Chapter 882 Why is Su Dong again?
Dublin Hippodrome, Ireland.
In the Europa League final, Manchester City faced Porto.
When Carlos Velasco Carballo, an international referee from Spain, blew the whistle to start the game, Manchester City launched a fierce attack on Porto amid cheers.
The Premier League team showed its determination from the beginning, that is, to attack to the end! The morale of both teams can be said to be high.
Manchester City has historically won its first Premier League title and has also historically reached the Europa League final. Having already won the Premier League and FA Cup titles, Manchester City is also determined to win the Europa League title.
As long as Manchester City wins this championship and achieves the treble, it will inevitably cause a strong earthquake in European football. From now on, no one can ignore this rising star in the Premier League.
Porto also performed very strongly in the Portuguese Super League this season. With a 21-point lead, they created an unbeaten record throughout the season and won the Portuguese Super League championship, which shows their strength.
Not only that, Boas' team also won the Portuguese Cup.
Both are league and cup champions, and both are aiming for the treble, which makes the confrontation between the two teams full of tension.
What is more worth mentioning is that the last time Porto reached the Europa League final was during Mourinho's coaching period. In the final, which was then called the UEFA Cup, Porto eventually lost to Sporting Lisbon led by Su Dong.
Now, after many years, Porto and Sudirman meet again in the Europa League final, and it remains to be seen who will win.
…
Manchester City still played with its iconic 4-3-3 formation.
The goalkeeper is Joe Hart, the defense is Marcelo, Pepe, Kompany and Zabaleta, the midfield is Busquets, David Silva and Toni Kroos are in the center, and the front trident is a combination of Di Maria, Sudon and Sanchez.
Guardiola still continues to use the lineup from the previous FA Cup final. This is also the strongest lineup that Manchester City has polished under his coaching. It can be said that it is the lineup that Manchester City can best play the passing and controlling tactics in his mind so far.
Unlike the previous match against Manchester United, when Guardiola let Su Dong retreat and act as a free man, this time against Porto, Su Dong was still pushed to the front. The reason is very simple: Porto is not Manchester United.
Manchester United's defense line is composed of world-class central defenders such as Ferdinand and Vidic. Guardiola naturally hopes that Su Dong can avoid some of them and play more of his level of coming from behind.
But Porto's central defenders are Otamendi and Rolando, which are far from the strength and level of Manchester United's central defender combination.
Rolando is okay, he is 1.89 meters tall, but Otamendi is only 1.83 meters tall.
These two central defenders are far inferior to Su Dong in terms of height and strength.
In this situation, what Guardiola wants, of course, is to let Su Dong press forward and crush his opponent instead of retreating.
Porto's tactics are also 4-3-3, with Elton as the goalkeeper, Alavaro Pereira, Otamendi, Roland and Sapunaru as the defensive line, Fernando as the deep midfielder, Guarin and James Rodriguez in the middle, and Christian Rodriguez, Falcao and Hulk as the front trident.
Currently, in the Europa League scorer list, Falcao is the second highest scorer after Su Dong.
Hulk also became famous because he has the same name as the Incredible Hulk, and his strength should not be underestimated.
It is worth mentioning that nine of the eleven players in Porto's starting lineup are from South America.
This is a characteristic of the strongest teams in the Portuguese Super League right now, where many of the players come from third-party ownership.
Villas-Boas's great success as coach of Porto is certainly due to his coaching ability, but the strength of the players is the most important factor, and behind it is the strong support of the agents headed by Mendes.
Now, Porto has reached the Europa League final. Regardless of whether they can win the championship or not, these players will become famous, their value will skyrocket, and their transfer away from the team will naturally no longer be a secret.
Also because there are many South American players, Porto's playing style is still very unrestrained and not conservative at all.
This also led to the two teams launching a wave of offensive attacks at the beginning of the game.
Facing Manchester City's opening attack, Porto was not inferior.
…
Just three minutes into the game, Manchester City tried to pass the ball into the penalty area but failed, but Otamendi cleared the ball and kicked it out of the penalty area and directly into Manchester City's half.
At the same time, Porto's overall formation was also pressing forward quickly, trying to organize a quick counterattack.
But just as this long-footed clearance crossed the center line, Manchester City's central defender Pepe took the lead and stood in position, grabbed the landing point, and headed the ball directly back to Porto's half.
David Silva quickly ran to the open space and volleyed the ball into the air to meet Pepe's header.
As soon as the ball fell, it flew up again and landed directly behind Porto's defense line.
At this time, Porto was preparing to press forward as a whole, but was suddenly attacked from behind by Manchester City, and the defense line had no time to return to defense.
I saw a sky blue figure quickly penetrated Porto's defense line, chased after David Silva's pass, stopped the ball with his chest at the top of the penalty area, and dribbled into the penalty area.
