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"Hey! Lance!"
"What's up?"
"The coach wants you to drop back a bit. If you can through-pass into the half-space, do it. If there's no opportunity, try shooting yourself."
"Got it. Go quickly, brother."
In the 71st minute of the match, Simeone refused to sit back and wait, making a substitution.
Gabi, the defensive midfielder who had received a yellow card, was substituted off, replaced surprisingly by Ángel Correa.
The Argentine striker, born in '95, was only 20 years old. He excelled at 1v1 breakthroughs, possessed a decent long shot, and also had good passing vision.
When Argentina won the World Cup in 2022, Ángel Correa was considered a fringe national player, occasionally coming on as a substitute.
For the "peak competition" of world football, Ángel Correa might not have been strong enough, but he was at least considered an upper-tier La Liga player, and in the original timeline, he was an absolute key player and mainstay in the Atlético Madrid attack.
Lance was quite looking forward to the youngster playing.
This meant that Simeone was unwilling to give up!
He wanted to attack!
Saúl, the right winger, dropped back to midfield to partner with Koke as a defensive midfielder, providing cover for Lance.
Instructor Zhang immediately pointed out Atlético Madrid's tactical change.
"Correa coming on increases the threat of breakthroughs in the half-space. His speed is good, and he has some ability to carry and break through. Lance's through balls will likely cause some trouble for Real Madrid."
"Yes, the Argentine striker Correa is a signal that Atlético Madrid is going on the attack. Trailing by 2 goals, Atlético Madrid is still trying to fight back! If they lose these 3 points today, Atlético Madrid might still have a chance to compete for the title. But there is still time left in the match! There is still the possibility of a miracle!"
"Exactly! Just hit the space behind the defence. Don't bother with complicated passes; let Lance hit the space directly. He has that through ball in him. Simeone is pinning all his hopes on Lance."
Instructor Zhang saw a hint of something in this formation change.
Before this, Lance's role was mostly to receive and link up near the penalty area, attempting breakthroughs and shots.
Midfield organisation and structure were largely handled by Koke and Gabi.
With Real Madrid constantly marking Lance tightly, he had gradually given up possession.
But this was not Lance's style of play.
Instructor Zhang knew clearly that Lance was best when he had the ball at his feet. Whether he was organising passes in the midfield or attempting his own breakthrough, he needed more possession.
Now, with Koke and Saúl dropping back and focusing on defence, Lance was the absolute midfield core. Everything revolved around him; the entire team would cooperate with Lance.
Dropping back allows him to avoid being surrounded by more Real Madrid players, creating some space, and also mitigates Lance's weakness in off-the-ball movement, reducing physical confrontations whilst dropping back to gain a better view.
Lance was not a traditional midfield orchestrator or passing master.
But what he excelled at most were through balls!
That's right!
Both Simeone and Instructor Zhang had witnessed Lance's ability to execute a through ball!
His occasional flashes of divine inspiration often yielded outstanding results!
...
Oh?
Are they counting on my Monster Pass?
Lance also understood: drop back and blindly through-pass into the half-space.
Simeone was pinning his hopes on the [Monster Pass] skill, modelled after Bachira Meguru.
A ball that only a monster could receive!
Lance usually didn't use it often, and some fans might even forget about this particular pass of Lance's.
In reality, Lance's passes were simply too imaginative and unpredictable.
Just like the previous backheel flick, it completely caught everyone by surprise.
This meant that the opponent didn't expect it, but neither did his teammates, which usually resulted in a misplaced pass.
But today, in this critical moment, Simeone couldn't afford to worry about that!
Trailing by 2 goals, it was time to go all-in and gamble!
On the left and right flanks, Griezmann and Ángel Correa had enough ability, and perhaps they could follow Lance's thinking!
If all else failed, they could only hope for Lance to try his luck with a long-range shot!
"There are still 20 minutes left. Can he do it?"
Simeone checked his watch, standing emotionless on the sidelines.
