Dominating Football with Perfect Ball Control

Chapter 91: 91. Rudiger and Werner’s sniping!

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

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At SC Freiburg’s Schwarzwald-Stadion, fans witnessed Lance’s terrifying record of 22 goals in 18 rounds.

After an overhead kick from outside the box, within a mere minute, Bayer Leverkusen, with surging momentum, completed a steal and launched a quick counter-attack to the front of the field.

Son Heung-min broke through on the left into the penalty area, then played a cut-back pass to the top of the arc.

Lance’s Perfect Ball Control easily faked out two defenders, creating a shooting angle to curl a shot directly into the far corner!

SC Freiburg’s goalkeeper wasn’t Manuel Neuer; he simply couldn’t have anticipated Lance creating so much shooting space with such a simple ball control and turn.

He had no time to react when Lance shot.

2-0!

Thanks to Lance’s brace, Bayer Leverkusen secured their first win after the winter break!

They took all 3 points away from home!

It’s just a pity that Bayern Munich’s dominance this season is truly strong enough.

They easily defeated Borussia M?nchengladbach 2-0 away from home.

Pep Guardiola’s tiki-taka left Borussia M?nchengladbach with no way to break the deadlock, slowly playing them to death, operating them to death.

Bayern Munich still led the Bundesliga standings by 4 points.

Lance also knew that the Bundesliga couldn’t be rushed; it wasn’t a short sprint but a long-distance race.

As long as they could stay close behind Bayern Munich, letting Bayern bear the pressure, Bayer Leverkusen would always have a chance to overtake them.

Lance was more concerned about the slight increase in fusion value from the match against SC Freiburg.

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Template: Nagi Seishiro - S (Fusion Value 98%)

Skill: Perfect Ball Control

Skill: Hardcore Shot

Skill: Mirror Learning

Rage Value: 0%

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With the fusion value so close to 100%, Lance was already impatient to fast-forward to two weeks later.

...

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Bundesliga Round 19, Bayer Leverkusen vs VfB Stuttgart.

Facing this upper-mid-table Bundesliga powerhouse, Bayer Leverkusen played a very difficult first half.

”Lars Bender!!! He tries a long-range shot himself!! But it hits a defender!”

”Bayer Leverkusen continues to organize attacks on the outside.”

”Pass to Lance!! He’s pushed down by an opposing defender outside the box!! The referee doesn’t call a foul; instead, it’s a VfB Stuttgart counter-attack!!”

”Dangerous! VfB Stuttgart quickly passes through midfield, to the right wing!”

”Timo Werner with the ball, very fast! He’s gotten past him!! One-on-one in the box!!”

”Oh, that shot!! It’s in! Timo Werner! Away team VfB Stuttgart takes the lead, scoring first!”

Huh?

No way?

Seeing this, fans supporting Lance in front of their televisions were stunned, immediately having a bad feeling.

Bayern Munich had finished their match two hours earlier.

They had slaughtered Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0 at Allianz Arena, continuing to lead the Bundesliga standings and demonstrating the dominance of the Bundesliga hegemon and quintuple winner.

The pressure was on Bayer Leverkusen.

Fans all thought that with Lance in such good form recently, defeating VfB Stuttgart would be easy.

Especially domestic fans, many of whom followed Lance to watch Bundesliga matches.

Most of them were Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, or Milan fans.

More seasoned fans were familiar with the players in their favorite league teams.

They knew which new talents were in the Premier League, which mid-table teams were strong enough, and even the star players of Premier League relegation teams.

But when it came to the Bundesliga, many only knew the lineups of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, and Bayer Leverkusen.

They didn’t know much about teams like VfB Stuttgart.

They even thought that VfB Stuttgart, ranked 10th in the Bundesliga, was some small fry they could easily bully.

...

In fact, VfB Stuttgart still had a few promising young stars in their squad.

Their frontline featured the combination of Vedad Ibi?evi? and Timo Werner.