Facing goalkeeper Elton who was halfway through the attack, Sudong deceived the Brazilian goalkeeper with a flexible feint and easily shot into the empty goal.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
“It only took Manchester City three minutes to score against Porto!!!”
After Su Dong scored a goal, he rushed out of the stadium excitedly, ran all the way to the bottom of the stands where Manchester City fans were, and kept encouraging Manchester City fans, asking them to shout louder and more passionately.
Manchester City players also chased after him and hugged him.
A goal in the first three minutes, what better start could there be? This is the Europa League final!
This goal almost let Manchester City grab the championship trophy with one hand! "It was wonderful! Manchester City's defense quickly launched a counterattack. David Silva's volley pass was very beautiful, and Su Dong's run after the offside was also very sharp and fast."
"Porto's center back Otamendi is not tall, but he was left behind by Su Dong in an instant and couldn't catch up at all."
"One to zero! Manchester City takes the lead!"
"Porto has suffered a heavy blow. I wonder if this was part of Villas-Boas' plan?"
…………
…………
On the sidelines, when Boas saw Su Dong score a goal, he exaggeratedly stretched out his hands and grabbed his hair hard.
He thought Porto would concede the goal first, but he never expected that it would happen so quickly and so suddenly.
It's only been three minutes and we've already lost the ball?
How can we play this game? Su Dong!
Why is it Su Dong again?
Boas was very angry. He had clearly made sufficient preparations. He asked Otamendi, Roland and Fernando to double-team Su Dong. As soon as Su Dong got the ball, they would immediately surround him.
Three against one, that's enough!
But unexpectedly, Su Dong still seized the opportunity.
"How could they hit us from behind so easily?" Boas still couldn't figure it out.
…
In the coaching booth behind him, assistant coach Victor Pereira also sighed helplessly.
He always felt that Boas overestimated himself and underestimated Su Dong, Ferguson and others.
If Su Dong could really be defended so easily, would Ferguson still need to adopt such a conservative tactic?
Is this a joke? Who is Ferguson?
How many times has he fought with Su Dong?
He didn't know about Su Dong's threat? How is that possible? And Mourinho, he has always been teased that he is the one who knows Su Dong best, but he always loses to Su Dong. Is there anything wrong with that?
Understanding does not mean being able to keep it!
Boas's deployment of troops clearly underestimated Su Dong and overestimated Porto's defensive quality.
How weak is the Portuguese Super League team's defense? Villas-Boas didn't know. As a result, he made a lot of noise before the game, and even believed it himself. So this scene appeared, and the goal was scored in the first three minutes.
What to do next? Attack!
Although the score was equalized and the morale of the team was stabilized, the question was, could they grab the ball faster than Manchester City? Once they pressed forward to attack, how likely was it that Manchester City would break through their defense?
Thinking of this, Victor Pereira quickly walked forward and whispered in Boas' ear for a while.
…………
…………
On the court, Porto showed a strong desire to counterattack after losing the ball.
Especially the South American players in the frontcourt.
Falcao, Christian Rodriguez, Hulk, Guarin, James Rodriguez and others are all from South America. This meant that after losing the ball, Porto not only did not plan to retreat, but instead counterattacked and actively pressed forward to attack.
In the seventh minute, James Rodriguez made a diagonal pass to Hulk on the right.
After getting the ball, the Brazilian striker relied on his strong personal strength to dribble the ball from behind Marcelo into the penalty area. When facing Pepe, he forced a dunk and stopped suddenly. While twisting his body, he shot with his right foot into the far corner, which was slightly off target.
Porto's first shot of the game threatened Manchester City's goal, which further boosted Porto's momentum.
Even though head coach Villas-Boas called on the players to stay calm on the sidelines, Porto still chose to press forward.
The players on the field were somewhat anxious.
Manchester City continued to organize its formation in an orderly manner, passing and controlling the ball when they had it and actively trying to steal the ball when they didn't.
Especially the trident in the frontcourt.
As Porto found it difficult to pass through the midfield, the ball stayed more often in the midfield and backcourt.
Di Maria, Sudon and Sanchez pressed Porto's defense, and with the midfield's pressure and cooperation, this style of play made Porto's players somewhat uncomfortable.
In the eleventh minute, when Rolando wanted to pass the ball to Otamendi under the threat of Su Dong, he did not expect that Su Dong was tall and had long legs and directly blocked the ball to the front court.
Otamendi and Su Dong chased forward at the same time, but the Argentine central defender was directly knocked away by Su Dong.
Yes, as soon as the two bodies touched, Otamendi was bounced away.
Su Dong once again dribbled the ball into the penalty area and had a one-on-one opportunity.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
