On the sidelines, the coaching staff, including assistant coach Branca, were all impressed by Lin Quan's beautiful dribble just now.
Especially his Messi-like way of beating a man, which they couldn't help discussing.
"That looked so much like Messi!"
"Yeah, he brought the power of that feint-and-cut move to the absolute limit!"
"Raphinha made the right choice. If he hadn't moved laterally, Lin Quan would definitely have gone past him on the left!"
"Exactly. Lin Quan's feint was too convincing. That shoulder drop combined with the shift in his center of gravity was incredibly deceptive. Forget inexperienced young players—even seasoned veterans could easily be fooled!"
"When defending Messi, you can't be fooled by his feints. You need extremely strong anticipation to have any chance of successfully marking him one-on-one!"
The group discussed it animatedly, but as they talked, the topic gradually shifted from Lin Quan to Messi.
Lin Quan's move just now had originally been a very ordinary way of getting past an opponent. Plenty of people knew how to do it.
But throughout the entire football world, there were only a handful who could use it as well as Messi, with such deception!
In the eyes of the coaching staff, Lin Quan's movement just now had looked remarkably like Messi's—at least seventy or eighty percent as good.
"Hehe, Messi's influence on young players is really huge. Forget the youth team—throughout the entire La Masia Youth Academy, there are countless players trying to imitate the way he plays!"
"Yeah, there are many people imitating Messi. Not just at La Masia; a wave of Messi imitators has appeared all over the world."
"You don't know this, but recently, many young players from different countries have joined La Masia. When they came in, they all carried almost identical labels—Japanese Messi, Korean Messi, and so on."
A youth development coach said with a smile:
"If these Messis from all those countries could reach seventy or eighty percent of Messi's level, they'd be enough to become football superstars!"
"Haha, how could that be possible? There's only one Messi in this world. No one can reach his heights!"
Messi was a player produced by the La Masia Youth Academy. Many of the coaches present had coached him before and remembered him very clearly.
Messi's unique style of play could only be achieved because of his extraordinary talent.
Without Messi's talent, it was simply impossible for anyone else to imitate him successfully.
That was precisely why Lin Quan's breakthrough had caught the coaches' attention.
There were many people who imitated Messi, but very few did it so convincingly that it felt as though Messi himself were playing on the pitch.
The match continued. After successfully getting past Raphinha, Lin Quan had already approached the edge of the penalty area.
Baniak, the main team's center-back, didn't dare let him get any closer to the box. He immediately stepped up, positioned himself on Lin Quan's inside, and forced him toward the byline, preventing him from cutting inside to shoot or pass.
There was currently only one attacking player in the box, but there were three defenders.
Moreover, the substitute team's striker was only 175 centimeters tall, while the defenders marking him were all over 180 centimeters.
If Lin Quan were really forced near the byline, his cross would likely be difficult to turn into a threat and far more likely to be cleared by the defenders.
He didn't want to waste this opportunity, so he immediately carried the ball closer to Baniak. At the same time, he checked the positions of his nearby teammates and made as if he were preparing to pass.
This move earned praise from several coaches on the sidelines:
"Lin is playing intelligently. He knows his ability to shake off defenders isn't particularly strong, so he can't hold onto the ball for too long. He has to pass quickly."
"Yes, the main team's defensive midfielder isn't far away and has already caught up from behind. If he delays the pass, he could be surrounded and pressed, then lose the ball."
"But the substitute team players seem half a beat slow. No one is nearby to support him, and Baniak, along with another covering defender, has blocked his passing lane to the striker."
"It looks like he can only pass backward, but if he does, this attacking opportunity will be wasted!"
"A backward pass would waste the chance, but if he doesn't pass back, he'll most likely lose the ball and let the opponent launch a counterattack. Comparatively speaking, passing back is still the better option!"
"Hehe, why are you all being so conservative? He just made a brilliant breakthrough. He could try another one now!"
