Chapter 14 Chapter 14 Nacho's Oolong
Halfway through the season, Madrid will enter the cool winter again.
While Leandri was ordered by his mother to wear a thin down jacket, La Fabrica's U12 team also welcomed a new player.
A defender who is neither very tall nor very strong - Nacho Fernandez.
The coach said that although his talent was not as outstanding as that of stars like Leandri and Raul, he was also a good candidate to become an excellent defender and he was diligent in defense, so he sent him to U12.
Does Leandri know Nacho, the future captain of Real Madrid?
I don't know him. Nacho rarely appears in the inventory, and Leandri was only known in the highlights in his previous life.
Seeing that the new friend was a little reserved, Leandri went up to greet him first.
"Hello, Fernandez, my name is Leandri, and I'm the goalkeeper." After saying that, he immediately showed his eight teeth and gave Nacho a welcoming smile.
Even though everyone in La Fabrica knew who he was, Leandri still didn't like to say his last name when introducing himself, always worried that 'Perez' would bring pressure to others and they would not dare to communicate with him.
Nacho quickly responded: "I play as a defender, you can call me Nacho!"
Nacho recognized Leandri at a glance, the shining man he met on the court on his first day in the youth training.
Nacho was deeply impressed by Leandri that day. With a height of 1.5 meters, he had a strong aura. When faced with provocations, he responded in an orderly and emotionally stable manner. Leandri is good-looking to begin with, his black eyes staring straight at Miguel without any fluctuation, yet making people dare not refute. More than a year of training has made his body more muscular. Nacho felt both beauty and oppression when he only saw his silhouette.
Nacho had seen Leandri training several times. When he was doing shuttle runs, beads of sweat dripped from his hair. Impatient Leandri just waved his hand. He takes every set of training very seriously. If his performance drops due to lack of strength, he will do more training. When he sees the opponent attacking in a group confrontation, he will quickly call on the defender to fill in the position, or stretch himself to hold the ball flying in the air.
Unlike the introverted and low-key Nacho, Leandri has so much talent that it is about to overflow. He can communicate with his teammates without airs and will also joke around with Casillas and others when they come to see him. Even without Florentino, Leandri would have gone to the first team sooner or later. He is the brightest star of La Fabrica.
A source of energy and enthusiasm always attracts others. Nacho envies Leandri's excellence and wants to be friends with him. A ten-year-old boy will also admire people who are of similar age and strong.
The goalkeeper and the defender are either good brothers on the field, or they curse at each other and act like fathers.
In the last U12 match in December, Real Madrid faced Athletic Bilbao.
The Athletic Bilbao team is mainly composed of players from the Basque region. They are strong, have excellent skills and tactics, and often cause trouble for strong teams such as Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga.
Leandri still holds his main position, tied his armband and was the first to line up, ready to go to the referee to flip a coin. Ryan Deli has become the captain of the U12 team this season.
Nacho did not play. Having just joined the U12 team, he has not yet impressed the coach with his strength. At this moment, he sat silently by the water dispenser to cheer for everyone. Miguel, who did not get along well with Leandri, was arranged by the coach to start.
Real Madrid took the lead and sent the ball into Bilbao's penalty area with a few simple passes. Miguel received the ball and pulled it to avoid the Bilbao defender who was defending him. Seeing that the backcourt was empty, he accelerated again and stimulated them to the point of knocking them over.
The Bilbao goalkeeper looked seriously at Miguel who was rushing towards him with the ball, bent down and took small steps to keep the football in his sight, and was ready to save the ball at any time.
Miguel was able to shoot, but he still wanted to keep moving forward. He wanted to humiliate the goalkeeper with a goal in a 1v1 situation, but he missed the best chance. Other defenders quickly filled in, and two of them blocked his space and kicked the ball out of the baseline.
Ryan Deli threw a punch in the backcourt. What a good opportunity he missed!
In the 17th minute, Real Madrid had the ball again. The defender intercepted the Bilbao player who was rushing over, evaded the attack with a swing, and then made a long pass to transfer the ball from the back half to the left rib. Miguel did not dare to be careless after receiving the ball. He took a few steps and passed the ball back to the midfielder who received it. After falling back a few times, the midfielder passed the ball to Miguel in the penalty area, and Miguel shot!
With a bang, the ball hit the goal beam and flew out of the bottom line.
In the 35th minute, Real Madrid got an indirect free kick in a good position. The midfielder stepped back a few steps and passed the ball the moment the referee blew the whistle!
The ball fell in front of Miguel again. He jumped up and headed the ball, but unfortunately the angle was a little off and it was caught by the opponent's goalkeeper.
Miguel missed three chances to score, and not only the people on the sidelines and Leandri, but also he himself was almost frustrated to death.
In the 43rd minute, Bilbao finally threatened the goal controlled by Leandri.
