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The team suffered a heavy blow in the previous match, and returned to the 3-2-4-1 formation with the intention of recreating the splendor of the Round of 16 - a wild ride to the finish line. Watching the battle.
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It did seem to take control of the field, but the defensive prowess of the Elite Eight rival Yellow Submarine is clearly not what it used to be.
Pre-match starting lineup, left
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, right, yellow submarine (source: whoscored.com)
The half-space that could have been fully utilized by Musiala and Muller was stretched by the tightly packed Yellow Submarine midfield of Capoue and Parejo.
Yellow Submarine's wing midfielders Lo Celso and Coquelin were focused on keeping an eye on the ready-to-plug-in
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Midfielders Goretzka and Kimmich, or assisting in the pinch when the side defense is in trouble, but not much actual footage of the two wingbacks, Foyth and Estupinan, against the
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Edge rushers Coman and Sane play pretty good one-on-one defense.
The overall defense was calm and collected, and even with a slight mistake in the midfield scramble and Foyth's mistake in clearing the ball to Coman's feet, the Yellow Submarine defense was still able to put the
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Suppressed outside the box and not allowed to pose a substantial threat.
The Yellow Submarine's attacking strategy is primarily to wait for counter-attacking opportunities. When the opportunity doesn't arrive, they burn time by conservatively possessing the ball and looking for a breakthrough in front of goal, but such possession often hits a snag at the front edge of the center circle and has to be reorganized, and the cycle repeats itself until a long pass is attempted or possession is broken up.
On the counterattack, forwards Moreno and Danjuma tried to pick up the slack on either side of the ball, but were
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's center backs Hernandez and Pavard are closely guarded; for direct penetration of the defense, there is also full coverage by Neuer. Their main threat was not long, fast passes, but rather quick passes to penetrate the box when two or three more players in midfield were involved in counter-attacks. However, there weren't many complete attacks, with Yellow Submarine finishing with just two shots on goal in the first half.
Early in the second half, Musiala broke through but was stopped by Rulli's strike, and a suspected foul was not called; Upamecano kicked wide from a corner kick opportunity.
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The attack was building and then that legend made his appearance - Parejo's follow up attack after a break in midfield saw Levein turn and shoot from the edge of the box, hitting the post and bouncing into the back of the net. After 52 minutes of good defending and one mistake, the Yellow Submarine's first-leg lead was no more, and that's exactly what happened!
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The horror of it.
Thereafter, the Yellow Submarine increased its offensive numbers, occasionally getting out of position to let
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Getting shots on goal, but overall.
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The pattern of dominant offense and deadly Yellow Submarine defense has not changed, only to varying degrees.
The winning goal came at the end of the game, when Parejo played the ball into the back of the net, Lo Celso advanced and played the ball out to Moreno on the left flank, who crossed to Chukwueze on the right flank, and fired a shot straight into the top of the net to give Yellow Submarine the lead. Coincidentally, the two managers' substitutions happened to be the main protagonists of the attack, with Emery's Chukwueze becoming the hero of the goal, and Nagelsmann's Davies playing as a center back, first failing to stand firm in defense and causing offsides, then failing to put pressure on the opposition or break up crosses in front of the goal.
