freeallnovels Chapter 56 Protecting the Ball!
Chapter 56 Protecting the Ball!
"Beep—beep—beep!"
The referee's three sharp and loud whistles resounded throughout the El Sadar Stadium.
The first half has ended.
On the scoreboard, the glaring 1-0 scoreline plunged the nearly 30,000 home fans into a deathly silence.
In front of Atlético Madrid's bench.
Simone looked like a volcano that had just erupted.
He never expected these rough guys to score a goal!
But now, going into halftime with a one-goal lead, this sudden surprise has completely extinguished any remaining rationality in the old Argentine's mind.
Simone clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging on his arms, and amidst the boos from the stands, violently swung them three times into the air.
"pretty!!"
The old man roared wildly in his hoarse voice.
He wasn't even wearing a suit jacket; his black shirt was already creased from his frantic commands on the sidelines, and the button on his stomach had popped off. But he didn't care about any of that. He crossed the white line of the coaching area and sprinted towards the players' exit tunnel.
Passageway entrance.
Koke, who had just scored, was being supported by two team doctors, one on each side. His legs were limp like noodles as he dragged himself along the ground, too weak to even lift his head.
And behind Kirk.
Li Jing's massive frame, standing over 1.8 meters tall, strode over.
His original red and white Atlético Madrid jersey was now completely transformed into a mud-soaked black vest. The jersey clung tightly to his exaggerated latissimus dorsi muscles, and sweat mixed with grass clippings dripped down his resolute jawline.
Simone rushed forward.
Completely unconcerned about Li Jing's muddy body, he opened his arms and wrapped them tightly around Li Jing's thick neck. His large hands slapped the eighteen-year-old's back, which was as solid as a steel plate, with tremendous force.
"Well done, Li!"
Simone was spitting as he spoke, his eyes red-rimmed.
"That goal was so inspiring!!"
……
The away team's locker room.
Prido slumped on the bench below the tactical board, holding his head in his hands and gulping in air.
Silvio simply lay sprawled on the floor, letting the team doctor slap an ice pack onto his cramping thigh, saving himself the energy to even scream.
These substitutes, who have been sitting on the bench for most of the year, completely exhausted their physical reserves accumulated over the past six months in this first half.
Li Jing sat in the corner at the very edge.
He reached into the cabinet and pulled out a white towel, rubbing it haphazardly on his head. He could clearly feel the spot on his back where he had just slammed into the solid iron doorpost, throbbing with an extremely terrifying, dull pain.
Even if the body's bodily functions recover systematically, it is still a real physical impact.
Simone walked in, his leather shoes covered in mud.
The old man walked to the center of the locker room and braced himself firmly on the edge of the tactical table. His sharp, eagle-like eyes, filled with intense aggression, slowly swept over the group of slumped, panting substitutes in front of him.
The entire place was so quiet that only the sound of breathing could be heard.
"Well done, lads."
Simone's voice was more passionate than ever before, his rough voice echoing back and forth between the walls with a strong resonance.
"I originally just wanted you guys to fill the hole from the first 45 minutes, so the main players could rest a bit more."
The old man slammed his right hand on the table.
"But you actually managed to snatch a goal back from those arrogant Basque bastards!"
Lying on the ground, Silvio barely managed to lift his head and weakly grinned.
Simeone turned around and pointed his finger directly at the two dots representing center-backs on the tactical board.
"Second half begins! Make your defense as solid as concrete! Pulido! Silvio! You two center-backs, tighten the distance between yourselves by three meters! Don't let even a fly into the penalty area!"
Pulido forced himself up halfway from the chair and nodded, his face flushed.
Simone strode to the corner, grabbed Li Jing by the shoulder, and roughly pulled him forward.
Li Jing's muddy back was fully exposed to the glaring incandescent lights of the locker room.
On his originally fair skin, a large, horrifying bruise, the size of a large bowl and deep purple-red, stretched glaringly across the center of his back.
"Did you see that clearly?!"
Simeone pointed to the scars on Li Jing's back and roared at the substitutes.
"Don't fucking expect Li Jing to slide tackle and clean up your mess every time your defense gets breached!"
To cover for you guys whose defensive positioning is atrocious, he'll even ram into solid iron pillars!
The old man's forehead veins bulged.
