Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

On the afternoon of June 6, when Li Qi was walking around the stadium before the game, he met Messi in the player tunnel. He gave him a warm hug and then began to greet him in a very civilized manner...

Li Qi: "Hey, Leo, how did you sleep last night? Are you nervous about today's game?"

Messi: "Hola, Ricardo, I'm very good and well prepared."

Li Qi: "Then... Leo, for the sake of our friendship, can you please go easy on them? Let a few go on purpose?"

Messi: "Hey, Ricardo, you are up to no good again, right? You are always like this in the club... Our coaching staff has been studying you these days. You played very well before! I will go all out today!"

(Hmm? Specializing in studying me? Accidentally got some inside information…) Li Qi’s eyes rolled, but his face remained expressionless: “Then I can only consider it from another aspect. I hope today’s game will be an exciting peak showdown. Don’t cheat and get angry if you lose!”

Messi rolled his eyes at Li Qi: "I know how good you are. The Italian team is also very difficult to deal with. This game will definitely be a wonderful match. No matter the victory or defeat, no regrets!"

Li Qi: "Good luck to you, Dale!" (Come on in Spanish, the pronunciation is a little like "kou diao" in Cantonese...)

Messi: "You too, buddy!"

……

At 17:20 local time in the Netherlands, players from both teams have entered the field, and the focus battle of this round of knockouts is about to begin!

In this match, the Italian U20 team wore traditional navy blue uniforms, while the Argentine U20 team also wore traditional light blue and white striped uniforms. A classic match starts with classic uniforms...

Argentina's formation for this game is the classic 4-4-2, the lineup is as follows:

Goalkeeper: No. 1 Oscar Ustari (86, 183cm)

The defense line from left to right: No. 4 Julio Barroso (85, 172cm), No. 2 Gustavo Cabral (85, 184cm), No. 6 Gabriel Paletta (86, 190cm), No. 3 Lautaro Formica (86, 172cm);

Central midfielders from left to right: No. 8 Pablo Zabaleta (85, 176cm), No. 16 Neri Cardoso (86, 172cm), No. 7 Lucas Biglia (86, 178cm), No. 15 Rodrigo Alzubi (85, 179cm);

The forwards are No. 18 Messi (born in 87, 170cm) and No. 20 Gustavo Obermann (born in 85, 177cm). Messi is closer to the right side of the court and can cooperate with Zabaleta or cut inside to shoot from a distance...

替补席上待命的还有：9号帕布洛·维蒂（85年，179cm），11号埃米利亚诺·阿门特罗斯（86年，179cm），17号费尔南多·加戈（86年，177cm）与19号阿圭罗（88年，170cm）；

Argentina's main lineup is very reasonably matched and has no obvious shortcomings.

The head coach is 66-year-old Francesco Ferraro.

After working overtime to study the video of the Italian U20 team's group stage, Ferraro and the Argentine coaching staff came to the following conclusion: This Italian U20 team is very traditional, with solid defense and swift counterattacks. Although their footwork is not a highlight, their tactical discipline is very strict. Li Qi is the team's organizational and offensive dual core. In the three games, he appeared in the midfield, left midfielder and attacking midfielder positions respectively...

Ferraro specifically told Zabaleta and Biglia to give priority to marking them if they meet in a position...

The attack was left to Messi, who used his agile breakthroughs and passes to attack Italy's tall but slightly cumbersome defense.

……

意大利U20代表对本场比赛的阵容是4-5-1或者也可以是4-3-3，阵容如下：

Goalkeeper: No. 12 Viviano;

The back line from left to right: No. 13 Criscito, No. 14 Canini, No. 3 Coda, No. 2 Motta;

Central midfielder and double defensive midfielder: No. 8 Nocerino and No. 10 Li Qi;

The attacking midfielder is: No. 7 Montolivo;

The left and right wingers are: No. 17 Bentivorio and No. 11 Rossi;

The starting single striker is: No. 9 Pelle;

Li Qi's strong suggestion before the game was still adopted by the coaching staff, that is, he played as a defensive midfielder to keep a close eye on Messi and organize the attack in front of the back line, similar to the role of Pirlo in the adult national team (this is also one of the reasons why the coaching staff agreed readily, there is a ready-made template to copy). However, compared with Pirlo, he also has an additional task of freezing the opponent's offensive core...

And Nocerino plays the role of Gattuso, being Li Qi's bodyguard, sweeping in front of Li Qi, helping Li Qi to fill in the position at the critical moment and even decisively committing fouls...

Before the game, the coaching staff deliberately provoked Nocerino by saying that if he couldn't run anymore, he should just raise his hand to signal. They had already arranged for Lazari and De Sena to replace him at any time...

So Nocerino exploded! Either I die or Argentina dies!

