novelhk Chapter 37 It hurts, it hurts!
Chapter 37 It hurts, it hurts!
The tactical video room at Royal Society base.
The heavy blackout curtains were drawn tightly shut, and there wasn't a sound in the room.
Only the exhaust fan overhead was whirring.
The projector's bright white light shone on the screen at the front, playing a loop of the extremely bloody match that took place at Calderon Stadium last night.
The glaring 7-0 score on the scoreboard was almost blindingly bright in the dark room.
Coach Philip sat in the front chair, clutching a black remote control tightly in his hand.
At that moment, he was the only one in the tactics room.
Because of excessive force, the joints of his fingers turned bluish.
He abruptly pressed the pause button.
The camera froze with a click. It was precisely at the moment Li Jing had sprinted across most of the field and delivered that low, through-the-ground pass between two defenders.
He pointed to the full-field coverage heat map of Li Jing that was being displayed on the screen.
That dark red hot zone almost filled the entire grass between the two penalty areas.
Depend on!
This guy is a monster.
Does anyone run like that when playing soccer?
Moreover, he has been studying the entire recording of Li Jing's performance for the past two days.
It was also discovered that the most absurd aspect actually lies in Li Jing's efficiency in covering the field.
This is the real reason why that pile of red is so exaggerated.
It's like Baron Derekjavik is giving instructions in my ear, like having a god-like perspective cheat!
He tried to lift his back off the soft chair and force himself to sit upright. Actually, he was feeling uneasy and anxious.
Is this still the same Atletico Madrid team that anyone could easily defeat?!
Philip is a head coach who was just temporarily promoted from the U21 youth team to take over.
I finally finished the formalities the day before yesterday and moved into the big house with a yard that the club arranged for me with my family.
The La Liga first-team head coach's salary hasn't even been settled yet.
Is this how hard it is to make life difficult for working people?
He suddenly recalled the scene from before he left home this morning.
His adorable and innocent five-year-old daughter would even blow up the BYTs he hid in his bedroom drawer into little water balloons!
The little girl ran wildly on the lawn in the yard, chasing him and having a water fight with the water balloons.
What an adorable and innocent child!
That idyllic life has only just begun!
If this were the first game the day after tomorrow, and he were to be thrashed 7-0 by these red and white checkered thugs at home, those already impatient fans would definitely storm onto the pitch and force him to resign on the spot.
How will we pay off the mortgage and the family's living expenses then?
He doesn't want to leave get out of class!
Philip gritted his teeth and immediately sent a message in the group chat.
"Pre-match meeting, fourth-floor conference room."
"Come quickly, all of you!"
……
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"
Atlético Madrid, physiotherapy massage room.
The door was closed tightly.
Two physical therapists were frantically working on Gabi and Falco's thigh muscles with large metal fascia cutters and high-frequency vibration fascia guns.
The morning's pre-match physical stimulation left these players' muscle fibers filled with lactic acid, making their legs as hard as two stone pillars.
"Ouch—! Be gentle! Are you bone-removing me?! My muscles are going to break!"
"Oh...no, no, no, doctor, that's not what I meant, I'm so sorry, sob sob sob..."
Gabi bit down hard on the white towel on the massage bed, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.
He couldn't hold back any longer and let out a piercing scream, sounding like a pig waiting to be slaughtered in a slaughterhouse.
This quirky behavior is completely at odds with his tough, iron-willed captain image on the court.
Courtois held a gourd-shaped wooden cup filled with warm mate tea.
He strode leisurely against the white wall by the door, looking at the massage bed with a look of disgust.
"I said, does it hurt that much?"
Courtois took a sip of tea and gestured with his chin towards Li Jing beside him.
"Gabbie is such a drama queen. Is it really necessary to yell like that for such a small muscle relaxation? And he's the captain."
Li Jinggang used the towel around his neck to wipe the sweat from his face.
He looked at Gabi's distorted features and nodded in deep agreement:
"It does look quite exaggerated. It's just physical therapy, not torture. This machine is only used to break down lactic acid packs."
The two of them are just standing here talking without any sense of the situation.
After a few minutes, the physical therapist finally stopped what he was doing.
Gabby, his face ashen, scrambled off the massage bed, leaning against the wall and panting heavily.
"Okay, next one." The physical therapist wiped the fascia knife with a tissue.
Courtois placed his teacup on the tactical table beside him and strode confidently over.
His two-meter-tall frame collapsed onto the massage bed, slamming the leather cushions down with a loud thud.
"Come on, buddy, scrape hard! My thighs are feeling a bit stiff."
Without saying a word, the physiotherapist picked up the fascia knife and ruthlessly scraped down on Courtois's nearly two-meter-long, taut thigh muscles.
"Awooo—! Fuck!"
Courtois's tears instantly streamed down his face. The two-meter-tall Belgian man's screams were so loud they seemed to pierce the roof, a full eight decibels higher than Gabi's earlier screams.
He gripped the edge of the bed frame tightly with both hands, the veins on his neck bulging from the pain.
