Dear Gua
Chapter 132 He's Too Scary! (Slice of life, read at your own risk!)
Bosque leaned back in his wicker chair, stroking his mustache.
Miniano said, "Boss, we've already qualified for the European Cup finals. Is it still necessary to call Li Kang back to the team for training in the remaining qualifying match?"
The Spanish coach waved his hand. "Luxembourg… the opponent is too weak. There's no point in training. If the midfield partnership is Busquets and Iniesta, then he won't need much time to adjust at all."
Miniano pondered for a moment and said, "The coaching staff analyzed Leverkusen's recent matches. Li's tasks on the field are too heavy. Are we supposed to let our Matadors play a free-roaming tactic?"
Hearing this, Bosque's mustache trembled with anger. "Nonsense! What free-roaming? Don't even mention Germany's outdated tactics. I'd be unhappy even if he married a German wife one day!"
Due to historical issues, Spaniards of his age deeply loathe Germany.
Similar to "virginity complex," experts call it "Germanophobia."
In recent years, whenever German envoys visit Spain, Madrid is plastered with slogans like "Europe without Germany" and "Go home."
After venting his negative emotions, Bosque regained his usual demeanor and said gently, "There's still a long time. We'll slowly communicate with Li later."
...
Volkswagen Arena.
Home fans waved green hats, erupting in a tsunami of cheers.
Near the center circle, a hot air balloon with the Bundesliga logo slowly ascended.
Before stepping onto the green field, Li Kang received a spirited high-five from Wolfi, the gray wolf mascot.
The distance between the stands and the field was wide, and several staff members patrolled the track on horseback.
Wolfsburg's lighting system is top-notch in Europe.
The magnificent floodlights synchronized with the surging crowd on all sides, creating a lively and spectacular atmosphere.
Even more interesting, the fence advertisements around the stadium were printed with Chinese slogans.
Old Man Toppmöller looked envious, sighing, "Look at other people's home stadiums... If we make it to the Champions League semi-finals, the shabby and old-fashioned BayArena will make the world's audience dream back to 2002. We must next season..."
Dino looked away, tentatively asking, "Boss, will we still be at Leverkusen next season?"
Old Man Toppmöller thought for a moment and said, "Be realistic. Our coaching level isn't much different from Schmidt's. We just made different choices on the central midfield core issue back then."
Dino suddenly understood.
...
The coin toss ended.
Both teams stood in their respective positions.
With the referee's whistle, the game officially began!
Wolfsburg had possession.
Schürrle passed the ball back to Gustavo.
Leverkusen's attacking players quickly launched a frenzied press.
Arnold immediately retreated to support.
"Wolfsburg's football philosophy was once called the 'Wolf Pack Tactic' due to early translation errors."
"The enduring tactical framework is vertical, intensive attack, which is very different from the concept of the Wolf Pack Tactic. There used to be a coach named Wolfgang Wolf, and early fans liked to call this team the Wolves."
"Arnold really has retreated to the defensive midfield position. A product of Liverpool's youth training, as expected..."
"Not the same person. Liverpool's Arnold is still playing in the U18 team!"
Just as Duan Xuan and He Wei were correcting each other, the situation on the field changed rapidly.
After receiving Gustavo's lateral pass, Arnold looked up to observe the position of his teammates in the frontcourt, swung his leg wide, and sent a long pass!
He is one of the cores of the vertical intensive attack.
Thwack!
The football soared into the air, flying towards Leverkusen's half, thirty meters out, on the right flank!
Borges tried to rush towards the distant landing point, but saw Van Dijk raise his hand, signaling him to retreat!
Retreat?
He suddenly realized that Draxler had moved to the wing at some point, and so had Schürrle! Träsch! Guilavogui! They were all rushing towards this side!
He had to retreat and shrink the defense!
How could one person defend against four?
....
By the sidelines, Dino wondered, "He not only likes to retreat himself, but also likes to tell his teammates to retreat?"
Old Man Toppmöller couldn't help but applaud, praising, "The Dutch kid is smart. He knows that the opponent will launch an intensive short-passing attack on the wing, and stopped Borges from making a meaningless charge."
On the other side, Hecking was melancholic.
He is an excellent commander. Even when facing Real Madrid in the Champions League this season, he dared to copy the opponent's tactics and played out many amazing moments.
The most troublesome thing in front of him was not on the green field, but in the locker room.
After being eliminated from the Champions League, Draxler often showed negative emotions, and his game state was greatly affected.
.....
