In fact, Li Shiguang's intention was very simple.
On the one hand, they hoped to help Rivaldo resolve this minor regret.
On the other hand, after watching five or six Barcelona match videos, Li Shiguang really couldn't find any obvious weaknesses in them.
After the draw for the Round of 16 was announced, it was widely believed that Leeds United had drawn a very unfavorable group, and there were reasons for this.
Although the tiki-taka tactical concept only began to dominate European and even world football after Guardiola became the manager of Barcelona, in fact, there is a lot of credit to the three famous Dutch coaches, Cruyff, Van Gaal, and Rijkaard. At that time, Rijkaard's "Dream Team II" was also incredibly strong!
While Ronaldinho is indeed the core of Barcelona's attack, their real offensive initiation point is actually in the midfield, specifically in the attacking midfielders Xavi and Deco.
Defining their positions as attacking midfielders isn't entirely accurate either, because since Rijkaard took over Barcelona, his lineup has always featured three forwards with a wide range of movement. In particular, Ronaldinho often moves from the left flank to the attacking midfield position to combine with midfielders, thus breaking down the opponent's defense.
So after much deliberation, and taking advantage of Rivaldo's small request that day, Li Shiguang went all out and simply decided on today's starting lineup, which was clearly intended to compete with Rijkaard for midfield dominance.
You want to play possession-based football? Okay, I'll play along with you!
····
After lining up on the sidelines, the Barcelona players, as the host team, lined up and began shaking hands with the Leeds United players one by one to welcome them. Rivaldo, as the only Leeds United player who could be associated with Barcelona, was naturally the focus of attention.
However, this kind of care is not the kind of care that fans show. Most excellent players appreciate each other, especially Ronaldinho, who even won the World Cup with Rivaldo.
When Ronaldinho walked up to Rivaldo, he smiled and showed his signature front teeth. Even though the boos from the stands were even louder, he still took the initiative to hug Rivaldo before walking away.
Then.
Captains Kompany and Puyol approached the referee to choose sides. Kompany, the bald man, was out of luck today. After the coin landed, he unfortunately lost the right to choose sides. Puyol, who won the right to choose sides, looked around and chose the half of the field on the north stand.
Li Shiguang saw all of this, and a bold idea suddenly popped into his mind.
Before the match, he reminded everyone to pay attention to defense after the start of the game and to be wary of Barcelona taking the initiative with the advantage of home field. But now that Leeds United has the right to kick off, can we be the ones to take the initiative?
So while Kompany and Puyol were still going through the pre-match ceremony of exchanging team flags, Li Shiguang waved to Rivaldo, who was already in position in the attacking third waiting to kick off: "Ferreira, come here for a second!"
Hearing Li Shiguang's shout, Rivaldo ran over with a suspicious look: "Boss? What's up?"
"Don't go to kick off. Tell Kevin to go with Fernando to kick off, and then pass the ball back to you immediately after they kick off!" Li Shiguang said quickly. "Then tell Fernando to go full speed ahead into Barcelona's penalty area after he kicks off, but remember to look back and check where the ball is when he gets past their defensive line!"
Upon hearing Li Shiguang's words, Rivaldo's eyes lit up. With his extensive experience, he knew exactly what Li Shiguang meant. However, since the opponent was Barcelona, he leaned closer to Li Shiguang's ear and asked, "Is this okay, boss? I feel like this is just handing possession of the ball directly to the opponent."
Seeing that Rivaldo seemed to think his idea was unreliable, Li Shiguang glared at him and said, "Whether it works or not is none of your business. Let's try it first. After the kickoff, I think Barcelona will rush to steal the ball very quickly. What if we succeed?"
"Alright! Let's give it a try!"
After agreeing, Rivaldo quickly turned and ran onto the field, then grabbed De Bruyne and pulled him to Torres' side, explaining Li Shiguang's earlier arrangements.
But the plot doesn't seem to be developing as Li Shiguang imagined.
After all, Barcelona still has their rock in defense, Puyol!
When Torres passed the ball to De Blair and charged towards him without looking back, Puyol noticed the problem immediately. So instead of pushing forward with his teammates, he stayed at the back, closely following Torres and not giving him any chance to beat the offside trap!
Rivaldo, who received the pass from De Bruyne, naturally saw it as well. If he were to make a long pass as Li Shiguang suggested, he would be handing possession of the ball directly to Barcelona. So, he had no choice but to pass the ball back to right-back Alves.
Alves initially intended to dribble the ball himself, but facing Saviola rushing up to defend him, he took a step to the right. Seeing that Messi seemed ready to press as well, Alves quickly passed the ball to Modric, who was supporting him.
But Deco was closely marking Modric behind him, and he didn't dare to be careless. As soon as the ball rolled to his feet, he forcefully passed it back to Schmeichel in the penalty area.
At this moment in the attacking third, Torres saw that Rivaldo's plan before the kickoff had not succeeded, so he slowly returned to the vicinity of the center circle along with Barcelona's advancing defense.
Upon receiving the pass back, Schmeichel looked up at his teammates and found that everyone was surrounded by Barcelona players, making it difficult to find a good passing target. He had no choice but to move the ball to the right and, before Messi could reach him, launch a long kick, sending the ball directly towards the center circle.
Schmeichel's shot went a bit to the right, so Sneijder immediately got tangled up with Zambrotta, trying to contest for the first ball. However, with the two of them pulling and tugging at each other, and under Sneijder's interference, Zambrotta didn't head the ball far. Instead, he only headed a half-high ball, which bounced back to Rivaldo, who was running towards them.
In the rush, Rivaldo lost control of the ball, which bounced off his thigh and bounced toward the center circle. He quickly ran a couple of steps, stopped the ball from Xavi's feet who was rushing to steal it, and then flicked it with the outside of his left foot to Torres, who had returned to the center circle and was unmarked.
Next, Torres completed Li Shiguang's pre-kick preparations in another way...
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