Chapter 225
Soon Lao Lei was pressed the Porto players who rushed up with excitement, and soon he couldn't see anyone. Mourinho, who was on the sidelines, ran directly out of his coach's seat at this time, ran dozens of meters, ran to the place where his players were celebrating, and jumped onto the hill in front of him composed of Porto players. The Porto commentator, who saw this qiē, teased happily: "Oh! Look at our head coach, what a passion! Looking at Mr Mourinho's athletic figure, if it weren't for the fact that all three substitutions had been used up, perhaps he could have tried to put himself on the pitch and complete a stunner. But that's how it should be, only a manager like this can coach Porto like this. ”
In short, the Schalke Stadium at this time period belongs to Porto and belongs to the blue and white. Ten minutes earlier, they had fallen into despair and could only hope for a miracle. When the miracle really came almost at the last moment, they fell into incredible hysteria again, and could not calm down for a long time. A few minutes earlier, they had been taunted by Manchester United supporters for their victory celebrations, and a few minutes later their situation had changed dramatically. Porto fans also began to trouble Manchester United fans at this time, "Oh come on, come on, did Manchester United win the championship, no, no, they are dreaming, oh come on..."
At this time, the Manchester United players on the field were still a little unacceptable to this result. They stared blankly at the Porto players like soulless walking corpses. And Ferguson on the sidelines was still standing expressionlessly with his chest crossed, and the blush of the fierce celebration just now had not dissipated, but he had stopped chewing gum. At the time of the imminent getting. Loss, which is a great mental blow for everyone.
The celebration of Porto on the pitch continued. They're kind of carried away. It wasn't until the referee came to persuade them that they stopped their celebrations. The game in regulation time is not over yet. The referee gave three minutes of stoppage time and United needed to kick off to get the game going. The Porto players walked back to their positions with great satisfaction, and the joy of escaping death made the fatigue of their bodies disappear, and they felt as if they had endless strength in their bodies. The morale of the Manchester United players was hit hard, they felt like their bodies were filled with lead, they couldn't move, they couldn't run.
However, there are two exceptions in the Manchester United squad, one being Keane, who does not want to lose the only and final Champions League final of his career. And the other is Ronaldo, who doesn't want to lose to Lao Lei again. For Ronaldo, the number of times he has lost to Lao Lei so far in his career has been enough, to be more precise, it should be given, so far, Ronaldo has not won a head-to-head battle with Lao Lei. This is unacceptable to the arrogant Ronaldo, just like he will never be able to defeat Lao Lei. This time in the Champions League final, he planned to defeat Lao Lei, and then move back all the games he lost to Lao Lei at one time. Now it seems that the game is about to return to being controlled by Lao Lei. Then the rhythm was reversed, and he was ten thousand disagreeable.
So when the game resumed, Ronaldo became the most active man on the field. However, it was difficult to stand alone, and the morale of Porto was greatly boosted. So Ronaldo's efforts up front didn't have much effect. This is because the game is played to this point, and neither side will press it aggressively. Those who continue to attack, in their opinion, should wait until overtime to solve everything.
Stoppage time. Soon it passed, and the referee's whistle blew. The regular season is over, and the next game is going to go to extra time. At the end of the game, Lao Lei noticed that Ronaldo had been staring at him, which was a kind of look at competitors and desperate to win. Lao Lei turned his head to look at him, his eyes were full of banter, a kind of banter where the strong look at the weak, and the cat looks at the mouse. Ronaldo snorted when he saw it, turned his head and left. After fighting Lao Lei so many times, he also knew that he was not Lao Lei's opponent in terms of these small actions and words. In this respect, he is more serious than Lao Lei, and he is not as good as putting more effort into the game. Looking at Ronaldo's back, Lao Lei shrugged his shoulders a little boringly. He turned his head and continued to walk towards the sidelines, seized the last break and rested, after all, the effect of this devil muscle man had disappeared, and the next overtime game could only rely on himself.
When the players of both sides were resting on the sidelines, the managers of both sides were also hurrying to arrange the tactics of extra time. This time, the tactical choices of the two sides are completely different, considering that the substitutions on both sides are used up, so the game on the field must be played by these people on the field. Due to fitness and morale, Ferguson chose a conservative counterattack tactic, while Porto was the opposite, they had an advantage in both fitness and morale at this time, so Mourinho chose the tactic of taking the initiative to attack.
