Chapter 41: A Nightmare Come True
Frank Lampard's long-range strike lifted the Blues' morale and disrupted all of Mancini's deployments.
"Can you score so far? How can he score? β
No matter how the Italians gritted their teeth, the scales of victory began to tip in favour of the Blues.
In the 61st minute, Stam made a steal on the right side of the field to win the first offensive opportunity of the second half for Lazio.
"Over there! Over there! Tang Wu retreated while directing his teammates to fill in the position.
When defending, no one has a better vision than a goalkeeper.
Corradi crossed from the side and watched the ball fly in the air, and Galla's header was not far away.
Seeing this distance, Tang Wu "chuckled" in his heart.
Why is the defender always not completely cleared, it's too TM not worry-free!
It's too late, it's too soon. Zauli shot hard from inside the penalty area, and the ball pressed against the turf and flew towards the goal.
"Brother Tang hold on!"
This is what Zhou Haohao has always said.
In fact, at the moment of shooting, no one would have such an idea at all.
Even the on-site commentator only had time to shout: "Lazio shoots!" "If you're not familiar with the team, you can't even name the shooter.
Therefore, for the goalkeeper, the judgment must not only be fast, but also the action must be fast.
The slightly bowed legs were waiting for this moment, almost as if it was a conditioned reflex, and Tang Wu flew to the left.
"Fack!"
Tang Wu really scolded this time.
In full view, defender Johnson stretched his calf, and the ball bounced high on it and flew to the other side of the goal.
"Tang Wu!" Even Huang Jianxiang, who was staring at the screen, only had time to call out Tang Wu's name.
Tang Wu, who rushed out, hurriedly unloaded all his strength and threw himself to the ground. Then get up as fast as you can and stretch out your arms in the opposite direction.
Fortunately, the ball that was blocked was not fast, and after it bounced up for the second time, it was pushed out of the bottom line by Tang Wu's palm that arrived in time.
When Tang Wu completely defused this shot, Huang Jianxiang realized that he had already broken out in a cold sweat.
"It's too dangerous!"
"The ball hit Johnson's leg and it changed direction."
"Fortunately, Tang Wu reacted quickly and resolved the danger in time."
Changing direction is the most hated situation for goalkeepers, there is no one!
The quicker the goalkeeper reacts, the worse he defends against the deflected ball.
Although I often train sudden saves in the opposite direction in training, how can I go all out to "deceive" myself in training?
After Tang Wu used his last strength to push the ball out, he quickly changed direction and began to eat Tang Wu's body.
Chest tightness was just a small symptom, and Tang Wu now not only felt out of breath, but also dizziness and nausea.
He rested on the ground for a while before he was helped to his feet by Terry.
"TOM, good guard."
"Good guard!"
All the players who returned to the penalty area to defend came over and patted Tang Wu's body, and everyone could see that if Tang Wu hadn't spent, I'm afraid Lazio would have taken the lead again.
The Sun highlighted the save after the game, saying that Tang Wu's save ensured Chelsea to continue the draw they had just won, and also showed the flexibility of a world-class goalkeeper.
The defense of corner kicks is not very difficult for Tang Wu, as long as the opponent does not kick the external spin, Tang Wu will most likely choose to attack.
The sound of fists and balls striking each other woke up the stunned Chelsea players, with Frank Lampard being the first to rush out as a midfielder.
Then Veron, Duff and Makelele also rushed out of the penalty area one after another, chasing the ball.
The end of every attack is the start of the Blues' attack.
I don't know how many times I've said this, but it's only when Tang Wu is on the pitch that the Blues players will thoroughly implement this tactic.
Tang Wu's position was too forward, and no player wanted to stand behind the goalkeeper.
With a 'hula', almost all of the Chelsea players ran out of the box, leaving two Lazio strikers on the offside line.
Mancini on the sidelines frowned, Serie A teams are good at defending, if he falls behind at the moment of switching between attack and defense, Mancini can consider substitution.
On 65 minutes, both sides made substitutions.
Pulling used Gronshard to replace Veron, who was not outstanding, and Mancini also replaced the goal-scorer Inzaghi with Muchi.
The Blues' changes have paid off first.
In the 69th minute, after conceding the middle to Frank Lampard, Glen Charles broke down the flank to send in a second pass, and Mutu met the ball and his cushion shot was blocked by Stam.
