."

  ging tacti the spot is risky due to insuffit preparation. Sometimes, instead of defeating the oppo, you defeat yourself.

  "Negredo or Ronaldo?" Bueura asked.

  Gao Shen was a little embarrassed. "I'll think about it."

  The m training was still focused on recovery and adjustment after pyiafe. As usual, Gao Shen watched Bueura's performance. Everyone admired Bueura's ability because the team's physical dition and performance had visibly improved. Training levels and game abilities were also improving.

  However, the training iy was high, and everyone ushing their limits. But they persisted because they saw hope. Ronaldo had been w hard since his versation with Gao Shen, even in the gym, which he hated. His overall mental outlook and game state had improved signifitly. Everyo it, including Gao Shen.