The moment he saw Cristiano Ronaldo score, Santos was of course extremely excited.
He first hugged the coaching staff tightly, and then clenched his fists and waved to his fans to vent his emotions.
In such a crucial final, scoring a goal in the first 20 minutes was undoubtedly an extremely wonderful start for Portugal.
He was always worried that the Swedish team would score first, and then he would hit his counterattack steadily with the wrong leg. Then Portugal's situation would be very bad.
But that's different now.
Portugal has the goal advantage, but they can pull back their front line and play their best defensive counterattack, which will give Pan Yi and the Swedes a headache!
That also gave Santos great confidence: he can really lead the Portuguese team to create history tomorrow!
But soon, Cristiano Ronaldo fell to the ground and Santos was like a bucket of cold water poured from head to toe.
After waiting for a while with a sense of luck, he finally realized that his superstar captain was really going to be injured.
That is undoubtedly bad news.
Does Santos know how much Cristiano Ronaldo asked the Portuguese team?
The first thing he did when he took charge of the Portuguese team was to establish a good relationship with Ronaldo. This would be the foundation for him to gain a foothold in that team.
Otherwise, the locker room won’t be able to hold it back and everything they say will be nonsense.
And even if the mental factors are excluded, just talking about the technical role of the field, even though Ronaldo no longer has any individual explosive ability, his shooting skills and header ability are still not the top level in the world. The key is
There is always time to help Portugal.
No, Ronaldo just opened the scoring for Portugal with a powerful shot.
But now there is no other way, so we can trade him.
In fact, Santos himself is a little worried about Ronaldo's physical condition, because he has indeed played too many games and there are always hidden dangers from old injuries.
However, due to Cristiano Ronaldo's demanding nature, Santos has never dared to let him fight, and will not even trade him, which aggravates the injury.
Didn’t I expect that Ronaldo would be injured just 20 minutes into the final...
What's more, I didn't expect it to happen in such a way.
Injured after celebrating? Well, that's a bit outrageous.
I guess that "SIU" jumped a little too high and his knees couldn't hold it when he fell...
Soon, assistant coach Valle had called Quaresma to Santos' side.
The forward who is called "the best instep in Tiandong" by fans has a wild and free-spirited style of play. His passing and shooting with the instep is his unique skill and trademark. This is where the nickname "Wild Horse" comes from.
At that time, Quaresma and Cristiano Ronaldo were both the pride of Lisbon. Compared with Ronaldo, who was young at the time, Quaresma was more favored by the team in the East and soon became a core player.
Although he is currently playing in the Turkish league like Nani, his technical skills are not there.
His foot skills are good and delicate, and his dribbling has a leisurely feel; he is not very fast, but has full explosive power; he has a good sense of forward penetration and a strong sense of shooting;
Of course, his most distinctive feature is his extremely flexible right instep.
Quaresma can often use the instep of his right foot to create or draw a good arc, drive in from the right side of the penalty area and rub the left corner of the goal with his right instep. He can also use this kind of footwork to pass key balls.
In this European Cup, although he is basically a substitute, he has also played in all seven games tomorrow, so he can be said to be the number one offensive player on the front line.
Now that Cristiano Ronaldo is injured, Quaresma is of course asking for help.
"Let me tell you, Jie Donglai, please move back a little and don't press so close!" Santos ordered.
Valais also added: "Wrong, please come back a little. It's too dangerous to keep pressing on. They have a bargaining chip now, don't fight them desperately!"
At the same time, Ronaldo was also carried away on a stretcher.
The Portuguese fans in the audience gave their captain warm applause to show their support.
There were even a lot of neutral fans and Swedish fans there.
After all, on the stage of the European Cup final, no one wants to see an injury midway through the game.
And Ronaldo was clearly frustrated.
He lowered his head, his eyes were red, and tears could be seen in his eyes...
Santos patted Ronaldo on the shoulder to express comfort, but Ronaldo walked to the sidelines, waved his leg towards William Carvalho, and then towards Pepe and Fonte, signaling that the defense would not press any more.
Since we are so close, we should pay more attention to the Swedish team's counterattack from the east.
Ronaldo's victory in the Eastern Conference is a foregone conclusion. Now Santos needs to focus more on the game itself and find a way to really win the Eastern Conference final!
Of course, Santos asked his players to retreat a bit without completely giving up the initiative and attack.
He still asked the team to continue to maintain possession of the ball, and at the same time let Nani, B seat, and Quaresma, who had just come on as a substitute, actively prepare to participate in attacks and counterattacks from the front.
