"Yeah!!!!"
The moment he saw Ronaldo score, Santos was of course extremely excited.
He first hugged the coaching staff tightly, and then made a fist and waved it to his fans to vent his emotions.
In such a crucial final, scoring a goal in the first 20 minutes is undoubtedly an extremely wonderful start for Portugal.
He has been worried that Sweden will score first, and then the opponent will really counterattack steadily. In that case, Portugal's situation will be very bad.
But that's different now.
Portugal has the goal advantage, so they can pull back their front line and play their best defensive counterattack. Now it's Pan Yi and the Swedes' headache!
This also gave Santos great confidence: he can really lead the Portuguese team to create history today!
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 understood that his superstar captain was really going to be injured.
This is undoubtedly bad news.
Santos knows how important Ronaldo is to this Portuguese team.
The first thing he did when he took over the Portuguese team was to establish a good relationship with Ronaldo. This is the foundation for him to gain a foothold in this team.
Otherwise, the locker room won’t be able to hold back and everything they say will be nonsense.
And even if you exclude mental factors and just talk about the technical role on the field, even though Ronaldo no longer has the ability to explode individually, his shooting skills and header ability are still among the best in the world. The critical moment is still It can help Portugal.
No, Ronaldo just opened the scoring for Portugal with a powerful shot.
But now there is no choice but to replace him.
In fact, Santos is a little worried about Ronaldo's physical condition, because he has played too many games and there are always hidden dangers from old injuries.
However, due to the importance of Ronaldo, Santos has never dared to rotate him, or even replace him, which aggravated the injury.
I just didn't expect that Ronaldo would be injured after only 20 minutes of playing in the final...
What I didn't even expect was that it would be done in this way.
Injured after celebrating? Okay, it's a bit outrageous.
It is estimated that "SIU" jumped a little too high this time, and his knees could not hold it when he fell...
Soon, assistant coach Valle had called Quaresma to Santos' side.
This forward, who is called "the best instep in the world" by fans, has a free and wild style of play. Passing and shooting with the instep is his unique skill and trademark, and the nickname "Mustang" comes from this.
At that time, Quaresma and Cristiano Ronaldo were both the pride of Lisbon. Compared with the young Cristiano Ronaldo at that time, Quaresma was more favored by the team and soon became a core player.
Although he is currently playing in the Turkish league like Nani, his technical skills are still 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. He can penetrate from the right side of the penalty area and rub the upper left corner of the opponent's goal with his right instep. He can also use this kind of footwork to pass key balls.
In this European Cup, although he was basically a substitute, he also played in all seven games including today's game. He can be said to be the top rotation player on the front line.
Now that Cristiano Ronaldo is injured and off the field, Quaresma will of course have to take over at the critical moment.
"Tell everyone, next we have to retreat a little, don't press so close!" Santos ordered.
Valais also added: "Yes, come back a little. It's too dangerous to continue to press forward. We have chips in hand now, don't fight them desperately!"
At the same time, Ronaldo was also taken off on a stretcher.
The Portuguese fans in the audience gave their captain warm applause to show their support.
There are even a lot of neutral fans and Swedish fans here.
After all, on the stage of the European Cup finals, no one wants to see injuries midway through the game.
And Ronaldo was obviously frustrated.
He lowered his head, his eyes were red, and tears could be seen in his eyes...
Santos stepped forward and patted Ronaldo on the shoulder to express comfort, but immediately walked to the sidelines, waved towards William Carvalho, and then towards Pepe and Fonte, signaling that the defense should stop pressing so closely. Up, you should pay more attention to the Swedish team's next counterattack.
Ronaldo's fate is a foregone conclusion. Now Santos needs to focus more on the game itself and figure out how to really win this final!
Of course, Santos asked his players to retreat a little, but that did not mean they completely gave up the initiative and attack.
He still wants the team to continue to maintain possession of the ball, and at the same time let Nani, B seat, including Quaresma who just came on as a substitute, actively prepare to participate in offense and counterattack from the front.
Because he knows very well that the backward situation requires the Swedish team to take the initiative to attack and strive for goals. Otherwise, the Portuguese will have the last laugh!
At this time, it was the Portuguese team's opportunity to seize the opponent's lagging mentality and take the opportunity 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 Delaunay Cup, the highest honor representing the European football national team, was placed.
Santos squeezed his palm secretly, and then thought to himself: "This championship trophy belongs to Portugal!"
——
On the Swedish team, both the coach and the players feel a little weird.
Of course it makes people unhappy to be the first to concede a goal in the final, but the goal was scored by Cristiano Ronaldo, which 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 the training, there was no deployment for Ronaldo, nor did Lindelof or Granqvist be asked to mark Ronaldo.
As a result, Ronaldo scored a goal. Wasn't this a slap in Pan Yi's face?
This is something that almost never happens! After all, Pan Yi is the only one who can slap others in the face.
But then again…
After Ronaldo scored, he immediately got injured and left the field due to excessive celebrations. This is too weird!