Montolivo plays as attacking midfielder to connect the attack and is responsible for conquering the city with the attacking trident.

Rossi was arranged as an inverted winger and was asked to cut inside more often and create more set pieces; while Bentivoglio was asked to cross the ball to Pelle more often and create more set pieces...

The requirement for Pelle is simple, just kick the ball into the opponent's goal!

Special drills were conducted on set pieces and corner kicks, with Coda and Pelle responsible for attracting Argentina's high-point defense and attention, Motta and Bentivorio as the main attackers for high balls, and Canini or Criscito also able to complete aerial attacks.

In addition, the team was required to protect the ball and attack from the position unless the opportunity was particularly good, with Li Qi responsible for organizing the backcourt... shrinking the middle when defending...

Also, when facing Messi, guard against his left foot, guard against breakthroughs, and use his body. If the position is not good, commit a foul early...

To this end, Li Qi also imitated Messi's breakthroughs and technical moves many times in training sessions; apart from his slow footwork, he still imitated them quite well, especially when he imitated the cute baby-faced smile after the successful breakthrough...

……

After the national anthem, it was time for the traditional captain's coin toss...

Then Argentina decisively won the kick-off... Li Qi didn't guess right again... Hmm? Why did you say again?

But Li Qi certainly wouldn't think it was his luck. This was the team's strategy for the game, to let Argentina attack first and consume their physical strength... But what does this have to do with the coin toss to win the ball? Anyway, his teammates didn't blame him...

As the highlight of this round of knockout matches, many media have arranged live broadcasts, and there are many media reporters on the scene carrying cameras.

Before the game started, the TV broadcast gave close-ups to Cardoso and Messi, as well as Li Qi and Montolivo. I don't know what they hinted at...

As for which media is better? That basically depends on where you sit...

The mainstream media in Europe are all optimistic about Italy, believing that under Italy's traditional chain defense, Argentina's offense will be helpless and then be completely defeated by Italy.

The South American media are naturally optimistic about Messi, oh no, they are optimistic about Argentina, believing that under the sharp breakthroughs of the attacking group led by Messi, Italy's defense will be riddled with holes, and then be completely defeated by Argentina...

"Beep!" The referee in red clothes and black pants blew a long whistle, and the game officially began!

Argentina opened the ball to the right, trying to break through Italy's defense through Zabaleta's dribbling pass on the right, but was intercepted and destroyed by Bentivoglio who had been waiting for a long time...

But the referee still believed that Zabaleta's strong attack caused Bentivoglio to foul. Argentina won a free kick on the front side of the field at the beginning of the game, and Messi took the penalty.

Messi cleverly sent a half-high penalty to the front post, but it did not pose a threat and was easily cleared by Criscito who was guarding the front post with a header.

The cleared ball flew high towards the front court and was grabbed by Rossi who stayed in the center circle preparing for a counterattack. Italy immediately launched a counterattack!

Oh, no, Rossi just crossed the half court with the ball and found that the Argentine defenders had already returned to their positions at high speed, so he controlled the rhythm and passed the ball back to Montolivo who was following up, and the latter passed the ball back to Li Qi who was lagging behind to organize a positional attack...

Less than three minutes into the game, Argentina's head coach Ferraro frowned on the sidelines: "Something is wrong. Li Qi's position is completely different from the group stage. In this game, Li Qi seems to be standing in front of the two central defenders and organizing the backcourt step by step. It feels a bit wrong..."

The director of the live broadcast also gave a close-up shot of the old coach in a suit on the sidelines.

In the first ten minutes of the game, both sides pressed and passed the ball at a fast pace. Argentina had a slight advantage, but it was difficult to create opportunities in the middle of the field where Italy was heavily defended.

In the 5th minute of the game, Messi was constantly being circumvented by the defense in the middle and couldn't get the ball, so he was squeezed to the side to receive the ball, hoping to open up the situation from the right side.

Messi finally received the long pass from the other side, stopped the ball with his chest, and dribbled the ball to avoid Li Qi's interception. However, Li Qi stuck to him, and under the continuous interference from him, Messi, who was at a disadvantage in weight and strength, could only maintain his balance with difficulty, and could only pass the ball back to the middle...

But when Cardoso received the ball in the middle and tried to pass it forward, he was immediately intercepted by Nocerino who was fighting hard like a clockwork...

Italy counterattack? No, Li Qi patiently organized the attack. Li Qi passed the ball back and forth between several defenders and avoided Argentina's midfield and frontcourt rushes, slowly moved Italy's overall formation, and pushed Argentina's formation back to the half court.

At this point, Messi also found something strange. It seemed that Li Qi's position was further back than when he was in the club, and it seemed that he was specifically responsible for marking him in this game? Whether it was defense or organization, he was always circling not far in front of him...

