The first leg of the Champions League semi-final at Anfield began.
Real Madrid strove to gain a foothold at the start of the game and waited for the whole team to get into the game before launching a threatening offensive.
But Liverpool would not give Real Madrid too much time. They stepped up the pace of the game and launched an attack at the start of the game.
In the second minute of the game, Gerard inserted diagonally from the midfield to the right front. Kuyt sent a straight pass. Gerard received it and turned to sweep the ball to the front of the penalty area. Torres stopped the ball and shook off Pepe and Diarra's pincer attack from the front and back. He did not develop into the penalty area because Cannavaro was obviously waiting for him to change direction before intercepting.
Torres raised his leg to shoot at the edge of the penalty area and the football flew to the lower right corner of the goal. Casillas was well prepared and pounced to directly press the ball under his palm.
Real Madrid's players had an intuition after seeing Liverpool's attack: Liverpool is afraid of us!
It was a very subtle feeling.
Liverpool was clearly on the attack, but they could still feel the fear in Liverpool's heart.
Why?
Although the attack formed a shot, it was because Liverpool's ground attack was very fast and they created the opportunity in a few passes. But looking at the players in the midfield, Alonso did not come up to assist. Kuyt and Yossi Benayoun on the flanks also did not step into the danger zone.
They just relied on the current Liverpool's twin stars, Torres and Gerard to charge and break through the enemy lines.
It would be understandable if it was an away game, but it was Liverpool's home ground. They invested so few troops and were obviously a little afraid of Real Madrid.
This made the Real Madrid players feel a little relieved.
In the sixth minute of the game, Real Madrid completed the first shot of the game.
After the Snede and Qin Xiong in the front field hit the wall, they passed the ball back to Qin Xiong. Qin Xiong sent a straight pass, and after Raúl retreated to receive it, he kicked the ball horizontally and turned to face the goal to shoot. The shot brushed the outside of the goalpost and flew out of the end line.
Two minutes later, Benayoun sent a straight pass from the left side of the front field. Torres retreated to receive the ball and knocked it horizontally. Gerard, who was lying in ambush behind, received the ball and fired a long shot. Casillas saved the ball out of the end line.
"A threatening shot from Liverpool! Gerard's long-range shot almost pierced through Casillas' fingers! Liverpool's fast attack is very mature and the tacit understanding is very high. The passing and cutting between the teammates is very efficient. "
It seemed that Liverpool only hoped to use the combination of Torres and Gerard to shake Real Madrid's defensive line. It could not be said that such an idea was too naive, but it would not bring more pressure to Real Madrid's rear defensive line.
Liverpool attached great importance to defense. Kuyt, whose stamina was off the charts, could provide a higher defensive contribution than traditional wingers. Benayoun also focused on zonal defense. In addition, Mascherano and Alonso were good at offense and defense. Liverpool's defensive hardness in the midfield was beyond imagination.
In the 16th minute of the game, Real Madrid began to form an advantage on the field by constantly passing the ball in the middle and front field to shape the offensive situation.
Benítez sat in the technical area and stared intently at the development of the game on the field. No one knew why the hand holding the pen gradually tightened its grip on the pen at this time. He was even unaware that the tip of the pen drew irregular lines on his notepad.
Qin Xiong and Guti made a front and back pass to each other and cut diagonally to the front left. He and Snede completed the running position change.
Snede received Guti's pass and then passed diagonally to Qin Xiong.
Qin Xiong dribbled two steps horizontally and attracted Alonso, Arbeloa, and Kuyt's defense.
He passed the ball diagonally back to Guti, who was unmarked, and the latter immediately moved to attack. He saw Robben, who was plugging in from the right flank, and decisively stuck his foot close to the ground and sent it straight out.
Robben faced Riise's entanglement and turned the ball back at the moment when he stopped the ball. After shaking off Riise, he looked up to observe the situation in the penalty area and then kicked an inside spin pass with his foot.
The football with inside spin went around to the back of the goal.
After passing the ball to Guti, Qin Xiong quickly plugged forward. At this time, no one could keep up with him to carry out defensive interference.
When the football fell, the goalkeeper, Reina, also moved to the back of the goal.
Robben's inside spin curveball still made Qin Xiong feel awkward.
Because it was an inside spin ball, the football flew in the direction of the goal. In this way, it was more advantageous to Reina when Qin Xiong rushed forward and Reina expanded the defensive area to move.
Qin Xiong used a header to attack the goal when the football fell, but he did not have any expectations in his heart. There was no angle at all!
Reina was less than a meter away from him. He had no other choice but to head the ball to attack the goal.
And Reina used his body to block almost all the angles of the goal!
Qin Xiong's header was unsurprisingly blocked by Reina's shoulder.
Qin Xiong ran out of the end line and made a small arc before turning back to run out of the penalty area, intending to see if there was a chance to form a second attack or counterattack on the spot.
The Red Army fans in the Anfield stands still had lingering fears. The scene just now was too thrilling.
Fortunately, Reina expanded the defensive area, otherwise Robben would have sent a perfect assist to Qin Xiong.
At this time, Benítez, who was sitting in the technical area on the sidelines, clenched his teeth in addition to holding his pen tightly.
He was not afraid to play against Real Madrid's opponents!
In the gorgeous and dazzling Galactica era, he led the Bat Corps in Valencia and trampled Galactica twice under their feet!
If Liverpool only put in the "Gemini combination" in the positional battle at the start of the game to give people the impression that Liverpool was afraid of Real Madrid, then it was a big mistake!
Benítez naturally had his own wishful thinking and his tactical ideas.
To beat Real Madrid, he naturally needed to put in more effort.
What Liverpool wanted to do was to counterattack!
After Real Madrid's attack group pushed the attack into the danger zone, Liverpool needed to judge whether to launch a fierce offensive based on the situation on the field at that time.
This time, after Qin Xiong's header failed and the football fell to Carragher's feet, the first reaction of all the Liverpool players in the front field was to observe!
Raúl, Qin Xiong, Snede, Robben, Guti!
Real Madrid still had five players in Liverpool's defensive danger zone.
In other words, there were only five players in the vast space in Real Madrid's backfield at this time!
The Liverpool players knew that this situation would not last long. Maybe in another five seconds, Guti would return to the defensive midfielder position, Snede and Robben would also withdraw, and Qin Xiong was already running back.
This was their fleeting opportunity to attack!
They must seize it and not miss it!
Benayoun, Kuyt, Gerard, and Torres began to run forward.
Carragher passed the ball to the feet of Liverpool's midfield commander.
Alonso looked up at the front field and was about to organize the attack!
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