Chapter 248: Chapter 248

The two eyes widened round.

He had maintained this posture for a long time.

Ever since Tang Long received Bonazzoli’s assist and scored, Guardiola has been in this position.

This Spanish coach’s view from the stands was at a moderate height, offering a wide visual field.

His angle on the pitch was completely different from Seville’s head coach Emery’s on the ground.

Although the linear distance of the view is farther than Emery’s, thanks to an overlooking god-like perspective at the center of the field, he can see more clearly and thoroughly than Emery.

Tang Long’s header goal, Emery believed to be Inter Milan’s deliberately set tactic—

A flick at the near post, feigning a flick to the middle, but actually aiming for the far post, catching them off guard.

But the keen-sighted Guardiola didn’t think so!

He didn’t even need to watch the replay; the moment Bonazzoli bent down and swung his head, Guardiola understood that there was no way Bonazzoli meant to aim the ball towards the far post!

Unlike Emery who began his career as a head coach at a club.

Guardiola started as a youth coach at Barça’s La Masia training camp.

Although nowadays Coach Guardiola’s achievements far surpass Emery’s, at the start of their coaching careers, he was below Emery.

As a head coach of an adult team, Emery doesn’t focus on players’ fundamentals as they’re already set, so his coaching career began with tactical research.

But at La Masia, players weren’t adults; many were around 15 or 16 years old.

As a coach at La Masia, Guardiola often had to guide young players hand-in-hand, improving their basic skills.

Guardiola, in his playing days, was also a captain of Barcelona, a legendary holding midfielder, and he was very willing to impart his solid football fundamentals to help the kids at Masia.

After years of honing his career as a youth coach, Guardiola developed a keen eye for detecting deficiencies in a player’s fundamentals.

He could often see it at a glance!

Just like earlier with Bonazzoli’s header flick.

Even though watching from a distance on the stands, Guardiola could instantly tell that Bonazzoli was clearly aiming the ball towards the center!

Because when Bonazzoli jumped and swung his head, his torso had an obvious downward action.

Guardiola knew that Bonazzoli made this move to keep the ball from going too far.

When at La Masia, he often explained this technical move to the players.

Bonazzoli’s torso action was correct, but the problem arose at the instant he swung his head.

The motion of swinging his head lacked continuity with his torso!

When swaying his head to hit the ball, he was half a beat slow.

This shows a deficiency in the player’s fundamentals.

And precisely due to the discontinuity between swinging his head and his torso, Bonazzoli failed to control the ball’s trajectory.

Originally intending to aim at the center, he accidentally flicked the ball to the far post!

Guardiola was completely sure about this.

From his many years of experience interacting with young players, Guardiola believed that Inter’s corner, Bonazzoli’s flick to the far post, was indeed a mistake, not intentional.

In other words, the ball heading to the far post was completely accidental!

However, what made Guardiola sit still for a long time, thinking hard, was not Bonazzoli’s fundamental mistake.

What he pondered constantly was Tang Long’s positioning.

Guardiola, sitting high up, had a better view than Emery.

Early when Bonazzoli jumped, Guardiola’s left eye focused on Bonazzoli, while his right eye scanned other positions in Seville’s penalty area.

In a chaotic crowd, everyone was charging towards the center.

But halfway through, a blue-black figure suddenly retreated!

In that instant, Guardiola was suddenly astonished.

He possessed an acute awareness point in time; he knew that at that moment, the player’s retreat within the blue-black shadows occurred at the same instant the ball touched Bonazzoli’s skull.

To clarify, before Bonazzoli’s header fully flicked across, Inter Milan had a player moving towards the far post!

Not until seeing players celebrating the goal did Guardiola astonishingly realize that person was actually Tang Long!

Guardiola sat in the chair, puzzled beyond understanding.

How did Tang Long know the ball would flick to the far post?

Upon what basis did he predict the trajectory?

Could it really be at the moment just when the ball touched Bonazzoli’s skull, this 18-year-old Chinese lad had already accurately anticipated the fall point?

To note, at that moment, even the legendary coach Guardiola could not predict the ball’s trajectory change.

Tang Long indeed made an unbelievably accurate judgment in that split second.

"Can’t understand, really can’t understand..."

Guardiola scratched his bald head, his eyes widened even more.

At that moment, although being Bayern’s head coach, he suddenly recalled Barça’s disciple, the midfielder Busquets!

As a fellow midfielder, Busquets willingly acted as a secondary role beneath Harvey and Iniesta’s brilliance.

However, those who understand football knew, as an outstanding product of La Masia, elevated by Guardiola himself, Busquets played an indispensable rhythm-controller role for Barça’s midfield!

He was in fact the irreplaceable component of Barça’s Dream Team’s midfield.

This tall midfielder always displayed extraordinary prediction ability on the pitch.

Whether in positioning or anticipating trajectory changes, he always managed to be one second ahead of opponents and made early judgments!

Seemingly unobtrusive, casually passing or moving, yet always staying a step ahead in the development.

Often this single step ahead ensured his consistent lead, always holding an undefeated position amid the perilous midfield!

In this respect, during their playing days, both as midfielders, and even as Barcelona’s captain, Guardiola couldn’t match Busquets.

"Tang, this guy, actually has some similarities with Busquets."

Guardiola murmured to himself, his eyes showing a smile.

Though personally witnessing Tang Long’s divine prediction, this renowned Spanish coach still had doubts.

Could it simply be because he saw everyone charging to the center, so Tang Long decided to run towards the far post?

In other words, Tang Long managed to head the ball at the far post not because he predicted the trajectory but because he ran where the space was available!

In this respect, Guardiola’s thought process wasn’t wrong.

As an absolute adherent of Cruyff’s art of space football, Guardiola also understood that football is fundamentally a spatial art.

In the penalty area, rationally distributing attacking players at the near, middle, and far posts is tactically reasonable.

Guardiola at this point raised his eyes towards the center of the field.

The expansive Berlin Olympic Stadium was empty due to halftime.

The field administrator was repairing damaged turf.

A few substitute players did warm-up exercises, occasionally passing the ball.

Guardiola stared at Seville’s penalty area, continuously imagining Tang Long’s positioning in his mind.

Right then, the Olympic Stadium’s enormous display screen at the top left began showing highlights from the first half.

When playing Tang Long’s goal, Guardiola’s mind sparked!

He immediately raised his phone, opening the camera, and started recording the stadium screen.

Afterward, he sent this few-seconds-long video as a text message to Busquets.

Although having left Barça for three years, Guardiola maintained great relationships with the club’s players.

Many Barça players were personally promoted by Guardiola, and they considered him as the godfather of their football careers, occasionally keeping in contact privately.

Coach Guardiola decided to hear Busquets’ opinion, which might uncover new insights!

[Hey! Sergio! Long time no see, how are you and your family doing? I’m in Berlin watching the UEFA Europa League final. Help me analyze the video I sent you. If it were you, would you immediately run to the far post for that header?]