Chapter 464 When Art Meets Barbarism (1)

Riquelme is one of the most outstanding players of the new generation of Argentina.

Without actually playing a game with Riquelme, you will never understand his football art and his understanding of football. It is really difficult for ordinary people to keep up with Riquelme's thinking. Therefore, his traditional Argentine football has not been smoothly spread in continental Europe.

Riquelme is from Argentina's Boca Juniors. When he first arrived in Spain and joined Barcelona, ​​his market value was as high as 11.5 million euros, which is absolutely outstanding among South American players who have landed in the top European leagues.

However, Riquelme fell into trouble at Barcelona. Barcelona gave him half a year to show his skills, but his football could not be accepted by Barcelona's style.

And now, he is spreading his football art at Villarreal.

Compared to Barcelona, ​​Villarreal seems to be more suitable for Riquelme. The team's purpose is to absorb South American players and compete in the La Liga with the South American football style. It seems that they have succeeded. Their results prove that the South American football style is very popular in Spain.

Of course, the reason for this team building purpose is not that fans like the South American style, but simply that South American players are cheap.

In any case, Riquelme has finally made a name for himself at Villarreal.

And now, Real Madrid is facing Riquelme.

Yes, you can really say that.

When Real Madrid meets Riquelme, it seems to be a contest of artistic football, a collision between Zidane's French artistic football and Riquelme's Argentine artistic football.

The town of Vila-real in Castellón Province, Valencia Region is not big, with only about 10,000 people. The economic situation of a club supported by such a small population can be imagined. Even if there are still some fans around, the Love Song Stadium, which can only accommodate 17,000 fans, is always empty.

But today, the Love Song Stadium is full

The arrival of several thousand Real Madrid fans made the Love Song Stadium bustling with people, which was rare.

The game going on in the stadium also made the fans of both teams very excited. It was a contest of art, a contest between Riquelme and Zidane.

Since most of Villarreal's players are from South America, the inherent style of these players makes the team's offensive speed very slow.

Of course, Riquelme also accounts for a large part of this. As the core of the team, his slow speed makes it difficult for the entire team to attack quickly.

Real Madrid seemed to slow down under the opponent's pace, but they were not afraid of this slow pace. Real Madrid had many big names, including many Brazilian players on the field, and the personal skills of the top stars were no less than those of Villarreal's players, so they were not afraid of this slow pace.

But it has to be said that Riquelme's football art does have its merits.

For example, this goal in the first 11 minutes.

Villarreal got the ball, and Riquelme moved forward slowly and casually. In the rhythm, he pulled lightly and made a casual forward rush. After that, he turned around, protected the ball, and made a move to the left, trapping Baptista, who started the game, behind him. Then Riquelme continued to move forward two steps until Baptista behind him was about to catch up, and he passed the ball.

He passed the ball to the left, where Valencia was.

Valencia is an Ecuadorian player who had been playing in the Ecuadorian domestic league. With this opportunity to enter Europe, he didn't care about the club's salary at all and decided to "sell himself" to Villarreal.

His skills are pretty good, but it is not easy for him to compete for a main position. He got the chance in this game.

In the entire club, the person he admires most is Riquelme. In the South American league, Riquelme is the king of Boca Juniors, and the impression he left on these players is that he is almost undefeated.

Valencia could never have dreamed that he would have the opportunity to be on the same team with Riquelme and play against the world's top club, Real Madrid, at the same time.

So, he took this game very seriously.

Very serious.

Roberto Carlos saw the opportunity and wanted to steal the ball, but Valencia actually dribbled past him with an experienced dribble. After that, Valencia didn't even think about it and passed the ball to Riquelme. It was safest to "hand" the ball to Riquelme, this was Valencia's idea.

I have to say that Riquelme has a very good sense of positioning. No matter where the ball is, his position is always the most standard.

After receiving the ball again, he found an opportunity to pass the ball to the right, and after a few passes, the football returned to his feet.

Led by Riquelme, Villarreal seemed to be playing with small passes around Real Madrid's penalty area. This style of play was very dangerous, but they used good skills to keep the ball under the team's control.

After an unknown amount of time, Riquelme finally saw an opportunity and made a cross.

Diego Forlan

The best shooter in La Liga last season did not disappoint Villarreal's hopes. After receiving the ball, he steadily saw the opportunity and shot directly.

Facing this shot of about six meters, Casillas had no way to stop it, and Real Madrid fell behind.

This is Villarreal's football, they are always steady.

Of course, the competition of artistic football is by no means the stage for only Villarreal. Real Madrid also has such a player, Zidane, who is known as a true master of art.

