Chapter 102 An unexpected encounter
In the 14th round of the Bundesliga, Werder Bremen faced the challenge of Leverkusen at home.
This is the toughest challenge Werder Bremen faces after De Bruyne's absence.
Leverkusen currently ranks fourth in the standings, 5 points behind Werder Bremen.
For Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen is their direct competitor in the Champions League.
At a time when the battle for the Champions League zone is extremely fierce, they do not want to be left too far behind by their opponents.
As for Werder Bremen, Leverkusen has been in hot form recently and is very strong, but the team is missing a key player, so it is not easy to beat them at home.
Since defeating Bayern Munich away in the ninth round of the league, ending the opponent's winning streak.
Leverkusen seemed to have opened up its Ren and Du meridians, and transformed from a mid-level team into a strong team overnight.
Before visiting the Weser Stadium, they had won five consecutive games in the Bundesliga, making them the second team with the most consecutive wins in the Bundesliga.
Ranked first is their opponent in this game, Werder Bremen, who has won six consecutive games.
This game will be difficult, but when it actually started, Werder Bremen players found that it was more difficult than they had imagined.
Leverkusen played very targeted in this game. They not only strengthened the defense against Lin Quan, the core of offense and organization, but also let the central defender double-team the Werder Bremen striker to limit his reception of the ball.
Carvajal, who came from Real Madrid's youth training camp, performed well in this game. He not only disrupted Werder Bremen's offense many times on the defensive end.
On the offensive end, he sprinted from his own penalty area to the opponent's penalty area several times and delivered high-quality crosses.
Leverkusen's front attacking group is very strong, and Skilling, Schurrle, Castro and others are not easy to deal with.
Before the first half was over, Werder Bremen was already two goals behind.
This is the first time this season that Werder Bremen has fallen behind by so many goals in a game. Even when Bayern Munich came as a guest, they had never achieved such a big lead.
During the half-time break, the players of Werder Bremen looked a little frustrated.
Leverkusen's strength is not much stronger than theirs, but they just feel like they can't beat them.
They were in trouble on both offense and defense and felt like they were being targeted.
Head coach Schaff also realized this. The opponent's formation today was 4321, a typical Christmas tree formation.
This formation has strong control over the midfield, which happens to be Bremen's weak link.
Although Lin Quan can play in midfield, he is an organizing midfielder, not a defensive midfielder.
His defensive ability is not strong, which leads to Werder Bremen's midfield being not strong enough and easily losing control of the midfield.
What's worse is that their formation today was still their usual 4141. How could a defensive midfielder withstand the opponent's two full-backs who took turns to assist!
The formation and playing style must be changed.
In the second half, Werder Bremen took the lead in changing its formation to 4231, replacing a central midfielder with a defensive midfielder.
This worked on the defensive side, but the problem on the offensive side still couldn't be solved.
With only one forward in the front, he will be easily double-teamed by the opponents. They can't find anyone to counterattack, and there is no splash when they reach the front court, and they can't pose any threat.
Werder Bremen's disadvantage remains unchanged.
"Werder Bremen is in trouble!"
In the CCTV studio, Duan Xuan said with some concern: "After they moved Lin Quan back, the consequence was that the threat capability of the striker was greatly reduced."
"Werder Bremen does have some good offensive players, but none of them can replace Lin Quan's role in the frontcourt."
Xu Yang nodded and agreed, "That's true, but we can't take him away from the midfield now. Werder Bremen's midfield also cannot do without him. If he plays as a striker, the midfield won't even be able to pass the ball. We can't expect him to dribble the ball all the way from his own half and break through the opponent's three lines of defense every time, right?"
Although the two had seen Lin Quan overcome many obstacles and perform such a miracle.
But the reason why miracles are called miracles is because they happen very rarely.
If the opponent is prepared, it is not impossible for him to break through the entire defense system by himself, but it is extremely difficult and the success rate is very low.
The fans at the scene were very anxious and they began to miss De Bruyne.
If De Bruyne was on the field, this game would definitely be much easier for them.
Lin Quan doesn't have to play both the role of father and mother, as he has to organize the game in the midfield and participate in the attack in the front court. He wishes he could do the work of two people at the same time.
The game reached the 65th minute and Werder Bremen was still behind.
Seeing this, Lin Quan knew that he had to stand up now.
If the team doesn't score again, it will lose the game.
In the 55th minute, Junuzovic, who came on as a substitute, snatched the ball from the opponent's feet despite the risk of injury.
"Forest!"
Before he was pulled away by the opponent, he passed the ball to Lin Quan.
When Lin Quan received the ball, Leverkusen's defensive players were already behind him, preventing him from turning around easily.
Next to him, another Leverkusen player rushed over and tried to steal the ball from him.