Wolfsburg's attacking players were a little confused.
They had originally planned to use the advantage of local numbers, using intensive short passes, to tear open Leverkusen's defense step by step.
But the opponent had all shrunk to the edge of the penalty area!
What was going on?
It was like tearing open a bucket of instant noodles and finding that there was no seasoning packet inside!
Draxler stopped the ball, dribbled horizontally to the ribs area, observed Kruse's position on the left wing, and kicked out a low, flat long pass!
"A 45-degree cross from the ribs into the penalty area!"
"The quality of the pass is very high!"
"Kruse's positioning is very flexible. Jonathan Tah has been thrown off!"
....
Kruse is a gambling saint who was delayed by football.
He has won European poker tournament championships during his vacations.
He has participated in the Las Vegas World Series of Poker for three consecutive years, winning third place and a considerable prize.
Because he easily infects his teammates to play cards together, delaying training, he is a headache for the German national team.
Playing cards is one thing.
The key is that this guy is also the "Edison Chen of the Bundesliga."
Tens of gigabytes of indecent videos were exposed online.
After carefully observing them, Löw decisively expelled him from the national team.
...
Inside the penalty area, Kruse's judgment of the ball's landing point was very accurate.
Just as he was about to stop the ball with his chest, a tall figure blocked in front of him!
Van Dijk!
The 1.93-meter Dutch center-back jumped high, heading the ball out of the penalty area, near Jonathan Tah!
"This clearance direction is a bit risky!"
"No problem, the teammate's position is very safe. Wolfsburg's attacking players are all concentrated on the right wing!"
....
Jonathan Tah received the ball comfortably.
He didn't even need to think.
Just pass the ball to Li Kang!
Thwack!
His dark, long legs pushed hard!
The football skimmed the grass, rushing to the forty-meter area!
Li Kang leaned against Gustavo with his back to the goal.
He flicked the ball up with his right foot.
In God's-eye view, he had already grasped all of his teammates' running information!
Without looking up.
Without turning around to adjust.
His left leg, raised high, performed a bicycle kick!
Clang!
Accompanied by a bang!
Gustavo could only watch helplessly… the football fly past his side!
He instinctively wanted to do something, but was suppressed by a powerful force and couldn't move!
....
Immediately afterwards, all the spectators were dumbfounded!
The football spun violently, like fireworks piercing the night sky!
Wolfsburg's high defensive line was completely melted!
The sky above the Volkswagen Arena seemed to be diagonally cut into two pieces by a beautiful trajectory!
"A long pass with his back to the goal?"
"How did Li Kang do it?"
"Unbelievable!"
"The quality of this pass is very high! Diagonally passing from the right wing to the opponent's half, thirty-meter area!"
....
On the left wing of Wolfsburg's half, Son Heung-min's rapidly speeding figure quietly appeared!
Center-back Knoche used all his strength to chase back, but he couldn't catch up!
The football landed on the grass!
The Korean winger's speed didn't slow down at all.
He went with the flow!
Exploding with lightning speed, rushing towards Wolfsburg's penalty area!
....
By the sidelines, Old Man Toppmöller still hadn't recovered from the shock. "A long pass with such a large range, and the teammate doesn't even need to adjust?"
Dino muttered, "It's a heavy backspin pass! The power is too perfect! Li's progress in the winter break is terrifying! He passed it with his back to the goal... why is it so accurate?"
On the other side, Hecking looked terrified.
He slapped his thigh heavily.
"Damn it! How is this kid a bit like De Bruyne?"
.....
Goalkeeper Casteels, in an isolated and helpless situation, rushed out of the penalty area!
Son Heung-min slowed down!
He hooked with his left foot!
Shaking off his opponent!
Facing an empty goal!
He pushed with his left foot!
There were no surprises.
The result of practicing 1,000 shots every day!
The football rolled into Wolfsburg's goal!
0:1!!!
At the Volkswagen Arena, the audience was still savoring Leverkusen's number 10's long pass with his back to the goal...
After a few seconds of silence, the home fans let out a sigh.
"Beautiful!"
"The ball went in!"
"Asian connection!"
"Without any tactical battle, Li Kang used an unreasonable long pass, precision-guided, to penetrate Wolfsburg's high defensive line, helping his teammate create an excellent opportunity!"
"Terrifying vision! The perfect combination of awareness, power, and trajectory!"
"Li Kang's assist, Son Heung-min's single-handed goal, Leverkusen took the lead!"
