From the man behind the football king to the football king

May 4th, 3pm, Piola Stadium.

In the 40th round of Serie B, Novara faced Bari at home.

This is a very important battle for both sides. Novara is in a critical period of competing with Sassuolo for the league championship, so there is no room for error. As for Bari, they are currently ranked 14th and are 9 points above the relegation zone. The possibility of direct relegation is very small, but falling into the relegation play-offs is very possible.

According to the current Serie B relegation rules, the bottom three teams will be directly relegated to Serie C, while the bottom four and bottom five teams will play a relegation play-off, with the losing team relegated.

Currently, Ascoli and Reggina are ranked 18th and 19th, but there is only a 5-point gap between Bari and 18th-placed Reggina, and it is possible to fall into the relegation play-offs.

In the first round of the match between the two sides, Novara defeated their opponent 3:1 away from home. Now that they are back at home, it is natural to win against their opponent.

In the championship battle with Sassuolo, Novara is still one point short. After all, the situation is passive, and it has to actively strive for victory.

Coupled with the fact that it was a home game, everyone believed that Novara's opening tactics were more proactive.

But after the game started, the situation on the scene was completely different from what people expected.

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In fact, Novara did plan to attack in the opening game, but Barry was already prepared for this.

The soldiers of Bari know very well that Novara has a super talent like Bruno in the midfield. If they are allowed to attack, Bari's unstable defense line may be beaten to pieces.

In this regard, Spezia, Crotone and Citadella are all negative examples.

Therefore, facing the powerful Novara in this game, Bari turned away from home and took the initiative from the beginning.

In the first ten minutes, Barry's ball possession rate was as high as 63%.

Three minutes into the game, Barry's midfielder made a wonderful pass to the right, and then passed straight into the penalty area. He tried to pass the ball to Caputo on the front line, but the Novara center back suddenly rushed to clear the ball, ruining Barry's first goal. attack.

A minute later, there was another direct pass from the Barry midfielder. Caputo took a left-footed shot from the center of the penalty area, but failed to hit the ball.

Two minutes later, Novara passed the ball in the midfield, and the right back followed up and shot a long shot from 25 meters away.

In the seventh minute, after Barry's midfielder intercepted the ball, the right midfielder tried to dribble the ball into the penalty area, but was successfully intercepted by Novara captain Rudy.

In the ninth minute, Caputo passed the defensive player from the outside of the penalty area and took a long shot, which was confiscated by the Novara goalkeeper again.

One minute later, Barry midfielder No. 10 took a long shot from more than 30 meters away, but it was a little too wide.

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In the first ten minutes, the game was completely controlled by Barry, and Novara was forced to defend tightly.

Fortunately, Texel also made arrangements before the game. Novara's right midfielder Flavio Lazzari moved inward and formed a double midfielder with Buzigori to protect Novara's defense.

It was difficult for Bari to break through Novara's defense in the middle, and he was forced to frequently take long shots.

The opponent took the lead at home, and it took Novara until the fifteenth minute to gradually regain its form.

After Lazzari moved in, Bruno moved to the right, becoming the team's active offensive area, but Barry also attached great importance to the defense on the left, and Bruno frequently changed his position, pulling Barry's defense line.

In the following time, the two teams exchanged offense and defense.

Among them, Novara's most threatening attack occurred in the 33rd minute.

Novara's captain Rudy quickly stepped in from the right. After cooperating with Bruno, he passed the ball into the penalty area and Gonzalez headed the ball over.

Bruno, who quickly crossed into the penalty area from the right rib, rushed all the way to the front of the small penalty area and shook his head to attack the goal from close range. But such a close header was caught by the Barry goalkeeper.

Gonzalez raised his hand apologetically. Under the interference of Barry's central defender, he failed to get the ball upright, causing it to be a little high. If he can hold the ball down, Bruno can hit the goal directly without using his head.

Everyone in the team knows that Bruno's header is average.

Bruno himself also felt a little depressed. He subconsciously hit the ball with his head when the Argentine forward came over, but he didn't hit it well. In addition, the Barry goalkeeper was in a good position, so he couldn't score.

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After learning from the painful experience, Bruno continued to patiently look for opportunities.

In the 40th minute, Gonzalez retreated to receive the ball and passed the ball directly behind him. Bruno quickly shook off the defender and stepped in. He succeeded in countering offside and drove the ball into the penalty area. After passing the Barry goalkeeper, he was ready to kick. When the goal hit, the Barry central defender quickly used his body to block it.

At this time, there was an obvious opening of his hand, causing Bruno's shot to hit his hand and bounce out of the baseline.

Bruno quickly appealed to the referee, thinking it was an intentional handball, and the Barry center back's hand was obviously open.

"If he hadn't opened his hand, my shot would have gone in!" Bruno said with certainty.

However, the referee rejected Bruno's appeal and believed that his decision was not wrong. This made Bruno feel very depressed and turned around and walked back.

When the Barry center back passed by him, he gently patted his shoulder.

It was obvious that he himself felt very guilty. Whether it was intentional or not, his arms were indeed opened just now.

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At halftime, in the home team's locker room, Texel replayed the slow-motion replay to all the players.

There is absolutely no problem with the handball of Barry's central defender. Although it is impossible to tell whether it was intentional or unintentional, it was indeed a handball.

Texel said: "It was an undoubted handball! But there is no way, we can't change the referee's will. Next, we need to forget this misjudgment and concentrate on the second half of the game."

After playing hard for forty-five minutes, the players were obviously very tired, and their opponent Barry was not weak at all.

If points are not deducted, Bari's ranking will not be the current 14th, but 9th in the top half of the standings, continuing to compete for promotion play-off qualifications.

However, due to involvement in the betting case last season, Barry was deducted 7 points, which caused their ranking to plummet.

"Frankly speaking, I was not satisfied with the performance in the first half. Our start was not smooth. We should have taken the initiative, but we were overtaken by Barry. Then we failed to complete the pre-match tasks well. deploy."

Texel pushed the chess pieces representing Novara players on the tactical board and said to the players: "As we said before the game, to pull Bari's midfielder from both wings and ribs, they often only have one in this area. The defensive midfielder, as long as he pulls him away, our back players will have a chance."

What Texel is talking about is not only the flanks of Bruno and Simone Pese, but also the team's center.

Bouzigori and Lazari are both good at inserting from behind and are good at shooting from long range.

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"Let me do it!" Bruno stepped forward and stood up.

Everyone immediately looked at him in unison, with admiration in their eyes. Facing an opponent like Barry, being able to step forward at this time shows Bruno's courage and responsibility.

"I will be responsible for dribbling the ball and attracting defensive attention, and others will be responsible for running into gaps." Bruno said.

Many times, the team's core players are not just as simple as scoring goals, but also have to take on more. In particular, core players are often the targets of opponents' focus.

Looking at the current Novara team, it can be said that there is only one player with Bruno's ability.

Simone Pese on the left is indeed good at supporting and passing, but his ability to attack with the ball is not strong.

As for Buzigoli and Lazzari, they are positioned at the back and are not as easy to attract defensive attention as Bruno.

There are many players on the bench who can dribble the ball, but there are really no players who can dribble the ball with confidence, attract the defensive attention, and then pass the ball out.

But Bruno can do it!

In the games that have been completed this season, Bruno has completed such an important task many times!

"Then I'll pull from the front." Gonzalez also took the initiative to take on the task.

Bruno turned to look at Buzigoli and Lazzari, and said: "You should pay attention to running into gaps, and I will pass the ball to you."