Chapter 147 Champions League: First match against Liverpool (I)
Many players were playing in-team matches at Real Madrid's training ground. Eggsy was assigned to the blue team. Looking at Pepe and Kroos from the same team, Eggsy went up to say hello to them.
However, the next second, Cross hugged Eggsy's waist and lifted him up and shook him.
Eggsy: ???
Cross slapped Eggsy on the butt and said, "It's too light. The kidnappers could easily carry you away with your weight."
There was one thing Eggsy didn't say, which was that he would not be so obedient as to let the kidnappers carry him away!
Eggsy was then put down by Kroos, but Pepe on the side couldn't help but pick up Eggsy and shook him around.
"Eggsy, you're quite tall, why are you so light?"
Eggsy covered his face speechlessly. He even felt that his teammates were looking for excuses to hug him? ... Was it his illusion?
Then Benzema came over, picked up Eggsy, and even gave him a princess hug.
"Really, Eggsy, how much do you weigh?"
But would Eggsy answer so honestly?
No way!
After being put down by Benzema, Eggsy immediately moved away from his teammates, including Varane who had just been passed to him, and ran to the side to dribble the ball, looking warily at his teammates wearing blue vests.
Benzema and Varane were then assigned to the blue team, while the red team included Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Bale and Ronaldo.
Eggsy looked at his own lineup of 2 defenders, 2 midfielders and 1 forward, which happened to be a different lineup and tactics from the Red Team's 2 defenders, 1 midfielder and 2 forwards.
Of course, this was done intentionally by Zidane. Zidane and the coaching staff had watched Liverpool's first few games this season, and they used a standard 4-3-3 formation.
Moreover, Liverpool was able to control the ball 60% of the time in the first half of the last game, so Zidane is undecided, should he play against Liverpool in the first Champions League game or Real Madrid's specialty, defensive counterattack?
Practice makes perfect. Zidane and the coaching staff have different ideas, so they plan to have a 5V5 team match to decide the tactics against Liverpool.
Why is such a troublesome verification method used? Because this is Zidane's second season in charge of Real Madrid. Although Zidane is still very confident in leading Real Madrid, he also needs to show his performance in the Champions League, which makes Zidane feel that he has to play it safe.
However, on the court, when Eggsy and Kroos used a double team to steal Modric's ball for the second time, Zidane and the coaching staff had actually found the right method.
Because Kroos and Eggsy cooperated very well, with Benzema in front, everything went smoothly.
Eggsy even went directly to face Modric, and Modric even used his special move to break through on the left, but was still intercepted by Eggsy and Kroos from both sides.
"Cross!"
"I know!"
The two crossed and started to intercept the ball. Modric was closely watched by two people. He also tried to break through and even passed the ball back to Ramos.
Originally they wanted to pass the ball back to restart the attack, but Eggsy was defending in the front and Kroos was defending in the back, leaving no possibility for the ball to be passed back many times.
There were several times when Eggsy even used the shovel directly. Although it would not hurt Modric, it would certainly make him fall to the ground.
Zidane even watched the game with a smile, and then said to assistant coach Guti: "See, if there are two midfielders, one midfielder will be controlled to death."
Guti laughed, looking at Eggsy No. 14, and felt that this kid was more fluent and confident than the last time he saw him. Guti couldn't help but smile and said, "You really got lucky by buying Eggsy."
"I'm serious."
Zidane watched Eggsy rush out on the field and passed the ball to Benzema. For this ball, Eggsy even jumped high into the air to make an air pass without landing, which of course was a place where Modric could not intercept the ball.
"I originally thought he was Modric's apprentice. In fact, I made two preparations. One was that when Modric was injured, Eggsy would replace him, because I thought Eggsy and Modric's positions collided."
Guti smiled and said, "Then what?"
"2 is to train him as Modric's successor, after all, Eggsy is still young."
Hearing this, Guti laughed.
"I didn't expect it at all. It's not a routine at all."
Zidane picked up the data sheets of the players in the team from the table. They even thoughtfully made a hexagonal identification diagram.
Modric's organization of offense, breakthroughs and defense are all involved, especially defense, as well as the balance of his feet, and the running of positional offense, which requires good timing, and Modric's choices are perfect every time.
Moreover, his physical strength, dribbling and passing are all very good, and he is good at both offense and defense, and can serve as the team commander. However, he still has room for improvement in physical confrontation and dribbling.
But Modric has something else, that is, experience in major battles and experience in fighting on three fronts.
Eggsy's hexagonal strengths lie in organizing offense, dribbling, defending, intercepting, and being able to grasp the timing well. Although some parts overlap with Modric, the master and apprentice have completely different paths.