In reality, his heart was already growing anxious.
...
"This guy dropped back. What tricks is he playing?"
As the game progressed, Cristiano Ronaldo noticed that Lance's position was much deeper, receiving the ball more often near the midfield line.
Every time, he received the ball, passed it, and received it again in a very conventional manner.
His personal breakthroughs seemed to have decreased.
On the surface, this was merely a reactive substitution. Taking off Gabi resulted in a lack of a central midfield pivot, forcing Lance to temporarily fill that role.
A full 10 minutes passed since the substitution, and Atlético Madrid had not managed to create any good combinations.
A few of Lance's passes were too ambitious; the player hadn't arrived, but the ball had already flown out of bounds.
This even led to laughter in the stands.
"That pass was ridiculous!"
"Get off the pitch! Booo——"
"He really can't play football!"
Some extremist fans were still trying to boo Lance, mocking him loudly.
Cristiano Ronaldo frowned.
It wasn't that he had a change of heart; he just thought this kind of low-impact verbal abuse was pointless.
Lance remained unfazed even when 90,000 people in a Bundesliga stadium booed him in unison.
In the first leg between the two sides, Real Madrid had an anti-discrimination scandal, and many people in the stands were fiercely cursing Lance.
Did it work?
In the end, the reporter who discriminated against Lance was banned from the venue, lost his job, and was fined 30,000 Euros.
This level of taunting couldn't possibly get under Lance's skin.
What surprised Cristiano Ronaldo was that Lance had been "low-key" in a somewhat strange way recently, with several bizarre passes that left everyone confused.
It seemed like he was brewing something.
"Does he still think he can equalise?"
Cristiano Ronaldo was extremely vigilant, even deliberately moving closer to Lance to try and challenge him for the ball.
He also continuously directed his teammates to intercept.
Seeing Atlético Madrid gain possession and launch an attack from the back, Cristiano Ronaldo couldn't help but track him again.
"Why is it you?"
Lance received the pass from Koke and was just preparing to move through midfield, when he was suddenly hit hard by someone!
Lance quickly stabilised himself, only to realise that Cristiano Ronaldo was right next to him!
Interesting!
"Why shouldn't it be me?"
Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn't back down verbally, nor was he idle with his feet, aggressively trying to poke the ball away whilst using both hands to push Lance's shoulder.
"Stop pushing me!"
"What do you mean?"
"It means, fuck off!"
As Lance responded, he suddenly stopped abruptly, using the outside of his right foot to flick the ball and change direction, attempting a nutmeg.
Cristiano Ronaldo reacted quickly, stepping diagonally to block Lance's path, trying to use a shoulder barge to disrupt him, whilst his peripheral vision caught sight of Toni Kroos rushing over to double-team.
"Hmph, hmph, you can't escape now... What?"
Cristiano Ronaldo didn't get to feel smug for even half a second before Lance suddenly flashed past and vanished from his sight!
Fuck!
How did he do that?
Cristiano Ronaldo quickly turned to intercept; the wind rushed past, and when he saw Lance again, the guy had already put two body lengths between them!
The most terrifying thing was that he still had the energy to execute two step-overs, drop his shoulder with a feint to deceive Toni Kroos, and immediately delivered a breathtaking through ball!
The football became a sharp sword, piercing the Real Madrid half-space!
Ángel Correa, who had just come on, was very fast! He perfectly rounded Varane from behind!
Receiving the ball inside the box, he blasted a shot into the top corner from a tight angle!
"It's over!"
Cristiano Ronaldo watched helplessly as the ball pierced Navas's goal!
They conceded again!
If they could have maintained the 2-0 lead until the end, they really would have had it today.
But as long as that guy Lance scored one... Cristiano Ronaldo's heart, which had just settled, leapt up again!
"No way? Not again!"
The question was, how exactly did he break through just now?
This was the first time Cristiano Ronaldo had defended so seriously, yet he was completely bypassed by this guy, all whilst Lance was chatting!