Chapter 634 - 121: Double Champion! Perfect Tempest! Extraordinary Reward! The Strongest Champion in History! Wang Shuo Was Seriously Underestimated
Back then, Spanish football was dominated by winger tactics, or long balls like the ones used by Cooper’s predecessor, Ranieri, during his time at Valencia.
But this wasn’t well-suited to the strengths of Spanish players.
As the southernmost country on the European continent, Spain’s players were at a great physical disadvantage.
Cooper brought a South American style of play. The biggest difference was that after winning the ball, they wouldn’t quickly distribute it to the wings or pass it forward. Instead, they would give it to the defenders and the deep-lying midfielder to build up play through layers of short passes.
The 4-4-2 diamond midfield formation he adopted even sparked a revolution in the European Football Scene.
Why was it Mendieta who scored the most goals?
Because Valencia didn’t have any good strikers!
Not only did they lack one when Cooper was in charge, but they didn’t have one when Benitez took over either.
Benitez built on Cooper’s foundation, adopting a 4-2-3-1 formation. The double pivot and high-pressing became his trademark.
But what about his strikers?
Mista?
He was more of an unexpected surprise, one that even Benitez hadn’t anticipated.
That season felt more like a happy accident!
While coaching Valencia, Benitez was always searching for a striker who fit his high-pressing system.
When he moved to Liverpool, he was still looking.
Looking across the current European Football Scene, almost every team that uses a high-press is looking for a striker.
Guardiola is a prime example, from Eto’o to Henry to Ibrahimovic, and now with Messi tucking inside.
And when Van Gaal was coaching Bayern, remember the huge controversy over Gomez and Olic?
And according to German media reports, when Dortmund hired Klopp in ’09, his very first request was to sign Wang Shuo!
As it turned out, that was the most successful and brilliant transfer in Dortmund’s history!
’Guardiola found it particularly amusing that whenever the German media evaluated Olic and Gomez, they almost always brought up their running ability.’
’Then they would use Gomez’s height to explain it, saying his height limited his mobility.’
’But they never mentioned the vast disparity in the two players’ passing and ball control.’
’In the Bundesliga, where Bayern’s overall strength puts them head and shoulders above the rest, this wasn’t as obvious.’
’In the Champions League, Gomez’s passing completion rate was only 68%, while Olic’s was 77%.’
’Those were last season’s stats.’
’This season, with Olic injured, Gomez has been carrying the team. He’s gradually adapted to Van Gaal’s tactics, and his passing completion rate has risen sharply to 80%.’
’But how many of his passes were misplaced?’
’Guardiola could guarantee that there were no official stats yet to count the number of misplaced passes by the two players in the final third.’
’Otherwise, Olic would probably crush Gomez in that regard.’
’What about Wang Shuo?’
’His passing and ball control are comparable to the best midfielders.’
’Scoring goals is a striker’s primary job.’
’But Wang Shuo can do it all: he can run, press, pass, dribble, control the ball, and take on defenders.’
"He’s like Drogba, able to constantly harass and wear down opponents for the entire match."
"In a high-pressing system, that is incredibly important!"
As Guardiola said this, he took a deep breath.
’He even felt an overwhelming urge to sign Wang Shuo immediately.’
’He was starting to wonder if he had lost his mind back in ’09.’
’Otherwise, how could he have overlooked Wang Shuo and instead spent so much to sign Ibrahimovic?’
’And now, Wang Shuo’s transfer value had skyrocketed. There was no way the club’s board would agree to Guardiola’s request.’
’Because his signings of Eevee and Ziglinsky had both been flops!’
’Damn it!’
Torrent knew Guardiola well. Seeing the look of regret on his face, he guessed what was on his mind.
He reached out, patted Guardiola’s shoulder, and said nothing.
Guardiola let out a long breath, gradually composing himself.
"Klopp’s Dortmund is very similar to us. In fact, you could say that we are two different outcomes of the same style of play, nurtured in the footballing soils of Germany and Spain."
"What our two teams do before winning the ball back is more or less the same."
"The biggest difference is what happens after. They have the advantage in speed and physicality, but not in passing, so they tend to move the ball quickly through midfield and launch an attack in the shortest time possible."
"We don’t have an advantage in physicality or speed, but we do have an advantage in our possession-based passing. So we adopt a layered build-up to leverage that strength."
To put it simply: Barça seeks control, Dortmund seeks speed.
"To beat this Dortmund side, we must maintain control of possession and tempo, slowly drain their stamina, and avoid getting drawn into the fast pace they excel at."
"And to do that, we have to leverage our one-touch passing game to break their high-press. Messi must actively drop back to support the midfield."
"On the defensive end, after losing the ball, we not only need to counter-press immediately but also make full use of tactical fouls to slow them down!"
As he said this, a fierce glint flashed in Guardiola’s eyes.
"If we do these three things, we will definitely be the victors in this final!"
Villanova and Torrent both nodded in unison.
Guardiola had now basically laid out the grand strategy for the Champions League final!
In the time that followed, the Barça coaching staff would need to continuously refine this strategy, working out the finer details and specific tactical arrangements.