Zidane is famous for his slow-tempo football.

In the French team, he and Henry could never cooperate well because Henry's style of football was inherited from the Arsenal style, which was full of quick attacks and rapid advancement, but Zidane seemed to enjoy the art of football more, so his rhythm was always a little slow.

But this slow pace actually played a role today.

During one of Real Madrid's advances, this slow pace effectively stretched Villarreal's formation.

Originally, Villarreal was defending, and the team's line was very far back. All their players were gathered near the penalty area to deal with Real Madrid's attack. Another point was to deal with the attack of Real Madrid's No. 21 black-haired boy, which was too threatening. The team's head coach Pellegrini knew very well that it was almost impossible to defend Wang Li with only one or two players. Countless "predecessor clubs" had taught him this with bloody lessons.

Therefore, before the game, Pellegrini clearly told the players: "When defending, don't stand too far forward. We must use intensive defense to effectively suppress the opponent's performance."

This is the human wave tactic.

Pellegrini wisely chose to advance slowly in offense and use human wave tactics in defense. For him, a draw is also acceptable.

At least, the current score on the field has proved the effectiveness of the tactics.

However, Zidane himself seemed to have destroyed Villarreal's intensive tactics. He seemed to think that his skills were better than Riquelme's, so he began to perform his personal football art in the midfield. He slowed down Real Madrid's attack and forced Villarreal's players to rush forward to grab the ball.

As a result, the opponent's formation was stretched, but at this time, the head coach Carlo on the sidelines was watching the game on the field, touching his chin with one hand and thinking about a question: "Should Zidane be substituted?"

Recently, he has been struggling with the team's big-name stars, the three most important of whom are Zidane, Raul and Ronaldo.

These three players are big-name stars who are the backbone of the team. They were highly valued during Luxemburgo's era, but their performance on the field seems to be a bit of a drag on the team.

For example, Ronaldo. The alien has good skills and awareness, but his physical fitness is not good. As the game goes on, he runs less and less on the field. According to a data analysis by Real Madrid Sports, the longer the alien is on the field, the higher the probability of Real Madrid losing.

As the team's main striker and primary goal scorer, he only scored 10 goals in half a season, which is a bit inefficient.

In the past, Carlo would not have considered this problem. After all, as a temporary coach, stability is the most important thing. But now the team has Wang Li. Even without Ronaldo as a goal-scoring point, the team can still have a good goal efficiency. So what is the use of Ronaldo on the court?

Among the three, Raul is better. He is a standard striker whose task on the field is to score goals. Letting the former captain of Real Madrid serve as a substitute striker is also a good supplement to the striker line.

Now, Carlo is thinking about Zidane.

From the beginning of the game till now, even a pseudo-football fan can see that Zidane has slowed down Real Madrid's offensive rhythm. Will such an important position, with such a player taking up the post, weaken Real Madrid's offensive power?

Carlo didn't know.

But on the pitch, Zidane's artistic football seems to have worked.

In this slow pace, Villarreal's formation was stretched apart unknowingly. Seeing an opportunity, Zidane passed the ball to Baptista in the left front.

Compared to Zidane, Baptista's football is much faster.

After receiving the pass, he kicked the ball to Wang Li on the penalty area line without stopping. Seeing the opportunity, Wang Li ran two quick steps in the direction of the ball, and then kicked the ball diagonally to Robinho's feet in the penalty area.

Faced with this good opportunity, Robinho won the ball and shot it, and the ball flew directly to the upper left corner of the goal.

"Real Madrid equalized the score. This was an extremely exciting game. It was a contest between Zidane and Riquelme. Their performances were really exciting. From now on, it seems that the two sides are evenly matched. We are looking forward to the next game."

The commentator of the Royal Sports Channel seemed very excited, and even he could see that this was a technical contest between the core players of the two teams.

But as Real Madrid celebrated their goal, Carlo was considering replacing Zidane.

This substitution was definitely the most difficult decision Carlo had ever made as Real Madrid coach. Substituting a big-name player who was performing well was a test for him, but Carlo was increasingly convinced that Zidane would have a greater impact on the bench than on the pitch.

“Let’s do our best”

After a period of hesitant thinking, Carlo was determined.

So, after Real Madrid celebrated the goal, the fourth official on the sidelines signaled Real Madrid to make a substitution, with the 30-year-old veteran Gravesen replacing Zidane.

As soon as the signal for the substitution appeared, it caused exclamations from fans in the stadium.

Villarreal fans looked at Real Madrid's substitution in disbelief. "Do they have internal conflicts?" Many fans thought so. However, some senior Real Madrid fans gave a thumbs up to the temporary coach. This substitution was indeed in line with the current situation. Although the two teams tied, in fact, Real Madrid should have had the advantage. Among them, Zidane was undoubtedly the one who held the team back.

