On the evening of May 21, the Olympic Stadium in Seville, Spain.
"Beep!!!"
With a whistle from Slovak referee Rubeus Michael, the players from the two teams quickly separated.
Su Dong grabbed Ronnie's hand and climbed up from the grass, his face full of unwillingness.
Just now, he took the initiative to change positions with Ronnie, pulled to the wing to catch the ball, passed an opponent's defensive player, tried to dribble the ball inside, and when he crossed into the penalty area, he was blocked by the opponent's Swedish international center back John Mu
Abi fouled and tripped.
If he had been killed just now, it would definitely be a pretty good opportunity.
"What a pity!" Su Dong shook his head and sighed.
Ronnie nodded repeatedly. He was already waiting in the middle. There was also Quaresma on the right. Sudong was about to pass Muabi, forming a three-on-two situation, but the opponent decisively fouled.
This is the Celtics strategy tonight!
…
Albertini's free kicks were not always on target.
At least, only eight minutes into the game, Su Dong got a free kick opportunity from the left side of the frontcourt. The Italian veteran failed to seize the opportunity. After the ball went over the wall, it failed to fall into the goal frame and was too high.
From the start of the game, the situation seemed to be like what happened to Su Dong just now, which was a disaster.
Sporting Lisbon is very aware of its strengths and weaknesses, especially in terms of physical fitness.
They just had a tough match against Porto, which resulted in the physical strength of Sporting Lisbon players not being as good as Celtic's. If it does go into overtime, this will be very detrimental to Sporting Lisbon.
Therefore, Sporting Lisbon's opening strategy is to take the initiative.
Boloni was conservative and did not arrange for attacking midfielders like Sa Pinto or Tonito to play. Instead, they continued to use three defensive midfielders. The purpose was to maintain stability in the midfield and backfield when the frontcourt was pressed out to attack.
The Celtics maintained a solid defensive posture from the beginning and did not attack rashly.
Martin O'Neill clearly knew his team's technical and coordination weaknesses, so he adopted highly aggressive and destructive tactics and committed frequent fouls.
This turned the scene into a disaster scene as soon as the game started.
The referee's whistles came and went incessantly.
The Celtics are very particular about their foul play, wandering on the edge between getting a card and not getting a card, like a scumbag, lingering at the door and not going in.
It wasn't until Muyabi's foul that the Swedish central defender received the first yellow card of the game.
Albertini, Barbosa, Andre Cruz and others all have extremely rich experience. They know that Celtic has long been prepared to guard against Sporting Lisbon's proactive attack. They also know that it is difficult to attack by attacking, so they take the initiative.
Slow down the offensive and gradually withdraw the formation.
The team must consider the distribution of physical strength.
Blindly attacking like crazy consumes a lot of physical energy. In the second half, what should you do when your physical strength is unsustainable?
How to control the rhythm of the game has always been a profound knowledge.
…
From the tenth minute onwards, the game reached a deadlock, but it was still very intense.
Rui Jorge collided heavily with the opponent's right midfielder Agat during a fight. Both of them were carried off the court for treatment. Fortunately, they were not seriously injured and soon returned to the game.
Intense and dull, it makes people very doubtful whether the silver ball system will come into use for the first time tonight.
Sporting Lisbon took the initiative to retreat, but Celtic showed little willingness to invest in offense.
The two forwards, one tall and one fast, did not create much threat in the frontcourt. Sutton did not seem to be in the best condition. Hartson's absence had a great impact on the front line. Larsson was like a swimming fish.
Sporting Lisbon's defense shuttled back and forth, looking for opportunities.
Both teams played relatively steadily, but the pace of the game was not slow.
The Celtics know very well that what they are best at is impact and speed, which is a typical British style of play. If the rhythm of the game is surrendered to Sporting Lisbon, it will be quite disadvantageous for them.
Therefore, every time the defense is successful, they will decisively and quickly counterattack as soon as there is an opportunity.
This is also a way for them to consume the physical energy of Sporting Lisbon players.
It doesn't matter if there is no threat when attacking. As long as they can defend and exhaust their opponent's energy, the Celtics will have the advantage.
Sporting Lisbon knew their opponent's intentions, but they had no choice. The midfielder couldn't control the rhythm and possession of the ball, so they had no choice but to fight against the opponent. In the final analysis, Boloni was too conservative.
If Tonito or Sa Pinto is on the court, it will be easier for the midfielder to hold the ball, but in this case, the midfielder's interception will inevitably be weakened, and Boloni is worried that it will affect the stability of the defense.
Sometimes, tactics are about trade-offs.
…
What Su Dong faced most was fouls.
The Celtics' defensive players had no good way to deal with him except to foul him.
He also created two chances, one was a pass to Ronnie, but his shot from a small angle was confiscated by goalkeeper Douglas.
Another time it was passed to Quaresma, but the latter failed to move forward in time and missed the opportunity.