Seeing this, Lin Quan put the inner instep of his foot against the ball and turned 180 degrees on the spot with the ball.
In this circle, he not only successfully passed the player behind him, but also used this player's body to block another Leverkusen player who wanted to rush over to steal the ball.
The two Leverkusen players were dumbfounded. How could they swirl past the defense like this? They had seen Xavi's magic of love swirl, but that was completely different from this! When Lin Quan got rid of them, his supporting foot didn't move at all. He just adjusted the direction as his body swung. He didn't run or change direction. It was a skill that was completely in place.
The players on the field had never even thought about trying this technique.
It is no wonder that they have little experience. After all, it would take 10 years for Anthony, the king of spinning, to show his unique skills on the court.
Lin Quan absorbed the essence of Anthony's unique spinning skill, combining spinning with dribbling, and only spinning 180 degrees, definitely not 360 or even 720 degrees. Anthony enjoyed spinning, but spinning in place like this not only did not have any effect, but it also slowed down the team's counterattack speed and missed the best time to pass the ball.
There is a poem that goes: He is as fierce as a tiger when he performs, but when he looks closely, he is still standing still. He dribbles the ball and turns around 720 times, and the whole team watches him dance.
Anthony, who is often obsessed with showing off his skills and spinning in games, is the target of all kinds of criticism and ridicule. Names like compass-type forward, little spinning top, and spinning king are thrown at him all at once.
But judging from Lin Quan's use of the spinning technique, it seems that this spinning technique is not completely without merit. It's just that he didn't use it well!
"He's a genius on the field! Watching him play is like appreciating a beautiful dance! This ball is so imaginative, I think the Leverkusen players must have been stunned by it!"
In the commentary booth, the German commentator was so excited that he could not express it in words, and all kinds of compliments came out of his mouth without hesitation.
In his opinion, this ball really deserves no praise. Lin Quan's creativity and imagination on the court really amazed him.
After passing his opponent, Lin Quan immediately ran with the ball towards Leverkusen's penalty area.
The two wingers of Werder Bremen were sprinting quickly at this time. One on the left and one on the right, with Lin Quan in the middle, they rushed towards Leverkusen's penalty area like a trident.
Leverkusen players are well aware of the huge threat posed by Lin Quan. This guy has a very strong passing ability, and no one has been able to stop his strange curve ball.
They didn't dare to leave Werder Bremen's two wingers alone, so they could only assign people to mark them and not give them the chance to receive the ball.
After the two full-backs were taken away, Lin Quan was left with only the opponent's two central defenders.
Toprak and his teammate Volscheid tacitly chose to double-team Lin Quan, trying to intercept him outside the penalty area.
But Lin Quan did a bull tail while moving at high speed and passed Toprak.
Then came another extremely fast fried meatball, leaving Volscheid behind.
His explosiveness, his flexibility, and his excellent dribbling ability were fully demonstrated in the handling of this ball.
The two were so shaken by his continuous fake moves and changes in rhythm that they had no idea the ball would fly past them.
Leverkusen's goalkeeper Leno was stunned. Is this guy a monster? In this kind of space and at this speed, he could actually perform two difficult passing moves in such a short time!
How did he do it? With a huge shock in his heart, Leno failed to make the right choice in the first time. When Lin Quan pushed the ball into the near corner, he realized that he had to make a save.
As a result, by the time he finished saving the ball, the ball had already flown into the net! Too fast, the opponent's shooting speed was too fast! "Lin!"
The moment the goal was scored, the Weser Stadium erupted like a volcano!
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The audience shouted Lin Quan's name and cheered for his great goal.
Even if they lost the game, Lin Quan's goal was worth the money! In the audience, Chelsea scout George Evans was so stunned after seeing the goal that he didn't even notice that the popcorn in his hand had fallen to the ground.
After De Bruyne was injured, he has been on vacation. He came to the Weser Stadium to watch the game today, not because of work needs, but because he simply wanted to relax himself.
He didn't expect to watch such a wonderful game, which made him a little annoyed.
I only regretted that I didn't bring my notebook, otherwise I would have written several thousand words to record the opponent's wonderful performance and let those people in Chelsea see that this young man I have taken a fancy to is getting better and better.
Don't wait any longer, come buy him now, or he will be snatched away by someone else! George was not the only scout who came to watch Lin Quan's game. Many other scouts were as shocked as he was.
After seeing Lin Quan's goal, many scouts made up their minds that they would report to the club as soon as the game was over:
The future of Werder Bremen's No. 10 player is limitless. If the team is really interested in him, they must be fully prepared. Otherwise, they are likely to lose in the winter break competition! ...
The game continued, and Lin Quan's goal boosted the team's morale. Inspired by his goal, Werder Bremen launched a series of attacks on Leverkusen in the next ten minutes, almost suppressing the opponent in the half.