But Peruzzi had already made a save, and "Sex Machine" Mutu was always so calm before the shot, and he struck the ball into the empty net on the other side with a light kick against the bounced ball.
Chelsea came back 2-1.
From leading to falling behind, Lazio stuck to the penalty area without achieving results. Forced into desperation, he began to attack.
Liverani and Fiore replaced Stankovic and Zauri in succession, but Tang Wu made wonderful saves again and again to defuse all the Italians' attacks.
In the 81st minute, Otto crosses from a 45-degree angle.
From 14 yards out, the lion flicked his head and the ball flicked into the far corner in a falling arc.
As the ball fell, a white-green glove flew into the ball's path at the same time. After a crisp "boom", the goal that was almost guaranteed to be scored was lifted off the crossbar by Tang Wu.
βTOM! TOM! TOM!β Before Tang Wu fell from the sky, all the Blues fans stood up and applauded Tang Wu's rescue.
Seeing Zhou Haohao's excited, jumping and laughing, Zhou Yanping's heart became more and more confused.
"This kid's name is Tang Wu, right? Seems to be still a Chinese? β
......
Lazio erupted in waves of attacks after accumulating energy throughout the game, and in the 87th minute, Lazio won a well-placed set-piece on the right side of the penalty area.
"This may be Lazio's last chance." Staring at the timer, Huang Jianxiang licked the corners of his mouth and said.
As a Serie A fan, what Huang Jianxiang hopes most at the moment is to end the game as soon as possible and let Chelsea, a Premier League side, win.
Chelsea's victory is Tang Wu's victory; Tang Wu's victory is the victory of the Chinese players!
"Good, good, stand, stand!" After commanding the human wall, Tang Wu stood on the goal line and waited for the free throw.
"Huh? How is this scene so familiar? β
Staring at the human wall in front of him and the defenders in the penalty area, Tang Wu felt a sense of dΓ©jΓ vu in a trance.
"Hiss~~~ I seem to have seen this scene somewhere!"
Approaching the free throw, Tang Wu's thoughts suddenly deserted.
There's no way around it.
It's like a student in a class, who can't do it for 45 minutes anyway and listen carefully; Nearly 90 minutes passed, and Tang Wu's attention was concentrated again, and he inadvertently slipped away.
Murch glanced at the wall, and after a few short steps, he swung his right leg sharply and drove the ball over the wall.
As an excellent goalkeeper, even during the slippage, Tang Wu's body reacted to the oncoming ball.
Out of muscle memory, Tang Wu took a step to the right, stretched out his arms, and knelt on one knee.
When the spinning ball overlapped with the scene in the dream, Tang Wu suddenly woke up.
"! Not good! β
As soon as he cursed, there was a muffled sound in his chest after the impact.
Tang Wu used the last bit of strength to control his right knee down again, and slammed it against the turf.
The touch of turf had just come from my knees, and my arms, which had been tense for an hour and a half, suddenly spasmed.
After the ball hit the unfolded arm with a huge spin, it quickly bounced towards Tang Wu's body.
There was a muffled sound again, but this time only Tang Wu heard the impact.
Then there was no sound.
On the pitch at Stamford Bridge, Tang Wu fell to his knees, hunched over like a shrimp, and buried his head in his knees.
Terry, who formed the human wall, jumped forward and turned around as soon as he could, only to find that the ball he had just shot was long gone.
"Wow!" A second later, the silence of Stamford Bridge was again in jubilation. This time, Tang Wu still maintained his original posture and knelt in place.
"HEY, TOM!" Terry was the first to run over and leaned down to inquire about Tang Wu's situation. "How are you?"
Amidst the uproar of the fans, Tang Wu slowly raised his head. Glancing at Terry in front of him, then at the Lazio players who were gradually receding, he slowly got up with the ball in his arms.
"John, I'm fine."
"Whew, it's okay!" Terry let out a sigh of relief and gave a look to the Norwegian referee who was also watching from afar, signaling that Tang Wu was fine.
After Tang Wu stood up, he subconsciously turned his head.
Although the ball was in his hands, Tang Wu always had a feeling that the ball was behind him.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and took a few deep breaths, and my pounding heart calmed down.
The world only saw Tang Wu firmly holding the free kick just now in his arms, but no one knew that at that moment, the ball almost got into the net from Tang Wu's small door because of two ejections from Tang Wu's body.