Chapter 244: Chapter 244

Guardiola clearly came here with a mission!

As a recent master of transmission control football, Coach Guardiola transplanted his tiki-taka tactics from Barça in La Liga to Bayern.

This season, Bayern remains consistently steady in the Bundesliga, unsurprisingly clinching the Bundesliga title.

However, in the Champions League semi-finals against Barcelona, Bayern suffered a defeat.

With an away loss of 0:3 and a home win of 3:2, Bayern Munich lost with a total score of 3:5 against Barcelona, stopping at the semi-final.

Bayern went to great lengths to poach Guardiola from Barça, not just for him to continue winning the Bundesliga title; Bayern has already won that trophy countless times.

The only reason they invited him was to conquer the Champions League!

Losing to his old club Barça in the Champions League semi-final, how could Coach Guardiola feel good?

His beloved Iniesta embraced him non-stop after the match, but it couldn’t ease Guardiola’s furrowed brow.

Bayern’s main midfield core, the team’s rhythm controller Harvey Alonso, is already 34 years old.

His partner Schweinsteiger is 31, and Lahm, who switched from full-back to midfield, is also over 30.

This midfield trio, averaging 32 years in age, dominates the Bundesliga with their foot skills, but across Europe, the stamina of these three players often reveals itself as problematic in the game’s final stages.

Similarly, Bayern’s midfield faces an update issue, and Guardiola wants to continue implementing his transmission control tactics, requiring the introduction of a young, potential player skilled in transmission control style.

He immediate targeted Tang Long from Inter Milan!

The anticipation heightened when Guardiola saw Di Marco often starting on the right wing.

As an old acquaintance of La Liga, Guardiola naturally knew Seville well, their style being transmission control.

What does pure ground transmission control look like with Inter Milan?

Guardiola had not yet witnessed it.

After the match began, with Inter Milan starting with the ball, the football naturally transferred underfoot in Inter’s half.

Tang Long intentionally leaned left from the attacking midfielder position, closer to Di Marco’s side.

Meanwhile, striker Bonazzoli also retreated slightly, similarly towards the left, maintaining a 10~15 meter distance from Tang Long.

"We need to form triangles in the match as much as possible; this facilitates football transmission and helps build smooth ground coordination."

These were Tang Long’s words as he called Di Marco and Bonazzoli close to him before the match started.

Bonazzoli and Di Marco naturally dared not disobey Tang Long’s detailed instructions.

Bonazzoli was relatively easy, for as the lone striker, even if he retreated to claim the ball, he did not need to turn urgently; he could always pass it back.

Di Marco, however, bore substantial pressure.

The pre-match strategy Mancini assigned him was to actively penetrate forward and, where possible, cut inside slightly—this was Mancini’s attempt to learn Guardiola’s full-back inward tactics, as Lahm did for Bayern.

Di Marco possessed the foot skills and awareness for this approach; he frequently moved inside, even reaching a position slightly towards the center mid area, at times more central than Tang Long, increasing the midfield’s reception points.

Guardiola, watching from the stands, grinned knowingly:

"Haha, Mancini, this fellow, isn’t he learning from me? Don’t say, in terms of physique and foot skills, Di Marco and Lahm certainly bear some resemblance."

Di Marco’s foot skills perhaps matched Lahm’s, maybe even slightly stronger.

However, as an only 18-year-old young player, standing for the first time on such an important stage as the UEFA Europa League final, he inevitably felt somewhat uneasy and apprehensive.

In a one-two coordination with Tang Long on the side, Di Marco ran a bit too fast and rushed forward.

Tang Long’s left foot diagonal pass found no one to respond, and the ball rolled out of play.

Guardiola, from the stands, couldn’t help massaging his brow.

How could such a simple coordination go wrong?

Tang Long’s pass was flawless; it was Di Marco who ran excessively.

Guardiola thought Tang Long was truly undervalued at Inter Milan; he should go to a bigger team to showcase himself.

"Haha, this is Inter’s transmission control."

Seville’s striker Baka laughed coldly, after receiving the touchline ball from his teammate, he passed it back to midfielder Banega.

As the match smoothly transitioned into Seville’s rhythm, they successfully took over ball possession.

Baka is now 29 years old, and this season he delivered his career-best performance, representing Seville with 37 appearances in La Liga and scoring 20 goals, catching the attention of several big clubs.

Baka knew that, approaching 30, this summer represented his final chance for joining a major team and getting a high salary.

Thus, Baka was full of fighting spirit and passion in a high-profile match like the UEFA Europa League final:

"I must score a few goals against Inter, let world scouts witness the strength of Baka!"

Seville is a traditionally transmission control team from La Liga.

Once the football reached their feet, the transmissions flowed seamlessly.

Football circulated back and forth between the five midfield players, each short pass hugging the grass, not bouncing at all.

Such scenes were already second nature to the five midfielders in routine training.

Faced with Seville’s midfield back and forth ball movement, Inter Milan dared not slacken, actively pulled back the formation, minimizing each player’s stamina expenditure with each ball movement.

In the 15th minute of the first half, veteran midfielder Reyes demonstrated his responsibility and commitment.

This star who rose to fame at Real Madrid has progressively become a pillar of the team after coming to Seville.

