Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

2006年11月29日，周三晚上的21时45分，06/07赛季欧洲联盟杯小组赛第4轮率先进行了4个小组的争夺，其中就包括了卫冕冠军塞维利亚客场挑战瑞士草蜢队的比赛。

Sevilla played more actively after the start of the game, especially Maresca, who was rested in the weekend league, was full of energy. The Italian twin stars reunited with Li Qi must make a name for themselves.

Maresca was quite active, constantly passing and cutting with Li Qi on the right, and constantly rushing to the home team's penalty area. However, unlike the previous game, when he was eager to attack, Maresca wanted to pass the ball to Li Qi after the start of the game; he broke into the dangerous area of ​​the penalty area several times with Li Qi's cover and direct pass, but passed the ball back to Li Qi to shoot.

The first time, Li Qi hesitated and did not kick the ball directly. He then passed it to Fabiano, but the latter kicked it away...

Li Qi did not hesitate the second time, but the opponent's defender was guarding Li Qi tightly on the edge of the penalty area. The angle of the ball shot through the gaps between the opponent's defenders was too straight, and the opponent's goalkeeper bravely fell to the ground and saved the ball.

But Maresca was not discouraged, and Li Qi naturally continued to feed him the ball by retreating, but Li Qi had a new idea to break the deadlock.

In the 12th minute of the game, Maresca received Li Qi's crotch pass for the third time and entered the penalty area; then he faked a shot for the third time and passed the ball back to Li Qi at the top of the penalty area...

Li Qi also raised his foot and pretended to take a long shot, which attracted the blockage of the opponent's two central defenders; however, Li Qi shook his ankle, and this time he did not pass the ball to Fabiano who was also surrounded by defenders in the penalty area, but sent a straight pass to the right side of the penalty area again; however, Maresca at that position had already rushed over and was in an offside position.

So most of the Grasshopper players immediately raised their arms to indicate that Sevilla's attacking team was offside. Maresca did not touch the ball, but stood still and let the ball slide past him; because when Maresca passed the ball back, he saw another player from his team rushing over from the wing...

It was Alves, the Brazilian full-back who won the best player of the UEFA Cup last season! Alves penetrated the right side of the penalty area from behind, and took advantage of the moment when the Grasshopper player raised his hands and was stunned, intercepted the ball, and calmly looked up to observe the goalkeeper's position, adjusted his shooting posture, and then shot a low shot, sending the ball into the near corner of the goal.

This time, Li Qi took advantage of the Grasshopper players' habitual thinking, and Alves also understood his intention and successfully cooperated with the Italian duo to play offside, helping Sevilla get a dream start away from home and lead the home team 1-0.

The home team, which was behind, immediately launched a counterattack, and Li Qi was happy to let the opponent press forward so as to calmly gain more counterattack and forward space, so Li Qi cooperated with Renato to slow down the pace of the game while releasing the opponent's formation at the same time...

However, the Grasshoppers’ offensive capabilities were clearly not enough to threaten the Sevilla defense. So even though Sevilla sent the Grasshoppers out to attack, the Grasshoppers were like grasshoppers after autumn, unable to jump high. Several attempts at attacking ended in failure, and the situation on the field seemed dull for a while...

However, in the dull situation, Li Qi was brewing and adjusting opportunities, slowly and inadvertently mobilizing the opponent's defense, and deploying his own players to support and attack positions; this unique skill of adjusting the attention and layout of players on both sides through passing the ball was the result of Li Qi's learning from Xavi while he was recovering from injury in Barcelona for most of the season.

When the game reached the 31st minute, Antonio, a player of the Grasshopper team, was injured and replaced by Mubuta. Taking advantage of the fact that the home team's substitution attracted attention and the new players had not yet integrated into the rhythm of the game, Li Qi launched a fast break and reaped the rewards...

After receiving the throw-in from the Grasshoppers, Navarro did not hesitate and passed the ball directly to Li Qi who was retreating to the center circle. At this time, there was no defensive player next to Li Qi, so Li Qi calmly turned to the right and chose to rush to the left defense area of ​​the Grasshoppers again. He and Fabiano, who was using his back as a fulcrum, once again made a two-on-one cooperation, and it seemed that he was about to cut into the right rib of the home team's penalty area...

Just as Grasshopper's defensive formation collectively tilted to the right, Li Qi turned his head to look at Adriano who was making a run on the left side, but with a flick of his left foot, he sent the ball behind the other side of the defense line.

