At the Municipal Stadium, the first leg of Braga's Europa League semi-final against Valencia kicks off.

Valencia did not play very aggressively, but waited and saw what happened on the road.

When Braga launched the first wave of attack, Valencia's tight defence in midfield meant they had to pass the ball to Tang Hong's feet.

It was up to Tang Hong to try to tear apart Valencia's defence.

When Tang Hong controlled the ball on the left side of the halfway line, Feghouli came to block his return pass, Jonas blocked his diagonal return to the middle, Mathieu slotted in from the flank, and Tino Costa marked Barbosa in the middle.

The faint encirclement formed extremely quickly, which is enough to show that Valencia's technical and tactical literacy is very strong.

Perhaps due to the influence of Barcelona in La Liga and even Europe for at least three years in the past few years, some teams may not imitate or try to replicate Barcelona's pass-and-control play, but they will inevitably learn from some of these advantages, such as high pressing and space pressing when defending.

Tang Hong had to dribble forward, but Mathieu's cautious pressing pushed him to the side!

If Tang Hong speeds up to break through Mathieu, Ricardo Costa in front of him will inevitably intercept him, and Ricardo Costa will also have the advantage of timing, which is the effect of joint defense.

Tang Hong dodged Mathieu's pressing with the ball at his feet, and at the same time ran forward quickly to avoid falling into a physical confrontation with Mathieu, which was definitely not his advantage.

Seeing that Ricardo Costa was about to break the ball, Tang Hong hurriedly knocked the ball to the middle of the front court with his left foot.

When Lima stepped forward to try to control the ball, Rami stepped up to cut it off!

Valencia did a fantastic job defending!

From the global formation contraction to the local joint defense, it is interlocking.

Coach Emery stood on the sidelines and stared at the field quietly, Valencia's goal of almost the whole team's defense today was to limit Tang Hong!

The Chinese striker, who dominates the top scorer list in the Portuguese Super League and Europa League, must be a big problem, and if he is not vigilant, he will definitely suffer a big loss!

When Valencia went on the attack, they first advanced from midfield to the right.

Fedhouli met on the flank and stepped forward to attack the danger zone, and seeing that Amorim had a tendency to help the wing, he knocked the ball diagonally back to the middle, and Tino Costa struck the ball diagonally in front of the centre circle to the left side of the field.

Alba scurried in and galloped into the danger zone, and in the face of full-back Bayano, who intercepted him head-on, Alba immediately knocked the ball across the middle, and then cut inside from the outside.

Jonas came over and kicked the ball, and before Custodio could block it closely, he had already passed the ball, which was naturally in the left rib of the penalty area.

Bayano turned and chased back but was clearly not Alba's opponent, and when Alba passed the ball back to the triangle near the bottom line in the penalty area, Soldado's active run was barely blocked by Everton and bounced off the line!

Valencia's threatening offensive sent the hearts of Braga fans sherred.

It was clear from the opening that Valencia were more dangerous in attack.

Yaltium frowned on the sidelines.

Valencia were very targeted today in terms of formation and style of play.

The 352 formation may not be Valencia's regular style of play, but Emery's arrangement is strongly targeted, Tang Hong's threat on the left side was first contained, and at the same time, Valencia's release of Alba's offensive threat on the left side can also suppress Braga's right attack, so there is no need to arrange fullbacks on the left side.

In attack, Feghouli is more of a feint on the right because the right side is too crowded!

Alba, a player with fast speed, good technique, and excellent forward awareness, is really not something that Bayano can block in a wider space.

Playing some teams that are wide open and close, Braga is really not afraid of opponents with defensive counterattacks, such as Manchester United, which does not have absolute strength, and Porto.

However, Valencia's technical and tactical delicacy made Braga very passive.

Their interspersed running passes, combined with their overall technical superiority, can be vividly reflected in the extreme.

In the 4th minute of the game, Braga attacked the left side again, this time Tang Hong chose to force a breakthrough, in order to get rid of the tall Mathieu, Tang Hong suddenly accelerated and overtook around the outside line!

Although he passed Mathieu, the experienced Ricardo Costa took the lead to make Tang Hong unable to control the ball, which was definitely his own self-inflicted trouble.

After Valencia restrained him again, Tang Hong gritted his teeth slightly.

It looked like it was just Mathieu and Ricardo Costa who had a partial grip on him, but in fact from the moment he got the answer, the line behind him and towards the middle was blocked by the Valencia players!

This means that Valencia is forcing Tang Hong to break forward and have no other options, and when there is no option, the defender's predictive success rate will be higher.

In the 9th minute of the game, Valencia attacked quickly, Topal and Tino Costa collided with the wall and passed the ball diagonally to the middle of the front field, and Jonas, who took the initiative to retreat to respond, crossed the ball to the right side.

After receiving the ball and cutting across the middle, Feghouli sent the ball to the heart of the left flank without waiting for Amorim to get close.

