Chapter 218: Chaotic Battle
The chaos on the court continues, and it is truly touching that what should have been an extremely exciting match on a competitive level has inexplicably turned into a fierce wrestling match.
Although Ferguson waved and shouted indignantly on the sidelines, and from time to time asked the fourth official to protest and condemn, the curvature that occasionally drew from the corners of his mouth fully showed that he was very satisfied with the situation of such a "chaotic battle" that the game had evolved.
After formulating the "foul tactic", Ferguson expected that the match was likely to become chaotic. To some extent, such chaotic battles are very beneficial to Manchester United, who are playing away from home, although their attacks have been repeatedly interrupted by the opponent's rude big moves, but importantly, the opponent's attack has not been able to organize smoothly again.
Unable to score goals, the opponent's attack threat is greatly reduced, this is a balance, and this balance is enough to ensure that Manchester United will not fall too much disadvantage away from home, which is crucial in the two-legged knockout match, even if the final score is 0:1 defeat, but back at home, a goal gap, they have a lot more room to operate.
Relative to that, such a chaotic situation is not good for the hosts, and if Villarreal are to go one step closer and make real history in this season's Champions League, they will need to win not only this game and three points, but also a good win – just one goal difference is not enough, and the second leg goes to Old Trafford, where a one-goal gap on Manchester United's turf could easily be erased.
Like Ferguson, Pellegrini started out yelling on the sidelines, angry at the sight of his players being violated, but as the game went on, he began to realize that something was wrong, especially after inadvertently seeing Ferguson smiling like an old fox not far away, and he suddenly realized that he, or his team, fell into Ferguson's calculations.
"What a cunning old fox."
Manuel Pellegrini is a very smart manager, just in the blink of an eye to figure out the joints, for this, he is a little crying and laughing, in the last round of knockouts, his team used such a "-stirring stick tactic" against Arsenal, I didn't expect the retribution to come so quickly, turned their heads and they were led by Manchester United.
"It can't go on like this. We've got to find a way to score again, at the very least, we've got to make the advantage bigger again! ”
Manuel Pellegrini raised his wrist, looked at his watch and waved at the players on the pitch, signaling them not to waste their energy on grappling with Manchester United and to step up their attack.
Then he walked to the bench, and after some explanations, several substitutes changed into vests and ran out, and began to move in the warm-up area.
"With the substitutes starting to warm up on the sidelines, Mr. Manuel seemed tired of the endless 'chaos' and he felt it was time to make a change – in fact, the game was intense, but it wasn't about the competitive level, and I think the fans were tired of it. We need a fluid attack, we need a fantastic goal! ”
Sir Alex Ferguson naturally preferred the game to be chaotic all the time, his team didn't score, but a goal difference is nothing, he has his own little calculations...... But now it seems that Mr. Manuel has seen through Sir Alex Ferguson's 'conspiracy' and he and his team are about to fight back! ”
'It's 75 minutes into the game and the two teams are still evenly matched – it's only now that we can react, is Villarreal still in time? Will they be able to make a difference offensively? ”
While the commentators were talking, the Red Devils stumbled and organized an offensive under the siege of the home team's players.
The starting point of the attack was at the back, Hargreaves passed the football to Cristiano Ronaldo diagonally in front of him, and as soon as the Portuguese received the ball, he was pressed by Senna from behind, and his body was constantly squeezed to put pressure on the former.
All this is not different from before, Senna used physical contact to interfere with Ronaldo's possession, making it difficult for the opponent to complete the turn easily, and even making it difficult to pass.
C. Ronaldo was hit and stumbled a little, although he stumbled, but never fell to the ground, the referee has been paying attention to the situation here, the whistle is in his mouth, and it seems that he is about to blow the horn at any time to give Senna a foul, but C. Ronaldo's not falling to the ground makes him hesitate.
It was at this moment that C. Ronaldo knocked the football to the back of Senna with his heel, but his body pounced forward as if he was about to fall, and Senna, who was squeezing him, was caught off guard by this sudden change, lost the target of leaning on the squeeze, his center of gravity was unstable, and he fell directly to the ground. But C. Ronaldo, who pounced forward, did not fall, his hands were propped up on the ground, his body bounced up again, and he quickly caught up with the football!
A very embarrassing pass, but he turned smoothly and shook off the defender, and under the referee's hands raised flat, signaling the offensive advantage, C. Ronaldo strode with the ball and sprinted.
