Dominating Football with Perfect Ball Control

Chapter 232: 232. Hot pursuit!

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

----------

”This year’s Bundesliga champions will definitely be us, Bayern Munich!”

”Losing the title last year was purely an accident. I will lead Bayern Munich back to where they belong and reclaim the Bundesliga throne.”

Guardiola had been suppressing his frustration.

Previously, he wouldn’t have made such high-profile statements to the media.

Who do I think I am?

Mourinho?

Now, Guardiola was gradually showing some of Mourinho’s symptoms, appearing in front of the media more and more frequently.

Each time, he would engage in a war of words with Bayer Leverkusen from a distance.

It made Lance a bit puzzled.

What did he mean?

The direct confrontation between Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich was in early May! Close to the end of the Bundesliga season.

If the point difference between the two teams was small by then, it could become a ”Bundesliga Final” that decided the winner.

Now that it was just March, what exactly was Guardiola trying to do?

”I feel it’s probably because we beat Bayern twice last season, which embarrassed them and made Guardiola lose his cool.”

”That must be it.”

The people Bayern fans criticised most last season, besides Erik ten Hag who let Lance leave, was Guardiola.

Before he arrived, Bayern was a treble winner.

After he arrived, Bayern only had one German Cup title, and their league dominance had faltered.

And he was supposed to be a champion coach?

He had transformed the iron-blooded Bayern into something unrecognisable!

This situation even affected the Germany national team.

After winning the 2014 World Cup, the Germany national team went further and further down the path of tiki-taka, and L?w also started playing with a ”false nine” formation, which led to the Germany national team suffering an upset 2-3 loss to Scotland in a European Cup qualifier.

The world number one, the flourishing ”German Tank,” seemed to be showing signs of crumbling.

”Don’t worry about Bayern for now, let’s play our own game well.”

Seeing the players discussing Guardiola, Sascha quickly reminded them.

After Bundesliga Round 22, they were held to a 2-2 draw by Augsburg.

In Bundesliga Round 23, Bayer Leverkusen played with all their main players.

Lance still hadn’t waited for the system upgrade to complete, so he could only continue to participate using the [Bachira Meguru] template for now.

”OHHHH — Lance —”

”A beautiful breakthrough creating a golden opportunity!!”

Freiburg set up a tight defence, trying to force a draw with Bayer Leverkusen.

The first half was 0-0 until the 40th minute, and Bayer Leverkusen couldn’t find a good solution.

Unexpectedly, De Bruyne and Lance switched positions.

Lance made a cross run to the right wing, transforming into a right winger, continuously breaking through on the wing and creating threats.

This positional interchange disrupted all of the opponent’s plans!

The defending players suddenly didn’t know how to play, the defensive midfielder who was originally marking Lance tightly was forced to be pulled to the right wing, causing the central defence to be quite awkward.

With De Bruyne having no pressure in the centre, he sent several through balls, Freiburg was again forced to pull players back to defend De Bruyne, and Lance was left free again!

Before the end of the first half, De Bruyne made a no-look pass, feigning a pass to Son Heung-min on the left, but actually sending a through ball that pierced the right wing!

Upon receiving the ball, Lance made a series of dazzling feints, dribbling past the left-back and centre-back, entering the penalty area, then dribbling horizontally to shake off another centre-back, he did a bicycle kick pendulum feint to get past the goalkeeper, and scored with a narrow-angle push into an empty net!

1-0!

”Lance almost dribbled past Freiburg’s entire defence!!”

”He is simply unstoppable!”

Thanks to Lance’s sole goal in the first half, Bayer Leverkusen defeated Freiburg 1-0!

Bayer Leverkusen, relentlessly pursuing from behind, put immense pressure on Bayern Munich!

In the same round, Bayern vs Cologne, they fell behind 0-1 early on, and it was clear the whole team was out of form.

”You all! Focus on this match, don’t think about the title race!”

”If you can’t even beat Cologne, how can you contend for the title?”

”Are you living up to your worth?”

Guardiola once again exploded in the changing room, which made Thomas Müller and Thiago look a bit awkward.

”I feel the coach’s temper is getting worse and worse, it’s really suffocating.”

”No choice, Bayer Leverkusen is chasing too closely, the coach is also under pressure.”

With Bayern Munich’s morale dampened, it was Lewandowski who stepped up.

He scored two consecutive goals, and Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Cologne 2-1, maintaining their 5-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga table.

”Lewandowski! What is your motivation for playing? Why is your form so excellent today?”

Facing the camera, Lewandowski seemed to want to see through the screen to that Asian man.

”Because I have an opponent I want to surpass. This season, no matter what, I will surpass him!”

Lewandowski was beaten twice by Lance last season, and after transferring to Bayern this season, he hoped to get revenge with Bayern!

Lance didn’t even realise that the future ”world’s best striker,” Lewandowski, who had hopes of winning the Ballon d’Or, would have his biggest opponent be himself?

Bundesliga Round 24, 4 days before the Champions League knockout stage, Bayer Leverkusen played away against Paderborn.

The coaching staff had originally planned to leave Lance out of the squad, as Lance needed to rest and conserve energy for the tough match against Atlético Madrid.

But Lance approached the coaching staff:

”Coach, I want to play.”

”But...”

”Forget it, let him play.”

Sascha Lewandowski ultimately made the decision.

To be honest, Bayer Leverkusen had no room for error. If they lost to Paderborn again, Bayer Leverkusen would pretty much be out of the title race.

”As expected of Lance, so responsible!”

”Exactly, he’s such a good lad.”

Whilst the two coaches were praising Lance, his goal was actually very simple.

To try to participate in more matches, to try and speed up the system upgrade as quickly as possible.

”It’s too slow, even slower than downloading small films from a cloud drive!”

At least give me a progress bar for the system upgrade!

Even if it’s stuck at 99% to trick me, that’s fine!

But the system panel just kept showing [System upgrading... Please wait!]!

Waiting a week is waiting, waiting a month is waiting, waiting a year, waiting 20 years is also waiting.

”It can’t really take several years, can it?” Lance couldn’t help but mutter.

He could only try to activate it by playing more matches.

”Bayer Leverkusen, whose recent match form has been somewhat inconsistent, looks pretty good today.”

”Harry Maguire is back in the starting lineup, looking much more solid... Good!! Maguire!! A well-timed block and tackle!! Extremely calm!!”

Seeing this scene, PPTV Bundesliga commentator Zhan Jun was very pleased.

He hadn’t been too optimistic about Maguire initially, with ”battleship turning” and ”clumsy Maguire” becoming memes.

But today, his defence was surprisingly unfamiliar; Maguire led the defence to form a solid wall.

The opponent couldn’t even threaten the goalkeeper, as Maguire mostly neutralised everything.

Paderborn’s few counter-attacking opportunities couldn’t get past Maguire, so Bayer Leverkusen naturally had to retaliate!

In the 75th minute of the second half, Paderborn was about to run down the clock.

Maguire finally exerted himself, and after winning the ball, he showcased his passing ability!

He pushed forward to the centre circle and sent a through ball directly into the middle!

Firmino received the ball with his back to goal, and with a backheel pass, Lance surged in from the side, dribbled into the penalty area, and curled a shot directly into the far corner!

”Lance’s shot!!”

”The ball is in!! Lance helped Bayer Leverkusen secure the 3 points!”

”They are still chasing Bayern Munich!”

Lance had almost given up hope, he planned to use the [Bachira Meguru] template to face the upcoming tough match against Atlético Madrid.

Just during the post-match interview, the long-awaited notification sound finally rang out!

[System upgrade successful!]

[Please explore the new features!]