Chapter Thirty-Eight: Leiria's Storm
In the next few days, Lao Lei enjoyed the joy and troubles brought by fame. The best part is in Leiria, where Ray is surrounded by a crowd of enthusiastic fans asking for autographs and group photos wherever he goes. Looking at the adoring eyes of the fans, this made Lao Lei's heart sweet in the past two days. However, the next thing is to tell Lao Lei that fame is not all sweet. Since the news about Lao Lei in the past two days is still a big hot topic, many media have sent paparazzi task forces to pay close attention to Lao Lei's life in 360 degrees. Lao Lei and his family have nothing to do with the enthusiastic media, so they can only pray that the heat will pass quickly.
And the signing of Lao Lei's contract has stagnated a little. Mendes and Vito'o had a heated argument, and the first discussion was that they could not compromise on each other. The main problem is the length of the contract, Mendes is determined that he can only sign for a maximum of 2 years, saying that this is already his bottom line, while Vito'o of Leiria is holding on to the bottom line of 3 years and refuses to let go. Lao Lei also discussed this matter with Mendes, and finally Mendes persuaded Lao Lei, and Lao Lei gave the matter to Mendes. Mendes said to Lao Lei that Leiria's request is nothing more than seeing Lao Lei's potential, and after 3 years, Lao Lei's value will have a big climb, and even if Lao Lei leaves, he will leave a good price.
And the longer the signing time, it is not a good thing for Lao Lei himself, because Lao Lei is now boasted as a genius or something, but after all, he is only a rookie player who has played 3 games, and the club has enough excuses and reasons to suppress your salary requirements, and the longer the contract is signed, the greater the damage to Lao Lei's own interests. Mendes was very confident that he would definitely solve this matter satisfactorily, seeing that Mendes was so confident, and Lao Lei was also a person who used people without doubt, so he handed over the matter to Mendes no longer asked.
During this period of time, Lao Lei focused on exercising his long-range shooting foundation, and with no one in front of him interfering, he has increased his shooting rate to 20%. Old Lei Xin said that Nima is not easy, I really bought it with my own blood and sweat. The team's training match has become the best place for Lao Lei to try out his new tricks, and the next thing I saw was that Lao Lei kept firing on the training ground, although the accuracy was inferior. And the players don't come forward to defend, one is to see Lao Lei's jokes, and the other is that Lao Lei's cannonballs are indiscriminate attacks, and no one knows where the road will hit and it is full of strength. Once the football kicked by Lao Lei directly wiped the hair of Ivan who was snickering in front of him, and then the football hit the iron net directly, making a loud noise, which made Ivan look at the football for a long time. Since then, no one will desert when Lao Lei shoots from a distance, and in order to ensure the safety of his life, he is fully focused.
Of course, Lao Lei's accurate football is still very threatening with his strong strength. Mourinho, who saw it in his eyes, did not stop Lao Lei's artillery training, thinking that this would be a favorable siege weapon for Leiria in the future. Jose Mourinho has not been blinded by the team's current brilliant record and rankings, he himself knows best what level Leiria is. The main reason for the current results is that the rest of the teams in the Portuguese Super League are still looking at the new Leiria with the same eyes as before, and once they come to their senses, it will not be so easy.
What this Leiria team lacks most now is attacking power, the average of 2 goals per game in the first five rounds does not show how strong Leiria's offensive ability is, Leiria's tactical essence is counter-defense, once others use counter-defense to deal with this Leiria, this Leiria team lacks the means to break through the opponent's strong defense. Lao Lei's attempt was not a good idea for Mourinho. Jose Mourinho has now begun to prepare for a rainy day, and the real test for Leiria will be after seven league games, and by that time, Mourinho believes that the Portuguese Super League team will be relieved, and the Portuguese Cup is about to begin, and the weakness of the weak squad for a small club like Leiria will be maximized during that time.
For the outside world, after five rounds, Leiria's record is still 15 points, ranking first in the Portuguese Super League. The second-place Sporting Lisbon is in second place with 4 wins, 1 draw and 13 points. As the only team to keep a clean sheet this season, the media can't help but chant "wolf". The media began to call for who would stop the surging Leiria team, who played Ohenes and Braga in the sixth and seventh rounds of the league, respectively, one away and one home. Both teams are in the middle of the Portuguese Super League and will not be able to stop Leiria. And the fact is that it did not surprise the media, as Leiria won 2:1 and 2:0 respectively.
In the sixth round against O'Hannes, Leiria started with a fantastic start to the first half. Just three minutes into the game, Ivan received a subtle through ball from Andre. Ivan, who received the ball in the penalty area, calmly pushed the shot, and the ball drilled through the goalkeeper's goal and rolled into the goal. Ivan was very excited to score, and his good performances this season made him look forward to the Golden Boot, and his performance of scoring seven goals in six rounds really gave him such confidence. However, Jardel, who switched from Porto to Sporting Lisbon this season, has been in crazy form since the second round, scoring six goals in four consecutive games to catch up with Ivan's top scorer. This put a lot of pressure on Ivan, who was aiming for the Golden Boot, and this goal made him somewhat relieved.
