Beast King Costa

Chapter 278
"That's great, Boss Rui! That kick 'sticking to the ground' is simply the best through ball I've ever seen!"

"That's right! I need to learn more from Boss Rui in the future!"

"Great! I hope I can catch such a great through ball in the future!"

"With the boss Rui in the midfield, there will be no problem for the Portuguese Super League champion in the new season!"

……

After the warm-up match against Sporting Gijon, Rui Costa, as the team's most famous big brother, invited all the players to have a meal together.

The game was won fairly easily - 4 to 0!

In the evenly matched situation in the first half of the game, no one dared to believe that the team was able to win a big victory.

Being able to achieve such a large-scale victory, and it was achieved on a team that focuses on defensive counterattacks, is due to Rui Costa's ability to connect.

Less than 30 minutes after a "stick cut" from 5 meters away, assisting Francisco Fonseca to open the scoring, Rui Costa broke through with the ball himself, creating a free kick opportunity in an excellent position. Send the ball into the net with one kick of the deciduous ball!

This is also the first goal scored by Rui Costa after returning to Benfica. Although it is not a goal in an official game, it is equally significant.

After falling behind by 2 goals, Sporting Gijon, under the leadership of coach Manolo Preciado, began to attack Benfica's defense line, and even removed a defender and a midfielder and replaced them. The two strikers were changed to a 4-3-3 formation.

However, the effect is quite bad.

Obviously, the players of Sporting Gijon are not adapted to the 4-3-3, which is the main attacking tactical play.

Their offensive organization is quite chaotic, they can't open the wing, and they can't hold the ball in the frontcourt, which instead gives Benfica a chance to counterattack.

In the 73rd minute of the game, Assis instigated a counterattack and sent a long pass to Fabrizio Milico.

The mediocre Italian fringe international in the preparation period finally seized the opportunity. He passed two defensive players and knocked on Sporting Gijon's goal again with a long shot from the penalty area line.

In the 79th minute of the game, when Francisco Fonseca was fighting for a header in the penalty area, he was directly knocked to the ground by Sporting Gijon's defenders, and the referee decisively awarded a penalty.

Francisco Fonseca was also a man of the world.

He got a penalty kick opportunity. When the team did not have a clear penalty kick taker, he did not take credit for it. Instead, he actively gave the penalty kick to Rui Costa, the team's big brother who provided him with an assist. .

Rui Costa was not polite either, he seized the penalty kick and scored twice!

The score was fixed at 4 to 0!

With 2 goals and 1 assist, it can be said that Rui Costa completed an extremely perfect comeback debut.

So after the game, a happy Rui Costa invited the whole team for dinner.

But Fernando Santos and his coaching staff said that the players are allowed to play by themselves and get to know each other by the way, and the coaching staff has to go back and sort out the data and materials of today's game.

After all, Fernando Santos also knows that if his coach is present, the players will not be able to enjoy it.

Now that he won a big 4-0 victory and helped himself look good for a while, he had to give the players some room to relax.

And indeed, the players had a great time without Fernando Santos on the pitch.

Halfway through the preparation period, this is the first time the whole team has dinner together under the organization of the team's big brother Rui Costa.

Of course, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and where there are rivers and lakes, some communication culture is indispensable.

At the dinner, there were constant voices of flattering Rui Costa, the big brother of the team, especially Fabrizio Milico.

At present, Fabrizio Milico's status is still on loan, not an official player of Benfica, "Violet" Fiorentina has no place for Fabrizio Milico, so, Fabrizio Milico Ke has been trying to find ways to get the club to buy out his contract so that he can stay in Benfica for a long time.

Since he wants to stay for a long time, he must establish a good relationship with the big brothers in the team and let the big brothers help him with a few good words.

Diego sneered at Fabrizio Milico's behavior.

When the team's new aid and old fritters were desperately flattering Rui Costa, Diego just saw the steak quietly and drank juice, not wanting to participate in this boring among the topics.

However, to Diego's surprise, Rui Costa actually took the initiative to call his name.

I saw Rui Costa said with emotion: "I'm old, I can't be the core of the team's midfielder. This time, my responsibility is to lead the young people of the team to grow up. The midfielder of the team still has to be carried by everyone! I hope everyone will train hard during the preparation period and go to the third line in the new season in the best condition! This season, our goals are very clear-Portuguese Super League, Europa League, The third line of the Portuguese League Cup!"

