Chapter 158: A Difficult Match
With beauty by his side, Jiang Feng's life in the United States was very leisurely. However, after staying for five days, Jiang Feng said goodbye to Sally. Thuron and Jessica flew to London, England, where he will watch a Premier League match.
In the 25th round of the 2004-2005 Premier League season, Manchester United challenged Arsenal away.
The current Premier League, because of the early large-scale entry of foreign capital, has become the most competitive league.
Now, 25 rounds into the league, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are in the top three, and the difference is extremely narrow. Manchester United is in first place with 21 wins, two draws and two losses with 65 points, Jose Mourinho's Chelsea has 20 wins, four draws and one loss with 64 points, ranking second with a difference of one point, and after Mansour took over, Arsenal, which has been greatly strengthened, has 19 wins, four draws and two losses, ranking third with 61 points.
These three teams are obviously stronger than the other teams, because the fourth-place Liverpool is already 20 points behind the third-place Arsenal, and Liverpool has only won 11 wins, 8 draws and 6 losses in the 25 rounds of matches that have been played, accumulating 41 points.
Perhaps, this has something to do with Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez's focus on the Champions League. Because there is no injection of a large amount of capital, Liverpool's squad is relatively thin, and it cannot be like Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal's top three, and can make up two sets of lineups with similar strengths.
Although Liverpool are more behind in the league, they have performed well in the cup. In the Champions League, they have successfully made it out of the group stage and reached the knockout stage.
They also reached the final of the Carabao Cup and will face Manchester United for the title at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff City in Wales at the end of this month.
However, they were eliminated in the FA Cup in their first game.
Because the first group is highly competitive. Therefore, this Manchester United and Arsenal match is extremely important.
If United lose, they will not only be cut to just one point by Arsenal, but will also be overtaken by Chelsea. Because tomorrow Chelsea's opponent is very weak, it is Blackburn, and with the quality and consistency of Jose Mourinho's team, the possibility of losing the game is almost zero.
Therefore, this game, not only the head coaches and players of both sides attach great importance to it, but also the bosses of both sides attach great importance to it. No, Jiang Feng also flew over from the United States, and Arsenal's boss Mansour also made a special trip from the United Arab Emirates.
It's just that both of them didn't choose to appear on the rostrum of Highbury Stadium, but appeared in the luxurious VIP box of the stadium.
Jiang Feng and Mansur are both relatively low-key people.
Appears in a box. In addition to Jiang Feng and Mansour, there are also Mansour's wife, Princess Manar of Dubai, and Prince Maktoum. And, of course, the saman yarn.
The atmosphere in the box was harmonious, but the atmosphere in the stadium was extremely tense. This is mainly due to the fact that Manchester United and Arsenal have been the most direct rivals since the inception of the Premier League.
The old rivals of the old man Alex Ferguson and the professor Arsene Wenger did not sit firmly in the coach's bench as usual, but both stood nervously on the sidelines and commanded the game.
And the players on the pitch are giving it their all.
Arsenal fans can't stop making noise. In order to create psychological pressure on the players of Manchester United. Arsenal played away from home in their last game, and there were not many fans who followed the team to Old Trafford, and on the pitch, their momentum was completely suppressed by the 120,000 Manchester United fans at Old Trafford. This time back to his home turf. Arsenal fans were furious to give the United players a storm of boos at Highbury Stadium.
What about other than boos?
Maybe there are other tricks.
Especially the two Ronaldo of Manchester United. If you become the target of public criticism away from home, you can't run. Because in the first leg of this season, the two Ronaldo combined to slaughter Arsenal by four goals at home.
So when the two Ronaldo walked out of the tunnel of the players, there was a deafening boo throughout Highbury Stadium!
"Welcome to the gunslinger's turf, you idiot!"
"You're going to die ugly, bastard! I promise! ”
"You won't be proud for long! You racist! ”
", go back to your hometown! are not welcome in England! ”
……
All kinds of scolding mixed with boos reminded of it, as a recent hot event, racist rhetoric is naturally among them.
The two Ronaldos, however, ignored them, held their heads high, and followed their teammates onto the pitch, taking the boos and swear words into the air.
The boos were so sudden and loud that they startled many of them, and the rest of the United players couldn't help but look up at the stands, where they saw a number of Arsenal fans with their middle fingers raised.
Many people immediately thought that this game might be difficult to play, but all the United players held their heads high, holding the little ball boy in the opponent's jersey in their hands, and did not respond to the boos.
The enemy hates you, and the more they attack you, the more your head rises.
This is the temperament of a wealthy family with a glorious history of 100 years!
The boos of the Arsenal fans still had a great impact, causing a certain amount of pressure on Manchester United's players, plus Arsenal's strength was not weaker than Manchester United, so Manchester United conceded a goal in the first ten minutes of the game.