This situation seems to confirm Pan Yi's "prophecy". There is really no need to pay too much attention to a player who only played for 20 minutes!
After all this, it seems that what the boss said is still right.
Therefore, for a while, Sweden's minds were repeatedly washed by Portugal's goal, Cristiano Ronaldo's bizarre end, and Pan Yi's remarks before the game. For a while, the CPU was a little overloaded, and they didn't know what kind of expression they should use to face this. everything.
Of course, Pan Yi was a little surprised.
No matter how good he is, he never imagined that Ronaldo would leave the game in this way.
But none of this matters now.
Sweden is currently one goal behind. The first thing to do is to ask its players to stay calm, not to panic, and to stabilize their position!
So, when Portugal was making substitutions, Pan Yi walked to the sidelines and shouted to Ibrahimovic: "Zlatan!"
After Ibrahimovic heard it, he immediately came over, "Boss! What's the matter?"
"Let me tell you, after the restart, we will continue to stick to our tactics. If anyone doesn't follow the tactics I set before the game, you will help me kick their ass!"
Pan Yi said very firmly, but Ibrahimovic was a little surprised, because the Swedish team is now lagging behind.
"Continue to take a defensive counterattack?"
"Yes, you heard it right, how we arrange it before the game will be how we play next!" Pan Yi repeated again.
After hearing this, Ibrahimovic had some doubts at first, but seeing the confidence on Pan Yi's face, he also nodded: "Okay, I will listen to you."
There are only a few people in this world who can convince Ibrahimovic and trust him unconditionally, but Pan Yi is definitely 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 we arranged before the game! That goal loss is part of the plan, so don't panic! Just press your head If you do as you say, we will get the score back right away and bring the trophy home!"
Ibrahimovic has added a lot of fuel and jealousy here, and can be considered as adding some of his "personal understanding".
After all, Pan Yi said before the game not to pay attention to Ronaldo, and now that Ronaldo has scored and left the game, doesn't it mean that all this was expected by Pan Yi?
So rounding off, Portugal's goal was of course included in Pan Yi's calculations!
It's just that such "enterprise-level understanding" is still a bit difficult for other players in Sweden.
It's not that they have any doubts about Pan Yi, it's just that according to convention, the side that loses the ball should think about how to equalize the score;
So Pan Yi continued to defend, and it could even be said to be a defensive strategy. The players were somewhat surprised, with a trace of confusion on their faces.
"Whether the bosses understand or not, just do it!"
Ibrahimovic roared angrily and clapped his hands: "Anyway, wait and see who goes up to attack randomly, and see if I don't break his legs with a stick!"
The players nodded.
Pan Yi and Ibrahimovic can be said to be the backbone of this 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 the consequences of having objections...
——
The game restarted with Sweden taking the lead.
But what surprised everyone was that the Swedish team, which was lagging behind, seemed to have no intention of aggressively pressing forward.
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 area, it was difficult to penetrate. In the end, it had to pass back and let the backcourt reorganize.
Time passed bit by bit, and the Swedish team didn't seem to be in a hurry at all. The defense was still very stable, which also made Portugal's idea of pulling the Swedish team out to play unable to succeed.
"Why do you feel like we haven't scored against them? Is it because they can't see the scoreboard?" Assistant Valle laughed, but his smile seemed a little stiff, "Or is this guy preparing to compete with us for patience?"
This can't be blamed on Valais being a little impatient.
The main reason is that Sweden's reaction was too abnormal.
Falling behind and counterattacking is almost an inevitable rule on the football field, but Pan Yi did not follow the ideas outlined by the Portuguese, which makes people a little confused as to what Pan Yi had in mind.
Does he want to win? That must be the thought.
But when will he attack? How to attack? The Portuguese have no idea.
If it was someone else, that would be fine. But now this opponent is Pan Yi, who has always been famous for his scheming. This will inevitably make people feel upset.
And now, the situation on the scene is still controlled by the Portuguese, but they cannot effectively break through the Swedish team's defense again.
As the game progresses, the Swedish team seems to be constantly fine-tuning its defensive system and constantly improving some problems in the defense. This makes the Swedish team's defense more and more stable.
This terrifying learning ability and self-correction ability!
If this continues, it will be really difficult for Portugal to break the opponent's goal with such a strong attack!
"If he is impatient, then he is not Pan Yi!" Santos was still able to squeeze out a smile, "This kid has obviously already made a full set of plans in his mind, whether he scores first or loses the ball first, it should be both. A complete response.”
"Then what should we do now?" Valaidu found it difficult to hold back his temper.
Santos looked at his assistant, shook his head and said: "We are in the lead now, so let's not be anxious. Let's slowly follow him like this and see what tricks he can do!"
——
There is a certain truth to this saying since ancient times.
The two teams worked hard to reach the final. Being cautious and not conceding the ball is always the first priority. Whether the game looks good or not, that priority is definitely the lowest.
As far as the European Cup is concerned, Spain beat Italy 4-0 in the last final, but that was indeed due to Italy's bad luck. Their players were injured one after another, and they could only play with 10 players in the last half hour.
