Ronaldinho got up from the ground and looked at the back of the guy who ran away without looking back. He smiled helplessly and lifted his jersey to wipe the sweat off his forehead.
He felt tired from playing today. The media said that a happy Ronaldinho was omnipotent. When Ronaldinho had a happy smile on his face, the football genie could contribute amazing football. For Barcelona, a smiling Ronaldinho often meant that Barcelona was playing smoothly and easily.
Now, when Ronaldinho began to frown, smile bitterly, and feel tired from playing, it meant that Barcelona was in a difficult situation.
Barcelona fans liked to watch Ronaldinho pass people and the Brazilian's performance. In today's game, the scene of the Brazilian football genie wantonly displaying his football talent was rare. Ronaldinho kept falling to the ground.
Li Ang certainly knew the importance of Ronaldinho to Barcelona. He must not let the Brazilian star player play happily.
Li Ang arranged for Carlos to focus on defending Ronaldinho. The boy, known as Sporting de Gijón's' Gattuso, 'did everything he could to defend Ronaldinho. Even if Carlos was passed, there was still Marcos and Pepe. Pepe, in particular, took on a very large defensive role today. The range of his activities was relatively large and he often pressed the defense. At this time, Hierro would fill in the space behind him and Marcos would retreat deeper.
Therefore, a lot of the time, Ronaldinho was teaming up with Carlos and Pepe to confront. This made the Brazilian star player tired and a little irritated. After coming to La Liga, Ronaldinho had confronted all the defensive players in La Liga. Sporting de Gijón's Pepe and Carlos were the toughest. They would kick the ball over their heads and people. As long as the ball did not enter their territory, they would do anything. They kept running and enjoyed every physical confrontation.
Ronaldinho really felt that these two guys enjoyed this kind of brutal physical confrontation and hand-to-hand combat!
*****
Deco was in possession of the ball in the front field. Facing Marcos, who was waiting for him, he chose to pass the ball to Xavi. As soon as the latter took the ball, Modric came up to interfere. Xavi quickly passed the ball to Ronaldinho. The Brazilian had just taken the ball when he smelled a familiar scent. It was Carlos who pounced on him fiercely. The latter was very smart and decisive in his tackle, but he was definitely not blind. In order to avoid being bypassed at once, Carlos was not particularly close to Ronaldinho. Instead, there was a distance of two meters between them. This distance was well used by Carrasso. He turned very quickly, so no matter how much Ronaldinho faked, it was difficult for him to get rid of him immediately.
It was the same this time. Ronaldinho pulled the ball with his left foot and leaned his body to one side. Suddenly, he leaned forward and pretended to break through. After deceiving Carlos into action, the Brazilian buckled the football back again and then tapped it gently with the inside of his foot. He quickly turned around and accelerated to the other side. Then, he saw a leg stuck to the ground and did a flying tackle!
Carlos knew that if he made a move, he might be fooled. However, he had to make a move because if he did not make any reaction, the Brazilian would turn his feint into reality and break through directly. Therefore, Carlos made a defensive move. Then, as expected, he saw Ronaldinho buckle the football back. Then, after a beautiful kick, he broke through to the other side. Carlos adapted and turned very quickly. He forcibly stopped his center of gravity and leaned back at the same time. His feet stuck to the turf to tackle the ball. He succeeded. The tip of his foot poked the football, which made it jump up!
However, Ronaldinho was indeed the best star player on the planet at the moment. He raised his foot and pressed the ball with the sole of his right foot.
"Beautiful!" Dagestino exclaimed. He saw the Brazilian star player press the football down and then the black and white sprite obediently controlled it under his feet.
Carlos saw Ronaldinho trying to control the ball again. He had no other way at this time. However, Carlos did not panic. It would have been good if his interception had been successful. Even if it had not, he had succeeded in buying time for his teammate, Pepe, to come up and defend! Pepe did not disappoint Pepe.
