Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
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Ernesto Valverde could never have imagined it.
Ever since Lance arrived in La Liga, Valverde had been researching how to limit him.
Scouting reports indicated that Lance's strengths were high-speed dribbling breakthroughs, perfect first touches and turns in the box, and powerful, accurate shots from both inside and outside the box.
Anyone who could combine these three points was already considered a monster in the football world.
It was like Kaká + Rivaldo + Adriano; the strongest players in Brazil history fused into one monster.
No wonder he could wreak havoc in the Bundesliga, breaking goal records in both of his debut seasons, and forcefully leading an unknown Bayer Leverkusen to the Champions League final, securing a Bundesliga double.
Thanks to Lance, De Bruyne, Son Heung-min, Firmino, Maguire, Van Dijk, and others all gained attention from European football and saw their market values skyrocket.
One man's success lifted all around him.
Fortunately, even a football god like Lance had weaknesses.
The scouting report Valverde received clearly stated that due to Lance's insufficient muscle strength, he still had a weakness in physical confrontations.
He found it difficult to perform when facing tight marking and pressing from strong defenders like Pepe and Yaya Touré.
Regarding this point, Lance consciously avoided confrontations, using his technique and explosive acceleration to gain a favourable position early.
So, in the Bundesliga and La Liga, where confrontations weren't as excessive, Lance didn't face much pressure.
As for his hidden weakness, Lance currently only had one.
"His off-ball movement, or rather, his awareness of team tactical cooperation, is relatively weaker compared to top players. Therefore, in high-level matches, Lance's highlight moments are more often a display of individual ability, and he can't lead his teammates to create threats from a tactical perspective."
The combinations Lance had formed with his teammates before were mostly small-scale, ball-dominant plays.
When his teammates had possession, Lance's runs were often rigid and easily predictable.
In last season's Champions League knockout stages, in the three matches against Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atlético Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen was at an extreme disadvantage, and Lance was invisible on the pitch for more than half the time, but his highlight moments covered up these shortcomings.
So, at the end of the scouting report, Athletic Bilbao's analyst still concluded: "Lance's strengths are sufficient to compensate for his weaknesses; his ball-dominant style is enough to defeat most opponents. He is still one of the three most threatening players in the world, even more threatening than Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi..."
Ernesto Valverde pondered over this scouting report, and it truly gave him inspiration from Mourinho's defensive tactics of the past.
It was an upgraded version of the "chop Messi tactic": abandon marking other teammates, and whenever Lance had the ball, two or more players would tightly mark him, constantly interfering physically.
Don't let Lance easily control the ball and turn, don't let him easily shoot.
As soon as he makes a move to break free or shoot, immediately collide with him, and if that doesn't work, commit a tactical foul to disrupt him.
The home whistle was relatively lenient, so Athletic Bilbao could aggressively challenge without restraint.
Ernesto Valverde, who later became Barcelona's coach, indeed had some skill.
Mourinho was able to freeze Messi with this move back then, and today Valverde also used this move to freeze Lance for 20 minutes.
That's why Athletic Bilbao was able to completely suppress Atlético Madrid.
Atlético Madrid's reserve lineup was too busy defending themselves, with no one to support Lance, who mostly fought alone in the attacking third.
Just as Valverde was feeling smug, believing his tactics were successful, Lance's "Raiju Descent" caught him off guard!
"What's going on? He can do that?"
Lance was clearly entangled and about to be pushed to the ground.
In an instant, the defence became useless!
Lance scored even whilst being triple-teamed?
"Hehe, hehe..."
Valverde leant back in his chair, his mouth twitching.
His belief had crumbled...
"I wanted him to cooperate more with his teammates and lead them."
"Who would have thought he'd just rely on his individual ability?"
Atlético Madrid coach Simeone was also stunned.
The deeper purpose of having Lance lead the reserve players was to cultivate Lance's team ability and use tactical strength to mobilise the entire pitch.
