Chapter 281: Chapter 280: Ibrahimovic, the Best Blue-Collar Center Forward in the Future
Boom!
The football smashed against Ronaldo’s head and flew into the net, grazing the underside of the crossbar.
Deng Kai delivered a guided cross, and Ronaldo headed it into the goal.
"Two to nil! Gaziantep really has been rubbed into the ground by Sporting Lisbon in these two games!"
"I thought without Drogba they’d have it easier. But now it seems, Drogba’s substitute Ibrahimovic is also very strong! His movement just now completely activated the attacking positions of more than half the team."
Playing football, you fear point-to-point.
If there is no fluidity, then every point poses very little threat.
The significance of a striker pulling away lies exactly here.
It’s a role that players in other positions cannot replace.
In the following time, Sporting Lisbon bombarded relentlessly.
Especially Quaresma, who kept serving up high balls to Ibrahimovic, simplifying the attack significantly.
Today on the flanks, he dribbled past opponents at will, passing however he pleased.
But ironically, Ibrahimovic’s weakness in heading was thus exposed.
The official data is 1.95 meters, but Ibrahimovic, who is at least 1.92 meters, has all the conditions of a header specialist, yet during this period, his heading was really poor.
Couldn’t head accurately.
Lacked power in his headers.
Ducked his head away from the ball.
The root cause, besides the slight smallness of his head in hardware, is related to his nature as an artist.
An artist’s mind, how can it bump against a football?
Ibrahimovic, for the sake of football, has already sacrificed his body.
This head, he truly cannot yield anymore.
The forty-fifth minute.
As the first half was coming to an end.
Gaziantep slightly relaxed their vigilance, focusing on retreating defensively, subconsciously reducing the intensity of fouls.
Then Ibrahimovic seized the opportunity, taking Deng Kai’s pass from behind and executing a couple of step-overs before the penalty area.
You wouldn’t believe it, the move might be slow, but it was truly deceptive.
Because it was so sudden.
Who could have imagined a 1.95-meter step-over would appear?
With that, Ibrahimovic dribbled the ball into the penalty box.
Facing at least two centre-backs, he performed a Marseille Turn, holding off the opponents and dragging the football out.
On the left, Ronaldo, who had been probing in front of the box after switching with Viana, beat the offside trap, taking the nanny pass and casually slotting it home with a gentle push.
The goalkeeper had been drawn out by Ibrahimovic, and with this ball, even O’Neal’s grandma could have scored; Ronaldo merely picked up the leftovers.
The score expanded to three-nil.
Gaziantep’s fans all began to adjust their mindset during the halftime break.
In the second half, some actually donned Matthaus or Schmeichel shirts to cheer for the star players.
The friendliness of the Turkish Super League toward superstars is really hard to resist.
In the sixty-fifth minute, Gaziantep took a corner kick.
Barzagli headed the ball clear.
Deschamps controlled the first touch, immediately transferring it to Deng Kai.
Deng Kai didn’t look up but half-turned and took a shot.
Quaresma was brought down in a flash on the right wing, earning a free-kick from a distant position.
After his teammates had come up, Deng Kai played a tactical free kick.
Quaresma carried the ball to the baseline then crossed.
The quality of this pass was just too high.
Sporting Lisbon had many tall players.
Gaziantep had realized Ibrahimovic’s heading threat was even less than Ronaldo’s, so they all went to defend against Barzagli, Feng Te, Ronaldo, and the like.
But it happened to be the tallest Ibrahimovic who Quaresma found with the pass.
Even with minimal defensive pressure and Ibrahimovic’s small head, it was hard not to welcome it with open arms.
Almost standing still, he flicked his head, calmly and firmly heading the football into the goal.
"Wow! Ibrahimovic scored too! That’s a dream goal Droba has been longing for!"
"Quaresma’s cross is really accurate. In terms of technique, he stands out in Sporting Lisbon alone. Viana, Ibrahimovic, C. Ronaldo, Deng Kai, these players all have to stand back. Note, the rankings are in order."
Deng Kai: ...
At the 74th minute, Pepe replaced Deschamps.
