Chapter 106: 17 years old, but came on as a substitute in the Champions League knockout match

"Substitution adjustment, Porto No. 30 Oliver Torres comes off the field, No. 36 Ruben Neves comes on as a substitute!"

"Number 8 Brahimi is off the court, number 27 Qiang... Jiang is on the bench!"

The sound of live commentary was heard in the stadium. Judging from the commentator's reaction, he was somewhat unfamiliar with this Porto player.

It is now the 76th minute of the game. Jiang Yuan and Neves took off their yellow vests and stood on the sidelines waiting for Torres and Brahimi to leave the field.

The domestic live broadcast room completely exploded!
[Awesome, in one word, awesome! ]

[Lopetegui, from today on, if I say I am a dog again, the comments will serve as proof]

[Fuck, I was still in high school when I was 17, and others played in the Champions League against Bayern when they were 17. Is this the difference between people? ]

[It makes sense. Xiaojiang just won the European Youth League and played very well in the previous rounds of the Portuguese Super League. In addition, Porto's original left winger was in a slump, so it is reasonable for him to play.]

[A ten-year old Porto fan came uninvited. Although I have only watched football for four years, it does not affect my ten-year fandom of Porto! ]

[I knew it was worth staying up late today! ]

[I am a Bayern fan, but now I hope Bayern loses. Am I a traitor? ]

[Don't worry, I'm a 17-year-old Bayern fan. Now I want to see Jiang Yuan beat Bayern. I'm guilty]

[No way, how many jerseys did you guys order? Your money power has come into play so quickly? ]

[Stop criticizing me, stop criticizing me. Jiang Yuan averaged 5 goals per game in the first five Portuguese Super League games, second on the team. Tell me why he can't play? If you have the guts, send me a private message and don't turn me off. Let's make an appointment offline.]

……

"Jiang, come on!"

Brahimi and Jiang Yuan simply high-fived. It was true that it was uncomfortable to be substituted, but it was a fact that his performance was poor. Now Brahimi only hoped that Jiang Yuan could perform well.

At least, at least win this game!

"Ok!"

Jiang Yuan responded. He was really nervous now.

This is the quarter-finals of the Champions League!
After coming on the court, Jiang Yuan and Neves handed the small note written by Lopetegui to the players in the team.

Lopetegui asked Casemiro and Torres to retreat as far as possible, and his meaning was very clear - to maintain the draw!

Although they were not favored before the game, the score of 2:2 was beyond Lopetegui's expectations. Moreover, the current situation on the field is that Bayern is unilaterally suppressing Porto, and being able to maintain the score is the best result.

Sandro threw the ball out of bounds in the frontcourt of Porto. Jiang Yuan stopped the ball and kicked it back to Sandro. To be honest, he was really nervous now.

At least, if this ball was in the Portuguese Super League, Jiang Yuan would definitely choose to take the risk and move forward!

"Go to the right!"

Sandro pointed to Rod's side, and Jiang Yuan ran to that position and received Sandro's pass.

He then turned around, took a look and passed the ball to Martinez in the middle. The strength of the Porto captain has always been unquestionable.

After getting the ball, Martinez was immediately tackled by Brother Long. To be on the safe side, Martinez passed the ball back to Jiang Yuan.

"..."

Jiang Yuan did not expect that Martinez would pass the ball back so decisively. It seems that Lopetegui's tactics have indeed had an impact on the players. Now everyone just wants a draw and does not want to be defeated.

As a substitute player, Jiang Yuan should have implemented Lopetegui's tactics. Facing Rafinha in front of him, Jiang Yuan refused to play a one-two with Sandro, but suddenly dribbled the ball backwards, ran a few steps and then passed the ball back to Casemiro near the center circle.

"Good, that's it!"

Lopetegui gave a thumbs up when he saw that the players on the field were executing the tactics as required.

Then he turned to assistant coach Hemiel and said, "Hemiel, I told you, Jiang's tactical execution is very strong."

Hemiel did not comment: "I heard from my brother that Jiang sometimes has his own ideas and is not as well-behaved as imagined."

The "little brother" that the assistant coach was referring to is naturally Porto U19's head coach Houssem Hemiel.

In response, Lopetegui just smiled and shook his head. He knew that there were some conflicts between Hemil and Jiang Yuan.

What do you mean by having your own ideas? Aren’t we playing very disciplined?

"We can see that Porto's offensive tempo slowed down significantly after the substitutions, and we can even say that they gave up the desire to attack altogether."

"Even Quaresma gave up on dribbling past the defense. It seems that the Porto players know very well that they will be successful as long as they maintain this score!"

"But now Bayern's desire to overtake the score is very strong. Lewandowski, who has been running for more than 70 minutes, is still pressing. The Pole seems very dissatisfied with the draw."

"The home fans on the sidelines seem a little angry now. They just had a 2-goal lead, but now it's hard for them to even keep the score!"

……

"Give it to me, here!"

Jiang Yuan on the field actively stretched out his hand to ask for the ball. He knew that he now had two advantages - physical strength and speed.

