Football: After listening to the advice, I became the strongest free man.

After the group stage, Real Madrid passed the test and ushered in the final battle with Juventus.

Many people say that Zidane is a metaphysic, but in my opinion he should be a Neo-Confucian. Zidane is too rational. Although he has had some impulsive behaviors while playing football, he has played in the World Cup, European Cup, and Champions League finals, and he knows very well what the psychology of the entire team is at this time.

Therefore, whether it was against Atletico Madrid last year or Juventus this year, Real Madrid held back in the first half, but they were the first to score.

So was Allegri's choice wrong? Maybe they wanted to get the upper hand in the final and then use the tenacious Italian defense to defeat the opponent.

But let’s take a look at Real Madrid’s position first.

When Higuain dribbled the ball, Real Madrid's nine players retreated and pressed hard. Carvajal in the lower left corner did not press, and Casemiro in the middle was ready to retreat in front of Varane and Ramos.

Don't underestimate these two, especially Casemiro's role is to help defend and make up for the pot. He is not a traditional defensive midfielder and has to intercept the ball.

Throughout the first 15 minutes, Real Madrid adopted a regional defense, focusing on keeping an eye on Juventus' off-the-ball players and cutting off passing routes.

Therefore, Real Madrid's pressing is pressing but not grabbing. Juventus couldn't get through when they reached the midfield, so they could only pass back. However, Juventus adapted quickly and quickly took advantage of Real Madrid's opportunity to gather forces in the center. The two wingers, especially Sandro on the left, frequently gave the ball to Sandro on the left.

What about Juventus?

Juventus's running routes and main passing directions in the first half. Red is the main movement of the players, and green is the simple passing direction.

Mandzukic's role is to suppress Carvajal while cutting inside into the two forwards when Sandro drives forward.

Higuain wants to pull Ramos out of his defensive position. Dybala moves laterally to deliver the ball and hit the goal. On the right, Alves doesn't go deep, but cuts inside more. The center of gravity of the entire formation is on the left wing.

This change from Juventus did surprise Real Madrid. And it was also very successful. He grabbed points in the middle and Pjanic's long shots were very good. However, Real Madrid successfully froze Dybala.

At this time, the goal came.

It was Cristiano Ronaldo who cut inside, and the starting point of the entire attack was on Dybala's side, which is the left side of Real Madrid's center. Three or two kicks were given to Ronaldo's feet, and this is not the point.

Note Carvajal in the lower left corner, and Mandzukic. The point is here.

After Sandro pressed heavily, Juventus left the left wing empty. Mandzukic and Carvajal rushed towards the Juventus goal at the same time.

Carvajal ran all over the court, rushing all the way from outside the screen. When he saw Ronaldo cutting inside, he immediately ran back to the wing to complete the set.

When the pass is returned, please pay attention to the top of the arc. Apart from Mandzukic, where is there a Juventus defender?

What is the ratio of the number of offensive players to defensive players inside and outside the penalty area? In fact, if Mandzukic arrived in time, Ronaldo would not have been able to score so easily. There would be no one around him. What about Khedira and Pjanic? They were all taken away by the Real Madrid players at the top of the screen. They thought they were going to pass to the back, but they weren't.

Therefore, I personally believe that the credit for Real Madrid's goal lies not with Ronaldo, but with Kroos who distributed the ball in a timely manner, and even more with Carvajal, who has been running outside the screen to assist. This is why Zidane particularly relies on him. reason.

Another great thing about the first half was Juventus' adaptability.

After conceding the ball, Juventus had two major changes. First, Alves did not go down, cross, and cut inside. His purpose is to help Dybala attract defensive forces and liberate Dybala.

The second is that Mandzukic stopped walking to the side and did not take the ball. He gave Sandro a kick and entered the penalty area to tie Higuain at two points. At this time, the goal came as promised.

This is the position of Juventus at the beginning. From here you can see their defense very clearly.

In the end, the first three central defenders are very close to each other and do not pull wide or cover the side. In fact, the three-back formation is not tiring the defenders, but the midfielders and wings.

The return defense of Khedira and Pjanic is very important, and Mandzukic's restriction on Carvajal is also very important.

Please note that throughout the first half, Juventus's defense defended head-on and the distance between the two lines was maintained very well. Moreover, Juventus' three-back lineup, when the ball is intercepted, Bonucci's long pass is accurately guided, which is also an offensive method. All in all, there are two main points for this defense:

1. Maintain a suitable distance from the midfielder to facilitate forward grabbing and long passes.

2. Always maintain a three-dimensional sense and must have depth.

But unfortunately, due to physical reasons, Juventus's defense was too tight in the second half, too close to the goal, and the entire outside of the penalty area was given to the opponent. That's why Casemiro's long-range shot scored.

Especially for Pjanic, he couldn't come back and lost his position, so Allegri made adjustments.

The second half was not surprising because of the objective depth and physical strength of the bench.

It has to be said that due to the Italian economy and the overall attractiveness of Serie A, Juventus's bench depth is weaker than Real Madrid.

Allegri doesn't have many cards to play. And Juventus's defense is not young anymore.

Zidane is a big brother-type coach with an extremely brilliant career and rich experience in competitions. He knows the dressing room well.

He also has a lot of emotional intelligence, which is reflected in both Bale's return to his hometown and Morata's coming up.

But I think Zidane's emphasis on physical fitness and meticulousness are one of the representatives of the new generation of coaches, and this is also the reason why Real Madrid has repeatedly fought tough battles this season and is able to exert more strength as the game progresses.

Zidane is very aware of the importance of physical fitness. When he was a player, Zidane suffered from "thalassemia mild" and his physical condition was poor. Before the start of the 2016-17 season, Zidane already had a comprehensive plan. One of the most important moves was to recruit fitness coach Antonio Pintus from Lyon to Real Madrid.

The characteristic of this guy's training is that there is a ball in every movement, and every movement emphasizes the heart rate.

I won’t go into details here, but we’ll talk about it when we have the opportunity.

Finally, when it comes to awards, Zidane missed the Hercules Cup in 2006.

Buffon watched Zidane celebrate in 2017. Personally, I don't like to say who won who, who took revenge, etc... We only respect players and coaches for doing this. Zidane regretfully retired that year, and Buffon is now missing the Champions League... Maybe sometimes, imperfection is an important part of perfection.

This is football, it’s beautiful, but it’s not perfect.

Juventus played well in the first half. The score was 1 to 1, with a 46% ball possession rate, but Juventus shot more and was more efficient.

In turn, Ronaldo touched the ball for the first time in the 7th minute and was flanked on the left wing and shot away. At that time, he didn't look like he was going to dominate this game at all.

Ronaldo's first goal was basically attributed to Real Madrid's successful counterattack: Juventus' attack was interrupted, Real Madrid quickly kicked the ball, Ronaldo received the ball in the middle, passed to the right, inserted, received the ball, cleanly A shot. 104th individual goal in the Champions League.

Mandzukic responded with an Ibrahimovic-style goal: receiving it in the penalty area, clicking, and volleying an overhead kick. Navas was positioned in the middle and couldn't make up for such a tricky upper left corner.