Because he knows very well that the backward situation requires the Swedish team to press forward and take the initiative to attack and strive for goals. Otherwise, the Portuguese will definitely lose the initial laugh!
At that time, the Portuguese team took advantage of the mentality of being behind on the wrong leg to expand the score.
Santos turned his head sideways at this time and looked at the middle of the exit of the player tunnel, where the highest honor representing the European football national team - the Delaunay Cup was placed.
Santos secretly pinched the palms of his legs, and then said to himself: "That championship trophy belongs to Portugal!"
——
On the Swedish team, whether it is a coach or a player, it feels a bit strange.
Of course it makes people unhappy when they concede the first goal in the final, but if Cristiano Ronaldo scored that goal, it makes people even more uneasy.
Because before the game, head coach Pan Yi clearly said, "Don't pay too much attention to Ronaldo"!
Even in training, there was no deployment for Ronaldo, nor was Lindelof or Granqvist asked to mark Ronaldo.
It turns out that Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal very quickly. Didn’t that slap Pan Yi in the face?
Is that something that almost never happens? After all, Pan Yi has always been the one to slap them in the face.
But then again…
After Ronaldo scored a goal, he was injured and left the field due to excessive celebrations. That's too weird!
That situation seemed to confirm Pan Yi's "prophecy". You really don't need to pay too much attention to the players who played for 20 minutes after making one mistake!
Those who turned around, it seems that what the boss said was correct.
Therefore, for a while, Sweden's mind in the East was repeatedly washed by Portugal's goal, Cristiano Ronaldo's bizarre East match and Pan Yi's remarks before the game. For a while, the CPU was a little overloaded, and I didn't know what kind of expression to face.
All that is wrong.
And for Pan Yi, of course it was a bit surprising.
No matter how good he is, there is no way he can predict whether Ronaldo will leave the field in that way.
But now all that is no longer required.
Sweden is currently one goal behind. First of all, ask your players to stay calm, not to panic, and to stabilize their position!
However, when Portugal was making substitutions, Pan Yi walked to the sidelines and shouted to Ibrahimovic: "Yang Rattan!"
After Ibrahimovic heard this, he immediately came over and said, "Boss! What's going on?"
"Let me tell you, after the restart, they will continue to stick to their tactics. If anyone refuses to implement the tactics formulated before the game, I will help him kick his ass!"
Pan Yi said very firmly, but Ibrahimovic was a little surprised, because now the Swedish team is lagging behind.
"Continue to take a defensive counterattack?"
"Wrong, I heard it right. Whatever they arranged before the game, we will fight as Donglai did!" Pan Yi repeated again.
After hearing this, Ibrahimovic had some doubts at first, but seeing Pan Yi's confident face, he also nodded: "Okay, he listens to me."
There are only a few people in this world who can convince Ibrahimovic and trust him unconditionally, but Pan Yi is definitely not one of them.
He turned around and summoned his teammates in front of him and said loudly: "The boss said, continue to implement the tactics they arranged before the game! That goal loss was not part of the plan, so don't panic! Just beg.
If they do as the boss says, they can get the score back and take the trophy home in no time!"
There, Ibrahimovic added a lot of fuel and jealousy, and whether he added some of his "personal understanding".
After all, Pan Yi said before the game that he didn't want to pay attention to Ronaldo, and now that Ronaldo has scored and played in the East Game, doesn't it mean that everything was within Pan Yi's expectation?
So after rounding off, Portugal’s goal was certainly not included in Pan Yi’s calculations!
It's a bit difficult to tell whether that kind of "enterprise-level understanding" applies to other players in Sweden.
It’s not that they have any doubts about Pan Yi, but according to the usual practice, the team that loses the ball should think about how to equalize the score;
Therefore, Pan Yi continued to defend, or even defend the strategy, and the players were somewhat surprised, with a trace of confusion on their faces.
"It doesn't matter whether the bosses understand or not, just do it!"
Ibrahimovic roared angrily and clapped his hands: "Anyway, wait until Dong sees who is attacking, and if he doesn't break his legs!"
The players nodded.
Pan Yi and Ibrahimovic can be said to be the backbone of the Swedish team. Since the two big guys have said so, who dares to raise any objections?
Besides, looking at Ibrahimovic's angry look, everyone can imagine that Dongchang has opinions...
——
The game restarted and the Swedish team took the lead.
But what surprised everyone was that the Swedish team, which was lagging behind, seemed to have no intention of pressing forward aggressively.
They first made several moves in the backcourt, then advanced to the hinterland of Portugal through cooperation, and then directly found Ibrahimovic with a high ball.
But soon, Fonte and Pepe intercepted the ball and destroyed the Swedish team's attack.
