Chapter 374 Spear and Shield, Lin Quan VS Kante

Although Manchester City still failed to win the game in the end, Guardiola still praised Kante in the post-match press conference.

"Kante's performance was simply amazing. Although I had high expectations for him, I have to say that his performance exceeded my expectations!"

Reporters rarely saw Guardiola praise a player like this, and they were also amazed by Kante's performance in this game, so they all came up to ask questions:

"Coach Guardiola, as far as I know, Kante came from an amateur club and had been playing in lower-level leagues before. He only played for a French Ligue 1 team for half a season. How did you and Manchester City discover him?"

This question has aroused the curiosity of countless people. Kante's resume is not outstanding. The team he plays for is just a newly promoted team from a low-level league, and it is a newly promoted team at the bottom of the league ranking.

How did Guardiola discover that there was such an excellent player like Kante in Caen? "Haha, I am just as curious about this question as you are!"

The reporters looked at each other, not knowing what Guardiola meant.

You dug this person up, but you don't even know how you chose him? Are you kidding me?

"It wasn't me who discovered Kante, it was Lin!"

Guardiola could have taken the credit for his ability to identify the player, but he chose to confess to the journalists.

"Moreover, players like Kimmich and Rudiger were also introduced by the team under the recommendation of Lin Quan!"

After Kimmich was introduced to Manchester City, he was loaned to Leicester City because there was no place for him in the team.

Although he has just turned 20 years old, he is an absolute young player.

But after being loaned to Leicester City, his performance quickly won the love of Leicester City fans.

There are even rumors that Leicester City wants to buy out Kimmich from Manchester City at a high price.

All of this is seen by the outside world as evidence of Guardiola's judgment of people.

Unexpectedly, it was Lin Quan, not Guardiola, who advocated the introduction of Kimmich.

Could it be that Lin Quan is better at judging people than Guardiola? "Maybe it's because he has been dealing with the defenses of major giants for many years, so he has a better understanding of the capabilities of defenders!"

Guardiola didn't know how Lin Quan could see the talents and potential of these people. After thinking for a long time, he could only give this explanation.

Strangely enough, the journalists accepted Guardiola's explanation.

Perhaps they also felt that for a top star like Lin Quan who often inspects the opponent's defense, there must be some standard to judge whether a defender is a good defender? ...

As Manchester City and Manchester United drew, and Chelsea beat Queens Park Rangers 1:0 away, the gap between the two teams was widened to 3 points again.

This made the entire Blues team breathe a sigh of relief. When the two teams were only one point apart, they felt like a huge rock was pressing down on their hearts, making it hard for them to breathe.

They were afraid that if they made a mistake accidentally they would fall behind Manchester City in the standings. Now, with a 3-point lead, they have room for error in at least one game.

At this point, the Premier League has already played 32 rounds, and there are only 6 rounds left until the end of the Premier League.

A 3-point gap is a significant advantage for the leader.

However, after Chelsea's players took a look at their schedule for the last six rounds, they could no longer laugh.

Manchester City has played all the games against the BIG4, but Chelsea still has three giants to deal with.

In the 33rd round, they will face the challenge of Manchester United at home, and in the 34th round, they will go away to challenge Arsenal.

In the 36th round, Chelsea will have to wait for Liverpool at home.

Three of the four games are strong matchups, which is a devilish schedule for Chelsea.

If they lose or draw in these three games, their current lead will be gone.

Therefore, the suspense of this season's Premier League championship still exists and is very high. I am afraid that the winner will not be revealed until the last round.

…

While Chelsea players were still counting their league points and what they could do to win the league title, Manchester City players had already set off directly from London's Heathrow Airport to Turin to prepare for the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.

For Manchester City, the situation in this away game is not optimistic.

This Champions League knockout match is too close to the league that just ended, with only three days between them.

They had just consumed a lot of energy in the Manchester City derby, and coupled with the long journey, the players' physical condition was very worrying.

Although Juventus is no longer a top team, they are still the dominant team in Serie A and have won the Serie A championship for three consecutive years.

The Old Lady's strength should not be underestimated. Even if she cannot reach the level of top teams like Real Madrid and Real Madrid, she is only slightly weaker than them.