Then O'Ninehans, who was a little caught off guard, began to retreat under the guidance of the head coach and stabilize his position first. And Leiria faced the retracting Ohannes, and it seemed that there was something inadequate. Mourinho's worries began to appear, looking at the ineffective attack of his own team on the field, Mourinho could only be anxious, and there was nothing good to do in the short term. If in defense you can make up for the lack of talent with positivity and hard work, then in attack it is the absolute domain of the talented, and very few people with mediocre talent can play amazing performances on the offensive end, and Inzaghi and Nedved in Serie A are representative figures, but this kind of character is too rare.
And for Leiria, who are small clubs, their talent in attack is a congenital deficiency. There was nothing they could do in the face of an all-out Ohannes. The score of 1:0 was maintained to the halftime. In the dressing room, Mourinho reluctantly instructed Lao Lei to allow him to insert a long-range shot when there were no holes in the defense. When the bitter old man who didn't know what to say about Mourinho heard this order, he immediately became excited and eager to try.
In the second half, O'Hannes' old coach Keativly saw the shortcomings of this Leiria, and his order to the team was to resolutely play counter-defense in the second half, and the arrangement of Lao Lei learned from Porto's experience, and the old coach arranged the defense to quickly pass through the midfield, emphasizing speed.
Faced with a retracting Ohannes, Leiria had a rare siege. However, the attack was only thunder and rain, and did not pose a big threat. On the 65th minute of the second half, O'Hannes capitalized on Leiria's mistake and launched a dangerous counter-attack. O'Hannes' defender cut off Andre's misguided pass, and with a quick kick, a big foot found the striker who had already moved forward quickly. Lao Lei, who was in the midfield, could only watch the football fly over his head, and he was not a superman, so there was nothing he could do.
When the striker who received the pass, Ohennes, burst into the penalty area with the ball, he shot directly with his feet, and the ball hit the leg of Antonio, who was blocked, creating a line change. Lemato, who couldn't react, could only watch the ball go into the net. 1:1, Ohannes equalized.
After the goal, Ohannes still resolutely retreated to play counter-defense, and Mourinho on the sidelines showed his courage, unwilling to be only a draw, and made a forward gesture to Lao Lei, indicating that Lao Lei could shoot more long shots and participate in the attack. The old Ray who was instructed began to be active in the offensive end, and after three minutes he got the first chance to shoot from distance. The shooting site was 25 meters away from the goal, and the football shot by the old laser flew directly into the stands with strong force and hit a plane.
Lao Lei didn't care, this situation was within his expectations. Led by Lao Lei, Andre and they also began to threaten Ohannes' goal with long-range shots. This kind of staging still caused a riot in Ohannes's backline, but Leiria's attack did not seize the opportunity and was unable to score for a long time.
However, the turnaround came in the 85th minute, and Lao Lei was again in a position of about 25 meters and got a long-range opportunity. This time he hit the mark and the ball flew fast to the right side of the goal. O'Hannes' goalkeeper apparently underestimated the power of the ball and got away with it in a panic. At this point, Bruno, who was in the box, was lucky enough to get the goal, poking a quick toe at the incoming ball and the ball rolled into the left side of the net before Ernrichens' defender blocked it. In the 85th minute, Leiria finally took the score 2:1 again. Jose Mourinho motioned for his players to reclaim some and the score was maintained until the end.
Leiria was fortunate to make it six wins in a row to continue to dominate the standings. In the crowd of joyful celebrations, both Lao Lei and Mourinho were a little sullen. One is because they didn't score, and the other is because of the team's worries.
Luckily, however, in the seventh round of the home game against Braga, Leiria won the game 2-0 without blood. Thanks to Leiria's miraculous results this season, the Magalhays Stadium is full on every home day and the market is in good shape.
Amid the tsunami cheers of the home fans, Leiria's players almost sealed the victory with a score of 2-0 in the first half alone. The goals were scored by Ugo and Raio. In the 15th minute, Ugo scored a brilliant long-range shot that sent the ball into the corner and Gallas' goalkeeper was helpless. Lao Lei was envious of this ball, and thought to himself when we could have this ** footwork. Lao Lei also tried his long-range shots a lot in this game, but there was no threat to the opponent's goal.
Then in the 30th minute, Raio received a corner kick from Andre and headed it overhead. The vice-captain and defender finally scored the first goal of the new season and came to a wonderful and passionate kneeling celebration.
Leiria, who has won seven in a row, set the record for the longest winning streak in the team's history amid a tsunami of cheers from the fans. This makes the media's "wolf" cry even louder. However, when they saw the eighth round of the game in Leiria, the media collectively went berserk ---- Benfica, the Portuguese Super League powerhouse Benfica who swept Mourinho out of the house, and Benfica who is now third with 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.
It's going to be a game with a story, that's what all the media thinks.
What Mourinho will face in front of his former club Benfica at that time is the focus of all the media. Jose Mourinho will lead his magical division of this season, Leiria, to the Stadium of Light to face Benfica, revenge or conquest.