The offensive method is still very simple, and Sweden still invests a lot of energy in defense.
Similar to before, once Portugal's offense reached Sweden's 30-meter zone, it was difficult to penetrate. Initially, it had to pass back and let the backcourt reorganize.
Time passed by bit by bit, and the Swedish team didn't seem to be in a hurry at all. The defense was still very solid, which also made Portugal's idea of pulling the Swedish team out to play unable to succeed.
"Why do you feel like they haven't scored a goal? Can't they see the scoreboard?" Assistant Valle laughed, but his smile seemed a bit stiff, "I wonder if that guy is prepared to compete with them."
?”
It's no wonder that Valais was a little frustrated.
God begged me, Sweden’s reaction was too abnormal.
Counterattacking after falling behind is almost a must in the football field, but Pan Yi did not follow the ideas outlined by the Portuguese, which makes people a bit confused as to what Pan Yi had in mind.
Does he really want to win? That's definitely not the case.
But when will he attack? How? The Portuguese are unsure.
If it doesn't work for them, that's great. But if Pan Yi, who has always been famous for his scheming, is wrong, it will inevitably make people feel uncomfortable.
And now, the situation is still controlled by the Portuguese, but they cannot effectively break the Swedish team's defense again.
As the game progresses, the Swedish team in the East seems to be constantly fine-tuning its defensive system and constantly improving some problems in the defense, which makes the Swedish team's defense more and more stable.
That terrifying ability to learn and self-correct!
If we go further east, it will be very difficult for Portugal to break the wrong goal with such a strong attack!
"If he is impatient, then he is not Pan Yi!" Santos was able to squeeze out a smile, "The kid has obviously already made a full set of plans in his mind, whether to score first or lose the ball first.
There should be complete methods for dealing with errors.”
"Then what will they do now?" Valaidu found it difficult to hold back his temper.
Santos looked at his assistant, shook his head and said: "They are not in the lead now, so they don't need to worry. They will just follow him slowly to see what tricks he can do!"
——
There has been no name in the finals since ancient times, so there is some truth in that statement.
The two teams worked hard to reach the final. Being careful and not conceding the ball is always the first priority. Whether the game is good or not is the lowest priority.
As far as the European Cup is concerned, Spain failed to beat Italy 4:0 in the final, but this was indeed due to Italy's bad luck. Their players were injured one after another, and only 10 people could compete in the first half hour.
In the next two tournaments, Spain defeated Germany and Greece defeated Portugal to win the championship, but the score was 1:0.
The World Cup is similar. In the 2014 World Cup, Germany defeated Argentina 1:0 in overtime. In 2010, Spain still defeated the Netherlands 1:0 in overtime. In 2006, Italy defeated France in penalty kicks...
In other words, in the finals, utilitarianism often outweighs appreciation, which is why the third and fourth place finals in the World Cup are often more beautiful than the finals.
Tomorrow's UEFA Euro 2016 final doesn't look like this either.
If in the 20 minutes from the beginning of the game to the first goal, the two teams were at least as proactive as Portugal in attacking, then in the game that followed, Portugal didn’t seem to invest much.
The troops are on the offensive.
That made that European Cup final look dull, even though a goal had been scored.
Because both sides made it clear that they did not want a stalemate, there would be no such hearty attack.
It's a bit like two people playing Hearthstone. They play very defensively, and then every round they say: "Stack armor, pass!"
That seems a bit boring.
The game had already been played for 30 minutes, and the Swedish team had two shots, both of which were from long range, and none of which were on target.
Portugal only had 5 shots on goal, 1 of which was on target.
And that shot on target was the one where Cristiano Ronaldo scored. From that point, we can see how stalemate and boring the situation in that game was.
"It seems that both sides are patiently waiting for opportunities. The Swedish team's defense is becoming more and more solid, and Portugal's investment in offensive forces has also reduced, which prevents them from continuing to create threats like they did in the opening, so the scene looks a bit
Dull.”
"Well, from the perspective of the fans, this is not the case, but from the perspective of the head coaches of both sides, they are engaged in a fierce battle of tactics and psychology."
"The tactics are there. The Swedish team is currently lagging behind, and their strength itself is at a disadvantage. How Pan Yiqiu makes adjustments and how to equalize the score is what everyone is looking forward to."
"Including Portugal, everyone knows that leading by one goal is not safe, especially leading by one goal against Pan Yi. But at present, Santos does not seem ready to strive for another goal."
"That is in line with Santos's characteristics, so he wants to be stable. Since he can beat Wanli 1:0, why do he want to score more goals? Therefore, he is also willing to maintain the status quo and start a fight with the Swedish team."
