Chapter 77: A Difficult Offensive and Defensive Battle
“Levy!!!”
The sound of the stadium's DJs is amplified by the sound and reverberates throughout the arc of the stadium.
He deliberately omitted Levy's name at the end, but the crowd on the pitch responded in time with a roaring cheer.
Avoid the embarrassment of 'you say hey'.
After Levi warmed up, he walked onto the pitch and the Villarreal players looked in that direction.
Before the start of the game, Pellegrini developed a complete restriction strategy against him, but Pochettino put Levi on the bench for a half, which gave them the feeling of punching cotton with their fists.
Everyone believed that the rumours of him being unwell in the game were true, and Villarreal, who scored a goal late in the first half, could approach the second half with a relaxed atmosphere.
At this time, Levi suddenly came on the field, putting a lot of pressure on the whole Villarreal team, especially the defensive players.
Pellegrini waved his arm and gestured, his blue eyes flashing with concern, then calming down.
He believes his team is a tough team.
His players were able to limit the kid's play and hold the lead until the end.
"Mr. Key of the Spaniard is on the scene, and the game will become more suspenseful from now on, he is a real killer, a young demon king."
Andrés Montes' voice echoed in the commentary seats.
As a passionate commentator, he naturally wants the intensity of the game to be even higher.
'He maintains a huge advantage in La Liga's scorers chart and is the only player to have scored more than double figures in six rounds, while Messi, Samuel Eto'o and Negredo are tied with five goals in second place.
"How could God create such a kid, I even started to think that five goals seemed like a minority."
Tamudo glanced around the field as the referee blew the whistle.
"Tamudo passed the ball to Moises Hurtado, Hurtado didn't hesitate to flick the ball to Levi, the Espanyol players trusted him immensely..."
As the ball rolled along the turf, Levi's corner of his eye caught two shadows that were rapidly approaching him.
Espanyol midfielder Bruno Soriano and striker Llorente.
Villarreal striker Joseba Llorente was a bit depressed, and as the team's main striker, he should have been the vanguard of the siege.
What's more, the opponent is still the Spaniard.
'Llorente didn't have any too bright performances in this game, but he had an aura to remember, which was the record for the fastest goal in 7.82 seconds.
'He broke Uruguayan striker Dario Silva's record for eight seconds when he was playing for Valladolid in January, and he was playing against the Spaniard.
Andrés Montes presents such off-field knowledge.
But Pellegrini gave Llorente the task of restricting Levi.
The two-for-one tactics don't require them to make a steal, they just need to keep an eye on Levi, disrupt his advancing rhythm, and force him to slow down.
At the same time, others watched the rest of Espanyol's players and did not allow Levi to find a comfortable passing target.
In this way, he can't open the situation, so he can only choose to blast alone, and then help defend and break the ball through layers of depth.
"Levi held the ball steadily, and Soriano and Llorente did not choose to grab, but chose to harass him."
The Villarreal players on the pitch moved up to the pitch and ran to limit Levi's passes.
Midfielder No. 10 Carney blocked Levi's line straight to Tamudo.
"Levi seems to have no choice but to take the ball to the side by himself, and the two people around him are like shadows."
La Cruz cut in from the flank and was immediately pinned down by Villarreal's right wing-back Venta.
"Levi chose to suddenly change to the middle of the cut, Soriano did not react, beautiful continuous smash, Llorente had to take the initiative to squeeze from behind, Levi was too flexible, stepped on the ball and turned to get rid of it, and gave it to Riera."
The Espanyol fans on the pitch erupted in cheers.
Pellegrini's eyes narrowed on the sidelines, and Levi's escape from the two players was not only to get out of control, but he was also repeatedly watching his team-mates' movements, bringing the two defenders to easy passing.
This is when it comes to a sudden attack, and immediately after completing the escape, a sustainable passing space is formed.
Riera won the ball and gave the ball to Tamudo in front of him before Pire could reach for restrictions.
Tamudo noticed a space in front of him where he could dribble the ball quickly.
After running a few steps forward, he turned his head to look and saw that Levi was shuttling between Soriano and Llorente to get nearby.
It doesn't look like a good passing point.
Turning his head, he was immediately taken aback, Villarreal midfielder Senna had already rushed out diagonally in front of him, and directly stretched out his foot to tackle.
Tamudo fell heavily to the ground, and Senna broke the ball and passed it to Pires.
Senna was Riquelme's midfield partner back then, with a delicate technique, excellent ability to sweep, cover and tackle, and also play the role of ball sharing and playmaking.
When the Yellow Submarine eliminated Inter Milan to reach the last four of the Champions League, it relied on the midfield combination of him and Tacinadi.
Pellegrini flailed his fists excitedly.
His tactics worked, and after the Spaniard had stared at Levi's point up front, the others lacked enough blasting power.