Maresca, who had been silent for a while, made a high-speed run to the weak side of the defense, shook off the interference of the only full-back, jumped lightly in the air and stopped the overhead pass with his chest, then swung his right thigh and shot a powerful shot from 15 yards in front of the goal!

The ball, like a cannonball, hit the top corner of the goal at a speed of over 150 kilometers per hour. The home team's goalkeeper watched the ball go into the net without any reaction...

Sevilla's Italian twin stars connected successfully again! But this time it was Li Qi who assisted, and Maresca broke through the goal... But there was no way to do this ball, the angle and position were too good, Maresca couldn't hold it back, he felt sorry for his ancestors if he didn't shoot, and it was too cool after shooting!

Maresca didn't dare to take off his clothes to celebrate, but jumped directly onto Li Qi and shouted passionately to vent...

Maresca's powerful shot seemed to stun the home team. After Grasshoppers lost the ball again, they did not attack again or intensify the pressing, so the ball was basically under Sevilla's control afterwards.

The first half ended quickly and Sevilla entered the halftime break with a score of 2-0.

Neither side made any personnel adjustments in the midfield, but Juan Ramos asked to try to increase the tempo at the beginning of the second half, try to take the opponent away in one wave, and then he could replace some of the main players to rest.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and Sevilla pressed forward as actively as at the beginning of the first half, looking for opportunities.

However, just 5 minutes after the kick-off, Sevilla's efforts paid off. Alves, who had already scored a goal, chose to cut inside after exchanging positions with Maresca. Then he made a straight pass and a diagonal cut with Li Qi at the front of the penalty area, and then received Li Qi's cannon back. Alves made a powerful long shot about 22 meters away from the edge of the penalty area!

The ball was blasted directly into the lower right corner of the goal. The goalkeeper was blocked from view by the defensive and offensive players in front of him, and by the time he saw the ball, it was too late to save it...

Sevilla led Grasshoppers 3-0, and it can be said that one foot has stepped into the threshold of the top 32. Then both sides began to deploy their troops. Grasshoppers fought for honor and strived to score goals at home, while Sevilla gradually began to replace some of the main players and let some substitutes play to find their form.

Juan Ramos replaced the Brazilian wingers, Adriano and Alves, with Puerta and Hinkel in the 55th and 60th minutes respectively.

However, after replacing the substitutes, Sevilla became more and more courageous and did not want to give the Grasshoppers any chance to breathe.

Shortly after Hinkel came on the pitch, he made his first run-in and sent a through pass to help Sevilla score again.

In the 62nd minute, Hinkel used his physical advantage to dribble past the defenders on the wing, and then sent a straight pass to the corner of the penalty area near the sideline. Maresca made a diagonal cut to meet the pass, then twisted his waist nearly 180 degrees and sent a low cross directly...

Li Qi, who was outflanking the middle, successfully scored and easily poked the ball into the lower left corner of the goal after Maresca's cross; the Italian twins connected successfully again, helping Sevilla lead the home team 4-0.

But this time it was finally Maresca who assisted and Li Qi who completed the final blow, so Maresca happily rode on Li Qi's shoulders again to celebrate...

It can be said that the game entered garbage time early, and the Grasshoppers began to try long shots, but most of them did not pose any substantial threat. Sevilla played more easily and casually on the court. Maresca even started to play fancy moves, and the newly-appointed Puerta was not to be outdone, constantly dribbling and breaking through to improve his dribbling data.

However, not long after Juan Ramos used up his third substitution, Li Qi had an accident...

About 5 minutes before the end of the game, Puerta made a solo breakthrough on the left, with the help of substitute Kepa's cover, he broke into the penalty area, and then made a low cross pass... Originally Puerta wanted to shoot himself, but there were already 3 defensive players in front of him, and some were chasing back from the back, so there was no space to shoot, so he could only pass to the empty other side.

On the other side, Li Qi received the ball in the penalty area corner, faked a shot and passed it to Maresca who was in the middle. However, unexpectedly, Maresca also played a fake pass again, and once again shook off the defender who was coming back to attack... The ball was sent to Li Qi again, but perhaps because of Maresca's declining physical strength, this through pass was a little too big and too close to the goalkeeper.

Seeing this, the goalkeeper also flew over from the angle of blocking Puerta to grab the chance ball...

But Li Qi still burst out with amazing starting speed at the last moment, and his whole body was launched like a rocket. Finally, he successfully picked up the ball and sent it into the net before the goalkeeper fell to the ground and flew over to him. He was less than half a second faster than the goalkeeper.