The opponent's midfielder snatched the ball from the Real Madrid player's feet and passed it to Real Madrid's half. The defenders quickly shrank back to their positions. Leandri, who was originally quite relaxed, also perked up and looked at the aggressive Bilbao players.
Seeing that both his passing and shooting routes were getting smaller and smaller due to the blocking of Real Madrid players, the Bilbao midfielder gritted his teeth and swung his legs in place just past half court on the left side of the field.
The ball fell directly into the arms of Leandri who had anticipated the route.
After receiving the ball, Ryan made a diagonal pass, avoiding the Bilbao players who were trying to take advantage of the opportunity, and passed the ball directly to Miguel who had just returned to the left side of the center line.
Miguel, who was originally in an excellent position, never expected that Leandri, who was at odds with him, would pass the ball to him. He was distracted and missed the best opportunity to attack.
At the end of the first half, the coach briefly summarized the mistakes in the first half in the locker room, and then notified Nacho to warm up and prepare to play.
"Perform well." Leandri encouraged Nacho, who he was not very familiar with yet.
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and Nacho replaced a right back.
It is said that people who always miss opportunities will be punished.
Miguel made a mistake in passing the ball in the frontcourt, and all the Bilbao players directly advanced their formation and quickly launched a counterattack.
The defensive midfielder had no time to intercept and could only let the forward with the ball dribble into the penalty area. The opponent's right foot was firmly on the grass as a fulcrum and his left foot was swung high. The ball whizzed inwards and flew towards Leandri who was waiting for it.
Ryan saw that the ball was moving towards the right, so he dived sideways and punched the ball out with one punch.
But Bilbao's attack made Leandri nervous. The ball that had just flown out was grabbed by another player, who took a follow-up shot.
Ryan quickly stood up, fell in the opposite direction, and saved the ball again.
Seeing the Bilbao player's shoes appear where the ball landed, Leandri became nervous.
Bang!
Nacho cleared the ball before him, and Bilbao's blitzkrieg ended in failure.
Leandri was helped up by Nacho, who waved his hand to indicate that he was fine and asked him to return to his seat quickly.
In the 77th minute, Bilbao made a comeback. The striker rushed all the way from the left. The central defender had already gone there to block him. Nacho quickly filled in his position.
The forward kicked the ball with his right foot, trying to use a curve to see if he could send the ball into the goal controlled by Leandri. Unexpectedly, the kick was not handled well and the ball flew low, but at a very fast speed.
The low football began to fall and hit Nacho's head who had just come to fill the position, and bounced into the net.
Oolong!
Leandri looked at Nacho, who made an own goal in his first appearance on the field. Although his tears had not yet fallen, it felt like they were about to break in the next second. Nacho looked at him apologetically, fearing that Leandri would blame him.
Seeing his expression, Leandri shouted, "Don't think about the ball just now, you have to cheer up!"
In the 79th minute, Real Madrid's midfielder took a long shot near the penalty area and the ball went in, 1-1!
In the 81st minute, Bilbao, eager to equalize the score, started a frantic attack, leaving only two defenders in the backcourt, while the others all looked for opportunities in Real Madrid's half.
Bilbao's midfielder made some simple cooperation and avoided Real Madrid's pressing. The defensive midfielder found the right position and passed the ball with surgical precision to the left winger. When he saw the ball coming, he shot directly towards the goal without stopping!
Leandri could only rely on his training experience to react subconsciously and try to stop the ball from moving forward.
left!
left!
Ryandley made the right judgment, but his vision was blocked by the chaotic positions in the penalty area, and the ball hit Ryan's fingers and changed direction!
Fortunately, Nacho quickly arrived at the position, snatched the ball and kicked it out of the penalty area.
Seeing that the crisis was over, Nacho stepped forward and pulled the man up from the lawn.
Leandri gave Nacho a thumbs up and said, "It was all thanks to you that I scored this goal!"
Nacho waved his hands, "You're the better one."
Seeing that the frontcourt was not advancing well, Ryan was worried that they would attack him again soon, so he patted Nacho on the shoulder and asked him to return to his position quickly.
"You're good, you protected the goal!"
Nacho thought, my God, the goalkeepers he met before would blame the defenders for not defending well if they lost, but would feel like a god if they won. How could they say "you protected me" like Leandri!
"I try not to let them hit your goal." Nacho decided to do something. "There won't be any more oolongs."
"Don't be so pressured. If it weren't for you, I would have conceded a goal a long time ago. You protected me so well." Leandri showed great emotional value.
"I'll also be relying on you later on. We'll be partners for a long time!"
Nacho, who is usually reserved and steady, got excited and patted his chest and told him, "I won't let them have a chance to come over."
In this last U12 match of 2000, Real Madrid kept the score at 1-1 until the end.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