As long as Levi doesn't have a chance to cooperate with other players.
Tamudo's players alone are not enough to knock down Villarreal's defence, not to mention that they are still leading by one goal.
'Villarreal's players are counter-attacking at full speed, Pires is pushing forward with the ball and passing to Rossi.
"Rossi is waiting for the other players to come up with the ball, and then cooperate with Pires, and Senna is going to step in."
But fortunately, the overall formation of the Spaniards in this game was also relatively solid, and Rossi and Senna combined several times to advance to the vicinity of the penalty area.
Rossi took the ball with his back and stuffed it to Llorente, who ran past him, and Roman Martinez harassed Llorente, forcing him to make a hasty kick that passed the goal.
'Bravo takes the goal, Torrejón goes wide and Cesar Azpilicueta gives Romain Martinez.
Senna, in turn, restricts communication between him and Riera.
Roman Martinez subconsciously wanted to find Levi, and saw Levi, who had retreated to catch the ball, coming over with his two Patronus.
Pellegrini is too yin, and his aim is to turn Levi's every catch into a dirty ball dancing on the tip of a knife.
If you don't pay attention, it's another chance for Villarreal to counterattack.
'It looks like Manuel Pellegrini's tactics have been very successful and maybe after tonight he can proudly announce that he has found a tactic to limit Levy.'
"But I personally don't want to believe that."
As the minutes ticked by, the game was a tough attacking effort for the Spaniards.
Levi is limited by at least two players on a daily basis, and he continues to try to force chances with sharp breaks.
Fifty-third minute of the game.
"Levi caught a mistake by Soriano and suddenly got up to speed with the ball!"
Soriano was desperately chasing the lightning-fast figure, and Senna, who was leaning in, slammed into Levi with one side of his body, and Levi was knocked to the ground.
However, he still hooked his right leg to control the ball at his feet, and his hands were propped up on the turf to stand again.
Senna followed up again to break the ball off while he was on his feet, but Levi suddenly turned the ball backwards in an arc past the rushing Soriano.
Sideways past Soriano to the back and a long diagonal pass found Cesar Azpilicueta on the wing.
"He's constantly looking for an opportunity, how many people can completely stop him? Obviously two people are not enough. ”
Levi passed the ball and ran towards the penalty area, reaching for the ball as he ran.
Cesar Azpilicueta dribbled forward and dodged inside to find a through ball that cut through the gap between Carney and Pires.
"Beep!"
Levy, who received the ball, was knocked to the ground by Capdevilla, who stepped forward.
Villarreal did not hesitate to stop the Spaniard's attacking chances with fouls.
...
Sixty-first minute of the game.
Levi, who received a pass from Riera outside the penalty area, knocked it to Tamudo, who faced the tight defense in the box and made several adjustments but did not find the right time to hit the goal.
Knocked back to Levi, who quickly got rid of the Venta, who was marking him at this time, and received the ball and prepared to hit the goal.
Suddenly feeling a burst of force behind him, Soriano almost threw the weight of his entire body on him, and at the same time, Godin suddenly burst out of the penalty area.
Scooped the ball off Levy's feet.
...
Sixty-third minute of the game.
Rossi received a cross from Runner Pires in the box and volleyed to the far end of the box, where Venta crossed the back post.
Carney, who was inserted, almost scored another goal for Villarreal, but fortunately was blocked by Bravo and bounced off Rossi, who was eager to make up for the shot.
Pochettino made a substitution.
[No. 14 Gabi replaces No. 22 Moises Hurtado]
[No. 8 Zabaleta replaces No. 15 Azpilicueta]
Manuel Pellegrini replaced Cazorla for Carney.
Not only does Pochettino have a backup secret weapon, but the scheming Pellegrini has also allowed Cazorla, the team's main player, to recharge on the bench.
Cazorla's dribbling ability is quite good, as well as his ability to shoot from distance.
His even more striking trait is his almost perfectly balanced left and right foot ability and fast and agile leg frequency.
You'll never know which foot Cazorla will use to get past or hit the goal.
"With Cazorla on the pitch, Villarreal's midfield advancement will be greatly improved, and if one more goal is conceded, the Spaniard will never be able to recover."
It didn't take long for Cazorla to put in a performance that lived up to Pellegrini's expectations.
The 1.84-meter-tall Roman Martinez is forced to be very embarrassed under his flickering dribbling, and he is always flexible to change the foot that touches the ball, which is unguardable.
"Roman Martinez is shaken down!"
Andres Montes shouted in surprise as Cazorla, who flashed forward, quickly forward.
"Gabby!"
Fortunately, Gabi, a newcomer who had just come on the field, appeared in time for Cazorla's pass to Llorente.
Intercepted the pass and passed the ball to Riera.
"The clock is seventy-five minutes, and time is running out for the Spaniards."
