super football star

Chapter 228 A Visit to Cologne
The two-day rest time passed in the blink of an eye, and the team began to regroup. For now, Bayern Munich's situation is very good. The opponents in the next few rounds of the league are not strong, and Van Buyten has also recovered.

For Van Buyten's recovery, Contento was relieved but also unwilling. Originally, for a 19-year-old boy, Contento was lucky, because Van Buyten's injury gave him a chance, but the tough confrontation between Van Gaal and the media undoubtedly brought enormous pressure to Contento.

It has to be said that this is an invisible test of what a player can achieve in the future, facing up to difficulties, and even conquering all those who are not optimistic about him with his own performance. Then such a young player's future achievements are limitless. At worst, he should be able to become the main force of the giants.

Contento is lucky. Recently, Bayern Munich celebrated its 110th anniversary and set a record for the longest winning streak in the Bundesliga. The attention of the media is not on the competition with Van Gaal and his performance. Now with the return of Van Buyten, if there is no accident, he will return to the bench.

However, when Contento breathed a sigh of relief, the unexpected happened again. Van Buyten returned, but another member of the defense line was injured. Demichelis, the Argentine defender used too much force in a training session, which led to a report to the team doctor. As a result, the team doctor's reply took another two weeks.

Well, Contento, who had just returned to the bench, returned to the main lineup again, and Badstuber, who had just returned to the wing, returned to the position of central defender. Of course, the position of central defender is Badstuber's job.

Contento returned to the main lineup in the training game, but another young player of the team looked at him very enviously, that is the teenager Alaba. At present, Alaba followed the suggestion of Van Gaal and moved back from the midfield to play full-back.

In this case, Bayern Munich came to Cologne, a city in western Germany, located on the Rhine, as a guest at Rhein Energy Stadium to challenge Cologne.

The biggest name in the Cologne team should be Podolski's return from Bayern Munich last year. Podolski became famous in Cologne. With his performance in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he transferred to the Bundesliga giants that summer, but Podolski's performance did not go as expected.

And with the joining of Klose and Tony, Podolski gradually lost his position. In the end, for the World Cup this summer, he chose to leave Bayern Munich and return to his famous club. Cologne was also willing to reclaim this wanderer and paid 1000 million euros for it.

At present, Cologne's performance is not good, with 26 points in the lower reaches of the standings. However, Cologne performed quite well in the last round. They drew with Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich's most direct competitor, and helped Bayern widen the point difference between the two teams again.

In football time, the average player will have a very impressive performance against the old owner. This has almost become an iron rule in the football schedule, because the leaving players want to prove themselves in front of the old owner, and helping the team defeat the old owner is the best proof.

In the afternoon of German time, under the gaze of 50000 fans at the Rhein Energy Stadium, players from both sides began to appear on the field.

Cologne lineup: 433
Goalkeeper: Monteragón

Defenders: Bretzko, Mohammed, Jeromele, McKenna

Midfielders: Matusik, Petit, Maniche

Forwards: Podolski, Novakovic, Fries
Bayern Munich lineup: 442
Goalkeeper: Bout

Defenders: Contento, Badstubel, Van Buyten, Lahm
Midfielders: Müller, Li Feng, Schweinsteiger, Altintop

Forwards: Olic, Gomez
Due to weak opponents and the Midweek Champions Cup, Van Gaal finally took the initiative to rotate players for the first time this season. You must know that Van Gaal is a head coach who doesn't like rotation very much, and some coaches like rotation very much, such as Liverpool coach Benitez.

And Van Gaal is completely different from Benitez. So far this season, as long as the main lineup has no injuries, Van Gaal has not taken the initiative to rotate, and he himself once said that he hates rotation very much.

In this game, neither Ribery nor Robben had a main lineup, and even Robben didn't even enter the substitute list. It is conceivable that Van Gaal attaches great importance to the Champions League.

With the sound of the referee's whistle, the game officially began. Cologne, who was playing at home, took the lead. The first shot came from Podolski.

Bout made a save but missed the ball, but Cologne didn't score either, as Podolski's shot hit the post.

The second wave of offensive still belonged to Cologne. Bayern Munich started a corner kick. Li Feng was double-teamed as soon as he entered the half of Cologne with the ball. Obviously, Cologne made sufficient preparations for this game, especially in the absence of Robben and Ribery. For this, Li Feng chose to pass Schweinsteiger back.

And it was his kick back, Podolski came out from behind, Schweinsteiger couldn't react in time, and was cut off by him. From Podolski's performance and attitude at the moment, it can be seen that for this game, he has made every effort to prevent Bayern Munich from retreating.

After stealing the ball, Podolski passed the ball decisively, and Fries rushed to the Bayern Munich penalty area with the ball, but encountered a volley from Badstuber halfway. Facing this situation, Friess kicked the ball high and sent the ball into the Bayern Munich penalty area.

In the end Van Buyten won, the ball was pushed out of the penalty area by the Belgian central defender, but the ball landed at the feet of Podolski, who kept up with the attack. Fortunately, Schweinsteiger had been following his former teammate at this time. Under the interference of the pig, Podolski shot directly into the sky and flew into the stands.

In the next few minutes, although Bayern Munich wanted to counterattack, under the leadership of Podolski, the Cologne players seemed to have beaten the chicken blood. They launched a frenzied pursuit and interception of Bayern Munich.

However, for this situation, Van Gaal on the sidelines is not worried. After all, the strength of both sides lies there. After Cologne's three tricks pass, the rhythm of the game will naturally return to his own team.

(End of this chapter)