Chapter 111: Five-man Encirclement, Equivalent Treatment to Messi!
Chapter 111: Five-man Encirclement, Equivalent Treatment to Messi!
"Heh heh, this kid is in trouble!"
In the stands, Deweese saw Werder Bremen's attack being thwarted, and after Lin Quan passed the ball back, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Six months ago, Chelsea once faced Bayern Munich on the stage of the Champions League final, and the formidable strength of Bayern's midfield and defense was still fresh in the memory of everyone at Chelsea.
And this season, with the addition of Javi Martinez, Bayern's midfield and defense have been further strengthened.
Coupled with a player like Mario Mandzukic, who is both defensive and offensive, Bayern's attacking power is even more exaggerated than last season.
In this game, Werder Bremen had a tough time.
However, the more challenging it became, the more curious Deweese became about the performance of Werder Bremen's number ten player, Lin Quan, in adversity.
...
If the several attempts in the first ten minutes only made Lin Quan suspect that Bayern's tactics were targeting him, as the game progressed, he became more convinced that the opponent's defensive tactics today were carefully designed.
After once again dribbling past Ribery on the wing, Lin Quan encountered Martinez's interception.
This time, Lin Quan didn't hesitate. Without giving the opponent a chance for physical confrontation, he accelerated and dribbled past Martinez three times in a row, temporarily dislodging Martinez from his defensive position.
Seizing this opportunity, he immediately dribbled towards the opponent's penalty area.
But Bayern's left-back, Alaba, caught up and blocked him.
Behind Alaba, Boateng had already positioned himself, ready to assist his teammate in ending Lin Quan's attack.
Martinez was behind Lin Quan, actively chasing back.
Without time to dribble past Alaba, Lin Quan moved the ball laterally, trying to create space and find an opportunity to shoot or break through.
Alaba, as a left-back, usually, after the opponent leaves his defensive area, would abandon man-marking to avoid losing his defensive position and pass the marking task to his teammates.
But this time, even though Boateng and Dante, the two center-backs, had rushed forward, Alaba, the left-back, surprisingly didn't go back but continued to stick to Lin Quan like glue.
Lin Quan found it strange. Was Bayern no longer using a left-back?
He looked up at Bayern's left-back position and found that Ribery had somehow returned and temporarily replaced Alaba, acting as Bayern's left-back.
At this moment, Martinez caught up with Lin Quan from behind.
Another defensive midfielder, Gustavo, also approached, blocking Lin Quan's passing lanes.
Lin Quan found himself suddenly trapped by five opponents!
He couldn't pass the ball, nor were there any passing lanes. He could only choose to forcefully dribble forward.
First, he dodged Alaba's interception with a feint, then he turned and evaded Dante's tackle, but before he could get past Boateng, Martinez pushed him down from behind.
It was a foul outside the penalty area. The referee awarded a free-kick but didn't show a card.
With an apologetic smile on his face, Hummels, quite friendly, reached out and helped Lin Quan up from the ground, patting his back casually.
In fact, he had already shown some mercy.
If Lin Quan wasn't his national team teammate, he would have tackled the ball long ago, not giving him a chance to dribble past.
Lin Quan felt frustrated; he had experienced being double-teamed before.
But being trapped by five opponents was an entirely new experience for him. This treatment was rarely seen, even compared to Messi.
Especially against a team like Bayern Munich, for them to go to such lengths to deal with a young player like him?
Werder Bremen's free-kick, Lin Quan and De Bruyne discussed how to take it.
De Bruyne was also having a frustrating game; he was closely marked by the opponent.
Gustavo and Schweinsteiger were always around him, limiting his receptions and passes. If he stuck to the ball a bit more, he might get dispossessed.
Under such tight marking, De Bruyne's weak physical presence resulted in an abnormal performance. His passing accuracy dropped significantly in this game, with three turnovers.
Fortunately, he was positioned further forward, so when the ball was lost, the players behind him quickly organized to regain possession, preventing Bayern from making threatening shots.
Two equally frustrated players stood before the ball, exchanging glances.
Lin Quan judged the distance between the penalty spot and the goal and decided to give the opportunity to De Bruyne.
After a run-up, De Bruyne opted for a lofted shot. The ball soared over the wall, suddenly descended, heading towards the bottom-left corner of Bayern's goal.
But before the ball crossed the goal line, a large hand appeared in front of it, deflecting it away.
Neuer! After saving the opponent's shot, Bayern's goalkeeper roared, exuding dominance!
The fans at the Allianz Arena erupted into applause for their goalkeeper's excellent performance this season.
Neuer's performance had been improving this season. After being held to a draw by Werder Bremen away, he kept eight clean sheets in the next 11 league games, conceding only seven goals in the first half of the season.
Many times, before the opponents even threatened the goal, he would proactively come out of the penalty area or even outside of it to end their attacks.
His extensive range of activity earned him the title of sweeper-keeper.
Just looking at his activity area, he didn't seem like a goalkeeper but rather a defender.
This goal wasn't scored by Lin Quan, but after Neuer saved the penalty, his eyes turned to Lin Quan.
This time, I won't let you score against me again!
Center-back Dante discussed with a few teammates and felt that this shot was still very threatening.
If it weren't for Neuer's good form and swift reaction, there was a possibility of conceding a goal.
"We can't give the opponent such good set-piece opportunities; their number six is an expert at free-kicks. Don't give them a chance!"
