Chapter 149: An Unexpected Goal
"I'm the happiest one!"
These are the words of Jose Mourinho in his second spell in charge of Chelsea in an interview with the media.
Winning the treble at Inter Milan and winning the long-awaited league title with a record 100 league points at Real Madrid, he has high hopes for his return to the Bridge.
Without the wild and uninhibited before, the years have left vicissitudes on his face, the once sharp edge has been restrained, and there will be a kind smile on his face.
From black hair to white hair, the only thing Mourinho has changed is his passion for football.
This season, Chelsea have been at the top of the table since the first round of fixtures.
So far, Chelsea and Manchester City behind them have opened up a 10-point difference, and the league title is basically locked.
In the Carabao Cup, Chelsea eliminated Tottenham 2-0 to win their first title of the season.
Facing a four-game winning streak against Lyicester City, Chelsea are in for a make-up fixture.
On his return to Stamford Bridge, Mourinho's veterans in the first phase are only John Terry, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech.
Although the monster Drogba is no longer as brave as he used to be, he can always help the team make a final decision at critical times.
Veteran John Terry's youthful and steady-skinned defence has made him and Gary Cahill a defensive barrier.
Petr Cech is no longer the favourite to start goalkeeper and the young Thibaut Courtois is well established.
Only in cup games or other inconsequential games will he be on the pitch.
Against the top team, Pearson's side looked exceptionally relaxed.
The make-up game will not affect the current standings, and even if they lose, Lyicester City will still not fall into the relegation zone.
They will have to focus on the last four games in May.
In this round of the game, Rossi sat on the bench, which was agreed in advance, and he would only play in the last half hour to find his form.
Two days later, the team hosted Newcastle.
Chelsea have played against Manchester United and Arsenal in succession, and the players are also very tired.
For this match, Diego Costa did not appear on the match list and was replaced by Didier Drogba.
Behind Drogba are three superlative demons, Eden Hazard, Willian and Ramirez.
Smallfa and Nemanja Matic partnered in the back two. Nemanja Matic, who is tall and long-legged, can escort Cesc Fabregas.
The duo of John Terry and Gary Cahill have conceded the fewest goals of any of the Premier League's 20 teams so far.
Flanked by defensively solid Cesar Azpilicueta and Yovanovic were flanked.
For Lyicester City, Pearson used a 5-3-2 line-up with right wing-back Albrighton to get forward at all times.
The three central defenders, Vasilewski, Hutter and Morgan, ensure the height and strength of the defence.
Left wing-back Koncheski also has a task to plug in at any time.
In the midfield trio, Drinkwater is the heart of the attacking playmaker, with Andy King and Cambiaso in charge of defensive interceptions and inserting when appropriate.
Up front is a combination of Jamie Vardy and Ulloa.
Perhaps because of the continuous high-intensity play, Chelsea were out of form after the opening kick-off, and it was difficult to move forward in the face of high pressure from Lyrcester City.
Eden Hazard, the king of passes, was also not in good shape, and several attempts were successfully defended by Cambiaso.
Cesc Fabregas struggled to deliver threatening opportunities forward with Jamie Vardy's interference.
Although Chelsea had possession, it was common for them to be limited in attack and to return to goalkeeper Petr Cech.
Seeing this, Mourinho rushed out of the rest area, crossed his hands into his trouser pockets, and watched the game with a serious expression.
The final rounds of the league are the most testing of the team's perseverance and bench depth. but
Jose Mourinho never felt like he would play so passively away from home with his squad.
The reason is that the first two rounds of matches against Manchester United and Arsenal made the players physically unbearable.
In the 10th minute, Lyicester City made a successful tackle in midfield.
Hazard's breakthrough shook off Drinkwater's defence, only to be cut off by Albrighton, who was rushing from behind.
Switching from defence to attack, Albrighton pushed forward very quickly, and went one-two with Drinkwater, past Nemanja Matic's defence, and handed the ball to Jamie Vardy.
On the counter-attack, Jamie Vardy was on the flank, using a curling run to cut diagonally into the box in front of full-back Ivanovic.
Ivanovic saw through Vardy's intentions, made a tackle on the edge of the box and stabbed the ball at Vardy's feet on his toes towards goal.