It was like a teacher posing a challenging geometry problem, hoping students would use newly learnt concepts, draw auxiliary lines, and apply formulas to solve it step by step.
Unexpectedly, this student used brute force, directly estimating length data with precision to get the correct result.
Simeone was speechless on the bench.
"Diego, Lance being like this is a good thing; he's already strong enough, his playing style doesn't need to change, and it's enough to lead the team to good results. Why bother?"
"No, I know he still has even more terrifying potential. Perhaps he will grow into a player none of us have ever seen."
Simeone's understanding of football couldn't even imagine what Lance would be like if he truly awakened his off-ball movement ability and further improved his passing skills... that would be an unprecedented six-dimensional monster in football!
A football god with no weaknesses!
...
The "Raiju Descent" violently broke through, and the morale on the pitch reversed dramatically.
Athletic Bilbao became apprehensive, not daring to push forward and attack, and both sides fell into a stalemate.
Atlético Madrid finally managed to free up to organise attacks.
"So that's it, the coach probably meant..."
Lance on the pitch also had an epiphany, gradually understanding Simeone's inexplicable lineup.
These reserve players around him, they just lacked fame, but their actual abilities were quite decent, and their skill levels were relatively average.
When he was being heavily marked by the opponent, if he could use passing to orchestrate and off-ball runs, leveraging the collective strength, he could indeed create opportunities.
Lance was accustomed to a ball-dominant playing style, so off-ball movement was indeed unfamiliar to him.
"Who cares, let's win first. The 3 points I promised the brothers!"
Before the end of the first half, Lance was pressed by two players outside the box, and he back-passed the ball to left winger Oliver Torres.
After Oliver Torres had been tormented 1v1 by Lance, he had long since submitted to him, and immediately chipped the ball forward.
Lance made a run into position, and the "Nagi Seishiro" assist template activated!
He perfectly chipped the ball past the centre-back's side, whilst simultaneously turning to break through from the other side!
"Beautiful!!! Dennis Bergkamp's footwork!!"
A tribute to the Ice Prince, Dennis Bergkamp!
Lance's magnificent dribbling move drew a standing ovation from the entire stadium.
Receiving the ball at the edge of the box, he decisively hit a volley—
Bang!!
The "Nagi Seishiro" Hardcore Shot skill, combined with the "Hyuga Kojiro" Volley Raiju Shot, made the ball form an unstoppable dipping curve, bypassing the goalkeeper's fingertips and falling into the goal just under the crossbar!
"OHHHHH — Laaaance —"
"Goooooooal!!"
"A magnificent Lance-style acrobatic performance!! A brace!! Scoring against Atlético Madrid again!!"
"Watching him play is simply an artistic enjoyment!"
After conquering German commentators, Spanish national television commentator José Ángel became another fan of Lance.
0-2!
Leading the reserve lineup, Lance already had the 3 points in his grasp!
"This kid."
"It seems we don't need to play."
"What to do, he's stolen all the thunder."
"Damn it!! He definitely has to treat us later!"
On Atlético Madrid's bench, Torres, Griezmann, and Saúl all sighed with emotion.
They had expected a tough away battle, and that they, the main players, would be needed at critical moments to turn the tide.
Unexpectedly, Lance alone resolved the battle.
It was as if Simeone had specially set up a stage for Lance, and he stole all the thunder, becoming the protagonist of the San Mamés Stadium.
In the 72nd minute of the second half, considering the Champions League match four days later, Simeone substituted Lance for Griezmann, giving Lance more rest time.
As Lance left the pitch, even the Athletic Bilbao home fans couldn't help but rise to their feet and applaud this respectable opponent.
Conquering the passionate Basque fans in one match, this was probably something even Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would find difficult to achieve.
"8 goals in 3 matches, Atlético Madrid temporarily leads La Liga with 3 wins out of 3! Now it's Real Madrid and Barcelona's turn to tremble! I have a premonition that Lance is not just the king of the Wanda Metropolitano, he will dominate all of La Liga!"