But Leverkusen's defense was very solid and they managed to withstand Werder Bremen's attack.
The game time soon reached 80 minutes and was nearing its end.
After a series of fierce attacks, Werder Bremen's players were preparing to slow down and catch their breath.
But at this moment, the opponent suddenly launched a counterattack.
Leverkusen's No. 13 striker Hegler, who came on as a substitute, received a pass from Schurrle in the penalty area and volleyed the ball into Werder Bremen's goal.
The score became 3:1, and Werder Bremen's goal, which had been hard to come by, was beaten back again.
This is not the end. Taking advantage of the opportunity of Werder Bremen's counterattack after losing the ball, they launched a quick counterattack in the 85th minute of the game. Castro was tripped by Werder Bremen's defender after breaking into the penalty area.
The referee showed the red card without mercy, sent Punodl off the field for the foul, and awarded Leverkusen a penalty.
Leverkusen's captain, Rolfes, who once played for Werder Bremen, scored the penalty in one fell swoop.
The score became 4:1!
There were less than 5 minutes left in the game, and Werder Bremen, trailing by three goals, seemed unable to turn the tide.
In the final stage of the game, Werder Bremen still did not give up the attack.
Even though there were only ten people left on the field, they still resolutely launched an attack on Leverkusen's penalty area.
In the last minute of injury time, Lin Quan completed a breakthrough and passed the ball before being pulled down by the defensive player.
Petersen, who had not scored a single goal in the entire game, finally shot the ball, and the football went into Leverkusen's goal like a cannonball.
It’s a pity that this goal came too late.
After the restart, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.
Leverkusen players celebrated wildly at the Weser Stadium, celebrating that they had broken through the Weser Stadium, ended their opponent's six-game winning streak, and won their own six-game winning streak.
The players of Werder Bremen looked depressed, with their heads lowered looking at the grass beneath their feet, too upset to speak.
They tried their best in this game, but still failed to win.
The opponent's two goals in the second half were scored too suddenly, almost taking advantage of the opponent's defensive negligence and breaking through their goal.
They were severely targeted in this game. The team's offensive system was not smooth and the offensive firepower in the frontcourt could not be exerted.
Although Lin Quan led them to score two goals on his own.
But two goals are not enough...
It would be great if De Bruyne was here!
The players missed De Bruyne again. With him around, Lin Quan, who was fully liberated, would definitely be able to score more goals on the front line.
After the game, the media also looked down on Werder Bremen, believing that their weakness of having a single core player was exposed.
If this problem cannot be solved quickly, we will most likely suffer defeat when facing other teams in the future.
"Lin is indeed very strong, but Werder Bremen cannot let him fight alone in the frontcourt. His teammates need to stand up and provide him with help!"
In the post-match commentary session, Gerd Muller, who once again served as a commentator, said regretfully:
"I think it's time for Lin to consider changing teams. Werder Bremen's stage is too small. His teammates' strength limits his performance and buries his talent!"
The host and another guest commentator looked at each other and thought that everyone on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean had heard your wishful thinking! However, for the sake of the show effect, he still pretended to be very curious and asked: "Then what kind of stage do you think Lin Quan should go to in order to fully display their talents?"
Gerd Muller didn't even think about it and said directly: "Of course it's Bayern Munich!"
"At Bayern, he has a group of talented teammates such as Ribery, Robben, Muller, Kroos, Schweinsteiger, etc. who can help him share the pressure. If you add his creativity and finishing ability in the midfield and frontcourt, Bayern can not only win honors in the league, but also in the Champions League. This is a win-win cooperation for the team and him personally, isn't it?"
The host rarely refuted his statement, and obviously agreed with his statement.
If Lin Quan really goes to Bayern, it will greatly enhance Bayern's strength, and it will also be a good thing for him personally. At least it will be easier to win games and honors.
Werder Bremen’s strength is still too weak!
"I don't think so. Bayern's dominance in the Bundesliga is already difficult to shake. Now a team that can pose a threat to them has finally appeared. If Bayern starts digging away the core players of Werder Bremen, then Bayern's dominance will only become more solid. Who can shake them in the future?"
The most criticized point about the Bundesliga is that Bayern is the only dominant team and it is difficult for other challengers to threaten them.
This is completely different from other leagues. The Premier League has a lot of strong teams, and the championship race every year is full of suspense. Last season, there was even a miracle of Manchester City winning the championship at the last second! Although La Liga is jokingly called the Western Super League, Barcelona and Real Madrid are extremely strong and are far ahead of other La Liga teams.
But even so, they only have two strong teams to compete with, unlike the Bundesliga, where Bayern is the only dominant team.
Dortmund finally won two championships, but this season they fell at a lightning speed, which made those who were optimistic about them extremely disappointed! (End of this chapter)