"He's only human! His physical abilities have limits!"
"In the second half, keep your defensive positions firmly planted on the grass! Anyone who dares to lose their position again and force Li Jing to cover three defenders alone, I'll skin them alive after the game!"
This extremely harsh and abusive rebuke caused the several substitute defenders to immediately lower their heads and clench their teeth. Guilt and a surge of pent-up courage churned violently in their chests.
Simeone looked at the group of players who had been woken up by the scolding.
He turned around and slammed the red pen heavily into the tray at the bottom of the tactics board. A single slap on the whiteboard set the tone for the second half.
"No changes to the starting lineup in the second half!"
"Keep running like a mad dog on the field! Run until your lungs burst!"
Simone pointed sharply with both hands toward the locker room door.
"They're too tired to run anymore. I have plenty of replacements! Give them a good kick in the ass!"
……
In contrast.
Inside the Osasuna locker room, separated only by a wall.
The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt like it could drip water. There was no conversation, only the players' heavy breathing and the dull thud of shin guards being slammed onto the bench.
Head coach Mendilibar stood in the center of the room.
He didn't roar in fury like Simeone. He simply pressed his palms down forcefully, forcing these key players, who were so enraged they wanted to draw their knives and fight to the death, to maintain at least a modicum of composure.
"Shut up, all of you."
Mendilibar's voice carried a chilling, sinister quality.
"In the first half, we tactically kept these substitutes pinned in their own half. You played well."
He pulled a black tactical pen from his suit pocket and turned to walk toward the whiteboard.
"We were just a little bit unlucky, and they managed to launch a counterattack during this damn countdown."
Apply extreme pressure with the pen tip to the area slightly behind the center circle on the whiteboard.
There, there is a magnetic sticker representing Atlético Madrid's defensive midfielder, number "13".
Mendilibar suddenly exerted force with his wrist, drawing a huge red X that occupied the entire half of the field on the front of the tile!
Due to excessive force, a very deep dent was even scratched on the surface of the whiteboard.
All the Osasuna players' eyes instantly focused on that huge red cross.
"In the second half, we will absolutely not retreat! Let's play freely and continue our attacking offensive!"
Mendilibar turned around, his eyes revealing an extremely cruel tactical intent to strangle him.
"That number 13."
He pointed to the red cross on the whiteboard.
"In the first half, he covered a total distance of seven kilometers by himself. He was like a robot vacuum cleaner that doesn't need to be charged, sweeping up our passing lanes in midfield."
Mendilibar sneered, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
"But there's absolutely no way he could maintain that inhuman physical output for the entire game!"
"In the second half, all possession and possession should be concentrated in the middle!"
"No matter who has the ball. Cejudo, Puñal, Raúl García! If that number 13 is within five meters of you, all three of you, form a triangular double-team!"
Mendilibar made an extremely forceful fist gesture in the air.
……
The fifteen-minute halftime break flew by amidst the intense tactical maneuvering in the locker room.
The heavy iron door to the players' tunnel was once again forcefully pushed open by the staff.
As the players from both teams, their steps slightly heavy from lactic acid buildup, stepped back onto the pitch of the El Sadar Stadium from the dark tunnel.
They were greeted by a deafening roar that could have blown the roof off the entire stands.
"boom--!"
The home team's stands.
Nearly 30,000 Osasuna fans waved their bright red scarves and flags wildly.
Standing on the hard plastic seats, they attempted to completely destroy the last psychological defenses of Atlético Madrid's depleted squad with an extremely high-decibel, oppressively shrill chorus of boos.
And in a small section at the highest point of the away team's stand.
Those three thousand Atletico Madrid die-hards who followed the team on their away trip.
They were now completely engulfed in a frenzied, boiling state. These burly men were shirtless, oblivious to the biting chill of the early spring night in Madrid.
They waved their arms in unison.
They were shouting the same name with extreme fervor.
"plum!"
"plum!"
The unified roar of three thousand people was like an incomparably sharp steel knife, fiercely piercing through the oppressive atmosphere created by the 30,000 home fans, and echoing through the night sky of Pamplona.
……
In the studio of a domestic sports channel.
He Wei sat in front of the broadcasting console. His eyes were fixed on the personnel rotation list for the second half that the director had just urgently handed in from the front.
