The game had begun.
The entire El Molinon Stadium sang loudly and the home fans erupted with great enthusiasm. They had been waiting for this game for too long. They missed the La Liga game so much and were eager to return to the place where they should be!
At this time, the camera panned to the visiting team's technical area on the sidelines. The Aravés manager, Macdonald, could not sit still. He stood on the sidelines and stared at the field. His expression was extremely grim. It was only five minutes into the game and the gentleman could not sit still — he thought that Sporting de Gijón, who was at home, would put pressure on their goal as much as possible. He thought that Sporting de Gijón would launch an attack. However, after the game began, Macdonald realized that Sporting de Gijón's attack was so crazy …
At the beginning of the game, the Aravés team kicked off. It stood to reason that the Aravés team should take advantage of this opportunity to control the football at their feet and then launch wave after wave of continuous attacks to threaten Sporting de Gijón's goal. They should take the lead to score and drag the game into the familiar track of the Aravés.
Aravés' attack power was the best among the strong teams in La Liga. They finished fourth in the league this season. However, Aravés ranked second in the number of goals scored, which showed their offensive ability.
However. Their attack had not yet approached Sporting de Gijón's goal when it was intercepted by Juan Carlos and Miguel Kobas.
Then, after the ball was intercepted, Sporting de Gijón did not slow down. Instead, Miguel Kobas immediately organized the attack.
Miguel Kobas diverted the football to the side. After Juan Mata took the ball, he used his skillful footwork and speed to dribble the ball forward.
Ángel went up to follow Mata closely but was stopped by the other side. After he got out of position, he passed the football into the penalty area.
Miguel Pihra completed a header under the interference of the Aravés center back, Terres. Barez then directly volleyed a shot and the football went over the crossbar.
There was a burst of applause in the stands. Although the ball did not go in, Sporting de Gijón's counterattack immediately after the ball was intercepted was still very morale-boosting!
*****
"Are the two teams going to attack each other?" Commentator Dagestino asked.
In the Alavis lineup, Natezio, Dolores, and De Sio were all very close to the front. Only Ángel, a midfielder, was at the back. From this position adjustment, one could see the Alavis team's plan. They intended to completely suppress Sporting de Gijón with offense in this game. The ideal result was that Sporting de Gijón could not even get out of the half of the field.
This was also the reason why Aravis had the confidence to dominate the Segunda División. Their offensive ability was strong, and they often pressured their opponents to the point that they could not breathe. They could only parry and had no power to fight back.
In addition, on Sporting de Gijón's side, Li Ang made an adjustment to the starting lineup. Juan Mata moved back to the midfield to play as the left midfielder, while Michael Pihra and Valez would partner up on the frontline.
With this adjustment, Sporting de Gijón's midfield became even more threatening. Mata's technique and breakthrough were stronger than Javier Blanco's, and Valez's ability to play the ball in the frontline was also good. He could complement Michael Pihra to a certain extent.
Therefore, Sporting de Gijón's tactics today were very clear. They were going to attack!
Aravis's tactic was to attack. They were eager to suppress Sporting de Gijón from the start of the game. Unfortunately, they were up against Sporting de Gijón, who were full of fighting spirit and were well-prepared.
Aravis might have planned from the beginning that if they got the right to kick off, they would use the right to put pressure on Sporting de Gijón to gain the upper hand by a show of strength. However, before their offensive could start, the ball was intercepted by Sporting de Gijón. Then, Sporting de Gijón took the opportunity to launch a counterattack and gave Aravis a show of strength!
It was not just a show of strength. In the following game, Sporting de Gijón completely took over the game. They put maximum pressure on Aravis's goal and firmly controlled the pace of the game!
This completely caught Aravis off guard.
The two teams had played against each other in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey. Although Li Ang's team had defeated Aravis by a score of 3-0 in that game, Sporting Gihon had been defending with all their might in the first half of the game. They had only managed to sneak in a few counterattacks in the second half of the game.
Therefore, even though they had lost to Sporting Gihon by a score of 0: 3, the Aravis players were still unconvinced. They had made up their minds to destroy the fighting spirit of the Sporting Gihon players from the very beginning of the match with their offense!
However, what the Aravis did not expect was that after the game started, they were the ones who were stunned by the attack! In the face of Sporting de Gijón's crazy offensive, Aravis, who were caught off guard, began to panic.
*****
In the ninth minute of the game, Aravis finally got a chance to fight back. They pressed forward and prepared to fight back against Sporting de Gijón. However, their pass was intercepted again outside Sporting de Gijón's penalty area. Sporting de Gijón's pressing tactics were successful again.
