From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 297 Super Shooter

At 4:2 pm local time in Italy on April 8, two focus matches of the 45st round of Serie A started at the same time. Juventus faced Empoli at home, and Udinese faced Naples at the Friuli Stadium.

It is rare for the top three teams in the standings to play at the same time.

In particular, the showdown between Udinese and Naples is full of highlights: not only is this a strong dialogue between the first and third place players in the league, it is also a showdown between the two top strikers Bruno and Higuain.

In the current Serie A scorer list, Bruno leads the way with 31 goals, but Higuain is not to be outdone, following closely with 29 goals.

With eight rounds left in the league, both top scorers are likely to break Nordahl's 8-year Serie A single-season scoring record this season.

For Naples, this game is their last shot at the league championship.

In the current Serie A standings, Udinese has a clear advantage, leading the way with 30 points in 76 rounds. After a 20-game unbeaten run, Juventus is now 6 points behind Udinese. Naples has 64 points, 12 points behind Udinese, and has only a theoretical hope of winning the championship. Because not only do they have to reverse Udinese, they also have Juventus, a powerful obstacle in front of them.

But no matter what, Naples cannot afford to lose in today's game. Because once they lose at the Friuli Stadium, the point difference between them and Udinese will widen to 15 points.

With only 7 rounds left in the league, this will be an insurmountable gap!

………………

The commentator in the commentary box is explaining the starting lineups of both sides to the fans and spectators.

Naples (433):

Goalkeeper: Gabriel;

Defenders: Issagui, Albiol, Koulibaly, Gillam;

Midfielder: Hamsik, Jorginho, Alan;

Forwards: Callejon, Higuain, Insigne;

"Sarri deployed a three-forward formation that is not commonly used today," Lineker said. "Does this mean he wants to focus on offense and want to win a victory at the Stadio Friuli?"

Udinese lineup (442):

Goalkeeper: Kanizis;

Defense: Cancelo, Danilo, Maguire, Ashley Cole;

Midfielder: Widmund, Badu, Kuzmanovic, Bruno;

Forwards: Di Natale, Immobile;

"Udinese has a 442 formation. To be precise, this is actually a 4312 formation. In the midfield four, Widmund, Badu and Kuzmanovic form the three defensive midfielders. Bruno plays as an attacking midfielder. Up front is a combination of Di Natale and Immobile."

A basic judgment can be drawn from Naples' starting lineup. Sarri's team will focus on offensive tactics in today's game. Moreover, in the coin guessing round, Udinese captain Di Natale beat Napoli captain Hamsik.

Guidolin felt that this played into Sarri's hands, because it would allow Napoli to get the kick-off. They can take advantage of the opportunity to kick off the ball first and strike first.

………………

And just as Guidolin expected, after the game started, Naples took advantage of the opportunity to kick off first and launched a fierce attack on Udinese's goal.

Guidolin had already planned for this.

Facing Naples' opening offensive, Udinese chose to avoid the limelight and actively retreated, which only made Naples even more energetic.

Sarri sat in the coach's seat, staring at the court, exchanging words with the assistants next to him from time to time, looking confident.

For more than ten minutes after the start of the game, Naples had a strong momentum. They almost turned the away team and pressed Udinese to attack.

If it weren't for the outstanding performance of goalkeeper Kanizis who started today, Udinese's goal would have been penetrated long ago.

Especially Argentina international Higuain, who has been in great form recently. This player who has been in extremely hot form recently is full of motivation and fighting spirit, eager to prove to the world that he is one of the best forwards in football today.

He is very active in looking for opportunities in the frontcourt.

The activeness of this in-form shooter also put a lot of pressure on Udinese's defense. Plus other Naples players seem to be in good shape. Udinese had to return to defense across the board and defend the penalty area.

Just watching these ten minutes of the game, it is hard for you to imagine that Naples is currently beating Udinese, who tops the Serie A standings.

And watching Napoli besiege Udinese, beating Udinese to the point where they couldn't even get past halftime, Sarri, who had been feeling anxious, finally showed a smile on his old face.

Coincidentally, Guidolin turned around and saw Sarri smiling.

"Are you happy?" Guidolin said he didn't understand.

………………

Although Napoli bombarded Udinese's goal for more than ten minutes, Guidolin did not panic. Today he deployed three defensive midfielders with the purpose of focusing on defense.

Therefore, although Naples had an absolute advantage on the scene, they did not have any excellent scoring opportunities and it was still early to score.

