141. God forbid
"Penalty! Referee German Markus Merck awarded a penalty! This is absolutely terrible news for AC Milan! "Before that, Milan's defense was very successful, and it had contained Arsenal's attack, and the situation was once showing signs of balance, but Vieira's sudden forward long-range shot created an opportunity, and Henry fell to the ground a little inward after fighting for the second spot, let's take a look at the slow-motion replay!" ”
"Hmm, it should be Lucio's hidden pulling action that was caught by Merck! Merck awarded the penalty, and the foul was indeed in the box, almost just over the line! Lucio was shown a yellow card by Merck, and the pressure was thrown to AC Milan! ”
Andy Gray was on the other side of the live studio looking at another detail, "Oh, buy cakes! Pay attention to the time of the game in the upper right corner of the screen, the 21st minute of the first half! It reminds me of Arsenal's home match against Inter Milan, also at this point in time, also in front of goal on the same side, when Toldor saved Thierry Henry's penalty! So what will happen in today's game? Let's keep our eyes glued to the screen! Wow! ”
Arsenal got a penalty opportunity, the whole team was excited, and the frustration of the 20-minute onslaught was also thrown out of the sky by the Gunners, Vieira was the first to run up and pat Henry on the shoulder to pull him up from the turf, but he didn't notice that Henry's face was slightly solemn at the moment.
Of course, it was not only Henry who looked solemn, but also Wenger on the sidelines, I don't know why he always had an ominous premonition, Mr. Professor's eyes turned to the other end of the middle line, but found that Jiang Qi was still sitting in the coach's seat as usual, neither jumping up to put pressure on the referee, nor a nervous look, just raised his fist in the direction of the penalty area......
Wenger looked in the direction of Jiang Qi's gesture, where AC Milan's goalkeeper Dida stood, and the Brazilian was expressionless, but his eyes were a little cold and terrifying.
The haze that floated in the professor's heart was a little more......
Watching the penalty shootout on the football field is undoubtedly a way to make your blood pressure rise and your heart beat faster involuntarily get nervous, this tense atmosphere began to spread in Highbury Stadium, and the singing that had not stopped since the opening whistle also fell silent, and Highbury, which had a capacity of tens of thousands of people, was much quieter for a while.
Setting up the ball on the 12-yard penalty spot, Henry took a deep breath and began to retreat, and not only Highbury, but fans around the world who were watching the game held their breath at the moment.
Penalty kick is actually a comprehensive skill, not a simple psychological test. For a penalty player, there are many options for a goal with a width of more than 7 meters and a height of nearly 2.5 meters, and each option is a combination of footwork, strength, judgment and understanding of the opponent, and shooting skills.
Moreover, what is more subtle is that when the whistle blows, the penalty player begins to run, and during the time he plays football, both sides are constantly using subtle movements to confuse each other, perhaps behind this short running distance there is a long mental journey between the two sides, but these are just speculations as spectators. So, the source of tension in watching a penalty kick is not only that it is the easiest way to score and change the situation, but also that the spectators themselves will be drawn to the two players and experience the wonderful feeling of different fates in the blink of an eye......
Now, everyone awaits Henry's choice!
Merck's whistle blew and after a pause of about three seconds, the Frenchman started to run, the running distance was not long, he did not make any feints in the process, and even someone in the live broadcast room subconsciously asked - "Henry, is this going to hit the bottom right corner of the goal?" ”
Indeed, he chose the bottom right corner, with a powerful shot and a precise angle, but not an absolute dead corner...... It can be said that there is nothing wrong with this choice, but Dida is like a spring on his leg, and he is not only extremely fast, but also stretches very much, and he really rubs his fingertips against this penalty that should be won by many people!
Miracles! It was a miracle! When the football was touched by the Brazilian's fingertips and bounced on the goalpost, many spectators wondered if Dida's reaction speed to the ball save had surpassed the scope of human beings......
Only Jiang Qi on the sidelines understood that the "San Toldoca" equivalent to the existence of nuclear weapons at some time came into effect!
There is only one secret to the Brazilian's ball saves, and resolute! In the moment before Henry's football, Dida had already made a save, otherwise he wouldn't have had time!
However, the alarm has not been lifted yet! The ball bounced off the post and was a little off-angle, but still dangerous!
Henry seemed to be prepared, the long leg was already in front of him, and Dida's reaction was once again amazing, jumping up from the ground again to block Henry's shooting route, this time the ball hit Dida firmly in the chest, and then bounced far towards the sideline, and was driven out of bounds by Van der Vaart's crisp foot.
And Dida was smothered in the chest by Henry's powerful hit that was close at hand, and he was a little breathless for a while, and the game was forced to be suspended.
"It's amazing! Dida made a save that was even more amazing than Toldo's! The penalty that Toldo saved was a half-high ball, and this ball Henry deliberately chose power, although the angle was not very awkward, but it was resolute enough and responsible enough, and it could be saved by Dida in this situation! Martin Taylor was a little incoherent, "All I can say is that the Brazilians may have been favored by God!" ”
Jiang Qi on the sidelines also jumped up from the coach's seat after Dida made consecutive saves, but when he saw the Brazilian fall to the ground, he hurriedly called the team doctor to check on the field and looked nervous, but he was more nervous than when he was passive and awarded a penalty just now.
Arsene Wenger had only one reaction – silence, silence like a statue. After a long time, he sighed lightly, and then asked the captain Vieira to whisper a few words on the sidelines, and reluctantly made a tactical adjustment to recycle the formation and control the rhythm. AC Milan, who have defended the penalty, will inevitably be demoralised or change the situation, and now turning to possession and consistency is the only right thing to do.
Unless Dida is injured because of the save just now, Milan's rise is already a sure fact, it is better to avoid it for the time being, as for the Brazilian was stifled, this kind of hard injury has little impact on footballers.
The biggest concern for Mr. Professor right now is that the trajectory of this game coincides with that goal at home to Inter Milan in the Champions League group stage, and he doesn't want his team to trip over the same stone twice.