Rieira pushed forward and passed to Zabaleta, who played the ball back into midfield for Romain Martinez who stood up.
Pochettino looked at the situation on the pitch, and the situation of this team was even worse than he thought.
The midfielder's ball-holding and organizational skills were insufficient, and Levi did not pay enough attention to him before, and Levi, who was running all over the field, connected the whole team with an average of 12 kilometers per game.
But at this moment he was confined and the joints between each player began to loosen.
He had to think about how he would have done his tactics in the future without Levi's presence.
On the field, Roman Martinez thought twice and still did not pass the ball to Li Livi, but played a high ball to La Cruz, who was active on the wing.
Lacruz advanced at high speed with the ball to the side of the penalty area and was caught by two players.
Venta and Gonzalo Rodríguez.
Levi quickly ran to his side, Soriano was still close behind, and Llorente was back in his own half to rush to this side.
Manuel Pellegrini has already made a gesture and will soon replace him and Rossi.
Therefore, the two men began to exert the last of their physical strength to stop the Spaniard's counterattack.
La Cruz made a fancy feint, but the Villarreal defender was unmoved, and slammed his kick under close control, but unfortunately only the toe rubbed against the surface of the ball, and the ball rubbed against La Cruz's supporting foot before being poked out.
La Cruz, who had conceded the goal, was in the air and almost mixed with garlic.
Seeing that the football is about to roll off the sidelines.
'Villarreal defended very well, a throw-in.
Levi suddenly ran like the wind, decisively chose to throw his weight out, and fished the ball back from the sideline in a very ornamental tackle position, splashing grass clippings.
"Beautiful! The ball is not out of bounds. ”
The fans raised their arms and chanted.
"Levi will never pass up an opportunity, he's the kind of player who can always give hope!"
"But Villarreal's recovery is also very fast, look at this time, Soriano!"
In the eyes of the experienced Soriano, Levi has lost his focus.
Therefore, he lowered his guard, he didn't even press Levi's position at the first time, and directly stretched out his foot to hook the ball away from Levi's feet.
Soriano stretched out his feet and watched Cazorla and Senna at the same time.
Feet empty.
Soriano turned his head in surprise, only to see Levi lying on the ground, holding the ground with both hands and getting up quickly, pulling the ball back with his left foot and shaking off his steal.
Annoyed and angry, he slammed it on, and Levi, who was getting up, staggered.
"This is a movement that should be blown off!"
Levi stabilized his center of gravity, protected the ball, and carried Soriano with his back.
The figure flashed, Gabi came to answer, and Levi made a fake push with his right foot.
Soriano grabbed to block, and Levi reflexively buckled and started directly.
But Senna, who had to come in front of him, blocked his position, and Soriano, who failed to make a steal, also stuck to him again, making it difficult for Levi to play to his speed advantage.
La Cruz wanted to step forward to support, but was stopped by Venta, and Levi shook his way to the bottom line.
"Levi's space is getting smaller and smaller, and his speed is slowing down, and he has to force his way through the gap in this place."
Completely surrounded by two people on the side, Levi can't escape.
Suddenly, there was a sharp stop, a step, and a twist and a turn got behind Soriano, who was rushing forward and couldn't brake.
“Levy!!!”
The fans behind him shouted.
"Impossible"
Then after a stride feint on a bicycle, he was about to cut inside, but suddenly smashed the ball and went outside.
Gonzalo Rodriguez blocked his way, with his hands behind his back.
Levi must not be allowed into the box, which is the key for Villarreal to take the three points.
They had already managed to restrain him for half an hour.
Godin also arrived, keeping an eye on Gonzalo's defense at all times, while keeping an eye on Gabi who had rushed into the box.
Levi flicked the outside of his left foot and deflected away Gonzalo Rodriguez's sudden outstretched foot.
He made a gesture with his right foot to pick up a long diagonal pass, as if he wanted to find a teammate in the box, and suddenly slashed the ball diagonally behind Gonzalo.
"Levi is in!"
“Levy! Levy! Levy! Levy! Levy...”
Andrés Montes's speech suddenly became rapid, squeezing out loud syllables from his throat, which would be starved of oxygen at any moment.
Villarreal's entire calm penalty area suddenly became chaotic.
Manuel Pellegrini jumped to his feet, his eyes fixed on the penalty area.
Godin was taken aback, and hurriedly twisted and stretched out his foot to block, and the ball that flicked between Levi's feet looked like it was about to touch his legs, but Levi's long flexible legs wiped the ball back the moment the ball was about to end.
Tamudo sprang out of the crowd and was on the same parallel line as Levi for a split second.
Levira's body spun in the air, and then flipped heavily and fell to the ground.
He was knocked to the ground by Gonzalo Rodriguez's turning movements.
But in the previous moment, he pulled the ball and flicked it to the goal.
“Gol!!!”