In the blink of an eye, a week has passed.

On April 19, the 35th round of the English Premier League continued.

Villa host ninth-placed Southampton.

This game set a record for the season.

Southampton kicked off first, but they didn't have the idea of shooting at all.

Southampton managed 68 per cent possession throughout the game, however they managed just two shots on goal and just one shot on target.

After the game, José's clothes were still clean.

Southampton didn't get a shot on goal and Villa weren't much better.

With just 32 per cent possession, they had just three shots on goal and just one shot on target.

In the end, the two sides ended in a 0-0 draw.

Villa's tally of zero goals scored and conceded in the season has increased to 12.

caused fans to complain.

The Villa team is really blind to such a good goalkeeper as Jose.

After the match against Southampton, Villa welcomed the first leg against Benfica.

Villa go home and away.

In terms of starting lists.

Villa fielded 343 formations, the list is as follows.

Goalkeeper: Jose.

Defenders: Clark, Vlar, Baker.

Midfielders: Bertrand, Delph, Westwood, Lowton.

Forwards: Weimann, Abonlahou, Albrighton.

Bakuna, Ahmadi and Benteke were on the bench.

Benfica, on the other hand, sent out a 433 formation, the specific list is as follows:

Goalkeeper: Oblak.

Defenders: Siqueira, Garay, Luisson, Maxi Pereira.

Midfielders: Gaitan, Enzo Perez, Ammorim.

Forwards: Rodrygo, Lima, Markovic.

Just last weekend, Benfica won the Portuguese Super League ahead of schedule, conceding only two goals in the last 15 official matches.

Unlike Villa's lack of strikers, Benfica have been exceptional in attack this season.

Prior to this game, they had won seven in a row.

After the opening, Benfica continued to be in full swing despite playing away.

The first shot in front of the field was completed by Benfica's Rodrygo.

It's just that it didn't threaten José at all.

The opponent's shot is directly off the goal.

The opposition was in high spirits, and Jose did not choose to make a long pass to the midfield, but to make a short pass to Karak.

Clark dribbled the ball all the way to the center circle before passing the ball to Bertrand.

In addition to Clark's slow turning, being too sticky is also a major weakness of his game.

Of course, José prefers to work with Clark over Nathan Baker.

In the end, Villa's attack failed to break into the opposition box.

In an instant, Benfica's attack hit again.

Pereira pushed forward wide and got to the right of the Villa penalty area.

Bertrand intercepted it.

It's a pity that he was still a little younger after all, and he was shaken to the ground by a feint by Pereira.

Pereira burst into the right side of the box and crossed.

The ball is at the feet of Lima.

From 15 yards out, Lima fired a left-footed volley.

The ball flew towards the top left of the goal.

Fish leaping dragon gate.

Jose flew straight to the save.

As soon as the ball flew in front of the goal, Jose was already blocking the left side of the goal.

Easy to take.

Do not give the opponent any chance to make a second shot.

"Press out." Jose gestured to his teammates.

This time, Jose kicked straight into the goal.

Straight to Delph's feet.

Delph split the side and the ball reached Lowton's feet.

Unfortunately, in the end, Abang Laho's shot was directly confiscated by the opposing goalkeeper because the angle was too positive.

That's it, you go back and forth between the two sides.

In the first half, the two sides exchanged scores.

As the two teams with the best defense in the Europa League semi-finals.

Scoring goals is not that easy.

Intermission.

"Why, I feel that in this game, there is a high probability that the two sides will draw?"

"I feel the same way, Benfica has a little more chances, but with Jose, it's very difficult for Benfica to score a goal."

"Villa's midfield is too stretched, and there are basically no chances."

…

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again.

It was Benfica who took the lead in completing the goal.

After Benfica won the ball, they advanced layer by layer, and the Villa players could only defend passively.

"Close-fitting, don't let them get the ball easy." Paul Lambert shouted from the sidelines.

However, how can Benfica's players easily let the Villa players get closer?

Amorim dribbled the ball and Delph was the first to get close.

Just as Delph was about to get closer, Amorim passed.

The ball is at Gaitan's feet.

Unable to advance in the middle, Gaitan dribbled to the side.

In front of Gaitan was Rodrigo.

"You pass the left rib of the penalty area."

Gaitan shouted at Rodrigo in Portuguese, then passed the ball to the opposition and began to run into the box himself.

"Watch out for number 20." Jose yelled at his teammates.

The other party thought that by talking in Portuguese, he could deceive José.

As everyone knows, Jose today is proficient in 7 Chinese.

Even in Japanese, he can understand simple expressions such as "Yamai dish".

For José, language is no longer a barrier.

Vlaar heard José's reminder and immediately noticed Gaitan, who was about to burst into the box.

Even so, Gaitan still received a pass from Rodrigo, but his original plan to shoot at the goal failed.

On the left side of the penalty area, Gaitan was pressed by Vlar and the pass was transferred to the other side.

