Chapter 627 Kanter can’t get through it

After landing, Bruno took a look at the French team's goal. He saw that the football caught in the net was falling down, and the goalkeeper Lori, who had just jumped in the air to save the ball, also fell to the ground.

He was sure the ball went in!

Turning his head again, he saw the ecstatic captain Cristiano Ronaldo. He wanted to hug him, but Bruno didn't rush over. He opened his arms and ran towards the Portuguese fans' stand behind the French team's goal. There was an advertisement board blocking his way, so he jumped over it, then ran to the bottom of the stand and waved his arms vigorously to the fans above.

His move was loudly cheered by the fans.

Soon, Bruno was surrounded by excited teammates, who slapped his head and shoulders and shouted in his ears.

"Well done, brother! Well done!"

"Champion! Champion! Ohhhh! Champion champion!"

Head coach Santos, who was sitting in the coaching booth, did not expect the team to score a goal so quickly. When Bruno headed the ball into the French team's goal, he was stunned for a moment and then jumped up from his seat.

His assistant coach, Iridio Val, was even more excited and almost rushed to the field. He ran around the coach's command area with his arms raised high, and when he came back, he saw Santos and shouted, "Did you see that?"

Santos smiled widely and replied, “Yes, I saw that!”

The two people high-fived each other.

………………

Bruno and his teammates waved to the Portuguese fans in the stands, and then ran back together. On the field, the French players had already stood back up, waiting for the kick-off.

They were not prepared to lose the ball so early, but losing the ball too early was not necessarily a bad thing for them, as it meant they would have the whole game to tie the score or even overtake.

The Portuguese players ran back to the field, and the emotions of all parties calmed down. Only the Portuguese fans were still singing the song written for Bruno.

After the game resumed, the Portuguese players seemed to be still immersed in the excitement and joy they had just experienced, and were somewhat absent-minded. Midfielder William Carvalho's pass to center back Fonte was almost intercepted by a French player, which scared him into a cold sweat.

The French team is also very strong, and the game had just begun, so they still had plenty of time to change the game. Therefore, Portugal's goal did not defeat them, but instead further stimulated their fighting spirit.

France's head coach Didier Deschamps was standing on the sidelines, gesturing to his players, signaling them to be more active and teach the complacent Portugal a lesson!

After Bruno scored the goal, he quickly became the focus of the French team. Nowadays, all players who play in major European leagues know Bruno's strength and that he is the core of the Portuguese national team's midfield.

Before the game, Deschamps also asked the players to pay special attention to the Portuguese and make sure to freeze him during the game.

"As long as we freeze him, it is equivalent to freezing Portugal! Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva can only fight alone, and their three lines will be completely disconnected, so they must follow him closely!"

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Scoring the goal too early made the Portuguese players think they could easily win the game, or that the French team was nothing special.

But after they passed the ball to Bruno continuously, they found that things were not as simple as they thought.

Bruno was closely marked by the French team on the field, and he was not defended alone.

When he retreats to receive the pass, Giroud or Griezmann will come up and press him closely, forcing him to pass the ball back instead of turning around and delivering the ball forward.

When he entered the French team's half, the people defending him became the two defensive midfielders Kante or Pogba. When he was supporting on the wing, one of the two defensive midfielders would definitely follow him and prevent him from receiving the ball or passing the ball easily.

This caused Bruno a lot of trouble.

You know, Kante is the best defensive midfielder in the world today. The saying in the world football "There are no insurmountable obstacles, only Kante who can't be overcome" is no joke.

In the past, Kante always appeared behind Bruno as his teammate, protecting him and allowing him to organize the attack without any worries.

At that time, Bruno knew that Kante was strong defensively, but he didn't have much personal experience.

Now that Kante is an opponent, Bruno truly understands the helplessness of the organizational core and offensive core of Manchester United's previous opponents when facing Kante.

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In addition to Kante, Pogba is also a world-class midfielder with excellent offense and defense.

At this time, although Pogba did not join Manchester United but has been playing for Juventus, he is still recognized as one of the top midfielders in the world football today. It is rumored that after several unsuccessful attempts to introduce Bruno, Real Madrid has intended to introduce Pogba as Modric's successor.

