Chapter 19

Lin Sen has always regarded the idiom "misfortune will turn into good fortune" as nothing more than nonsense. What does it mean that when bad luck reaches its peak, good luck will follow? If someone is so unlucky that they can't get any unluckier, of course, they will consider anything as a good thing. What kind of philosophy is this? However, less than a minute into the match, Lin Sen almost thought that his misfortune had indeed turned into good fortune.

Taking advantage of the opponent's unsteady footing, Atlético Madrid launched what might have been their most decisive attack of the season. Raúl García sent a long, low pass from the backfield to Maxi Rodríguez. The Argentine advanced down the right flank and suddenly cut towards the center, drawing the attention of two central defenders. The ball then reached Luis García, the veteran playing as the attacking midfielder. The Spanish veteran, who had forced Real Madrid's captain Iker Casillas to almost leave the club, fired a curved shot towards the top left corner of the goal. Diego López, the Spanish goalkeeper, who had yet to warm up his gloves, faced his Nth crisis since joining the team. He made a desperate dive, but the ball hit the crossbar and the post and flew out.

Thus, neither side got anything.

Diego López didn't get the ball, and Atlético Madrid didn't get a corner kick.

A song of relief echoed through the Estadio de la Cerámica, and Pellegrini's face turned green: "These brats, I've told them countless times to focus at the start of the match, but they still act like this. This season, Villarreal has almost lost a double-digit number of goals in the first five minutes." Not far away, Lin Sen's face also turned green. "To hell with the idea of misfortune turning into good fortune."

In a 90-minute sport like football, there are three times when it's easiest to concede a goal. One of them is at the start of the match when the opponent is still unsteady. Atlético Madrid's opening move didn't result in a goal, but the problem was that it didn't knock the opponent out; instead, it woke them up. Next, both sides would have to fight fiercely, and the more troublesome issue was that the opponent was stronger.

Lin Sen kept clapping his hands on the sidelines, urging the Atlético Madrid players to retreat and reminding them not to get stuck in their emotions. This was the first time Lin Sen had made such a gesture on the sidelines. Of course, it wasn't because the situation in the previous two matches didn't require it, but because it wouldn't have worked in those matches. Such actions are called stylish when someone listens, but when no one listens, they are called foolish.

According to Lin Sen's thinking, the tone of the first half for Atlético Madrid would be defensive. Although Villarreal had the habit of conceding goals early, they also had the advantage of retaliating. Nearly 70% of their goals this season came in the first half. As long as Atlético Madrid could withstand the opponent's attack in the first half, they would have a greater chance in the match. Although, this seemed unlikely...

Pellegrini's team was very skilled in attack, and simple and brutal tactics like long balls and aerial bombardments were rarely seen in his team. Short passes, local penetration, and a combination of wide and central play... in short, it was the so-called beautiful football. To deal with such a team, there were two effective methods: one was to park the bus in front of the goal, and the second was to use a mad dog tactic. Both required the team to have a high level of tactical execution, which Lin Sen lacked.

If it couldn't be done, they could only tough it out.

Antonio López originally planned to纠缠奥东科尔一样去纠缠对方的皮雷斯，但他很快发现，自己的如意算盘根本打不响。不是皮雷斯的速度比奥东科尔快，而是对方根本就不接招。皮雷斯一拿球，只要安东尼奥上来逼抢，他要么直接传球，要么直接变向扯向中路，而在他的身边，也肯定会有至少两名队友为他提供传球接应路线。几次三番下来，被纠缠的皮雷斯气定神闲，感觉出拳打不着力的安东尼奥反而有点浮躁。

“该死的老狐狸。”

林森心中暗骂，终究还是档次不一样，奥东科尔在皮雷斯面前，也许只有速度够看。还没等林森刚嘀咕完，当他看到本该在地球另一边的卡索拉居然出现在中路和皮雷斯形成接应的时候，眉头就锁了起来。他的目光迅速后移，果然，塞纳此时已经从后场高速插上……

2+2变成了1+3！

皮雷斯把球回传高速插上的塞纳，而后和卡索拉迅速交叉换位，并且双双向被他们两人的移动扯开的纵深区域跑去，原先三人的倒V字站位瞬间变成了V字，更要命的是，马竞的两个边卫此时完全被扯开，而两个中卫，则开始犹豫应该贴哪一边，因为现在，跟上的塞纳可以随心所欲地选择传球方向。

