Chapter 339 The Value of Tiger

Tiger returned to Spain with a wry smile.

Jones's sharp mouth is no less than his style on the court. Tiger confuses to make a cameo role in the movie "Infernal Lineup" that he is preparing to shoot for the future, and will also become one of the investors in this movie...

"This guy is such a versatile guy." Tiger thought to himself, but no one could deny that Jones, who looked extremely ferocious, was actually a very likable person off the court. At least he had many friends, and even if he was fooled by him, he would think it was a very interesting thing.

After returning to Spain, Valencia's second half of the season will soon begin. Compared with the first half of the season, the schedule for the second half of the season will be more intensive. In the twenty-one rounds of the league, at least four rounds of the Champions League, plus the Spanish Cup, Valencia will play no less than 30 games in the second half of the season. Coupled with the impact of the national team, there may be a one-week double game in about half of the week. Valencia's main lineup is very complete, but the substitute lineup is slightly weak.

After the team re-concentrated, Cooper checked the players' physical condition, which made him very satisfied. During the last ten days of rest, Valencia's players did not seem to have completely relaxed, and none of them had a significant increase in weight.

On January 4, Valencia welcomed Celta, who was ranked third at home. However, the result of this game made Cooper know that although the players did not increase in weight, their condition seemed a bit stable. Celta's Russian midfielder Karl tie performed well. He and another Russian midfielder Mostovoyv supported Celta's midfield and fought fiercely with Valencia in the midfield.

Russian players, or former Soviet players, have both technical abilities and excellent physical confrontation skills. Although the former Soviet football team did not achieve any particularly outstanding results, it is also a strong team that cannot be ignored in Europe and even the world. Carpin and Mostovoyv were naturally outstanding in being the absolute main force in Celta. They have excellent skills and physical fitness, and they did not fall at a disadvantage in the confrontation with Valencia players.

Although Tiger assisted Hrad with a corner kick to the team's first record, Carpin created several opportunities next time, and even helped defender Velasco equalize the score with an assist in the second half. Valencia's defense made a mistake in this conceding goal. At that time, Velasco actually had no chance. However, Pellegrino, who rushed to the scene, was drowned by Velasco, and then his left foot shot over Palop, who had a slow reaction, equalized the score for Celta.

In the following game, Valencia launched a tide attack. However, after the winter break, most players obviously had not returned to the rhythm of the game quickly. The most obvious thing is that in terms of running rhythm, other players who had gradually formed a tacit understanding with Tiger began to be a little out of tune with Tiger again.

Valencia's mistakes in the frontcourt pass organization were increasing, which made Tiger smile a little bitterly. However, his condition was not very good in this game. When he saw his teammates were in average, Tiger planned to use personal breakthroughs to create opportunities, but he failed to turn the tide like he did when he played against Manchester United. No matter how good the player sometimes needs some luck on the court. It is obvious that Tiger and Valencia's luck in this game was not very good.

In the end, the game ended with a draw, Valencia continued to rank sixth. La Liga this season was in chaos. La Coruna is now ranked first, Real Zaragoza is ranked second, and Celta is ranked third - Barcelona and Real Madrid are ranked fourth and fifth respectively.

After this round of the game, Valencia immediately went to challenge Zaragoza away, and was another strong opponent ranked second.

Valencia's players continued to be in moderation. In this game, although Tiger created a penalty kick through a breakthrough at the beginning and Mendeta scored a penalty, the next time the target of the defense line was not tight, Juaniré and Milosevic of Zaragoza scored two headers in a row. After the second half, Tiger and Mendeta cooperated with one pass and one, and then broke into the penalty area and pushed the ball into the far corner to tie the score again, but they could only score one point.

The two consecutive draws after the winter break allowed Cooper to see the team's bench not deep. Once some of the main players are in poor condition, it will be difficult for other players to stand up. The competitive players in the substitute lineup are nothing more than Alberda, Angulo and Juan Sanchez. It is difficult for other players to form combat power when they come on as a substitute. For a team that needs to fight on the third line, the current lineup is obviously not enough.

However, the players are in poor condition now, which is much better than the poor condition after the Champions League rekindles the war.

So in a Spanish Cup of Dec three days later, Cooper still sent most of the main players in the game to slowly restore their form. Valencia eventually lost to Espanyol and was eliminated from the quarterfinals of the Cup of Dec.

