Only two minutes after Sporting de Gijón made the passive substitution, RCD Espanyol's manager, Lautina, also made a substitution.
The striker, Serrano, who had a mediocre performance in today's game, was replaced by the team's number 11, Maxi Rodriguez.
Li Ang looked at the player who ran onto the field excitedly. His eyes flashed.
Maxi Rodriguez.
Li Ang knew the 23-year-old Argentine attacker. To be precise, he was familiar with the player from the World Cup in Germany two years later.
It was the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Germany. The Argentine team was up against the North American powerhouse, Mexico. The two teams played into overtime, and the score was still 0: 0. At the crucial moment, who could help the Argentine team get out of the quagmire? God gave an unexpected answer: Maxi? Rodriguez! Before that, the Argentine fans did not have much hope. However, in the eighth minute of the first half of the overtime, a long pass. Maxi stopped the ball with his right chest outside the penalty area and volleyed the ball with his left foot. The ball drew a domineering arc and entered the net from the far corner. It was an absolutely earth-shattering international ball!
Who was Maxi? He was a peripheral figure in the Argentine national team. On the field, although Maxi Rodriguez was trusted by the Argentine manager, Pekerman, people still could not remember a mediocre, or even a little ugly, player. The Argentine fans followed Riquelme, Messi, and Tevez. Maxi Rodriguez really did not have much attention.
In fact, before that world-class kick, Li Ang had not paid attention to the Argentine player before his rebirth. It was because of that world-class kick that Maxi Rodriguez became the hero of Argentina and became famous all of a sudden.
Li Ang came out of his memories. He took the opportunity of a dead ball to call the team captain, Hierro, to the sidelines. "Fernando, be careful of that number 11."
Hierro was stunned. He did not see anything special about the player who had just come on as a substitute, but he still nodded to show that he would be careful.
"Is that Argentine very good?" Assistant manager Banderas asked.
"He's a big player," Li Ang said with a smile.
Banderas shook his head, indicating that he did not understand.
Li Ang did not pay attention to Banderas. He watched the field. The RCD Espanyol manager, Lautina, had brought on Maxi Rodriguez at this time. It was obvious that he wanted to further improve the offense. He could not help but pay attention to it. He wanted to see how the Spaniards had changed.
*****
The Spanish had changed.
Before this, De La Pena was the core of their midfield. The players habitually handed the football to De La Pena, and De La Pena had almost no chance as he was guarded by Carlos. But now, after Maxi Rodriguez came on, Li Ang keenly noticed that the Espanyol player's possession of the ball in the middle and front field had changed. Maxi Rodriguez began to take over possession to a certain extent.
"Double-core?" Li Ang frowned. Before this, he had not heard of the RCD Espanyol using a dual-core tactic.
Not far away, Lautina also looked nervously at the field. Yes, the RCD Espanyol had not used a dual-core tactic in the game before, but that did not mean that they would not use it. It was actually an alternative plan for the RCD Espanyol. When De La Pena was restrained, Maxi Rodriguez would take over the ball. But in the previous three La Liga games, the RCD Espanyol had not encountered any challenges. De La Pena played well, so there was naturally no need to use a dual-core tactic. After all, the tactic would disperse the offense to a certain extent.
Now, the RCD Espanyol could be said to have been forced by Sporting de Gijón to use this "secret weapon."
Li Ang was a little worried and hesitant. He did not know if he should let Carlos take care of Maxi Rodriguez. However, De La Pena was obviously a dangerous person. If Carlos was taken away by Maxi Rodriguez, Li Ang was sure that De La Pena would immediately come alive. This Spanish star player, who was as famous as Raúl in the past, was indeed very capable.
Maxi Rodriguez took the ball in the front field and easily got rid of Ribéry, who came to harass him.
Ribéry only defended symbolically. After all, defense was not his specialty.
"Fábio!" Hierro shouted the full back Grosso's name.
Grosso immediately pounced on Maxi Rodriguez.
At this time, Tamudo, who had been invisible throughout the game, withdrew from the penalty area. Maxi Rodriguez gently knocked the ball and passed it to Tamudo.
Then, Tamudo turned and swept the ball to the side, and Maxi Rodriguez had already cut in to receive the ball after the pass.
"Wall-hitting coordination!" González shouted. "After Rodriguez came on, the RCD Espanyol attacked."
*****
De La Pena began to cut in front of the goal. Carlos followed the man closely. His defense against this man was very successful today. He would not allow this man to suddenly perform at this time.
The wall-hitting coordination with Tamudo broke through Sporting de Gijón's full back Grosso. Maxi Rodriguez did not intend to pass the ball. Instead, he continued to break inside, which made Sporting de Gijón's defensive line chaotic.
