Chapter 23
: Turning around
The imposing Mallorca continued to fight with the home team Bilbao in the following time. After limiting the performance of several main players of the opponent to the greatest extent, Mallorca had an advantage in the offensive, but was unable to expand the lead. Finally, he entered the halftime break with a one-to-zero lead.
After returning to the locker room, the Mallorca players were in a very high mood. Tristan even rolled up his sleeves and bragged in the locker room: "You don't know. When I smashed the ball into their door, the whole stands instantly quieted... That feeling was so clear!"
Jose smiled and watched Tristan play tricks there. He could not suppress young players too much. Even on the court, they needed to give them more freedom to grow, and in terms of personality, the same is true - at least such a young forward who made the locker room lively will be beneficial to the atmosphere of the entire team.
"In the second half, continue to play in this situation... When you have the opportunity to attack, you must seize the opportunity and focus on their key offensive players, especially Guerrero, whose organization is the source of Bilbao's offense. As long as you can do this, the victory will definitely belong to us!" After the locker room became quieter, Jose clapped his face and said loudly.
Nadal, who had been talking very little in the locker room, suddenly spoke: "Head...sir..."
He was only halfway through his words, and laughter rang out in the locker room. It was obvious that Nadal was planning to call Jose as the "head" like others at the beginning. However, Nadal, born in 1966, is almost thirty-four years old this year, nine years older than Jose. He seemed to be a little embarrassed when he called "head", so he changed his words and called "Mr.".
Jose also laughed, and he waved his hand: "Miguel, just call me Jose directly... I don't mind people older than me calling my name... Is there anything wrong?"
Nadal nodded: "So, Jose... Since the beginning of this season, Guerrero has always been replaced at halftime."
Another veteran captain, Ngongga, nodded: "That's right, especially in recent rounds, Guerrero has always been replaced by Fernandez in the midfield, which has also aroused the dissatisfaction of Bilbao fans."
Jose laughed. These two oldest players in the club are indeed examples of playing with their brains. It is not easy for players to notice this. It seems that they can be enriched in the coaching staff in the future: "Migur and Vicente are right... But I don't think Guerrero will be replaced in this game. As long as Fernandez still has a brain, he will not do such a thing, and the tactics remain unchanged. Of course, if he is really stupid enough to replace Guerrero, then we will win more easily. Now, let's go!"
Jose waved his hand and did not explain why Fernandez would not replace Guerrero in the middle of this game - he hoped that Nadal and Ngonga would consider this issue clearly on their own.
The answer to this question is actually not complicated - after the Bilbao fans protested, Guerrero took the initiative to support the head coach's actions. When the results of this season were not very good, no matter what Fernandez thought, he would not replace Guerrero easily. First, Guerrero took the initiative to support himself, and second, he had to consider the fans' reactions - because Bilbao is a very special team! Just like Real Madrid and Barcelona, the club managers consider more about the fans' feelings, because the real manager of the entire club is all their members, not to mention that Bilbao is still a team that belongs to the Basques.
Guerrero is not a ball dominant, but behind him are all the Basques! This kind of power cannot be resisted by Fernandez alone - of course, Bilbao's poor performance before must not be Guerrero's fault.
For Jose, Bilbao's performance has nothing to do with him. In this game, although Bilbao's strength is not worse than Mallorca, Mallorca's winning rate is still quite high - especially since Mallorca's defense can largely restrain Bilbao, and Bilbao's defense cannot curb Mallorca's offense well, Mallorca also took the lead. It is not easy for Bilbao to turn the tables.
The course of the game was similar to what Jose expected.
After the start of the second half, Mallorca's advantage in the situation remained, and Tristan, who was obviously in good condition, rushed back and forth in the frontcourt, causing great trouble to the Bilbao people's defense!
In the 60th minute of the game, Tristan received a straight pass from Ngongga within the 30-meter area. He did not pass the ball quickly, but suddenly turned around and unexpectedly dribbled the ball into the penalty area!
