Two days after Ibissevic joined, he performed well in training. In order to help him adapt to the team faster, Fernandez placed him on the French Cup roster with Marseille. In this game, Fernandez still did not send all the main players to play, because following this game was the second Lorrin derby of the season.

The derby is obviously more important than the cup. Anyway, Metz has been playing soybeans in the cup games in recent seasons. Basically, he played two rounds of games and returned home. Therefore, among the main players of Metz who went to Marseille to challenge strong opponents, only Chu Zhongtian, Menez and the entire defense line. This is the first game after captain Bobby Coni came back from injury. He recovered a little faster than the expected recovery time. He is all substitutes in other positions.

He did not have a full substitute or reserve team or youth team. That's because after all, his opponent is Marseille, and if he wants to lose without being ugly, he can't be too indulgent.

On January 30, Metz set out for Marseille, and Ribery, Promont and others stayed at Metz. They could have a day off and do whatever they wanted, no one cared about it.

Judging from the media reports, this is a game that no one is looking forward to. In terms of strength alone, Marseille is stronger than Metz. Judging from Metz's attitude towards this game, no one thinks they can beat Marseille upset. What the media cares more about is the next "Lorrin Derby".

"...The cup is the derby. I think any normal coach knows how to choose. Fernandez cannot guarantee that he can win every cup, but he can guarantee that he can win this derby at his home court." This is a comment from French "League".

"If I were Fernandez, I would give up on the Cup, and Pauderby. Is there anything else to hesitate about?" This comment comes from the pre-match analysis program of Canal TV in France.

Even Metz's local media has the words "Lorrin Derby" and "Nante". As for the sixteenth-quarter final against Marseille... who cares whether it is lost or won? They never expected the team to perform well in the cup. This cup has always been a place where Metz uses to train the youth army. Occasionally, good results are all the result of luck... So what do Metz players who go to Marseille think?

"I still hope to win." In the locker room at the stadevélodrome, the Metz players are making final preparations for the next game, and they have finished warming up.

The person who said this was Chu Zhongtian. "Is it better to go further? Of course, we must concentrate on playing the next derby, but if we can win the derby, isn't it the best of both worlds to win this cup?"

In fact, everyone here wants to win, but no one wants to lose. But Chu Zhongtian wants to emphasize it.

Fernandez clapped his hands and praised Chu Zhongtian's performance: "Of course we have to win. Don't think that I didn't let all the main players play and wanted to lose. In fact, I think this lineup may work better in such an occasion. I know that some of you are eager to play in the game, and the performance of this game will determine whether you can get more opportunities to play."

Speaking of this, he looked at the two new players Yula and Ibisevic who started this game. The two of them were the starting strikers in this game.

His meaning is very clear. Newcomers, if you want to gain the trust of me as the head coach, please show your strength in this game!

This is undoubtedly the best pre-war mobilization, much better than talking about the last big news with erotic eloquence.

※※※Why are the media not optimistic about Metz? Just look at the starting rosters of both sides in this game. Only Chu Zhongtian and Menez are the main players in Metz's frontcourt attack lineup, while Marseille almost all the main players were released.

Chu Zhongtian saw Rorik Kana on the court again. The other party was still staring at him, but he just stopped on his face for a moment and moved to Nasri.

His main task in this game was defense, because Proman did not come, he served as a defensive midfielder, while Menez served as the front midfielder.

Chu Zhongtian hasn't been a pure defender for a long time. Menez will take on the heavy responsibility of organizing the offense, and he escorts Menez.

Rorik Kana just demonstrated to Chu Zhongtian with his eyes, because his opponent in this game was not Chu Zhongtian, but Menez. He was the back midfielder, and Menez was the front midfielder, and the two of them happened to face each other. But he himself left some thoughts on Chu Zhongtian. After many encounters, he knew that Chu Zhongtian was a back midfielder with excellent offensive ability. Maybe in this game, if Menez fell under his strict guard, Chu Zhongtian would rush up to participate in the attack?

