Currently, Sporting de Gijón had five strikers: Diego Milito, Di Natale, Benzema, Michael Pijra, and Enrique Chiesa.
However, Di Natale had always been used by Li Ang as a shadow striker, and Chiesa was also seen by Li Ang as Di Natale's substitute.
As for Michael Pijra, he was old and had very few appearances this season. There was no room for improvement.
Therefore, when Li Ang was considering which player to use the skill on, he could only choose between Diego Milito and Benzema.
The twenty-five-year-old Diego Milito was in the prime of his life. This late bloomer was making rapid progress and was currently the number one scorer in La Liga. He was Sporting de Gijón's current player.
As for the seventeen-year-old Benzema, he had already scored six goals in his limited appearances. He was Sporting de Gijón's fourth striker. Benzema was a young man that Li Ang had high hopes for. He was the future of Sporting de Gijón.
Li Ang was a little hesitant to choose between the present and the future.
However, after only two days, he found that he did not need to worry about this choice.
*****
February 4, 2005. In the second leg of the 20042005 Copa del Rey quarterfinals, Sporting de Gijón faced Sevilla in an away game.
Sevilla's manager, Caparos, vowed to avenge the previous humiliation in the Estadio Pis Juan.
The game was unusually intense, and the intensity was beyond Li Ang's expectations.
The referee showed two red cards and six yellow cards in the game. Sevilla's captain, Navarro, was sent off with a red card. On Sporting de Gijón's side, Pepe was sent off with a red card. Of the six yellow cards, Sevilla received four and Sporting de Gijón received two.
In the words of the commentator, Dagestino, there was almost no technical content in this game. It could be said that it was a hand-to-hand battle.
In the end, Sporting de Gijón tied with their opponents in the away game 2: 2. With a total score of 4: 2, they were close to the semifinals of the Copa del Rey.
Li Ang regretted that he did not expect the tragedy of this game. Otherwise, he would have used the Beginner's Misfortune Transfer skill in advance to avoid the possibility of his players being injured.
Diego Milito scored a goal in the game, but the Argentine striker left the field in the second half with an injury. According to the team doctor's diagnosis, the Argentine would be out of action for at least a month.
After the game, Li Ang almost went berserk, angrily denouncing Seville's dirty play at the press conference.
Sevilla's manager, Caparos, also criticized Sporting de Gijón for playing dirty.
After Sporting de Gijón's 5: 1 away win over Sevilla in the previous league game, as well as the two rounds of the Copa del Rey, the hatred between Sporting de Gijón and Sevilla, or rather, between Li Ang and Caparos, deepened.
Spain's national channel 3 also joked that Sporting de Gijón and Sevilla were enemies. There was another pair of enemies in La Liga.
*****
With Diego Milito injured, Li Ang did not have to make a choice. He could only give Benzema more chances to start in the later games.
Therefore, in the second day of training after the game, Li Ang used the Intermediate's Sharpshooter skill on Benzema.
The effect could be said to be immediate.
In this day's intra-team match, the 17-year-old French teenager made his teammates sit up and take notice. In the forty-five minutes of the match, Benzema scored three goals with headers and kicks!
"Milito's injury stimulated the French kid," said the assistant manager, Scott Terry.
That was the common opinion of almost everyone. They thought that Milito's injury gave Benzema a chance to fight for the starting position, so he exploded in the training.
They were not completely wrong. Benzema did work harder than before in training. Coupled with the effect of the Intermediate's Sharpshooter skill, the 17-year-old French teenager made everyone's eyes light up.
Li Ang could only sigh in his heart. Benzema's luck was too good. Milito's injury gave Benzema a chance, and he could only give that 'big benefit' to Benzema.
Benzema did not know that the manager gave him a big benefit. He was happy and excited. He only felt that he was improving quickly. The feeling of shooting was great, and it gave the kid more confidence to fight for the starting position.