Thierry Henry opened the scoring for the team.
The Arsenal fans in attendance chanted, and the entire Highbury Stadium was filled with frantic shouts.
"Thierry Henry has scored his twenty goals this season! He has risen to second place in the scorer list! He's the one-of-a-kind King of Highbury! ”
The commentators praised Henry, and Mansour in the box applauded Henry's performance.
Jiang Feng is very calm about this, the current Manchester United has long been accustomed to seeing all kinds of scenes, and this crisis will not make Manchester United collapse.
In fact, it did not put too much psychological pressure on the Manchester United players.
The game continued as the ball came to Ronaldinho's feet after a series of passes. Ruud van Nistelrooy and Didier Drogba both tangled up with Arsenal's players in the box, while Cristiano Ronaldo was able to cut in from the right side of the box. And Ronaldinho also passed the ball to Ronaldo, this time it was an opportunity that he thought was a chance, but Ronaldo did not grab the point. Because of Ashley. Cole stuck his position in advance and resisted Ronaldo with his body. By Ashley. Cole blocked it for a while, and Ronaldo lost his chance.
The card was clearly planned in advance so that he could miss the ball.
But Ashley. The timing of Kolka's position and the strength to resist Ronaldo were well grasped, neither exerting too much force and letting Ronaldo fall in the penalty area. That could result in a foul and give Manly a penalty. also did not use too much force for fear of fouling, giving Ronaldo the opportunity to break through the past and grab points.
Of course, Ronaldo knew what the other party was thinking, so he raised his head and glared at Ashley. Cole glanced. Ashley. Cole glared back without fear.
Offensive players and defenders are always enemies. There's no need to pretend to be a gentleman on this to show a friendly demeanor, if it's not right, then do it! Who's afraid of whom!
……
Twenty-eighth minute. Manly went on the offensive again. Football once fell to Ronaldinho. He didn't even lift his head, he wasn't sure where his teammates were, so he just got up and passed the ball!
The ball arced through the air and flew into the penalty area.
The soccer ball doesn't fly high, and it can even be said to be a little low.
Considering that there are people in the box at this time, the ball may not be passed to the two Manchester United strikers in it at all, and it will be cut off halfway.
In the box, Arsenal's defenders did not let Ronaldinho's seemingly purposeless pass take lightly. Although they were staring at the football, they were always keeping an eye on the movements of Manchester United's attacking players out of the corner of their eyes. Toure followed Didier Drogba closely, while Saul followed closely. Campbell has his eye on Vanney.
Cristiano Ronaldo was running forward, intending to grab the ball. Ashley. Cole hurriedly followed. And firmly stuck on the inside line. Although he couldn't get used to Ronaldo, he didn't dare to underestimate this person at all.
Because he knows very well how strong this man is!
Unexpectedly, he has been sticking to Ronaldo, but the practice of sticking him on the outside has made the other party ......
It was at this time. Ronaldo suddenly made a sudden stop and turned around!
Yes, turn around!
It's like a basketball center. In the process of dribbling, he suddenly made a sharp stop, and then leaned on his back against the opponent and turned around to dribble.
Cristiano Ronaldo has the same movements except for the lack of the ball in his hand.
He sticks to Ashley. Cole came a turn!
Because of inertia, Ashley. Cole had a brief period of stiffness in his body, and it was during this time that he became a pillar for Ronaldo to rely on.
When Ronaldo finished turning, he and Ashley. Cole's position relationship became that he was in front of Ashley. Cole was left behind by him! A big reversal of form!
In a crowded and narrow penalty area, Ronaldo completed a basketball-style move that is rarely seen anywhere else.
When he turned around, he put his body to the fullest, opened his arms, and just like that, he took Ashley. Cole was firmly stuck behind him.
At the same time, Ronaldinho's pass really found the path to the goal in the dense crowd, dodged an unknown number of legs along the way, and flew in front of Ronaldo.
Now Ronaldo has football and goalkeeper Lehmann in front of him, and for him, it's much simpler.
Cristiano Ronaldo put one hand against Ashley, who struggled desperately to come up and interfere with him. Cole, and then lift your feet!
Lehmann made a save, but it was too close, and Ronaldo's turn was so sudden, he didn't expect the opponent to be at Ashley. Cole went around with a close defense and just got a shot on goal.
"The ball is in!!"
The narrator yelled excitedly.
“al!!! goal! goal! goal! Cristiano scored! He equalised for Manchester United! ”
"What a beautiful getaway! We hardly see such action on the football field! It was a move that reminded me of Bergkamp's goal against Newcastle...... The same turn, but he didn't have the ball at his feet, which is a great trick for a centre-forward to get rid of close defence in the box, but it came to a midfielder! (To be continued)
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