The moment Raúl blasted the ball into Manchester United's goal, all the Manchester United players in the penalty area moved in unison. They raised their hands to signal that Raúl was offside!
Especially Ferdinand and Vidic, who excitedly reminded the assistant referee that Raúl was offside! He was offside!
But the flag in the assistant referee's hand did not rise. The Manchester United players suddenly rushed to the assistant referee, wanting to ask for an explanation and for the assistant referee to change the referee's decision!
In fact, the Manchester United players were probably unwilling to admit the fact that they had conceded a goal.
They had tried hard to resist for 80 minutes, but now they had lost a goal that could change the overall situation of the two legs of the Champions League semi-final!
Raúl did not care so much. When the Red Army fans in the stands hugged each other and began to cheer wildly, Raúl rushed to the sidelines with an ecstatic smile on his face. The Red Army generals also swarmed over. Everyone clustered around Raúl in the middle and roared wildly to vent their inner excitement and joy!
"The defending champions, Liverpool, have opened the scoring! Raúl! Raúl has scored his most important goal of the season so far! This goal will give Liverpool a 1: 0 lead over Manchester United! It will also dispel Liverpool's anxiety and let them face the rest of the game in a more composed manner, including the next leg of the game!
This goal is amazing!
Liverpool first relied on Qin Xiong to attack in depth on the left side of the front field, disrupting Manchester United's defensive line. Then Qin Xiong passed the ball back to outside the penalty area. Alonso quickly passed the ball to Gerard in front, who sent a straight pass. Raúl cut in diagonally behind Vidic, did not stop the ball, did not adjust, and directly shot. This goal is amazing! "
Ferguson's expression was a little ugly on the sidelines, while Comain hugged his coaching colleagues to celebrate.
The football wisdom behind this goal was probably not as simple as the ingenuity of an attack.
Since the second half, the insistence on the long shots had shaped the situation and made the Manchester United players form a defensive habit. Then, they suddenly changed their offensive style and caught the opponent off guard.
In the end, his offensive strategy was sublimated by the free play of the superstars on the field.
The Manchester United players returned to the field after the referee berated them. They were filled with righteous indignation!
It was hard to say whether it was because they firmly believed that Raúl's goal was offside, or because Manchester United's efforts after resisting for 80 minutes did not get the result they wanted, so they could not calmly face the reality.
Liverpool got a golden goal. Now that the score had changed, Liverpool received a huge morale boost. Did they need to change their tactical stance for the next game?
The players would not have been so nervous if it were not for the semi-finals of the Champions League.
So, in order to unify their opinions and avoid differences, they all turned their heads to look at Comain on the sidelines. At this time, they wanted to see how the manager arranged it.
Comain gestured to the players on the sidelines. Based on the meaning of the gesture, the players understood the manager's strategy: defensive counterattack!
In the frontal battle, although Liverpool gave Manchester United a chance to counterattack and there was a dangerous situation in front of the goal, in the end, they were unable to let Manchester United's defensive counterattack tactics get the expected return.
Now, if Liverpool treated the game with defensive counterattack, Manchester United would not get a chance.
Ferguson probably knew this as well, which was why he didn't look too good on the sidelines.
The best time for Manchester United to dominate, or to not let Liverpool take the initiative, had passed!
When Liverpool took the lead, Liverpool was just like when they met Manchester United in the league, with the advantage, they could follow the former opponent's nose.
When the game resumed, Liverpool's offense would invest a certain amount of troops to attack the Red Devils' defensive line, but the basic defensive formation would not change, especially the midfielders who were firmly in the backfield. They would not rush to plug in and were always alert to Manchester United's attack.
Comain stood on the sidelines and subconsciously glanced at Ferguson.
He wanted to know if Ferguson would take a gamble in the away game!
Manchester United would attack and strive to equalize the score, and at the same time give Liverpool a better attack, which was a chance to counterattack!
The Red Devils were faced with a difficult choice!
They could either take the risk for the 1: 1.
Or they could fall behind by 0: 2!
Ferguson was also watching the situation on the field. Liverpool's morale was the most important factor, which made him dare not rashly order the team to attack.
This was Anfield after all!
It was just like the sign that Xiang Shuai hung for the players' tunnel back then: This is Anfield!
If Liverpool wanted to attack in Anfield with the wind against them, then Ferguson would have to stake everything on one throw if Liverpool had an open game style!
But Liverpool was now like a rational monster. They would take advantage of their advantage, capture the opponent's psychological changes, and find the opponent's weakness to deal a fatal blow!
Therefore, Ferguson dispelled the idea. Instead of fighting with Liverpool in Anfield, it was better to go back to Old Trafford and plot his next move!
In the 88th minute of the game, Qin Xiong received Raúl's return pass from the left outside the penalty area with a long shot to test Edwin van der Sar again.
The ball flew between Ferdinand and Vidic. The angle seemed to be right, but it gave Edwin van der Sar a shock.
Because the speed of the ball was too fast, the football was a little erratic. Edwin van der Sar did not dare to use his hands to catch it. If the football fell at Raúl's feet by accident, then everything would be over!
Edwin van der Sar chose to use both hands to hit the ball hard. The football that bounced out of the penalty area was stopped by Gerard. He was about to volley when Scholes fell to the ground to tackle the ball when he returned to defend, destroying the ball!
Gerard did not regret it and immediately returned to defend!
Manchester United's flank attack could only focus on Valencia. But in the final stage of the game, Valencia could not rush forward.
When he tried to dribble the ball past Meireles, he directly dribbled the ball out of the sideline and returned the ball to Liverpool.
At this time, Liverpool made a substitution.
Comain replaced Raúl with Kuyt. It's not clear whether this is to strengthen the offense or the defense. After all, Kuyt is a player who can both attack and defend. Oh, there's a second substitution. Alonso has been brought off and replaced by Tiote. It looks like Liverpool is going to hold on to the score of 1: 0 until the end of the game. Will Manchester United seize this opportunity to make a last stand? "
Ferguson looked at Liverpool's substitution. He did not dare to make a rash decision because it was difficult to say whether Liverpool's substitution was determined to defend.
After all, there was a player who could really threaten Manchester United and kill the game on the pitch!
The Red Army's killing god, Qin Xiong!
As long as Qin Xiong was on the pitch, Liverpool's offensive strength could not be underestimated!
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