There were several times when he had just received the ball and was disrupted by opponents from behind.

Even though the ball was still at his feet, his pass lost its accuracy due to the opponent's close pressure.

Once Bruno failed to perform at his best, Portugal's attack immediately lost direction and rhythm. No one knew how to attack or how to control the rhythm.

Ronaldo could only run around in the frontcourt again and again, or simply fight alone, and only choose to pass the ball back when he couldn't break through. Bernardo Silva, because he couldn't receive the ball, more often seemed to be isolated from the entire Portuguese team.

Portugal's front trident suddenly fell silent after taking the lead.

When the game reached the 10th minute, the French team had completely taken the initiative. They stole the ball from Bruno and launched an attack.

Bruno lost his inspiration in attack and looked more like a defensive midfielder.

It all started when Portugal scored a goal within two minutes of the start of the game, causing them to underestimate the difficulty of this final.

The French fans in the stands became active, shouting slogans to cheer for their team. Those slogans completely suppressed the singing and shouting of the Portuguese fans, who finally vented their anger at the start of the game.

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Bruno knew that the root of the team's current problems lay with himself, because he did not perform at his normal level and was embarrassed by the French team's ubiquitous close defense.

He is trying very hard to find his own rhythm. Only when he performs normally can the team perform normally as well.

This is the responsibility of a core member of a team.

It’s just that the close defense of the French players was really strict, especially Kante, Bruno’s teammate at Manchester United. He knew Bruno’s habits very well and his defense against him was absolutely flawless.

As for Pogba, this guy completely treated Bruno as his mortal enemy, and he used every possible means when facing Bruno.

Under the joint care of Kante and Pogba, Bruno had little chance to control the ball. Every time he received the ball, he could only pass it quickly and then run for a chance to receive the ball.

The French players would not let him go. When Bruno ran, they would chase him. Unless the Portuguese players passed the ball to someone else, they would not be afraid, because it was Bruno who was in charge of directing the team's attack, not anyone else.

Bruno tried to let Bernardo Silva retreat a little to organize the attack, but the effect was not very good.

Fifteen minutes later, France's possession rate had reached 57%, surpassing Portugal in other statistics. France had six shots, while Portugal had no shots except Bruno's header. France had three shots on target, while Portugal had one. France's pass success rate was also much higher than Portugal's, with Portugal's rate at 51% and France's at 77.3%.

The impact of Bruno's containment on Portugal can be seen from the pass success rate.

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"Deschamps obviously studied Portugal and Bruno, his tactics were right, and the French team completely contained Bruno. Now it seems that conceding a goal within two minutes of the start of the game was just an accident..."

Santos turned his head and glanced at Deschamps who was standing on the sidelines supervising the game. He had studied Bruno and Portugal's tactics thoroughly. The close defense on Bruno was everywhere, and this arrangement did not make their own formation messy.

It's amazing that you did such a meticulous job under such great pressure...

Compared to him, his own preparations seemed a little insufficient... At least he did not consider Plan B during training, such as letting Bernardo Silva or Moutinho replace Bruno as the team commander.

He originally thought that with Bruno's running ability, no one could stop him. Now it seems that he was too arrogant.

It is true that no one can keep up with Bruno's running and freeze him, but that is because there is only one person defending Bruno. When the number of people defending Bruno becomes eleven, it is a different story.

If one person can't keep up, the whole team can always keep up, right?

………………

Santos turned his attention to the field and looked at the somewhat embarrassed Portuguese players in silence.

He was thinking about whether there was any way to crack Deschamps' tactics.

In fact, this tactic was not created by Deschamps. He also borrowed it from others. He discovered this tactic when he carefully studied some important game videos of Bruno before.

In the Premier League, more than one team has used this tactic, combining zone defense and man-to-man defense to curb Bruno's performance.

Those teams did cause some trouble for Bruno, but unfortunately, due to their own lack of strength, the players were unable to bring out the power of this tactic to its fullest, so they ultimately failed.

The French team is the same as those teams. They have high-level players. As long as we change this tactic a little bit to make it more suitable for the French team, maybe we can get better results?

So Deschamps designed such a set of tactics for Bruno in training, let the team practice it repeatedly, and it finally came in handy in the final!