i want to be king

Chapter 129 The butt decides the head
On January [-], the Alvalade Stadium was brightly lit, as bright as day.

There were no empty seats in the stands, crowds were surging, and the sound was overwhelming.

The performance of Sporting Lisbon this season is not ideal, especially at the beginning, it has failed one after another, which makes the fans very dissatisfied.

Especially the loss of the Champions League qualifiers and the Super Cup has caused Boloni, the double crown coach, to encounter a crisis of confidence.

Fortunately, as the season progressed, young players such as Sudong, Ronnie, Quaresma, Tonito, and Pepe gradually took the lead. Although there were still main battles like Sudong and Nikulei in the process, overall, it was still stable.

The Portuguese Super League ranks second, the UEFA Cup has reached the top [-], and the Portuguese Cup has also been promoted.

For example, the Portuguese Super League should not just be satisfied with the second place.

Work harder and drag the leader down?

That's what Green Lions fans can expect when they walk into the Alvalade Stadium.

The league falls behind by seven points. If Porto cannot win this game and the opponent continues to expand its lead, then as the outside media said, the Portuguese Super League champion will lose suspense early and become Porto's pocket.

This is the last thing home fans want to see, but it is what some away fans who follow the team's expedition south expect.

Regardless of the fact that there are not many fans in Porto's expedition to Lisbon, and they were arranged in a remote corner by Sporting Lisbon, they were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers, and it was an away game at the same time, but they were not intimidated, but shouted with enthusiasm.

There is still some time before the start of the game, but the Porto fans are already shouting slogans in unison.

"Porto, champion!"

The Sporting Lisbon fans were also annoyed and started an organized counterattack.

The scene was chaotic and deafening.

……

Players from the two teams lined up in the player tunnel, waiting to play.

They are all Portuguese Super League teams, and they have many acquaintances with each other.

What surprised Su Dong the most was Pepe, who seemed to know a lot of people in Porto.

Deco, Delle, and winger Clayton are all Brazilian players, and Pepe and Deco are still brothers.

According to Pepe, the two of them left Brazil through the same channel. It is precisely because of the success of Deco that they, the same juniors, followed and landed in the Portuguese Super League.

At first, they chatted quite happily, but gradually, the voice became a little louder.

Especially Pepe, who seemed to return to the team after saying a harsh word.

"What's the matter?" Su Dong asked Pepe curiously.

"It's nothing." Pepe shook his head, but soon thought of something again, "Wait a minute in the game, you have to be careful, Carvalho and that guy named Jorge Costa, they played very uncleanly, with many small moves and rough."

Mourinho's team is rough and aggressive defensively, and Su Dong has experienced it as early as last season.

"Don't worry, I'm not easy to mess with." Su Dong smiled confidently.

Pepe snorted coldly, "I've already told Delly, if they dare to attack you, I'll take revenge on their genius. I'll shovel him as much as they shovel you!"

Su Dong was taken aback when he heard it, and he dared to feel that the few of them were arguing over there because of this.

In terms of viciousness and brutality, Pepe said that she was second, and no one would dare to admit that she was number one.

Every time this guy plays, he seems to be fighting for his opponent. He tries his best every time, fights for every ball, and his actions are very rough and brutal.

But it is also strange.

When Pepe was in Maritimo before, Su Dong and Ronnie hated his fouls, but when he came to Sporting Lisbon and fouled his opponents, they felt quite enjoyable.

The ass decides the head!
The Porto genius that Pepe said was Postiga. This striker has been strengthened this season, but his performance is not as good as McCarthy, so that there have been voices in the Porto team, saying that they want to buy back McCarthy, who is not performing well from La Liga.

Quaresma continued to move forward steadily, the two mighty Portuguese rising stars last season, while Postiga fell behind a bit, and was even faintly surpassed by Ronnie.

Professional football is like this, like sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat.

…………

…………

Led by the referee Lucilio Baptista, the two teams slowly entered the court.

At this moment, there were overwhelming cheers at the Alvalade Stadium.

The stadium broadcast was the first to report Porto's starting lineup, just like reporting the name of the dish.

Although Mourinho often uses a four-three-one-two double striker formation, in the Portuguese Super League, they use the most four-three-three. This is obviously because Mourinho has enough confidence in the strength of his team.

In the Portuguese Super League, which other team can force Porto to use three midfielders.

The goalkeeper Baia, the defense is Valente, Carvalho, Jorge Costa and Paulo Ferreira, the three midfielders are Deco, Costinha and Maniche, the frontcourt is Delle on the left, Postiga is in the center, and Capucho is on the right.

This is basically Porto's main lineup this season.

Although there are three midfielders in the midfield, Deco's position has always been very high, more like a midfielder.

