Football: Messi, I am your wallbreaker!

Chapter 72 A resounding victory over Lazio

[Hidden Mission: A resounding victory over Lazio.]

In European competitions, where the margin for error is extremely low, the two-legged format is full of too many variables.

Lazio's home stadium, the Stadio Olimpico, has always been known for its fervor and underhanded tactics.

Li Jing knew this very well.

The importance of securing the hidden attribute "Iron Man," which can forcibly reset all physical fatigue.

The next opponent is not a pushover, but Manchester United and Manchester City, who were relegated from the Champions League in an upset – the Manchester giants!

Rooney, Van Persie, Aguero, David Silva!

These monsters at their peak are all clustered together in the Europa League.

In addition, La Liga already has a very tight schedule, and if multiple competitions start at the same time...

The "Iron Man" is absolutely crucial.

One short.

Just this one last ball is all it takes to guarantee the prize! We can't stop!

The opponent will definitely make a desperate last-ditch effort, so we must take advantage of their unstable footing and score another goal to bring the score to four-nil. Li Jing walked to the center circle.

He bent down, gripped the ball in his right hand, and firmly pressed it onto the white service dot.

opposite.

Lazio's defensive midfielder Ledesma stared intently at the ball on the ground, his chest heaving violently.

This is like taking a dump on someone's head!

He turned and shouted at Hernanes beside him.

"Down by three goals and still going to go into the goal to retrieve the ball? What does this kid take us for?"

Ledesma gritted his teeth, "Are we fucking punching bags?"

This is simply trampling the pride of Serie A giants into the mud with the soles of their shoes!

Hernanes was equally furious.

!

He wiped the rain off his face haphazardly with his right hand, then reached out with his left hand and grabbed the sleeve of the passing defender, Radu.

"If he dares to dribble the ball past midfield, no matter where he is!"

"Go straight for the body!"

"Get him and the ball out of bounds! I refuse to believe we can't break his rhythm!"

Radu nodded, his face dark: "Don't worry, as long as he steps into the penalty area, I'll keep him out, even if it means getting a red card!"

Lazio's defense was completely ignited by this ball-placement move.

The match time moved to the 78th minute.

The referee glanced at his watch and blew the whistle to resume the game.

The whistle had barely blown when Lazio kicked off from the center circle, abandoning all attempts to pass the ball around in their own half and launching a furious, high-profile counter-attack.

East Stand, away team area.

Originally, there were two or three hundred Lazio fans wearing blue raincoats. Due to the despairing score of 3-0, they had already lowered their heads and were preparing to turn around and leave the passageway down the steps.

A short-haired fan suddenly stopped and pointed at the field, shouting.

"etc!"

"Hernanes is pushing forward! If we can pull one back from the away goal, we'll have a chance to turn things around!"

Upon hearing the noise, the group of Lazio fans immediately turned around and ran back to the metal railing in front of them.

The short-haired fan held his hands to his mouth like a megaphone and shouted at the top of his lungs in the rain.

"Push forward! Just one more goal and we still have hope!"

The sound immediately broke the previously lifeless atmosphere, and a unified shout rang out again from the away team's stands, with the blue team flag waving once more.

On the field.

Hearing the shouts coming from the away stands, Hernanes dribbled the ball forcefully past the center circle.

Facing the encirclement of Atletico Madrid midfielder Gabi and others, he used the instep of his right foot to forcefully pass the ball to Candreva, who was making a high-speed run down the right flank.

Candreva received the ball on the right sideline, without slowing down at all.

He stepped on the grass, creating a series of tiny splashes of water.

Atletico Madrid's left-back Filipe Luis immediately stepped forward, ready to use his strong body to block him out of bounds.

Just as the two were about to collide at the critical distance.

Candreva subtly flicked the ball with the tip of his right foot at the bottom of the ball.

The ball barely cleared Filipe's outstretched right leg in mid-air.

Candreva completely ignored the mud under his feet and forcefully overtook the car from the outside of the sideline. He sprinted along the baseline, hugging the edge of the white line of the coach's bench.

The flank was instantly breached!

Candreva broke into the right edge of the penalty area.

The Lazio fans in the stands held their breath. Candreva didn't choose to send a high cross to find a header, but instead used the instep of his right foot to power the shot.

He delivered a very fast triangular back pass, close to the grass.