*****
Sporting de Gijón advanced to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey with their heads held high.
This made Li Ang happy, but also a little helpless. He had originally planned to give up the competition, but because of the 'disturbance' of Atletico Madrid's young Hill, he had to use the main force in the game against Sevilla to stabilize the team's morale. He used victory and promotion to stabilize the team's morale, and so they advanced to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.
Now that they were in the semi-finals, it was not good for him to think about giving up the Copa del Rey. After all, the Copa del Rey was also a championship trophy. For a down and out grassroots team like Sporting de Gijón, there was no reason to give up. Even if he wanted to give up the Copa del Rey, the club president, Manuel Arango, would not agree. On the night the team eliminated Sevilla to enter the semi-finals, the old Arango congratulated the team and asked about the possibility of the team defending the Copa del Rey … Obviously, the old Arango was looking forward to the Copa del Rey championship.
Sporting de Gijón's semi-final opponent in the Copa del Rey was an old rival, Atletico Madrid, whom they had just defeated 7-2 in the league. In addition, Atletico Madrid's owner, Angel Hill, praised Li Ang, which made the current Atletico Madrid manager, Aguirre, feel embarrassed. Therefore, the Copa del Rey semi-final was a gimmick in the eyes of some media.
Fortunately, the Copa del Rey semi-final would not be played until mid-April, so Li Ang did not have to think about the Copa del Rey for the time being.
*****
February 5th, at the Malaio training base.
After the training, Li Ang announced to the players the starting list for the 22nd round of the La Liga game against Numancia the next day.
In the goalkeeper position, Li Ang chose to let the veteran Valencia rest and chose the young Handanović.
The left-back in the rear defensive line was Grosso. Li Ang chose to rotate the right-back position, giving Dorado, who had recovered from his injury, a chance to start.
In the center-back position, Pepe was suspended for two games by the Spanish Football Federation because he received a direct red card in the Copa del Rey. He could not play in this game, and the veteran Hierro was suspended for accumulating yellow cards in this game. Therefore, Li Ang had no choice but to choose the starting combination of Vermaelen and Rami. After Rami came to Sporting de Gijón, he first trained with the reserve team for a month and played a few reserve team games. Then he trained with the first team, but he had not played for the first team. Li Ang's choice was really bold to be able to get a chance to start in this game.
In the midfield, Marcos got a chance to start, Carlos was rotated to rest, Juan Arango got a chance to start, Ribéry and Modric started, and Juan Mata, who had recovered from his injury, was put on the bench. If he could come on as a substitute, it would be the first time young Mata returned to the field after more than two months of absence due to injury.
*****
Finally, it was the choice of the forward line.
"Antonio Di Natale." Li Ang read out Di Natale's name.
Then he paused.
In the crowd, Benzema's breathing quickened, and he held his breath.
"Karim Benzema!" Finally, Li Ang read out the last name.
Benzema waved his arms vigorously and roared. Although he guessed that he would get a chance to start, he could not hide his excitement.
Li Ang looked at the excited kid and folded the paper with the starting lineup list. He gave the player a few words of encouragement and then turned to leave.
The players also came up and patted the Frenchman on the head to congratulate him. Within the team, the younger players were more taken care of by the older guys. Benzema was also a smart guy who knew how to get things done, so he was quite popular.
"Hey, kid, don't worry. I'll give you an assist." Ribéry came up and put his arm around Benzema's neck and said.
"How many goals do you plan to score?" Di Natale also joked. Benzema's condition in the past two days of training was simply amazing. That was why he joked.
The French kid did not answer. He just laughed, but secretly clenched his fists. With the main striker Diego Milito injured, this game was his chance. He had to make good use of it!
PS: First update, continue to ask everyone for monthly votes. How many more monthly votes can I get? It's the middle of the month. I don't know if there's still hope to get on the monthly votes list. I want to fight. Of course, I'll use updates to repay everyone.
Asking for recommendation votes.
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