Pepe did not disappoint Carlos. The young Portuguese national footballer's bald head was a little dazzling under the floodlights. He rushed up and directly used his strong body to push Ronaldinho away, which forced the latter to subconsciously take half a step back. It was this half step that Pepe successfully disrupted Ronaldinho's rhythm. Then, the two men fell into a hand-to-hand fight. Amid the tugging and pulling, Carlos came up again. He fiercely shoveled the ball and destroyed the football out of the sideline. This time, it was really ruthless. The entangled Pepe and Ronaldinho also fell to the ground together.
"There's no foul! Carlos and Pepe teamed up and the two of them successfully defended against Ronaldinho again! " Dagestino shouted. He was full of praise for the two men. "Ronaldinho is in trouble today. It's obvious that Pepe and Carlos are not easy to deal with. They are battered rams. Maybe it's a little rough defending, and maybe some people will think it's not good. However, I'd still rather see this kind of tough defense than stand like mannequins like the players of some other teams. Sporting de Gijón's defense is very strong, confrontational, and entangled. This is a very physical Sporting de Gijón team that makes the attackers irritated."
*****
In the face of intensive defense, Barcelona's biggest weapon was the football talent of a superstar player like Ronaldinho. It was their flash of inspiration.
When Ronaldinho was in trouble, it became very difficult for Barcelona to find a direct path to Sporting de Gijón's goal.
As for Eto 'o, in the face of Sporting de Gijón's holed up defense and the dense defensive crowd, the Cameroonian cheetah had no space to sprint. It was difficult for him to have any good opportunities.
Under such circumstances, Rijkaard made a cunning adjustment. He let the Barcelona players on the field slow down their offensive appropriately. His purpose was to let the Sporting de Gijón players press forward to attack when the pressure on the goal was relieved. As long as the Gijón players did not retreat to the half of the field, there would be space. This was the time for Barcelona's offensive strength to show.
Rijkaard almost succeeded.
Although Li Ang's request for the team was to be conservative and steady, he did not forbid the team from counterattacking. The first goal was an example. Therefore, when Barcelona slowed down their offensive appropriately and even gave some space and possession to Sporting de Gijón, Sporting de Gijón's players fell for it.
In the 35th minute of the game, Sporting de Gijón launched a quick counterattack. However, this time, Barcelona deliberately allowed it. Then, van Bronckhorst and Decaux worked together to intercept Arango's pass. Barcelona hit Sporting de Gijón's counterattack.
If the experienced Hierro had not seen the situation go wrong and decisively committed a tactical foul to pull down Giuly, Barcelona's counterattack would have succeeded.
*****
Seeing that Hierro committed a tactical foul and used a yellow card to organize Barcelona's counterattack, Rijkaard on the sidelines was very regretful. However, he was also very happy because his tactic worked.
Rijkaard was very happy at first … because Gijón's people had finally pressed forward. However, his smile did not last long. He discovered a problem.
Later, although Barcelona repeated the same trick and wanted to lure Sporting de Gijón to press forward, Sporting de Gijón's counterattack became more vigilant even if they had a chance to counterattack. They immediately retreated if something went wrong. They returned to their previous conservative defensive state.
This made Rijkaard helpless and depressed. He looked at the home team's technical area next to him. This clearly had something to do with Li Ang, who was standing on the sidelines directing the game at this time. Obviously, the dangerous situation just now made Li Ang vigilant and decisively made tactical adjustments to restrain the team from pressing forward blindly.
Cunning, cunning!
In Rijkaard's eyes, Li Ang was like a little fox at this time. It was not easy to lure this person into a trap.
After coming to La Liga, Rijkaard had played against many famous managers in La Liga. He had also played against many other powerhouse managers in the UEFA Champions League. However, Rijkaard had to admit that Li Ang's cunning was no less than the old foxes he had played against. He really could not imagine how this manager, who was not even 30 years old, could be so cunning and experienced.
This person was young and as cunning as a fox!
*****
Since Sporting de Gijón did not fall for the trap, Rijkaard had no choice but to wave the flag again and let Barcelona put pressure on Sporting de Gijón's goal again to launch wave after wave of attacks. Now that Barcelona was behind by 0: 1 and two points behind Sporting de Gijón, Barcelona had to attack and find a goal!