In addition, this is the opponent's home court, Juventus is bound to take advantage of the home court to launch a fierce attack on Manchester City.

If Manchester City fails to hold on and is defeated by their opponent by a large margin, it will probably be difficult to reverse the score even if they return to their home court in the second leg.

Therefore, based on the players' physical reserves and objective conditions, Guardiola formulated a more conservative tactic.

He plans to put Kroos on the bench and start Kante, who performed well in the last Manchester City derby.

Don’t employ people you doubt, and don’t doubt people you employ.

Since Kante has already proven his strength in the game, Guardiola has no doubts about him and directly confirmed him as the starter.

Compared to young players such as Kimmich and Rudiger, Kante, who is already 24 years old, has no problems with physical fitness and has sufficient game experience.

The only concern is probably his lack of experience in top competitions, especially in competitions of the Champions League level.

To this end, in the team's training match, Guardiola personally took Kante and taught him his experience as a defensive midfielder. He also calmed the player's mentality, encouraged him to build up his confidence, and avoided nervousness during the game, which would lead to poor performance.

Kante was confused and he actually didn't feel any pressure from the big competition.

There is only intense excitement and gratitude to Guardiola!

This coach is so nice to people. I thought he was one of the world's top coaches and should have a lot of airs and be hard to greet, but I didn't expect him to be so approachable.

A man will die for his friend. In order to repay Guardiola's kindness of promoting him, Kante gave 120% of his performance even in the team's training matches.

Manchester City's main players were almost doubting their lives after being robbed by this guy.

Especially Aguero, his dribbling ability is very outstanding in Manchester City, but when he met Kante, he was still intercepted and could not take care of himself.

"Hey man, stop staring at me and trying to steal the ball. If you have the guts, go and steal Lin's ball!"

Aguero was so anxious about being robbed that he directly betrayed Lin Quan and instigated Kante to snatch Lin Quan.

Seeing that there was something interesting to watch, the other teammates started to make a fuss and encouraged Kanter to challenge Lin Quan one-on-one.

Van Dijk, who arrived half a year earlier than Kante, seemed to want to say something, but seeing that his teammates were so excited, he didn't want to spoil everyone's fun, and ultimately did not stand up to stop Kante.

Kante was very easy to fool. When he saw that Lin Quan was five years younger than him, he couldn't help but be careless.

In addition, after completing a series of steals just now, his confidence was overflowing, so he readily accepted Aguero's instigation and really went to challenge Lin Quan.

Lin Quan knows Kante's strength. There is a saying that goes like this: There is no obstacle that cannot be overcome, only Kante who cannot be overcome! And there have been rumors that only Kante can defend Messi alone.

This aroused Lin Quan's interest, and he planned to try it himself to see if the rumors were true.

Lin Quan reached out for the ball, De Bruyne passed it to him, and Kante quickly came up to defend him closely.

Lin Quan moved sideways with the ball, but Kante was very fast and completely blocked Lin Quan without giving him any space.

"Sure, this kid's lateral movement speed is really fast!"

"Lin's breakthrough space is blocked. Can this guy really stop Lin Quan?"

The teammates who were watching were amazed and couldn't help but think more highly of Kante's ability.

It seems that his performance in the last Manchester City derby was not a sudden inspiration, but he really has the ability.

The speed is not slow, how about trying this trick again?

Seeing that the opponent was catching up, Lin Quan suddenly made a fake move of lowering his shoulders, tricking Kanter's center of gravity forward, then he turned around quickly and got rid of Kanter.

What a quick move! What a real fake move!

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Kante was passed before he could even see the opponent's moves clearly, and he was very surprised.

But he did not give up. A few minutes later, when Lin Quan was attacking with the ball, Kante appeared in front of Lin Quan again.

Lin Quan deliberately kicked the ball a little further away, and took advantage of the moment when Kante kicked the ball, and successfully passed him with a one-foot fried meatball.

And this time the pass was even more thorough. After being passed, Kante was two body lengths behind Lin Quan. He was passed quite thoroughly.

This time, Kante finally realized how powerful his opponent was.