In this case, he must use these two advantages to contribute to the team. After Jiang Yuan received Quaresma's long pass, he suddenly accelerated forward and caught Rafinha off guard.

After getting rid of Rafinha, Jiang Yuan did not choose to cross the ball, but dribbled the ball near the baseline and entered the penalty area little by little. He kicked the ball directly into Dante's body.

He's cheating for a corner!
In the 82nd minute of the game, Porto got the 8th corner kick of the game.

The defensive value of this corner kick is far greater than its offensive value. As the audience saw, Herrera, who was responsible for taking the corner kick, did not choose to kick the ball into the penalty area for his teammates to head the ball, but instead gently kicked the ball to Jiang Yuan, making a tactical corner kick.

The tactical purpose of a corner kick is to delay time!
"Haha, it seems that Porto has completely given up attacking. They took a tactical corner kick, but Jiang Yuan had no intention of passing the ball. He stopped near the sideline with the ball."

"If you don't come over, I won't play. Jiang Yuan's move is indeed a bit mean. He is right. Losing face is a small matter. Keeping the score is a big deal."

He Wei was commentating, and the game unknowingly changed from a high-intensity confrontation between the two teams to a one-sided attack by Bayern, while Porto began their various time-delaying performances.

There were not many stoppages in this game, so the injury time would not exceed three minutes. This also shows that Porto only needs to hold on for another seven or eight minutes to remain unbeaten at home.

Rafinha rushed towards Jiang Yuan to grab the ball, but Jiang Yuan passed the ball directly to Casemiro who had been waiting in the middle for a long time, and the latter passed the ball to Quaresma on the right.

However, this kind of back-pass in the frontcourt is still too dangerous. The four players in Bayern's frontcourt formed a parallelogram connection and restricted the Portuguese star by blocking Quaresma's passing route.

Quaresma was double-teamed by Bernat and Thiago, and slowly moved the ball out of the baseline.

After five minutes of continuous possession, Porto lost the ball.

"Holding on means victory, holding on means victory..."

Lopetegui was muttering to himself, the white lining inside his suit was already wet with his sweat, it was obvious that the head coach was really nervous now!
Hemil was chewing gum and he was also sweating, but not as much as Lopetegui.

"Hu Lun, if the game is tied today, will you let the players celebrate?"

"Yes!"

Lopetegui replied as a matter of course.

A draw is a win. You may find it hard to believe that this statement comes from the coach of a Portuguese Super League giant, but you will not be surprised when you know that Porto's current opponent is the Bundesliga perennial champion Bayern Munich.

Because the dragon's glory is no longer what it used to be.

……

Porto finally paid the price for wasting time. After the throw-in from the backcourt, Rafinha made a long pass accurately to Muller on the right, who stopped the ball with his chest.

The ball comes to Lewandowski's feet again!

After dribbling the ball and shaking off Casemiro's close defense, Lewandowski passed the ball back to Alonso who was rushing over from the back.

The impatient Brother Long just took a long shot!
"Snapped!"

Fabiano jumped up and pushed the ball over the crossbar with one hand, which was a corner kick for Bayern.

"hiss--"

The game has now reached the 87th minute, and Lopetegui on the sidelines almost held his breath.

Last three minutes.

Hold on to the last three minutes!
Alonso, who created the corner kick opportunity, took charge of the corner kick himself and raised his left hand high.

After getting the hint, Muller and Lewandowski made cross runs in front of the small penalty area. Maicon, who had the strongest air defense ability, was taken away by Lewandowski. Muller rushed to the front point and headed for the goal!
"Good shot, good shot!"

Lopetegui waved his fist excitedly. When the team was in the most dangerous moment, goalkeeper Fabiano stood up. Facing Muller's header at the front point, Fabiano successfully kicked the ball out with his hand.

The ball rolled to Thiago's feet, and the latter tried to shoot but was blocked by Casemiro.

!!!

"call!"

Lopetegui on the sidelines finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was already the 88th minute and the ball was once again controlled by Porto.

Now Porto only needs to control the ball by passing it back like before to end the game in a draw.

Now the players of both teams were in Porto's half, and Casemiro didn't think much about it and kicked the ball to Quaresma who was closest to him.

Jiang Yuan saw the opportunity and suddenly ran towards the middle. Quaresma saw Jiang Yuan's movement and returned the ball to Casemiro, who kicked the ball to Jiang Yuan again.

In front of Jiang Yuan were two Bayern defenders, Dante and Boateng.

Looking up, Jiang Yuan was about to kick the ball to Martinez who was reaching out for the ball on the left.

At this moment, a flash of electricity passed through Jiang Yuan's brain.

Then his brain got hot, he took a step forward with his left foot and stepped in front of the left side of the ball, swung his right leg backwards, and stretched out his hands.

!!!

"Ok?"

Lopetegui frowned, with a look of question marks on his face.

The ball is now at least 35 meters away from the goal. What do you mean by kicking the ball?
……

(End of this chapter)