We agreed to play football together, and you will be the head coach?

Chapter 11: First battle against Italian Serie A team (seeking follow-up reading)

Unexpectedly, Palermo's players failed to adapt to this warm atmosphere and failed to enter the game state in time.

After He Tianqi's adjustments, Palermo players performed slightly better.

The two sides engaged in a tug of war.

In the 13th minute, a through pass from Perugia's midfield was intercepted by Chiellini.

In the 19th minute, Perugia's midfielder broke through with the ball and Chiellini made an accurate steal.

In the 27th minute, Chiellini used his body to suppress "Little Maradona" Miccoli, allowing the defender to get the ball calmly.

In the 36th minute, Chiellini raised his foot to block Miccoli's long shot.

Today’s “little reason” is like a solid wall of steel, completely watertight.

However, Palermo's attack did not work accordingly.

Although their midfield core DiDonato frequently came to the right to cooperate with Ribery, Perugia's defense was very smart and they focused on double-teaming Ribery.

DiDonato, who got the chance, was slow in handling the key ball, which gave Perugia ample time to adjust and prevented them from creating any threat.

After 40 minutes of stalemate, Perugia found it difficult to penetrate the midfield, so they switched to the flanks.

In the 44th minute, Grosso used his height advantage to carry the ball, then advanced on the left and made a cross.

Unfortunately, Perugia's center forward was not tall and was cleared by Vidic.

In the end, Perugia was 1:0 ahead of Palermo in the first half.

There was little to be said for both sides.

The biggest highlight was the defensive midfielder Chiellini on the lagging side.

His performance in this game was completely different from before.

In the second half, the shocking "He-style substitution" appeared again.

Modric came on again at halftime.

However, this time it was not DiDonato who was replaced, but left midfielder Brianza.

DiDonato came to the wing and played as left midfielder.

Modric is in the middle, playing as the core of the midfield.

"In this case, doesn't our left side have any threat at all?" Ashley Young said quickly.

DiDonato is indeed stronger than Brienza, but in terms of the left midfielder position, the latter is better and at least faster.

He Tianqi likes this kind of eager-to-learn student: "Have we had any training on the left side in the past few days?"

Ashley Young shook her head.

Let alone training on the left side.

He is the only left-wing player, and He Tianqi has sent him to the right wing to practice several times in the past few days.

"If we were playing in Serie A, we would have to attack from both wings because our opponents are very strong," He Tianqi said as he looked at the field. "But in lower-level leagues, we only need one explosive point to defeat our opponents."

"One wing is enough!"

Just then, exclamations were heard all around.

It turned out that Ribery on the field had already started his personal performance. He forced his way out from the double-team of two Perugia players and made a cross from the bottom.

boom!
pity!

Perugia's central defender defended steadily and headed the ball out of the penalty area.

But Modric, who had just hit the wall and cooperated with Ribery, happened to arrive in that area.

He looked into the penalty area.

Filippo is in an offside position.

Arturo is not offside, he is reaching for the ball, but Perugia's defenders are moving towards him, two of them.

At this moment, Modric faced a choice.

Giving the ball to Arturo was a reasonable choice, but he felt that with Arturo's ability, there was a high probability that he would not be able to convert this pass into a shot.

This is a "threatening pass" that looks good on the surface, but is actually not very threatening.

A midfielder who cares about stats will pass the ball this way.

But Modric won't.

For people like them who live in war-torn areas, if they fail to kill the opponent, they will definitely be killed by the opponent.

He needs a teammate who can threaten the opponent's goal more.

In the blink of an eye, Modric found it!

He saw Ribery's run.

But at the same time he hesitated.

Because if Ribery didn't run as he expected, then his pass would be seen as an "inexplicable" mistake in the eyes of outsiders. The kind that would be ridiculed by thousands of people.

Like the ones he suffered at Dinamo Zagreb.

"Ribery! Luca! Give it to Ribery!"

At the critical moment, Modric heard the command from the sidelines.

His brain hadn't figured it out yet, but his body had already reacted.

boom!
Modric looked at Arturo on the left side of the penalty area, poked the ball with his toes, and the football jumped high and flew to the deep right side of the penalty area.

There was no one there.

In the stands, countless fans uttered "WTF" insults.

But the next moment, a pink figure rushed over.

boom!
Ribery hit his head.

The football suddenly changed direction and bounced into the goal.

Perugia's goalkeeper and center back were unable to react at all.

"GOAL!" He Tianqi excitedly clenched his fist and celebrated on the sidelines.

With his reminder, the Pink Eagles fans at the scene woke up as if from a dream and celebrated enthusiastically.

"GOAL!"

"Incredible movement! Incredible goal!"

"One to one! Palermo equalized the score!"

"Modric's pass was inexplicable, but Ribery's movement was magical!"

"After delivering the cross, he slipped into the box along the baseline and the Perugia centre-backs completely missed him."

"No one could have imagined that a wing attacker would rush deep into the penalty area!"

Palermo celebrates happily.

The camera turned to Ribery.

But few people noticed that Modric, who provided the assist, ran towards He Tianqi.

"Well done, Luca!" He Tianqi hugged Modric.

"You guided me!" Modric laughed, "I heard your voice!"

He Tianqi shook his head: "No, no, no, Luca, that is the voice in your heart."

"You had already made the preparatory moves before I gave the order."

"That's an opportunity that only you and I can see."

"Believe in your own eyes and believe in my judgment of you, Luca, you are an excellent midfielder. Keep playing with such confidence!"

Modric nodded heavily.

……

Palermo's goal stimulated Perugia.

They are a Serie A team, but now they can't even get fifth place in Serie C?
You dare to resist?
Perugia's players launched a violent attack.

In the 58th minute, the brave Vidic stepped forward and physically blocked the world-class goal from the opponent's midfield.

He lay on the ground for dozens of seconds after being hit.

People thought he was going to fail, but he finally persevered.

In the 64th minute, Chiellini made a precise tackle and completed a risky defense outside the penalty area.

This game greatly boosted his confidence.

Generally speaking, there are two types of players who are good at tackling.

One is to be much faster than the opponent, and speed is the only way to be defeated.

For example, Manchester United defender Wan-Bissaka.

The other reason is that their level is much higher than that of their opponent, so they have enough confidence in tackling.

For example, there are a series of excellent defenders such as Maldini, Cannavaro, Ramos, etc.

Chiellini now belongs to the latter.

His level may not be much higher than the other party, but he is very confident now.

The “backer” positioning allowed him to easily steal and intercept the ball too many times.

But soon, problems arose.

(End of this chapter)