There was a smile on Rijkaard's face. Eto 'o had scored from the penalty kick and the opposing defender, Pepe, had been sent off. Barcelona had a good chance of turning the tables.
The Dutchman looked at Sporting de Gijón's technical area with some pride. He wanted to see the Chinese man's expression change from joy to sadness. Then he saw a scene that he would never forget in his life: the Chinese coach did a somersault on the spot, smiled after landing, and even made a victory gesture!
"This …" Rijkaard's expression froze. What was this?
He subconsciously turned to look at his assistant. Tenkat was also stunned.
"What did he do?" Tenkat exclaimed in surprise.
"Who knows …" Rijkaard shook his head and thought it was funny. In the face of such a disadvantageous situation, that guy actually did such a thing. Was he scared silly by the situation on the field?!
"Oh, oh, oh, we saw something interesting happening on the sidelines." The director keenly captured the scene on the sidelines and replayed it. The commentator also cried out in surprise.
"Manager Li Ang always does things that make people feel strange. Is he trying to convey a message to his players?" Dagestino said. He still remembered that when Li Ang had led Sporting de Gijón to the Segunda División, there was a history of somersaulting after scoring a goal to celebrate. But now, it was not Sporting de Gijón who had scored, but Barcelona who had scored. Furthermore, Sporting de Gijón had a player sent off. However, Dagestino knew Li Ang better. His first reaction was that this person used such a strange move to convey a message to his players: the manager was not concerned about the disadvantageous situation. He was calm and confident!
"Although we don't know if Manager Li Ang's move is useful, we have to admit that his somersault is beautiful!" González said with a laugh.
On the field, Barcelona's players were also stunned. They had never seen a manager like this.
The Sporting de Gijón fans in the stands also saw the scene on the sidelines. After a moment of silence, they burst into loud cheers.
"Beautiful!"
"So handsome!"
Sporting de Gijón's fans had been extremely depressed and pessimistic about the game's prospects a second ago. However, at this moment, when they saw that the team's manager was still in the mood to do a somersault, and when they saw Li Ang's smile, the stone that had been weighing on everyone's hearts seemed to have been removed in an instant …
*****
"Clown!" Barcelona assistant manager Tenkat said.
Rijkaard smiled and shook his head. In front of absolute strength, these were all small tricks.
Rijkaard did not mind. He was confident that Barcelona could make a comeback.
However, the Dutch instructor had never imagined what would happen next.
Sporting de Gijón kicked off the ball in the center circle.
Di Natale kicked the ball to Milito, and the Argentine passed the ball back to Modric. The latter continued to pass the ball back, and Carlos took the ball.
It looked like a normal center circle kick off.
Carlos pretended to continue to pass the ball back, but he pulled the ball back and passed it to Modric. The latter stood in place and had been waiting to receive the ball.
Modric dribbled the ball directly forward, and Decaux came up to intercept.
Modric shook his foot and tricked Decaux into falling out of his center of gravity. However, he pushed the ball to Ribéry on the other side!
Ribéry pretended to stop the ball, but he passed the ball to Di Natale and ran forward himself.
Di Natale pulled the ball horizontally and then began to speed up. In the face of Messi's interference, he suddenly stopped and pretended to pass the ball to Modric behind him. However, he passed the ball to Ribéry.
*****
Ribéry was running in the air, and Di Natale's pass was just right. It gave him a head start, and Ribéry could dribble the ball directly forward. Now he was facing the goal, and there was no heavy encirclement in front of him.
Barcelona was eager to continue to score goals, so after Sporting de Gijón kicked off, they pressed forward. At this time, their right back, Belletti, had already crossed half the field. Ribéry's running position in the air almost brushed past Belletti. Therefore, when Ribéry received the ball, there was no one around him. He only needed to accelerate to rush into the penalty area …
Belletti hurriedly braked and ran back.
Ribéry did not slow down. Behind him was Belletti. Then everyone saw the Frenchman make a move to cut inside horizontally. After tricking Belletti to slow down, he accelerated again.
"Stop him!" Barcelona's goalkeeper, Valdés, shouted.
Marquis rushed toward Ribéry.
At this time, Ribéry passed the ball.
He did not pass the ball to the goal. Instead, he passed the ball diagonally back. Then, everyone saw Diego Milito receive the ball. There was no defender around him!
*****
"Gihon's chance!" The commentator shouted excitedly. Sporting de Gijón had just kicked off in the middle of the circle. They did not focus on defense. Instead, they suddenly pressed forward and got such a good opportunity.
Barcelona's penalty area was in chaos.
Barcelona's captain, Puyol, and the left back, van Bronckhorst, the two of them rushed toward Diego Milito together, intending to stop Milito's shot. Of course, since the ball had already entered the penalty area, they had to be careful not to foul …
Puyol and van Bronckhorst reacted quickly. They blocked Milito and surrounded him. This time, Milito's shooting angle suddenly became very small. Even if he forced himself to shoot, it was a good angle for the goalkeeper, Valdés, to block.
Milito looked like he was going to shoot …
Puyol fell to the ground to block. Although the goalkeeper should be confident of shooting from such a small angle, it was better to be safe than sorry. For a defender, stopping the opponent's shot was always the first priority.
Almost at the same time, van Bronckhorst also fell to the ground to block.
Milito made a shooting motion, and then everyone saw him and the two Barcelona defenders fall to the ground together.
*****
"Foul!" In the stands, the Sporting de Gijón fans roared.
Li Ang leaned forward and looked into the field. When he saw Milito fall to the ground, he jumped and shouted. Then he saw the ball roll out from the crowd!
Milito was very smart. After attracting Puyol and van Bronckhorst to come up to defend, he did not pass the ball immediately. Instead, he made a shooting motion. After deceiving the Barcelona defenders' attention again, he swept the ball out with his left foot as he fell to the ground!
"Mata! He has no one to defend at all … "
None of the Barcelona defenders, including the goalkeeper, Valdés, noticed Mata. When the ball was passed to Milito's feet, they only had eyes for Milito. Because Ribéry's pass was too tricky, Milito was facing the goal and could have raised his leg to shoot!
Now, before Milito fell to the ground, he secretly passed the ball to Mata.
Now, in front of Mata, it was half an empty goal. What he needed to do was very simple …
Facing the ball that Milito passed over, Mata swung his left foot and easily pushed the ball!
*****
"Shoot! Goooool！! It's too easy! "
Huge cheers erupted in the stands at the El Molinón Stadium.
After the goal, Mata ran to the technical area on the sidelines with open arms. He wanted to dedicate the goal to the boss. Behind him were his teammates who ran excitedly.
And the Barcelona players stood frozen in place. They still couldn't believe what they had just seen … They had just scored a goal from the penalty kick, and the opponent had even lost a center back. They were looking forward to continuing their attack and crushing the Gihons with goals. How could they concede a goal? And it was lost so easily, so simply, so inexplicably!
Li Ang was on the sidelines, laughing. He opened his arms, and Mata rushed up and hugged him directly. His legs clamped the coach's waist, like a sloth hanging on a tree …
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