Chapter 70: Waiting for an Opportunity

After a while, Quaresma stood up with his stomach clutched, not wanting to lose his momentum in front of the smirking old Lei. Looking at Quaresma's painful facial expression in front of him, Lao Lei pursed the corners of his mouth, turned around and ran to the middle to continue the game. Old Ray's impression of Quaresma at this time has changed slightly, and he still looks like a man. He could tell how painful it hurt when he threw his right elbow over and hit his abdomen. However, change is a change, and those who want to fight back still have to fight back, and they must be doubled hard. This is Lao Lei's philosophy of life, if you give me one punch, I will give you two punches, and by the way, I will add another kick. In this game, he was competing with Quaresma, and now even Quaresma can't compare.

And Lao Lei's heads-up attack and defense victory with Quaresma on the side this time caused a cheer from the Porto fans in the stands. Although a successful defense is not as good as a goal, it can at least make Porto fans breathe a sigh of relief, even if it is the interest that Lao Lei gets back.

The game came into the 29th minute of the first half, when Porto once again created a good chance. Lao Lei made a long pass directly in the midfield to Alenichev on the right side, and he relied on his speed to get Lao Lei's pass before Jorge. However, Ruore's speed was not inferior at all, although it started a little late, but when Alenichev was in control of the football, he had already caught up and entangled Alenichev.

Alenichev was so entangled by Jorge that he had no choice but to force a cross to get a corner for Porto. Deco came to deal with the corner, and the high posts such as Lao Lei and Costa were in the Sporting Lisbon penalty area, ready to fight for the top. With the referee's whistle. Deco's corner went to the back post, where Costa and Lao Lei battled for the top.

The experienced Costa got ahead of Sporting Lisbon's defenders. The first to get stuck in the position and grab the first landing point. However, his position is not good. Too close to the baseline, almost zero degree angle with the goal, no angle for headers. So he chose to rub the football back to Lao Ray behind him. But the old Lei is not much better than him, with two Sporting Lisbon players Bento and Quaresma next to him, and there is a fierce physical contact between the three of them, vying for position.

Old Lei Zhilu said that he almost only has the ability to grab the position, and if he wants to head the goal, he will not be able to withstand any strength. And in the case of two people, it is difficult to control the football. So Lao Lei chose to continue to pass the ball with a header. When the football fell in front of him, Lao Lei exerted all his strength. Squeeze the two people around you, and then lean forward while turning 90 degrees. Then with a flick of the head, he pushed the ball into the middle of the penalty area, where Maniche stood with another shot.

The strength of Lao Lei's header may be too light for a shot, but for a header, the strength is just right. Maniche was standing on the edge of the penalty area at this time, and there were no Sporting Lisbon players around him for a while. He calmly stretched out his right foot and stopped, then took a powerful left-footed shot without waiting for the ball to land. At this time, if he adjusts slightly. There will be players from Sporting Lisbon who will come up to block, so everything is based on speed. His shot was a quick low ball that flew towards the goal.

The shot was a bit hasty due to Maniche's handling. The angle is not very well controlled, it is relatively positive. At this time, the people in the forbidden area were crowded, but at this time, they helped Maniche. A shot that was originally from a good angle. After hitting the Lisbon player's foot, there was a noticeable change of line. And the direction of flight did not deviate from the goal range. This made the goalkeeper of Sporting Lisbon at a loss. The soccer ball grazes the right post of the goal. Flew into the goal. 1:1, in the 30th minute, Porto finally equalized at home with a corner kick opportunity.

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!! Maniche! Equalised with a beautiful shot from inside the box. However, the header relay between Joe and Reima before was also exciting enough. Reima once again provided a wonderful assist. It was a response to Quaresma's goal!! "The blue and white sea of the Dragon Stadium was suddenly surging at the moment when the football entered the net. The Dragon Stadium and the sky above it were suddenly invaded by a loud noise, and there was no other sound.

Jose Mourinho on the sidelines was also excited to once again perform his trademark kneeling celebration, a goal that helped Porto regain the strategic initiative. After Sporting Lisbon took the lead, they began to retreat from the formation, albeit in a 4-4-2 formation, but in fact only kept Joao and a striker up front. Even Cristiano Ronaldo and Quaresma had to retreat to assist the team in defence. Then when attacking, use two wings to make a fuss and make a quick and sharp counterattack.

If it weren't for this, Porto would not have equalized until now, and the tacit understanding between Lao Lei and Deco in the front field needs to be strengthened. In Sporting Lisbon's dense defence, there were a few chances that could be created, but there were significantly fewer than in previous games. This is the power of two people, and it has not yet formed an effect that can add 1 to 1 to be greater than 2. Mourinho believes that as long as the two can fully form a tacit understanding, Porto's attacking power can not only dominate Europe, but at least walk sideways in Portugal without any scruples.

