i want to be king

Chapter 440 I Know It Was Wrong!
Three days after the derby in the same city, Barcelona ushered in the second round of the knockout round of the Copa del Rey.

With the victory basically secured in the first round, Barcelona played with a full bench at the Nou Camp, still relying on Larsson's brace, beat Zamora [-]-[-] and easily advanced to the quarterfinals.

The results of the draw for the knockout round of the quarter-finals were also released soon, and Barcelona encountered Zaragoza.

……

On the weekend, in the No.19 round of La Liga, Barcelona played against Athletic Bilbao at home.

After the Basque Lions took a corner kick and the high center forward Llorente took the lead in breaking Barcelona's goal, Barcelona launched a crazy counterattack, but it was not until the second half that Su Dong assisted Ronaldinho to equalize the score.

Afterwards, it was Su Dong who kicked the goal again, which caused the goalkeeper to drop his hand. Messi picked up a miss in front of the goal and hit the goal.

Two to one, Barcelona finally reversed Athletic Bilbao at home.

…………

…………

On the evening of January [-], in the first round of the knockout round of the Copa del Rey, Barcelona challenged Zaragoza away.

From the beginning of this season, from the management and coaching staff to the locker room, everyone in Barcelona has a very unified goal, which is to continue the outstanding performance of last season, strive for another breakthrough, and aim directly at the triple crown.

Although Barcelona's lineup this season is thicker than last season, it still seems relatively thin if they want to fight on the third line.

The coaching staff has specially formulated a rotation strategy for this purpose, allowing the main players to take more rest in some more confident games.

Zaragoza ranked mid-range in La Liga this season, and their performance was not very satisfactory. Rijkaard has a certain grasp of this game, coupled with continuous two-line battles, the team has carried out a rotation.

Sudong, Deco, Marcos Senna and Puyol all took turns. Larsson replaced Sudong and partnered with Ronaldinho and Messi in the front trident. The midfielder was Iniesta, Van Bommel and Edmilson.

Rijkaard's wish is ideal.

In the first round of the away game, Barcelona tried their best to attack and try to score goals.

Among the three midfielders, Iniesta is mainly responsible for passing and controlling the ball, Van Bommel is responsible for inserting behind, Edmilson is responsible for defense, maintaining the balance and stability of the team, plus Ronaldinho and Messi in the frontcourt, I believe the creativity of the team is enough.

Facts also proved Rijkaard's guess.

After the opening, the attacking Barcelona got control of the game and launched a fierce attack on Zaragoza, frequently creating good scoring opportunities, and Zaragoza's front door was jittery.

But problems soon became apparent.

Barcelona's attack seems to be loud, but the real threat is not.

Barcelona would not be afraid if they encountered a La Liga team like Zamora, but the problem is that Zaragoza is a La Liga team. Although they did not perform very well this season, their overall strength should not be underestimated.

After adapting to Barcelona's offense, Zaragoza quickly reacted.

Unable to attack for a long time, Barcelona's midfielder naturally began to press forward. Iniesta and Van Bommel moved forward, leaving only Edmilson behind. Van Bommel and Iniesta were too close to the opponent's penalty area.

At this moment, Barcelona is like a hungry and crazy beast, eager to swallow the opponent directly.

But here is the problem.

When the midfielder presses too high and the frontcourt cannot hold down the opponent, the large space behind the defense line begins to let the opponent gallop.

No. In the 203rd minute, Zaragoza midfielder Carney sent a precise direct pass. Diego Milito successfully reversed offside and single-handedly broke into the Barcelona penalty area.

Then, in the No. 20 and No. 207 minutes, Zaragoza counterattacked twice in a row. Everton's speed was brought into full play. He scored two goals in a row and scored twice.

Although Everton's second goal was an obvious misjudgment, he was indeed offside first, but in just a few minutes, Barcelona was completely stunned by the opponent's three goals.

It wasn't until the third goal was lost that Rijkaard reacted soberly and immediately made adjustments, which barely maintained the situation, but the bad score of zero to three had put Barcelona in a desperate situation.

……

"This season, when Barcelona played like a bamboo shoot and won consecutive victories all the way, all of us wondered whether Su Dong is important to the current Barcelona team? Is he really as indispensable as the statistics show?"

"This is not only from the outside world, it is estimated that many players in the Barcelona locker room will have such doubts."

"I even heard an extreme statement before. With such an excellent midfielder and the ability of Ronaldinho and Messi in the frontcourt to create opportunities, even if a dog is on the front line, it can score goals and even compete for the top scorer."

"Extreme statements are too extreme and are beyond the scope of our discussion, but I believe that many people must have doubted whether Sudong made Barcelona, ​​or Barcelona made Sudong?"

"After watching the first half of the game, I believe many people should have the answer."

