Chapter 157: Champions League Final Four

In addition to the huge physical drain, what made everyone at Chelsea desperate was that they had not been able to score until the end of the first half.

Although they also had a few shots on goal, and even hit the frame twice, their shooting skills were not as good as Cheng Hai's, and they didn't hit a blind corner shot that the goalkeeper couldn't save.

At half-time, the score was still 1-0 on the big screen, and the aggregate score was still 3-1 Chelsea for Borussia Dortmund, with the Blues still two goals behind Dortmund.

In the second half, Chelsea needed to score two goals and not allow Borussia Dortmund to continue scoring to send the game into extra-time.

For Chelsea, this is a huge challenge.

After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and fought again.

For Chelsea, although their backline is full of veterans over 30, the first half of the game has exhausted them, and they do not have the ability to go into a deep sleep as quickly as Cheng Hai at half-time to recover their fitness and energy, but the difficult score situation has forced them to continue to attack and strive for goals after the start of the second half.

With the aggregate score behind by two goals and the away goal advantage erased, they can no longer wait for Cheng Hai to go off the field before launching a counterattack like in the first leg.

Chelsea fans in the stands also sang the Chelsea anthem in the pouring rain, cheering on the team and hoping for a miraculous comeback.

Perhaps it was a real favourite, and after more than 10 minutes of attacking with all their might, Chelsea finally had a chance to pull a goal back in the 61st minute.

The chance was created by the skilful Juan Mata, who dribbled up front to the left side of the penalty area and wanted to pick up a ball to the right side of the penalty area, where Drogba, who was inserted in the back row, to grab a header.

Unexpectedly, his cross just hit the elbow of Dortmund defender Piszczek who was defending him in front of him, and Piszczek, who was defending with open arms, didn't have time to stop at all, and the ball hit him in one fell swoop.

The referee didn't hesitate to award Piszczek a penalty for a handball in the box.

There was a frantic cheer from the Chelsea fans in the stands.

There was no controversy about the goal, as Piszczek argued that he had not intentionally handballed the ball, but the referee ignored it and had to withdraw from the box and let Chelsea take the penalty.

The penalty was taken by Chelsea vice-captain and Frank Lampard.

Frank Lampard made no mistake and slotted the spot-kick into the door of Borussia Dortmund, making it 1-1 and 2-3 on aggregate, one goal behind Borussia Dortmund.

If it's hopeless to be two goals behind, it's hopeless to be one goal behind.

Therefore, when Frank Lampard converted the penalty, Chelsea's morale was immediately boosted, and Terry, Ferreira, Lampa and others, who had been dragged down by the fierce scrambling and sprinting back and forth in the first and second halves, suddenly became highly motivated, and worked even harder in the next game, as if they wanted to score another goal in one blow to completely equalize the aggregate score.

However, football is not a game where morale is high and you can win it, it also requires strength and luck.

In the 66th minute, Drogba ran out of a nice gap on the right side of the penalty area to get a pass from his teammate, and came with a powerful volley, but unfortunately it flew high over the crossbar.

In the 69th minute, Chelsea won a free-kick in front of goal, Ashley Cole hoisted the ball into the box, and David Luiz, who rushed up to the top of the ball, grabbed the first point and flicked his header, but it was far off the line.

Chelsea's continued attack had a couple of shots on target, but not even a single threatening shot from inside the woodwork.

On the contrary, while Chelsea are pressing aggressively, Dortmund can create a huge threat to them once they counter-attack with the ball.

Because, Dortmund has Cheng Hai, the world's No. 1 striker.

Although Chelsea also paid great attention to the strict defense of Cheng Hai while attacking aggressively, their physical consumption was indeed too great, and sometimes after attacking, it was inevitable that it would not be timely to return to the defense.

And Cheng Hai's speed is the top in the world, even faster than the world record-setting professional sprinter Usain Bolt.

So, in the 74th minute, Chelsea received the heaviest blow.

It was a Chelsea attack, but it was forced by a Borussia Dortmund player to make a mistake in the middle of the pass and was picked up by Shinji Kagawa.

Shinji Kagawa smashed the ball away from the Chelsea players who came up and crossed the ball to Gundogan in the gap.

When Chelsea's pass was broken, Cheng Hai had already begun to rush towards the Chelsea penalty area, and formed an anti-offside position at the moment of Gundogan's pass.

Essien was too far forward for Terry to keep up with Cheng Hai's defence, with only David Luiz and Ashley Kerr struggling to catch up behind Cheng Hai.

Once Gundogan passes a good ball, Cheng Hai is entirely likely to form a solo goal.

It's a pity that Gundogan's pass in the heavy rain was not passed well, the power was a little smaller, and the landing point was too far away from the goal, and it was impossible for Cheng Hai to head directly outside the penalty area.

Cheng Hai had to stop sprinting forward and wait for the ball to fall outside the right sideline of the penalty area, while David Luiz and Ashley Cole also took the opportunity to rush up and form a sandwich for Cheng Hai to compete for a header together.