But you can't press it so hard like you just did, it's too risky. Jose Mourinho made a positional change, with Maniche dropping back and partnering Kostiani in a double midfield, with Alberto, who was delicate at his feet, dropping back into the shadow striker position. Delley, on the other hand, has become a-stirring stick in the frontcourt, giving full play to his physical strengths, not being limited by the tactical system, and he will go wherever he is needed. In the end, Lao Lei temporarily partnered with Deco and became a double forward midfielder. Porto's formation also became 3-2-3-2.
The break before extra-time was brief, with both team doctors trying to relax their muscles and slow down cramps for their players. Although the time period is limited, the effect that can be achieved is limited, but it is better than nothing. The clock passed quickly, and the players from both sides were back on the field as extra time began. Extra-time is a test and torment for any player on both sides, and mental will becomes a crucial factor at this time. Fortunately, there is no shortage of players on both sides, and the personalities of the managers of both sides determine that their respective teams are mentally stable teams. Manchester United, although morale is low, will not collapse all at once. Porto will need to work hard to beat Manchester United.
With the referee's whistle, overtime officially began. At this time, the situation on the field is much calmer than the game just now, and both sides are mainly seeking stability. However, the physical advantage still allowed Porto to slowly take the initiative in the situation after the start of extra time.
In the fifth minute of the first half of extra time, Porto launched their first threatening offensive in extra time. Lao Lei and Del Lai's siege in the front court made Phil Neville make a mistake in his busy and mixed garlic at his feet. In the face of Keane's active counter-robbery, Lao Lei did not choose to entangle, but cooperated with Deco. Until now, Deco has been very depressed in this Champions League final, Manchester United's tight defensive system has left him with little chance to play, and this time he got the opportunity.
He made a tactical deception with Lao Lei, just when Scholes behind Deco habitually thought that Deco would pass the football back to Lao Lei, who was inserted diagonally, Deco suddenly turned around with a light pull ball, which caught Scholes a little off guard. By the time he reacted, he had lost his best chance to defend. Deco was driving straight with the ball, while Scholes could only chase after him.
After coming to the front of the penalty area, Deco was very decisive in sending a scalpel-like through stopper. Manchester United, which only has a single central defender, is slightly deficient in the face of the interspersed running positions of McCarthy and Alberto, and its two full-backs can only choose to retract the middle to help defend, but after all, there is still too much space. At this time, McCarthy's running and Deco's pass formed a tacit understanding, and after an accelerated diagonal cut got the ball, it was immediately a low shot with a half-turn. Unfortunately, the ball was slightly out of goal range and did not bring the attack to a successful conclusion. However, looking at the appearance of the Manchester United players in this attack, it can be seen that the initiative has been held by Porto.
However, United are not without chances, and occasionally there are one or two threatening counter-attacks. The most threatening counter-attack came in the eighth minute of extra time, when Howard saved Deco's long-range shot and launched an attack with a hand-tossed ball. After receiving Howard's hand-tossed ball, Scholes passed the ball directly without stopping the ball, which was given to the feet of midfielder Ronaldo.
After Ronaldo received the ball, he looked up and looked ahead, and directly shot a long-distance lob, and Baia was at the top of the arc of the big penalty area at this time. Ronaldo's lob shot was very accurate, and if it weren't for Baia's timely reaction, he would have really been able to fly directly into Porto's door. And this foot hanging shot also attracted a certain amount of attention for Ronaldo, and when everyone's eyes were attracted by Lao Lei, he was also slightly amazed by Ronaldo. And Ronaldo's shot also made Manchester United fans regret it. The Portuguese lad, who has been underdogs this season, began to change their impression of him with a volley that looked like David Beckham's famous work in the current situation, and the new no.7 began to be given expectations.
Overall, though, Porto still had the upper hand in extra time. Manchester United's several counter-attacks did not achieve the desired effect due to the lack of numerical cooperation. Cristiano Ronaldo's lob shot became United's only shot on target in extra-time so far.
Although the situation on the field is generally flat, the hearts of the fans are not dull at all. The players on both sides are nervous and time always flies by in such a mood.
Soon, the first half of extra time passed without a panic.
Looking at the Manchester United players who were even more tired after the game, Lao Lei's eyes flashed.
He knew the time was coming. (To be continued......)