However, Mourinho also knows it would be unwise to let these two get to this point in this game immediately, so he is waiting for the rest of the squad to step up. Sure enough, Maniche lived up to Mourinho's wait and stepped up to help his team equalize with a beautiful shot. Now Porto no longer have to passively press the attack, the attack and defense can be controlled at will, and in turn, the implementation of Sporting Lisbon's defensive strategy will not be so firm. Although for them, it is also a good result to get a point at home to Porto.

But the dignity of being one of the top three in the Portuguese Super League will not allow them to do so, huddling in the penalty area and holding on to a point. If they do, tomorrow will await them with fierce verbal and written attacks. This is a practice that goes against the club's traditions. But there's a lot of pressure, especially when you're only doing it for a draw. The pressure is even greater. Jose Mourinho doesn't believe this Sporting Lisbon team has the courage to do so, and he prides himself on not doing so even if he is bold.

At this time on the court, Lao Lei began to turn around and walk back after a short celebration with his teammates. Suddenly, he saw Quaresma staring at him, and he didn't know what he meant, but Old Ray ignored him and continued to walk back. Quaresma looked at Lao Lei's back in some surprise, and did not respond to his provocation against him, turned around and left. This doesn't fit the character of Lao Lei in his head. Where did he know that Lao Lei didn't fight back, but that Lao Lei felt that it was too boring to fight back like this, which did not conform to his usual style of acting, and he needed a better opportunity, so he didn't provoke Quaresma. And Lao Lei's actions also puzzled the fans and commentators who knew him, and said that he had changed his sex? I thought of what Lao Lei had done before. He shook his head suddenly, indicating that it was impossible.

No matter how puzzling these fans and commentators were, the game went on, after the restart. Porto are clearly playing more calmly. With the fans cheering them on, Porto easily regained control of the ball at their feet. With Porto's high pressing and midfield's sweeping prowess, Sporting Lisbon struggled to keep the football at their feet. Slowly organize the attack. From this point of view, there is nothing wrong with the tactics laid out by the manager of Sporting Lisbon. But the mistake is wrong. Sporting Lisbon is a group of players with a passion for attack. Much higher than the defense. Especially after the equaliser, the first decision that came to their minds was almost always to play back with attack.

Although there are also players who follow the manager's arrangement, the overall thinking is no longer uniform. Especially the two young wingers on the wing, Cristiano Ronaldo and Quaresma, these two young people who are bent on overpowering the old thunder in this game, will not be so calm to follow the defensive strategy arranged by the manager. Young hormones are hard to control, even for parents, let alone a head coach.

In the 39th minute of the first half, after Ronaldo received the ball from the back, he immediately began to accelerate forward in high spirits. Lao Lei took the initiative to defend against Quaresma and left himself, which made this young genius with extremely sensitive self-esteem have long been holding back a lot of energy to prove himself. In the face of Kostiani, C Roma began to pedal his bicycle proudly, with a fast frequency and a very good look. These few times, but the fans of Porto couldn't help but exclaim, the beautiful actions on the football field are always more eye-catching than the simple and rough ones.

Listening to the exclamation in his ears, Ronaldo's heart rose with a hint of pride. However, Kostiani remained unfazed and kept his eyes firmly on the ball at his feet. And at this time, Lao Lei had already retreated in place. Ronaldo, who pedaled his bicycle vigorously, did not realize that because of himself, the team had lost a chance to counterattack. Lao Lei looked at Ronaldo and shook his head in his heart, he knew that Mendes had signed him into his hands, but it seemed that Mendes would need some time to get high benefits from Ronaldo.

When Ronaldo flicked his right foot and was about to accelerate the breakthrough, Kostiani stabbed the ball out of the sideline with an accurate kick to sabotage the attack. At this time, the Porto fans, who came to their senses, couldn't help but let out some slightly mocking laughter. Thinking of Ronaldo's previous series of performances, I don't know what Lu Dao is for, and I can't help but think of acrobatics. And this burst of laughter also made Ronaldo's face darken, and he looked at Kostiani with a steady face in front of him angrily, not knowing what Lu Dao was thinking.

Neither side was able to change the score again. Although Lao Lei created an excellent one-knife opportunity for McCarthy in the following time, because he made a mistake in stopping the ball in the penalty area, the stop was wide, and the football was directly confiscated by the goalkeeper, and he did not seize the good opportunity to overtake. For Sporting Lisbon, Joao and Quaresma also had two shots on goal, but neither of them posed a threat.

In the end, in the first half, the two teams shook hands with a score of 1:1 and left the decisive battle in the second half. (To be continued......)