The 81st minute.
Quaresma broke through on the right flank.
Ibrahimovic dropped out from the penalty area to assist Quaresma with a one-two pass.
Quaresma feigned a shot with his left foot, drawing the attention of the defenders.
But the opposition apparently forgot that Quaresma is a right-footed player with an especially strong outside of the left foot.
Generally, they wouldn’t choose to shoot with their left foot on purpose.
Bang!
A fake shot turned into a real pass.
Quaresma slid the football into the penalty area.
Deng Kai, trailing from behind, took a shot that wasn’t spectacular but slipped through the goalkeeper’s fingers.
The Gaziantep goalkeeper clearly had a shadow over him from the Sporting Lisbon players—it seemed whoever shot would score.
This round of the series could very well be the lowest point in the goalkeeper’s career.
Conceding ten goals over two legs.
Who could withstand such a blow?
In the end, the score was fixed at five to zero.
The first encounter ended five to one, and the second five to zero. Sporting Lisbon, with six points from two legs and a nine-goal advantage, was undoubtedly the strongest candidate for the top spot in the group.
The other two teams’ encounters were far from such exaggerated scores.
In this game, Deng Kai and Ibrahimovic contributed goals and assists, C. Ronaldo smashed in two goals, and Quaresma, with one goal and two assists, was elected the man of the match.
The overall performance was quite impressive.
As for defense, Sporting Lisbon’s had obviously improved.
But the problem was, they hadn’t made any adjustments to their defensive line.
How infuriating is that?
The Portuguese media gave their interpretation of this.
’Sporting Lisbon stubbornly persists, defensive problems remain, next round may face a disastrous defeat!’
’Eight consecutive victories in all competitions since the beginning of the season, next round Sporting Lisbon will face a tough challenge!’
’Barzagli turns too slow, Terry commits rashly, Pepe lacks positional sense and tends to get ahead of himself, Feng Te is good at everything except for his lack of tackling and interception ability. Portugal’s golden generation striker Gomes could explode against them!’
’Joao Pinto is about to return to Luz Stadium. Will he be greeted with applause or boos from the fans?’
’Ibrahimovic performs stunningly, Pinto fears missing the starting lineup, and Benfica fans speak out for him!’
After the match, Deng Kai commented on his teammate Ibrahimovic: "As long as he gets used to the Portuguese league, Ibrahimovic’s performance will only get better, and he has the strength to dominate!"’
’Drogba is in danger, come back quickly! Ibrahimovic may well become the best blue-collar striker in the Portuguese league in the future!’
’Nuno Gomes: Confident in helping the team defeat Sporting Lisbon. Young teams make too many mistakes, and Matthaus and Deschamps can’t keep up with my pace!’
Let’s not forget, at this year’s European Championship, Germany’s failure to advance from the group stages was all thanks to Portugal’s efforts.
In the match against France, Gomes also scored a goal.
Others might be a bit too critical in pointing fingers at Matthaus and Deschamps.
But when Gomes talks about it, he definitely has the authority to speak.
Maniche, another Benfica player with a history with Sporting Lisbon, also gave an interview: "The last time Benfica wasn’t at its best."
"This time, we will tear Sporting Lisbon apart at Luz Stadium!"
In response to Maniche’s remarks, Deng Kai replied, "Why are you still playing forward? Quaresma, C. Ronaldo, Viana, Droba, Ibrahimovic, Joao Pinto, Nuno Gomes, who can you compare to?"
Maniche was very dissatisfied, "I can understand about the other players, but Ibrahimovic, a substitute forward, is worthy to compare with me?"
Ibrahimovic was furious, a shame that the media didn’t interview him; otherwise, he would’ve made sure Maniche knew just how strong Swedish trash talk can be!
Because of Maniche’s provocation, Ibrahimovic was itching to prove himself in training these past few days.
Finally, Deng Kai simply went to Ibrahimovic and told him that in the next game, the team would create conditions to upstage Maniche.
Ibrahimovic was moved to tears.
He knew the team was making this change because Kai had spoken with the coaching staff.
Kai YYDS!
