Chapter 72 UEFA Youth League debut, against Real Madrid U19
"Welcome to watch the 14/15 European Youth League quarter-finals. This live broadcast brings you the match between Real Madrid U19 and Porto U19. I am the host He Wei."

“Some new fans may not understand why we are broadcasting a seemingly ordinary U19 match, but I believe that starting from today, everyone will no longer have this question.”

"Because the match between Real Madrid U19 and Porto U19 is about to start, and our 16-year-old Chinese player is on the team's starting roster!"

"I believe everyone is familiar with Jiang Yuan. Our Chinese compatriot joined Porto U3 three months ago. It took him one and a half months to enter the first team training and get the opportunity to play in the Portuguese Super League."

"This young player has just finished playing in the Portuguese Super League and is about to play in the UEFA U3 Round of 19. We are surprised at Jiang Yuan and are also looking forward to his performance in this game. Everyone has a question for Jiang Yuan: Can this Porto substitute who is struggling to survive in the Portuguese Super League have a good performance in the UEFA Youth League?"

"By the way, this is Jiang Yuan's first real start in any team in Porto. It seems that head coach Hermione has also made some tactical changes targeting Jiang Yuan. Without further ado, let's enjoy this game!"

There are now more than 4 viewers in the Sina Sports live broadcast room, which is very lively and in sharp contrast to the bleakness of the previous few days.

A game costs 6 yuan, so most fans just want to watch Jiang Yuan’s games.

Of course, there are also many fans who waved their hands and directly bought membership of Sina Sports to watch the entire UEFA Youth League knockout stage.

[Hehehe, when I heard that Jiang Yuan would play, I bought this match directly. It turned out that he was the starter. I made a lot of money! ]

[Nice, Sina Sports probably didn’t sign an appearance contract with Jiang Yuan. The possibility of him starting the game was the intention of the Porto coach, which shows that Jiang Yuan’s ability is still recognized! ]

[I'm setting a flag here. If Jiang Yuan scores a goal or makes an assist in this game, I will directly become a member of the platform! ]

[Hahaha, me too, but my standards are lower. As long as Jiang Yuan's performance meets my expectations, I will become a member and buy his jersey! ]

[I think we shouldn’t have too low expectations for Jiang Yuan. When they played against the Portuguese U19 team two weeks ago, Jiang Yuan was almost like a dimensionality reduction attack. The European Youth League is also U19, and they were beaten by Jiang Yuan! ]

[The person above is crazy, right? Take a good look at Jiang Yuan's opponent, Real Madrid U19. Go up and beat them up. Can Real Madrid's U19 and Portuguese U19 players be on the same level?]

[That’s right, I’ll also set a flag. As long as Jiang Yuan gets an assist, I’ll become a member directly! ]

【+1】

[People say that Chinese football has no hope, so I wonder, where is the hope without support? No requirements, Jiang Yuan is the first player, and members will give it to you. I hope all the sponsors will pay more attention to Jiang Yuan. I am a fan of Chinese football for 22 years and I am grateful! ]

……

"With the referee's whistle, the game began. Real Madrid U19 kicked off. Real Madrid U19, wearing white and yellow jerseys, attacked from the left side of the screen to the right. Porto U19, wearing blue striped jerseys, attacked from the right side of the screen to the left."

"As you can see, the striker wearing the No. 27 jersey of Porto is Jiang Yuan. This young Chinese player received a post-match rating of 5.5 in the previous Portuguese Super League match against Guimaraes. I hope he can achieve good results in this game!"

This game was commented by He Wei alone, which is quite rare in football matches. But this was a team match after all, so it was not surprising.

At this time, Jiang Yuan was pressing hard in the frontcourt. He and the team's center forward and attacking midfielder formed a triangle, and the entire triangle pressed forward together.

This will effectively limit Real Madrid's backcourt passes. Regarding the tactics of this game, in fact, it is different from the rumors outside. Head coach Hemiel did not formulate a special tactic for Jiang Yuan. After Jiang Yuan came to the U19 team, he directly replaced the team's original left winger and also had to assume his on-field responsibilities.

Soon, Hemiel's triangular frontcourt pressing worked. Under the pressure of center forward Magrino, the Real Madrid defender made a mistake in touching the ball and kicked the ball out of the sideline.

"Hey, Jiang, here!"

Full-back Santos threw the ball accurately to Jiang Yuan. Facing the defense, Jiang Yuan moved the ball sideways and then passed it to Santos who rushed forward.

In a classic 2-on-1 combination on the wing, Santos, who was rushing forward with the ball, gave up going to the bottom line in the face of the defense of the defensive midfielder and kicked the ball back to Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan looked up and observed the ball before it approached him, then without stopping, he kicked the ball directly to the weak side. Porto right back Gudes caught Jiang Yuan's pass with his chest.

Because Real Madrid's defense was attracted to the left side by Jiang Yuan and Santos, the right side where Gudes was was empty. Gudes, who got the ball, completed the two actions of going down the bottom and crossing the ball almost without any pressure.

Unfortunately, the quality of Goodes' pass was indeed average. Jiang Yuan wanted to head the ball, but the ball was already headed out by Real Madrid's tall central defender.

Corner kick!

"In the 27th minute, this was the fifth corner kick for both teams since the start of the game and also Porto's second corner kick. We can see Jiang Yuan standing in the small penalty area, hugging two central defenders of Porto."

"This tactic of three players standing with their chests against their backs can confuse the defensive players very well, because in this case, the defensive players cannot tell which direction the three players are running, thus achieving the purpose of effective attack."

"In tactical formulation, these three players are usually the ones with the strongest heading ability in the team. It can be seen that Porto's head coach Hermione still recognizes our Jiang Yuan!"

"Porto got the first point after a corner kick. Santos, the team's full-back, headed the ball, but it was headed away by a Real Madrid player. However, the position of the ball seemed a bit awkward."

"Jiang Yuan ran to that position, volleyed the ball, and it went in!!!"

"Jiang Yuan, in the 29th minute of the first half, a 16-year-old young player from our country scored the first goal. This is not only Jiang Yuan's first goal in the UEFA Youth League, but also the first goal by a Chinese football player in the UEFA Youth League!"

After the goal, head coach Hemiel excitedly waved his arms and hugged the team's two substitute coaches.

Before the game, no one was optimistic about Porto U19, but in the end, Porto was the first to break through Real Madrid's goal.

The goal was scored by Jiang Yuan from the first team, who is also a part-time worker for Porto U19.

One person played for two teams at the same time, with the first team averaging 5.62 goals per game and the U19 team averaging 1.33 goals per game.

Everyone has a question in their mind: Is Jiang Yuan really only 16 years old?

……

(End of this chapter)