Chapter 171: Guardiola's Prediction
Watching Manchester City, which has embarrassed Serie A giants on the field, Bayern fans at the Allianz Arena can't help but comment.
"Weren't the media saying Manchester City was just a team of mercenaries? How come they look so strong?"
"Could it be that AC Milan is very weak?"
"AC Milan is at least a Serie A giant, how can it be so weak?"
"It's true, in recent seasons AC Milan hasn't been able to win the league, but they still have power in the European scene. If they hadn't been unlucky to always meet Barcelona, they could have gone further."
Although Bayern defeated Barcelona last season, Bayern fans still recognize Barcelona's strength in the Champions League in recent seasons.
AC Milan has faced Barcelona in the knockout stage in recent years, they've really had bad luck.
"So, does it mean we underestimated Manchester City's strength?"
If AC Milan isn't so weak, then there's only one truth: Manchester City is very strong!
"It's possible. Last season they were runners-up in the Premier League, and this season, with Lin Quan's arrival, they have strengthened even more. They cannot be underestimated!"
"If they continue like this, does it mean if Manchester City wins this match, we will face them in the final?"
Bayern fans start to worry, although Bayern's other match against Sao Paulo hasn't started yet.
But they fully trust their team and don't believe a team from the Brazilian league can cause problems.
And once Bayern eliminates Sao Paulo, they will fight for the Audi Cup title with the winner of this match.
With a three-goal advantage in Manchester City's hands, it seems they have more chances to advance to the final.
So, if all goes according to plan, the final will be between Bayern and Manchester City.
"Ugh, I thought with Lin Quan's transfer to the Premier League, we wouldn't have to worry about how to defend him, but it turns out in the second match of the new season, we'll face him!"
Bayern fans at the stadium recall the fear Lin Quan caused them last season, and each one begins to worry.
Last season, with a considerably weaker team than Bayern, Werder Bremen, Lin Quan beat them twice, snatching the Telekom Cup and the DFB-Pokal.
If it weren't for Werder Bremen taking away the DFB-Pokal from them, Bayern would have been the triple crown champions last season.
This became a great regret for many at Bayern!
Now, this kid is back with a stronger group of opponents.
This makes Bayern fans worry: will Bayern fall to this guy again?
...
Guardiola is not aware of the "Lin syndrome" in the hearts of Bayern fans, but as Bayern's coach, he will undoubtedly be present at this match.
After all, studying the opponent's strength and condition before the match is the basic job of a coach.
And besides this reason, there is another very important one: This is the first time he faces Lin Quan as an opponent, naturally Guardiola considers it very important.
While watching the first thirty minutes of the match between both teams, Guardiola first shows a satisfied expression on his face.
Then he frowns, with a worried expression.
Several assistants look at each other, not knowing what's wrong with Guardiola.
"Pep, is there something to worry about?"
Toraldo, who has followed Guardiola for more than a decade, asks.
Ten Hag and Grande, on the other hand, are paying close attention, wanting to know what the famous world coach will say.
They joined Bayern or stayed with it to be able to learn new things alongside this famous world coach.
"Yes, Manchester City's offensive attack has been completely activated by Lin Quan's arrival."
Guardiola doesn't spare praise for Lin Quan:
"This kid is much smarter than I thought.
Except for the first goal where he showed some strength, he hasn't used much energy afterward.
When you observe his passes and movements, it will seem like he's looking for a comfortable position to play.
But in reality, he keeps running from side to side, assessing the strength of Manchester City's forwards and directing their attack by distributing the ball and passing it."
Seeing the perplexed looks of his assistants, Guardiola explains even further:
"Observe how he has passed the ball to other forwards, but he has never collaborated with Manchester City's forward, Aguero.
If it's not for his intention to aim at Aguero, then in the next attempt, he will pass the ball to Aguero!"
Upon hearing Guardiola's words, the assistants widen their eyes and carefully observe every move of Lin Quan.
...
On the field, after another combination with David Silva, Lin Quan carries the ball into the penalty area.