Back in the 2008-2009 season, when promoted team TSG Hoffenheim first entered the Bundesliga, they almost overturned Bayern Munich, going on a rampage to win the Bundesliga winter championship.

Their star striker, Vedad Ibi?evi?, led the scoring charts with over 10 goals, surpassing many Bundesliga stars like Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose.

If Vedad Ibi?evi? hadn’t suffered a season-ending injury in the winter, TSG Hoffenheim might have truly had a chance to replicate the ”Kaiserslautern Miracle” and contend for the title as a promoted team.

Now at VfB Stuttgart, although Vedad Ibi?evi? still had a glass body, he always seized scoring opportunities in his limited appearances, being one of the team’s consistent scorers.

...

Additionally, the young striker Timo Werner was hailed as the future hope of the German national team.

He was the top scorer in the youth league last season.

This year, he had just been promoted to the first team, setting a new record for VfB Stuttgart’s youngest goal scorer.

Fast, with delicate dribbling and exquisite shooting, Timo Werner, nicknamed the ”Golden Scout,” was clearly the successor to Germany’s ”Golden Bomber” Jürgen Klinsmann!

It was said that Bayern Munich and several Premier League giants were already eyeing Timo Werner.

His one-on-one goal earlier demonstrated his explosiveness and finishing ability.

...

Center-back Antonio Rüdiger, only 20 years old, a 191cm tall powerhouse.

He stood in front of Lance like an iron tower, with explosive physical qualities!

VfB Stuttgart’s coaching staff had perhaps thoroughly studied Lance’s characteristics, deliberately arranging for Antonio Rüdiger to block and freeze Lance.

After several confrontations, Lance indeed couldn’t gain much advantage.

Antonio Rüdiger was not a typical stationary center-back, the kind that turns slowly.

This strong man was very fast and extremely aggressive, immediately using intense physical confrontation to press Lance’s position.

If Lance used his delicate ball control skills to get past Antonio Rüdiger and attempted to break through, Rüdiger would charge over like an animal.

He would sprint to Lance’s front at lightning speed with an incredibly bizarre running posture.

Lance was not a speed-type player like Gareth Bale, and he was quickly caught and entangled by Antonio Rüdiger.

As a result, for nearly 40 minutes of the first half, Lance found it difficult to get comfortable possession of the ball, constantly grappling with Rüdiger.

He knew very well that this guy would transfer to Chelsea and Real Madrid in the future, winning the Champions League with both teams as a starting center-back!

Playing against him could also indirectly verify what kind of effect he could achieve in high-level confrontations.

Furthermore, VfB Stuttgart, to counter Lance, specifically deployed a crazy three-defensive-midfielder system.

Christian Gentner, Rani Khedira, and Carlos Gruezo, combined with Antonio Rüdiger’s tough defense, temporarily restricted Bayer Leverkusen’s offense.

Timo Werner and Vedad Ibi?evi? in the front were responsible for counter-attacks.

VfB Stuttgart was truly not that easy to deal with!

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”One goal down in the first half, if the score remains the same, Bayer Leverkusen will be seven points behind Bayern Munich!”

Even Duan Xuan was getting anxious for Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern Munich dominating the Bundesliga and winning the championship several rounds in advance was normal.

Fans were actually content with Bayer Leverkusen climbing to 2nd place.

But Lance’s sudden emergence brought frequent surprises to Bayer Leverkusen, and fans naturally developed higher expectations.

”The first half ends. The referee did not call a foul on Antonio Rüdiger’s suspected foul, and the away team VfB Stuttgart is temporarily leading by one goal with their counter-attacks...”

”But we see that when Lance walked into the players’ tunnel, the fans in the stands all stood up and applauded him.”

”I believe the fans at BayArena, like us viewers in front of our televisions, are full of confidence in Lance. He is a big-hearted player who thrives under pressure! We look forward to Lance performing even better in the second half!”