Chapter 9 Future America's Cup Champion Goalkeeper

In the friendly match between Red Bull Salzburg and Arsenal, the former was extremely serious, and the head coach also conveyed the order to them to test their strength.

There are also many people who want to win the favor of Arsenal through this game. Although it is difficult, it is not impossible.

Takumi Minamino is one of them.

Soon, the friendly match began.

Red Bull Salzburg took the lead, and their overall attack was mainly a relatively simple side breakthrough.

But this just happened to meet the defensive position of Arsenal's two back midfielders.

Takumi Minamino just got the ball and had not yet made any performance. He felt his shoulders sink. The next second, the whole person leaned forward uncontrollably, gritting his teeth to stabilize his body, but the ball under his feet had already disappeared.

Takumi Minamino's first touch of the ball was a failure. Looking at Lekai who was leaving with the ball, he immediately ran back to chase.

However, Lekai had completed the pass and did not give him any chance to grab the ball.

After passing the ball, Lekai returned to his position.

He is not a technical player, so he will not do any fancy moves.

Lukaku's playing style is for competitive sports, without any performance posture.

On the other hand, Wilshere, Aubameyang, and Lukaku were having fun in the frontcourt.

The three of them have extremely strong footwork, and they dribbled forward in various ways, which was very entertaining.

Among them, Lukaku also performed a fat version of the ball-pass and fried meatballs.

A 200-pound strong man playing fried meatballs is the most eye-catching scene that Lukaku has ever seen.

But Lukaku really understood it.

Of course, Salzburg Red Bull is not completely without strength, and soon launched a quick counterattack.

While Lukaku was unable to return to defense, he made a high-speed forward run from the left.

"I'll do it!"

Jimenez rushed up directly.

Seeing Jimenez rushing forward, Hummels immediately formed a relatively defensive position, and the two full-backs also entered the penalty area for protection.

Jimenez started very quickly and rushed to the opponent's dribbling player in the blink of an eye.

He didn't even give the opponent any chance to fake a move, nor did he control the distance, but directly shoveled the ball out of the field with a decisive slide tackle.

The player of Red Bull Salzka was a little depressed, he didn't expect Arsenal's attack to be so decisive.

After seeing the excellent performance of the back line, Lekai couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

For Lekai, this feeling is very strange, but it's not bad!

In the previous Arsenal games, Lekai didn't dare to go too deep and often had to beware of the opponent's counterattack.

This is based on the problem of Arsenal's back line.

Now after changing Hummels and Jimenez's partners, the hardness of this back line has increased, and it has enough independent combat capabilities.

This also gives Lekai enough confidence to make a resolute forward run!

"Well done!"

Lekai walked over, pulled up Jimenez and patted his shoulder to encourage him.

Jimenez was also very satisfied with the defense this time, and smiled and joked; "Captain, how many points do you give for this defense?"

Lekai smiled; "It must be full marks!"

This sentence made Jimenez laugh even more happily.

It is also an honor to be recognized by Lekai in defense.

Due to Jimenez's steal, the offensive rhythm of Red Bull Salzka was also forced to be written off.

They could only pass back and start to organize again.

But Arsenal's overall lineup began to press forward, and Lekai and Kante frequently made steals in the midfield.

At 20 minutes, Lekai suddenly completed a steal in the midfield and dribbled forward with a big stride.

This change caught Red Bull Salzka off guard.

The defenders quickly retreated, and at the same time sent one person to come forward to limit Lekai.

However, Lekai directly swung his right foot.

The defensive player was frightened and strode forward to block, but Lekai's high right foot was slowly put down, and after continuing to flick the ball to the right to create a gap, he directly passed it diagonally.

The ball passed through the center back and the full back and came to the position behind him.

Aubameyang also rushed over and made an inverted triangle pass to the ball.

Lukaku pushed the door easily and the ball went into the net.

After scoring, Lukaku started to dance with his hips twisted.

Lekai also smiled and applauded; "Good cooperation, keep playing like this!"

Arsenal kicked it open.

But Salz Red Bull was very uncomfortable.

They fell into a natural disadvantage against Arsenal. They couldn't control the ball, couldn't grab the ball, and couldn't break through the opponent's defense line.

[To be honest, I have been using reading books to keep up with the latest updates recently, changing sources, reading aloud with many tones, both Android and Apple. ]

It seems that everything is restricted.

Minamino Takumi was also sweating.

The game had only started for 20 minutes, but his performance was very bad. Not to mention his performance, he even lost the ball three times.

It can be seen how much pressure Lekai put on him.

Fortunately, Arsenal started to make substitutions in the 35th minute.

Lucky and Wilshere came off the field, and other substitutes came on in a chaotic manner.

After Lucky came off the field, he sat directly on the bench. It is highly likely that Mourinho will not let him play again.

After all, it was just an exhibition match, so just show your appreciation.

The situation on the field was also very good. Even without Lucky, Arsenal's offense was still carried out in an orderly manner.

The defense was even more tough.

In the second half, both sides made large-scale substitutions.

Although Arsenal only scored one goal, the tacit cooperation between them has begun to appear.

This is better news than scoring a goal.

The current Arsenal is short of the problem of ending the offense.

That is, scoring a goal!

But Arsenal is not in a hurry, they can slowly adapt.

Soon the 90 minutes are over.

In this exhibition match, Arsenal finally won 2-1.

The goal was also deliberately defended by Arsenal's defense line. After all, it is unreasonable not to let one in the other party's home court.

After this exhibition match, Arsenal also completed the task of three warm-up matches. The time has come to August. They need to return to the UK and prepare for the new season after two rounds of warm-up matches.

Of course, before the start of the league, as the FA Cup champion, Arsenal needs to play a Community Shield match with Leicester City first.

But this game is not very critical.

On the one hand, this award has no practical effect, it is more of a symbolic nature, such as good pre-season status, etc.

On the other hand, after the exploitation during the transfer period, how much combat power can Leicester City still have?

The departure of Mahrez and other main players has almost drained Leicester City of its core.

Although they are the Premier League champions, it will not be easy for them this season.

This is also the sadness of the civilian team!

On August 1, the entire Arsenal team arrived at the Kearney training base.

Mourinho let the players leave after a brief summary.

"I feel that I have found the state!"

"Next, we will definitely perform better against Everton."

"Finally back, go home and take a hot bath and have a good sleep!"

"I'm going to go to Mrs. Winter's place to eat a corn lake first!"

"Take me one!"

In the locker room, Arsenal players were communicating while sorting out their equipment.

Compared to the stiff atmosphere at the beginning, after several warm-up matches, the unfamiliarity between each other has decreased a lot, communication has become more frequent, and the relationship has quickly warmed up.

Lekai was also sorting out his equipment.

At this time, the door creaked open.

Everyone subconsciously looked at the door of the locker room.

A tall man wearing a goalkeeper's jersey walked in.

This person first glanced at everyone, opened his mouth slightly, but did not say anything, and walked towards the locker silently.

Along the way, everyone looked at a blank face.

'Who is this? '

To be honest, they don't remember there is such a person in the team.

Lekai looked at the goalkeeper, thinking.

Emiliano Martinez.

Argentina's main goalkeeper, the champion goalkeeper of Argentina's future Copa America.

If Lekai remembered correctly, Martinez was promoted to the first team in 2011, but Lekai only met him once at that time and was soon loaned out.

After that, Martinez has been on loan. Although he is nominally an Arsenal player, some newcomers are still unfamiliar with Martinez.

Martinez is now probably back at Arsenal after his loan contract expired.

It is not clear whether he will continue to be loaned out or stay in the team as a backup goalkeeper.