AC Milan defenders, Abate and Zapata, are drawn to him, and a brief space appears in the center of the penalty area.
Aguero, with a forward's instinct, senses this space and runs there to prepare to receive the ball.
However, after completing his run, he suddenly realizes that:
The one carrying the ball is Lin Quan, who not only has full powers to shoot within the team but previously hadn't even passed the ball to him once.
Upon realizing this, Agüero feels a bit disheartened.
What's the point of running into a good position?
If no one passes him the ball, running well would only mean fighting against the air.
But just as Agüero feels frustrated and discouraged, the ball passes by the defender and arrives accurately to the Argentine who is in an open position.
Agüero doesn't even react, simply stops the ball and instinctively shoots, scoring the goal.
The ball passes between the legs of the AC Milan goalkeeper and enters the net.
Agüero scores his first goal in the match and, most importantly, the assist is from Lin Quan!
This is the third assist Lin Quan has given in this match.
He passed the ball himself!
After completing this shot and confirming that the ball entered the net, Agüero still finds it hard to believe what just happened.
Indeed, Lin Quan could have chosen to shoot himself in this situation, but instead, he selflessly gave him the chance.
Did I misjudge him?
Thinking about the complaints he had about Lin Quan before, Agüero suddenly feels a bit ashamed.
He lifts his head and looks towards where Lin Quan is, raising his thumb in appreciation for passing him a good ball.
Lin Quan also nods, and Agüero's burst in Manchester City seems to make sense.
This guy was clearly distracted, but still, with an almost instinctive reaction, he managed to get the ball into the net.
It's not something anyone can do.
But is this goal a reflection of Agüero's skill or luck? Lin Quan feels he still has to observe a bit more.
Five minutes later, Lin Quan receives a pass from Yaya Touré. After observing the position of the AC Milan players, he passes the ball to Agüero.
Upon receiving the ball, he faces pressure from the defenders and backpasses. Lin Quan, who is moving forward, receives the ball and passes it to Nasri.
Nasri takes the ball towards the baseline and passes it diagonally to Lin Quan.
Lin Quan passes the ball into the penalty area, where Agüero is running.
Manchester City displays a fluid combination on the edge of AC Milan's penalty area, tearing apart AC Milan's defense with passes again and again.
Lin Quan's pass has excellent quality, anticipating it quite early.
This way, Agüero has the chance to utilize his speed to receive the ball first and get a solo goal opportunity.
Obviously, this pass not only assesses Agüero's shooting ability but also his starting speed and explosiveness.
Agüero doesn't disappoint Lin Quan, leaving the defenders behind and receiving the ball before the onrushing goalkeeper.
But at this moment, the goalkeeper is already very close to him, his shooting angle is very small, and the defender he left behind is right beside him, giving him a very short shooting window.
This goal is very difficult; if it were another forward, they would probably shoot over or the goalkeeper would stop them.
But Agüero didn't waste this opportunity, after calmly observing, he decided to shoot through the small space between the goalkeeper's legs.
The ball passed between the legs of AC Milan's goalkeeper, Abbiati, and rolled into the net.
In the 35th minute of the first half, Manchester City scored the fifth goal of the match.
The scorer was Agüero, and the assist was from Lin Quan.
Agüero completed two goals in just five minutes!
After scoring this goal, Agüero felt completely liberated from the pressure.
He cheered and ran towards Lin Quan, crouched down, and placed Lin Quan's feet on his knees, wiping them with pleasure.
If it weren't for Lin Quan's two assists, Agüero would still be in a goal drought!
"Well played!"
"Your pass was excellent!"
They smiled at each other and hugged with the teammates who came to celebrate.
After these two tests, Lin Quan confirmed that Agüero had the potential to be a great forward.
His shooting ability was excellent, and he showed great composure while doing so, had a strong ability to seize opportunities.
As long as he was provided with a constant supply of balls, he could repeatedly seize opportunities to score goals.
...
Seeing that Lin Quan had provided two consecutive assists to Agüero, helping him complete two goals in a very short time.
In the stands, several Bayern assistants looked at each other.
