Exchanging Jerseys with Guardiola

"This kid!"

Seeing Agüero score, Guardiola slapped his bald head in frustration!

He knew Lin and his teammates were not very coordinated, so he only needed to restrict Lin and Silva.

Lin also knew about his lack of coordination with his teammates, and Silva would likely be targeted too. So, they came up with a strategy to use Silva as a decoy to attract Guardiola's attention while Silva shielded teammates to complete the attack.

This way, besides Lin and Silva, there was a third player that Guardiola hadn't accounted for!

Guardiola realized this and shook his head with a wry smile.

If someone else had outsmarted him, he might be angry. But since it was his son, Guardiola couldn't be mad.

Instead, he felt a sense of pride:

The brat has grown quickly, even tricking his own father!

No wonder he's my son!

However, Guardiola wasn't going to let Lin lead the team to a comeback. He made a substitution, bringing on Badstuber for Ribéry, adding a defensive midfielder to strengthen the defense and mark the third point of Manchester City's attack.

Moreover, making a substitution at this time could also serve to delay the game, killing two birds with one stone.

With Badstuber on the field, Bayern's defense became very solid.

Manchester City's attacks couldn't even reach the penalty area, let alone threaten it.

Finally, after ninety minutes, Bayern defeated Manchester City 3-2 at home, winning the Audi Cup.

After the match, an interesting scene occurred. Lin approached the sidelines, hugged Guardiola, and requested to exchange jerseys.

Guardiola was taken aback and pointed to his suit:

"Kid, are you eyeing my suit?"

It's common for players to exchange jerseys, but it's rare for a player to exchange jerseys with a coach.

A famous instance was in 2018 when Manchester City faced Bristol City in the League Cup. Bristol's defender Aden Flint jokingly asked to exchange jerseys with Guardiola. Guardiola refused, but later sent Flint a similar outfit, fulfilling his wish.

Now, several years before that incident, Lin was the first to ask.

Cameras captured this amusing moment, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Since Bayern had won, their fans were in a good mood.

Fans near the coaching bench started to cheer:

"Mr. Guardiola, exchange 'jerseys' with him!"

"Manchester City's number 10 jersey isn't even on the market yet, it's a sure deal!"

Lin's number 10 jersey was still being manufactured and wasn't widely available. Even if someone wanted to buy it, they couldn't. Moreover, this was a jersey he had worn, making it a limited edition.

But Guardiola's suit cost thousands of dollars, which wasn't cheap either.

"Look at our sizes. Can I even fit in your clothes?"

Lin compared their heights and said to Guardiola.

Guardiola laughed heartily: "Alright, alright, I'll exchange with you. Consider it a memento of our first match against each other!"

The first match between father and son on the field was indeed worth commemorating.

So, Lin took off his jersey and handed it to Guardiola, who then gave Lin his suit jacket.

They completed a unique jersey exchange.

After the Audi Cup, Manchester City didn't linger in Germany. They flew back to England that night.

Pellegrini began adjusting the team's tactics based on the issues seen in the Audi Cup.

He knew Yaya Touré liked to push forward in attack, so he assigned him some offensive tasks. However, he also instructed Touré to only push forward when the defense was secure; otherwise, he wasn't allowed to advance.

To address the lack of coordination among Manchester City's forwards, Pellegrini arranged more intra-squad training matches, allowing Lin, Silva, and Agüero to play together frequently.

Chemistry can be developed. The more they played together, the more familiar they would become with each other's playing styles, increasing their coordination.

After a week of intensive training, Pellegrini arranged friendly matches with several teams to test the team's condition.

They first faced Fulham from the lower half of the Premier League and then a stronger Arsenal.

Pellegrini planned to use the match against Fulham to find form and then use that momentum to face the Premier League giants Arsenal. If they could beat Arsenal, it would boost the team's confidence and morale.

This way, they could be in the best possible shape for the start of the Premier League.

Fulham was happy to be Manchester City's sparring partner but requested to play at their home ground. This way, they could sell tickets and make some extra money thanks to Manchester City's popularity.

Manchester City didn't lack money and didn't care about ticket revenue. Fulham's request was trivial, and they were happy to have a friendly match.

Arsenal agreed to the match but scheduled it for August 15th. They had just returned from an Asian tour and were recovering their form.

Although Wenger didn't like commercial activities, Arsenal still engaged in some to earn money. Asia, with its many football fans, was a great place to make money.

If not for the long distance, Wenger would have preferred to go there frequently.

However, for top teams, such commercial activities can somewhat affect their pre-season preparations.

So, while engaging in commercial activities, they would weigh the pros and cons.

Some money could be earned, and some couldn't.

Wenger understood this, so Arsenal's Asian tour lasted only half a month before they returned to England.

This way, their pre-season preparations wouldn't be too affected.

But after playing a few matches against weak Asian teams, Wenger worried about the team's form declining.

So, upon returning to England, he sought suitable opponents to regain form, aiming to get the team in shape before the Premier League started.

On paper, a strong but less prestigious team like Manchester City was the perfect sparring partner.

Thus, both teams agreed to play, with Arsenal visiting Etihad Stadium on August 15th.

