After a round of coaching, the two sides of the game are already very familiar with each other.

Benitez hopes that the team's forward line can show some strength. He sent Cice and Morientes to partner, but in any case, Liverpool still has to rely more on the midfield. When Zhang Tiehan did not play, Gerald performed too strongly. He has no doubt his dominance in the midfield. At the beginning of the game, Liverpool achieved an advantage in the field by relying on Gerald and Alonso's partner.

It's difficult to score a goal.

After all, Gerald is not a forward. He is more a player who drives the rhythm of offense and defense. In offense, Gerald also acts more as a role in creating opportunities rather than taking advantage of opportunities. Therefore, if Liverpool wants to score quickly, they still have to rely on the frontcourt.

Cice and Morientes.

Both of them have not performed well in the past two months. Morientes has not scored goals for more than two months. Since Christmas, he has been scoring a goal drought. Benitez attaches great importance to Morientes, but Morientes is indeed very uncomfortable with the Premier League. He makes him play the first striker and it is difficult for him to withstand the pressure. At the second striker, Morientes performed well, but he always misses good opportunities in the last shot.

Cice is stronger than Morientes, but the difference is only a few two goals. After Zhang Tiehan was injured, Cice has always been the starting striker, but it turns out that he can't withstand the pressure at all. The whole team will find him many opportunities, but he has always missed good opportunities again and again, which is similar to Morientes. Especially Cice is not the tactical center. The biggest role he plays is to score goals. If he can't score, he has almost no effect on the field.

This is the problem with Liverpool's forward line after Zhang Tiehan was injured.

Ten minutes into the game, you can see something. Benfica's defense is very good. Liverpool's frequent attacks can create several opportunities, but there are not many real good opportunities, especially when Cice and Morientes do not perform strongly on the front line, it is difficult for Liverpool to score goals.

In just ten minutes, Liverpool fans began to pray to God.

Some fans looked at the Liverpool bench and looked at Zhang Tiehan sitting there, hoping that Zhang Tiehan could play.

Many fans missed the feeling of Zhang Tiehan on the court. At that time, they were not worried that the team would not score goals. Instead, they thought that Zhang Tiehan would score a few goals today. When Zhang Tiehan was injured, fans had to pray to God in every game so that Liverpool could score a goal... This is the difference.

On the court, Liverpool fans are calm and feel that the game is guaranteed. Even if the team does not win occasionally, they will feel that there is nothing they can do about it. After all, Zhang Tiehan did not score a goal, which means that the opponent played very well. Football games are often like this. You can't always expect the team to win.

It would be different if Zhang Tiehan was not on the court.

The game was tied, and the media also praised Liverpool for its good defense, but they did not concede the ball after all. But the fans felt that the draw was unwilling to accept it. They had many opportunities. They could have scored goals.

This is the draw, let alone lose.

This is what it is on the court now. Ten minutes passed, and Liverpool had a good opportunity in the middle of the journey, but Cice pulled the ball into the stands. The missed opportunity made many fans sigh. So there were more fans looking at the bench.

Benitez was kicking his heart.

He originally wanted Zhang Tiehan to find an opportunity to play in the second half. Zhang Tiehan did not participate in the game for three months, and he was unsure of his specific condition, so he wanted him to play in the second half to adapt to his condition. He didn't expect the game to be like this.

Before the game, he did a lot of work, such as giving Cice and Morientes some psychological guidance, telling them not to be stressed, and doing some meticulous tactical work and telling everyone what to do on the court. He believes that in the tactical field, there will be no coaches who will do more meticulously than him.

But now, the team still has that problem.

Cicega Morientes, this £27 million striker line, did not exert any power at all. They were not even as good as some small Premier League teams' forwards. At this time, Benitez thought of Bent of Charlton, Fowler on Tottenham's forward, etc. He had considered these two players when transferring in the winter. Fowler almost came to Liverpool, but it was summer when Fowler transfers, and he definitely couldn't get it now, and Bent was completely out of reach with Liverpool.

The front line did not add strength in winter. Benitez originally hoped that one of Cice and Morientes could play a little bit of strength, but the result was still like this.

Benitez was a little disappointed.

He also began to look back frequently, and he was a little hesitant. After all, the game was only more than ten minutes, and now the substitution is not only a denial of his own lineup, but also a psychological blow to the substitution players.

In this way, another ten minutes passed.

In the 23rd minute, Gerald took a high ball in the midfield, and Alonso topped Morientes, who moved to the wing, Garcia, who passed back to the middle at the baseline, and Cice followed up and found a good opportunity.

Just as the whole audience exclaimed, Cice shot the ball past the bottom line with a kick, missing the opportunity again.