Tristan, who has always been in the penalty area, has rarely made personal breakthroughs, suddenly came like this and caught Bilbao's defense off guard!
Tristan was like a rumbling tank, dribbling the ball and forcibly entered Bilbao's penalty area. Bilbao defender Ferrera saw that Tristan was about to shoot, and hurriedly reached out to pull Tristan down!
Tristan fell down like a big tree that was cut down. The huge booed Bilbao fans in the stands - they thought Tristan was pretending to fall! However, amid the huge booed, the referee's whistle sounded. He ran into the penalty area firmly and pointed his finger at the penalty spot!
Penalty! Mallorca got the opportunity to expand its lead in the second half!
As the swearing sounded in the stands, Tristan jumped up from the ground and hugged his teammates tightly! Jose, off the court, waved his arm violently. If this penalty was scored, Bilbao would basically have no ability to counterattack - you should know that they have only won one of the last five games! The recent poor performance will definitely have a great impact on the team. At this time, the advantage of taking two goals leads may be able to smash the fighting spirit of the players on the Bilbao field in one fell swoop!
Bilbao players were still surrounding the referee to appeal. Guerrero, who was no longer young, performed his captain duties and kept defending the referee - they also knew in their hearts that they would not have the advantage on the court. If the ball was lost, Bilbao might not have a chance in this game.
However, the referee did not give the golden boy face, but waved his hand firmly to drive away all the Bilbao players. He saw it very purely. Ferreira almost knocked down Tristan with a hug and throwing action. If such an action is not a foul, it would be unreasonable.
Bilbao players walked out of the penalty area helplessly, and after the celebration, Tristan picked up the football, walked into the penalty area and bent over and placed the ball on the penalty spot.
Tristan, who straightened his waist, looked at the opponent's goalkeeper Lafuent. Lafuent stared at Tristan nervously. The striker in front of him had already scored double-digit goals in La Liga.
Tristan is full of confidence, and the opponent has only gradually become the main goalkeeper this season. Twenty-four is not a mature age for the goalkeeper.
However, Tristan decided to choose to be safer - he was confident in his footwork - just hit the upper right corner.
After taking a few steps back, the referee blew a whistle that could take the penalty kick. Tristan quickly started running, and then immediately took a strong shot!
Lafuent jumped but failed to touch the ball!
A second later, Jose's smile froze on his face - although the penalty kick from Tristan bypassed the opponent's goalkeeper's finger, it also bypassed the far post - the ball rubbed against the right post and flew out of the baseline!
Shot the penalty kick!
The whole game was quiet again, but this time it did not bring any pleasure to Tristan. He looked at the ball that had already flown behind the goal in disbelief and hugged his head with both hands.
He has already taken a penalty this season and hit it easily, but he didn't expect that he would be shot away when he took the penalty for the second time.
Jose shook his head helplessly, then shouted at the field: "It's okay, fight well and continue to be like before!"
In Jose's opinion, it is a pity that this penalty kick was not scored, but it is nothing. Mallorca's advantage is still there. As long as the team is not affected by this penalty kick, Mallorca will still not have any problems next!
However, it is obvious that the penalty kick was not scored, which had a great impact on both sides.
The influence of Mallorca may not be too great. After all, they are mainly veterans. Except for Tristan, who was in good condition, who seemed a little quiet because he scored a penalty kick, Mallorca's other players were not affected too much - however, for Bilbao, this penalty kick brought them more stimulation!
The rise and fall of the football field is often a mysterious thing, and it escapes the situation of falling behind two goals, which makes the morale of Bilbao players high!
Although Mallorca has advantages on the court, its advantages are not too great. It is entirely because of Bilbao's poor state recently, which has caused a sluggish morale. Mallorca is in an upward stage, so Mallorca's advantage on the court is very obvious. But now, Bilbao's players have escaped the situation of conceding another goal and have begun to welcome the next game in the best state!
Chapter completed!