Football: King of Penalty Area
Ch. 44 - Leipzig Sport (2)

Now on the pitch, Raynaldi and his team-mates have forgotten everything off the pitch and are starting to focus on this game. The Leipzig Sport attack went very well. Their mainstay striker, Nkufu scored after just 20 minutes.

Nkufu is a very famous veteran striker in 2.Bundesliga. He played in 2.Bundesliga for 14 seasons and has scored more than 18 goals in 4 consecutive seasons. In fact, last season he scored 22 goals and his efficiency was outstanding.

To create the new gimmick, the media in Cologne put out Raynaldi and the recently-heated Nkufu efficiently to stage a confrontation between old and young. Local media in Leipzig are fed up with this.

These two men were not on the same level, in their view, Raynaldi was just a lucky young teenager, nkufu is a player who has proven himself for 14 seasons at Leipzig Sport and became a legendary player for the club.

The performance on the pitch also proved this point, Nkufu tried three shots in 20 minutes, twice hit the frame and scored.

Raynaldi has not shot and scored in 20 minutes, and has only touched the ball 4 times.

After Nkufu scored, he saw Raynaldi standing behind the midfield. He also read media reports before the game. As a veteran, he didn't really care about this.

But seeing a childish-faced little player comparing himself to him, but he could do nothing on the pitch, Nkufu still felt slighted in his heart.

“Is a man like this worth comparing to himself?” Thought Nkufu.

Before starting the game again, Raynaldi felt that someone was staring at him. As soon as he looked up, he saw a large man outside the middle circle looking at him.

Raynaldi glanced at him expressionlessly, then picked up the ball, which was his fifth touch in the game.

Raynaldi knew that the media was comparing the two, he also read related reports, and then looked at Nkufu's resume.

“True, this guy is very strong.” This is Raynaldi's thinking about Nkufu.

Raynaldi himself also believes that he and this old attacker still have a gap and he is still worse than Nkufu. Comparing Raynaldi who had just debuted for less than a year with Nkufu was ridiculous.

This game is going to be a very difficult game. As both teams have almost equal strength, the difference is that Koln Athletics are stronger defensively and Leipzig Sport have top attacking power in 2.Bundesliga.

The ball was again controlled by Koln Athletics, they held the ball in the backcourt and tried to set up the attack. At the same time Leipzig Sport is very aggressive.

Nkufu is very active on the frontcourt and plays a good deterrent role. He constantly upsets the centre-back Koln Athletics and influences them to play. Local commentators in Leipzig commented on the fighting spirit of their captain in this game is a good thing for Leipzig Sport.

Nkufu's aggressive performance may have been stimulated by news from the media before the match. In short, this phenomenon is a good thing, and their captain can cause big problems for opponents.

The Athletic Koln defender was finally unable to withstand the pressure with high intensity. Koln Athletics centre-back Promes can only direct the ball into the front court with big feet. Raynaldi suddenly sped up and rushed towards the ball.

Leipzig Sport centre-back Douglas is ahead of him, he is two positions ahead.

Raynaldi started quickly, but Douglas was also confidently chasing the ball.

After the second bounce, Douglas finally made his move, intending to hold Raynaldi with his body, head the ball, and head towards his goalkeeper.

The 37-year-old veteran Twente goalkeeper Boschkel is ready and easily takes the ball off.

Raynaldi kept running forward to disrupt Boschkel, who eventually kicked the ball forward with his big foot.

Eventually Raynaldi came back with no results, but he did not try his best. To be honest, Raynaldi already felt he would definitely not be able to seize the ball. He just wanted to see how Douglas handled it.

Raynaldi finally got a conclusion from the game Douglas. “This guy really likes to send the ball to the back.”

When the ball was in the air, Douglas was able to return to the defensive position frontally, but he kept walking backwards after seeing Raynaldi run up, making it clear that he was going to pass behind the goalkeeper. It can also show that this man is very confident.

Actually sending the ball back to the goalkeeper is a conservative option, but it is different if you like to do it. Because in situations like this, the ball keyika is above the head of conservative options such as back passes are more risky and can be fatal.

Douglas as a Brazilian is very confident in his technique. He thought that he could accurately judge the placement of the ball and the accuracy of the pass. But for Raynaldi, this Douglas habit could be an opportunity to attack.

Leipzig Sport are a strong team in attack, and they will spend more time holding onto the ball Raynaldi has been looking for opportunities on the frontcourt to see if there is a gap to attack Douglas.

It's just that imagination is beautiful and sometimes it doesn't match reality. The strong strength of Leipzig Sport prevented them from doing too much possession in the backcourt, and most of the time they controlled the ball in midfield.

Unless it was an occasion like the one just, Raynaldi had no chance to take advantage of it, occasionally stealing the ball in midfield, his teammates handed the ball to Raynaldi, the manager said, then he turned around and met Douglas. The survivability of this person is actually quite good, at least the face-to-face strategy is easy to do.

In the 35th minute of the match, Raynaldi finally got a chance to counterattack, Raynaldi's ghostly movement cut through the empty space on the right side of the frontcourt, and Douglas was not slow to catch up again, it stuck to Raynaldi's body for a meter.

Raynaldi is very difficult to deal with in this position. If he were to recklessly take a shot, the result would be easily blocked when facing a defender within such a close range, and he could only pass back obediently.

Deschamp received Raynaldi's pass and continued with an exploding shot, then the ball flew out of the bottom line from the left post. This is the most threatening attack of Koln Athletics so far in the game.

“Today our Ray is no longer Magical as before, but still creates good chances, this ball is unfortunate.” Andrei saw the scoreboard a little helpless, this situation did not surprise him, but Raynaldi's performance today was a little less good, it was the thing that disappointed him the most.

"I think our defensive counter-attack should be more thorough."

At rest, Raynaldi who is always quiet gives advice to the coach.

Thomas Sobek was a little surprised when he heard Raynaldi's opinion, but recently he really liked the boy, so he said: "In particular, Ray, what do you think?"

"Middle left, we can start with him. He likes to pass backwards, even when faced with a bad situation." Raynaldi said solemnly. “Ball back pass he did, there might be a shortage."