At some point, Lima had already run to the right side of the penalty area.

Right side of the goal.

The edge of the small penalty area.

Lima received a pass from Gaitan and fired directly into the near corner.

The shot was close.

It is difficult for the average goalkeeper to react in a timely manner.

José reacted.

It's just that he just went to the left side of the goal in order to block Gaitan.

Moving from the left side of the goal to the right, it is definitely the flying ball that is faster.

It was seen that Lima's shot was about to cross the goal line.

José flew and pounced.

There's no time to save the ball unless Jose uses a timeout.

Therefore, he had no choice but to stretch out his left foot and stand on the goal line, just in the course of the ball's movement.

Very cleverly, Jose kept Lima's shot out.

Seeing Jose block his own shot, Lima was visibly stunned.

By the time he woke up to the shoot, it was too late.

Clark scrambled the ball out of the box.

The Villa team survived this crisis without a hitch.

The midfield was fiercely contested.

Unfortunately, Villa's attack failed to threaten the opposition goal.

Weimann's shot, slightly over, flew over the bottom line.

The Benfica goalkeeper takes the goal kick.

Fight back quickly.

In the blink of an eye, it was in the Villa penalty area.

Rodrygo's shot.

Straight to the top right corner of the goal.

Jose didn't dare to be careless and chose to block it off the line with one hand.

Give the opponent a corner.

Corner kick taken.

Drove directly into the penalty area.

In the chaos, José grabbed the first landing point.

I saw that in the crowd, Jose, who was wearing a yellow jersey, jumped high and took off the high-speed flying ball with both hands.

Just as Jose landed, the unexpected happened.

In the confusion, Rodrigo pushes Jose intentionally or unintentionally.

Being pushed by the opponent like this, Jose suddenly lost his center of gravity and fell to the ground on the spot, and the ball in his hand almost came out of his hand.

However, it's not over yet.

Seeing Jose fall to the ground, the ball almost came out of his hands, and Rodrigo actually tried to kick the ball away from Jose's hands.

"Damn, are you looking for trouble?" Jose exploded on the spot, and regardless of controlling the ball, he got up and knocked Rodrigo out with his body.

Despite his thin build, José's impact is not weak at all.

Rodrigo was knocked a few steps backwards on the spot.

was knocked back by Jose, and Rodrigo, who was already holding back the fire in his belly, directly pushed Jose back.

"Push me again?" Jose was very rational and did not fight back, but he did not show weakness at all.

As soon as the players on both sides saw that Rodrygo had collided with Jose, they didn't care about fighting for the ball, so they surrounded each other.

Seeing that a group fight was about to occur, the referee's whistle blew.

Hearing the referee's whistle, the sane players on both sides grabbed their teammates.

"After the corner kick just now, he pushed me first," Jose immediately complained to the referee.

"I know, I'm watching." The referee nodded.

Rodrigo thought he was acting secretly, but in fact the referee was on the edge of the box, and he could see everything that was happening in the box.

In the end, Rodrigo was awarded a yellow card.

It was also the first yellow card of the game.

At this point, the game was just over 55 minutes.

“Good jod.” Jose gave a thumbs up to the referee.

Jose doesn't need the referee to defend himself, he just wants the referee to be clear.

The game continues.

After this incident, the anger of the players on both sides came up, and the movements under their feet unconsciously became a lot bigger.

In the 61st minute, Delph ran wildly with the ball in the middle.

Behind him, Enzo Pérez was in hot pursuit.

Seeing that Delph was about to dump himself, Enzo Perez made a move.

He pushed Delph straight to the ground.

"Beep, beep~"

Enzo Perez was booked by the referee on the spot.

Three minutes later, Delph did the same against Amorim and got the Topaz card.

A free-kick opportunity for Benfica.

About 25 yards from the goal.

Gaitan was in charge of handling the free-kick opportunity.

Jose organized the crowd wall as soon as possible.

You can hit the door directly.

However, Gaitan did not choose to do so.

He opted to pass straight into the box.

The landing point was between the defender and Jose, just five yards from goal.

Very clever approach.

This landing point, the average goalkeeper, the speed of the attack is definitely not as fast as the opponent's attacking player.

Villa's defenders are also difficult to deal with, and the slightest mistake can lead to the ball being kicked into their own goal.

"Let me come." José shouted, but he still chose to attack on his own.

Jose is confident that he will not be slower than those attacking players.

In fact, José was the fastest on the team when it came to a pure start, much faster than second-placed Abang Lajo.

Jose's 5x25 switchback time has been the number one in the team since his physical evolution was completed.

This is not known to outsiders except for the players in the Villa team.

From God's point of view, Jose only needs to look at it to determine the exact landing point of the ball.

With a hard kick of both feet, José struck quickly.

While Jose attacked, Lima and Rodrigo were also calculating the landing points.

The five yards in the center of the goal became a must for the players of both sides.

(End of chapter)