His eyebrows shot up sharply. He grabbed the microphone with utmost professionalism and began speaking at top speed.
"Ladies and gentlemen! The second half of the match is about to begin!"
He Wei's hand holding the list was even trembling slightly. This kind of direct, do-or-die tactical adjustment made him instantly smell the extremely strong stench of blood on the court.
"At halftime, Osasuna's manager, Mendilibar, decisively used both of his valuable substitutions!"
He Wei's gaze swept across the broadcast footage of his appearance on the screen.
"He brought on some fresh, energetic players – winger Calleja and the highly impactful striker Ibrahima!"
"This is a complete overreach!"
"Osasuna will launch an all-out, desperate counterattack in the first ten minutes or so of the second half!"
He Wei swallowed hard. He turned his gaze to Atletico Madrid's roster.
"On the other hand, look at Atletico Madrid!"
"Incredible! Facing such a massive substitution from the opponent, Simeone managed to keep up with top strikers like Falcao and Costa."
"No adjustments have been made!"
"In the second half, he actually chose to continue the game with this same bench of substitutes whose stamina was almost completely depleted!"
This extreme contrast, achieved through the use of substitution information, directly conveyed the tactical suffocation felt at the start of the second half, pressing down on the hearts of every Chinese fan across screens thousands of kilometers away.
Simone is walking a tightrope!
……
"Beep—!"
The referee, his cheeks puffed out, blew the whistle forcefully to start the second half.
Center circle position.
Osasuna striker Nino passed the ball back with a single pass.
The curtain has officially risen on the second half.
Following Simeone's instructions in the locker room, Atletico Madrid's young substitutes in the attacking third...
Almost at the same second that the whistle blew.
He immediately gritted his teeth, shook off his leaden thighs, and tried to continue his relentless, dog-like pressing in the attacking third.
But in the very first five minutes of the second half...
The situation on the field.
That already reveals the opponent's tactics.
This demonstrates extreme respect for Li Jing.
The midfield density should be reduced, with at least three players remaining around Li Jing!
……
This is a completely open and blatant conspiracy.
The football was passed down.
At this moment, Li Jing is the only pivot point in the midfield.
The situation has changed drastically!
The Osasuna midfield group, which was originally roaming on the periphery.
Like a shark that has smelled blood, it suddenly lunges forward.
Nekounam, Puniar, and the energetic Calleja who just came on as a substitute.
The three players moved with terrifying speed and pressure.
They formed a triangular formation, launching a relentless and comprehensive encirclement and suppression against Li Jing!
The extremely ruthless strangulation tactics began to take effect.
As long as Li Jing receives the ball with his back to goal, even if it's a very difficult clearance from Pulido in the backfield.
Internal medicine immediately felt like a huge mountain.
They pressed themselves against me from behind in an extremely rough manner!
He didn't care whether it was a foul or not, and used his powerful chest to press firmly against Li Jing's back, while his elbows were discreetly pressing on Li Jing's ribs.
at the same time.
Veteran captain Puniar skillfully slid forward, firmly blocking all possible passing routes for Li Jing to the left or right.
And the third person.
The player who had just entered the game, Calleja, immediately lowered his center of gravity.
Wandering in the most uncomfortable blind spot to the side of Li Jing.
If Li Jing's foot moves more than ten centimeters away from the ball during a fierce confrontation, he will immediately tackle like a mad dog, even if it means bringing down both the player and the ball!
"It won't get out!"
Li Jing braced himself back with both hands, relying on his abnormally high [world-class combat strength] to forcefully withstand the extremely destructive shove from behind by Nei Ke Nan.
He gritted his teeth and used his right foot to move the ball back and forth between his legs with great difficulty, protecting possession of the ball.
As a last resort, we had no choice but to send it back.
The pressure instantly surged to a critical point.
Li Jing instantly felt the same way he did when he watched Haaland play in the Premier League in his previous life.
Now he can truly empathize!
What does it mean to be treated like a superstar?!
This is it!
Atletico Madrid's already extremely fragile midfield pivot.
They were completely paralyzed by this extreme strangulation tactic.
The Atlético Madrid fans in the stands watched this scene with their hearts in their throats.
This intensely suppressed emotion made everyone feel that conceding a goal was only a matter of time.
……