答案，是左边。还是皮雷斯。

无人看守的皮雷斯加上进入禁区的皮雷斯，等于进球的皮雷斯。

这是法国老将本赛季的第三个进球。

在马德里的小酒吧里，瞬间一片叫骂声，似乎还掺杂一些酒杯碎裂的声音，随后当然还有老板弗兰克的怒吼声。巴尔嗑瓜子的频率瞬间快了不少，他看了一眼比赛时间：第十三分钟。

十三果然是个倒霉的数字。

林森又一次重复他的拍手动作，他很欣慰地看到自己场上的队员依然保持着头顶颜色的一致性，没有一个人变色。在他的身后，被宽松的运动服覆盖的窈窕身材的狄娜皱了皱眉头，丢球时间还是早了点，上半场的时间甚至连一半都不到。

进球后的比利亚雷亚尔士气大振，踢得更加放松，一放松，他们原本就细腻的进攻更加行云流水。皮雷斯和卡索拉两个边路轮番对马德里竞技进行冲击，逼得马竞的两个边锋不得不在大部分时间里回撤帮助防守。原本就单独出现在锋线的弗兰更加孤掌难鸣，开始频繁回撤中场拿球。

距离上一个进球仅仅过了不到五分钟，比利亚雷亚尔故伎重演。这一回，两个边卫佩尼亚和巴雷拉终于没再上当，只是交换了一下防守对象，但马上，两人就同时心中骂娘了：皮雷斯和卡索拉见两人没有跟上来，直接加入了中路大军。

中场原本平行站位的2+2，随即变成了梯形站位，加上两名前锋，几乎就是2+4。瞬间，马德里竞技的禁区前沿出现了多达四名对方的进攻队员，而此时的马竞，加上回防的后腰，中路也不过三个人。被认为是挤走里克尔梅的罪魁祸首的费尔南德斯轻巧的一个直塞，灵猫一样的罗西单刀赴会。

2:0！

情歌球场一片欢腾，二十分钟不到，两球领先。

“如果你现在后悔，我可以当没那个赌约。”就在罗西轻巧地把球推进远角的时候，几乎赢定了和弗兰克的赌约的巴尔脸上却没半点高兴的神色，他叹了口气说道，现在，他发现自己不但高兴不起来，居然还愤怒不起来。

“不需要。”弗兰克有点伤脑筋地摇了摇头。

愿赌就要服输，事实摆在眼前，弗兰克不得不承认自己的胜算的确不大了。上一场比赛，虽然仍旧是一场败局，他原以为看到了球队思路的改变，这场比赛或许可以赌一下，但他没想到，球队的崩溃居然来得如此之快。

“终归还是业余教练吗？”

弗兰克心中也在摇头。

好了。

场边的林森此时反而冷静了下来，连此前的手也不拍了。他又看了一眼场上球员头顶上的颜色：十一顶绿帽子终于开始泛着危险的绿光。他仿佛听到了游戏中达到某个条件之后的提示音：疯狗条件达成，疯狗模式即将开启。如果可以，林森也不想让球队置于如此危险的境地，一如他此前表现的那样，像一个正常教练那样去鼓励队员们不要灰心，不要放弃，重头再来，明天更美好。然而，事实就是：想让队员们放下所有的身段去像疯狗一样咬人，仅凭几句话是不可能的，唯一的办法，就是把他们全部丢到水里。

现在，不用林森，他们已经自己把自己丢到了水里面。

两球领先之后春风得意的佩莱格里尼很快就感觉到了不对劲。在战术家的眼中，球队就如同是放在掌心的一架精密的仪器，当这架仪器出现问题的时候，往往零件还没损毁，他就已经知道哪里出现了问题。比利亚雷亚尔依然保持着几乎两倍于马竞的控球率，但传球的成功率却在急剧下降，与此同时，马竞的犯规次数开始逐渐增多。

经验丰富的皮雷斯是场上第一个发现不对劲的队员，最明显的区别就是现在的他似乎怎么都没办法摆脱那张苦大仇深的脸了。就在不久之前，对手还基本只在他有球的状态下才会纠缠他，但现在，安东尼奥几乎就像是一贴狗皮膏药一样贴着他，无论有球还是无球。

皮雷斯当然可以利用自己的技术甩掉他，但延误战机是一方面，更重要的是，对方似乎根本不吝于犯规。

于是，皮雷斯知道麻烦来了，而且还是一种熟悉的麻烦。当年他效力的那支创造以不败战绩夺冠伟业的阿森纳曾经碰到过的最大麻烦之一。

情歌球场上空很快嘘声四起，球迷不是傻瓜，好端端的一场虐菜大戏，转眼之间，刚刚还在施展华丽招式的己队突然被对方撂起板砖拍得东倒西歪，是谁都会火冒三丈。场边的林森此时两只手都插到了自己的口袋，一脸的无辜：这真不是我教他们的。