Manchester United, who play possession-based tactics, are in the ascendancy on the field, but the real threat of shooting comes mainly from Borussia Dortmund.

In the 14th minute, Manchester United defender Herrera fouled Borussia Dortmund's Mkhitaryan on the edge of the penalty area, and Dortmund were awarded a free-kick opportunity.

Castro's free-kick was blocked by Manchester United centre-back Chris Smalling, but it was not far away and was picked up by Reus at the top of the box. Reus fired a powerful shot just wide of the far post.

At that time, Manchester United's penalty area was densely crowded, whether it was Dortmund on the attacking side or Manchester United players on the defensive side, if anyone accidentally stretched out a kick, De Gea was probably enough to choke.

Two minutes later, Borussia Dortmund were back in action, stealing a United attacking pass from the back and counter-attacking. Weigl picked out a cross from the left, Schmelzer met the onrushing De Gea and crossed for Aubameyang to be denied by Smalling.

It is said that if you don't die, there will be a blessing, and United soon won a free-kick in front of the field in a good position.

In the 21st minute, Jesse Lingard broke through with the ball in front, Reus saw that the situation was not good, put a tackle behind his back, was awarded a yellow card by the referee, and awarded Manchester United a free kick.

Reus was very unhappy with the referee's decision, saying that he touched the football first and did not commit a foul. But the referee insisted on his decision, UEFA has been focusing on dangerous moves such as back-tackles in recent years, and Reuss would have been fine to foul him even if he touched the ball first.

However, the home fans at Westefarium Stadium were equally unhappy with this, and booed the referee to no avail.

The free-kick was on United's right, slightly off the beaten side and a little further from goal, around 40 yards.

According to the pre-match deployment, Rashford naturally took the free kick at this distance, so he also walked to the penalty spot as soon as possible, while the other Manchester United players rushed into the penalty area, pretending to grab the point.

However, this is all a routine that Manchester United has rehearsed in advance, and everyone knows that Rashford is going to attack the goal directly. They did so in order to draw the attention of Borussia Dortmund's defence and create opening chances for Rashford.

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"Royce fouls! It was a foul that didn't have much to say, but it wasn't the foul that mattered, it was a free-kick in front of Manchester United as a result! Lineker said.

After a pause, Lineker continued: "But it's a bit further from goal, about 40 yards, and there are no players in the United squad who are good at taking free-kicks from that distance. Juan Mata has a good left foot, but is more adept at free-kicks around twenty yards in heads-up. Ashley Young would have been okay, but he didn't play today. Could it be Blind's penalty? Most of United's recent corners and free-kicks from long distance have been taken by him. Hey, Marcus Rashford actually stood in front of the ball? What's going on? ”

Dortmund saw that Rashford was going to take the ball, and they didn't care about arguing with the referee, even if they argued, it was impossible for the referee to change the decision, so it was better to hurry up and line up the wall.

For Marcus Rashford, a rising star who has recently amazed the entire world of football, Dortmund attaches great importance to it from top to bottom. So, even though they hadn't heard of Rashford's free-kick level before, they were ready to go.

Weidenfeller also commanded the wall in front of goal, making sure to leave Rashford without leaving any chances.

Because the angle is relatively biased, this free kick is very simple to defend, the human wall blocks the near corner, and the goalkeeper can stand in the middle, so that it can be advanced or retreated, and the far corner and near corner can be taken care of.

Of course, the premise is that the human wall can play a role, and it can indeed seal the near corner.

Generally, penalty shooters will basically choose to hit the side of the human wall, because although the human wall can block their shooting angle, it also often blocks the goalkeeper's view, which gives the free throw player an opportunity to take advantage of.

Borussia Dortmund's human wall blocked the near corner, making sure that the football would not be released. As for the far corner, they were handed over to Weidenfeller.

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Marcus Rashford took a few steps back after setting up the football.

Weidenfeller stared at the retreating Rashford, intending to speculate on how he would kick the free-kick from the point of view of his run.

The foul on Reus was on the right side of United's attack, and on the left side of the defence.

If you want to kick the ball around the wall and into the near corner of the goal, you will most likely choose to kick it with your left foot. It's the norm.

Of course, it is not excluded to use the right foot to wrap the football around the outside of the wall. However, it is more difficult and it is easy to kick off.

The angle at which a player kicks the ball is also affected by their dominant foot, with a left-footed player using his left foot regardless of the angle at which the penalty is taken, and vice versa.

Therefore, when taking a free kick in such a remote place, the player who is used to using the opposite foot will be chosen to take the penalty.

But Rashford is an all-around man and has never heard of him not being good at any foot. Looking at his goal stats, his left and right foot goal stats are average.

To Weidenfeller's surprise, Rashford did not pull back diagonally to pull out the running distance, but went straight back, forming a straight line between him and the football and goal.

What does that mean? He's going to volley with a positive instep? But at such a close distance, there is a good chance that the volley will hit the human wall, or directly above the crossbar.

The experienced Weidenfeller frowned slightly, and thought to himself: "Could it be that Rashford wants to use a powerful way to do miracles?" No, it shouldn't be that simple. ”

Weidenfeller feels that Rashford, although young, is definitely not the type of player who likes to be impulsive.

He leaned down to take a closer look, and then a flash of inspiration suddenly flashed in his mind, and he said secretly: "Maybe Rashford will press the football on the turf at the same time as he volleys hard, so as not to let the football fly." And if the human wall on this side is focused on defending the high ball, and jumps up while Rashford is kicking, then wouldn't the space under his feet just leave it for Rashford? ”

The more Weidenfeller thought about it, the more he thought it was possible, but he didn't inform his teammates, and when he reminded him, he would only startle the snake.

He decided to shift the focus of his defense to the boccia ball, which was handed over to the human wall.

He shifted slightly to his left, not very much, to avoid Rashford seeing through his intentions.

He then lowered his weight and waited for Rashford to kick the ball from under the wall.