After delivering 12 consecutive passes, Reyes took the ball facing Gualin’s fierce pressing and chose not to pass backward but instead unleashed a sudden forward pass!

"Wow, Seville has changed up the rhythm, they’re suddenly accelerating!"

"Reyes’s through pass is extremely precise, smoothly delivering the ball to the flank for Baka!"

"Inter’s left wing opened up a gap, and Baka was advancing with the ball!"

"Fortunately, Di Marco was in position, and Baka slowed forward progress as the two confronted each other near the penalty line."

Inside Inter Milan’s penalty area on the left side, Di Marco had his hands behind his back, lowered his stance and fixed his gaze on the ball beneath Baka’s feet.

Due to his prior defensive preparations and his short stature with a low center of gravity, Baka’s initial powerful outside breakthrough did not fool Di Marco.

At least in terms of speed, Baka did not have any advantage over Di Marco.

"I can block him, no problem. Di Marco, believe in yourself!"

The young Di Marco encouraged himself mentally.

However, what Di Marco didn’t anticipate was that Baka’s aggressive move down the right was actually a feint, intending to swiftly draw Di Marco out of the penalty area to create an opening for a teammate’s advance.

"Get back to your position!"

Tang Long shouted loudly; he had already seen the gap inside the penalty area after Di Marco’s departure, but Gualin was a step too late.

Baka led Di Marco to the baseline, then suddenly pivoted, using the outside of his right foot to flick the ball back, spinning 180 degrees on the spot to retrieve the ball, then accelerated to cut inside again.

Although he couldn’t shake off Di Marco completely, Baka didn’t stick to the ball, using his left foot to return the ball to the center!

Banega took the ball, facing an opening and promptly cut forward, slicing from the outside into Inter’s penalty area.

Di Marco was startled upon realizing the opponent’s feint tactics.

Young, quick, and responsive, he immediately adhered to Baka, starting to block the position inside the penalty area;

Meanwhile, Gualin was also quickly converging internally to secure the central position as firmly as possible.

Gualin and Di Marco’s attention was entirely on Argentine midfielder Banega with the ball, while Baka was left out, crouching like a lurking leopard, bending and quietly lying on the offside line...

When he saw the right moment, suddenly taking a step forward, at that instant Banega’s through pass followed suit.

Striker Baka didn’t hesitate, shifting his body’s center of gravity left, targeting the touchpoint of the ball and pressing firmly with the arch of his right foot.

Like a motorcycle race cutting a corner, with that press, he and the ball reached the edge of Inter’s small penalty area in one step!

The situation was urgent, and goalkeeper Handanovic was already too late to call for teammates to reposition.

The goalkeeper’s instinct made him subconsciously take a step forward, extending his hands to block Baka’s shooting angle.

Baka has scored 20 goals in La Liga this season, only second to Messi and C Luo, and he certainly has his extraordinary qualities.

Facing Inter’s goalkeeper, Handanovic, who spread his hands and feet to maximize defensive coverage, Baka decided to win by finesse.

He swung his thigh, pretending to unleash a powerful front-foot shot, but just as the instep was about to connect with the ball, he lurched his waist and absorbed his abdomen, twisting his ankle to come up with a push shot.

The ball, like a groundhog, barely brushed underneath Handanovic’s left leg, threading into the near corner of the goal!

Baka roared, then rushed toward the corner flag, excitedly spreading his arms toward the teammates coming in to celebrate.

In the stands, most sitting beside Guardiola were Seville fans, and that side of the stands had long turned into a sea of joy.

Guardiola was wearing sunglasses, showing no expression outwardly, yet beneath those black sunglasses were deeply furrowed brows.

Mancini’s attempt to inwardly pull Di Marco from the flank was merely superficial without mastering the essence.

Initially, after Di Marco’s inward pull, the young center-back Juan failed to promptly cover the position vacated after his departure, resulting in Banega’s pass to Baka’s side, giving the Colombian striker ample space to handle the ball.

Afterward, Baka led Di Marco out of the penalty area, then hooked the ball back and quickly handed it to Banega, who was right there.

Lastly, Banega attracted both Gualin and Di Marco before killing the ball with a back pass and knocking it back to Baka, lurking on the penalty line.

Through these maneuvers, the ball went back and forth twice from inside Inter Milan to the penalty area!

In Guardiola’s view, Seville’s team might not meet his eyes in terms of overall ball control level, but this offensive maneuver certainly possessed the systematic approach of Guardiola-style possession football, at least with every step hitting the mark.

It was Inter Milan’s awkward defensive display that made Guardiola shake his head repeatedly.

Possession doesn’t just reflect in offense; how to press, position, and cover defensively is the essence of Guardiola-style possession football.

Watching Inter’s clumsy imitation, Guardiola once again began to feel for Tang Long!

He had a good view from the stands.

When Di Marco was led away from the flank of the penalty area by Baka, Guardiola immediately noticed the gap in Inter’s flank.

He was observing, checking which Inter player could notice and cover the gap.

However, regrettably, apart from Tang Long gesturing to Gualin to go over, it seemed that no other Inter players sensed the impending danger.

It seems that from a football awareness standpoint, Tang Long is in a league of his own compared to the other Inter players!