"Stop! Stop! It's really going to break! Quickly remove this piece of metal!" Courtois roared.
But no one paid any attention to him.
"Li, it's your turn. Come on over quickly."
"You don't have much time left. Coach Simeone has set a time for the pre-match meeting."
"speed!"
Li Jing looked at the physiotherapist's smug expression.
He seemed like a living demon.
……
On the Royal Society side.
After receiving the message, everyone gradually arrived at the conference room!
"Boss, didn't you say that a few days ago?"
Prieto's voice was a little dry.
"Was Atletico Madrid's first half of the season a complete pile of garbage?"
Upon hearing the captain's words, the players sitting below began to shift their bodies restlessly, the chair legs scraping against the ground with an extremely loud noise.
Philip raised his hands and vigorously rubbed his stubble-covered cheeks.
Philip took a deep breath and forcefully gave himself a sedative.
"Hey, all of you, straighten your backs! Enough with the nonsense!"
Philip raised the volume.
"Plans can't keep up with changes. Atletico Madrid changed their head coach in the winter transfer window and brought in this Chinese defensive midfielder. Things have changed."
Defender Iñigo Martinez scratched his short hair hard and made a loud suggestion with a frustrated look on his face.
"This is not a change at all, this is an utterly unreasonable running style!"
Boss, how about we just park the bus at home the day after tomorrow?
Just like Huang Qian wanted to do in the second half.
Inigo gestured a huge rectangle in the air with both hands.
"We've packed eight players right into the penalty area, with our forwards dropping back to help defend. Even a draw or a point if we just hold on for the full 90 minutes would be fine!"
Just at this time.
Suddenly, a "smacking" chewing sound came from the corner.
Griezmann, who had been sitting in the back row chewing gum, stood up abruptly, decisively interrupting Inigo's suggestion.
"Coach, I think if you really adopt Najnigo's tactics, our final fate will probably be exactly the same as that dead relegation team, Villarreal."
Griezmann strode out of his seat and went straight to the projection screen at the front.
He stretched out his finger and forcefully poked at the scene in the video where Villarreal retreated and Li Jing forcibly intercepted the ball in a high position and launched a counterattack.
"Take a good look!"
Griezmann pointed to the frozen image.
"Huang Qian did indeed retreat in the second half. But what are those red and white checkered guys doing?"
"Atletico Madrid pushed their formation directly past the halfway line and pressed high pressure in their 30-meter zone."
Griezmann turned to look at his teammates in the conference room.
"The result was that Villarreal lost possession and launched a counter-attack."
"They just like having the ball in the opponent's half and don't care about possession at all."
"We face much more pressure and risk when controlling possession in our own half!"
"In the end, the physical exertion from being dispossessed in their own half was actually greater than that from Atletico Madrid's high-pressing tactics!"
Upon hearing this unconventional statement from his former youth team protégé, Philip's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly.
This kid's not bad!
The analysis makes a lot of sense!
"Antoine, you are absolutely right."
Philip nodded.
"But what can we do if we don't park the bus? Are we supposed to go to halftime and go head-to-head with these tireless guys?"
Without any hesitation, Griezmann simply picked up a very conspicuous red marker from under the podium.
He walked up to the tactics board and drew a large red circle directly on the spot where Atletico Madrid's half of the field was drawn.
"Or, let's try applying pressure from a higher position!"
Griezmann's voice was extremely loud.
"Just go head-to-head with them!"
These words immediately caused an uproar in the conference room.
Inigo waved his hands repeatedly, his eyes wide open.
"Gezi, have you lost your mind? Going to fight a bunch of tireless mad dogs? Our anaerobic stamina is no match for theirs!"
"Do you think that others who press and shove are without weaknesses?"
With a flick of his wrist, Griezmann tossed the red marker into the plastic pen holder beside him with remarkable accuracy, making a crisp sound.
Griezmann pointed to the tactics board and began to lay out the details.
"The opponent's pressing ability on the field is indeed abnormal, but it also exposes their biggest weakness."
"Recall the positioning of Atletico Madrid's goalkeeper and defenders when they received the ball in the video just now."
Aside from the extremely solid passing of the newly arrived Chinese number 13, Atletico Madrid's own ability to control the ball and break through defenses in their own half isn't particularly strong!
Griezmann punched his chest with both fists.
"That captain named Gabi relies heavily on Li Jing dropping back to transition the ball out. Whenever we're in the attacking third, we press them relentlessly, cutting off all of Gabi's passing lanes to Li Jing."
"Those Atletico Madrid defenders, who haven't been honed by Barcelona's intricate passing and possession system, will frequently make mistakes under pressure, directly gifting us goals!"
The tactical analysis was extremely coherent and clear, with completely self-consistent logic.
Inigo sat in his chair, looking up at Griezmann on the podium.
A surge of intense admiration welled up in Inigo's heart.
Back when they were in the youth training team, the two of them protested at the food serving window with stainless steel trays because the cafeteria lady's hands were shaking when she was serving ribs.