Although Cheng Hai occupied the landing spot with his strong physique, he was no longer able to shoot volleys under the pressure of the other two people.

But in addition to Cheng Hai's own shooting, he will also pass the ball and head the ball.

Before the ball fell, Cheng Hai had already seen Lewandowski's run, which was inserted a little later than him, and he was still running in front of Terry.

Terry's energy was already too much exertion, and this time the defense failed to jam Lewandowski's sprint, and was rushed up by Lewandowski.

Therefore, Cheng Hai did not hesitate, relying on his stronger physique and ability to bounce and compete for the top, he beat David Luiz and Ashley Cole, successfully grabbed the landing point, and sent the ball to the left side of the big penalty area line in the middle with a header, just in front of Lewandowski, who was inserted.

Lewandowski unloaded the ball and slotted it down the middle before John Terry slotted into the box to hit the far corner against the onrushing goalkeeper Cech.

Terry, desperately in danger of a foul to give away a penalty, pushed Lewandowski behind him and pushed Lewandowski to the ground.

However, Lewandowski's kick was unaffected by John Terry, and he managed to bypass Cech's ten fingers and fly into the Chelsea goal close to the far post.

Seeing the ball go into the net, Lewandowski, who was pushed down in the box by Terry, instantly got up, rushed to the sidelines, and waved his right hand to celebrate.

In the Dortmund team, Cheng Hai is not only the first scorer, but also the only one who has unlimited firing rights.

Despite Lewandowski's good ability, he hasn't actually scored many goals in a season. It's no wonder he's so excited to score in an away game against Chelsea.

And it's not just Lewandowski's own goal to celebrate.

For Borussia Dortmund, it was also the goal that re-extended the aggregate score to a two-goal deficit of 4-2.

It was also Dortmund's second away goal, with Dortmund leading the way in terms of away goals.

That said, even if Chelsea scored twice in quick succession to level 4-4 on aggregate with the remainder of the game, it would be to no avail, and they would still be knocked out of the tournament due to the disadvantage of scoring fewer goals away from home, and see Borussia Dortmund progress to the last four.

Chelsea can only knock Dortmund out of the last four by scoring three goals in the remaining time and not allowing Dortmund to score again, making the aggregate score 5-4 to qualify for the Champions League semi-finals.

But it was already 74 minutes when Cheng Hai assisted Lewandowski to score, and even if stoppage time was added, there were only 20 minutes left at most.

To score three goals in a row for Dortmund in 20 minutes and not allow Dortmund to score is hellish difficulty.

Don't look at Cheng Hai's 152 goals a year, it seems that it is easy to score goals on the field, but in fact, Cheng Hai alone has scored more goals than many teams have scored in a year.

Football is not like basketball, and it is quite difficult to score any goal.

It's really hard to score three goals in 20 minutes.

Therefore, Lewandowski's goal can be said to have sealed the win.

It's no wonder that Lewandowski was so excited, and Cheng Hai, Gundogan and others rushed over excitedly, and everyone ran wildly in the rain to celebrate.

Chelsea's players, coaches and fans, on the other hand, were at a loss or dejected.

Everyone knows that at this point in time, for Chelsea, their Champions League journey this season is basically over.

The Blues have a long way to go in their quest for Champions League glory.

Of course, as the captain of the Blues and the soul of the iron-blooded army, Terry will not admit defeat.

One by one, he slapped the shoulders and heads of his teammates who were closer, woke them up, and then raised his hands and kept yelling:

"Cheer up, the game isn't over yet!"

"We still have time!"

Vice-captain Frank Lampard also stepped up to encourage his team-mates up front and the fans in the stands.

At the encouragement of the two, the whole Chelsea team began to show a real mourning temperament, and the fans in the stands began to sing in the rain and cheer for Chelsea.

At the same time, Terry also complained to the referee that Dortmund's celebrations were too long and that they were suspected of delaying time.

Lewandowski and his team-mates had to end their celebrations for less than half a minute after the referee intervened, returning to their own half to set up a Chelsea kick.

Chelsea, who were two goals behind on aggregate and also on away goals, naturally couldn't care so much, and the whole team pressed on the Borussia Dortmund half in an attempt to score with an indomitable attack.

Of course, it was both an away game and a rain battle, and after completing the last scramble and header ferrying to assist Lewandowski to score, Cheng Hai really couldn't run.

Even if it's not over yet, it doesn't actually have much attack power.

Therefore, in the 77th minute, when Chelsea's attack was broken by Shinji Kagawa and Ashley Cole rushed to the sideline to pick up the ball and wanted to send a throw-in quickly, Dortmund made a substitution that interrupted Chelsea's attacking rhythm.

Cheng Hai was physically exhausted and was replaced by Klopp. But instead of striker Barrios, he was replaced by midfielder Bender.

With an aggregate advantage of two goals and an away goal advantage, Dortmund will have to hold on until the end of the game.

Chelsea are still holding on to their binge.