Veteran Klose displayed the terrifying goal-scoring instinct of a world-class striker. He used his extensive experience in off-the-ball movement to execute an extremely clever lateral movement that beat the offside trap.

It completely bypassed Atletico Madrid center-back Godin's defensive blind spot!

Klose stretched out his right foot and controlled the ball steadily in front of him.

A fantastic one-on-one opportunity for Courtois, who is completely one-on-one with the goalkeeper!

Courtois was shocked and immediately rushed out of his goal. The tall goalkeeper spread his arms wide, trying to use his massive body to block the last shooting angle.

Klose remained remarkably calm, adjusting his breathing slightly. His right leg was already raised high, his gaze locked on the far corner, ready to fire a shot.

That's the distance to a sure goal!

At this critical moment.

A muddy figure wearing a white jersey with the number 13, accompanied by a piercing whistle, sped from the edge of the penalty area back to the edge of the six-yard box.

Li Jing's long legs kicked off the slippery grass.

There was no slowdown.

He flew out sideways, his left leg sliding along the grass for a full two meters.

Large splashes of muddy water mixed with white streaks were generated.

In the half-second gap when Klose's instep was about to touch the ball.

Li Jing's metal studs made precise contact with the side of the ball first.

"Bang!"

The ball was forcefully pushed out of bounds by this extremely brutal force.

Klose, due to the immense inertia from grabbing the defenses with his hands and feet, was unable to maintain his balance.

The extreme crisis at the door was resolved in an instant!

Li Jing rolled over and stood up, casually brushing off the large clumps of mud from his basketball shorts.

Lazio's fans went silent again!

The tiny flame that had just begun to rise was immediately extinguished.

The match has reached the 82th minute.

Lazio prepares to take a corner kick from the right.

This was practically their only chance in the second half.

In an effort to secure this away goal, Lazio's three tall center-backs all abandoned their defensive positions in the backfield.

This was an utterly unreasonable, desperate tactic, with the entire defensive line pushing into Atletico Madrid's penalty area, leaving only one full-back to drop back near the center circle.

A dozen or so burly men were crammed into the small restricted area. Their muscles collided, and they pulled at each other.

The corner kick is taken.

The ball flew towards the far post with an extremely strong inward spin.

Atletico Madrid center-back Miranda leaped high amidst the crowd, firmly marking the Lazio center-back. He then powerfully headed the ball towards the edge of the penalty area.

A muffled "bang" was heard.

The ball landed perfectly at Gabi's feet at the edge of the penalty area.

Gabi chested the ball down and controlled it.

He looked up and glanced at Lazio's wide-open, expansive backline.

Gabi powered through with his right foot, delivering a long, clean through ball without any hesitation.

The ball skimmed across half the field, leaving a trail of water, and headed straight for the open area in front of the goal.

Falcao, who was originally hovering near the center circle, immediately started moving.

He strode after the ball with long strides.

The prolonged pressure from positional play in the attacking third made everyone forget Atletico Madrid's forte: counter-attacking pressure.

Falcao dribbles the ball at breakneck speed.

Lazio's last remaining defender desperately chased back, waving his arms frantically in an attempt to pull him away, but Falcao completely outpaced him by two full body lengths.

We simply can't catch up!

Falcao dribbled into the penalty area.

Facing the hastily charged goalkeeper Marchetti, Falcao calmly flicked his right ankle upwards.

There was no powerful shot, no sideways movement.

An incredibly delicate chip shot.

The ball traced an extremely desperate parabola in mid-air, just barely clearing Marchetti's desperately outstretched fingertips.

"Whoosh!"

The football nestled into the empty net, curling up the white netting.

The scoreboard is ticking.

4: 0!

This caused an uproar throughout the entire Calderon Stadium.

A huge cheer pierced the night sky over Madrid.

The corner in the east grandstand where they made bets.

Two seats are now available!

This is at least one of the more civilized parts of Europe.

After the two finished their bird-walking and milking, they were naturally asked to leave the field!

They missed out on that final goal!

-

Let's shift our focus back to the sidelines.

Atletico Madrid's home team control area.

Simeone, who had been tense all game, completely relaxed the moment the ball fell into the net.

He bent down and pulled a white towel for wiping sweat directly from the net bag under the tactical board.

