I changed football.

French Cup Round of 16.

Sochaux vs. Monaco.

This match is a single-elimination game.

Monaco fielded a rotated squad for this match.

Li Yuan and Mbappe both started, while the other positions were mostly filled by substitutes.

"Soch is quite strong; he shouldn't be underestimated."

Before he came on, Li Yuan gave Mbappe a special reminder.

Mbappe said nonchalantly, "They're already 16th in Ligue 2, a relegation-threatened team, so there's nothing to worry about."

"That's true, but most of our players are substitutes, and honestly, I think it's quite dangerous."

Li Yuan had some predictions about the strength of the team's substitutes, especially since their opponent, Sochaux, had made a major rotation in the last league match, but fielded their full strength team in this match. This attitude made Li Yuan keenly aware of the difference in attitude between the two teams.

Jardim clearly wants to win this match with minimal effort, as the league is in 3 days and the Europa League knockout stage is in 7 days.

For Jardim, winning the French Cup is definitely something he wants to do, but winning with minimal effort would be best. The league and the Europa League knockout stage are clearly more important than this French Cup match.

Especially since their French Cup opponent, Sochaux, is a Ligue 2 relegation-threatened team, Jardim can rotate his squad even more freely.

In fact, if Jardim hadn't promised Li Yuan and Mbappe that they would start in the cup competition, he wouldn't have even wanted to start them.

After all, Li Yuan and Mbappe are now starting in more important league matches, and Jardim doesn't want to waste their energy.

So in the end, Jardim chose an extremely awkward starting lineup, with Li Yuan and Mbappe starting, and the other nine players were almost all substitutes.

This arrangement made Li Yuan feel a bit awkward.

And once the game starts, this situation becomes even more difficult.

Because Sochaux had no intention of scorched earth tactics at all; on the contrary, they were very aggressive in pressing high up the pitch.

In this situation, Monaco only needs to retreat slightly and wait for the opponent to push forward before switching between offense and defense.

With Li Yuan's call, Mbappe, who was his friend but hadn't become the sport's director, retreated with him.

But the other teammates are different.

They're counting on a good performance in this match to compete for a starting position, so how could they possibly back out?

The result was that the two sides retreated, while the middle lane pushed upwards.

Li Yuan wasn't a locker room tyrant, so when faced with this situation, he had no choice but to push forward and form a united front with his teammates.

But the result was terrible.

Monaco's aggressive move backfired, allowing Sochaux to launch a counterattack.

Sochaux's counter-attacks were clearly methodical and had been practiced repeatedly. When the ball was passed long from the backfield, the two center forwards in the frontfield would run forward and the other would control the ball. The two full-backs would quickly move forward, and the center forward who controlled the ball would pass it to the wing. Then he and the other center forward would run into the penalty area one after the other. At this time, the midfielders would also rush into the penalty area, and the wingers would also rush into the penalty area.

For a moment, there were five Sochaux players in the penalty area.

Li Yuan was stunned when he saw the person during his pursuit.

Is this the efficiency of a Ligue 2 relegation-threatened team?

The result, naturally, was a goal.

Because the goalkeeper was also a substitute, his ability was really limited.

About 10 minutes into the first half, Monaco were down 0-1 away from home.

If you fall behind, you should naturally launch a fierce counterattack and press forward.

However, instead of retreating and defending as many had expected, Solskjaer continued to press forward and launch a fierce attack.

The Monaco players were already a bit disoriented after falling behind 0-1.

Now, they've been attacked again, completely caught off guard.

Li Yuan and Mbappe are not gods either; both of them dropped back to help with the defense.

But it was to no avail.

Just seven minutes later, Sochaux almost used the same tactic again to score a goal.

The same trick can really be used a second time.

Less than 20 minutes into the first half, Monaco were already down 0-2.

The situation is dire.

Monaco didn't have many good chances until the end of the first half.

In fact, Monaco tried to launch a fierce attack for a period of time after conceding two goals, but the effect was mediocre. In addition, after Solskjaer took a two-goal lead, he immediately switched to a defensive strategy, leaving Monaco's substitute players helpless.

During halftime, Jardim and the coaching staff held an emergency meeting and reached a conclusion.

"If we can pull one back before the 60th minute in the second half, then the game is still going. But if we can't pull one back before the 60th minute, then we'll give up on this game and not let it affect our next league match."

"Should we say this to the players?"

"Are you crazy? Tell them it's going to collapse in less than 60 minutes. We're just saying it here ourselves!"

……

In the second half, the players, unaware of the coaching staff's decision, continued to play very hard on the field.

In the 55th minute, Li Yuan and Mbappe combined, with Li Yuan receiving the ball in the middle and sending a through pass. Mbappe controlled the ball and then fired a shot from a distance to pull one back.

1-2, Monaco are now only one goal behind.

At this moment, Ilora looked at Yardin, her meaning clear: should they still fight in this situation?

Yaldin hesitated for a moment: "Let me think about it."

However, there was no need to look any further, because two minutes later, Mbappe lost his temper, pushed the opposing center-back, and received his second yellow card, resulting in a red card and his expulsion from the field.

This match was cancelled, and as a result, he couldn't play in the next league game either.

This made Jardim, who was on the sidelines, very angry.

After you're angry, you still have to face it.

At the 65-minute mark, Yardin substituted Li Yuan as well.

Li Yuan had actually guessed that Yardin would do this, but when he was actually substituted, Li Yuan was still very unhappy. Unhappy as he was, Li Yuan was not Kepa, so he still left the field.

"Don't be discouraged, we still have the league."

Yaldin comforted Li Yuan.

However, Li Yuan was still very unhappy and sat on the bench, sulking.

However, this was not what angered him the most. What angered him the most was the 26th round of the league three days later.

After scoring a goal and providing an assist in his starting appearance, his team was overturned 3-2 by Saint-Étienne after leading 2-0.

They came back from 0-2 down to win 3-2, but it was their opponent.

When the final whistle blew, Li Yuan could only stand exhausted in the center of the court, hands on his hips, looking up at the sky.

"Li Yuan's performance in today's match was quite good, with one goal and one assist. However, the team's defense made a series of mistakes, which led to the home team reversing the score. Jardim needs to reflect on this."

In the locker room after the match, Jardim clapped his hands and said, "The Europa League knockout stage is in four days. Our opponent is Napoli. They are very strong, and we must get over this defeat quickly."