If you don't attack, they are almost eliminated. Even full-back Ashley Cole has rushed to the flanks of the pitch and become a winger.

However, after a long back-and-forth sprint in the first round and the second round, the physical strength could not hold on, and Ashley Cole, who is over 30 years old, suddenly fell to the ground in the 84th minute when he dribbled the ball himself and no one made contact with him.

Big' leg cramps.

Chelsea had to come up with a substitution, and instead of a full-back, a striker Sturridge was used to step up the attack.

Finally, Chelsea's game-breaking onslaught was on the scoresheet in the 89th minute.

Their wide cross was headed out of the box by Borussia Dortmund centre-back Subotic and Frank Lampard slotted the ball towards goal with a non-stop volley from outside the box.

The violent long-range shot was powerful and hit Dortmund's Sebastian Kehl's foot in the middle of the way, causing goalkeeper Weidenfeller to surrender and watch the ball fly from behind him into the goal.

Frank Lampard scored a brace to level the game at 2-2 and make it 4-3 on aggregate, leaving Chelsea one goal behind.

But in reality, everyone knows that Chelsea are powerless.

Although they were only one goal behind on aggregate, it looked like they would have equalised with just one more goal.

However, they are still one goal behind Borussia Dortmund in the race for away goals.

An aggregate equaliser would not have allowed them to progress, and only two goals in the next few minutes of stoppage time would have Chelsea be able to knock Borussia Dortmund out of the last four.

But two goals in stoppage time staged a comeback, something that only Manchester United had done in '99 in football history, and it was called the Camp Nou miracle.

Since it is a miracle, it proves that it is not something so easy to achieve.

And so it is.

Although the referee gave a long four minutes of stoppage time, Chelsea were powerless in the final four minutes.

Not to mention two goals, they didn't even score a single goal, not even a threatening shot from the woodwork.

Four minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game as Borussia Dortmund beat Chelsea 2-1 in the first leg, 2-2 in the second leg and 4-3 in both legs to qualify for the 2011/2012 Champions League semi-finals.

Cheng Hai, Klopp and others, who had already been waiting on the sidelines in the rain, rushed into the field with open arms and cheers at the moment of the final whistle, and celebrated with Lewandowski, Shinji Kagawa, Gundogan and others on the field.

As for the Chelsea players, they almost all collapsed to the ground at the end of the game, and they could no longer control the muddy water on the ground.

It's so tiring.

When the body is tired, the heart is even more tired.

It is still being eliminated.

No one can hold it up anymore.

Even John Terry, known as an iron man, and vice-captain Frank Lampard collapsed to the ground, unable to stand any longer.

After celebrating with his team-mates, Cheng Hai suddenly felt a sense of admiration when he saw Frank Lampard slumped to the ground.

The intensity of the quarterfinals of these two legs is really beyond the imagination of Cheng Hai and his teammates.

Originally, everyone thought that meeting Chelsea, who had just experienced a change of manager, would be a relaxed and happy quarter-final, but they didn't expect it to be so difficult to play both legs.

In the end, it was only one goal ahead on aggregate to advance to the semi-finals, which was really thrilling.

Chelsea's veterans who are over 30 years old are really admirable.

Cheng Hai took the initiative to walk to Lampard's side and stretched out his right hand to Lampard on the ground.

Seeing this, Lampard glanced at Cheng Hai unexpectedly, then reached out to hold Cheng Hai, was pulled up by Cheng Hai, and then hugged by Cheng Hai.

Cheng Hai then let go of Lampard and said: "I was surprised by your performance and I would like to exchange shirts with you. ”

This is the first time that Cheng Hai has taken the initiative to exchange jerseys with others since his debut, and others have come to him before, and he has not asked others to exchange jerseys.

The performance of the whole Chelsea team, and Frank Lampard's brace, really shocked him.

The best player of the game was not Cheng Hai, but Frank Lampard, who scored twice.

Therefore, Cheng Hai found him and took the initiative to exchange jerseys with him.

Although Lampard was in a somewhat gloomy mood, he still felt honored to be respected by the world's No. 1 striker Cheng Hai and took the initiative to exchange shirts, and he did not refuse at all, so he took off his shirt and exchanged with Cheng Hai, and said:

"Congratulations, you are indeed stronger than us!"

Because of the heavy rain, neither side celebrated too much on the pitch or interacted with the fans, and not long after the game ended, there was no way for the players or fans to disperse.

Back in the dressing room, Dortmund celebrated.

Jurgen Klopp took Cheng Hai and captain Kyle to the post-match press conference, where Cheng Hai spoke highly of Chelsea, saying that Chelsea this season is an absolutely respectable team.

Whether it is strength or fighting spirit, tacit cooperation, hard work, etc., Chelsea is not weaker than Dortmund, or even stronger than Dortmund.

Dortmund's promotion actually came with a lot of luck.

Of course, there is an element of Cheng Hai's modesty. Anyway, you have already won, and giving high praise to your opponent can not only show grace, but also show that it is more difficult for your side to win.