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Chapter 342
The opening goal disrupted Benfica's position. Benfica, which is dominated by veterans, is now more accustomed to playing back and forth with opponents slowly. Although they are experienced, patient and tenacious, their momentum is not as good as before. Rangnick just grasped this point.

The result was even better than Rangnick had expected. Sensing that the Benfica players were at a loss under the attack, Rangnick decisively called Eduardo and asked him to tell the other players to press the frontcourt immediately after kick-off, making the opponent even more confused!
In this way, after the re-kick-off, Hoffenheim launched a more crazy press in the frontcourt. The fierce press prevented Benfica's technical advantages at all. Gustavo kept a close eye on Aimar.

His fragile body is the biggest factor that restricts Aimar from becoming a better attacking midfielder. When he was in Valencia, his performance was one of the top attacking midfielders in the world. Benitez always paid attention to protecting him when he was the coach of Valencia. The Super League slowly recovered some of the strength of the year.

Gustavo is relying on this to make Aimar powerful but difficult to play. Every time Aimar avoids body collisions, this also allows him to play half of his role on the court at most.

In this case, the only thing that can bring vitality to Benfica's midfield is Quaresma, but after the two failures of Barcelona and Inter Milan, Rangnick already knows how to deal with him-cut off the passing line between him and other teammates, and let his magic feet play tricks on the wing-Quaresma is not too fast. Performance, although it makes it difficult for defensive players to judge the landing point, as long as they stare at the responding player, the suddenness of the cross from the outside foot is also greatly reduced.

Relying on abundant physical fitness and correct tactics, Hoffenheim made Benfica, who has a very good attacking power, quite helpless.

Every attack by Hoffenheim can make the Benfica fans tremble for a while. Since the two forwards are not fast, Hoffenheim is more likely to advance steadily to the frontcourt when attacking, and then rely on the impact of the two centers to cause trouble. He is nine centimeters tall and weighs more than eight kilograms—this puts him at a disadvantage both in confrontation and in the fight for the top. At the same time, in terms of game experience, Miranda, who has only gradually played in Benfica in the past two years, is definitely not as good as Long Bisheng, who played in Italy, England and Germany.

Amidst the shouts of the fans at the Stadium of Light, the Benfica players played very hard and desperately, but they always felt that they were playing awkwardly. On the tactical level, Rangnick completely suppressed Hessus.

The first half ended in stalemate and entanglement. After the second half began, Benfica, who had no way out, began to launch a crazier attack. If they lost at home like this, they would be in a more unfavorable situation in the away game, while Hoffenheim began to shrink their defense. Winning an away game with one goal is already a good result.

Benfica's onslaught finally paid off. Aimar and Saviola, the former River Plate twins, played an exquisite cooperation. Under the cover of Cardoso, Saviola broke into the penalty area after receiving a wonderful direct pass from Aimar.

Huge cheers broke out in the Stadium of Light, and all Benfica fans firmly believed that after the score was equalized, the advantage would return to their side, and the next step was to overtake and expand the score!
Inspired, Benfica attacked more fiercely. Although the two main midfielders still couldn't unite well, Quaresma still had to fight alone on the wing. Aimar was watched more closely by Gustavo, but their skills still posed a huge threat to Hoffenheim's gate.

Benfica's two full-backs also began to assist frequently. After getting the support behind him, Quaresma was like a fish in water. His small skills are indeed quite good. His weird footwork and excellent flexibility allow him to always have the upper hand in one-on-one. His only weakness may be his slow speed and lack of cooperation awareness. It makes it more difficult for him to perform - going to a giant like Inter Milan relies more on himself and other teammates to cooperate, rather than teammates to actively cater to him. In Inter Milan, who is not a world superstar.

This problem does not exist in Benfica Quaresma, and only in this case can he play to his full strength.

He has made three consecutive crosses from the wing. If it wasn't for Cardoso's marking Li Jie and Saviola's poor header, I'm afraid Benfica would have really taken the lead.

However, the frequent insertion of Benfica's two full-backs also brought huge hidden dangers. Their backcourt is now extremely empty, but now the Benfica players don't care so much. Hoffenheim's two forwards are not fast.

In the No.30 minute of the second half, Quaresma came to the left and received a pass from Aimar. Facing Baker's defense, he first pushed the ball forward and then quickly pulled it back.

Baker was taken aback by his strange movements, but Quaresma's speed was not fast, so Baker immediately chased after him. Seeing that Quaresma raised his left foot to make a cross, he immediately rushed over to stop his cross.

The moment Quaresma's foot touched the ball, he lifted it upwards, and then stomped the ball firmly under his feet. Baker rushed past Quaresma with a "swish". Quaresma, who was no longer guarded, observed the situation in the penalty area and kicked a pass again!

The ball drew an arc and went straight to the penalty area. Cardoso, who inserted in time, blocked Li Jie behind him this time, and then jumped high at the back point, ferrying the ball down with a header. Saviola inserted in the back row and shot the ball!

Hildebrand pushed the ball up subconsciously, the ball changed direction slightly, hit the crossbar and bounced in. Salihovic, who returned to the penalty area, turned around halfway and drove the ball far away!
The ball flew far away near the center circle, and the Benfica fans in the stands had no time to sigh, and they had already let out exclamations.

Long Bisheng blocked Miranda behind him, pushing the opponent back. When the ball started to fall, he jumped up and released the ball with his chest. Miranda held back Long Bisheng firmly behind him so that he could not turn around.
When he received the ball, Marin, the fastest of Hoffenheim's team, was already rushing up from the wing like a motor, and rushed towards the empty half of Benfica!
Benfica paid the price for their over pressing.

Hessus jumped on the sidelines and shouted to return to the defense, but just now Benfica pressed too far forward, the two full-backs had already reached within 30 meters of each other, and the two central defenders were restrained by Long Bisheng in the middle.

"Marco, go!" Long Bisheng yelled loudly while running towards Benfica's half-court. His yell told the situation behind Marin. When the little German caught the ball, he immediately moved the ball five meters away towards the goal, and continued to sprint without slowing down at all!

While sprinting to Marin, he corrected his direction, and when he was about to rush to the front of the penalty area, he was basically facing the goalkeeper.

Moreira's attack was timely, but Marin's speed was faster. When he was about to approach Moreira, Marin cleverly picked the ball over Moreira's head, then rushed past Moreira with a short body, caught up with the ball with a few small steps, and pushed the ball into the goal with a light push against the empty goal.

A wonderful quick counterattack!Hoffenheim expanded the score again in the No.30 two minutes of the second half!
Now the situation facing Benfica is several times worse than just now-they allowed their opponents to score two away goals!
After taking the lead again, Hoffenheim made the defense to the extreme. With the whistle of the end of the game, Hoffenheim won the Portuguese Super League giants Benfica [-]-[-] away, laying a solid foundation for the second round of the game!

(End of this chapter)