So he needs to be prepared.

Just as Kana continued to stare at Chu Zhongtian with his eyes, the referee blew the whistle to the start of the game.

※※※ Not long after the game started, Metz suffered a heavy blow - in the seventh minute, they conceded the ball!

At that time, Chu Zhongtian was confronting Nasri. Nasri did not choose to force a breakthrough, but turned backwards. Chu Zhongtian hurriedly pushed forward, and at this time he passed the ball to the side.

Marseille's young left back Taye_taiwo inserted from the back at high speed, received a pass from Nasri to him, and then forced a breakthrough along the wing with speed to Metz's right back Frank Belia.

Then he made a cross, and Marseille forward Mickaël_pagis, who followed in the middle, jumped high and headed the ball into the net in the way he was best at.

"Oh oh! What a wonderful start! The game started seven minutes ago, and Marseille took the lead! Great!" the commentator shouted. "It seems that they are easy to win this game! Mess, who plays half of the bench and half of the main lineup, obviously cannot stop Marseille!"

After conceding the ball, the Metz players seemed very frustrated. Conceding the ball too quickly was a blow to morale... Fernandez sat in the coach's seat without any expression. This conceding was completely a gap in the strength of the players on both sides. Belia could not defend Tevo, allowing him to make a pass easily. The defenders in the middle were not able to follow Pagis closely, and they just went to watch the ball, but missed the Marseille center behind him.

Chu Zhongtian cursed and sweared on the court: "Damn..."

Judging from the seven-minute game, because the two forwards who cooperated with Menez were both players who only joined the team, Yula also played a game, and Ibisevic was the first time he appeared for Messe. There was no tacit understanding at all.

It is indeed difficult to win if you continue to play like this... "The beginning was not good for Metz. Yula and Ibissevic have not shown their abilities yet. Yula is a very fast player, and Ibissevic... I honestly don't see what he has. They can't cooperate with the team. Speaking of which, it's really surprising that Fernandez is interested in Ibissevic - why has a player who has been playing in the French Ligue 2 team Dijon, so why can Fernandez be favored by Fernandez? Perhaps we can see a clue in this game..."

While the Marseille players were celebrating, Chu Zhongtian called Menez, Ibissevic and Yura, Reynold and Hemza Mihoubi together. These are all the offensive players on the court. Captain Bobiconi's task is to organize defense. Usually he doesn't care about these things, so he has to rely on Chu Zhongtian's tactical core to gather strength.

"We should simplify some offensive cooperation." Chu Zhongtian said to Menez. "If you have a chance, hurry up and get the ball."

Menez's skills are so good that he can easily show off his feet habitually, and he loses some of the originally good pass opportunities. This may be the difference between a player with good skills and a player with ordinary skills. Chu Zhongtian's skills are average, so he never sticks the football under his feet to do a few tricks before passing the football out. As long as he sees the right opportunity, the football will be passed out immediately.

If someone else had said this to Menez, Menez would have frowned and turned back. But if Chu Zhongtian had done a good job, Menez nodded without objection.

"Ibi has a body that can protect the football. We should cooperate with him. Once he gets the ball, everyone should actively come forward to respond." Chu Zhongtian told everyone his plans. No one expressed any objection.

"Ibi, you should also pay attention to our location."

Ibisevich nodded.

He also felt a little nervous when he played in the first game he played for Metz.

"If the chance is better, you can shoot by yourself and don't pass all the balls. You are the center!"

The Marseille players celebrated and the interim meeting of Metz's offensive players was also held.

Chu Zhongtian returned to his position, and then he turned around and gestured to the two full-backs behind him. They actively inserted it while the team was attacking.

Anyway, I'm already behind, so it doesn't make sense to defend anymore. This is not a Champions League, but a home and away system. The French Cup is a single knockout match. Losing this game means losing all the games.

"We have no choice, let's attack!" Chu Zhongtian slapped at the people behind him.

※※※After the game started again, Metz obviously strengthened its offense. Marseille did not retreat and fought against Metz. The scene was very good for a while.

