Chelsea shrank their defence, and the space that was freed up was naturally occupied by Manchester City.

The conceded goal also spurred City onto a fierce attack on the Chelsea goal after they had possession of the ball and they were hoping to equalise before half-time - the best if they could.

At this time, it can be seen how correct Ancelotti's decision is.

If, after the goal, Chelsea continue to storm Manchester City, then City can take advantage of the gaps left by their attack to counter-attack.

That would have been too easy for Benitez's Manchester City.

But now Chelsea have regained their defence and caused a lot of problems for Manchester City's attack.

They couldn't get goals with simple and quick counter-attacks, and they had to spend more time and effort to score.

With time running out of time in the first half, there weren't many chances left for City.

The minutes ticked by, and soon the first half was in the 44th minute, and the fourth official was standing on the sidelines, holding an injury time sign in his hand, and was operating on it.

He will tell everyone that the first-half stoppage time was a few minutes.

"The first half is almost over, and overall, the first half went relatively smoothly and there wasn't too much time to lose, so there shouldn't be too much injury time in the first half......

"Two minutes, two minutes at most." Alan Hansen said from the side.

※※※

Sneijder picked up the ball up front and he was again pressed by his opponent. It was a microcosm of the defence he was subjected to throughout the first half.

Sneijder, who was not in great form after returning from injury, struggled against this kind of defense. If his usual condition and body were fine, Sneijder would not have been so wolf in dealing with such a defense.

However, after this first half, Sneijder is gradually adapting and looking for solutions.

Since the opponent wants to press close and want to steal the ball from himself, then he should reduce the time he spends on the ball, change his role, and change from a playmaker in the middle to a transitioner.

More often than not, it's about moving the ball quickly to the feet of other teammates, and a lot of times it's not about observation, it's about instinct and experience.

So this time, when Sneijder got the ball, he passed the ball straight out.

He didn't pass the ball to someone else, but to glory.

Because Chelsea are shrinking defensively, Glory is also facing away from the goal at this time.

Seeing the ball being passed to him, the Chelsea players stepped up their pressing defence, letting him go outside and clinging to him and not letting him turn lightly.

Everyone knows the threat of glory, especially when close to goal. Now, with minutes to go in the first half, Chelsea are actually not defending Chelsea's attack, but Glory alone.

Therefore, it is enough to contain the glory.

Before Rongguang received the ball, he felt the pressure from behind him.

It's going to be hard to turn around in this situation, and it's going to take time, and even if you turn around, you're still facing Chelsea's impregnable walls, so what's the point?

Although possession is on his side, he can pass the ball out and reorganise the attack. But that was when the game time was quite rich, and now that the first half is about to end, how can there be time to slowly negotiate with Chelsea?

So there has to be another way to break the deadlock.

In the time when the football rolls to him, he has to make a decision.

Is there any way to threaten the Chelsea goal, whether to stop the ball and turn around, or to pass the ball straight out?

※※※

Behind the glory was Chelsea's captain, centre-back John Terry.

And beside Glory, there is also Barak, who guards against Glory from another angle.

As soon as Glory stopped the football, he swarmed up and surrounded Glory, so that he could not turn around and threaten the goal. As long as he is forced to pass the ball back, the defense will be considered a success. Time will fly by in a meaningless back and forth for Manchester City to the end of the first half.

Ballack kept his eyes on Glory to see how he would get the ball.

At this moment, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure, wearing a black away Manchester City shirt, and he flashed from the corner of his field of vision.

Barak noticed this, and he couldn't help but cast his gaze there.

Because he found out that the figure was in front of him, and that he was behind John Terry!

He could see the figure clearly, David Silva......

He's thrust into the box!

That's an empty ......

Barak snapped his gaze back to glory.

He just happened to see Rongguang raise his right foot, but this action didn't look like stopping the ball, because the foot was raised a little high......

Then, almost in the blink of an eye, Glory's raised right foot slammed down, and his heel slammed the rolling ball back!

He passed!

Or a heel pass!

The soccer ball just slipped between the legs of John Terry, who was unprepared!

Go straight behind the line!