After the successful interception, Sporting de Gijón immediately launched an attack.
Marcos, who had intercepted the ball, passed it to Miguel Kobas, who organized the attack. Miguel Kobas dribbled the ball.
After seeing Miguel Kobas take the ball. De Sio rushed up. Miguel Kobas was the core of Sporting de Gijón's midfield offense and was a key target to mark. He wanted to press Miguel Kobas and slow down Sporting de Gijón's offensive speed at the same time.
Miguel Kobas saw De Sio rushing towards him. He passed the football to Juan Mata, who was not far away from him.
Almost at the same time as he passed the ball, Angel rushed towards Mata. He intended to take advantage of Mata's unsteady footing to steal the ball when Mata received it.
"Angel goes up to defend against Mata … Beautiful!" Dagestino shouted excitedly.
Mata spiked the football to the inside at the same time as Angel rushed up. Angel seemed to have expected Mata to spike the ball and his second counterattack came. This time, Mata showed everyone his exquisite footwork. He used his heel to knock the ball to the inside and the football went back between his legs to Marcos's feet.
Angel had been fooled!
The most important thing for Aravis was that in the face of Sporting de Gijón's attack, their temporary defensive line in the midfield collapsed. Angel and De Sio both rushed up and then both of them were broken through. The result now was that Aravis' defensive line in the midfield was broken through. Now there was a blank area from the left midfield to the penalty area that could be directly passed through!
*****
Marcos immediately transferred the football to Miguel Kobas. The latter did not delay and directly kicked the football forward. He was looking for Barez!
"Sporting de Gijón's attack is coming again!!" Dagestino shouted.
When Barez stopped the ball, there were only three Aravis defenders in front of him. On Sporting de Gijón's side, Miguel Pihra was already in the penalty area, while Juan Mata and the full back, Jeffrey, had also rushed to the front of the penalty area.
After Miguel Kobas passed the football to Barez again, he was now rushing to the front field.
Juan and Carlos's positions had also moved forward, ready to support their teammates or intercept the opponent outside the penalty area at any time.
Only Marcos remained resolutely in his own half of the field.
It could be said that all of Sporting de Gijón's forces that could be invested in the attack were all pressed up at this moment!
They even formed a numerical advantage in parts of the field!
In this game, Li Ang moved Mata's position back to the midfield. He only considered one thing: Mata's skills were good and he was fast! Especially the latter, Mata and the full back, Jeffrey, both of them had one thing in common: they were fast.
In this way, Sporting de Gijón's left flank could explode with great speed and surprise when they changed from defense to offense!
Li Ang expected the Aravis team to also want to focus on offense. At this time, the most important thing for Sporting de Gijón's offense was not ball control, but speed. He wanted to speed up in the midfield!
After Barez received the ball, he did not stay for long. Instead, he passed the ball out horizontally, and Mata came up to receive the ball!
*****
At this moment, when he saw the position Mata took the ball, the Aravis manager, McCullough, on the sidelines, was anxious. Mata went up to receive the ball, and there was no defender around him. Just now, when Aravis tried to counterattack, their right back, Martino, rushed up to participate in the attack. At this time, he was desperately returning to defend.
Mata was very decisive. After he received the ball, he directly cut inside to plug into the penalty area!
The Aravis team's center backs were originally defending against Michael Pihra and Barez. When they saw Mata so determined to push into the penalty area, one of the center backs, Trota, hurriedly left Barez and went up to intercept him.
Seeing Trota rush out to intercept him, Mata immediately swung his leg and pretended to shoot. He tricked Trota into flying over to block him, but suddenly the football was diverted to the side.
Then people saw Sporting de Gijón's full back, Jeffrey, cut in.
Jeffrey caught up with the football and passed the football directly into the penalty area near the end line.
"Barez, there's no one around him … He shoots …"
Aravis was confused by Sporting de Gijón's series of passes and made the most fatal mistake. Mata had someone to defend, and Michael Pihra had someone to defend. On the contrary, Barez, who rarely got a chance to start but suddenly started today, was missed.
In the face of the pass sent by Jeffrey, Barez shot directly!
The football flew straight to the goal. Aravis' goalkeeper, Pablo, flew to save it, but the distance was too close. Barez's shot was too powerful … The goalkeeper was simply helpless.
Almost as soon as Pablo fell to the ground to pounce on the ball, the football had already passed under his body and sent the snow-white net flying high. It also stirred up the enthusiasm of the entire stadium!
PS: Second update. More to make up for what I owe. Thank you, reader, The Thinker in the Cloud, for your generous reward.
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