Chapter 338: Chapter 337: This is the Elegance of the Four Great Talents
Ronaldo struck first.
But on Barcelona’s side, Guardiola also took the opportunity to call an impromptu meeting to adjust the team’s tactics.
The reason for the discord between Van Gaal and Guardiola was also that Guardiola liked to change the tactics set by the head coach.
No coach likes players who have too many ideas of their own.
Maxa: I really like these kinds of players though!
No "coach" likes players who have too many ideas of their own.
Maxa: 666, I acknowledge this move!
"Their flank defense is very solid, and their center-backs never push up. Deng Kai, Deschamps, and Matthaus, who can become wing-backs at any time, are also very good at defending," Guardiola quickly communicated with his teammates, "So we need to maintain possession as much as possible, not giving them the opportunity to attack. Their offense is sharp, and it’s difficult for us to completely limit their flanks."
"Once they start crossing from the flanks, it will be tough for us to handle."
"After controlling the ball, we need to try as much as possible to launch attacks directly through the middle. The space behind Viana can be exploited, and also Deng Kai’s range of movement is large, so attacking the side he’s not on is a good choice."
"When facing their two defensive midfielders, use speed to beat them. Even Matthaus’s mobility has significantly declined now. Overmars, Simon, just like how you would deal with me, deal with them. Got it?"
"Furthermore, if facing their central defender, that Feng Te, go at him directly. His defense is mediocre and won’t cause too much trouble for our frontline."
After Guardiola finished speaking, the players all nodded in agreement.
Maybe off the field, Barcelona is fragmented and filled with power struggles.
But on the field, especially when behind, everyone still wants to win.
At the very least, that European League Cup transfer could maintain their market value from dropping.
Not everyone has the courage and capital to choose an exit transfer like Petit did.
Afterwards, Barcelona indeed started to control the ball for an extended period, their playstyle being eighty percent similar to that of Sporting Lisbon.
Because this team had been coached by Van Gaal over the past few years.
One of Sporting Lisbon’s basic tactics is Van Gaal’s Large Circle Tactics.
If Sporting Lisbon could play it, Barcelona, his favored child, had no reason to not be able to.
For almost twenty minutes, Barcelona managed to raise their possession rate to seventy percent.
This is a terrifying statistic.
Because Sporting Lisbon itself is also renowned for high possession rates.
This indicates that in terms of individual ability, Barcelona’s players are indeed a notch above.
In the forty-first minute, Rivaldo, who usually prefers to play in the attacking midfield position, slightly adjusted his position to the right and performed a swap with Gerard Lopez.
This was a routine left-right positional switch, which could change the defensive environment the players face.
After the switch, the defending players all have to readjust to their defensive targets, and it is often a dangerous moment.
But what no one expected was, at the moment Rivaldo and Gerard Lopez’s positions overlapped, Guardiola suddenly launched a long pass from the back field.
Towards the right flank!
Rivaldo suddenly accelerated, rushing towards the front right.
Gerard Lopez shifted directly from moving laterally to surging forward vertically, darting into Sporting Lisbon’s penalty area.
Matthaus tried to establish position early, attempting to block Rivaldo.
But with arms and legs pushing, Rivaldo broke free from Matthaus’s grasp.
Both players were of Golden Ball caliber, but one was at the peak of his career while the other was toward the very end.
The gap in their abilities had already become quite significant.
Rivaldo got free and leapt up, extending his left leg and cushioning the football to a stop.
This was an extremely difficult ball to control.
Even Rivaldo had to put in a lot of effort.
Before Rivaldo even had complete control over the football, he gave Feng Te a chance to come over and disrupt.
Bang! Rivaldo chipped the ball sideways over his head, sailing it over Feng Te.
At the same time, he also moved laterally with acceleration, finding an opportunity to shoot outside the right of the penalty area.
Feng Te tried to stretch his leg to block, but his inertia was still moving in the opposite direction, so even with an outstretched leg, he couldn’t reach far.
Bang!
The moment the football bounced up after hitting the ground, Rivaldo shot with a straight left-footed volley, not waiting for the ball to fall again.
The football soared high, but with a strong forward spin.
After crossing the six-yard box line, it dipped sharply down, the arc almost defying gravity.
Schmeichel desperately dived to save, but there was no way to handle such a divine shot.
Nobody could have.
"GOAL! Rivaldo! Golden Ball Mr. Rivaldo has stepped up!"
"This is definitely a spectacular performance by Rivaldo! This could be chosen as the goal of the round!"
"After an extremely difficult and perfect first touch, he immediately chipped the ball over a defender, and then followed it with a weirdly curving wonder strike! Rivaldo truly is Brazil’s treasured gem!"
"He is the undisputed absolute core of this Barcelona team!"
"One to one! Barcelona has equalized the score and also gained a precious away goal!"
"Of course, Guardiola’s pass was also very sharp, a direct long ball from the backfield, connecting with Rivaldo. After returning to the starting lineup in the recent matches, he has proven the Barça coaching team’s decision correct."
"Barcelona fans are singing the Rivaldo song, Barça is rising!"
"Sporting Lisbon really has a big problem with ticket management, with so many Barça fans storming the stadium. This is not good news for the young players of Sporting Lisbon."
Indeed.
Encouraged by the Barça fans, Barcelona pressed on and launched several attacks.
The forty-fifth minute.
Again, it was Guardiola—with a direct lobbed long pass from the backfield, he found Cruyff, who had dropped back. After passing the ball, he even had enough energy left to look towards Deng Kai, as if to say, "This is the style of the four great midfield talents, kid. That’s how football should be played!"
Deng Kai quickly fell back, suppressing his nausea.
Still putting on airs.
Guardiola, you just wait!
In the second half, when you run out of stamina, I’ll show you what "don’t bully the poor young" means!
Upfront.
Cruyff, with his height advantage, held off Matthaus.
Matthaus was very strong in frontal defence, but when blocked by taller players behind him, he didn’t have many options.
After all, Matthaus was only 1.74 meters tall.
Bang!
Seeing Simon make a cut inside and gaining half a step ahead of Terry with his speed advantage, Cruyff chose to pass the ball immediately.
Matthaus, angry and embarrassed, pushed Cruyff down from behind while he was passing the ball. Then he moved quickly to the left, following the advanced Rivaldo, away from the scene of the incident.
But his experienced handling still couldn’t escape the eyes of the main referee.
The referee held the whistle in his mouth, ready to blow it at any moment.