After the lob shot, Li Qi quickly jumped up to avoid the goalkeeper's flying tackle, but he was unable to dodge and was hit by the goalkeeper's reckless flying tackle.

So when Li Qi landed, he lost his balance and felt a sharp pain: Damn! Oh no, I twisted it! This is not worth it...

Several teammates who were about to celebrate with Li Qi stopped in their tracks when they saw Li Qi holding his ankle and screaming in pain. They all called for the team doctor to come in and check...

Fortunately, after the team doctor's initial diagnosis, the bones should be fine, and the ligaments are probably fine. It should be just an ankle sprain, which requires further CT and MRI examinations to confirm. So after the team doctor's initial examination, Li Qi, who was sitting in front of the opponent's goal line, was supported by the team doctor and walked slowly out of the baseline, allowing the game to resume.

There were only a few minutes left in the game and Sevilla had already used up their three substitutions. Although Li Qi had recovered some athletic ability after some exercise, the team doctor and Juan Ramos felt that there was no need to let Li Qi risk returning to the court, so they went straight back to the locker room to rest and prepare to return to Sevilla for further examination.

Finally, Li Qi scored twice after receiving a direct pass from Maresca in the counterattack, locking the score at 5-0. Sevilla won a big away game against Grasshoppers and secured their qualification in advance; Grasshoppers lost all three games and were eliminated.

In another match in this group, Alkmaar tied with Liberec 2-2 at home and confirmed that they will advance together with Sevilla. The third place in the group will be decided between Braga and Liberec; however, Braga has an absolute initiative, because Braga will face the weakest team in the group, Grasshoppers, in the last round, while Liberec has played all the games and can only wait for Grasshoppers to help create a miracle.

However, for Sevilla and Alkmaar, the result of the last UEFA Cup group match on December 2006, 12 was irrelevant. Therefore, Juan Ramos can focus more on the league.

The next day, the team returned to Seville. After a night of ice application, Ricardo actually felt that his ankle joint had healed a lot and he could walk without any problem, but he still felt a little pain when running, which was probably just a sprain.

However, to be on the safe side, Juan Ramos and the team doctor still asked Ricardo to go to the medical center for a CT scan and MRI. The final medical examination report also showed that he had sprained his ankle and needed to rest for about a week to recover.

However, Juan Ramos has no time to wait for Ricardo to recover, because Sevilla will soon face Espanyol in the third of three consecutive away games in the league.

Fortunately, there is a direct flight from Sevilla to Barcelona (the Espanyol Club is in Barcelona), so the players who travel away this round can sleep one more night at home before taking a flight from the southern tip of Spain to the northeast corner of Spain early in the morning on the day of the game.

This time, Ricardo missed the away game due to injury. He did not travel with the team to Barcelona, ​​but stayed in Seville to recover. It is a coincidence that Ricardo missed the chance to return to Barcelona twice this season due to injury. It seems that Ricardo is destined not to visit his hometown again: Is his fate with Barcelona over?

Ricardo has no choice, after all, there is still a risk of injury. Although he is currently a third player on loan, Ricardo also sees that he is very important in Juan Ramos's tactical system, and it is more valuable to stay healthy and win the games that should be won.

So Ricardo was happy to have some free time, but he also had to hurry up to finalize the Christmas schedule and plan, and then arrange for Eva, Chiara, Sarafina, Julian, his parents and others, and also confirm the brand endorsement activity plan with Raiola. It was also very busy...

The 06th round of the 07/13 Spanish Football League was held at the weekend. Barcelona was tied by Levante in the early game, so Sevilla had a chance to get the top card again.

However, Sevilla's opponent in this round, Espanyol, has been in excellent form in the past two seasons. Although it is not ranked high, it often wins some incredible victories against strong teams at home. Last season, Sevilla lost 0-5 at Espanyol's home stadium, the Montjuic Stadium.

However, this game was Sevilla's third away game in 8 days, so the whole team was quite tired. It was difficult to get comfortable and sufficient sleep and rest between long-distance flights.

Although Juan Ramos implemented a relatively effective rotation strategy, with players like Adriano, Alves and Fabiano all leaving the field early in the week to get some rest, Kanoute didn't even travel with the team in the last game, and both Navarro and Navas both returned from injuries this week. The only major injured player at the moment is Ricardo...but there is still no way to get rid of the team's psychological fatigue.

So when playing away against Espanyol, the team was still in a tough fight under the rough and aggressive defense of the home team...