The Second Leg of the Champions League Round of 16
The coaches debated intensely in the pre-match meeting, and after much discussion, the starting striker position ultimately leaned toward Arnal.
"As expected, Arnal is the best for the starting striker?"
"With Ryu Ha-neul's physical condition, it's practically impossible to withstand Chelsea's rough pressure."
Diena agreed with the coaches' opinions.
Although he felt Ryu was the superior player emotionally, Diena thought Arnal was the one who would suit the game better today.
Asha, the 193cm Ghanaian defensive midfielder signed by Barcelona, had a disadvantage in speed but possessed superior physicality and excellent man-marking.
Davina, the Brazilian center-back with 193cm of overwhelming physique, struggled with fast strikers but was reliable.
Fabiola, the Portuguese center-back with 184cm, had a slightly short height for a defender, but her jumping ability, tackling, speed, and agility made up for it, showcasing overwhelming defensive skills.
This defensive line, consisting of defensive midfielders and center-backs who had been operating since last year's EPL title win, was called the Bermuda Triangle by football fans for its incredible defensive power that deleted the opponent's ball.
The only weakness was that none of these three were great at build-up, and Davina couldn't effectively deal with fast attackers.
Therefore, to break through Chelsea's defense, the player needed stamina to apply constant pressure from the striker's position and speed to break through Davina when a chance arose.
And in that regard, Arnal was clearly better than Ryu Ha-neul. Even if Arnal was injured and not in her prime, comparing the male Ryu Ha-neul to the female Arnal was inappropriate.
Moreover, the venue was an issue. For a team like Barcelona, the Champions League round of 16 stage might not be a big deal, but against last year's EPL champions, Chelsea, and for a 16-year-old player making her debut this season, it could be overwhelming.
Especially if it was Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home ground, it would be even more so.
'To avoid elimination in the round of 16, it seemed that no matter how much I thought about it, selecting Arnal as the starter was the right choice.'
"I think if it's Ryu, I can show my abilities among Chelsea's defenders..."
"Let's go with Arnal."
"Ah... yes."
Thus, Diena firmly conveyed his intention to the coaches who wanted to push Ryu as the starter.
Champions League Round of 16, second leg: The match between Chelsea and Barcelona is held at Stamford Bridge here. ... Now, Barcelona's starting formation. Goalkeeper: Maximilena ... and central striker: Arnal.
Ryu Ha-neul's form has been good these days, but Arnal, who has already been verified in big games, is more trustworthy? Will Arnal be able to show good form today...?
The match began.
In the first two minutes, Chelsea earns a corner. ... Crossed! Davina's header! Goal! In three minutes of the first half, Chelsea scores the first goal! The scorer of the first goal is Davina!
Chelsea players are mostly tall and good at aerial balls, right? Barcelona, with lower average height, had to be careful with these set pieces, but they conceded a goal too early. This is big? The game seems like it will be more fun.
'Ah, this is so annoying.'
Diena sat on the bench with his arms crossed, still biting his nails. At first, he hadn't noticed because of the crowd's cheers, but once he did, it was driving him crazy.
'No, the coach should be more composed. He's showing too much anxiety after conceding a goal.'
And what was more irritating than the sound irritating his ears was that the coach was showing too much anxiety. No matter how hard the game was, as a coach, he should have given the players confidence, but if the players on the field saw this, their morale would definitely drop.
'Or stand up and give tactical instructions.'
Honestly, Diena lacked the qualities to be called a capable coach. Or rather, he was good at creating tactical training and patterns, but lacked the charisma to control the team?
Personally, the evaluation that he was more suited to a coach than a manager was spot on.
This wasn't malicious because he had experienced being sent to the second team right after debuting, and it wasn't because he wasn't using him as the starter in the important Champions League round of 16 stage where he had scored 5 goals in 3 matches.
A coach needed charisma, even if tactical ability was important. In fact, many famous coaches in the football world left the detailed tactics to the tactical coaches and focused on team management, so charisma was important for coaches.
Especially to lead a super large famous club, charisma was even more necessary. Barcelona was mostly La Masia graduates, so it was a bit less, but still necessary. Diena, who wasn't a legendary player, had a slight lack in that area.
If a coach of this type led Real Madrid, Bayern, or a big club in the EPL, the players would probably start slacking after not even half a season. In a way, it was fortunate for Barcelona that among the famous teams, the one with the least internal conflict was Barca's coach, Diena.
"Eh?! Eh?! Run! Run!"
While cursing Diena in his mind, Lucia, who had the ball in our camp, connected it long to Arnal. The pass, which was a long kick unlike Barcelona's style, was exactly in front of Arnal's feet who had broken the offside trap, because Lucia was the player who passed the best in this world except for him.
'As expected, the passing is amazing.'
Chelsea's defenders reacted slowly, not expecting Barcelona to suddenly give a long pass, and Arnal created a 1v1 chance with the goalkeeper.
'Good, I have to score this! No more nail biting sounds.'
Just as he was rejoicing with the certainty of scoring,
"Eh?! What?"
"Ah, there..."
Arnal's pass went not in front of the goal but backward. An unexpected back pass. And Yelena, who received Arnal's back pass, also didn't expect the situation, so she shot immediately after receiving, but the ball Yelena hit became a home run and flew into the stands.
'Why in a 1v1 situation...?'
Of course, he often passed in 1v1 situations himself, but it was only when he didn't have the confidence that his shot power could penetrate the goalkeeper's reflexes. If he had Arnal's shot power, he would never have done such a thing.
Naturally, in his previous life too, he would have shot without hesitation on such a chance.
"Ah! Yelena! That chance!"
The voice of Diena, who jumped up from beside him, blaming Yelena came.
But his thoughts were a bit different from the coach's. If Yelena had been focused, the shooting angle was quite wide, and it was an unmarked chance, so it was true that a good chance was missed. But blaming Yelena for this was too harsh.
If the one holding the ball was him, Yelena would have been thinking about when the pass would come to her due to experience, but Arnal, who gave the pass to Yelena, was not the type to bomb a pass to a teammate in a 1v1 chance, so it was understandable that Yelena was surprised.
Actually, he hadn't expected Arnal to play like that either.
'But why did Arnal suddenly pass there?'
And most players played within their expectations, but Arnal's play was outside his expectation, so he wondered why she did that action.
'...Is it not because of me?'
Recently, Arnal had been asking him questions a lot in training, and there was a fleeting thought that maybe it was influenced by him, but he soon dismissed that thought. It was because it felt like he was drinking kimchi soup.
No matter how good he was at football, there was no player who would be influenced by him, a fresh young player. Especially a player like Arnal who had completed her play enough to be a big club starter.
'Then, it's because her condition is not good. In that case, I might be able to play earlier than I thought?'
And his thought that he might play earlier than expected soon became reality.
Chelsea, who had almost conceded a goal with one long pass, dropped their defensive line to the very end and played like turtles, and we played as aggressively as possible, but Chelsea blocked our attacks with their unique defensive power, before the first half ended.
"Waaaaaaa!!!!"
A ball kicked to clear from near the penalty box connected to Chelsea's attacker Tandwe, and Tandwe, leading with his unique explosive power, scored the second goal.
"Ryu, substitute with Eloya in the second half."
"Eloya?"
"And Albaria goes up more aggressively, and Lucia play from the midfield side. Then our formation will be like this. 4-3-3 using three backs. And Ryu, you have to connect the link with the midfielders in the center of that three-back. Since I've practiced it a few times in training, I believe you can do it well."
With tactics to turn the situation of being 2-0 behind.