The referee's whistle blew, and the match officially began!
The players' gazes met across the narrow expanse of the field. In this moment, there was no emotion on the pitch, only the killing intent of adversaries.
As the away team, Bayern Munich had prepared for this match thoroughly. However, Cao Baiming's absence from the starting lineup truly felt like a kick in the teeth!
Now, after a last-minute tactical change before the match, the players were giving their all to execute it, but the difficulty was immense!
Their reactions at this very moment were all within Cao Baiming's expectations!
Right now, Cao Baiming sat leisurely on the sidelines, enjoying the dejected expressions on the faces of the Bayern coaching staff members nearby, feeling incredibly pleased.
The original plan was to let them experience the feeling of being kicked in the teeth. He believed this should be sufficient. Even if it wasn't exactly the same, it didn't matter much!
The corners of Cao Baiming's lips curled into a slight arc, and he then shifted his gaze to the field.
What made Cao Baiming happy wasn't just the disheartened faces of these coaches or the disheveled appearance of the Bayern Munich players on the field; that wasn't nearly enough.
The truly important matter, the one Cao Baiming cared about most, was the power displayed by the system's new skill.
After several trial stocks and futures had brought encouraging news, this match had undoubtedly become the ultimate proof. As long as it could proceed with a reasonable degree of accuracy compared to his previous predictions, it would be enough to prove its worth!
This was something that made one's blood boil, even go mad. Time would be entirely in his hands!
Though it sounded exaggerated, it wasn't far from the truth. By repeatedly looping the same future a few times within a time bubble, wouldn't the average of those variables predict the general direction of the future?
Now, everything before him gave Cao Baiming a sense of uncanny familiarity, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Soon, Cao Baiming realized directly that it wasn't a feeling of déjà vu; he had indeed seen and experienced this very scene and image with his own eyes!
It was merely the overlapping and piecing together of memories from those dozen-plus time bubbles. In fact, so far, nothing unexpected had occurred!
On the field, the match had already begun, and Cao Baiming quickly recognized Bayern's formation as this very lineup!
Due to some last-minute adjustments made by the coaching staff before the kickoff, they hadn't dared to make major changes. After all, Cao Baiming not starting was only just learned, and there simply wasn't enough time. The players had basically been training with this system for the past week!
If the changes were too drastic, the consequences could be even more severe. Playing it safe was the only option they could think of, although strictly speaking, it wasn't much of a plan, as it was essentially inaction.
On the field, just over two minutes into the match, neither side's advantage or disadvantage had become too apparent, and the tactics employed by both teams hadn't been fully revealed.
Cao Baiming saw it, but others hadn't grasped anything yet. It wasn't until the fifth minute of the match, when Odegaard's pass in the midfield was intercepted, that Arteta suddenly understood.
In an instant, he realized that Bayern Munich's tactical approach during the game was different from usual, and even their formation had changed significantly!
As time ticked by after the match began, Bayern's formation became increasingly surprising, and at this moment, Arteta's heart began to panic.
His brow furrowed slightly, and his face was serious as he stared at the field, watching more intently than before.
After careful observation for a long time, he finally understood that the tactical system Bayern had deployed today was precisely what Cao Baiming had laid out on the tactical board three days prior!
Their approach to ball possession, their rhythm control, their offense and defense, and even their dribbling style were astonishingly similar to Cao Baiming's earlier predictions. While not entirely identical, the degree of similarity made it feel as if Cao Baiming had foreseen the future! 138ReadingNet
In an instant, Arteta broke out in a cold sweat, his hair standing on end involuntarily. His peripheral vision swept over Cao Baiming, who was sitting on the substitute bench.
Was that person... truly human?
Even for him, Cao Baiming's foresight was astonishing. Although he had long witnessed Cao Baiming's many extraordinary abilities, he still couldn't suppress his emotions at this moment.
As a professional coach, his understanding of the game might not reach Cao Baiming's level, but it was still superior to most.
Not many of the fans had truly realized something was amiss. In their eyes, this was just a normal match, and they had no idea of the deeper reasons why Arsenal wasn't playing Cao Baiming.
Soon, the match reached the eleventh minute. Messi received a pass from White on the right flank in midfield. After controlling the ball with his chest, he subtly chipped the ball over his foot, turned, and feinted past two overlapping defenders, then began to dribble forward at speed!
Seeing this, Cao Baiming's eyes lit up, and he leaned forward instinctively, pulling away from the back of his seat, his gaze fixed intently on Messi!
He recalled encountering the exact same scenario twice in time bubbles, and both times Cao Baiming had been a substitute watching from the sidelines. On both those occasions, Messi had successfully scored!
At this moment, on the field, Messi was only forty meters from the goal. In front of him were a left-back and a center-back. Simultaneously, a defensive midfielder was tightly marking Messi from behind, sticking to him like an unshakeable burr, and their tugging never ceased.
The referee, familiar with Messi's style, naturally wouldn't blow the whistle in such a situation!
Cao Baiming watched, and in the current scenario, a goal had become almost a certainty!
While running, Messi rapidly scanned everything around him. All the players and potential routes flashed through his mind at lightning speed.
He might not have a system, but he possessed abundant experience and footballing intelligence far beyond ordinary people.