In just over ten minutes, he disrupted several balls of the world's top star Lu Wenbin, which is rarely seen in defensive players in other games. He is indeed worthy of being Lu Wenbin's former teammate.
Old coach Heynckes also nodded repeatedly off the court, expressing a considerable degree of satisfaction with Gustavo's performance.
In Bayern Munich, which is full of superstars, Gustavo is the only defensive midfielder at present.
He is not very famous and does not have much star power, but he is the type that Heynckes likes most.
A team cannot always be composed of popular handsome stars. It is important to have people to serve as engineers and do the dirty work. This is also the intention of Heynckes to introduce Gustavo.
After arriving at Bayern, Gustavo quickly became the main defensive midfielder with his huge running range and all-round defensive ability. However, before introducing Gustavo, Heynckes did not expect that they would face Real Madrid in the Champions League final, and Gustavo's teammate relationship with Lu Wenbin would come in handy.
Now it seems that the decision to bring in the less famous Gustavo was a good one.
Gustavo's ability to repeatedly block the ball of the feared Lu Wenbin is undoubtedly due to his defensive ability, but his familiarity with Lu Wenbin must have also played a big role.
Even Heynckes, who is nearly 70 years old, couldn't help feeling a little proud and happy.
However, in reality, Heynckes was overthinking it.
Although Gustavo had blocked Lu Wenbin's ball several times in a row, he was actually already feeling out of breath.
You know, the game has only started for more than ten minutes.
Although he relied on his defensive strength and some understanding of Lu Wenbin to predict and disrupt Lu Wenbin's shots several times, Lu Wenbin's dribbling, speed, change of direction, physical strength, etc. in the process made Gustavo try his best.
In just over ten minutes, Gustavo already felt physically and mentally exhausted as if he had played for most of the game.
At this time, Lu Wenbin is no longer the Lu Wenbin in Hoffenheim. His dribbling and breakthrough abilities and his ability to judge the game situation have undergone tremendous qualitative changes. Gustavo's previous successful defenses actually had a lot of luck involved.
Moreover, after seeing that Gustavo really knew him well, Lu Wenbin used his 19 points of creativity to make more and more sudden moves, making it increasingly difficult for Gustavo to defend.
In the 18th minute, Lu Wenbin received the ball from Ramos on the flank and faced Gustavo's defense again.
Lu Wenbin dribbled forward with the ball, while Gustavo retreated and defended.
Just as the two sides got closer, Boateng, who was behind Gustavo, also came up. When Gustavo was about to steal the ball and force Lu Wenbin to make a mistake to create an opportunity for Boateng to steal the ball, Lu Wenbin suddenly made a Cruyff turn and tricked Gustavo into leaving an opening.
Then, without waiting for Boateng to pounce, Lu Wenbin shook off Gustavo and quickly passed the ball to Ozil on the wing.
After taking two steps, Ozil changed direction and created an angle in front of the full-back Lahm's defense before passing the ball diagonally into the penalty area.
After Boateng went to defend Lu Wenbin, Van Buyten was the only central defender left in the penalty area.
Benzema and Ozil were in perfect sync this time. Benzema, who was originally on the same line as Van Buyten, turned around and rushed to the penalty area the moment Ozil passed the ball: Benzema successfully made an offside.
Van Buyten's raised hand did not cause the referee to blow the whistle, and the linesman did not make any comment. When he turned around to chase the ball, Benzema had already received Ozil's through ball in the penalty area.
Then, facing the attacking Neuer, Benzema calmly shot into the far corner.
Although Neuer's goalkeeping ability is among the best in the world, he was helpless in the face of such a one-on-one shot. He could only lie on the ground and watch the ball fly into the goal along the far post.
Real Madrid opened the scoring with a goal assisted by Benzema, who scored from Ozil, and led Bayern Munich 1-0 at the Allianz Arena.
The real hero was Lu Wenbin, who got rid of Gustavo, lured central defender Boateng out of the penalty area and launched the attack.
Gustavo's defense failed this time.
Lu Wenbin used a Cruyff turn to get rid of him and passed the ball to Ozil, creating a threatening attack and Benzema finally scored the goal.
The commentators who had just praised Gustavo were speechless and started singing praises for Lu Wenbin's Cruyff turn.
Heynckes on the sidelines also had a gloomy face and was speechless.
Because this ball is a reflection of Lu Wenbin's personal ability, we cannot blame Gustavo for poor defense or Boateng for not stealing the ball in time.
Countless world-class defensive superstars have been defeated in the face of Lu Wenbin, not to mention Gustavo and Boateng.
For Gustavo, this failed defense was a dangerous signal. Lu Wenbin's movements became more and more unpredictable. It was impossible for him to defend Lu Wenbin closely alone.
Therefore, while the Real Madrid players were celebrating, Gustavo communicated with his teammates and asked them to assist him more and help him defend Lu Wenbin from behind.
Other players like Schweinsteiger and Van Buyten cannot just sit there and watch, they need to defend together. Not only against Lu Wenbin, but also against the entire offensive system of Real Madrid.
In the following game, in addition to Gustavo, central defender Boateng also intensified his close defense of Lu Wenbin, making Lu Wenbin face two people's defense almost at any time.
It would be fine if he was alone, but when two top defensive players cooperated to double-team him, it would be a bit difficult for Lu Wenbin to deal with.
Although Lu Wenbin often performs the trick of dribbling past several players, most of that is when facing small teams, or when the defensive players' abilities are not as outstanding as Gustavo and Boateng, and when he defeats them one by one.
Now facing the defense of two top defensive players at the same time, Lu Wenbin's success rate of breaking through or passing is not high.
Therefore, Lu Wenbin began to slowly retreat and move to the side, exchanging positions with Ozil, allowing Ozil to take over the duties of the attacking midfielder.
This is the tactic that Mourinho asked everyone to practice during training, which is to use position switching when Lu Wenbin is restricted.
Lu Wenbin's retreat and pulling to the side forced Gustavo and Boateng to follow Lu Wenbin.
Without the central protection of Gustavo and Boateng, Bayern's central defensive ability naturally declined a lot.
Therefore, although Ozil's ability to organize offense is not as good as Lu Wenbin's, when the opponent's defensive ability is reduced, Ozil's passing organization is still a great threat.
In the 23rd minute, Ozil's through pass penetrated Bayern's defense line. Benzema successfully made an offside and almost grabbed the ball to have a one-on-one chance.
Fortunately, Neuer acted early and destroyed the ball before Benzema.
Otherwise, Real Madrid might have scored again.
There was no choice but for Boateng to give up his close marking of Lu Wenbin and return to his central defender position. Gustavo was the only one left to mark Lu Wenbin.