In the previous two editions, Spain defeated Germany and Greece defeated Portugal to win the championship, with scores both 1:0.
The World Cup is similar. In the last 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 through penalty kicks...
In other words, in the finals, utilitarianism often outweighs appreciation, which is why the third-place and fourth-place finals of the World Cup are often better to watch than the finals.
The same seems to be true for today's European Cup 2016 final.
If in the 20 minutes before the game started and before the first goal, the two teams at least had Portugal proactively pressing forward and attacking, then in the following games, Portugal did not seem to invest much force. On offense.
This makes this European Cup final look very dull, although there has been a goal.
Because both sides made it clear that they were going to fight a stalemate, and there was no such hearty attack.
This is a bit like two people playing Hearthstone. They still play defensive combat, and then every round they still say: "Stack armor, pass!"
This seems a bit boring.
The game had been played for 30 minutes, and the Swedish team had only two shots, both from long range, and none of them were on target.
Portugal only had 5 shots and 1 shot on target.
And this shot on target was the one where Ronaldo scored. From this point, we can see how stalemate and boring the situation in this game is.
"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 the opening, so the scene looks a bit dull .”
"However, this is true from the perspective of the fans, but from the perspective of the coaches of both sides, they are engaged in a fierce battle tactically and psychologically."
"Tactically, the Swedish team is currently lagging behind, and their strength itself is at a disadvantage. How Pan Yi will adjust and equalize the score is a focus that 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."
"This is also in line with Santos's characteristics, which is to seek stability. Since he can defeat his opponent 1:0, why should he score more goals? Therefore, he is also willing to maintain the status quo and start a fight with the Swedish team."
"At this time we have to see which side can endure better, or which side will take the initiative to change tactics..."
Just as the on-site commentator was talking, some changes gradually began to occur on the field.
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 was supposed to be.
This led to Guerrero seeing an opportunity after dribbling the ball and pounced directly on Swedish right back Lustig, and the two competed on the wing.
However, because Portugal's offense has always been cautious, there are no players to keep up with the response, which directly results in Guerrero having to pass hastily.
After Ronaldo came off the field, Portugal's forward line had no high point at this time, and this cross was easily destroyed by the Swedish team's center back.
Soon, the ball was once again controlled by Portugal, and then the ball came to Guerrero's feet.
The Swedish team seemed to be consciously guiding Portugal to start attacking on the left, which is where Lustig was stationed, and Guerrero also began to be very active on the left. In order to cooperate with it, Portugal's central players also All plugged in frequently.
This 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 wasn't a confrontation, 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 one like they did in 20 minutes, the championship will be guaranteed!
Only the Swedish fans looked worried.
After falling behind by one goal, the opponent is gaining momentum again. Could it be that Sweden's dark horse journey can only end here?
But what they don't know is that this is all 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 offense on Guerrero's side.
Guerrero can defeat powerful players like Cancelo and Coentrao and occupy the main position in the Portuguese national team, of course he has two brushes.
He has been playing for Lorient in Ligue 1 in the past few seasons. He basically started every game and played the entire game. He can also be said to be 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 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 to the Bundesliga All-Season Team.
It is precisely because of this performance that he joined Bayern Munich in June 2023, taking his career to a higher level.
In the current Portuguese national team, Guerrero is also heavily relied upon by Santos. The left wing he is on (originally Cristiano Ronaldo was also on the left wing) is the focus of Portugal's offense.
Now, under Pan Yi's "play hard to get", Guerrero was so excited to kill that he somewhat forgot about Santos' instructions.
At the beginning, only Guerrero was rushing. After creating several opportunities but failing because his teammates in the middle failed to keep up, everyone began to keep up with Guerrero.
Later, Guerrero became more active, and his Portuguese teammates began to actively join in to cooperate with his offense, and the threat of shooting began to increase.
Of course, under normal circumstances, when the head coach sees that his players are not following his own arrangements, he will often remind him on the sidelines, but when Santos saw this, he did not stop him.
After all, he really didn't see what kind of medicine Pan Yi was selling in this gourd!
In addition, the coach also has another thought, that is, it is not safe to lead by only 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 to this behavior.
After all, football games are a bit different from the rigid tactics of rugby and even basketball. In many cases, personal performance will overshadow the coach's tactics.
For example, there can never be anything like "Messi, dribble the ball past him three times before shooting or passing the ball" in Argentina's tactics, right? But of course the coach is happy to see Messi when he has a flash of inspiration.
The same is true for Santos. He now hopes that the players will play well and then give Sweden a heavy blow!
However, Pan Yi's "Italian chain defense" is now 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 still couldn't really break open the Swedish defense.
In order to maintain the offensive and ball possession rate, Portugal's defense began to press forward again, and the offensive became more and more fierce.
The time has entered 40 minutes, and the first half is coming to an end.
The Portuguese players all wanted to take advantage of the last period of time to strengthen their offensive. It would be best if they could score another goal. If not, they could 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 likely to score again, the Swedish team finally launched a real counterattack!
(End of chapter)
