Translating Chinese sentence

I have a Chinese sentence that seems to be a quote: "Spalletti: Before conceding we played as rigid as a textbook; Yildiz is above top level." It looks like the user might want a translation into English. I'll provide both a literal and a polished translation, keeping it concise since I don't need to run any extensive checks. What's important is delivering the message clearly and accurately. Here goes: "Spalletti: Before the goal, we were playing textbook football—rigid and predictable; Yildiz is beyond top class."