The old man held the towel at both ends and swung it wildly in circles above his head, causing rainwater to splash everywhere.

Simeone turned his head and burst out laughing at the substitutes' bench behind him.

"it's over!"

"Wuhu!"

The assistant coach and substitutes breathed a long sigh of relief, and dozens of burly men rushed over and huddled together in the mud.

However, the scene was quite the opposite in front of the away team's coaching bench, just a few dozen meters away.

Lazio coach Petkovic looked ashen-faced.

His carefully styled hair had been ruined by the rain and was now lying limply on his scalp.

He gripped his chin tightly with both hands, his brows furrowed into a deep "川" shape.

Trailing by four goals means there is almost no chance of a comeback even when playing at home.

That's so embarrassing.

Petkovic turned around and shouted at the bewildered Lazio players on the field, who had even lost their positions.

"Withdraw everything!"

"Retreat back to the penalty area to defend!"

Petkovic finally faced reality, his voice hoarse, "Ledesma, watch your position! Don't charge forward anymore!"

What do you mean by away goals, what do you mean by a desperate fight?

In this completely overwhelming situation, all that remains is the tragic sentiment of considering a smaller loss as a victory.

This defensive instruction signaled the complete demise of Lazio's offensive prowess.

The match progressed to the 85th minute.

The situation has completely turned into a one-sided, garbage time.

The referee blew the whistle to signal a dead ball.

The fourth official, holding the electronic substitution board, strode to the midfield line. He raised the board, and the red number light illuminated.

Number 13!

Simeone made the final substitution, which was also a way of showing the utmost respect to protect his key players.

Simeone patted the shoulder of Mario Suarez, the substitute defensive midfielder who had already warmed up, and pushed him toward the sideline.

"Go up there. Replace the guys in the attacking third, tighten the defense, and hold on for these last few minutes." The old man said casually.

Inside the venue.

Li Jinggang kicked a ball that had rolled out of bounds to the caddie. He turned his head and saw number 13 on the electronic board.

He stopped, raised his left hand, and gently wiped away the raindrops that were about to flow into his eyes from his chin.

His chest rose and fell slightly.

Li Jing turned around, facing the more than 30,000 fans in the stadium, and strode slowly towards the sidelines.

In the stands.

The South Stand's die-hard section. A bearded fan, with one foot on the metal railing, held his megaphone high above his head.

"Stand up!" The bearded man's hoarse voice echoed through the stands. "Everyone stand up! For the heroes of Atlético Madrid!"

30,000 Atlético Madrid fans.

Regardless of age or gender, everyone stood up in unison from their plastic seats, creating a giant wave of red and white on the stands.

Thunderous applause swept through Calderón and lasted for a long time. Even the continuous rain could not drown out this boiling applause.

"plum!!!"

The resounding shouts shook the heavens. This was the top-tier treatment earned through sheer force and power.

Li Jing walked to the sidelines.

He raised his hand and gave a strong high five to Mario Suarez, who was about to take the field.

"It's up to you," Li Jing said.

Simone stepped forward and opened his thick arms.

Simone didn't mind Li Jing being covered in mud and gave him a big, warm hug.

He patted Li Jing's back forcefully with his large palm.

"Well done. Get some rest!" Simone's face was full of smiles.

Li Jing smiled as well.

He released Simone, took a dry white towel from the assistant coach next to him, and casually draped it around his neck.

Everyone in the front row of the substitutes' bench was standing.

Li Jing walked around them and sat down on a bench in the corner.

He casually pulled a bottle of mineral water, still damp with water droplets, from the ice bucket under the bench.

I unscrewed the plastic bottle cap, tilted my head back, and gulped down a large mouthful. The icy water flowed down my throat, greatly relieving the burning sensation in my muscles.

He leaned back in the thick chair, his breathing gradually calming down.

The moment I close my eyes.

A semi-transparent system notification popped up on my retina right on time.

The pale gold lettering kept swirling before Li Jing's eyes.

[Hidden Mission: A 4-0 victory over Lazio. Completed!]

[Hidden attribute Iron Man reward! Already issued!]

[Severe physical exertion and muscle lactic acid buildup detected in the host]

[Iron Man attribute activated: After the next sleep, all negative fatigue statuses will be forcibly cleared! Stamina restored to 100%]

Peak capacity!