Dominating Football with Perfect Ball Control

Chapter 78: 78. War of words with Wenger

Check out advanced Chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari

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Olympiacos vs FC Barcelona

Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester City

AC Milan vs Atlético Madrid

Borussia Dortmund vs FC Zenit Saint Petersburg

Manchester United vs Bayern Munich

Galatasaray vs Chelsea

Real Madrid vs FC Schalke 04

Bayer Leverkusen vs Arsenal!

The Round of 16 matchups are out.

The German media sparked widespread discussion.

The first to catch the eye was the strong showdown between Manchester United vs Bayern Munich!

These two teams should have met in the quarterfinals or semifinals, but because Bayer Leverkusen was too strong in the group stage, Manchester United finished second in the group, leading to an early encounter with the toughest opponent, Bayern Munich.

Next was the match between Bayer Leverkusen and Arsenal.

Arsenal usually meets Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona early in recent years.

”Three years Barcelona, five years Bayern Munich”

Cruel fate has given Arsenal hope every year, only to be painfully eliminated every year.

Even the Champions League theme song’s misheard lyrics are:

”Play Barcelona, Play Barcelona.”

”Play Bayern Munich.”

”My team has collapsed!”

This year, finally influenced by some special existence, they avoided Barcelona and Bayern Munich,

Drawing Bayer Leverkusen is simply great for them!

On the day of the draw ceremony, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, who was present, was full of confidence in his interview.

”This is a very good opponent for us, Arsenal.”

”On one hand, Bayer Leverkusen is strong enough to get the whole team into better game form.”

”On the other hand, our team’s strength is above Bayer Leverkusen, and we are confident of reaching the quarterfinals.”

Even the usually calm and composed ”Professor” Wenger showed his sharpness in the interview, which shows he indeed has enough confidence to eliminate Bayer Leverkusen.

The war of words, starting three months early, officially began,

Bayer Leverkusen coaches Sascha Lewandowski and Sami Hyypi? naturally refused to be outdone.

”We also think it’s a good draw.”

”Arsenal always collapses by spring of the next year, and that will be our opportunity.”

While playing on a meme, they delivered a retort to Arsenal.

For Lance, the Champions League knockout stage was still too far away, and since the opponent was already confirmed to be Arsenal, he wouldn’t think too much about it.

Before the Champions League knockout stage, Bayer Leverkusen needed to score as many points as possible to catch up with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga standings.

Otherwise, with three fronts—Bundesliga, Champions League, and DFB-Pokal—

The dense schedule would certainly make it impossible to balance, and it would be easy to drop points in the Bundesliga.

Therefore, when facing reporters’ interviews, Lance simply mentioned:

”We will advance to the quarterfinals, Bayer Leverkusen can go further.”

After attending Lars Bender’s barbecue party together last time, Lance and Chloe’s relationship grew closer.

If before they were just nodding acquaintances who occasionally met, or people they occasionally chatted with in their contact list, after that, they could be considered truly close friends.

Chloe sent messages to Lance even more brazenly.

”Lance, really? Can we really beat Arsenal?”

”Of course, don’t you have confidence in me?”

”No, no!”

Through the text, Lance could even feel the girl’s blushing face; teasing her occasionally was quite fun.

Of course, it was only early December now.

The Champions League knockout stage in February of next year was still far off.

Lance temporarily couldn’t bother with future opponent Arsenal,

Bayer Leverkusen needed to first face the opponent at hand.

Bundesliga Round 13, Hertha BSC vs Bayer Leverkusen.

In the same round, Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich!

The dragon-tiger battle between the top two in the standings was a good opportunity for Bayer Leverkusen!

Regardless of the outcome of their match, as long as Bayer Leverkusen won this away game, they could narrow the gap!

...

Matchday,

Berlin Olympic Stadium.

Hertha BSC’s resistance was very stubborn.

As is well known, Bayer Leverkusen is a team good at defensive counterattacks, often pulling off upsets against strong teams.

However, if the opponent sets up a tight defense, Bayer Leverkusen’s weakness in positional play easily becomes apparent.

Hertha BSC can maintain a mid-table position in the Bundesliga, besides their solid defense, their counter-attacking ability is also not to be underestimated!