Valencia didn't care much about this ending. Their goals for this season were all in the Champions League. Even in the league, Cooper's goal was only enough to keep the top four. The most important thing is to concentrate on achieving outstanding results in the Champions League.

In fact, before the winter break, Cooper still wanted to do something in the league, but the two consecutive draws gave him the idea of ​​winning the league championship. La Coruña's performance this season is too outstanding and is now leading Valencia by as much as thirteen points. They are not distracted from European competitions. In this case, the league can only strive to grab more points and then focus on the Champions League. After all, Valencia's situation in the Champions League is still quite good.

In the 20th round, Valencia successfully revenges at home. Relying on Tiger's second half goal, they defeated the Espanyol, who had just eliminated themselves from the Copa del Rey at home, 2-1. However, a week later, they encountered another away game and were tied by Santander Athletics zero-to-zero, and their points were barely climbed to fifth place.

After the winter break, Valencia's ups and downs in the league made them leave the league championship group route. However, after the last game in January, their condition began to improve. They won three consecutive league games, defeating Alaves and Valladolid in two away games, defeating Real Betis three-to-one at home, and after nine points in a row, Valencia's ranking also rose to third place, but there is still a certain distance from the top two La Coruna and Barcelona, ​​especially La Coruna. Their recent state has almost reached its peak, and they have shown their outstanding form before being beaten by Real Madrid five-to-two at home.

Real Madrid has been in bad luck this season. Although they replaced Turkey's head coach Toshak and let local coach Bosque lead the team, their condition has not improved. Although they are still ranked fourth, Valencia has also left the three-point gap, and the league championship is even more hopeless.

Barcelona and La Coruña were at the top of the list, while Valencia and Real Madrid had already begun to focus on the Champions League game. In the Valencia home game against Real Madrid on February 20, the two sides hid a lot of main players, and finally played a boring zero-to-zero game. Both Cooper and Bosque had already focused on the Champions League game that began ten days later...

On February 24, Valencia defeated weak team Numancia away. Tiger and Lopez were replaced in the first half. Cooper has already started preparing for the next trip to Italy.

However, in the world, there are some things that the more you prepare, the more likely you will miss it. Cooper has done enough effort to give players enough rest, but Valencia suffered his first defeat in the Champions League this season at Frankie Stadium...

Mijatovic, who once played for Valencia, helped Fiorentina defeat Valencia 1-0 at home in the 20th minute. Although after falling behind, Valencia controlled the situation on the field and continued to attack, he still failed to score a goal - Fiorentina goalkeeper Tordo is one of the best players on the court. He blocked Tiger's must-scoring goal three times in the game. In the 40th minute of the first half, Tiger's long-range shot at the front of the penalty area was magically saved by Tordo. In the 50th minute, Tiger's powerful shot in the penalty area was almost subconsciously stretched out his hand to lift the crossbar. In the 68th minute, Tiger's volley was hit by Tordo and almost saved it...

In addition to Tiger, Lopez, Mendeta and Ilier, who came on the bench, all had good chances to score, but they were still defeated by the efforts of the Fiorentine defenders and Tordo's magical performance, and they could only accept the fate of failure in the end.

After this game, Fiorentina rose to the top of the standings with seven points, Valencia and Manchester United both ranked second and third in four points, and Bordeaux ranked last in one point.

"We are not very lucky, but we still have a chance next time. What we have to do now is to quickly get out of the failure." Cooper said helplessly after the game.

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After returning from Italy, Valencia began closed training. They knew that the fourth round of the Champions League in a week will be the turning point of their season. If they cannot win, it will be difficult to qualify from this group. In a sense, this game will be Valencia's most important game so far this season.

Cooper didn't blame the players, but Valencia's players knew that they had indeed reached a point where they could be called a life-and-death juncture.

They have given up on the King's Cup and the league has almost given up. To be successful this season, the Champions League is their only path.

For Valencia, whose condition has been fluctuating after the winter break, they have no way out!

The outbreak under this situation proves that Valencia is not a stable team. However, the outbreak under this situation proves that Valencia is a team with great potential!

Before the life-and-death battle against Fiorentina at home, Valencia had a league game. In this game, Cooper never had any reservations and sent all the main players to play in this game!

The away loss to Fiorentina made Cooper know that he had made a mistake. He had always let the main players take turns to rest, but the player's condition was not achieved by rest, but by playing! Only in the game can the player's condition be fully displayed!