"At that time, they wanted to see which side could be more patient, or which side would take the initiative to change their tactics..."
Just as the on-site commentator was talking, the scene gradually began to undergo some changes.
When Portugal's left back Guerrero took the ball and advanced again, Wayne Bloom, who had been the first to intercept, did not appear where he should have appeared.
That caused Guerrero to see an opportunity after dribbling the ball and pounce directly on Swedish right back Lustig, and the two competed on the wing.
But because Portugal's offense has always been very cautious and there are no players to respond, this directly leads to Guerrero's hasty cross.
Behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal's forward line had no high point at this time, and the cross was easily destroyed by the Swedish team's center back.
Soon, the ball was controlled by Portugal again, and then the ball reached Guerrero's feet.
The Swedish team seemed to be consciously guiding Portugal to start attacking on the left, which meant that Lustig was stationed on the right. Guerrero also began to be very active on the left, and Portugal's central players could not cooperate with it.
, are also inserted frequently.
That scene made the neutral fans in the stands excited for the first time, and it finally turned out to be something good to watch!
Although it was not a missed attack, one of the warriors finally took out Gorehowl and started killing people!
The Portuguese fans are also very happy. After all, the team's offense has improved now. If they can score another goal like they did in 20 minutes, the championship will be guaranteed!
Some Swedish fans looked worried.
One goal behind, and the wrong side is gaining momentum again. Is this the end of Sweden's dark horse journey?
But what they didn't know was that it was not Pan Yi's "conspiracy".
He wanted Portugal to press forward again, so he deliberately let go of the defense on the right to activate the attack on Guerrero's side.
Guerrero can defeat Cancelo and a strong player like Coentrao can occupy the main position in the Portuguese national team. Of course, he has two skills.
In those few seasons, he played for Lorient in Ligue 1. He basically started every game and played the entire game. It can be said that he was an iron man.
Due to his outstanding performance, he was bought by Dortmund of the Bundesliga during the European Cup and has officially become a member of the Hornets.
In a normal timeline, Guerrero also performed very well in Dortmund. He played 224 times for Dortmund, contributed 40 goals and 50 assists, won 2 German Cup championships with the team, and was also selected into the Bundesliga's best team of the season.
It is precisely because of that performance that he joined Bayern Munich in June 2023, and his career has reached a higher level.
In the current Portuguese national team, Guerrero is also relied upon very much by Santos, and the left wing he is on (originally Cristiano Ronaldo is also on the left wing) is not the focus of Portugal's offense.
Now, Guerrero was in the east of Pan Yi's "play hard to get", and he was eager to kill for a while, and he somewhat forgot about Santos' instructions.
Guerrero was charging at the beginning. After creating several opportunities but failing because his teammates in the middle didn't follow, everyone began to follow Guerrero's lead.
Later, Guerrero became more active, and his Portuguese teammates began to actively intervene to cooperate with his offense, and the threat of shooting began to increase.
Of course, under normal circumstances, when head coach Dong Dong sees his players not following his own arrangements, he will often remind Yi Dong on the sidelines, but when Santos saw this, he did not say anything to stop him.
After all, he really didn't know what kind of medicine Pan Yi was selling in that gourd!
In addition, the coach has a very good idea. It is really not safe to lead by one goal. If the players are in good condition now and take the opportunity to score another goal, it will be better.
So he also acquiesced in that behavior.
After all, football games are a bit different from rugby, or even basketball, which have rigid tactics. In many cases, personal performance will overshadow the coach's tactics.
For example, the Argentinian team's tactics cannot always include "Messi, I will dribble the ball past him three times before shooting or passing the ball"? But of course the coach is also happy to see that when Messi has a flash of inspiration.
The same goes for Santos. He now hopes that the players will play well and then give Sweden a heavy blow!
Now, Pan Yi's "Italian chain defense" is getting better and better. Although Portugal's firepower is concentrated on the left, Sweden's defense is also very solid.
Guerrero rushed several times on the left, but he was unable to really open up Sweden's defense.
Whether Portugal can maintain its offensive and ball possession rate, the defense begins to press forward again, and the offensive becomes more and more fierce.
The time has entered 40 minutes, and the half is almost over.
The Portuguese players all thought of taking advantage of the initial period to strengthen the Yidong offensive. It would be best if they could score more goals. If not, they could also suppress the Swedish team's fighting spirit and morale.
But just when everyone felt that the Swedish team was becoming more and more dangerous and Portugal was unlikely to score again, the Swedish team finally launched a truly meaningful counterattack!