It looked like the ball wasn't supposed to be on the line, but Alba, who was fast, stopped the ball smoothly in front of the baseline.

Bayano took advantage of the situation to grab it, but Alba rushed to the direction of the penalty area first, and then rushed over from outside the baseline.

Bayano wanted to foul but didn't have a chance, the opponent was short and fast, and he was agile, like a little mouse, and it was not easy to catch the opponent!

Alba got into the box and saw Everton come back and knocked the ball diagonally back to the left side of the box.

Jonas rushed forward and just stopped the ball and struck it across the middle of the box.

Soldado scrambled to shoot the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal before Coelho made a tackle!

Veteran goalkeeper made a desperate save but came back to no avail, and the ball hit the inside of the post and bounced into the goal!

The Municipal Stadium suddenly resounded with the cheers of Valencia fans!

"Soldado pushes and scores! Valencia were the first to score away from home!

Valencia's combination was simply pleasing to the eye, they played with the character and essence of the Spanish team!

Whether it's the precision of the pass or the skillful coordination, they are all skilled!

To be fair, Braga are certainly weaker than Valencia in terms of overall strength, so it can be seen that Valencia's attack is more threatening.

At the same time, Tang Hong was very severely restricted today, and he failed to launch an offensive three times after the opening!

Valencia seems to be well prepared!

Braga 0:1 Valencia! ”

Soldado and his teammates went to celebrate, Emery applauded on the sidelines, and Yaltim could only frown and have no good way, at this time, the most he could do was to clap his hands to boost the team's morale and not lose his mental balance.

When Tang Hong was standing in the middle circle and preparing to kick off, Barbosa shouted to him: "When attacking, we will move closer to your side and give you advice, and you should observe the surrounding situation more." ”

Tang Hong nodded slightly.

Although Braga fans felt bad in their hearts, the game was still long, and they couldn't afford to be disheartened at this time, and after a short silence, they set off a deafening cheer.

Braga kick off and Valencia were in high spirits and more determined to execute their pre-match tactics, while the overall movement of the players was more aggressive.

In the 12th minute, when Eziegille passed the ball to the left side of the field, Tang Hong turned his back to meet it, and he saw Feghouli come to the wing to block the line of his return pass.

Valencia didn't seem to be afraid of him controlling the ball, and even consciously built a cage, and when the ball reached Tang Hong's feet, then the cage door was closed!

It's like Braga's offensive is self-defeating!

Tang Hong pulled the ball wide and turned around, and Mathieu and Ricardo Costa kept a distance of 5-10 yards from him, gradually narrowing the defensive range.

When Barbosa approached him, Tang Hong first started to seduce Mathieu to rush up for a kick-down interception, and at the same time, Ricardo Costa also showed signs of grabbing, Tang Hong decisively passed the ball horizontally, and after the ball, his footsteps kept skimming Mathieu's side, straight behind Ricardo Costa!

Barbosa took the initiative to receive the ball and was about to pass it, only to find Tino Costa in front of him!

Barbosa, who could only change his mind, controlled the ball and turned to face his backfield, and was about to pass the ball to Amorim, but Feghouli was in front of him, Barbosa subconsciously dialed the ball and changed to dodge, but Tino Costa came out from the side to seize the position and cut off the connection between him and the football!

Valencia successfully broke the ball and quickly launched a fast attack, Jonas knocked the ball diagonally back in the middle of the penalty area to Alba, who quickly plugged in on the wing, who looked at the situation in the box and pretended to cross with his feet to deceive Bayano's defensive center of gravity, and then started the ball at his feet and then started all the way to the outside of the penalty area to send the ball to the front of the goal.

Seeing that Soldado was about to hit the goal with a header, goalkeeper Quiem made a decisive move to knock the ball away.

The ball flew outside the box but was controlled by Feghouli, who ran from the wing to the middle, and he sent a cross-overhead over the top when Amorim scrambled.

The football flew to the area behind Coelho, and Jonas ran diagonally to get to the ball and shoot at the goal!

The Braga defense line is already a little chaotic, and the mind is even more chaotic at this time!

made a hasty save and was relieved to see the ball hit the netting on the side of the goal, but still had palpitations.

Valencia fans sighed, how nice it would have been if this goal had been scored!

Braga fans can't help but have questions.

What's going on?

Barbosa was a little confused, and Tang Hong looked at Valencia's overall formation with a solemn expression and recalled their position and adjustment when defending.

Mathieu is in his prime, Ricardo Costa is also at the end of his defensive prime, and more than a decade of professional experience is comfortable in defence, and the two are the main force in blocking Tang Hong.

If Tang Hong is the biggest threat to Braga's forward line, then perhaps in the eyes of Valencia today, Tang Hong is the biggest bait for them to build a defensive line to limit Braga's offensive threat!