Chapter 54 The pressure is enormous
When Henry entered, the venue was immediately boiling, and almost everyone was in good spirits!
It's finally time for the bayonet to see red! After waiting for 120 minutes, it was finally time for the most exciting time!
And all the fans in front of the drowsy TV came to their senses like drinking a pot of coffee at this time, and many of them turned up the volume of the TV to the maximum, looking at the TV screen without blinking, not wanting to miss a single detail.
Dick and Carlo Ancelotti both returned to their seats, but of course neither sat down, but stood on the sidelines, staring at the penalty shoot-out half.
"The penalty shoot-out is about to start...... Well, now let's look at some technical statistics...... Arsenal's previous penalty shootout won less and lost more, and Manchester United also had disadvantages, the penalty master Scholes was already off the field, Sir Alex didn't seem to expect to play a penalty shootout, otherwise he shouldn't have replaced Scholes, Scholes's penalty grasp is very big......"
"There should be only a few penalty takers at Arsenal, Thierry Henry, Pire, Ryan Giggs, Cavinaghi and Frings...... Okocha and Kyle are also likely, while United are in some trouble, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Paul Scholes are both off, Ryan Giggs has a good penalty and the others don't know how to do it...... None of them seem to be penalty specialists, and after the game got to this point, it seemed that Arsenal's advantage started to increase......"
At the time of Mortenson's discussion with Lineker.
Henry was ready.
As the team's top scorer, Thierry Henry was the first to make his debut.
Howard stood in front of goal, waiting for the first penalty.
Placing the ball on the penalty spot, Henry took a deep breath, started running after hearing Christina's whistle, and then got up to hit the goal!
It was clear that Henry's penalty was tricky, he fired a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner, and Howard made a brilliant judgment as he fell to the ground with his long arms outstretched, but the ball was just a little short of crossing the goal line!
Thierry Henry raised his hands and the stands rang out cheering from the Arsenal fans, and the United fans hugged their heads and didn't score the first goal, which was not a good sign......
"Let you defend! Think you can win on penalties? We are not afraid! You can't win us on penalties! The Arsenal fans in the stands were yelling wildly into the stadium to use that to put pressure on the United players.
'Beautiful, Arsenal scored the penalty...... Henry's penalty was supposed to have a high hit rate, but this one he played very well! Such a loss is a great encouragement for Arsenal......"
Mortenson said
"Thierry Henry is a top striker! His penalty was very accurate and he took it in! Now Arsenal are starting to take the lead! If United hold on until now and end up losing on penalties, it will be quite a blow to them, ...... If they still lose on penalties, they may not be able to hold their heads up for a long time......
Ferguson remained unmoved on the sidelines, still quietly watching the pitch, knowing that if he really lost the game in this way, he would definitely become the target of media criticism!
However, he did not regret it, he firmly believed that he would win, even if it was unfavorable, he would definitely win!
It's a belief, but it's also an absolute self-confidence.
Since the day he led Manchester United to the position of the king of the Premier League, Ferguson has always been full of confidence, and on the other side Wenger is also full of confidence, Wenger has been full of ambition to overthrow Manchester United's dynasty over the years, even if it is only a League Cup, he must fight Manchester United to the end!
At this point, United's second penalty taker was not a striker, but their left wing-back, the Welsh winger Ryan Giggs.
Ryan Giggs was also a regular set-piece player at Manchester United and there was no problem with his footwork, but it was only natural that he would take the first penalty.
Lehmann, who was standing in front of the goal, clapped his hands demonstratively, and then bent down to look at Giggs, his action has a lot of power, after all, as a goalkeeper who is good at saving penalty kicks, he will naturally have great confidence in the face of penalty kicks.
Many Manchester United fans in the stands covered their mouths nervously, as if they were afraid that their anger would affect Giggs's performance, and the Arsenal fans kept shouting loudly to interfere with Giggs's penalty.
Christina blew the whistle and Giggs started running.
Before getting close to the ball, Giggs picked up his left foot and Lehmann quickly judged that it would be a shot to his left and Giggs to the right!
However, after he reacted, Giggs changed the footwork of the shot at the moment of shooting, from a foot volley to a foot arch push, which is a very awkward practice, especially with his left foot to push his left side, but Giggs completed this series of actions very well, the ball flew into the right side of the goal, and Lehmann fell to the ground.
Huge cheers immediately erupted in the stands!
Manchester United fans jumped up from their seats, constantly waving their fists, and after this penalty was scored, they were kind of a big rock in their hearts!
Ferguson shook his fist fiercely, what he was most worried about was that he was ready, but the players were afraid and excited when they ushered in the penalty shootout, and the most terrible thing was that it was such a chain reaction, if Giggs made such a mistake again, such feelings would spread throughout the team like a plague!
Fortunately, there is no such situation now, and Giggs, who usually seems very silent and low-key, showed the psychological factor and calmness at this time, and scored the first penalty for Manchester United!
Such a move will also make the other Manchester United players full of confidence!
Ryan Giggs ran back to his team-mates with his head held high, and his team-mates came up to high-five him and hug him, by which time Arsenal's second penalty had already made his way to the box.
This fan is enjoyable, but even the fourth referee Halsey, the referees are now nervous, and Christina is now soaked in sweat, as the referee, she ran for 120 minutes, in such a high-level duel, the referee's running distance and intensity are much stronger than the average English League and even the ordinary Premier League, Christina is now also nervous, which not only tests the hearts of the players, but also tosses the referee!