Guardiola's prediction just now was simply amazing!
It was as if he controlled the course of the game like a god, he had judged Lin Quan's intentions with such precision!
"Hehe, does he know his players better than they do themselves?"
Toraldo said smiling to Guardiola.
Guardiola nodded:
"That's right, if it were someone else, I wouldn't dare to make such predictions."
The others nodded understandingly, now they understood.
However, the more they thought about it, the more incredible the relationship between Guardiola and Lin Quan seemed to them.
Grande, who had faced Lin Quan several times under Heynckes' direction, sighed:
"This kid has improved since the last time I saw him."
Seeing Manchester City score five goals against AC Milan in the first half of the match at the Allianz Arena was a surprise to many.
"So, will we face Manchester City in the final?"
Ten Hag saw Guardiola's high regard for Lin Quan and couldn't help but worry about the final between the two teams.
Not only Ten Hag but several Bayern assistants showed concern on their faces.
Could such a strong team jeopardize Bayern's title?
In comparison, Guardiola seemed very confident:
"Although Manchester City's offensive strength upfront has been activated, their rear defense is still not stable, they still have vulnerabilities!"
Yaya Touré attempted to advance several times but couldn't coordinate with his teammates.
However, his forays left gaps in defense, which proved fatal for Manchester City.
The strong attack in the first half left AC Milan breathless.
When AC Milan recovered in the second half, they might launch an impressive counterattack.
...
On the AC Milan bench, head coach Allegri watched the match calmly.
He showed no concern on his face, even when the team was losing 0-5.
For AC Milan, participating in the Audi Cup was simply a preseason exercise.
They had no expectations for results; the important thing was to see if they could achieve what they wanted and if they could identify the team's problems.
And now, it seemed there were problems both in the team's defense and attack.
So, Allegri called El Shaarawy from the bench, gave him some instructions while looking at Manchester City's defense, and sent him onto the field.
El Shaarawy nodded repeatedly and conveyed the coach's instructions to his teammates after entering the field.
Allegri's adjustments had an immediate effect.
In the 37th minute of the first half, taking advantage of Yaya Touré's incursion and the gap in Manchester City's defense, AC Milan launched a quick counterattack.
El Shaarawy carried the ball in a frenzied run; his speed was incredible.
He was like a runaway horse along the sideline, leaving all pursuers behind and, facing the goalkeeper, calmly shot to the far corner, scoring a goal.
5-1!
AC Milan scored a goal.
This goal was like a replay of El Shaarawy's goal at the Camp Nou, with the difference that, at the Camp Nou, El Shaarawy had wasted that opportunity; otherwise, Barcelona would have been eliminated.
But at the Allianz Arena, El Shaarawy seized the chance.
However, if only this goal were considered, it couldn't prove that there were problems in Manchester City's defense.
But two minutes later, AC Milan again capitalized on a counterattack for El Shaarawy to score another goal.
El Shaarawy completed two goals in less than four minutes since his entry onto the field.
Allegri's adjustments yielded immediate results.
Seeing El Shaarawy fulfill the assigned task well, Allegri was very pleased with his pupil's performance.
The current AC Milan team wasn't so strong; Allegri had to do the best with what he had.
If he could have a stronger team, he was confident he could achieve better results.
However, Berlusconi, embroiled in legal troubles, couldn't worry about the football team at this time; the next few years wouldn't be easy for AC Milan.
If he wanted better results, maybe he should try with another team...
...
Seeing the situation on the field unfold again as Guardiola had predicted, the Bayern assistants looked at their head coach's expression as if they had seen a ghost.
This was too incredible!
Why could he understand the game on the field so clearly? They didn't have that ability at all!
No wonder this man, considered one of the best coaches in the world, left the Bayern assistants so impressed with his ability to read the game.
Thinking that they could learn from a globally recognized coach in the coming years, the Bayern assistants were excited.
The Bayern assistants were delighted, but Lin Quan on the field couldn't be so happy.
With two consecutive goals against, Lin Quan confirmed that there were problems in the team's defense.
(END OF CHAPTER)
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