i want to be king

Chapter 310 Lighthouse Sudong
Before the trip to Asia, Barcelona prepared three warm-up matches, but none of them had anything to do with Sudong.

The first warm-up match was a week after the team arrived at the Peralada training camp. At that time, the players were generally in poor condition and the opponent was not strong. It was Banyoles from the third division.

This is also the first time Ronaldinho has worn the captain's armband after being promoted to the team's vice-captain. Barcelona drew with their opponents one to one.

In the first half, Barcelona made a defensive error and the opponent scored first. Afterwards, Ronaldinho and Thiago Motta, the two Brazilian players cooperated exquisitely. The youth team teenager Christian Hidalgo scored a goal and successfully equalized the score.

Also a local youth player, Iniesta played quite brilliantly in the first half, but missed two excellent chances to score.

In the second half, Barcelona replaced all players except Thiago Motta in one breath, and both sides failed to score again.

In the end, Barcelona drew [-]-[-] with the West C team in the first game.

It is worth mentioning that among the several new aids this summer, defensive players have basically played, including Belletti, Sylvinho and Edmilson, all of whom have played, but Su Dong, Deco and Giuly on the offensive end have not played.

When Rijkaard was interviewed by the media after the game, he smiled and said that he was not worried about the offensive players at all.

……

Three days later, Barcelona ushered in the second warm-up match against Figueres in West Division B Group B.

This team is at the same level as Barcelona's second team, and its strength can be imagined.

Ronaldinho, who once again wore the captain's armband, started again and played the whole game, helping Barcelona beat their opponents [-]-[-] with an assist.

Messi came off the bench in No. 60 minutes and got a valuable exercise opportunity, but his performance was quite satisfactory.

Su Dong didn't play in two consecutive warm-up matches. On the contrary, Ronaldinho wore the captain's armband for two consecutive games, and even played the whole game in the second game.

Some tabloid media even began to catch on rumors, thinking that this was Rijkaard's intention to support Ronaldinho.

Especially considering that in the recent captain battle, Rijkaard voted his precious vote for Ronaldinho, which made the Brazilian superstar Barcelona's vice-captain, and Harvey could only be the third captain.

But Su Dong didn't take this to heart.

It doesn't mean much to him whether he wins or loses in such a warm-up match.

What's more, apart from him, neither Deco nor Jiuli played.

Even Puyol and Xavi were absent.

Rijkaard's intention is very obvious, that is, to run in the defensive lineup first, especially several newly joined defensive players.

……

By the third game, Rijkaard even hid Ronaldinho.

All of them played with a substitute lineup and newly joined defensive players, and the result was a one-to-one draw with the opponent.

Messi played more playing time this time. He started directly and played for more than 60 minutes. He had several outstanding performances, but overall it was quite average.

Su Dong sat on the sidelines and watched Messi's game. He and Nuno Cruz had the same evaluation of Messi, that is, his body is too thin, which has seriously restricted his performance and play on the court.

Although La Liga advocates technology, this is just an illusion from the outside world.

In fact, in La Liga, defensive players make a lot of small moves, and there are also a lot of rough moves. The physical requirements are also very high, but it is different from the intense physical collisions in the Premier League, Serie A and Bundesliga.

To put it bluntly, professional football still has to focus on the body.

The so-called technical flow is based on the body reaching a certain level.

Without a body, on the field, I can't even display the slightest technique.

This is the status quo of Messi.

……

Three warm-up matches, one win and two draws, although not lost, but it is hard to be satisfied.

The main reason is that the strength of the three opponents is not strong.

Barcelona played like this, which makes people very worried about the team's performance in the new season.

In particular, what puzzles many people is why did Rijkaard hide new players such as Sudong, Deco and Giuly?
But the view within the Barcelona team is very different.

To put it bluntly, this is Rijkaard's coaching style.

Before joining Barcelona, ​​Su Dong had inquired about Rijkaard in many ways. His management of the team was actually very loose, and even the intensity of training was not high, which made the players generally feel comfortable.

From Sporting Lisbon to Valencia to Barcelona, ​​although it took only a few days to join, this is the most relaxed and comfortable team that Su Dong has experienced. Even players can laugh and play directly on the training ground, Rijkaard doesn't mind.

At the tactical level, the Dutch coach advocates free and unrestrained attacking football.

He believes in the creativity of superstars, so he is willing to give more freedom to frontcourt superstars.

To put it bluntly, he is good at discovering the advantages of players, but it can also be said that he does not have too many tactics to speak of.

When something goes wrong, the players fix it themselves!

In training, he always put Su Dong, Ronaldinho, Deco and Giuly together, just to help them develop a tacit understanding, especially for Su Dong and Ronaldinho.