That roommate who used to fight over rice can now discuss specific tactics with the head coach in a very logical way!
That's fucking amazing!
It's like one day you suddenly find yourself riding in your childhood friend's car.
I was suddenly startled.
This kid can actually drive?!
I feel very gratified.
Philip stared at the red circle on the tactics board, his eyes lighting up completely.
Yes, that's Atletico Madrid's weakness!
Philip clenched his fists and slammed them heavily onto the tactical table in front of him.
"Antoine is absolutely right!"
Philip jumped to his feet and shouted.
"This is Anoeta! This is our home ground! How can we be intimidated and scared to death before the battle even begins!"
"We'll disrupt their passing rhythm with high pressing! In the match the day after tomorrow, we'll go head-to-head with them at home!"
"And we can also water them!"
"If we notice something's wrong in their half, we'll just pour water on their half during halftime!"
"The advantage is in my hands!"
As soon as the head coach finalized the tactics, the oppressive and suffocating atmosphere in the meeting room instantly vanished.
The players, who had initially felt their scalps tingle, suddenly found this tactical approach surprisingly reasonable.
Who cares how hard Atletico Madrid runs, as long as we get the ball, that's all that matters.
"Meeting adjourned! Everyone, head to the locker room to change! Get ready to go for a run to warm up!"
Philip waved his hand dismissively.
The players pulled out their chairs and noisily headed out the door.
Philip walked last.
Well, Griezmann's words do seem to make a lot of sense.
Play an attacking game against Atletico Madrid.
At least in theory, there shouldn't be any major problems.
But why do I feel a little uneasy?
He was unaware of this at the time.
The tactics room was talking about "counter-attacks" this time.
It will leave an indelible impression on his life!
……
Atletico Madrid physiotherapy room.
The therapist on the other side pointed to the empty bed next to him and waved to him:
"Li, it's your turn. Come on up."
Li Jing shrugged nonchalantly and walked over to lie down.
He closed his eyes, ready to savor this hard-won post-match recovery.
Without even saying hello, the physiotherapist turned the high-frequency fascia gun to the highest setting and slammed it into Li Jing's calves, which were completely tense from the morning.
Holy crap!
Li Jing's facial features contorted instantly, and he gasped sharply. The tactical radar completely failed at this moment; it couldn't possibly predict this kind of muscle-penetrating physical pain!
His previously relaxed hands instantly gripped the leather mattress on the edge of the bed tightly, his nails almost digging into the seams.
This feels ten times more painful than being tackled head-on!
Li Jing cried out in a disheveled manner, the veins on his forehead throbbing.
The entire massage room was filled with the screams of these burly men.
Li Jing was in so much pain that she could only force herself to turn her head away, trying to look at something else to distract herself.
His gaze passed over the metal cart in the middle and suddenly he noticed a familiar figure in a gray tracksuit lying on the massage bed at the very back, which was half-hidden by a curtain.
That iconic slicked-back hairstyle.
"coach?"
To my surprise, I made this discovery.
That familiar forehead.
Not Simeone?!
No wonder the coach arranged for physical therapy before the meeting.
So it turns out I was here too.
Li Jing asked with a face full of doubt, forgetting the pain in her leg for even half a second.
"Why are you lying here too? You were standing on the sidelines all morning setting the stopwatch, you weren't running with us at all!"
Upon hearing this, the screams from inside the room paused for a moment.
Simone lifted his face out of the air holes in the leather cushion.
The old man grimaced in pain, forcibly tensing his facial muscles in an attempt to maintain his authority as head coach.
He cleared his throat and began to explain stiffly.
"Alright, alright, whatever you want, it's normal for me to get a massage at my age."
Simone's face flushed red, and his voice was somewhat muffled.
Thinking back to last night's experience of feeling powerless and causing such an embarrassing situation with his wife.
I could only sense the sorrow of a middle-aged man.
Is it possible that even a top athlete like myself will end up like this when I get old?
All I wanted was to try something new and challenging, like I did when I was younger...
Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore.
"Ouch! That hurts! Be gentle!"
"Hey, I don't have lactic acid buildup, why are you straining like that?"
Courtois was lying on the bed wiping away tears when he heard this!
He and Li Jing exchanged a glance, and then they both burst out laughing.
The atmosphere of exhaustion from the high-pressure training in the massage room instantly lightened up with this burst of laughter.
After a while, the therapist stopped the invasive machine and turned to the shelf to change to a special soothing ointment.
Simone lay on the bed and turned to look at Li Jing.
The old man's embarrassment vanished instantly, and his expression switched to a cold, tactical state.
"Alright, alright, since the three of you are here."
Simone rested his hands under his chin.
"Let's get down to business!"
"Have you thought about how you want to play against strong teams?"
"In this Europa League, Manchester City and Manchester United from the Premier League are both included, as are Sporting Lisbon and Lazio, who are also quite strong."
"Of course, the most important thing is the league, for example, Real Madrid, Valencia, Magala..."
"And... Barcelona?"
……