"Barcelona conceded three goals in a row, similar to last season, but completely different."

"Last season in Barcelona, ​​defensive players made mistakes. This is a problem of defensive player ability. But in tonight's game, we can see that even Oleg, who made a mistake, was beaten by Everton in a one-on-one situation."

"This proves that Barcelona's problem is a technical and tactical problem. It is the team's midfield that cannot hold down the opponent, the offense fails to create a threat, and the goal is conceded after being counterattacked by the opponent."

"Even Rijkaard exposed his shortcomings at the coaching level tonight, and his reaction was too slow."

"Diego Milito's goal has long been a reminder to Barcelona to pay attention to their backs. As a result, instead of paying attention, Barcelona intensified their efforts. Immediately, Zaragoza used Everton's speed to hit each one accurately and directly disabled him."

This is the famous host of Serre Radio, Jose Ramon de la Morena, when he explained the Copa del Rey live, he concluded the first half at the end of the halftime.

He believes that the entire first half was a crazy slap in the face to those who denied Su Dong's value before.

Without Sudong, Barcelona's offense completely lost its threat, and Zaragoza scored three goals in a row.

Is the other players underperforming?
No, Ronaldinho, Messi, Iniesta, Van Bommel, and even the two full-backs are still very active, and even Barcelona created far more offensive opportunities than Zaragoza.

why?
The answer is simple. On the one hand, Zaragoza defended tenaciously, and on the other hand, it was because Barcelona's offense was not a threat.

The person is still so human, and the state is not bad, why is there no threat?

Because of Su Dong!

"The decision that Rijkaard made the most in this game was to underestimate Zaragoza's determination to win at home and rotate Sudong. The most correct decision he made was to put Sudong on the bench."

"Perhaps Rijkaard should consider replacing Su Dong directly at halftime."

"At least at this stage, the 34-year-old Larson can't replace Su Dong at all!"

"Sure enough, I'm here right now."

"I saw Su Dong, who was training on the field with four substitute players including Sylvinho and Valdes, was called in by assistant coach Ten Carter."

"Rijkaard's on-the-spot reaction is indeed a bit slow, but he is not stupid."

……

Su Dong followed Ten Kat to the locker room.

Along the way, the assistant coach was analyzing with Su Dong the situation in the first half, the problems encountered by the team's offense, and the tactics and adjustments the coaching staff planned to adopt in the second half.

"We must score at least one goal!" At the door of the locker room, Tenka held Su Dong back and said solemnly.

Su Dong nodded, opened the door and went in.

The locker room at this moment is very depressing.

After Su Dong scanned around, he didn't find Larson's figure, but the sound of dripping water came from the shower area behind, obviously the Swedish veteran had already gone to take a bath in advance.

When the other teammates saw him coming in, they all raised their heads to look at him, and many of them had expectations in their eyes.

Perhaps, many of them have questioned Su Dong's importance to this team before, but no one can deny that at this moment, they will unconsciously pin all their hopes on Su Dong.

If even Su Dong couldn't do it, who else could they count on?

"Su, you saw the first half, what do you think?" Rijkaard broke the awkward silence.

Su Dong glanced around at his teammates and laughed out loud, looking very confident.

"Actually, it's not difficult to break their defense."

Everyone was very surprised.

You know, Su Dong is very low-key and down-to-earth on weekdays, why does he seem a little arrogant today?
"I took a look. The reason why our offense was frustrated in the first half was that the cross from the side didn't pose a threat. Later, we switched to the center. This won't work. The opponent has deployed heavy troops in the center. So I suggest, go to the side and play a high ball."

As soon as Su Dong finished speaking, he heard the Dutch midfielder Van Bommel shaking his head vigorously, "No, we will play like this after the opening, but Zaragoza's prevention and control of high balls is in place, we have nothing to do..."

In the end, Van Bommel's doubts became weaker and weaker.

The Dutch midfielder came to the Barcelona locker room with a sense of arrogance. He was not particularly convinced by Su Dong, a fledgling kid. He thought that Su Dong could score so many goals, and other Barcelona players contributed a lot, but Su Dong stole the limelight.

But the process of the first half completely subverted Van Bommel's stereotype. When he and Larsson both started, they had nothing to do against Zaragoza.

In the Eredivisie before, he had a strength advantage, but in La Liga, the situation is different.

Su Dong waited until Van Bommel's voice was getting weaker and weaker, and finally shut up altogether, and then asked with a smile, "Mark, are you sure their high ball control is in place?"

Van Bommel waved his hands embarrassingly.

Don't laugh, I know I'm wrong!

Everyone else was also amused for a while, and many even laughed outright, which greatly diluted the depressive atmosphere just now.

　I also know I was wrong! !Reflect! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)