He is worthy of being the one who wears the No. 10 jersey. Although he is younger than me, his footwork skills are far better than mine.

Kante felt that he had learned a lot of useful things in such confrontations, so instead of feeling frustrated, he became more and more courageous.

A few minutes later, the main team intercepted the ball in the backcourt and launched a quick counterattack.

When Lin Quan dribbled the ball quickly across the midfield, Kante once again got the opportunity to challenge Lin Quan one-on-one.

Kante quickly chased and defended. He was very fast and rushed up from the side and kept pace with Lin Quan.

But Lin Quan easily dribbled past him with just a shoulder drop and a change of direction, and used another substitute player who rushed up to assist in defense to block Kanter, making it impossible for Kanter to even commit a foul.

This defeat finally made Kante feel frustrated.

He felt that he was crushed by his opponent in terms of IQ. The opponent's choices were so reasonable and so smart, while his defense seemed so clumsy.

On the sidelines, Guardiola, who was watching the two men's duel with great interest, couldn't help shaking his head after seeing Kante's defense.

This guy Kante still lacks some game experience.

When facing a player like Lin Quan who has a very high frequency of kicking and strong dribbling ability, don't kick easily, just maintain your position.

Don't think about stealing the ball from the opponent. The right way is to stay in position and wait for your teammates to help double-team Lin Quan.

After all, in Guardiola's view, there is probably no one who can defend against the peak Messi and the current Lin Quan alone!

Although Kante felt frustrated, he was not completely defeated.

If you can’t stop the opponent in mobile warfare, what about static defense?

The substitute team used their numerical advantage on the wing and successfully forced David Silva to lose the ball.

Silva saw Lin Quan coming up and passed the ball to him.

When Lin Quan received the ball, Kanter had already rushed over.

At this time, Lin Quan was on the sideline and had stopped. This was an excellent opportunity for a steal.

Kante was highly focused, with his knees slightly bent and his body sideways to keep in position, making it easier for him to intercept and chase.

Seeing the opponent's action, Lin Quan tapped the football with his left foot, as if he was going to kick it forward, but when the football rolled forward, he suddenly stretched out his right foot and pulled the ball.

Kante was shaken and immediately tried to intercept the ball, but he didn't touch the ball and was nimbly jumped over by Lin Quan, who didn't even knock him down.

This defensive failure made Kanter realize that he couldn't defend this man one-on-one! "I lost!"

Kanter said frustratedly.

Lin Quan stopped the ball at his feet, glanced at him, and said:

"Your interception and tackling abilities are strong, but your teammates are even stronger. If you can cooperate well with your teammates, even I won't be able to get past you easily."

Teammates are stronger?

Kante chewed over this sentence carefully and seemed to have gained something from it.

Although Kanter failed in the one-on-one match, people not only did not look down on him, but recognized his abilities more and more.

It was normal that he couldn't defend against Lin Quan, but it was abnormal if he succeeded! Although his defense failed, it could be seen from his fight with Lin Quan that this guy was really strong!

The recognition from his teammates has accelerated Kante's integration into Manchester City.

The team offers high salaries, the head coach is so nice to him, his teammates are all talented and speak nicely, he loves it here!

Even if other teams come to recruit him, he won't leave! ...

Manchester City's early arrival has aroused the vigilance of Juventus fans.

Many Juventus fans and Italian reporters rushed to the Turin club's training base to spy on military intelligence.

The Old Lady has not made a breakthrough in the Champions League for too long and they are very eager for this championship.

But their approach was hostile, and Manchester City's strength made them feel extremely fearful.

If they couldn't get some intelligence in advance, they wouldn't even be able to sleep well.

But they were destined to be disappointed because Guardiola did not arrange any special training. The daily training content was very simple and the volume was not much.

As for the wing midfielder tactics he used in the Premier League, they did not appear at all in the team training.

This makes it difficult for Italians to see Guardiola's true thoughts.

The more unclear the situation is, the more nervous everyone at Juventus becomes.

It always feels like Manchester City has prepared some killer tricks for them. After all, how could Guardiola, who always likes to make things happen, stick to the rules and not come up with something new? After two days of hard work, the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals finally started!

(End of this chapter)