Chapter 406: Chapter 88: King of Iduna! Battle Atletico Madrid, Seize the Opening

The latter was clearly pleased that the head coach had put him in the same category as superstars like Ronaldo, Messi, and Kaka, a smile on his face.

"Wang Shuo is in no way inferior to them!"

"In a match, any single one of his passes can change the rhythm and flow of the game!"

"So, we must maintain our marking on Wang Shuo for all 90 minutes!"

Flores’s starting lineup wouldn’t hold too many surprises.

He would basically stick with Atletico Madrid’s preferred 4-4-2 formation.

Goalkeeper: De Gea; 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Defense: Antonio Lopez, Alvaro Domingos, Pereira, and Uyfalusi;

Midfield: Ximang, Assunção, Raul Garcia, and Reyes;

Forwards: Aguero and Fran.

This was Atletico Madrid’s strongest lineup of the season.

In terms of specific defensive tactics, Flores put the most emphasis on how to limit Wang Shuo.

This responsibility fell to players like Domingos, Pereira, Assunção, and Raul Garcia.

Everyone knew that Wang Shuo covered a lot of ground.

He didn’t just drift out to the wings; he also actively dropped back.

To shut down Wang Shuo would require the collective cooperation of the midfield and defense.

"Dortmund’s game strategy won’t change. What they do best is go for an early lead!"

When it came to fighting for control at the start of the game, Atletico Madrid was not as good as Dortmund.

Even in terms of midfield control, the Sheet Army wasn’t guaranteed to gain an advantage.

Dortmund’s 4-2-3-1 formation had a pretty strong grip on the midfield.

Flores had watched Dortmund’s matches against Benfica, especially the first leg.

But to be honest, Atletico Madrid couldn’t play the kind of football Benfica did.

Most importantly, Atletico Madrid simply didn’t have a player like Aimar.

Not to mention, in the second leg away from home, Benfica had tried to replicate their first-leg tactics, only to be torn to shreds by Dortmund and thrashed 6-0.

"Their advantage is at the beginning of the match, while ours is in the second half, especially after the 70th minute!"

Flores’s game plan was very clear.

In the first leg away, the goal was to secure an away goal while aiming for a draw.

Secure a draw away, fight for an away goal, and then settle the score back at home—this was the standard strategy for knockout stages.

...

While Atletico Madrid was studying tactics for their match against Dortmund, Dortmund was also holding a meeting to prepare.

In the meeting, Klopp laid out the tactics for the home match against Atletico Madrid and distributed a file to each player detailing the technical characteristics and match habits of their direct opponents.

Each player also received a USB drive containing carefully edited match footage.

The file Wang Shuo received was thicker than the others, and his video files were larger, too.

Because his range of movement was so large, it involved too many opposing players.

During a break, Wang Shuo reviewed the analysis file and watched the video clips, and he really learned a lot.

As a forward, he was naturally most focused on Atletico Madrid’s two center-backs.

"These two Atletico Madrid center-backs are interesting."

"How so?" Reus asked, watching the videos with Wang Shuo.

He was Wang Shuo’s sidekick and also needed to study the opponent’s defenders.

"The 30-year-old veteran Pereira is 5’11", right-footed. His main traits are his speed and agility."

"Alvaro Domingos is 20, 6’2", and left-footed. He’s physically strong, great in challenges, and excels at winning high balls and in direct defensive situations."

The two center-backs were a classic "one tall, one fast" and "one left-footed, one right-footed" pairing.

’And the two central midfielders?’

Atletico Madrid’s Assunção was Paulo Assunção, not Marcos Assunção, the one skilled at free kicks.

As a player from Brazil, this Assunção, standing at 5’8", was characterized by his intense focus during matches, his knack for winning the ball, and his incredible stamina.

He was one of the players with the most tackles in La Liga this season.

At the same time, he was also the player with the most fouls.

As a player from Brazil, Assunção’s Passing was also quite reliable.

But he basically didn’t participate in the attack upfield.

His partner was Raul Garcia.

This player used to be an attacking midfielder at Osasuna, but his position has gradually shifted further back.

He was a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

In the analysis report provided by Krawietz, there was a set of stats for Raul Garcia.

Assunção’s Passing completion rate was 82%, while Raul Garcia’s was only 69%.

That’s right, you didn’t read it wrong. As a midfielder, and one who usually plays in a deeper position, his Passing completion rate was not even 70 percent.

That was a truly terrible statistic.

However, Raul Garcia was good at aerial duels.

In Flores’s setup, Raul Garcia was always positioned in front of the shorter Pereira.

"No wonder the boss said we should focus on pressing Raul Garcia in midfield. His completion rate is so low!" Götze figured it out.

In the face of the data, many things became clear at a glance.

Wang Shuo combined the data with his memory of the match footage he had just watched, and a not-yet-fully-formed idea began to take shape in his mind.

"Everyone, gather ’round for a second. I have an idea..."

Wang Shuo called over the few people around him.

...

Ever since the team was on the verge of bankruptcy, Dortmund had rarely been able to participate in European competitions over the past few years.

Let alone reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League like they had this season!

For a superclub like Bayern, the UEFA Europa League was, of course, a minor prize.

But at Dortmund, it was still eagerly anticipated by the fans.