The biggest difference between Rijkaard and Benitez is that he encourages Su Dong to take the ball more.

For example, he told Su Dong, "You have to hold the ball more, dribble more, and give full play to your physical and technical advantages."

"You are a center forward. You take the ball inside and outside the penalty area and dribble the ball in the opponent's vital area. It is easy to cause the opponent's foul, and this is your biggest threat!"

With a new head coach, the requirements are completely different, and Su Dong really needs a little time to adapt.

Fortunately, he has a good relationship with Ronaldinho and Deco. He has a lot of communication on and off the court. In addition, his skills at the feet are good. It is not a problem to cooperate, but he lacks some tacit understanding.

During the period in Peralada, several offensive players in the team explored a very interesting offensive routine on their own, which made it difficult for the defenders in the team to contain it. That is, Ronaldinho took the ball on the left rib and Su Dong retreated to catch the ball.

Both sets of models can derive many different routines.

For example, Ronaldinho took the ball from the left rib, and after attracting the attention of the defense, he made a diagonal pass to find Giuly on the right.

Or after Su Dong receives the ball with his back, cooperate with Ronaldinho and Deco to infiltrate, and then move to the gap, such as Giuly on the right, and then create a chance to score.

In this set of models, the ability of Su Dong and Ronaldinho to hold the ball in the frontcourt is the key. Around these two points, Barcelona can organize many different offensive routines, and it is really difficult for defensive players to block them.

Puyol, Marcos and Edmilson took turns to mark Sudong, but there was nothing they could do.

With a height of 1.9 meters [-], lightning speed and explosive power, coupled with flexible and quick movements, and exquisite and delicate foot skills, these make Su Dong almost incomprehensible, and it is difficult to prevent him.

It was through his performance in training that even though he hadn't played even once in the warm-up match, Su Dong's strength was still recognized by his teammates.

Can there be another center forward of this type in today's world football?

Whether it is Deco and Ronaldinho, or Harvey and Iniesta, they all quickly felt the benefits of having a center forward like Su Dong in front of them. They gained more space and passed the ball more conveniently.

Su Dong is like a lighthouse, no matter it is a storm, he always stands in front, as long as the midfielders raise their heads, they can see him clearly and see the direction!

This is the value of Su Dong!
…………

…………

After more than half a month of training in Peralada, the Barcelona team returned to Barcelona.

Since there are only 22 places in the team's Asian tour, many young players, including Messi, who followed the first-team training failed to follow the team, and players like goalkeeper Rustu who are basically determined to leave the team are also not on the list.

Before the team set off, the club specially hosted a banquet in a hotel near the Nou Camp to entertain all the first-team players, and solemnly told everyone that the club attaches great importance to this trip to Asia.

According to the analysis and report of the Spanish professional financial newspaper [Expansion], after the Asian tour in 4000, Real Madrid's commercial operating income in the past year was as high as 2000 million euros.

In other words, Real Madrid achieved all the income of the Real Madrid team four years ago, including a Champions League bonus, by relying on commercial development alone. If the team's income from various games, broadcast rights income, and various income on match days are included, it will be even more amazing.

[Expansion] believes that Florentino's superstar-centric business philosophy has made Real Madrid the richest team in European football, and it is also in the forefront of all professional football clubs in the process of globalization.

"Florentino said that Manchester United's business strategy was once more than ten years ahead of other European teams, but Real Madrid is overtaking at a fast speed with its strategy of one superstar a year. He hopes that Real Madrid will surpass Manchester United and become the football club with the highest commercial value in the world."

Barcelona has seen the benefits of Real Madrid's business strategy, because professional football still has to talk about money.

Therefore, after Real Madrid's Asian tour, Barcelona immediately began to promote the Asian tour.

Although it was a little hasty and suspected of being a toddler in Handan, he still had to catch up quickly.

But this time, the signing of Asia's leading superstar Su Dong, and the team has a Brazilian superstar like Ronaldinho, so that Barcelona has great ambitions for Asia.

Regardless of whether it is Nike, Audi, or other sponsors, the feedback to Barcelona all agree that this time the Asian tour will use Su Dong as the number one star, and with the help of Su Dong's influence in the Asian region, he will open up the Asian market in one fell swoop.

Sarah Martin, the full-time vice president in charge of business development who played the outpost, was looking forward to this trip.

At this banquet, he even jokingly said, "The entire Asian region is looking forward to our arrival, especially East Asia. The fans are looking forward to it!"

Sarah Martin hopes that all players can show a better mental outlook during the Asian tour, whether it is a game or a business activity, they must show Barcelona's wealthy temperament.

(End of this chapter)