The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

After shaking off Lass Diarra, Wang Shuo cut diagonally from the right side of the center circle, dribbling the ball up the middle of the pitch.

Lass Diarra was incredibly fast!

Just as Wang Shuo was about to break into Real Madrid’s final 30-meter zone, he was impeded by Harvey Alonso. He slowed down slightly, and Lass Diarra suddenly charged out, shouldering Wang Shuo off the ball. Harvey Alonso then decisively went in for a slide tackle.

It was an exceptionally clean and decisive piece of team defending!

But the ball from the tackle still ended up with Dortmund.

Although Wang Shuo had been muscled off the ball, he quickly moved away, looking for another opportunity.

Götze dropped back from his forward position to support Wang Shuo.

The two linked up just inside Real Madrid’s half, near the center circle.

When Wang Shuo received a pass from Gundogan, he immediately laid it off to Götze and took off on a run.

Götze played it back to him, completing a one-two.

Having shaken off the persistent Lass Diarra, Wang Shuo carried the ball into Real Madrid’s 30-meter zone. Facing Harvey Alonso, he suddenly knocked the ball forward with a burst of speed, then came to an abrupt stop, cut inside, and bypassed Harvey Alonso.

It looked like he was about to break through.

Just then, Pepe suddenly charged out, his entire body slamming solidly into Wang Shuo, who was just exploding into a sprint.

Wang Shuo was in the middle of accelerating. How could he have expected the Portuguese center-back to charge at him so recklessly?

After the solid collision, while Pepe was also knocked to the ground, he had intentionally engineered the clash, catching Wang Shuo completely by surprise.

Wang Shuo was sent sprawling, completely dazed, and collapsed onto the grass.

Anyone who’s played football knows the feeling. It’s like having all your internal organs shattered—truly agonizing.

As Wang Shuo writhed in pain on the grass, Pepe got up as if nothing had happened.

At that moment, a name popped into Wang Shuo’s mind.

’King Kong!’

This level of domineering physical play, this brutish style, was a rare sight in the European football scene!

What was even more unbelievable was that Pepe hadn’t committed a foul!

"How are you? You alright?" Weber ran over, asking with concern.

He didn’t suspect Wang Shuo of diving.

Just watching the collision looked painful enough.

"I’m fine!"

Wang Shuo pulled himself up from the grass and took a few deep breaths to clear his head. The pain quickly subsided, and he wasn’t injured.

More importantly, he understood perfectly.

That hit just now was Pepe’s way of laying down a marker.

But Wang Shuo was beginning to see the picture.

Mourinho had prescribed him the special treatment usually reserved for Messi.

Tight man-marking from Lass Diarra.

Coordinated cover from Harvey Alonso, Pepe, and Ramos.

When Wang Shuo glanced toward Mourinho in front of the home team’s technical area, the Portuguese firebrand seemed to be saying, ’How do you like the Messi Package? All the ingredients are authentic!’

...

While Real Madrid was serving Wang Shuo the "Messi Package," Dortmund was sparing no effort to contain Real Madrid in turn.

In the 3rd minute, Real Madrid attempted to string together a passing move.

As Ronaldo received the ball on the left wing near the halfway line and was about to accelerate, Sven Bender came flying in from the side. With an equally vicious sliding tackle, he sent Ronaldo tumbling to the ground, taking the man and the ball.

The play resulted in a Throw-In for Real Madrid near the halfway line.

Ronaldo began dropping even deeper to get the ball, hoping to use his individual skill to carry it past the halfway line.

In the 7th minute, he was being tightly marked by Reus to the left of the center circle and was simply hauled to the ground by the German winger, falling once again.

Ronaldo had been knocked down twice in just four minutes.

Dortmund knew very well that they absolutely could not let Ronaldo build up a head of steam.

And the moment he did, which came in the 9th minute...

...a long ball from Harvey Alonso found Ronaldo on the left side of the attack. He won the aerial duel and quickly played it back to Mesut.

Mesut hit a low, diagonal pass that found Ronaldo perfectly in the channel.

Ronaldo controlled the ball, turned, and instantly accelerated, storming past Piszczek and driving straight for the byline.

Piszczek reacted very quickly, even reaching out a hand in an attempt to hold Ronaldo back.

But it was no use.

After reaching the left edge of the box, Ronaldo drilled a low cross into the penalty area.

But at the crucial moment, Subotic got to the ball just ahead of Higuain and cleared it away.

Both teams had clearly done their homework on their opponent’s key threats.

Since the opening whistle, neither side had managed to create a single, truly threatening attack.

Both Wang Shuo and Ronaldo were being heavily marked.

As a result, neither team could execute their preferred style of attack.

Most of the time, their only recourse was long-range shots from outside the box, but these posed little threat.

Wang Shuo’s first real chance came in the 12th minute.

Götze and Kuba launched a quick counter-attack down the right flank. Kuba made a run in behind Marcelo and whipped a cross toward the near post.

Despite being challenged by Ramos, Wang Shuo managed to get to the ball, leaping up for a header.

Unfortunately, he was too far out and had to stretch for it. The header wasn’t on target and flew over the crossbar.

Faced with such a high-stakes, tactical battle, neither side could find an effective way through.

It wasn’t just Wang Shuo. Even Ronaldo, with his license to shoot on sight, couldn’t find any good openings against Dortmund’s "heavy metal" football.

In a situation like this, the only option for either team was to turn it into a war of attrition.

They had to relentlessly wear down their opponents through constant running, physical battles, and high pressing, hoping to force a mistake.

And once a match descends into a physical war of attrition, it often appears dull and deadlocked to the spectator. In reality, every player on the pitch is on edge, terrified of being the one to make a fatal error.