After receiving a pass from a teammate, Su Dong suddenly turned around and sprinted forward with the ball. He was double-teamed by two Celtic defensive players. When he was about to break away from the opponent's defense, he was left by two Celtics defenders.
One right and one shot at the same time, pulling him to the ground.
Su Dong fell again thirty meters away.
The referee blew the whistle again but did not give a card.
Sporting Lisbon took a quick free kick and sent it to Ronnie on the left.
Su Dong ran over to respond, but Ronnie failed to pass the ball in time and was successfully intercepted by the opponent.
The Celtics immediately launched a counterattack. Under Su Dong's pressing step by step, they sent a long pass to the frontcourt.
Larson passed the ball from the middle to the right, and Agathe passed the ball into the penalty area.
Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper Ricardo struck decisively and snatched the ball from mid-air before Sutton.
The Portuguese goalkeeper held the ball with his left hand, raised his right hand high, and extended his index finger to signal his teammates to press forward.
"Sporting Lisbon still needs to try to invest more troops on the offensive end and give Sudong more support."
"Celtic has a lot of defenders. Sporting Lisbon's offense relies more on the trident, but it is easy to fall into the opponent's circle. If the midfield and the defense can provide more support, I believe it will be easier.
Open up the situation.”
"But Boloni didn't seem to have such an idea. He had been admonishing Rui Jorge. As soon as the Portuguese left back moved forward, Boloni shouted for him to go back."
"Of course, the same is true for the Celtics. Neither side is willing to invest enough troops on the offensive end."
"Look at Sporting Lisbon's hand throw this time."
"Albertini ran back and raised his hand for the ball, received the ball, turned around and made a long pass."
"A very beautiful long pass to the left side of the frontcourt."
"Ronnie judged the landing point, ran back, and headed the ball across."
Ronnie jumped high to meet Albertini's long pass, and with a header, the ball immediately changed direction and fell towards the center.
Su Dong quickly ran over to grab the second spot. Facing the flying ball, he first held up his chest to stop the ball, raised his left foot high, removed the ball, and then gently picked the ball. The ball was picked immediately.
own right foot.
The entire movement was completed in one go, without giving the opponent any chance to intervene.
After stopping the ball with his right foot, Su Dong passed another defensive player, then suddenly accelerated, shook off the double-team of the two defensive players, and quickly sent the ball to the right side of the frontcourt.
Quaresma received Sudong's pass from the outside of the right corner of the penalty area. As soon as he stopped, Celtic's Belgian central defender and international player Val Galen was already blocking the inside.
One on one!
Quaresma knew without looking that after passing the ball, Sudong would go straight into the penalty area, waiting for his pass from the wing.
In fact, it is estimated that even Ronnie rushed to the back.
This is the tacit understanding formed by the three of them since playing football, and it is also their trust in Quaresma.
They all believed that Quaresma could break through Valgaren's defense.
The Portuguese winger didn't give his opponent any chance to breathe or think. He took the ball in small steps and approached Valgaren.
After getting close to Vargaren, he skillfully handled the ball with his left and right feet. After shaking his body continuously from left to right, he easily shook Vargaren away and rushed to the baseline with the ball.
In just one face-to-face encounter, Valgaren was beaten cleanly by Quaresma.
But the Celtic defender was still chasing after him.
After Quaresma broke through the opponent's defense, he sent a low ball with his right foot and sent the ball to the center of the goal.
He knew that Su Dong would definitely be there!
"Sporting Lisbon's breakthrough from the right."
"Quaresma passed the ball very cleanly and passed down the ball."
"Is there anyone in the middle..."
"Su Dong!!!!"
“The ball went in!!!!”
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"In the 36th minute, Sporting Lisbon opened the scoring!"
"Little God of War... Su Dong!"
Sudong easily shook off Balde in front of the goal and sent Quaresma's low pass into the goal.
In fact, even if he didn't grab the position, there would still be Ronnie in the back.
After Su Dong scored, everyone was so excited that they rushed out of the stadium and went straight to the stands of Sporting Lisbon fans on the sidelines. They jumped high on the billboard, clenched their fists and shouted at the fans in the stands.
The Green Lion fans in the stands were also inexplicably excited, and they were all shouting Su Dong's name crazily.
Behind him, teammates rushed forward one after another, surrounding Su Dong.
"beautiful!"
“A personal show from Sporting Lisbon’s front three!”
"These three players not only work well together, but also have excellent individual abilities, especially one-on-one."
"We can see that Ronnie grabbed the first landing point, and Su Dong's subsequent control of the second landing point and the ball were very subtle. He used his skillful and delicate foot skills and sudden changes in speed and direction to break through.
He was double-teamed by three defensive players and moved the ball to the right."
"Quaresma's breakthrough on the right wing was very crisp, and it passed in an instant, and the opponent didn't even have time to commit a foul."
"This is Sporting Lisbon's front three!"
"One to zero!"
"Now, the game has been completely broken!"
"I believe it will be difficult for Celtic to be conservative in the future, and Sporting Lisbon will definitely do its best to maintain its lead."