One of the younger coaches clearly had a different idea. Compared to the others' cautious approach, he was much more aggressive.
As long as Lin Quan could get past Baniak, he could create a two-on-two situation. At that point, the remaining two defenders would definitely have to peel off to stop him.
That way, the opposing side's double-team on the substitute striker would become ineffective.
Then, he could either shoot himself or pass to the striker, giving him far more options.
"So, what would he choose?"
The coaches were all curious about Lin Quan's decision!
Lin Quan chose to dribble past him!
Although Baniak was a young player born in 1995, he was very experienced defensively.
He neither planted himself in one spot nor recklessly rushed in. Instead, he held his position, kept an appropriate distance, and slowly retreated, forcing his opponent to slow down.
This distance wasn't far. If the opponent tried to shoot, the defender could stick out a foot to interfere or close him down while he adjusted his stride.
That would make the chances of the ball being blocked extremely high.
And if the attacker fell into his rhythm and was forced to slow down as well, the threat he posed would be greatly reduced.
Without a speed advantage, it was very difficult to beat a stationary defender.
What's more, the other defenders were sprinting back at full speed. The moment the attacker slowed down, they would catch him.
Therefore, Lin Quan couldn't fall into the opponent's trap. He couldn't slow down, much less stop.
Against a retreating defender like Baniak, Messi had a very useful weapon in his arsenal: pulling the ball back and changing direction.
Taking advantage of the moment Baniak lifted his left foot to step back, Lin Quan nudged the ball to the right.
This made the coaches on the sidelines think of his previous breakthrough. They thought Lin Quan was about to use the same trick again.
"Oh no, that was a mistake. He pushed the ball too far!"
Seeing that the ball had rolled a little too far away, the coaches all felt regretful.
At that distance, the defender could directly win the ball.
Sure enough, seeing his opponent "make a mistake," Baniak immediately stretched out his raised left foot, intending to poke the ball away.
But just as he thought he would reach the ball first, a foot struck it at an even faster speed, knocking it to the other side.
Baniak stared in disbelief. How had his opponent done that?
Could it be that it hadn't been a mistake just now, but a trap set specifically for him?
After touching the ball twice in rapid succession with his right foot, Lin Quan gently cut the ball with the outside of his left foot.
The ball came to Baniak's right side, but his left foot had yet to land and his right foot couldn't move at all. He could only watch helplessly as Lin Quan knocked the ball again with the inside of his left foot. After changing its direction, the ball rolled forward.
Lin Quan used the momentum to slip past Baniak. After looking up to assess the defenders' positions, he decisively unleashed a shot.
The shot came very suddenly. The two defenders behind him had no time to cover, and the goalkeeper hadn't expected him to create an angle for a shot.
By the time he saw Lin Quan shoot and threw himself toward the ball, it was already too late.
The ball, not traveling particularly fast, flew into the upper-right corner of the goal and bounced into the net off the junction of the crossbar and post.
It was a theoretical dead corner. Even if the goalkeeper had been ready, it would have been extremely difficult to save.
The score became 1–0. The substitute team had actually taken the lead.
After freezing for a moment, the substitute players swarmed toward Lin Quan like madmen.
Lin Quan was startled. Seeing that things were going badly, he prepared to run, but where could he possibly escape to?
He was tackled to the ground by a group of substitute players and buried beneath them as they formed a pile.
Meanwhile, the main team players stood where they were with their hands on their hips, their expressions complicated.
They had watched the entire sequence, from Lin Quan's run down the touchline to his charge into the box and finish. Aside from central midfielder Raphinha, who may have underestimated him and been beaten too easily, none of the other players had made a mistake.
Yet their opponent had scored an utterly unreasonable goal, leaving them unable to even blame their teammates.
At that moment, Enrique had returned to his office with the documents and was studying which team to send Lin Quan to, completely unaware of what had happened on the pitch.
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