This season, they managed to score 2 goals against Bayern Munich through counter-attacks, giving Bayern Munich a headache; and they even defeated Borussia Dortmund 2-1.

Bayer Leverkusen clearly underestimated the resilience of this team.

”Adrián Ramos!!! The goal is in!!”

”In the 32nd minute of the first half, Hertha BSC scored with their very first shot of the entire game!”

”Attacking for half an hour, with a possession rate as high as 76%! 7 shots but unable to threaten the opponent, instead, their own defense suffered first!”

”The home team Hertha BSC is temporarily leading 1-0!”

Commentator Zhan Jun continued to broadcast the Bundesliga match on Sina Sports.

More and more fans were supporting Bayer Leverkusen and Lance, and Bayer Leverkusen’s matches became the highlight of everyone’s week.

It’s just a pity that today’s match was scheduled for 2 AM, and many fans were already sleepy.

30 minutes of offensive and defensive tug-of-war made supporters far away in China’s eyelids droop.

The result... Hertha BSC’s goal completely woke everyone up!

”Holy crap? That awesome?”

”Scored with just two passes.”

”What is Bayer Leverkusen doing? The defense is too poor!”

”Their backline is not top-tier, far worse than their front line.”

”Do we have to rely on my God Lance again?”

As the season approached the halfway mark, Bayer Leverkusen’s problems became increasingly apparent.

The midfield lacked organizational ability, making it difficult to break through compact defenses, and attacks relied more on individual star power.

At the same time, there was a clear ”lame leg” phenomenon in the attack.

Son Heung-min, who was not highly regarded at the beginning of the season, moved to the left wing and unleashed sufficiently powerful attacking prowess.

Conversely, the two players on the right side of the attack often disappeared during matches, unable to create enough three-dimensional pressure on the opponent.

Of course, the offensive problems could only be said to be not fatal.

What was fatal was Bayer Leverkusen’s defense.

The double pivots Simon Rolfes and Lars Bender were already at the level of first-class German national team players, but the defense always had issues.

Greek international Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Bosnian center-back Emir Spahi?, both of whom were young center-backs, had strong frontal interception abilities but lacked positional awareness and acted impulsively.

Their coordination was not yet good enough, and they were often bypassed by opposing forwards who got in behind them.

Adding to that, the two full-backs often pushed up to assist in attack and couldn’t get back in time, causing Bayer Leverkusen’s goals conceded in the Bundesliga to exceed Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Borussia M?nchengladbach, and FC Schalke 04, ranking only 5th.

The good news was that Bayer Leverkusen fans were already used to conceding goals.

Before the end of the first half, in the 41st minute of the match.

Bayer Leverkusen’s attack paid off, and the one who created the miracle was, of course, the 16-year-old rising star Lance, who started as a striker!

”Bayer Leverkusen is still attacking from the outside, temporarily unable to find an opportunity...”

”If the score remains until the second half, I’m afraid Hertha BSC’s morale will greatly increase. Bayer Leverkusen is likely to be in trouble today.”

”Oh!! This goal!!”

Son Heung-min on the left used a change of pace to suddenly accelerate and get past his opponent.

Then he sharply cut inside to the middle,

Lance, from the number 10 position, completed a cross-over with him and moved to the side.

Son Heung-min skillfully threaded a through ball from outside the box, piercing Hertha BSC’s defense!

”Lance—”

Amidst Zhan Jun’s excited shouts,

Lance was practically performing a waltz in the opponent’s penalty area!

Receiving the ball with his back to goal and turning, he used his divine first touch to control the ball while dribbling past the Hertha BSC center-back perfectly!

Facing the charging goalkeeper,

Lance gently chipped the ball from a tight angle!

[Hardcore Shot: Difficulty Coefficient 93, Shot Goal Rate 93%]

The preceding silky Marseille turn, combining control and dribble, was so smooth that it received a score of 93!

Lance had enough confidence to execute an elegant chip shot!

The ball traced a beautiful arc and dropped into the net!

”The goal is in!!! This is Lance!”

”Whether Bayer Leverkusen is in good times or bad, you can always trust him!”

”Lance once again surpassed Robert Lewandowski, scoring his 11th Bundesliga goal!”

”Who would believe that this Bundesliga freshman will become a strong contender for this season’s Bundesliga top scorer!”