Barcelona's powerful attacking group could not do much in the face of Sporting de Gijón's intensive defense. However, with so many attacking geniuses' efforts and collisions, there would always be occasional sparks of love.
This time, Giuly plugged in to receive the ball. He dribbled the ball horizontally and attracted Grosso's attention. Then, he suddenly knocked with his heel. After Harvey got the ball, he quickly sent the ball out and passed it in the opposite direction to Ronaldinho. The Brazilian football genius' left foot skimmed over the football, but did not touch the ball. At the same time, he pulled the ball with his right foot and half-turned on the spot. After leaning against Carlos, he used the tip of his foot to pick up the football. After two consecutive pick-ups, he pressed the ball forward with the heel of his right foot. It was an unconventional heel knock!
Then, people saw Eto 'o rush up like a cheetah. He received the football, and in an extremely narrow space, he changed direction to avoid Hierro. At the same time, he also flashed into a space to shoot. He directly shot a low shot!
The football stuck to the turf and flew quickly toward the goal!
Barcelona's dazzling offensive coordination made people's blood boil and they could not help but applaud. Sporting de Gijón's goalkeeper, Valencia, faced the shot and subconsciously blocked it. After the football was saved, it was still in front of the goal. Eto 'o rushed up again and wanted to make up for the shot. Sporting de Gijón's goalkeeper was powerless at this time. It seemed that the goal was inevitable, but before the football crossed the goal line, a leg rushed out and blocked the football!
"Marcos! God, when did he come back?! "
The commentator exclaimed.
The slow-motion replay told everyone what had happened. In the process of Barcelona's attack, Marcos retreated all the way. He did not defend against Harvey in the first move and then directly turned and retreated in front of the goal. When Eto 'o shot, the other Sporting de Gijón players were stunned. Only Marcos desperately accelerated and ran back. Then, after the football was saved by Valencia, Marcos directly fell to the ground and slid to the ground before Eto' o could make up for the shot. He saved the danger in front of the goal!
The El Molinon stadium was full of cheers. Sporting de Gijón's players also screamed and shouted. Marcos's rescue in front of the goal was too morale-boosting and exciting.
*****
Barcelona's corner kick!
Ronaldinho's corner kick was headed by Marquis, but it was saved by Valencia.
Then, Pepe quickly came to the rescue. He kicked the football to the front field. Diego Milito fought hard for the header and finally grabbed the first drop point. He headed the football to Ribéry next to him.
Ribéry stopped the ball with his chest. He looked in front of him. It seemed like he was going to dribble the ball forward to break through or pass it back to slightly control the rhythm of the game. During this time, Sporting de Gijón was too passive.
At this time, Ribéry heard Modric shout, "Franck, give me the ball!!"
Ribéry did not hesitate and directly passed the football to Modric. Then he continued to run forward. He thought Modric wanted to cooperate with him and wanted to try to attack. They had been suppressed by Barcelona for a long time. An appropriate counterattack could be a deterrent to the opponent.
Ribéry intended to have a two-versus-one with Modric. He believed that Modric could see his intentions.
Whether Modric could see Ribéry's intention to do a collision with the wall or not was not discussed. Anyway, Barcelona's defenders saw it … The intention to pass and run was too obvious.
So, Barcelona's defenders followed Ribéry and collectively retreated.
*****
Accidents and opportunities always appeared inadvertently!
Of course, Modric saw Ribéry's intention to cooperate. He had already planned to pass the ball to Ribéry. However, the Croatian young player suddenly found that as Barcelona's defensive strength was led by Ribéry, a blank area suddenly appeared between him and Barcelona's rear defensive line. And there was no one to defend beside him for the time being!
Such an opportunity did not come often!
Although there was still a distance of more than thirty meters from the goal, Modric's mind suddenly exploded. He had a strong urge to shoot!
He felt that this was an opportunity!
He had no time to hesitate!
He had to do it if he wanted to!
Then, everyone saw Sporting de Gijón's Croatian young player push the football forward, run up, and swing his leg …
Thirty-five meters away from the goal …
A kick that could shatter rocks and shock the heavens!
PS: Today is Mother's Day. I wish all mothers health, happiness, and forever youth.
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