First, Nasri passed three straight and broke into the penalty area, and was blocked by the defender at the last moment. Then Menez, who was known as the "three young master of u17", suddenly shot a cold arrow outside the penalty area, forcing Marseille goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso to make a wonderful save.

Then Rorik Kana fouled against Menez and received a yellow card. As a result, none of the Metz players on the field were good at taking a free kick. In the end, Chu Zhongtian volunteered and went up with the football and made a powerful long shot. His shot did not hit the goalkeeper, but directly hit Nasri in the wall. Nasri was beaten and fell to the ground on the spot. The team doctor went on the court and struggled for a long time before recovering.

As the first half approached the end of the first half, Menez suddenly changed his position to the wing. After a series of wonderful passes, he pushed the ball into the penalty area. Ibisekic broke out from the middle of the defender, received the ball, and faced the goalkeeper directly!

"This is the best opportunity for Metz in the first half! Ibisevic's single shot! His shot - he missed! What a pity..."

Ibisevic seemed a little confident in the face of goalkeeper Carraso who was attacking, but the shot missed. The football was paddled out, which was very regretful. He also hugged his head with both hands, very frustrated.

Not long after this shot, the referee blew the whistle to the end of the first half.

Metz temporarily lags behind Marseille with one goal in the first half.

※※※Fernandez did not criticize anyone during the halftime break. On the contrary, he was just satisfied with the team's performance in the first half.

"Only one goal behind, we have a chance in the second half. As long as you have enough patience."

Fernandez didn't say much about the opportunity Ibisekic missed in the last stage of the first half, but just told Ibisekic that he should have more confidence in the future when facing such an opportunity.

The team performed well in the first half. Although only half of the main players, they were able to quickly adjust their mentality after conceding the ball and tied with Marseille. Fernandez had nothing to adjust, so it would be enough to let the players continue to perform like this.

※※After the second half of the game began, the Marseille team wanted to take the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, score again, and completely destroy the fighting spirit of Metz.

The Metz players are of course very clear about this. If they concede another goal, there is no need to play in this game. The difference in strength between the two sides, coupled with the difference in scores between the two goals, is enough to destroy the Metz team.

Therefore, you cannot concede the ball anyway.

Metz then defended the penalty area to the death, and even Ibisevic consciously retreated to the penalty area to help defend.

Fifteen minutes passed, Marseille did not score, and Metz began to plan a counterattack.

In the 67th minute, Metz attacked. Chu Zhongtian handed the ball to Menez in front. Menez did not continue to dribble the ball. He saw the opportunity to pass the ball to Ibisevic who was interspersing the running position in front.

Ibissevic took the ball with his back. Marseille defender Frederic Déhu (frédéric_déhu) pushed him and refused to turn around. But he couldn't easily cut the ball under Ibissevic's feet.

This is the advantage of Fernandez's interest in Ibisevic. After Adebayo left, Metz was unable to find a center who could control football in the frontcourt and serve as a fulcrum for his teammates.

It seems that Ibisevic can make up for this regret.

After Ibisekic protected the ball, he waited for his teammates to come up to pick him up.

When Rorik Kana saw that Ibisevic could not get rid of Dehu for a moment, he turned around and rushed towards him, intending to double-team with Dehu and cut off the ball of Mes 19.

When he left Menez, Ibisevic passed the ball back.

Menez happened to face the goal. Facing Ibisek's pass, he adjusted his pace while running and made a stance to shoot directly.

Rorik Kana saw Ibisekic pass the ball back, and quickly turned around and rushed towards Menez. At the same time, another Marseille defender Andre Luis (andre_luis_garcia) also made a move to block the shot.

Menez did not shoot from a long shot directly, but gently thrust the ball to the right, flashing past Kana who was rushing back, and then he dribbled the ball into the penalty area!

Menez, who broke into the penalty area, suddenly shot! The football rolled into the goal from the inside of the post with the sod!