As soon as Rui Costa finished speaking, everyone responded immediately.

"Three lines to win the championship!"

"Triple Crown!!!"

"Revitalize the Flying Eagle Legion!!!"

……

"Okay! Everyone, don't pay too much attention to the slogans. To revive the Flying Eagle Legion, we still have to rely on our actual actions and do it in a down-to-earth manner..."

Speaking of this, Rui Costa looked at Diego with a smile: "For example, Diego, he arrives at the training ground first every day, and he practices extra after each training session. After the warm-up match, he continues to practice shooting... ah It can be said that Diego’s strength beyond his age has been accumulated bit by bit. So I think that young players should follow Diego as an example and be more self-disciplined in training.”

"Uh……"

Diego was also a little surprised to be called by Rui Costa suddenly.

From the beginning of the preparation period to the present, except for Rui Costa who took the initiative to chat with himself during the game against Real Zaragoza, the usual communication is required for preparation and training.

Unexpectedly, Rui Costa paid so much attention to his training.

This made Diego a little suspicious...

Rui Costa, the "old demon", could possibly have taken a fancy to me! ?
Of course, this kind of rambling thought just passed by in a flash.

Immediately, Diego showed a humble smile: "After all, I started late and my basic skills are still relatively poor, so it is necessary to train more. Hehe!"

What surprised Diego even more was that after his own words fell, several core players of the team echoed.

Captain Pettit smiled and said: "Diego, come on! I am optimistic about your performance in the new season!"

"Hey, it looks like I won't be able to get the Golden Boot in the new season..."

Nuno Gomez even joked: "Diego is so good at scoring goals, the Portuguese Super League Golden Boot in the new season is basically reserved by Diego."

Simao also squinted his eyes with a smile: "Haha! Then I will send more assists to Diego on the wing, and try to win the assist king."

Even the taciturn Louison nodded lightly: "Diego is indeed very good."

This made Diego a little flattered.

Diego quickly stood up and bowed slightly to express his gratitude: "Thank you for your compliments! I will continue to work hard."

"call……"

After everyone started other topics, Diego finally breathed a sigh of relief.

I have to say that being followed and praised by so many "big guys" who are famous in European football and even world football at the same time, it feels like a lot of pressure.

But Diego also enjoys this feeling - being noticed by the team's most respected players, others will turn their attention to him, and under the attention of all the "big guys", he will slowly enter European football. The spotlight of the altar attracts more attention.

Diego believes that after the start of the new season of the Portuguese Super League, he will definitely be able to attract the attention of the coaching staff of the Brazilian National Youth Team without going to the middle of the league!
"Okay! Let's talk about business!"

After chatting with everyone, Rui Costa regained his seriousness: "The team's fourth warm-up opponent is 'Yellow Submarine' Villarreal. This team can be regarded as one in La Liga. This is a strong team. A team that has participated in the Europa League all year round. This is also an important touchstone before the start of the new season-in the new season, our goal is to win the Europa League! Make up for the regret of not playing in the Champions League in the new season .”

"so!"

Rui Costa stood up seriously: "The fourth game! On behalf of Coach Santos, I tell everyone: Concentrate on preparing for the game! Treat it as an official game of the Europa League! The Europa League in the new season The grouping will be officially announced in the second half of the year. Even Villarreal may be one of our opponents in the Europa League in the new season! Therefore, this game is very, very important for the team's preparations!"

Under Rui Costa's mobilization, everyone's attitude quickly corrected.

indeed!

In the three warm-up matches of Benfica's preparation period, due to various reasons, most of the players have not yet entered the best state of preparation.

Even, there are still several players whose physical condition has not recovered to the level of being able to play a full 90 minutes.

At this moment, they all nodded seriously, giving Rui Costa, the big brother of the team, a positive response.

Later, Rui Costa revealed a news that surprised everyone.

"After three warm-up matches, coach Fernando Santos began to consider a change. He felt that 4-4-1-1 may not be suitable for the team's lineup. So during this time, the coaching staff has been groping for the most suitable for us. The team's tactical formation. And this new tactical formation is likely to be used for the first time in the game against Villarreal!"

(End of this chapter)