"That kind of defensive mistake simply can't happen. Even if Rodri suddenly moves up into central midfield, England still can't just lose track of him!"
"If you want to win the UEFA European Championship, you can't fall apart the moment your opponent makes a slight adjustment. How are you supposed to win the trophy like that?"
Before Gullit could even speak, Scholes was already criticizing his own team.
You couldn't lose sight of your defensive assignments the moment your opponent changed something.
Most England supporters were also fans of Premier League clubs. Some supported Manchester City, some Chelsea, some Tottenham.
That meant they had all watched their own teams face Liverpool in the Premier League more than once, only to end up losing to Leo.
Even though this was the UEFA European Championship final, those fans were suddenly reminded of what it had felt like watching the Premier League a few years earlier.
[It's simple. If you want to become the best player, you have to beat Leo Lin in the Premier League, then beat him again at the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup. Otherwise, you're never getting those honors!]
[Do you know why almost every individual award over the past few years has gone to Lin? Because his performances let him beat every one of his rivals!]
[Stop sending Trippier into the middle just to help defend Leo. Why not let Rice and Henderson deal with him together? That would free Foden from having Leo all over him!]
Some England fans felt that Foden simply couldn't be left to deal with Leo like this any longer.
Southgate had specifically assigned Foden to be England's main distributor between midfield and attack in this match.
Yet Leo had kept shutting him down.
Again and again, he had taken the ball from Foden.
That was something rarely seen in the Premier League, because very few players could dispossess Foden so consistently.
The 19th minute.
England still refused to press Busquets.
Strangely, they would press Spain's defenders and forwards, but not their midfielders.
As long as Busquets and Rodri weren't carrying the ball directly into dangerous areas, England simply left them alone.
"Rodri has the ball now, and once again nobody's closing him down."
"Because every England midfielder, Henderson, Rice, even Trippier, is occupied with Lin."
"Lin hasn't even touched the ball!"
"He's literally standing there doing nothing, and Rice and Henderson are standing right beside him doing nothing too!"
"Have you ever seen a player who can tie up two or three opponents just by standing still?"
Scholes sounded deeply frustrated as he said it.
After all, he was supporting England.
"Rice is one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League. If Rodri didn't exist, you could probably call him the best."
"England have won several matches in this tournament because of him. Even against Slovakia, Rice scored the winner and helped send them into the next round."
"So his performances at this UEFA European Championship have been almost flawless."
"He's brought the same level of dominance he shows in the Premier League onto this stage."
Stam had been a center back, but he understood defensive midfielders extremely well.
The connection between the two positions was crucial.
Without a strong defensive midfielder in front of them, even the best center backs could make mistakes.
Leo stood still for a moment.
Then he started walking toward the right.
He was only walking.
Yet Rice and Henderson followed him step for step.
"Captain, you've had a pretty good tournament. When we get back to Liverpool, dinner's on me."
Leo watched Rodri and Busquets circulate the ball comfortably, then suddenly turned and started talking to Henderson.
Rice was close enough to hear every word, but he said nothing.
Neither did Henderson.
"Captain, there's something I've been thinking about for a while. Playing all those years at Liverpool really hasn't been easy for you."
"Think about the days when we fought side by side and won the UEFA Champions League together. That was a great feeling."
"Oh, right. We also thrashed Rice's West Ham United once. Which match was that again? I'm starting to forget."
Henderson couldn't take it anymore.
Neither could Rice.
If you want to chat with Henderson, then chat with Henderson.
Why did you have to bring up Liverpool thrashing my team?
"Captain, stop talking to me."
Henderson also called Leo "Captain," just as Leo called Henderson "Captain."
It was a habit the two of them had kept for years.
The instant Henderson finished speaking, Leo exploded forward.
That first step alone made Rice feel as though he had no chance of keeping up.
Henderson immediately reached out and grabbed at Leo's shirt.
Meanwhile, Rodri and Busquets had still been passing the ball between themselves with the ease of a training session.
Then Busquets suddenly launched a long ball into the space behind Rice and Henderson.
Leo had been chatting with Henderson and deliberately drawing Rice's attention, but the conversation had only been a distraction.
Its real purpose was to stop them from noticing what his hands were doing.
While talking, Leo had been making signals with both hands beside his ribs.
Those signals told Spain which attacking pattern to use.
Then Leo noticed the smallest lapse.
Henderson briefly turned his head to check Olmo's position.
That single glance was enough.
Leo immediately sent the signal to Busquets.
Henderson's first attempt to pull Leo back was already close to a foul, but Leo broke free and kept sprinting.
Morata was already moving toward him.
The two of them were about to combine.
Then Rice came across from the right, hooked himself against Leo's thigh, grabbed his right arm, and did everything he could to stop him.
"Rice commits the foul!"
"Lin's sudden burst completely leaves Henderson and Rice behind!"
"Henderson's first attempt to foul him doesn't work, so Rice has no choice but to make the second foul!"
"The referee shows Rice a yellow card!"
"England's starting defensive midfielder has been booked barely twenty minutes into the UEFA European Championship final!"
"Is Southgate still not going to do something about this?"
After Rice brought Leo down, the broadcast cameras immediately found Southgate on the touchline, waving his arms and shouting.
Southgate was normally not the type to scream instructions from the touchline.
This time, however, he was shouting loudly.
And he repeated himself again and again.
Every fan watching the match could hear him.
So could the commentators.
Even Spain's players heard him clearly.
"Don't try to mark him alone!"
"Trippier, get back to right back!"
"Let Saka handle the attack down the right. Don't push forward. Cover the space behind Walker!"
"Walker, step up and mark him with Rice!"
"Kyle Walker and Rice, both of you mark him!"
Every England supporter heard it.
Southgate was ordering the Premier League's best right back and one of its best defensive midfielders to double-team a single player.
And doing that would inevitably weaken both England's ability to play out from the back and their defensive structure in midfield.
Southgate still chose to do it anyway.
...
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