Tata Martino had his hands on the Bayern footage too.
He and Jorge Pautasso spent the better part of a full week digging through recordings of Guardiola's Bundesliga matches. By late Wednesday afternoon, Martino had arrived at a firm tactical conclusion, which he laid out to his coaching staff inside a quiet meeting room at Ciutat Esportiva.
"Neuer holds an unusually high line," Martino explained, freezing a clip of the German goalkeeper casually standing twenty yards outside his own penalty area during a sustained Bayern possession. "Higher than pretty much any keeper in Europe right now. Pep essentially treats him like a sweeper with gloves. It is undeniably a major strength for them. It completely suffocates the chipped ball over the top, and it snuffs out early runs behind the back four before they even develop."
He clicked through to the following tactical diagram.
"Still, every tactical strength comes with a blind spot if you look closely enough," he continued, pointing his laser at the pocket of turf between Bayern's center-backs and their midfield line. "When Neuer pushes that far up the pitch, the space behind the defense vanishes, but the corridor right in front of the back four opens right up. Their center-backs are constantly obsessed with stepping up to catch forwards offside, and Lahm is usually focused on suffocating the through-ball channel. That leaves the territory around the arc of the D completely vulnerable."
Pautasso leaned forward over the desk, nodding in understanding. "So we stop trying to force through-balls behind their backline. We exploit the space directly in front of them."
"Exactly," Martino agreed, tapping his pen on the whiteboard. "We test them from distance. We look to receive the ball right around the edge of the area and strike it cleanly before Neuer can adjust his footwork, because he is simply positioned too far off his goal line to recover backward in time. Our primary shooting zone for this match cannot be inside the six-yard box. It has to be around the eighteen-yard line and just beyond."
He switched the projector off, bringing the room back into the morning light.
"Which means one particular forward is going to carry the bulk of that responsibility in Lisbon."
Nobody around the table needed to ask who he was talking about.
For the rest of the week, Lorenzo's training routines centered heavily on long-range shooting.
Every single session wrapped up the same way: fifty strikes from the edge of the penalty area from varying angles, with Víctor Valdés and the backup goalkeepers doing their best to mimic Neuer's high starting positions. Antonio Pintus tracked his lower body load through the GPS vests, while Sofía watched over the physical metrics with her usual detailed eye.
"You're in peak condition right now," Sofía said on Thursday morning, leaning against the treatment table as the squad wrapped up their final home session. "We pushed your workload pretty hard this week, but your legs are bouncing back instantly. Honestly, I've just stopped trying to make sense of how fast you recover."
Lorenzo sat up, drying his neck with a towel and offering a faint smile. "So, green light for Lisbon?"
"More than green," she replied, setting her clipboard down on the counter. "Physically, you look completely ready. The real test out there won't be your stamina anyway. It's whether ninety minutes gives you enough room to break through a defense that spent the last three weeks figuring out how to stop you."
Lorenzo looked at her thoughtfully. "And if ninety minutes isn't enough?"
"Then it goes to extra time," Sofía said with an easy shrug. "And if it goes the distance, your legs will still have plenty left while their defenders are dealing with cramps. Trust me, you'll be the freshest player on that pitch if it goes to a hundred and twenty."
Lorenzo smiled at her confidence. "You're already planning for extra time?"
"I plan for every single scenario. It's kind of my job," she replied, her expression softening into a quiet grin. "Go home and pack your bags, Lorenzo. Eat well, get some real sleep, and be ready. We fly tomorrow."
Late that night, alone on the living room sofa, Lorenzo found himself cycling through the Bayern footage one last time on his tablet.
He wasn't really analyzing Neuer's positioning anymore. He had already memorized those angles days ago. Instead, he was watching the collective movement of Guardiola's side, observing the synchronized way their defensive lines shifted, and studying the pressing traps.
The system's presence surfaced gently in the quiet room.
[You have watched this exact compilation eleven times tonight.]
"Yeah, I know," Lorenzo replied quietly in his thoughts.
[You understand their pressing schemes and have practiced the specific shooting drills for nearly two weeks straight. There is nothing left in this video file that provides something new.]
"I know that too."
[Then why keep replaying it?]
Lorenzo leaned back against the cushions, letting the screen illuminate the dim room. "Because this same core group scored seven goals past Barcelona last year. I just want to keep that fresh in my head. I don't want to step onto the grass in Lisbon feeling relaxed or thinking a title win makes this straightforward. I want to remember exactly how clinical they can be when they get going."
The system remained quiet for a few seconds, processing his thoughts.
[That mindset,] it responded calmly, [is why you will find a way through.]
Lorenzo let out a faint chuckle. "You really sound confident we'll pull it off."
[Guardiola built a system designed to punish arrogance and complacency. You are stepping onto the pitch fully aware of the margins. That makes you much harder to trap. Now turn the screen off.]
Lorenzo tapped the display, closing the video player completely. He sat in the quiet living room for a few moments, letting the silence settle around him.
He finally stood up and went straight to bed, falling into a deep sleep.
The charter flight out of El Prat left early the next morning.
The weeks of intense preparation, data tracking, and video analysis were officially behind them. The tactical structure had been drilled, the counter-strategy was set, and every detail that could be accounted for was locked in.
All that was left now was the match.
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