Dante, with his wealth of experience, knew that after limiting Werder Bremen's conventional attacking methods, long shots and set-pieces would be their biggest threats against Bayern. Protecting the dangerous area in front of the penalty area could effectively contain them.
As for set-pieces, it required the players to be smarter in defense.
If fouls were inevitable, they should be committed in less dangerous areas, not waiting until the opponent reached the edge of the penalty area or even inside it to commit fouls.
That wouldn't be just committing a foul; it would be committing a crime!
Werder Bremen's corner kick, De Bruyne played it short.
Fellkrug couldn't outmuscle Boateng, whose physical qualities were too strong. Moreover, he even gave Fellkrug a shove before jumping.
Fellkrug suffered from the inexperience of youth. If Arnautovic were on the field, he would definitely use his body to shield the opponent before jumping, giving himself an advantage in the aerial duel.
After winning possession from the corner, Bayern quickly launched a counter-attack. Ribery dribbled towards Werder Bremen's half.
Many of Werder Bremen's players were still in Bayern's half and hadn't retreated.
For Bayern, this was an excellent opportunity!
With no one marking him on the wing, Ribery didn't choose to dribble to the byline and cross but instead cut inside towards Werder Bremen's penalty area.
At the moment, Werder Bremen only had three defenders in their own half, and Bayern had three players on the counter-attack.
It was three against three!
Seeing Ribery cut inside into the danger zone, captain Fritz rushed forward immediately.
Ribery didn't waste time trying to dribble past him but quickly passed the ball to Robben, who was supporting on the other side. Robben, after receiving the ball, passed it back to Ribery.
With a clear chance after running into space, Ribery could shoot directly after receiving the ball. Forced to act, Werder Bremen's center-back Papastathopoulos could only abandon Mandzukic and move forward to intercept.
Seeing the center-back move, Ribery delivered a lofted pass, the ball flying over Papastathopoulos' head and dropping into the penalty area.
At the same time, Mandzukic pushed away the defender marking him, leapt high like a god of war, and forcefully headed the incoming ball.
The ball whistled towards Werder Bremen's net, and although Mielitz made a great effort to save it, he couldn't prevent his goal from being breached.
In the 32nd minute of the first half, Bayern took the lead with a goal assisted by Ribery and scored by Mandzukic, changing the score to 1-0!
The Allianz Arena turned into a sea of celebration, with sixty thousand Bayern fans celebrating this goal with great excitement.
On the other side, the five thousand Werder Bremen fans looked on dazedly at their own goal, each with a worried expression.
The team had played passively for the first thirty minutes, and their offense was almost entirely stifled.
Except for De Bruyne's free-kick, there hadn't been any threatening attacks.
Lin Quan had attempted a few long shots from outside the penalty area, but under Martinez's interference, none of them posed a threat.
One of them even ended up as a wild shot, flying into the stands.
Such outrageous shots were very rare for Lin Quan.
Falling behind in score wasn't frightening; it was just one goal. With Werder Bremen's formidable attacking prowess shown this season, there was still a chance to equalize or even turn the tables.
But the team's proud offense seemed to have been completely frozen in this game.
This was what worried the Parrot Legion's fans the most.
Without offense, Werder Bremen was nothing!
In the live broadcast, fans also noticed Werder Bremen's abnormality:
"What's going on? Lin and De Bruyne seem silent in this game?"
"They're being restricted by Bayern's tactics!"
"In this game, Martinez has been following Lin closely, preventing him from freely moving forward."
"Yes, Bayern's defense is very targeted. They mainly use Martinez to block Lin both in the front and back, forming a blockade area around him, limiting his movement to the left side of Bayern's penalty area, making it difficult for him to threaten Bayern's penalty area."
"Also, have you noticed? In the first half until now, there hasn't been a direct cooperation between De Bruyne and Lin."
"Yeah, it seems to be the case. So, how can they break through Bayern's defensive system?"
"There's no perfect solution. They have to compete with Bayern in midfield. Your midfield needs to be tougher than theirs. By winning the midfield battle, you can control the situation and help Lin break free."
"Indeed, but Bayern's midfield is also very strong!"
"The hardness of their midfield, even Barcelona would struggle against!"
"Hey, Bayern fans upstairs, stop being cocky. When Barcelona played against Bayern before, they easily scored four goals and swept Bayern!"
"Haha, are you still talking about that? What about the games from years ago? Even the 08-09 season's match is being brought up. The current Bayern is much stronger than the Bayern of that time, while Barcelona, well, they're not as good as before!"
"Exactly, this Bayern team is clearly stronger than four years ago, while Barcelona? They're declining year by year!"
"Haha, the fans of the Bavarian king are quite good at trash-talking. You only dare to fry fish in the Bundesliga pond. If you're capable, compete with us fairly and openly on the Champions League stage!"
"Don't get too cocky, Barcelona fans. If you meet us, Bayern, it's a different story. We'll teach you how to behave!"
"Haha, I'm looking forward to it. I expect Bayern to be beaten 4-0 at Camp Nou again!"
The topic was quickly diverted by the banter between Barcelona and Bayern fans, but the onlookers didn't mind the distraction; they were keenly analyzing:
"Both Barcelona and Bayern are group winners, so they won't meet in the Round of 16. But there might be a chance in the quarter-finals or semi-finals!"
(End of this chapter)