N-A-A Chapter 18 First Match
Chapter 18 First Match
The day before the match against Marseille.
The La Tourby training center in Monaco is unusually different from usual.
According to the usual schedule, the team should have traveled to Marseille a day in advance to conduct a pre-match training session at the Stade Vélodrome.
This time, however, the entire Monaco team stayed at the training base and didn't even set off for the away game.
As a result, small groups of people gathered early on around the training center.
Most of them were of Asian descent, and they were all Chinese fans who came specifically for Jiang Ming.
The remaining few were spies sent by other clubs, who wanted to find out Monaco's preparations for the match in advance.
But as soon as they approached the entrance of the training base, they were stopped by staff who informed them that the team would be holding a closed training session today, and the training would not be open to the public.
The Chinese fans who came specifically for the event were disappointed and had to leave empty-handed.
Several scouts from other teams, unwilling to give up, circled the training ground looking for angles, hoping to capture some of Monaco's training sessions.
But in the end, they didn't get any useful information.
Today, the La Tourby training ground is like a military base under martial law; not a single piece of information can be leaked out.
Before we knew it, the day of the competition arrived.
……
November 29, local time in France.
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille.
The away team's locker room.
Jiang Ming sat in the corner, staring blankly at the number 25 jersey in his hand for a while.
This was his first start in a professional match, and it was an away game in Ligue 1 against a tough opponent like Marseille.
Fabinho leaned over from the side, smiling, and asked, "Nervous?"
"No, I'm just a little dazed," Jiang Ming answered honestly.
Fabinho smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "That's good. Judging from how you train, you don't seem like the type to have weak legs."
With a creak, the locker room door was pushed open.
Yaldin walked in, glanced at everyone, and said in a deep voice:
"We just finished playing in the Europa League three days ago. To avoid overwork, I gave most of the key players a rest today, and the substitutes started first. We'll make adjustments later depending on the situation."
He casually pushed the tactics board in front of everyone and tapped the formation diagram on it: "Jiang, your position today is here, attacking midfielder."
"No need to track back. You only need to do one thing," Jardim paused, "receive the ball, then find a way to pass it out, a threatening pass, a killer pass!"
"Leave the rest of the defensive coverage to us," Fabinho chimed in.
The players in the locker room were all carefully analyzing the tactics, and no one said a word.
Yaldin took a pen and drew a circle on the tactics board.
"Marseille's midfield pressing is very aggressive. They are used to applying high-intensity pressure from the first fifteen minutes, trying to disrupt our rhythm directly."
"Therefore, we need to play it safe for the first fifteen minutes."
He turned to look at Jiang Ming: "Jiang, you're in charge of controlling the pace. There's no need to rush, take your time."
Jiang Ming nodded and kept those words in mind.
After saying this, Yardin turned and walked out of the locker room.
Wearing the captain's armband, Moutinho stood up, clapped his hands, and shouted, "Let's go, brothers!"
All the players got up one after another and pushed open the locker room door.
The roar of Marseille's home fans could already be heard faintly from the tunnel; it was the unique fervor of the Stade Vélodrome.
Jiang Ming took a deep breath and followed the team, walking step by step towards the exit of the players' tunnel.
Just then, a voice that filled him with even more energy rang in his mind.
[Ding! Daily task triggered: Achieve a post-match rating of 8/9/10 for this game]
Having experienced the crucible of European competition, you're naturally more adept at handling the pace of the league.
You're back in Ligue 1, where your dream in one of the top five European leagues began. Prove yourself with an outstanding performance.
[Scoring criteria: 8 points = Excellent performance, 9 points = Best player of the game, 10 points = Perfect game]
[Reward: Will be awarded based on your actual score]
……
"Welcome everyone, tune in to Lay's Sports for this key match of the 15th round of Ligue 1. I'm your commentator, Liu Teng."
"In this match, Marseille will host Monaco at home."
"As of now, Marseille's record in Ligue 1 is 5 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses, with 18 points, ranking 14th in Ligue 1, just 4 points away from the relegation zone."
Although they were once the dominant force in Ligue 1, they are unlikely to actually fall into the relegation zone.
But today is a home game, and the passionate fans of Velodrome will absolutely not allow them to lose at home, so Marseille will definitely fight with everything they have.
"Looking at Monaco, their current Ligue 1 record is 6 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses, with 23 points, just 2 points away from the Champions League zone."
If they win this match, they will gain a significant advantage in the subsequent Champions League qualification battle.
After Liu Teng finished reading out the basic data, the starting lineup for this match was officially announced.
Marseille (4-2-3-1):
Goalkeeper: Mandanda
Defenders: Dejede, Rekik, Nkoulou, Bonjaman Mendy
Defensive midfielders: Isla, Diarra
Attacking midfielder: Cabella
Forwards: Alessandrini, Batshuayi, Nkoudou
Monaco (4-2-3-1):
Goalkeeper: Subasic
Defenders: Almamy Toure, Raggi, Wallace, Etcheil
Defensive midfielders: Moutinho, Fabinho
Attacking midfielder: Jiang Ming
Forwards: Bakayoko, Carrillo, Coentrao
"It's worth mentioning that both teams finished their respective Europa League matches three days ago, making their schedules incredibly tight. You can tell from their starting lineups that both teams made varying degrees of rotation," Liu Teng explained.
"Monaco has made the biggest changes. Including the goalkeeper, there are only four key players in their starting lineup."
"They even placed midfielder Bakayoko, who had just recovered from injury, on the right wing, while left-back Coentrao moved up to play on the left wing."
"Yardin's tactics are really baffling."
"Jiang Ming, whom we Chinese fans care about the most, has also been arranged to start today." Liu Teng paused, "Jiang Ming shone brightly in the last Europa League match, helping the team to equalize with one goal and one assist."
"Let's hope he can continue to perform this well today!"
……
Ever since the highlights of that Monaco U19 match went viral online, the top news on Dongqiudi (a Chinese sports betting platform) has been frequently updated with news about Jiang Ming.
Today's match was prominently featured at the very top of the Dongqiudi homepage, with a particularly eye-catching title:
Ligue 1 Highlight Match: Marseille vs. Monaco! Jiang Ming Makes His First Start!
"Holy crap? Jiang Ming only played one game as a substitute, and now he's in the starting lineup?!"
"Have any of our young Chinese players ever been this fierce before?"
"No way... I remember the youngest Chinese player to start in one of the top five European leagues was Shao Jiayi in 2003."
"He was already 23 when he started in the Bundesliga that year, and Jiang Ming is only 17 and already starting in one of the top five leagues, breaking our record!"
"Let alone us, there are very few players in the top five European leagues who can start at the age of 17. Even someone as good as Messi didn't start for Barcelona until he was 18."
"Awesome! This is such a great honor for us!"
"It's ridiculous. It's just that Monaco has a lot of injured players right now, and two midfielders got injured on the last game, which is why Jiang Ming got a starting position."
"Isn't that the traitor upstairs from last time? Why is he still haunting us?"
……
21:00 local time in France
Velodrom Stadium.
The referee, Clement Tilpin, was looking down at his watch, waiting for the kickoff time.
As one of the youngest international referees in French history, Tilpin is now the most famous referee in Ligue 1, and he is almost always involved in any of the key matches in Ligue 1.
This relieved Jardim on the sidelines; he didn't want to encounter another referee like the last one, whose calls were so unfairly biased.
His team can't afford any more disruptions right now.
"Beep—"
With the referee Tilpin's whistle, this key Ligue 1 match officially kicked off.