Marseille goalkeeper Carraso did not expect that Menez's first shot was fake, and the second shot came so quickly. He couldn't react in time and could only stand in place and watch the football roll into the goal from the post... "Jeremy Menez! He equalized the score for Metz! Beautiful goal! He deceived two Marseille players! At this moment, Cana and Luis could only serve as background for him!"

After scoring the goal, Menez took the initiative to come forward and hugged Ibisek, who assisted him. Other Metz players also flocked to hug the two of them tightly.

※※※After drawing the score 1:1, Metz did not give up on the offense, but continued to look for opportunities to score. Similarly, the Marseille team was anxious and they strengthened their offensive. The two teams once again fought against each other in the game.

The two sides fought back and forth very lively.

Marseille underestimated Mets at first, but now he wants to get serious and finds that it is not that easy. The two full-backs frequently assisted, but Chu Zhongtian caught them in front of them, and they had no time to return to defense, passing the ball to the players in front.

In the 79th minute, Marseille besieged Metz for five minutes before this, with two shots, almost entering the goal, but they were all rescued by the tenacious Metz player.

Just after that, Metz suddenly launched a fast attack. Bobby Connie intercepted the ball and passed the ball to Chu Zhongtian. Chu Zhongtian took two steps forward and then handed it to Yula who was running forward at the high speed on the side.

Yula's speed is quite fast. According to his characteristics, Chu Zhongtian passed the balls in Yula's running direction, and the balls are quite far away from him, just to give full play to Yula's advantage of fast speed.

Yula ran quickly, and the Marseille players couldn't keep up at all. After receiving the ball, Yula did not hesitate and swept the ball directly to the middle. This time it was Menez again!

After receiving the ball, he went straight to Huanglong, leaving only a Marseille defender Dehu and a goalkeeper Carraso in front of him.

This problem is easy to deal with.

Menez forced accelerator, making Dehu think he was going to overtake. After causing Dehu to move ahead, he suddenly stopped and dunked the ball back, then shot with his right foot. The football drew an arc, bypassed the snatch Carraso and flew into the goal!

"Second ball! The second ball! but!buuuuuuuuut!!" The TV commentator yelled. He didn't expect Metz to be able to complete the reversal in the second half. "This is Menez's second ball in this game! His performance is simply amazing! It reminds me of the talented boy who played a hat trick against Bordeaux last season! Yes, that genius Menez is back!"

"2:1! Marseille is in trouble!"

After Menez scored, Fernandez replaced Mihobi with Oblaniak and continued to strengthen the offensive.

"It seems that he doesn't want to start defending now!" The commentator commented on Fernandez's substitution. "Obraniac will help Metz's ball control and breakthrough in the midfield after he comes on the court. He is also a wing player who is fast and good at dribbling and crossing..."

The Marseille team did not expect that Metz did not retreat after leading, but continued to attack. This move caught them off guard.

In the next ten minutes, they did not organize any effective attacks at all. Because Chu Zhongtian kept pressing against Nasri. Since Nasri was kicked into the chest with a powerful long shot in the first half, his performance was not very good. Rorik Kana was determined to step forward, but was afraid that after he went up, Menetz would not be able to guard him and cause even more trouble, so he had to give up.

Nasri cannot organize the offense, and Marseille can only rely on the simplest way of playing to keep attacking Metz's defense line on the wing. Tevo, the full-back, seems very active. However, his characteristics are familiar to Metz players, and it is much easier to defend.

When the referee blew the whistle to the end of the game, the Metz players hugged each other - they defeated the strong rival Marseille and advanced to the 8th final of the French Cup!

"Congratulations to Metz! Menez is the best player in this game, and he is also the biggest hero that Metz can reverse and win!" The commentator praised Menez's performance.

What Fernandez is most satisfied with is the performance of the two new players. Ibissevic and Yula each had an assist, and Ibissevic's performance on the court made Fernandez full of confidence - they finally have a center who can make goals for their teammates and form the fulcrum of the offensive frontcourt!
Chapter completed!