The flight from Lisbon to Dusseldorf was a full three hours long.
A 2-2 draw away from ho wasn’t a bad result.
But the match still had a significant impact on Dortmund.
Wang Shuo felt that this was the match, so far this season, that had truly shown Dortmund the intensity of European competition.
Dortmund had exposed quite a few problems in this ga.
The team’s defense wasn’t a major issue.
The essence of Klopp’s tactics was for the team to win the ball back in the shortest ti possible after losing possession.
This required an imnse amount of energy, which was why Dortmund’s players expended so much of it.
But for now, the team was getting better and better at it.
The real problem still lay with the offense.
Götze and Reus were still too young, too green.
And then there was Shahin.
The midfielder was certainly very good, but on the European stage, especially in high-intensity matches, he still wasn’t quite strong enough.
It was just as the pundits were saying.
The current Dortmund side was basically Wang Shuo carrying the entire team on his back.
And in Lisbon, against Benfica, when Wang Shuo was contained, Dortmund’s offensive problems were laid bare.
Furthermore, the team severely lacked experience in European competitions.
This applied not only to the players but also to the head coach; for many of them, this season was their first ti participating in a European tournant.
One very important point was their lack of ability to adapt when facing teams with different styles.
Benfica was very different from all the other teams they had faced before.
’They’re an atypical team from the Iberian Peninsula!’
The football style of the Iberian Peninsula carries a strong Latin Arican flavor.
Benfica’s squad was filled with South Arican players like David Luis, Cardozo, Di María, Aimar, Ramirez, and Luisao, giving them a very strong Latin Arican style.
South Arican players possess exceptional individual skill. Their head coach, Jesus, was the type who placed great emphasis on overall defensive structure. By blending these players together and incorporating the fast pace of modern football, he made Benfica an incredibly tough team to play against.
There was a similar team in La Liga: the Villarreal side coached by the "Chilean Engineer," Pellegrini.
Their players had outstanding individual technique and excellent passing combinations, which made it extrely difficult for Dortmund to win the ball back.
But most importantly, Benfica’s lineup was very complex.
On one hand, they had players with delicate technique and outstanding individual ability like Di María, Aimar, Carlos Martins, Ramirez, and Córdoba.
On the other hand, their center forward was the 1.93-ter-tall Oscar Cardozo, their holding midfielder was Harvey Garcia from Real Madrid, and behind them were Luisao and David Luis.
The entire central spine of the team was composed of players with very strong physical presence.
Yet, these two types of players were sohow organically integrated into the sa lineup, creating a very unique football style.
Dortmund had simply never encountered a team like this before!
Wang Shuo felt that this style likely stemd from the Priira Liga’s unique advantage.
Naly, South Arica.
Tall center forwards and center backs like Cardozo, David Luis, and Luisao—who possessed strong individual ability, excellent physicality, and good skills on the ball—were abundant in South Arica.
As center backs, David Luis and Luisao weren’t even particularly afraid of Dortmund’s high press.
In fact, it wasn’t just Dortmund that struggled to adapt; other teams in the Priira Liga did as well.
Benfica currently boasted an impressive record in the Priira Liga: 19 wins, 4 draws, and 1 loss after 24 rounds.
They had scored 61 goals and conceded only 12.
’What an astonishing statistic!’
Of course, they weren’t without their weaknesses.
For example, their overall physicality was relatively poor.
In the second half, Jesus substituted Carlos Martins with Ruben Amorim.
But Ruben Amorim, despite being one of Benfica’s better defensive players, was only 1.78 ters tall and was relatively weak physically.
Another weakness was that the South Arican players were still relatively lacking in tactical discipline.
For instance, in this match, Benfica’s strategy for defending against Wang Shuo was to harass him, and even to foul him.
The four defenders and the midfielders, like Harvey Garcia, took turns fouling him.
The gash on Wang Shuo’s right calf was from the 29th minute, when he dropped back to get the ball and was kicked from behind in a malicious foul by the center back, Luisao.
Although Wang Shuo kept a cool head, he imdiately "blew up," and was fortunately stopped in ti by the referee.
In the end, Luisao received a yellow card.
By the end of the match, several of Benfica’s defensive players had yellow cards to their nas.
Left-back Córdoba and right-back Pereira were both suspended for the second leg due to yellow card accumulation.
Even so, after the match, Klopp still blasted the referee, believing his officiating had been too lenient.
’But there’s nothing to be done. It was an away ga! Who can you complain to about ho-field refereeing? Still, what about when they co to Dortmund’s ho stadium? Those tricks of theirs won’t work there!’
All in all, Jesus’s Benfica was a very strong team with a unique style.
The match in Lisbon not only taught Dortmund a lesson but also made Wang Shuo realize his own shortcomings.
’I’m still not strong enough!’
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"Post-match summary: 14 Passive Value points acquired."
As soon as Wang Shuo entered the Ball God System, he imdiately received a push notification.
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