Eggesi has delicate footwork. Although his pace is not as fast as Modric's, few people can steal the ball from his footsteps. His dribbling technique is clean and neat. His height gives him a wide field of vision on the court and he is good at grasping the situation on the court.
He can provide good impact when breaking through, and is also very confrontational in defense. The key is his handling of high balls and his courage.
Zidane even discovered from his observations of Eggsy this month that the little guy has a very thorough understanding of tactics and can carry out very good penetrating attacks.
For example, now, because of his teammate Cross, Eggsy can also infiltrate into the Red Team's offensive route and create various obstacles and interceptions for the Red Team like a Ranger.
They could even intervene at key positions of the Red Team, disrupting their tactical attack. This undoubtedly caused great trouble to the Red Team.
Zidane and Guti both watched Eggsy's preparations carefully and recorded them in the data in their hands.
Of course, there are also things they don't record, for example, after the game, Modric was very upset that Eggsy tackled him three times, so he grabbed Eggsy's little face and rubbed it.
And what about Eggsy? Just to be rubbed? Run!
He even ran while looking back, deliberately provoking Modric to chase him. After being provoked by Eggsy, Modric would not let him go.
After catching the man, he pushed Eggsy down on the grass and kept scratching Eggsy's waist with his hands, making Eggsy lie on the grass and laugh almost crazily.
It was nothing at first, but the laughter was followed by a pig-like wheeze that made all the teammates present burst into laughter!
The coach and Zidane on the sidelines couldn't help but tremble with laughter. Ronaldo and Benzema originally wanted to go up and rescue Eggsy, but when they heard him laugh like that, they almost fainted on the spot.
Modric fell to the side laughing so hard, and Eggsy shyly lay on the grass and didn't want to get up.
When Modric had almost finished laughing and got up, he couldn't help laughing and said, "You, you're laughing like a pig! Oh my God, don't tell anyone you know me when you get out of here!"
This joke also made Eggsy want to play. He got up from the ground and rushed over to hug Modric's thigh: "No! You made me laugh like a pig!"
"Let me go, you little guy!" Modric and Eggsy were playing and fighting, but in the end Modric reached out and pulled Eggsy up from the ground, and the two walked towards their teammates together.
Real Madrid did not have any more such team matches in the following days. They were about to go to England to play against Liverpool, so all the players focused on individual training.
The tacit training between Eggsy and Modric is still going on, and even Zidane has started individual training for Eggsy.
This kind of training lasted until two days before the game. This time, all the Real Madrid players checked into the hotel one day before the game, and after checking in, Zidane issued a notice that no one was allowed to act alone after the game.
This kind of notice is common in all major clubs. Players are not allowed to go out privately on the day before the game, because they are afraid that they will go to bars, drink, or mess around, which will affect the subsequent games. However, most other clubs have a half-day system, but Real Madrid has a 48-hour system.
But this is nothing special for Eggsy and Modric. Because of the tacit training, Eggsy now lives in the same room with Modric. Just as they put away their luggage, Ramos, Ronaldo and Benzema all came to Modric's room.
It's not for any other reason, because they are used to watching TV, movies, or even sleeping before the big competition, anyway, they don't play football.
Although Eggsy was a little uncomfortable, he still did it because Modric said, "Don't be nervous. What's there to be nervous about? This is how I relax in every big game."
Eggsy himself also agreed. It was not because he was extremely nervous during the previous city derby, but now he is just like the other old players and is completely used to it.
However, Eggsy was only accustomed to it on the surface. He couldn't even remember what movie was playing in Modric's room that night. But he was still thinking about how he should attack tomorrow when facing Liverpool's ball possession tactics.
In the evening of the next day, Anfield Stadium was packed and bustling as the Champions League match between Liverpool and Real Madrid was about to begin.
When Eggsy saw his name on the starting roster again, his hands were shaking with excitement. He looked at the green grass at the end of the player's tunnel and wanted to run a few laps on it to let off some steam!
"This is the first game of the Champions League: the last champion Real Madrid is away to Liverpool." Host A began the routine broadcast at this time: "Today is like revenge for Liverpool, revenge for grievances!"
"Liverpool have been playing on two fronts this year and have performed very well in the Premier League," Host B continued. "We can see that Real Madrid's lineup today is very balanced, a standard 4-3-3 lineup, which is similar to Liverpool."
"This year, Real Madrid introduced the former Premier League dark horse midfielder Eggsy, who also appeared in the starting lineup today. Let us look forward to this young player's first Champions League match!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