While the fans were clasping their heads and shouting "pity", Ulloa suddenly appeared on the trajectory of the ball.
Yoon Vankovic's tackle cleared the ball and it turned into an assist.
Centre-back Gary Cahill scrambled to defend from behind, and under his interference, Ulloa failed to stop the ball in the first step, affecting his follow-up shot on the second foot.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech was quick, fell to the ground, saved Ulloa's shot with his right palm, and the ball rolled towards the bottom line, which was cleared by Yowankovic's big foot.
Despite being 33 years old, Cech is still world-class.
Pearson, who tasted the sweetness, took advantage of the home game to press the attack forward and play more space in Chelsea's ribs.
Especially on the right side, Hazard advanced with the ball, and basically did not return to the defense at the first time after being cut off, and Willian in the middle did not have the awareness of making up for defense and interception, and relied on the back man Matic alone.
Lyicester City are on the left, not only with Drinkwater, but also with Albrighton, who is frequently involved in attack.
Ulloa up front can take away John Terry's defence and should Hazard concede a goal to establish a numerical advantage in the area.
Mourinho was very unhappy with this, and let Ramires and Willian switch positions to make up for the gaps in the defense, which gradually allowed the team to gain a firm foothold in defense.
Just when fans were jubilant that there would be a close contest between the two sides, Andy King went down injured in the 19th minute after a confrontation with Nemanja Matic.
The team doctor came in to check on the injury, made a substitution gesture to Pearson, and Matthew James was called up.
Just six minutes later, Lyicester City suffered another blow.
Hutt and Drogba were replaced by Delaet after a broken eyebrow bone and bleeding profusely during a aerial duel.
Halfway through the first half, Lyrcester were forced to make two substitutions, forcing the team to switch to a passive defence and conserve fitness.
Fatigue brings not only instability to the players, but also the body is also prone to injury in high-intensity confrontations.
Lyicester City have been in a tense state of catching up since February, giving 120 per cent of their best every game to escape the relegation zone.
In the final game of April, many players were not in good shape, and even a strong team like Chelsea was in inconsistent form, let alone Lycester City.
After the injury substitution, the game became more dull.
The Chelsea players were slow to open up and seemed to be heavier than usual, with Eden Hazard, Willian and Ramires all missing their former breakthroughs.
Lyicester City, because they were forced to go on the defensive, stayed to play the second half, and did not have much eye-catching attack.
In particular, Rossi is not on the sidelines, and only relies on Drinkwater in the frontcourt counterattack, and a single offensive mode is easy to be limited.
The centre-backs of John Terry and Gary Cahill were able to limit the home side's only high point, Ulloa, and Lyicester City did not threaten to shoot.
After three minutes of stoppage time, Mourinho had already blackened his face and was ready to go straight back to the dressing room after the half-time whistle.
The home fans also rushed to the toilet to avoid overcrowding at halftime.
In the last minute of stoppage time, Albrighton drove the ball down the right side of the pitch, faced Nemanja Matic's defence, and after completing a one-two with Drinkwater, he handed the ball to Jamie Vardy, who was on the side, and quickly cut in to the middle.
Facing Cesar Azpilicueta's defence, Vardy suddenly kicked in, slotted the ball forward, and swept it in front of goal in the moment of opening.
The cross was too rushed and in order to avoid the defender's block, Vardy didn't quite kick the ball up, the arc and height were not enough, it was a low ball.
Albrighton, who was at the front of the post, saw the low and fast cross, and in front of him, he couldn't shoot in the usual way.
So, he stretched out his right foot and used the instep to cushion the ball into the top corner of the goal.
With such close proximity, goalkeepers Petr Cech and John Terry were too late to react and, despite reaching for a save, could not stop the ball from flying into the net.
1:0!
It was a sudden and unexpected goal, and not only Chelsea, but even the players at Lyrcester couldn't believe they were ahead.
The King Power Stadium was suddenly boiling, and the fans who were queuing up to go to the toilet hurriedly ran out when they heard the cheers, and they were happy and sorry to see the team celebrating.
I just lined up to go to the toilet, how did I get ahead.
Jose Mourinho returned to the dressing room without looking back, a result that left him very unhappy.
You are a genius, remember in a second: Red Sweet Spring: