On the evening of August 30th, Valencia Mestania Stadium.
The two Champions League qualifying matches before the season and the Copa Citrus victory against Real Madrid aroused the enthusiasm of Valencia's local fans, which made the stadium stands full of fans in the first round of the new season.
The Mestana Stadium, with a total capacity of 55,000 people, was basically full except for some mobile seats.
The fans at the scene were loud and the crowd was buzzing.
Valencia welcomes Valladolid in their first game.
This team ranked 13th in La Liga last season, which is considered to be in the middle of the pack. Its offensive ability is third from the bottom in La Liga. The number of goals scored is only a little more than the relegated Rayo Vallecano and Huerva, but they only conceded 10 goals throughout the season.
Scored 40 goals, ranking fourth in La Liga, only five more than Valencia, which has the best defense.
Although players such as Antonio Lopez, Gaspar and Mario were lost in the transfer market this summer, the overall strength is still there. In addition, it is always difficult to play in the first round of the league, so Valencia naturally does not dare to be careless.
Benitez still put together the strongest lineup of 4, 2, 3 and 1 to face the opponent. Sudong defeated Mista without any suspense and became the team's center. Tonight was also his debut in La Liga.
…
Su Dong's task in tonight's game is what he is good at, which is to suppress Valladolid's defense and shock the penalty area.
Playing at home, facing Valladolid who were weaker than him, Benitez decisively adopted a high position to press and press. The whole team pressed forward, holding down the opponent and beating them up.
Su Dong's task is to wait for opportunities near the penalty area.
The entire Valladolid team is not very tall. The tallest player is midfielder Caminero, who is 1.87 meters tall, but he plays as a central midfielder. The tallest player in the entire defense is only 1.82 meters tall.
Facing such an opponent who is much shorter than himself, Su Dong still has a lot of experience.
But Valladolid's ability to build La Liga's fourth defensive line last season did not rely on the individual abilities of the players, but the overall strength of the team.
Since Sudong could not be frozen, Valladolid adopted another method, which was to control the kicking from the wing, block the ground penetration in the middle, and especially contain Aimar.
Vicente couldn't play the ball on the wing, and Aimar faced layers of double-teaming from his opponents in the midfield. This made it difficult for Valencia to pass the ball to the frontcourt to threaten.
Su Dong couldn't get the ball in the frontcourt. In the first twenty minutes, the number of times he touched the ball was still in single digits.
What's even more terrible is that in the 20th minute, the opponent made a quick counterattack, and Davide Souza scored a sneak goal for Valladolid, giving the visiting team the lead.
This undoubtedly makes the situation in Valencia even worse.
Su Dong tried to retreat, give full play to his own advantages, and help his teammates get and play the ball, but coach Benitez called him from the sidelines every time, indicating that he should press up and withstand the opponent's defense.
The first half ended with a score of 0-1, with Valencia temporarily lagging behind.
In the locker room at halftime, head coach Benitez once again reminded Su Dong to suppress the opponent's defense.
"Tonight your mission is to stay in the penalty area, suppress the opponent's defense, and don't let them have a chance to rebound!"
"You have to believe in me and your teammates, they will definitely be able to get the ball in front of you."
After a change of sides in the second half, Valencia's offensive continued as usual, but Valladolid replaced the goal scorer Davide Souza and replaced him with central defender Jonathan Martin just a few minutes into the second half.
Strengthen defense.
Obviously, the visiting team's strategy is to maintain the one-goal lead until the end.
But in the 63rd minute, Benitez finally made a substitution.
Mista replaced Jorge Lopez on the right and let the Spanish forward move up to Su Dong.
This time, Su Dong was free.
…
Before Mista came on the court, Su Dong felt as if his hands and feet were trapped. He was full of strength, but couldn't use it at all.
It's not that he doesn't work hard, it's that head coach Benitez doesn't let him play like this.
Valladolid retreated almost across the board, with a defensive advantage. Vicente and Jorge Lopez on the wing, as well as Aimar in the center, could not pass the threatening ball, so Sudong was also very difficult to use.
But after Mista came on the field, the Spanish forward with comprehensive characteristics and high tactical execution took over the hard work from Su Dong.
Benitez's latest instructions, Su Dong can play freely.
Su Dong, who was suffocating and full of heat, immediately pulled out of the penalty area, retreated and raised his hand to ask for the ball.
Aimar delivered the ball to Su Dong's feet just in time, and he quickly moved forward.
But this time Su Dong did not pass the ball. Instead, at the moment he stopped the ball, Su Dong leaned back and used his body to suppress the defensive player behind him. He stopped the ball, turned around, quickly started, and drove the ball straight to the penalty area.
Valladolid deployed a large number of troops in the penalty area. After Su Dong broke into the penalty area with the ball, he quickly dribbled the ball to the left side of the small penalty area. The opponent's two central defenders stayed close to the inside, fearing that Su Dong would shoot with his left foot.
