At 21:00 on March 9, 2011, at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, Portugal, the first leg of the 2010/2011 UEFA Cup quarter-finals Benfica vs Dortmund officially began in the cheers of more than 60,000 fans.

Benfica, who were playing at home, burst out in the first half with extraordinary fighting power, suppressing Dortmund from afar.

Despite Benfica's quality, Jurgen Klopp was prepared for a tough away game and rotated his squad in the last league game, but Dortmund played hard in the first half of this game, conceding two goals and failing to score a goal.

The reason for this, in addition to the reasons for Dortmund's away games and poor form, is also the reason why Benfica's players are in a state like chicken blood.

For Benfica, although they may have a higher historical background than Dortmund, modern football has been reduced to golden football in the 21st century.

The top five leagues stood out with more money and media promotion, transfer fee spending, salary expenses and an overall technical and tactical atmosphere, which reduced the Portuguese Premier League to a secondary league outside the top five leagues, and the media and fans paid much less attention.

Two players with the same strength, Benfica and Dortmund, who should be about the same, have received very different media attention and heated discussions among fans, and their values and incomes are naturally different.

Therefore, in this League Cup quarter-final against Dortmund, the top of the Bundesliga, the players of Benfica are very energetic, very desperate, with a strong hope of taking advantage of the opportunity to win against the opponent Dortmund to attract the attention of the big five league giants.

For many young players or players who are in their playing years, if they can successfully attract the attention of the big five league giants, it is cost-effective to transfer to the big five leagues to play, even if the salary is lower.

In addition, everyone also knows that about 60 minutes into the second half, the terrifying goal machine Cheng Hai will come on as a substitute.

At that time, Benfica's attacking opportunities will inevitably be greatly reduced, and the midfield will be suppressed by Cheng Hai and dare not boldly press to participate in the assist, so they must achieve more advantages in the first half.

A combination of various reasons led to Benfica's 2-0 lead in the first half.

At half-time, Jurgen Klopp brought on Owomoyela, who had been poor in the first half, and brought on Gotze in the hope of strengthening the attack.

Not long after the start of the second half, Benfica launched an attack from the left side of Götze's position, and finally scored another goal with a low cross to extend the score to 3-0.

The entire Stadium of Light became a sea of cheers.

The 3-0 lead finally gave Benfica's players and fans some peace of mind.

Now, even if Cheng Hai is on the field, they are not afraid.

On the other hand, Klopp's side was calm and calm when he was 0-2 down, but when the score became 0-3 down, he was also anxious.

Three goals behind, if it weren't for the trump card of Cheng Hai in his hand, I'm afraid Dortmund would have been eliminated by Benfica.

Even if it's just the first round of a two-legged match.

Even so, Cheng Hai's average goal rate per game is only more than one, not two, not three.

Moreover, averages can be deceiving!

Cheng Hai still has a time when he has no goal or assist!

Therefore, seeing that Benfica scored another goal and turned into a three-goal lead, Klopp was also anxious, and immediately called Cheng Hai, who was warming up, and asked: "If you are allowed to play now, can you play until the end of the game?" ”

It was only the 50th minute of the second half, and with stoppage time, there were at least 43 minutes.

Even Cheng Hai has never played so long in the Bundesliga, let alone the League Cup, which is faster than the Bundesliga.

But Cheng Hai, who knew that the current situation was extremely unfavorable to him, did not flinch, and nodded fiercely: "Yes!" ”

Klopp patted Cheng Hai on the shoulder and immediately made a substitution decision, letting Cheng Hai replace Barrios and partner with Lewandowski as a double striker.

With Dortmund's substitution, Benfica also immediately made substitution adjustments, removing a striker and a full-back, replacing a central defender and a midfielder, and the defensive strength was instantly improved a lot.

Although Cheng Hai changed the situation in an instant after the game, Dortmund, who was pressed and beaten by the opponent, became the main opponent and began to bombard Benfica's half indiscriminately.

But Benfica, who have led by three goals, has a huge psychological advantage in itself, and has also made substitutions, which has greatly improved the defensive strength, even with Cheng Hai's strength, it is quite difficult to break through Benfica's goal.

Benfica has conducted special research and pre-match training for Cheng Hai, and has conducted special drills on how to defend Cheng Hai.

Although in a one-on-one situation, Cheng Hai can usually break through the past, but the opponent immediately has someone to fill the position, and many people are sandwiched and encircled, it is difficult for Cheng Hai to break through two or three people at the same time in a row.

In terms of running, even with Cheng Hai's full value of running without the ball and his ability to grab points, it is difficult to run out of gaps in the penalty area full of people to get a chance to shoot.

What's more, even if you run out of gaps, you still have to test your teammates' ability to perceive gaps and grasp passing opportunities, as well as the most critical passing skills.

These skills of your teammates are not worth a lot.

Therefore, it is a test of luck.

And today, apparently, Cheng Hai's luck is not good.

Either run out of the gap and can't catch the ball from your teammates, or you break through one or two people alone and are destroyed by the opponent's follow-up defensive force.

Fortunately, in addition to scoring goals, Cheng Hai also has the ability to pass the ball.

Although the ground pass is not good and cannot take on the heavy responsibility of organizing the attack, Cheng Hai's speed and breakthrough skills are still somewhat useful on the side where the opponent's defensive strength is relatively weak, and he can play his full value of crosses and long passes in the air.

But even then, it still needs to be able to grab the cross.

Under the desperate defense of the opponent, Cheng Hai did not succeed in breaking through on the side until the 88th minute before the end of the game to pass a good ball, allowing the captain Sebastian Kell who was inserted in the back row to rush into the penalty area and hit the goal with a powerful header and put the ball into the Benfica goal.

Dortmund relied on Cheng Hai's side cross after coming on as a substitute to get a point back with difficulty, and the score was reduced to 1-3 and only two goals behind, and finally retained a little possibility of advancing in the second leg.

After scoring this goal, neither side scored again.

After three minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the full-time whistle to end the first leg with a 3-1 scoreline, with Benfica at home taking a two-goal lead.

But after the match, no one on either side smiled.

Against either Benfica or Borussia Dortmund, the scoreline was hardly satisfactory.

Dortmund, who lost by two goals, is understandably dissatisfied, but Benfica is also not satisfied, because they are not sure about the second leg!

If they get the second leg with a score of 3-0, they will hold on to it, and it is really possible to advance.

But now only two goals ahead, but also let Dortmund take away an away goal, with Dortmund's play at the Westfaren Stadium, the most terrifying home in Europe, plus the possible outbreak after Cheng Hai returns to the home field, the probability of Benfica losing in the second leg is not low.

As a result, no one on either side was happy with the score of this first leg.

Who will be eliminated will only be known after the second round.