Sporting de Gijón's vice-captain, Albertini, had a serious expression on his face. Just two weeks ago, his favorite team, Milan, had lost 1-2 in this stadium. After the game, Catalonia's people had made some impolite remarks about Milan, which made Albertini feel uncomfortable. In this game, the Italian veteran, who wore Sporting de Gijón's red and white jersey, had added a burden to himself. He wanted to complete his revenge as an old Milan player.
"Demetrio, for today's game, I need your 120% state and concentration!" Albertini remembered what Manager Li Ang had said to him before the game started.
"In this game, do your best to display your offensive talents, Demetrio!" Li Ang said.
Albertini clenched his fists slightly.
In this game, Sporting de Gijón's formation seemed to be a 4-4-2, but in fact, it was more like a 4-2-1-2-1!
This was the formation and tactics that Li Ang had set up specifically for this game to deal with Barcelona.
In the midfield, the two young defensive midfielders, Carlos and Marcos, firmly held the defense. Marcos sat in the center circle and was Sporting de Gijón's last wall, while Carlos was the moving wall, sweeping the midfield.
The two young men escorted Albertini, so that Albertini did not need to think about defense in this game. He could spend more energy on dispatching and organizing the offense.
Today, Ribéry's position was no longer a side midfielder or a winger, but an attacking midfielder position. That's right, it was the attacking midfielder position that Li Ang had previously tailored for Mata. However, Mata was closer to the right flank, while Ribéry was on the left flank.
Now, within Sporting de Gijón, they had begun to understand and accept the attacking midfielder tactic. This was the first time that the players had heard of the term attacking midfielder. While they were amazed by the manager's coaching talent, they had to admit that this tactic was indeed ingenious. They could not pinpoint exactly what was good about it, but they could feel it in the game. The pressure on the opponent's penalty area was more pressing, and the space and freedom of movement were expanded at the same time, making them more flexible.
Ribéry was an attacking midfielder, and Di Natale was behind Milito. He was similar to an attacking midfielder, but also somewhat like a shadow striker. He also had a lot of freedom.
Milito was a striker who rushed forward, like a dagger, and the tip of his blade was aimed straight at Barcelona's goal!
The key to this tactic was Carlos and Marcos. Manager Li Ang delegated the task of the entire team to a certain extent, where everyone had to participate in the defense. Carlos and Marcos would take on more defensive tasks, while the rest of the attacking players could focus more on the offense.
This tactic could ensure that when Sporting de Gijón had an opportunity to attack, the attacking players could press forward like a thunderbolt. With the momentum of a storm, they pressed into the opponent's half of the field without having to think too much about defense.
*****
Li Ang sat in the technical area. He had a certain amount of confidence in his tactics, but he was also a little uneasy. After all, no matter how good the tactics were, they still needed to be tested in the game.
At the beginning of the game, Barcelona kicked off. Logically speaking, the Barcelona 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 strive to score first and drag the game into Barcelona's familiar track. This was the essence of Barcelona's current tactics. They emphasized on ball control and they firmly controlled the pace of the game. The opponent could only be dragged along by Barcelona's pace. The end result was that they were worn down and dragged to death.
There was a burst of cheers in the stands at Camp Nou, cheering for the team's first attack.
However, their cheers came to an abrupt end because Barcelona's attack was intercepted by Juan Carlos and Marcos before it could get close to Sporting de Gijón's goal.
Decaux took the ball and tried to break through Marcos, but he was firmly entangled by Marcos. The opponent was not in a hurry to make a move. He just blocked his position very well.
Carlos came over to help. He suddenly snatched the football and stole it.
Then, Carlos did not let the football stay at his feet for long. He directly knocked the football to Albertini.
*****
As soon as Albertini took the ball, Barcelona's Mexican star player, Márquez, pounced on him.
Rijkaard's Barcelona pursued control of the game and ball control. Therefore, they were very active in the fight for possession of the ball.
They intended to use ball control and offense to completely suppress Sporting de Gijón in this game. The ideal result was that Sporting de Gijón could not even get out of the half of the field. This was the essence of Barcelona's current tactics that they were most proud of.
It was a pity that they were up against a high-spirited and well-prepared Sporting de Gijón today. There was also the most important point. Li Ang's Sporting de Gijón had several sets of tactics. The more commonly used 'Li-On' tactic was focused on full court pressing and ball control. This was a simplified version that Li Ang later practiced based on Barcelona's TiKi-TaKa tactic. It could be said that it had a deep relationship with Barcelona's tactics. Therefore, Sporting de Gijón's players could be said to be the group of people who understood Barcelona's tactics the best in La Liga, or even on the planet, other than Barcelona themselves.
It was precisely because of this understanding that they were able to target their responses.
*****
Li Ang's thorough study of Barcelona, Rijkaard's tactics, and Barcelona's players were thorough!
In his eyes, Barcelona was transparent!
Of course, after Barcelona dominated Europe, many coaches also thoroughly studied Barcelona. But what was the use? They knew what Barcelona's tactics were all about. They were unbeatable! They could not match up to them!
The latecomers could not, but Li Ang could!
At this moment, Barcelona had not yet reached their peak. They were still gradually perfecting this set of tactics. In Li Ang's calm thinking and careful consideration, he saw a glimmer of light!
A glimmer of light that contained Barcelona!
Although the light was not big, it was enough to dispel the darkness!
At this time, on the field, Albertini had just taken the ball when he saw Márquez closing in. The other side pounced fiercely. It seemed that he intended to take advantage of the opportunity when Albertini had just stopped the ball to complete the steal.
"Márquez goes forward to steal Albertini … Beautiful!" Dagestino shouted and cheered loudly.
PS: First update, and guaranteed to be the minimum.
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