Benitez hugged his head and lamented immediately.

This action was captured by many cameras. The BBC broadcast commenter smiled and commented, "It seems that Benitez is very disappointed with Cice's performance. This is indeed a good opportunity, but Cice may be too panicked..."

It’s not disappointment, it’s a big disappointment!

Benitez was still holding a glimmer of hope, after all, Liverpool took the initiative on the field. Even if Benfica defended well, Bai Se will definitely lose. Liverpool still has many opportunities, but no matter how many opportunities there are, they can't help but waste it again and again.

Finally, Benitez's thug waved, "Zhang, come on the field!" Everyone on the bench looked at Zhang Tiehan.

Zhang Tiehan was a little stunned. He didn't expect that Benitez would be replaced after only twenty minutes of the game. However, after watching the game just now, he also knew why the coach did this. He didn't hesitate, took off his coat and put it on the chair, and went to the side to warm up.

Soon the fourth official raised the substitution card and signaled Zhang Tiehan to replace Xisai.

When they saw the number ‘13’ marked on the substitution card, Anfield Stadium was immediately excited. Fans were looking forward to Zhang Tiehan's appearance, but just like Zhang Tiehan and many people's thoughts, they also felt that they wanted to see Zhang Tiehan was going to the second half. They didn't expect to appear so soon, but they immediately reacted and welcomed Zhang Tiehan with applause.

Anfield Stadium immediately burst into warm applause.

The applause made the players on the court unintentional to the game. Benfica was like welcoming Zhang Tiehan, and he brought the ball back and forth to his backcourt, as if he was welcoming Zhang Tiehan to the field. In fact, they were a little distracted at this moment. Zhang Tiehan... In the eyes of these Benfica players, they were definitely a star of the same level as Gerald, and Anfield's applause also proved this. He had just appeared and did nothing, and could win so much applause. This really made people envy, jealous and hatred... So they watched Zhang Tiehan step by step onto the court in an orderly manner.

Xisai, who ended up embracing Zhang Tiehan, became more depressed.

He knew why he was replaced, but he was helpless. In fact, Benitez could replace Morientes, but who made him miss two opportunities?

Xisai and Zhang Tiehan were not enthusiastic when they hugged each other, but Zhang Tiehan could understand his mood and patted him on the shoulder. Xisai responded and nodded.

Although the two have a competitive relationship, their private relationship is pretty good, and the competition is just a competition of team positions. In Cice, no, it should be said that in the eyes of everyone in Liverpool, Cice is not Zhang Tiehan's opponent at all. His competitor may be said to be Morientes more suitable. The latter performance is not better than him, but who can make Morientes play more positions?

This is the advantage.

Turning around, Zhang Tiehan stepped onto the stadium.

He jogged to the center line, preparing to meet Benfica's attack, and other Liverpool players also hurriedly came back to their senses and re-entered the game.

Zhang Tiehan replaced Cice, and his position was self-evident. That was the first striker, and high center Benitez sent him to the goal just to hope that he could score. This game is the second game of the Champions League quarterfinals and is a crucial game. In the next few dozen minutes, Liverpool or Benfica will decide whether to advance to the quarterfinals.

Such an important game made Zhang Tiehan even more excited. He couldn't wait.

...

Benfica has some understanding of Liverpool. After a round of matches, they have analyzed the current situation of Liverpool and the abilities of each player in Liverpool, but they don’t understand Zhang Tiehan, especially these players. They don’t need to do a series of analysis against their opponents and even potential opponents, and they actually only know that Zhang Tiehan is an excellent striker with many goals, that’s all.

Good at heading and long shots?

The whole world knows this, but just knowing this and how to defend is completely different. When Zhang Tiehan arrives on the court, how to restrict him and how to defend him. He has no experience in this area and no coaching guidance, it is really difficult to do it well.

They had never expected Zhang Tiehan to appear, and... so early.

This was unexpected.

Especially most importantly, when Zhang Tiehan appeared, Liverpool was like a change of a team, and their tactics were automatically adjusted. In terms of offense, when Cice was on the court, he was just the first forward to capture opportunities, while Zhang Tiehan was a center, high center, and good at long-term shooting. He was good at outspreading now, and cooperated with his teammates well... A series of abilities allowed Zhang Tiehan to be the core of the offensive in the frontcourt as long as he went to the court.

All players involved in the offense almost always look at Zhang Tiehan's position when they get the ball. Obviously, Xisai cannot have such treatment. This is the difference between a core forward and an ordinary forward.

These changes left Benfica a little overwhelmed when facing Liverpool's offense.
Chapter completed!