Dominating Football with Perfect Ball Control

Chapter 353: 353. Hidden SSS-level Growth Talent

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Bernabéu.

Copa del Rey semi-final second leg.

Real Madrid vs Atlético Madrid.

Returning to their home ground, Real Madrid were full of momentum, especially their star player Cristiano Ronaldo, who was in an aggressive mood today.

Seeing Lance in the tunnel, he couldn’t help but walk up to him.

In the past, when threatening Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo could use his height advantage to exert pressure and feel a sense of superiority.

But Lance was about the same height as him, giving him no advantage whatsoever.

In Lance’s eyes, this guy was like a simpleton, charging straight over, and then... freezing awkwardly.

Just as he was about to say something to break the awkwardness, unexpectedly, Cristiano Ronaldo secretly stood on his tiptoes, trying to artificially create a height difference!

Seeing him pretending on the surface but secretly playing little tricks, as if Lance hadn’t noticed... Lance almost couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Are you a primary school student? How childish!

”Just say what you want to say, the match is about to start.”

... Cristiano Ronaldo paused.

The momentum he had painstakingly built up was easily deflated, and he felt a bit embarrassed.

The trash talk he had brewed for a long time would lose its attacking power if it lost its initial momentum, but he couldn’t just stand there awkwardly, so he bit the bullet and said fiercely:

”Today is my home ground, this time, I won’t...”

”Yes, yes, yes, you won’t lose to me again. Can you move aside? We’re about to go out.”

Lance directly anticipated Cristiano Ronaldo’s anticipation and walked past him.

Cristiano Ronaldo stood stunned for half a second, almost turning red with anger.

Damn it! This guy!

”Cristiano, what’s wrong? Did you threaten him severely?”

Marcelo leant over with a mischievous grin.

Cristiano Ronaldo almost took his anger out on Marcelo, but thankfully, he controlled his temper:

”That’s right, he was scared witless and ran away.”

”As expected of you! Only you can suppress that Asian guy.”

...

Marcelo was flattering him, but why couldn’t Cristiano Ronaldo feel happy?

”Go, go, go, get in line.”

Cristiano Ronaldo kicked Marcelo, making Marcelo look bewildered like Louis XVI.

What did he do to offend the boss?

...

The pre-match photo and handshake were set aside for now.

From the first minute of the whistle, the smell of gunpowder was already evident.

If in the first leg both sides were still somewhat wary of each other’s strength and played quite cautiously, in the second leg, they simply rolled up their sleeves, grabbed their tools, and went straight to work!

Atlético Madrid won possession, and after the kickoff, Lance passed back to defensive midfielder Gabi.

Logically, Gabi could steady the rhythm, control the ball for a second or two, pass forward if there was an opportunity, or pass back if there wasn’t.

But it was during this one-second pause that Benzema from the other side accelerated, sliding in with a tackle that brought both the man and the ball down to the ground!

This was just the beginning of the match, less than 5 seconds into the game!

Beep—

The referee’s short whistle blew, and he rushed over to check the situation.

As it was an early foul, Benzema didn’t make any excessive movements, such as raising his sole or tripping.

The referee only awarded a free kick in the backfield, not even a warning.

”Damn it! You f***ing...”

Saúl was about to argue but was pulled back by Torres.

Strength needed to be saved for the match, not for meaningless arguments.

Benzema seemingly friendly pulled Gabi up, glancing behind him, where all of Atlético Madrid were glaring fiercely at him.

It sent a chill down the French striker’s spine; he felt like he was about to be retaliated against.

Sure enough, less than a minute later, Real Madrid organised an attack into the frontfield.

Cristiano Ronaldo couldn’t get through on the left and passed horizontally to the centre.

Benzema dropped back to receive, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale simultaneously surged forward from the ribs, Modri? and Kroos rushed up from behind to support, Marcelo and Carvajal quickly overlapped on the flanks.

Benzema had at least 5 passing options, each a huge threat.

Just as he shielded the ball, shook off Gabi, and was about to thread a pass to Bale, a figure burst out from the side, directly bringing Benzema and the ball down to the ground!

Saúl got up after the tackle without looking back.

”This kid really put on a show.”

Lance shook his head and sighed.

But this was Atlético Madrid’s fighting spirit; if a teammate was bullied, they wouldn’t cower.

Revenge was served on the spot!

The entire Bernabéu stadium, nearly 80,000 people, rained down deafening boos.

Being booed by 80,000 people simultaneously, Saúl, however, looked like a rock star, putting his hands to his ears.

No matter what Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid thought, the referee had a bit of a headache.

He wanted to pull out a card, Saúl was too arrogant!

But if he gave a card directly, Benzema’s tackle earlier was even more exaggerated than Saúl’s, and different officiating standards would lead to complaints.

To be fair, the referee only gave a verbal warning and didn’t pull out a card.

Real Madrid players were very dissatisfied and wanted to argue with the referee, but they were glared back fiercely.

There was no choice but to vent their anger on Atlético Madrid.

The two sides immediately launched the ”Battle of Verdun” in midfield; the large areas from their respective penalty boxes to the halfway line became a meat grinder, with players falling everywhere, and the match became fragmented.

