Caparos said that he wanted to teach Sporting de Gijón, a dark horse team, a lesson. His words were not entirely arrogant. His Sevilla team was currently at the peak of their form. They were ranked second in La Liga, and in the last game before the winter break, they had defeated Real Madrid at their home ground. The old manager, Caparos, was now in high spirits.
Caparos was a coach who emphasized the overall offense. He valued the physical fitness of the players more. He asked Sevilla to play with speed and strength. He had high expectations for the players on the two flanks.
In this game, Sevilla had fielded the strongest lineup they could. They took advantage of the opening kickoff to press heavily. Caparos was obviously doing what he said to his players. He wanted to teach Sporting de Gijón a lesson.
Caparos believed that the Sporting de Gijón manager, Li Ang, would study the video of the game between his team and Real Madrid repeatedly before this game. In that game, Sevilla's performance was slightly conservative. They focused on defensive counterattacks. If the China manager thought that Sevilla was a team that focused on defense, he would regret it! In this game, against Sporting de Gijón, Caparos's request was to play with the soul of offense! Sevilla wanted to raise the offensive flag high and teach the most glorious dark horse of the season a lesson.
Caparos was very confident in the offensive strength and strength of his team.
*****
Li Ang stood at the edge of the technical area and stared at the field. This Sevilla team was indeed stronger in the offensive end, especially on their right side. The right back was Sergio Ramos. This young man, who was about to join Real Madrid at a young age, had been put in an important position by Caparos. Caparos had revitalized the team. He had moved the position of another outstanding right back, the Brazilian Daniel Alves, to the right midfielder position. In this way, the right side where Ramos and Alves were on was unprecedentedly strong.
Don't forget that Sevilla also had Baptista. In 2003, when Julio César Baptista came to the Sevilla team from Brazil, the transfer fee was only about 3.5 million euros. This was another great deal that the Sevillians loved to talk about. After coming to Sevilla, the Brazilian star immediately shone brightly. Baptista's skills were well-rounded and his ability was balanced. He could play in any position in the midfield. He was a powerful attacking midfielder with equal emphasis on strength and skills. He had even played as a center forward in the Brazilian national team. Baptista's physical fitness was excellent. He had a solid foundation and his ability to plug in and score was strong. When he was in Brazil, he had been developing towards the defensive midfielder position. However, in Sevilla, Caparos focused on Baptista's offensive talent and put him in the attacking midfielder position. This change in position completely activated Baptista's offensive ability.
The Spanish media had a statistic. If it was not calculated by season, but by year, Ronaldo and Eto'o would not be Baptista's opponent. Baptista scored a total of 24 goals in 2004 and was worthy of the title of the year's top scorer. On the other hand, Eto 'o had scored 22 goals and could only be ranked second. Ronaldo had only scored 18 goals.
In this season's La Liga league's top scorer list, Eto'o and Diego Milito were tied for first place with 14 goals. Then the second was Atletico Madrid's Fran with 12 goals. The third was Baptista with 11 goals. Whether it was Eto'o, Milito, or Fran, they were all strikers. It was normal for them to score more goals. However, Baptista was only an attacking midfielder and his goals had reached double digits. This was enough to show the current hot state of the Brazilian player.
"Baptista is the most terrifying player in the entire La Liga!" AS even gave such a high evaluation of Baptista.
*****
At this time, the 23-year-old Baptista had come to Europe to play in his second season. He was in the limelight and could even be said to be at the peak of his career. This stage could be said to be the highlight of the Brazilian's entire career. What was particularly interesting was that Baptista was particularly enthusiastic every time he played against Real Madrid. In the past two seasons, Real Madrid had a particular headache whenever they played against Sevilla. They were even a little afraid of being beaten by Baptista. In the end, Real Madrid adopted the method that the powerhouses were best at to solve the problem. They spent a sky-high transfer fee to buy Baptista from Sevilla. Although Baptista's performance at Real Madrid could only be said to be passable and did not reach the heights that people expected of the Brazilian, at least Real Madrid's win rate against Sevilla had increased. This was an effect.
Li Ang was also staring at Baptista at this time. His brows were furrowed. He was aware of the threat.
At this time, Baptista was dribbling the ball and the veteran Hierro was guarding him.
Originally, Li Ang had arranged for Pepe to mark Baptista. After all, Pepe was young and his speed and reaction were faster than Hierro's.
Although Hierro's experience could also play a role in defense, in the face of Baptista's extraordinary physical fitness and tyrannical impact, the effect of experience would be minimized.
Li Ang's judgment was right.
It could be seen from the defense this time.
Sporting de Gijón had a chance to take a free kick in the front field. Pepe went up to participate in the set piece attack. Then, Sporting de Gijón's set piece attack did not pose any threat. Sevilla counterattacked. Alves dribbled the ball high and passed it to Baptista. After the latter received the ball, he rushed directly to the penalty area. At this time, Pepe did not have time to replay in place. Hierro, who stayed in the half of the field, could only go up.
*****
Hierro was experienced. He did not blindly intercept. He slowly retreated, trying to buy time and wait for his teammates to return to defend.
Baptista saw through Hierro's plan. He did not give the veteran Spanish a chance to buy time.
He suddenly moved. Hierro, who was retreating, saw this and quickly took a big step to block the Brazilian's path. Although he knew that Baptista's move might be a feint, he still had to face it. This was because he knew that Baptista would take advantage of the situation and break through if he didn't. Baptista was scheming openly. Even though Yero knew about it, he had no choice but to face it head-on.
Sure enough, when he saw Hierro coming up, Baptista immediately stepped the ball back with his left foot and then turned to cut inside.
Sure enough!
Hierro was also prepared for this. He had his own backup plan. He forcibly twisted his center of gravity and then wanted to continue to stick to the Brazilian. His purpose was to not let Baptista increase his speed. What he needed was time. He wanted to entangle Baptista and buy time for Pepe or Carlos to return to help.
Objectively speaking, for the thirty-six-year-old veteran general Hierro, his defense this time was already good enough. After all, age was unforgiving. Rushing up, blocking, and forcefully turning around to close in and snatching the ball were not easy at all.
However, this time, Sporting de Gijón's captain was facing the hottest attacking star player in the whole of Spain. Baptista saw that Hierro had forcibly turned around to entangle himself again, so he immediately pulled the ball horizontally. Then he noticed that the distance between the two TUIs after Hierro had forcibly turned around was slightly larger. He immediately used the tip of his foot to poke the football between Hierro's legs. Then he used his speed to force a breakthrough and successfully rushed past Hierro's side!
Hierro felt that something was wrong when Baptista pulled the ball horizontally. He immediately reacted and directly fell to the ground to tackle the ball. He hoped to be able to poke the football out. Even if it gave the opponent a corner kick, he could not let Baptista break through.
However, Hierro underestimated Baptista's foot speed. When he fell to the ground to tackle, he did not tackle the football. Instead, he directly tackled Baptista's ankle.
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