※※※

"Rong! Pass! Pretty ......" John Mortensen didn't have time to say that before David Silva had received the ball!

So he quickly changed his words, raised his voice and shouted loudly.

"David Silva! He's unguarded! ”

The Chelsea backline is all focused on Glory, everyone only thinks about stopping Glory from shooting, not allowing Glory to score, but they all ignore that Glory doesn't just shoot!

You must know that the position of glory in Manchester City's formation is the forward midfielder!

David Silva received the ball from Glory the moment he stepped into the box, and he didn't hesitate to shoot straight to the goal!

Bang!

The soccer ball sped forward against the turf.

Although goalkeeper Cech made a save, but because Glory's pass was very sudden, he didn't expect Manchester City to be able to form the gate so quickly, and his save was a little slower, and the coverage was not very large.

In addition, David Silva kicked the most difficult boccia ball to save.

Cech's hand was not able to save the ball......

The ball rolled past him and all the way into the Chelsea goal!

Chelsea were only three minutes ahead!

※※※

“GOOOOAL！！！！ David Silva! David Silva! David Silva! John Mortenson raised his arms and shouted. He equalised for Manchester City! At the end of the first half! ”

Everyone on the Manchester City bench and in the dugout jumped to their feet, rushed to the sidelines, waved their arms, jumped to their feet and shouted.

It doesn't get much better than a quick equaliser after conceding a goal!

And next door, on the Chelsea bench, many people are staring at the pitch with their heads in their hands, their eyes wide, and their eyes unbelievable.

They couldn't believe that their team had only been leading for so many minutes before they were equalised!

In the middle of the two, there was the fourth official, and at the very moment when David Silva shot, he had just held up the sign in his hand, which clearly showed the Arabic numeral "2", and sure enough, as Alan Hansen said, there were two minutes of stoppage time!

But City didn't need those two minutes to equalise!

※※※

Carlo Ancelotti stood on the sidelines, listening to the cheers coming from the Manchester City bench and the coach's box next door, and his heart was slightly bitter.

His mind was full of guarding against glory, guarding against glory, but he never thought that it was not glory that scored, but David Silva.

The whole Chelsea team followed his instructions and defended the glory tightly.

But who would have thought that in this game, Glory is not a finisher, but a ...... Assisters!

When he faced a tight defense and couldn't turn around and get rid of it, Rongguang decisively gave up his intention to shoot, but passed the football out, and it was such a beautiful heel pass!

Such an assist was so unexpected.

Who would have thought?

No one could have imagined!

He went to great lengths to get Chelsea to hold on to that one-goal lead.

As a result, his precautions only worked for three minutes.

Three minutes later, City equalised.

All of Chelsea's first-half efforts were in vain......

The lead was gone, and the two sides were back on the same running line before half-time.

But the impact is much more than that.

The blow to Chelsea's morale was also very noticeable.

The thought of a hard-won first-half lead is a frustrating Chelsea player must have been frustrated.

This kind of emotion can be very deadly in the face of a strong opponent like Manchester City.

In master duels, many times the competition is not about the technical and tactical level, but about psychology and will.

Fluctuations in the mood can affect the players' performances.

Not to mention the players, when Ancelotti himself saw the goal conceded, there were some fluctuations in his heart.

However, Carlo Ancelotti quickly recovered, and he did not let this situation continue to affect him, but began to calmly consider how to readjust the mental state of his players at half-time.

That's the hardest part.

Carlo Ancelotti is not a manager who is good at using some very inflammatory language to arouse the emotions of his players, which is a challenge for him.

※※※

After Manchester City equalised, it was clear to the Chelsea players in the next two minutes of stoppage time that the Chelsea players were visibly affected by the goal.

There is every reason to believe that if there were a few more minutes of stoppage time, City would have been able to score another goal.

It can be seen that Ancelotti's concerns are very justified.

In the end, the referee's whistle saved Chelsea.

At the end of the first half, the two sides played 1:1.

Although it was a draw, the tables on which the players from both sides came off the field were completely different.

The Manchester City players looked excited, while the Chelsea players hung their heads as if they had lost the game......