"The speed of the counterattack was too swift! Starting from Van Dijk's clearance, Leverkusen only opened the opponent's door with three passes!"
.....
Live broadcast room.
The barrage was frantically spammed.
-【Li Mingdeng is awesome! 666!】
-【Always playing against Arsenal and Bayern, finally can abuse the vegetables!】
-【Simple and brutal! A long bicycle kick with his back to the goal! He must have turned on the full map hack!】
-【Aircraft carrier midfielder! Leaning against the strong Gustavo, he can still send out precision guidance so calmly and freely!】
-【Fortunately, Son Heung-min's shot was relatively calm, otherwise, no matter how well he passes, he would be helpless if he met a Giroud, Sterling, Morata, Lukaku, or Batshuayi.】
-【Van Dijk is quite adapted to the rhythm of the Bundesliga and likes to direct his teammates in the defensive line, helping Li Kang to reduce some pressure.】
......
By the sidelines, Old Man Toppmöller raised his fists high, praising, "Damn it, I love this feeling of scoring, you don't need to use your brain...to defeat your opponent!"
Dino glanced at Hecking in the distance, who was frantically taking notes, and said, "Boss, Dieter was the best coach in the Bundesliga last season!"
"Idiot, that's because they had De Bruyne last season!"
....
After Son Heung-min scored, he excitedly ran back to the center circle, raising his hand to celebrate with Li Kang.
The Leverkusen fans who traveled with the team were few, so much so that you couldn't hear any team songs or cheers.
His teammates surrounded him.
Van Dijk was very moved: Being able to be loaned to Leverkusen is like winning the lottery.
In the distance, Draxler was very disappointed.
The former "big heart" youngster was having a very unhappy time at Wolfsburg.
He is a super genius from the Schalke 04 youth training, and two years ago people compared him to Bale!
As early as a few years ago, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich, and Arsenal had taken a fancy to him.
But out of love for Schalke 04 and "mature" career planning, he was not in a hurry to transfer. Last summer, he finally chose Wolfsburg as a springboard.
It's a pity.
He didn't play the kind of devastating effect that De Bruyne did this season.
.....
The game restarted in the center circle.
Schürrle passed the ball back to Gustavo.
"Arnold has honestly returned to the defensive midfield position!"
"Even if they are behind, Wolfsburg doesn't dare to play with a single defensive midfielder. Leverkusen's impact is very strong!"
The football was quickly passed on the field.
Leverkusen's frontcourt players maintained a high-intensity press.
Wolfsburg's midfield gradually lost control.
The momentum of the home fans gradually weakened.
...
Near the center circle, Arnold, who was preparing to launch an attack, couldn't shake off Kießling's entanglement for a while!
Brandt followed up decisively with a black foot!
Thwack!
The football was poked to the right wing!
Borges galloped up, took the ball, and ran wildly, rushing towards Wolfsburg's half!
"The ball was lost casually, let's see this attack from Leverkusen!"
"The speed of the advance is very fast!"
.....
Hecking was very anxious and immediately rushed to the sidelines to direct his players to intercept!
Although Borges is timid on the Champions League stage, he will not miss the opportunity to strike hard in the Bundesliga!
A simple speed change and direction change shook off the blocking Träsch!
At this time, Leverkusen's frontcourt players also ran out of space!
Son Heung-min, Kießling, and Brandt ran out of a fan-shaped attack!
Wolfsburg's defensive line was facing a great enemy. The positional defense prepared before the game couldn't stop the opponent's impact at all!
Thirty-meter area.
Borges observed a hard black man rushing towards him.
He didn't need to think at all, and subconsciously passed the ball to Li Kang, who came to support!
As long as you pass the ball to Li, all worries will disappear!
....
Li Kang hadn't played so easily in a long time.
It felt like he was back in the youth team.
There was no overly complicated tactical game, and no arduous struggle to support himself.
Leverkusen's number 10 faced the football and gently raised his left foot!
Thwack!
Gustavo, who was following behind his ass, once again watched helplessly as the football lightly flew towards the penalty area!
His hopes were dashed!
"One-touch pass!"
"An impeccable lob pass!"
"Too exaggerated! This is Leverkusen's midfield core!"
....
Leverkusen's bench.
Bellarabi exclaimed, "Hakan, Li's high-altitude long pass seems to be even better than yours!"
"If I were on the field, the effect would be similar. Wolfsburg's midfield has lost even the final fighting ability."
Çalhanoğlu frowned, sighing, "Where did Wolfsburg spend the money they made from selling De Bruyne?"