One vs two, Su Dong couldn't find the angle to shoot, but when he rushed to the left side of the penalty area, Su Dong faced the baseline and suddenly kicked his heel.
The ball was knocked by Su Dong's heel and passed back to the feet of Vicente who just rushed into the penalty area.
The Valencia left winger was also startled by Su Dong's sudden backheel pass and almost didn't react.
This is true for teammates, not to mention others.
Vicente reacted quickly. After a slight adjustment, he glanced at the center and sent a cross.
At this time, Aimar rushed over, caught up with the ball near the penalty spot, and gave it a slight push.
The ball went in!!!
One to one!
The Argentine midfielder excitedly ran straight to Su Dong in front of the baseline, and gave him a bear hug, trying to pick up Su Dong lazily, but what was embarrassing was...
Su Dong reacted immediately and took the initiative to hug the short and thin Aimar, resolving the Argentine's embarrassment.
Being tall still has advantages!
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"Is this kid depressed?"
On the sidelines, Yesterdam laughed from ear to ear as he watched Su Dong hugging Aimar.
"The heel passed well just now." Benitez said calmly.
Yesterdam was a little surprised when he heard this. It was not easy for the picky Benitez to praise him so much.
"Actually, we should let him interact more with Aimar and Vicente." Yesterdam suggested.
Benitez nodded, that's what he did in the warm-up match.
"But, Paco, you have to know that warm-up matches are different from official matches. When a team like Valladolid shrinks away from home, who do you think is sure to break through their defense?"
Yesterdam understands Benitez's intentions.
He made up his mind from the beginning to consume his opponent in the first half, and the only surprise was Valladolid's goal.
Mista was his backup plan that he had prepared a long time ago.
Of course, Benitez had another option, which was to have Su Dong come off the bench and be a surprise player, but he didn't do that.
Obviously, he wanted to establish Su Dong's main position from the beginning.
For a centre-forward, especially one in European football now, it is not enough just to score goals.
…
After Valencia equalized the score, Benitez quickly made his second substitution.
Mohamed Sissoko replaced centre-back Marchena.
Valencia began to press forward, adopting a three-back play, but Mohamed Sissoko dropped deeper to protect the defence.
This also allows the frontcourt players to focus more on the offense.
After being freed, Su Dong began to frequently connect with Aimar and Vicente, and the frontcourt offense also came alive.
In the 81st minute, after Aimar got the ball in the midfield, he got rid of the defensive player, dribbled the ball forward, and quickly distributed it to the left and handed it to Vicente.
When Vicente took the ball one-on-one on the wing, Su Dong was already at the front of the penalty area, raising his left hand high.
After the Spanish winger glanced at Su Dong, he suddenly started and dribbled the ball towards the opponent's defender.
Su Dong still stood on the left side of the top area of the penalty area, watching Vicente start dribbling the ball, and he was also mentally encouraging his teammates.
come on!
Kill him!
you can!
Pass the ball!!!
Su Dong's legs had long been full of energy and he could rush forward at any time.
The opponent's defender Pena kept trying to push Su Dong away, but he was not tall and had to push Su Dong away. Instead, he was always easily blocked. The two were not in the same weight class at all.
After seeing Vicente deceiving his opponent with a fake move and successfully breaking through to the bottom line, Su Dong immediately sprinted forward.
Not moving like a mountain, moving like a rabbit!
This sentence is not an exaggeration at all to describe Su Dong at this moment.
Pena paid close attention to Su Dong, but even so, he was easily thrown away by Su Dong.
That explosive power, that speed, coupled with that height, is really shocking!
Pena watched helplessly as Su Dong sprinted forward and back, leaping high like an unstoppable god of war!
Su Dong had no time to pay attention to the staring eyes of the mountain behind him. After throwing away his opponent, he rushed to the edge of the small penalty area and jumped high. Vicente's cross ball came right in front of him. He exerted force on his waist and abdomen and probed his head.
top.
The ball hit the target firmly, and the ball changed direction after receiving the force, and went straight to the upper left corner of the goal.
Goalkeeper Bizzari reacted instinctively and missed the shot.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!"
"Su Dong scored a goal!!!!"
"In the 81st minute, Su Dong scored his first goal in La Liga with a header!"
"In his La Liga debut, Su Dong scored a goal to reverse Valladolid for Valencia."
"It's really a very crucial goal!"
After Su Dong scored, everyone jumped up with excitement and cheered forgetfully.
The Valencia fans on the sidelines also chanted his name crazily.
"This is only Su Dong's third official game for Valencia, but he has already conquered the discerning Bat Legion fans."
"Fifty thousand fans are shouting his name in unison. This goal is worth three points!"
Su Dong hugged his teammates on the sidelines and accepted congratulations from his teammates.
Now he begins to understand why Benitez's intentions.
A football match lasts for ninety minutes, and no team can maintain its full physical output for ninety minutes.
Facing a team like Valladolid, one has to either crush the opponent and defeat them all at once, or wear down the opponent and wait for the opportunity.