"It's almost time." Guidolin judged.

This kind of crazy attack right after the start cannot last for long.

If the offense is effective and goals are scored quickly, this may stimulate the players to become more excited. However, there has been no goal, and it is difficult to form a truly threatening scoring opportunity, so the team's morale and momentum will not be able to sustain for long.

Sure enough, just as Guidolin predicted, at the fifteenth minute of the game, Naples began to slow down the pace of the game and could no longer sustain that kind of pressing attack.

<divclass="contentadv">This wave of offensive consumes a lot of energy and physical strength of the players. Naples needs to take a break.

Guidolin made a gesture on the sidelines, and the players understood immediately.

Soon Udinese took the opportunity to regain the initiative on the field.

Guidolin walked back to the coaching bench. He sat on his seat and stared at the field. Then he seemed to feel that sitting was not as good as standing to get a wider view. And sitting still can make people's brains slow down, so he walked to the sidelines again, holding his chin with one hand and staring at the court.

The tactics the team has practiced these days are now being put to the test. He wanted to know if the team could give him an answer. An answer he needs that satisfies him.

………………

Guidolin's eyes stayed on his own player Bruno.

Bruno is Udinese's playmaker, and the Portuguese is responsible for controlling the tempo of the game. Is it offensive or defensive? When to attack? Where to start? These are all controlled by Bruno.

It can be said that in the opinion of many people, the most direct and effective way to freeze Udinese is to freeze Bruno.

Bruno receives the ball in his own half.

Higuain rushed forward. He wanted to take advantage of Bruno's instability in holding the ball and directly steal the ball to counterattack.

However, Bruno had already expected that his opponent would do this, and he calmly stopped the ball with his right foot.

Higuain then pounced on his right foot, intending to steal the ball. Unexpectedly, Bruno passed the ball on one side of his body, and then twisted his body back.

This action is not very elegant, but it is very practical. Get rid of Higuain directly, and then dribble the ball forward. By the time Higuain reacted and chased after him, it was already too late.

However, Higuain did not chase him. He was a forward and there was no need to retreat so deep.

Bruno easily got rid of Higuain's press and dribbled the ball forward.

Guidolin nodded with satisfaction on the sidelines. As a midfielder, the most important thing is to be able to hold the football when faced with a press. Bruno has good physical confrontation ability and good foot skills. He is indeed very suitable for this position.

………………

Higuain did not continue to retreat to help defend, but another Naples forward Callejon came over from the side.

Facing Callejon's pressing from the side, Bruno was not greedy for possession of the ball. He quickly moved the football away.

Bruno passed the ball decisively, and Callejon stopped. He just made an effort to return to defense to show Sarri on the coaching bench. He would not really pursue the defense all the way. It was mainly a matter of attitude.

In addition to providing defensive strength on a competitive level, forwards returning to defense are also a statement and an attitude.

The forwards are chasing back to defend, so other players have to work harder?

Sarri nodded on the coaching bench. If nothing else, his defensive attitude was good this time.

Bruno passed the football to Badu who came to respond. He did not stop himself. He continued to run forward, ready to receive the pass from his teammate at any time.

Badu also did not let the football stay at his feet. He immediately locked onto Bruno without even looking up and quickly passed the football to Bruno.

Guidolin nodded. The two people's tacit understanding has improved a lot now. Badu protects Bruno, and at the same time the two interact more, which is what Guidolin is most happy to see.

Subsequently, Bruno sent a diagonal penetrating ball, trying to find Di Natale who was pulling to the right.

This pass almost tore through Naples' defense. At the critical moment, Albiol fell to the ground and slid to tackle, grabbing the football before Di Natale received it, and shoveling the football out of the sideline.

Di Natale gave Bruno a thumbs up, indicating that the ball has a wide field of vision, very good, just do it!

………………

In the subsequent games, Bruno's performance in the midfield was very active. He can be found almost everywhere, either catching and passing the ball, or creating opportunities for teammates to cover.

His position is quite flexible. He can drop back almost to the same line as the central defender, or he can rush to the midfielder position to complete the final pass.

Sarri was also surprised by Bruno's wide range of activities. Moreover, Sarri obviously noticed that in today's game, Udinese did not focus on finding the wing as in previous games. They even passed the ball directly to the right wing and took advantage of Cancelo's speed breakthrough less often. many.

This made Sarri, who had already prepared for this, feel like he was punched in the cotton.