Pepe hurriedly left Tamudo and came forward to cover the defense. Maxi Rodriguez quickly pedaled the ball to the end line. Pepe was not fooled. He just stuck close to him and did not let him get close to the inside line.
Maxi Rodriguez, who had his back to Pepe, suddenly used his heel to knock the ball between Pepe's legs. Then, using Pepe as an axis, he turned 180 degrees and slipped in from near the end line!
Pepe was shocked. He knew the consequences of the Argentine breaking in. The panicked Pepe almost subconsciously stretched out his foot to hook the ball. Then, Pepe was dumbfounded. He saw the ball being kicked away by Maxi Rodriguez, and his leg just happened to hook Maxi Rodriguez's foot …
Next, he could imagine what would happen next.
Pepe's heart went cold.
Maxi Rodriguez screamed and fell to the ground.
Sporting de Gijón's goalkeeper, Valencia, attacked. He hugged the ball, but at the same time, he heard the referee's whistle.
"A penalty kick!" The Barcelona commentator shouted excitedly. The RCD Espanyol, who had been passive throughout the game, began to improve their offense after Maxi Rodriguez came on. This time, they successfully used a breakthrough to get a chance to score.
The RCD Espanyol players on the field were also excited. They rushed up to hug Maxi Rodriguez, patted his head, and thumped his chest.
They were very passive in this game. Everyone knew that this penalty kick was not easy to come by. They were too excited.
*****
"Well done!" The RCD Espanyol manager, Lautina, waved his fist excitedly. His substitution adjustment had worked. Then, Lautina looked at the technical area next to him. He really saw his colleague's exasperated look. Lautina grinned. China man, you're still inexperienced!
Li Ang was indeed exasperated. He was not angry at Pepe's foul in the penalty area this time. He was angry at himself. He was clearly aware of the crisis that Maxi Rodriguez could bring on, but he did not make up his mind to make adjustments in time. Ribéry did not have any defensive ability. If he had made a substitution earlier, bringing on Modric or even directly bringing on Marcos, it would have formed a certain defensive suppression on Maxi Rodriguez. At the very least, the other side would not have broken through so easily this time.
"F * ck!" Li Ang cursed.
Pepe tripped Maxi Rodriguez in the penalty area. The referee awarded a penalty kick and showed Pepe a yellow card at the same time.
Li Ang looked at the scene with a pale face.
The RCD Espanyol striker, Tamudo, stood at the penalty spot.
"Tamudo's penalty kick! He shoots! The ball goes in! "Dagestino shouted." Valencia judged the wrong direction! "
"Maybe, maybe, Manager Li Ang should have brought on Roberto to save this penalty kick," González said mockingly. His words made Dagestino laugh out loud.
Of course, Li Ang could not bring on Roberto to save the penalty kick again. That kind of attempt could only be made once. Otherwise, it would also hurt the main goalkeeper, Valencia. In such an intense game, he could not be so capricious as to change the goalkeeper. Besides, Roberto was only good at saving penalty kicks. It did not mean that he could save the penalty kick.
*****
The game went on for 65 minutes. The RCD Espanyol equalized the score with Tamudo's penalty kick. 1-1!
Tamudo scored the penalty kick. The RCD Espanyol players on the field were very excited. They hugged each other and almost formed a human pyramid.
Li Ang looked at the RCD Espanyol players. He turned his head to look at the away team's technical area. Lautina was clapping in celebration.
"What do we do now?" Assistant Manager Scott Terry asked.
What else could they do? They could only continue to attack!
In this game, Li Ang was unwilling to accept the result of a draw. Now, they could only attack. However, the RCD Espanyol players had also started to attack. Now, it was up to who could seize the opportunity to score first.
However, after only five minutes, Li Ang grimaced. He was anxious.
Maiquel Pihra was injured.
The referee gave the RCD Espanyol player a yellow card.
The foul was committed by Maxi Luregs. This Argentinian youth was unusually active after he came on. Not only was he active in attacking, but he was also active in defending. This time, he made a big flying tackle and knocked down Michael Pihra.
The team doctor, Mr. Rotalo, ran onto the field again.
Li Ang looked at the field anxiously. He hoped that Rotalo could tell him the good news. However, he was disappointed. He saw Rotalo make a gesture to him. "The gesture for a substitution!"
"F * ck!" Li Ang cursed.
He had a headache. Milito was injured, and Michael Pihra was substituted in. Now, Michael Pihra was also injured. Two strikers were injured in one game. It was really f * cking unlucky.
Now, the biggest problem was: Li Ang turned his head to look at the substitutes' bench. He had no more strikers to substitute!
Benzema?
Li Ang really did not intend to send Benzema out so early. He was too young. Moreover, Benzema's condition during training was very average.
However, now, other than Benzema, he really did not have any other strikers.
PS: First update. Begging for a monthly ticket.
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