”This is the Madrid Derby, as expected of arch-rivals.”

”If you didn’t know better, you’d think this was an unrestricted fight...”

If football had ice hockey’s one-on-one rules, at least one person would have died on the pitch today.

Seeing the situation about to spiral out of control, the referee could no longer hold back and started issuing cards.

”Oh oh oh oh—Saúl! Tackles Cristiano Ronaldo to the ground, the referee decisively pulls out a yellow card!”

”Only half an hour into the first half, two players from each side have received yellow cards.”

”Atlético Madrid’s left-back Filipe Luís and right-midfielder Saúl received cards; Real Madrid’s right-back Carvajal and right-winger Gareth Bale received cards.”

”Indeed, Atlético Madrid has strengthened their left-flank offence, exploiting the opponent’s weakness and attacking fiercely!”

The reason why Carvajal and Gareth Bale both received yellow cards for Real Madrid was simply that the pressure on the right side was too great.

On Atlético Madrid’s left flank, Lance was a frequent visitor today.

”Lance, you and Antoine need to strengthen your connection today. We’ll focus on breaking through one flank and test their ability to withstand pressure.”

This was Simeone’s pre-match strategy.

Similar to Ancelotti’s tactics when coaching Real Madrid many years later, focusing on aggressive attacks around Vinicius’s side, with Rodrygo, Benzema, Modri?, and others constantly attacking that flank.

This was no longer an open strategy; it was pure brute force!

The question was, could you defend it!

If you focused on that side, Cristiano Ronaldo’s ball possession would decrease, and the pressure on Bale and Carvajal would increase.

If they didn’t deploy heavy defences, the combination of Lance, Griezmann, and Torres on the left would be enough to tear through Real Madrid.

Carvajal was already Real Madrid’s most reliable general, but the most overbearing aspect of this tactic was that, the stronger your defensive player, the bigger the loophole on that side once he was broken down!

”One more wave!”

”No problem!”

Lance and Griezmann had been fighting together for more than half a year; they no longer needed complex communication, a glance was enough!

Kickoff again, throw-in to Lance.

Lance instinctively used the muscle memory developed from Nagi Seishiro’s Full Level Ball Control, gently cushioning the ball with his chest, dodging Modri?’s charge forward, flicking it over his head with his toe, turning back and squeezing into Modri?’s space.

There was nothing Modri? couldn’t do well, except for his height being too short.

Such aerial balls were easily played with by Lance!

Even if Lance could currently only utilise 70% of Nagi Seishiro’s Full Level Ball Control ability, it was enough!

”Beautiful! Lance’s flick and escape! Again! Nutmegging two players!”

Real Madrid deployed heavy forces, with the ”Ceremonial Midfield Trio” clustered to defend Lance.

Logically, it should have been a sure thing, but Lance was on fire!

No, not being off doesn’t mean being on!

With the system upgraded, Lance didn’t equip any templates today.

But this also meant that the long-developed muscle memory could simultaneously unleash the abilities of Nagi Seishiro and Bachira Meguru!

Now there was no need to agonise over which template to carry, everything I used became mine!

Lance now realised even more clearly, his biggest bug wasn’t the system, but the muscle memory produced by long-term training under the system!

This was the innate SSS-level talent that was more abnormal than any S-rank template!

Flicking the ball over Modri?, as he dipped his right shoulder and changed direction, he subtly nutmegged Casemiro with a slight tap of his right foot!

The change in rhythm caught Casemiro off guard for half a beat, and Lance continued to glide past him!

”Damn it!”

Casemiro’s physical confrontation was still too strong, almost pushing Lance out of bounds.

Lance’s physical confrontation ability was still a bit lacking compared to world-class muscular defensive midfielders.

However, he played along, pretending to lose balance and go out of bounds, then suddenly delivered two punches (not)... suddenly extended his foot, tapping the ball with his heel to change direction again, nutmegging Toni Kroos, and then receiving the ball with a spin from beside him, beating 3 players along the sideline!

The abilities of Nagi Seishiro and Bachira Meguru were seamlessly integrated and utilised by Lance!

Real Madrid’s backline immediately formed a huge void!

Zidane, who had always been calm and smiling, for the first time showed a look of panic!

Staring intently at the pitch in disbelief!

Seeing Carvajal hesitate and not dare to foul, Lance sent a flamboyant curved pass with the outside of his right foot directly towards the ribs, whilst he made a diagonal run towards the edge of the penalty area.

Griezmann easily bypassed Carvajal, then dribbled with body feints, deceiving Ramos’s defensive zone, cutting in with a fake shot!

Navas, Ramos, and even Varane’s attention were drawn by Griezmann and Torres.

At the critical moment, Griezmann’s football IQ was perfectly displayed; he feigned a pass or shot, then suddenly stopped short and delivered a cut-back pass!

The most dangerous figure had already rushed into the penalty area!

A powerful shot with no one marking him!

Tiger!

Bang—

Accompanied by a tiger’s roar and a dragon’s cry, the ball thundered into the net!

For a brief moment, the vast Bernabéu stadium, a world-class venue accommodating over 80,000 people, was turned into a library by Lance’s goal!