There is also not much suspense on the Sporting Lisbon side.

The goalkeeper is Thiago, who has gradually replaced Nelson this season. The defense is Rui Jorge, Andre Cruz, Pepe and Queiroga. The three midfielders are Rui Bento, Albertini and Barbosa. The frontcourt is the trident combination of Ronnie, Su Dong and Quaresma.

There is not much suspense about the offensive lineup, the key lies in the midfield.

Boloni's formation is also very consistent with his consistent conservative and cautious characteristics. He won Tonito and adopted a three-back play style. This is tantamount to indirectly telling everyone that Sporting Lisbon's overall strength is not as good as Porto.

Of course, this is also a recognized fact.

……

With Baptista's whistle, the game officially started.

Porto has shown an aggressive momentum from the very beginning, which is also the biggest change since Mourinho took charge.

In terms of mental outlook, today's Porto is far more aggressive than last season.

They are like hungry wolves, attacking Sporting Lisbon.

The striker presses up, the midfielder presses forward, the defense pushes forward...

This is Porto's high defense!
On the one hand, the overall strength of the team is the best in the Portuguese Super League. On the other hand, the combination of the current European advanced high-position defensive tactics, coupled with Mourinho's more sophisticated and scientific training system, has enabled Porto to show amazing stability and combat effectiveness in the Portuguese Super League.

To a certain extent, the Portuguese Super League teams this season have been beaten like chickens and dogs when they encountered Porto.

So far, the Portuguese Super League has played fifteen rounds, and no team has even beaten Porto, and the same is true for the Portuguese Cup.

Even in the UEFA Cup, Porto only lost two games, all strategically giving up the away game in the case of a big victory over the opponent in the first round.

So, in a way, no team has really beaten Porto so far this season.

This strong self-confidence built through long-term victories, as well as Mourinho's aggressive tactics, made the entire Porto team unstoppable.

Even Sudong has to admit that in terms of football, Porto is indeed the best team in the Portuguese Super League.

But as an opponent, Su Dong's task is to defeat Porto.

……

From the very beginning of the game, Su Dong felt that Porto restricted him everywhere.

He dropped back, Carvalho was always with him, Costinha was always around him.

Since Porto has the advantage in the midfield, Sporting Lisbon's midfielder can't press it at all, so the single midfielder Costinha looks more like cooperating with Carvalho, joining forces back and forth to freeze Sudong.

And for all the high balls, Jorge Costa always rushes up the first time.

This 1.8-meter-eight veteran has good jumping ability, and more importantly, he has rich experience, and he can predict the ball path and landing point quickly.

Two central defenders and a defensive midfielder seem to have created a triangle prison, trapping Su Dong in it.

Ronnie and Quaresma, who played bravely on the wing this season, also encountered trouble tonight.

Especially Ronnie on the left.

Paulo Ferreira played with Sporting Lisbon last season. This player has a really good defense and is very comprehensive. This makes Ronnie, who is sticky to the ball, not take advantage of him.

The same is true for Quaresma dealing with Valente.

On the one hand, Sporting Lisbon's offense is being contained in a targeted manner, and on the other hand, Porto's offense is targeted to play on the left side of Sporting Lisbon, which is Rui Jorge's side.

Rui Jorge is young, mainly assists, defense is not his strong point, so Mourinho will focus on arranging Capuccio to attack the left side of Sporting Lisbon tonight.

But Porto also encountered a problem, that is, their lack of support in the middle.

Postiga could not replace McCarthy, Delle was marked by Queiroga, and Deco's back-up was Porto's most important scoring method this season, but Milan's old captain Albertini personally marked the Brazilian midfielder, Rui Bento and Barbosa supported from the side, which made Sporting Lisbon's defense very solid.

The tactics of the two teams are full of pertinence, not only targeting the opponent as a whole, but also restricting core players in local areas.

This made the game more dull, and neither side got a good chance.

But competition remains fierce.

No. In the 14th minute, Rui Jorge fouled while defending Capucho and was shown a yellow card.

Three minutes later, Jorge Costa also got a yellow card for a foul while marking Su Dong.

No.20 In the second minute, Pepe fouled Deco and got another yellow card.

When the two teams can't open the situation with each other, they can only fight to see who can't help but make mistakes first.

The boring game entered the second half, and there was still no improvement.

Rui Bento received another yellow card for a foul while running in after defending Costinha.

Six 10 minutes, Sporting Lisbon got four yellow cards, Porto only got one, the situation is evident.

A yellow card is like handcuffs. Once you wear the handcuffs, your performance will naturally be restricted.

Everyone can see that the situation of Sporting Lisbon is becoming more and more unfavorable.

(End of this chapter)