Zidane himself looked a little depressed. He felt that he had performed well in this game, but why did the interim head coach replace him?

He doesn't know.

Therefore, after clapping hands symbolically with Gravesen, he took the coat handed over by the assistant coach and sat dully on the bench without saying anything.

At this time, Wang Li was almost going crazy with depression on the court.

As a standard striker, he is now the team's goalkeeper, but since the beginning of the game, both teams have been competing to play at a slow pace.

So far in the game, he has only received 4 passes. He is not used to this slow-paced game. Moreover, the slow-paced offense requires more positioning awareness from the players. Although Wang Li's Xiao Wuxiang Gong has achieved a small breakthrough, this has nothing to do with positioning.

A game that he was looking forward to turned out like this. Although he had an assist, the pitiful situation of only receiving four passes made Wang Li feel like he was strolling in his own back garden.

"Fuck, this is a football game"

The continuation of this situation made Wang Li somewhat distressed, so after some consideration, he went straight to Baptista and asked to change positions. He felt that it would be difficult for him to receive the pass if he stayed at the front.

"You play in my position and I'll pass the ball to you." Wang Li said this, and he would say this every time he swapped positions with others. Baptista was not angry when he heard this, but was very happy, because Wang Li's words were still credible in the team, and he basically did what he said, "Then I will have a chance to score, right?" He thought so, and then ran forward alone.

Wang Li domineeringly pushed the veteran Gravesen who had just come on the field to the wing, and he himself stood in Zidane's position.

This position is the most central part of the team. Theoretically, it is between the defensive midfielder and the attacking midfielder. A little further forward is his position in Chelsea. So after coming here, Wang Li felt that he felt very good, and he found that casual and active state again.

Zidane's substitution did not seem to affect Villarreal's performance. They were still playing a slow-paced football under the leadership of Riquelme. The football was constantly passed between the players centered on Riquelme, in this way, they pressed Real Madrid's defense and looked for excellent offensive opportunities.

Seeing this situation, Wang Li went straight to Riquelme without even thinking about it.

Villarreal's attack is undoubtedly centered on Riquelme, so as long as they keep an eye on him, they can effectively cut off the opponent's attack. In this way, Real Madrid's chances will increase.

After a dull whole game, Wang Li didn't suppress his offensive power at all. He wanted to release it on the court instead of wasting time like this.

"Allen and Riquelme collided"

"Last season, Allen was known as the 'Dancing Master' at Chelsea, and now this title has been picked up again by Real Madrid fans. His personal skills, especially dribbling ability, are undoubtedly very outstanding. Riquelme is also good at technology, and no one can deny his personal ability. Now, these two most outstanding technical players in Europe and South America are facing off. We can foresee that what will follow is an even more eye-catching technical contest."

"Who will win the final victory in this contest..."

Before the commentator finished speaking, Riquelme was already showing off his gorgeous footwork on the field. He bounced the ball back and forth twice on the field, and then tried to dribble through directly. This action attracted the Villarreal fans in the entire Love Song Stadium to cheer loudly.

"Riquelme Riquel..."

But the cheers stopped abruptly.

.......Riquelme seemed to have chosen the wrong target. He actually showed off his gorgeous footwork in front of Wang Li and wanted to dribble past him directly.

So, he was doomed to tragedy.

Wang Li paid no attention to his various actions, not to mention his external "shadow-like leg". Now his Xiao Wuxiang Gong has been mastered to a small extent, and even in terms of reaction speed, it is definitely not comparable to ordinary people.

When Riquelme lifted the ball for the second time, Wang Li stared at the football with his eyes, like a tiger out of a cage, and rushed into the air, then headed the ball and followed up with his body to directly intercept the ball.

Before Riquelme could react, Wang Li rushed forward with the ball. With this interception and counterattack, Real Madrid's rhythm suddenly became faster. The players on both wings and in the middle followed Wang Li's movement and rushed forward quickly.

The Villarreal players seemed not to be able to adapt to this sudden change in rhythm. They didn't react at all, and when they wanted to catch up, it was too late.

Wang Li dribbled the ball alone, dribbling past Peña and Arruaballena, and reached the opponent's penalty area line at an extremely fast speed. Then he poked the ball to the side, and Robinho got another chance.

With no one guarding him, the Brazilian kid made a clean long shot, leaving the opponent's goalkeeper Vieira with nothing to do but watch the ball fly into the bottom corner.

"It was his second goal of the game and Real Madrid took the lead"