"One time...... Well, it's jaw-dropping! ”
"Cristiano used an atypical dribble to get away from Marcos' defence! Hmm, similar to a dog planing in a swimming motion...... We can call this action of Cristiano a Cristiano dog-planing pass! ”
Although the action is not very beautiful, but the effect is excellent, C. Ronaldo, who got rid of Senna, was like a wild horse, flying fast with the ball and rushing straight to the middle, Riquelme wanted to come over and directly use the foul to stop it, but C. Ronaldo shrewdly avoided it first, and stabbed the ball out by the way.
It was Berbatov who retreated to receive the ball, and after seeing Ronaldo continue to sprint forward around Riquelme, the Bulgarian striker pushed with his right foot and the ball fell back to Ronaldo's path.
Clever and tacit cooperation against the wall!
C. Ronaldo had already rushed into the goal about twenty-five meters, which was already within his range. Facing the rolling football, C. Ronaldo raised his foot straight up, kicked the football with his straight right foot, and the black and white elf turned into a white line and rushed straight to the goal.
'Cristiano got rid of Marcos, he was quick, Roman went up and pressed, Cristiano passed...... Berbatov passes the ball back, what will Cristiano do? Oooo The ball rushed to the goal like a cannonball! ”
"The shot – the power, the speed, the angle was perfect! Look at the trajectory of the football, this ball, this ball, there is a ......"
Manchester United's counterattack came so quickly, and Senna's breakthrough also made Villarreal's central defense reveal a huge flaw, and when the defense was not reorganized, Cristiano Ronaldo's shot was already instantaneous.
A defender jumped up and tried to use his body to block the flying football, but he couldn't touch anything. Diego. López was a little obscured from view, and when he saw the football getting bigger and bigger in his pupils, it was too late to make a save, and he could only watch indifferently as the football mixed with the wind whistling, with a desperate look in his eyes.
But in the next second, such despair turned into ecstasy.
"Bang~"
A dull sound rang out, and the goal behind Lopes seemed to be constantly vibrating.
Football is turned away by the beam!
López reacted quickly, and Rooney just wanted to start the second drop point of the ball, but López had already jumped and pounced on the ball.
The crisis is over!
López hugged the football under him, and couldn't help but kiss the black and white elf again and again, in the moment just now, he thought it was going to be over, but apparently God brought good luck to the Love Song Stadium today, otherwise, he really didn't dare to imagine the consequences of the goal being pierced - the team's lead was already small, if the opponent scored again, then it would be Villarreal who was at a disadvantage, the opponent not only did not fall behind in the score, but also had an away goal, which is important for the next leg of the game, It was nothing short of a disaster.
Like López, the other submarine players had a feeling of being left behind, and some even had cold sweat on their backs.
"Really...... Scared to death! ”
"It's okay, it's okay, I didn't score in the end, thanks to the goal, thanks to the Love Song Stadium, thank God!"
"Lady Luck is on our side today!"
The fans in the stands also showed relieved expressions.
And C. Ronaldo on the field is angry and kicking the turf fiercely, he is really depressed, today he is in good shape, running, breaking, shooting, feeling very good, but only lacking a trace of luck. Such an inevitable goal opportunity was missed, and his heart was full of unwillingness.
"Damn it!"
Ferguson also waved his hand angrily, as if he wanted to vent the anger in his heart, and he also moved his legs, as if he wanted to kick something, but when he turned around, he found that there were no water bottles around him - a few mineral water bottles that had been placed on the ground before, and he didn't know where he kicked them for a long time.
Pellegrini only felt that his heart was beating violently in "bang bang bang ~", this kind of great sadness to joy was like a roller coaster plot, so that his emotions were a little out of control, and he shouted on the sidelines regardless of his demeanor, at the same time, he also realized that although the team's defense was good, it was not invulnerable, the game reached this level, Manchester United still had the ability to threaten their own goal, he did not dare to delay any longer, called back the players who were warming up, gave a few words, and personally brought them to the sidelines.
The fourth official then held up the electronic sign and signaled for a substitution.
Mavuba and Tomasson are ready to replace Riquelme and Nihatt at the same time, the former is coming on to strengthen the defensive strength of the midfield, which is a signal to let go of the attack at the last moments, solid defense, and then the front court can attack without reservation.