Chapter 114: Midfield Battles

Chapter 114: Midfield Battles

When Maksuél scored into Benfica's goal, the mind of Jorge Jesus, who was coaching from the sidelines, exploded into nothingness, leaving a blank void. Before the match, he believed the away goal advantage was his greatest asset. Unexpectedly, not even 40 minutes into the game, Benfica's advantage turned into a disadvantage—a complete tragedy.

What should he do next? He found himself momentarily at a loss for strategies. At that moment, he heard the roaring demand from the Benfica fans in the stands: "Attack! Attack! Attack!!" This sparked a realization: Of course, why had he forgotten? He should attack!

In the summer of 2009, Jesus took over from Quique Flores as Benfica's coach. Under his guidance, Argentine veterans like Saviola and Aimar had shone again, and new players like Di María, Ramires, Javi García, as well as players like David Luiz and Coentrão who were at career crossroads, all made significant progress. Despite club president Vieira continuously selling key players, Jesus managed to quickly restore the team's morale and maintain Benfica's competitiveness in both domestic and international competitions. Over the past four years, they had secured one Portuguese league title, three Portuguese League Cups, and this season, they were even on track to achieve a quadruple: the Primeira Liga, Europa League, Portuguese Cup, and League Cup.

Jesus's approach was reliant on attacking, earning him the affectionate nickname "Benfica's Jesus" among fans. As Udinese players celebrated their second goal, Jesus shouted to his players on the field: "Attack! Push forward and attack!" Now, with no way back, Benfica truly had no other option but to attack.

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After Benfica adjusted their strategy, Guidolin, Udinese's coach, stood by the sidelines waiting for his players to return from celebrating their goal. As Bruno passed by, Guidolin pulled him aside, instructing, "We continue to attack. Benfica has no other option but to press us now; they'll definitely come out. Watch their defense for any gaps we can exploit."

Bruno nodded, "I understand, sir."

"It's a pity there are only a few minutes left in the first half..." Guidolin patted Bruno, signaling him to return to the field while shaking his head regretfully. If only they had a bit more time, perhaps they could score again. The players were performing well, and scoring another goal in the next few minutes was not out of the question.

As the game resumed, Benfica indeed launched a fierce attack, inspired by the chants and songs of "Attack, attack!" from their fans. They had held back for forty minutes, but in the final moments of the first half, they finally acted decisively.

Udinese's few fans were not to be outdone; they sang the Udinese anthem loudly from the stands, cheering for their team. The stands turned into a singing contest, with neither side wanting to be drowned out, thus the volume kept climbing.

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With both sets of fans battling in song, the players on the field also engaged in an intense face-off. Benfica pressed forward, and Udinese did not sit back in defense; instead, they met Benfica's attacks head-on. The midfield battle was fierce, with neither side gaining a clear upper hand, and many mistakes were made. Often, an attack would break down before reaching the 30-meter area due to a mispassed or mishandled ball.

The slippery field due to heavy rain was a primary reason for the frequent errors. The last few minutes of the first half passed amidst these attacks and mistakes.

When the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, the singing battle in the stands also paused abruptly. Benfica fans were despondent over their team's performance in the half, while Udinese fans celebrated joyously in the rain, almost as if their team had already advanced to the semifinals.

They had good reason to be joyful; the situation meant that Benfica needed to score four goals in the next 45 minutes of the second half while preventing Udinese from scoring to turn the game around. Given Benfica's poor performance in the first half, this seemed like an "impossible mission."

As the rain intensified, although there was a roof over the stands, it was not fully covered, and after shouting for 45 minutes in the cold rain, everyone was feeling thirsty, cold, and hungry.

Why stand idly in the stands now? Of course, it was time to grab a beer and a sandwich to stave off the hunger!

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Fans gradually left the stands, then gathered in small groups after purchasing beer and sandwiches to discuss the first half and speculate on the second half. Most Benfica fans were dismayed, their team's defense had been unexpectedly terrible.

They complained about the team's performance. "I don't know what they're playing at, I bet even I could do better than them out there!"

"Yeah, it's just like dog s**t!"

"We're done for…"

However, some disagreed, insisting the game wasn't over yet. "Remember our first leg against Udinese, how we scored early in the second half after a poor first half, and then they came back?"

"They did it, why can't we?"

"Exactly! If we just play normally in the second half, I think we can even the score!"

"If only we could play like we did in the first half of the season, we could definitely turn this around!"

Benfica fans had mixed feelings about the second half, a mix of anticipation and fear. For the neutral fans from Boavista's youth team, there weren't such complex emotions. They simply enjoyed the first half's excitement because of Bruno's outstanding performance and looked forward to more of the same in the second half.

"Seeing Bruno play so well, I'm just as happy as if we had won the game ourselves!" they said.

"Can Bruno keep it up in the second half?"

"Hard to say, if the opposition tightens their defense against him, it might affect him…"

"As long as Bruno keeps playing this way, he might soon move to a top club!"

"Speaking of which, I read reports saying Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United… all these big clubs plan to buy him this summer!"

"With Bruno's skill, playing for a top club is definitely within reach, it's just up to him where he wants to go."

"Seeing Bruno this good, I suddenly have high hopes for the upcoming World Cup in Brazil!"

"Indeed, with Ronaldo up front, Bruno in midfield, and Pepe at the back, we really have something to look forward to!"

"It seems Bruno wasn't called up for the last national team match day…"

"How ridiculous! Paulo Bento not calling Bruno for tactical reasons, that's a scandal!"

———————

While the fans were noisily discussing and lamenting Bruno's lack of recognition by the Portuguese national coach, Paulo Bento, Bruno himself was sitting in the locker room, drying off. The coaches had prepared dry jerseys for the second half, as the first-half jerseys were already soaked and muddy.

After everyone finished preparing, coach Guidolin began outlining strategies for the second half. "They'll attack because they have no other choice," he explained.

"And us? With two away goals and a three-goal lead on aggregate, even if we maintain this score until the end, we advance."

"Has anyone realized that our roles with them will switch in the second half?" The Udinese players looked puzzled, not quite understanding why their coach was bringing this up.

Bruno thought for a moment before realizing what he meant. He stood up, looked around, and started to explain.

"Because we let Benfica score away in our home game, we had to attack in the first half to cancel their away goal advantage. Benfica, having scored away, could afford to be more flexible at home; a narrow 1:0 win would have been enough to eliminate us."

"Now, with two goals in the first half, we have the advantage in away goals and a three-goal lead on aggregate, giving us more options. Benfica, trailing both in aggregate and away goals, has no choice but to attack."

Bruno wouldn't point out any tactical errors made by Guidolin in the first half; his setup had unnecessarily tensed up Udinese. Despite giving away an away goal advantage, Udinese was still ahead and could have been more composed.

Guidolin had his reasons for such tactics since Udinese's defense had indeed been weak this season, especially the goalkeeping position, which hardly inspired confidence.

"So, our roles with them have switched, and our thought processes might change because of the different roles," Bruno concluded.

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