On August 10th, Manchester City played away at Fulham, attracting about 20,000 spectators.

Fulham's stadium was small, even with additional seating, it held less than 30,000 people. For a friendly match, drawing 20,000 spectators was a high turnout.

Many fans came specifically to see Lin.

They were curious about this player, said to rival Messi and Ronaldo, and wanted to see if he was as strong as rumored.

Fulham's players were also very interested in Lin.

While in the player tunnel, Lin noticed their players' gazes focused on him, whispering to each other, seemingly discussing him.

"Be careful, they're planning to foul you!"

David Silva, standing close, overheard some of their whispers and warned Lin seriously.

"Got it!"

Lin nodded. It wasn't surprising Fulham's players had such thoughts.

When he first came to the Premier League, the British media labeled him as 'not good at physical confrontations.'

Their players probably thought the same.

During the pre-match handshake, Fulham's left-back Richardson held Lin's hand tightly and threatened:

"Kid, watch your legs on the field!"

Lin increased his grip, making Richardson's face turn purple:

"I'll say the same to you, watch your own legs!"

He believed in an eye for an eye approach.

If someone was rude to him, he would retaliate without hesitation.

"Hmph, big talk. This is the Premier League, a league for real men... ouch, ouch, let go, you lunatic!"

Seeing Richardson continue to talk, Lin increased his grip, twisting Richardson's face in pain.

"Try it!"

Lin glanced at Richardson and moved on to the next player.

Fulham's defensive midfielder Sidwell saw his teammate's pale hand and swallowed hard.

Can I skip the handshake?

But Lin's hand was already extended.

Sidwell bravely reached out, only to quickly withdraw it like touching an electric wire.

Lin's reaction made him smile. Leaving such an impression wasn't bad news for him.

At 7:30 PM, the match began.

Fulham immediately launched an attack on Manchester City, showing no caution despite facing a strong team.

It seemed they wanted to go head-to-head with Manchester City!

After all, it was just a friendly match, not a competitive one.

They had to give the paying fans their money's worth.

If Fulham had just defended, the fans would have booed them.

Manchester City's weakness was in their defense, but their offense was strong.

If Fulham wanted to attack, Manchester City was happy to oblige.

So, Manchester City also began their attack on Fulham's penalty area.

This was Lin's first match against a Premier League team, even though it was just a friendly.

Both teams were from the Premier League, and the referee was an official Premier League referee.

So, the intensity was similar to a real Premier League match.

Playing for real, Lin realized the Premier League's pace was fast.

But this speed differed from the rapid ground attacks of top teams. Lower Premier League teams liked high balls.

When Fulham had the ball, they preferred to launch high balls to their forwards to contest headers.

If they won the header, they would pass to teammates, directly attacking Manchester City's penalty area, bypassing the midfield.

If they lost the header, they quickly retreated to defend against counterattacks.

Isn't this the old long-ball strategy?

Why is this still used nowadays?

Lin was surprised by this low-efficiency attack method.

With many players in City's defense, it wasn't easy for Fulham's forwards to win headers.

Even if they did, they might not successfully pass to teammates.

If they lost the ball, Manchester City would launch a quick counterattack.

As expected, in the 13th minute of the first half, Manchester City intercepted a pass and quickly moved the ball to the wing.

The ball soon reached Lin.

He had noticed Fulham's defense was wide open, so he took off, charging towards their penalty area.

Fulham's left-back Richardson charged

 at Lin aggressively, not even looking at the ball, aiming directly for Lin.

Fulham's fans widened their eyes in anticipation.

They were ready to see their defender overpower the number 10 player!

Rumor had it that Manchester City spent a fortune on this Spanish player, paying a huge signing fee and offering the highest salary in football.

They couldn't wait to mock Manchester City for their foolish spending once their player was taken down by an ordinary Fulham defender!

Money can't buy you success!

In the crowd was a special spectator.

Arsenal's manager Wenger was there to scout Manchester City, or rather Lin, to see how he adapted to the Premier League.

Fulham and Arsenal were both London clubs, so it wasn't inconvenient for Wenger to visit.

Wenger had always admired Lin and wanted to sign him.

Although he failed, it didn't lessen his admiration for Lin.

However, Wenger knew the Premier League's intensity.

He wasn't sure if Lin could adapt to the Premier League's pace.

As Richardson charged at Lin, Wenger's heart skipped a beat.

Lin is a genius, please don't get hurt!

Bang!

The sound of a fierce collision rang out.

Richardson and Lin collided head-on!

But surprisingly, it wasn't Lin who was knocked down, but Richardson himself.

Richardson bounced back as if he had hit a wall, falling to the ground with a look of disbelief:

How is this possible?

Why didn't this kid fall?

Lin glanced at Richardson disdainfully:

Even Ramos couldn't knock me down, who do you think you are?

With Richardson failing to stop him, Lin had a clear path ahead.

Fulham's defenders hadn't expected Richardson to fail and were now scrambling.

Before the center-backs could cover, Lin dribbled past Richardson and entered the penalty area, chipping the ball over the advancing goalkeeper into the net.

The score was now 1-0.

Seeing Lin knock down their defender and score, Fulham's fans were silent:

This isn't how it was supposed to go!