Never mind, let’s go and rob him first!

Li Qi noticed that Messi and Biglia were about to double-team him, so he slowly passed the ball forward to Montolivo who came back from the frontcourt to receive the ball before they closed in...

After Montolivo received the ball, he changed Li Qi's slow handling style and immediately accelerated. He first made a 2-on-1 cooperation with Nocerino on the side, got rid of Alchubi's entanglement horizontally, and then passed the ball directly to Rossi on the right side...

Rossi did not make any adjustments after receiving the ball. He cut inside and rushed towards Pelle, hoping that Pelle could provide cover. However, under the alert pressing of Argentina's right back No. 3 Formica and the front-circling defense of center back Cabral, Rossi did not have a good forward pass. He could only pass the ball back to Li Qi who had moved to the center circle at some point...

After Li Qi received the ball, he observed the situation, and just as Messi was about to come up from behind, he made a long pass with his right foot, accurately passing it over the top to the back of Argentine right back No. 4 Barroso...

Bentivoglio ran along the sideline towards the bottom line. Although he started a little late, he finally stopped Li Qi's long pass when the ball was about to go out of bounds... and Barroso immediately chased back to the position.

Bentivoglio made two fake moves on the spot, and regardless of whether there was any space, he accelerated towards the baseline, relying on his height and legs, which were more than 10 centimeters taller, to force a cross...

Unfortunately, Pelle failed to get the ball as he was double-teamed by two Argentine defenders; the ball was obtained by Formica on the other side, who gently nodded the ball back to goalkeeper Ustari.

In fact, the main attack behind the Argentine right back on the left was the tactic that Italy focused on before the game. They wanted to take advantage of Zabaleta's frequent assists. The Argentine right back had to fill in the position in front, which would inevitably leave a gap behind him. This was a tactical flaw...

But it was clear that Bentivoglio was not ready for the first attempt; never mind, there would be a second attempt soon...

……

Argentina tried to attack the middle several times but was blocked by Nocerino and Li Qi. Nocerino's large-scale sweep in the middle and Li Qi's precise early interception left a deep impression on the audience.

Argentina's attack in the middle was fruitless. In order to prevent Italy from stealing the ball and then making a quick attack, the small-bodied Messi committed several fouls... In addition, Argentina was determined to switch to the wing attack and try to open a gap from the wing...

Messi was seen moving to the side to support the ball many times, with Li Qi following him like a shadow. After Li Qi left the center, Nocerino would retreat to fill the position.

And Sabaletta also flew up and down on the right, but I don't know if it was because Li Qi cut off his passing line with Messi, or because Sabaletta's playing style when he was young was like this. He mostly fought alone on the wing and never formed an offensive coordination...

Therefore, Zabaleta was almost always successfully intercepted or blocked by Criscito, Bentivoglio or Li Qi, and he hardly ever made any effective crosses or breakthroughs, and he was also committed several offensive fouls.

This time in the 18th minute, it was Zabaleta who attacked from the wing with the ball. First, Criscito defended from the front. Zabaleta tried to speed up but failed to shake off. He wanted to turn around and pass the ball back to create space again...

At the moment when Zabaleta turned around to pass the ball, Li Qi suddenly accelerated and cut in from the side and directly blocked Zabaleta's return pass...a beautiful steal!

It turned out that Messi was originally going to come over to meet Zabaleta, but he also brought his personal bodyguard Li Qi with him; Li Qi initially just wanted to go around to block Zabaleta's possible pass to Messi, but Zabaleta seemed to have noticed it or didn't think about it, anyway, he never passed the ball to Messi...

But at the moment when Zabaleta was about to turn around, Li Qi triggered the "explosion point moment" again. Li Qi clearly guessed Zabaleta's next move, the position of the receiver and the route of the pass...

So Li Qi succeeded in stealing the ball cleanly and suddenly. After Li Qi succeeded in stealing the ball successfully, he did not give Messi a chance to steal the ball back or give Sabaletta a chance to foul. He directly passed the ball to Motta on the weak side with his left foot.

Facing Alchubi who was about to press forward, Motta did not hesitate too much. He stopped the ball with his chest and passed it directly to Rossi who was waiting on the side.

Rossi received the ball and used the same old trick, lowering his head and cutting inside... Biglia quickly turned around to defend...

After Rossi's dribbling was blocked, he tangled with Biglia for a while, and poked the ball out before it was cut off. The ball rolled out from between Biglia's legs...

Montolivo quickly rushed forward and stole the ball. He looked up and then used the arch of his right foot to pass the ball diagonally, penetrating the Argentine defense between the right center back and the right sideback...

Italy's chance!

……