Valencia, who had been calm in the previous game, broke out completely in this situation. In the next round of the league, they easily defeated Athletic Bilbao, who had defeated themselves two goals at home. Mendeta, a player of Basque blood, made a pass and shot. He joined forces with Tiger to help Valencia defeat Athletic Bilbao and won this league that can be called a life-and-death battle preview!

On March 7, the day before International Women's Day, Valencia welcomed Fiorentina at home.

More than 3,000 Fiorentine fans who came from afar have become a drop in the ocean at Mestalia Stadium. Amid the shouts of countless Valencia fans wearing white Valencia home jerseys, although they were shouting continuously, they still could not cheer for their team through the huge noise.

Fiorentina is also the main players in this game. Although they are now ranked first in the standings, they have to challenge Valencia and Manchester United away in a row. At least if they lose to Valencia and Manchester United beat Bordeaux in this round of the league, the points of the three teams will be seven points, and being tied by Bordeaux will become their flaw. Therefore, for Fiorentina, at least one point must be obtained to ensure that they have the advantage in the next game.

Valencia faces greater pressure. They cannot accept the result of the draw in this game. Only by winning can they take the initiative in their hands - after all, the next round will be a contest between Fiorentina and Manchester United, while their opponent is Bordeaux, who is relatively weak...

When a Serie A team is fully defying their defense, how difficult is their goal to open? The last game seemed to be evidence. In that game, Valencia's world was the world in the second half. They created five to six decisive opportunities, but they didn't score a single goal.

From the beginning, this game seemed to be developing in this direction.

Tiger's long shot, Mödita's long shot, Farinos' long shot... Fiorentina defended the penalty area extremely tightly, and Valencia could only create opportunities through continuous long shots. However, Tordo continued his previous good form. Facing the long shots of Valencia players with good angles, Tordo unafraid of resolving them one by one, while Mijatovic and Batistuta kept looking for opportunities in the frontcourt. Rui Costa's existence can form a complete counterattack lineup, which also made Valencia dare not press too much.

Cooper watched the game without saying a word, with his expression seemingly calm, but he is more anxious than anyone else. After all, although Valencia took office, although the performance pressure was not great, the ups and downs of this season will inevitably lead to some people nitpicking that he, the coach, did not do the right thing, so he hopes to win this game and continue the team's hope in the Champions League!

Tiger kept running on the court, and the defensive system of the Serie A team was indeed the only one in the world. Although the defenders of Fiorentina are not top Italian defenders, they still brought him a lot of trouble - the defenders who have been constantly causing trouble for offensive players may only be produced in Serie A.

The defender who aims to destroy and cause trouble is basically only available in Italy, and in other leagues, such defenders are rare.

But at this time, it is indeed the time when Tiger exerts his abilities.

As he continued running, Tiger finally discovered the flaws on the Fiorentine defense line. In their three-back system, there was a certain gap between Adani and Repka. Repka was tall, but there was little room for almost no gap as Italian defenders. When he put it on to defend, he would occasionally relax.

After realizing this, Tiger made a gesture to his teammates "pass the ball to me", and then began to constantly look for opportunities in the penalty area.

In the 38th minute, this opportunity finally came.

Caboni, who had assisted, took the ball, Mindieta, Kili and others ran in the midfield and opened the front defense of Fiorentina's penalty area. Tiger turned his back to the goal and made a hidden action to ask for the ball.

Caboni did not hesitate and immediately passed the ball straight, stuffing the ball directly from the midfield to Tiger's feet in the penalty area!

Tiger took the ball, and Repka touched it from behind. Tiger made the move immediately, sinking his left shoulder, seducing Repka's center of gravity to the right, and then quickly turned to the left!

This time, Repka's attention was indeed distracted. Tiger successfully found the gap to turn around, and the gap to shoot was revealed while turning around!

Tiger knew that he had no extra time to waste, and while turning around, Tiger had already pulled the ball hard on his right foot!

In this extremely hasty shot, Tiger accurately controlled the angle of the shot, and the ball flew directly to the near point of the goal, which was still a shooting route that was flying upwards!

Although Toldo made a save, he still failed to touch the ball for this close and sudden shot!

When the ball hit the net and swung high into the sky, the cheers of the commentators on the Mestalia Stadium sounded from the stands!

In this case, Tiger's value began to truly reveal!
Chapter completed!