The 27th-minute goal was blown away and had a big impact on the young Hernandez, who was then a little suspicious when he was running, always worried that he was offside, and as a result, he started late and missed the opportunity.

In fact, it not only has an impact on Hernandez, but also on passing players like Gao Xiaodong and Carrick, and after a successful combination was blown offside, the midfielders have become more cautious in their choice of passing timing.

However, the attack is not the most important thing for Manchester United right now, they are ahead on aggregate, and even if the score remains 0-0 until the end, they can fully qualify for the final, so even if Manchester United can't play a sharp attack, Manchester United fans will not care.

United's goalless goal allowed Chelsea to escape, but Chelsea could not stop attacking and had to step up their attacking efforts as time was running out for them, failing to score a goal in the first half, and their task of scoring in the second half was only heavier.

In order to prevent United from playing behind them, Chelsea's attack was more of a long pass and a diagonal pass, waiting for Drogba and Torres in front of them to get hold of the ball, and then pressing heavily on the attack.

This kind of attacking efficiency is not high, but it is relatively safe and can reduce the chances of Manchester United playing behind.

However, Manchester United has put a lot of effort into the defense of Drogba and Torres, Ferdinand and Vidic are two to mark, and Fletcher and Carrick are sandwiched, under such a defense, even if Drogba and Torres are super individual ability, it is difficult to hold the ball or pass to their teammates safely.

Thirty-five minutes into the first half, Chelsea could not continue with this inefficient attacking approach and they finally took the plunge and pressed forward with all three lines to push the field into the United half, with the defence placed near the centre circle.

It's a risk, but Chelsea have no other path to choose from.

The increase in attacking strength has also increased Chelsea's attacking threat, mainly because Chelsea have more chances to get the ball when Didier Drogba and Manchester United defenders are battling, attacking directly up front and having more shots on goal.

In the 37th minute of the game, Rio Ferdinand pushed the ball to the feet of Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard when he was scrambling for a high ball.

Thankfully, the ball didn't change much direction, and Van der Sar barely single-handedly got the ball off the line.

Chelsea were awarded a corner.

Gao Xiaodong came over to pat Van der Sar and apologized to him, if Van der Sar couldn't save the ball, Gao Xiaodong would have to carry half of the pot, and Van der Sar's no-concede bonus would be gone.

Van der Sar didn't care, he pushed Gao Xiaodong and said, "It's nothing, go and defend." ”

Gao Xiaodong's corner kick defense is mainly to stand at the front of the penalty area to mark Essien, who is ready to shoot from a distance, and also take into account the task of grabbing the landing point and counterattacking.

Chelsea's first few corners went straight into the box for Drogba and Torres, but United's tight defence on Drogba didn't make them much of a threat.

This time, Frank Lampard fired a shot to the edge of the box and found Essien to shoot from distance.

Chelsea's corners were practiced, and as soon as Frank Lampard kicked off, Essien immediately understood that it was looking for him, so he rushed to the landing spot as soon as possible.

Gao Xiaodong is the defensive side, the defense is always passively behind, he is a step slower, stretching out his hand to pull Esin, but he is afraid that he can't pull it, Esin is as strong as a cow, hook his feet, and he is afraid of eating a yellow card, today he is not a pure offensive player, he also has defensive tasks, and he has scruples after eating a yellow card, which is not good for the later games.

Gao Xiaodong was cunning, he did not directly adopt foul tactics, but accelerated to keep up, and when Essien was about to shoot with his feet, he reached out and pushed Essien's back, and then slammed his body into Essien.

Essien was about to hit the ball, first pushed by Gao Xiaodong, then hit again, and staggered to the ground.

Beep!

Referee Ben Quilenka's whistle blew, awarded Gao Xiaodong a foul, and gave Chelsea a free kick in a good position, but Ben Quelenka felt that Gao Xiaodong did not control the center of gravity and knocked down Essien, so he did not give Gao Xiaodong a yellow card.

Gao Xiaodong is very happy, he is not afraid of fouls, in that case, it is impossible to stop Essien from shooting without fouling, and he is lucky if he does not take a card.

Free-kicks in front of the box are usually taken by Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.

Drogba felt the free-kick was a good fit for him, and he consulted with Frank Lampard and stepped in front of the ball.

Drogba's free-kicks are powerful and fast, and once the crosshairs are aligned, they pose a great threat to the goal.

With time running out until the end of the first half, Van der Sar was on guard and could not let Drogba score.

When Drogba was running and preparing to shoot, Gao Xiaodong was different from others, he was also on guard, he knew that Drogba was tough on his feet, and he was afraid that Van der Sar would pounce on the ball and be shot by others, so he had to be ready to clear the siege.

Boom!

Drogba volleys hard!

Almost at the same time, Gao Xiaodong rushed to the goal, he ran to the right side of the goal, Gao Xiaodong felt that Van der Sar would pounce in this direction.

Not only did Gao Xiaodong have this awareness, when Drogba was shooting, Torres also rushed to the goal for the first time, and he ran in the same direction as Gao Xiaodong.

Sure enough, Van der Sar pounced the ball on the right side of the goal, and he tried to pounce on the touchline, but due to the power of Drogba's free-kick, Van der Sar barely had time to bounce the ball out.

Gao Xiaodong was faster than Torres, and he kicked the ball out of the line first.

The Manchester United fans in the stands have been worrying about their hearts, after Van der Sar saved the ball, his heart was about to be put down, and he saw Torres pounce, and his heart suddenly rose to his throat, until Gao Xiaodong kicked the ball out, and the Manchester United fans put their hearts at ease and applauded Gao Xiaodong who contributed to the key clearance.

The situation at Manchester United remains tense and Chelsea continue to serve corners.

This time, United came back to defend with all the stops, pulling back Wayne Rooney and Hernandez and resolutely denying Chelsea a goal in the first half.

Frank Lampard's opening corner changed a bit as he and Ashley Cole set up a tactical corner that disrupted order in the box, and Ashley Cole played the ball towards the box.

This tactical corner kick was very effective, and the defenders in the box could not find a target to mark, so they could only defend nearby, and it turned out that it was Fletcher who defended Drogba.

Fletcher was undoubtedly brave, but it would be a joke to fight Drogba for a header, and when Fletcher saw that Drogba was about to jump, he desperately grabbed Drogba's shirt and pulled it down.

"Sting!" Drogba's jersey was torn, but Fletcher still didn't hold Drogba, and Drogba jumped up to grab the landing.

However, Fletcher's pull still worked, Drogba didn't jump that high, the top was a line away, and the ball flew off the crossbar.

Seeing that the ball did not reach the net, Drogba immediately grabbed his shirt and went to the referee, saying that Fletcher had committed a foul and asked for a penalty.

After all the shots were shot, he even asked for a penalty, and the referee Ben Quelenka, of course, would not agree, he ignored Drogba, waved his hand, and let Van der Sar serve the goal.

Those three set-pieces took a lot of Chelsea's energy, and in the final three minutes, United defended with all their strength and did not give Chelsea a chance to take advantage of it, and managed to keep a clean sheet in the first half.