After Sporting de Gijón's players suffered an unfavorable penalty, especially after Marcos was sent off and successfully saved the opponent's penalty kick, their momentum rose instead. The kind of momentum they showed completely intimidated the Zaragoza players who were secretly delighted because of their numerical advantage.
Yes, the current situation of the game was like this. Zaragoza seemed to have the initiative, they were in possession of the ball, they were looking for a goal, but they did not have any real threatening offensive opportunities. They were submerged under Sporting de Gijón's wolf-like and tiger-like pressure.
The offensive of the Saragossa people finally weakened after continuous setbacks. This was natural. That was the principle of a drum beating the spirit, then a decline in the second, and a depletion in the third. Sporting de Gijón's tenacious defense greatly depleted Zaragoza's offensive enthusiasm.
Their leading striker, Villa, was clearly not in his best condition today. After missing the penalty kick, Villa was clearly affected. Zaragoza had a limited number of opportunities to shoot, and the quality of Villa's shots was very average.
*****
At this time, Sporting de Gijón got a chance to fight back.
This was Zaragoza's players once again facing Sporting de Gijón's tight pressure in the front field. They really had no way out, so Villa chose to pass the ball back. Henerello received the ball. He was a little flustered in the face of Carlos's pressing and continued to pass the ball back, but the strength of his return pass was clearly weaker.
Zapata hurried up to receive the ball, but just as he was about to control the ball under his feet, it was fiercely tackled by Juan Mata, who actively participated in the return defense.
"Foul!" Zaragoza's manager, Victor Fernandez, who was sitting in the technical area, suddenly jumped up. He thought it was a foul!
"Foul your * ss!" Li Ang also jumped up from the technical area and cursed excitedly.
He could not help but be agitated. Li Ang's eyes were sharp. He could see that this was an excellent chance to fight back!
Zaragoza's players also raised their hands, indicating that Mata had fouled.
The referee was a little hesitant. This was a hesitation that could be seen in the broadcast. The referee had already put the whistle in his mouth. It looked like he was going to blow for Mata's foul.
Li Ang's heart was in his throat. He swore that if this damn referee dared to lie through his teeth and call this foul, he would definitely not suppress his violent temper!
However, Ribeiro's whistle did not sound in the end.
*****
After Juan Mata intercepted the ball, he directly kicked the football to the captain, Miguel Kobas, who came back to receive him. He ran forward himself and let Miguel Kobas organize the attack.
Mata did not even consider that it would be a foul. He knew that although his action looked a little big, he was the one who poked the football away first.
"This is a foul!" Fernandez protested angrily on the sidelines.
The Real Zaragoza players on the bench also jumped up in protest.
Just as the Real Zaragoza players could not accept the referee's decision, the Sporting de Gijón players were launching a quick counterattack.
Li Ang rushed to the sidelines, clenched his fists, and stared at the field. He knew that this was the best opportunity that Sporting de Gijón had been waiting for in the first half of the game!
He saw Miguel Kobas pass the football to Mata in front.
Then Li Ang saw Mata dribble the ball in a straight line along the flank.
Zaragoza's full back, Gabriel Milito, came up to intercept.
Mata directly changed direction and used his speed to overtake Milito. The latter's shortcoming of slow turning was exposed at this moment.
Mata overtook Gabriel Milito.
After entering the thirty-meter zone of Real Zaragoza. Mata made a feint and pretended to continue dribbling the ball along the flank. After attracting the weight of the Real Zaragoza center back, Toledo, he suddenly changed direction and cut inside!
This deceived Toledo, who wanted to bring his weight back to intercept, but it was too late.
"Beautifully done!" Li Ang roared in his heart.
*****
Fernández was still entangled with the fourth official, still protesting that it was a foul.
Li Ang had no time to pay attention to the story that was happening not far from him. His eyes were fixed on the field.
After cutting inside to shake off Toledo, Mata continued to dribble the ball horizontally.
César Jiménez came up to intercept, but Mata, who was physically disadvantaged, was tenacious. He used his hands to hold the center back, who was trained by Real Madrid, and continued to dribble the ball toward the middle.
Jiménez was a little hesitant. He was considering whether to foul!
Almost at the same time, Sporting de Gijón's starting striker, Matt Bilic, and Juan Carlos, who rushed up, were desperately trying to penetrate into the penalty area.
Matt Bilic cut forward in a diagonal line.
Carlos tore directly toward the middle, just like his brutal style of play.
These two men's forward penetration successfully tore apart Real Zaragoza's defensive line …
Seeing this scene, Li Ang's eyes lit up. He shouted on the sidelines, waved his arms, and roared, "Shoot!"
Looking back in time, this scene seemed to have returned to when Li Ang was still coaching Real Madrid's under-17 youth team. It was the most important game after his "rebirth." The opponent was Barcelona's under-17 youth team, which had Messi, Pique, and other members of the golden 1987 generation.
At that time, Real Madrid had a rare opportunity to counterattack. After being taught a lesson by Li Ang, Mata, who had become well-behaved, was given a chance to play again. He continuously dribbled the ball into the front field, almost at this distance.
Li Ang roared on the sidelines, "Shoot!" Then he saw Mata's beautiful long shot break through Barcelona's goal!
*****
At this moment!
It was almost like yesterday!
At the same time as Li Ang roared, Mata suddenly raised his leg to shoot while running horizontally!
The football drilled through the gap between Quattro and a Zaragoza player who was returning to defend!
The shot was powerful and fast. The football brought a gust of wind and swept across the turf at a low altitude.
Saragossa's goalkeeper, Lionel Messi, seemed bored after the match started. Saragossa had the absolute initiative and had been launching attacks all the time. Sporting Gihon had barely gotten any chances to attack so far, which made the goalkeeper even yawn uncontrollably. At that time, Lionel Messi's yawn was seen by the Sporting Gihon fans at home, which also caused the anger of the El Molinon Stadium. Was the Saragossa goalkeeper really so sleepy that he was yawning? Of course not. The goalkeeper was using such an action to humiliate Sporting de Gijón. Zaragoza's attack was not successful for a long time, so their goalkeeper used such a method to provoke the Gijón people.
At that time, when he heard the boos of the Sporting de Gijón people, Lionel was not afraid at all. Instead, he was a little proud, as if he was proud that his provocative action had successfully provoked the anger of the Sporting de Gijón people.
Now, Lionel's pride had long been scared away.
He threw his body out, hoping to save Mata's shot. However, at this time, Lionel realized in horror that the "boredom" he had been so proud of had been punished. Because when the game started, there was no save at all. He did not have enough "warm up" at all, which caused his movements to be a little stiff.
What was the result of stiff movements for a goalkeeper?!
He was not able to fully stretch his arms.
He was not able to touch the football!
The football flew into the net before the Zaragoza goalkeeper, Lionel Messi, could reach it!
The football rolled up the snow-white net and also rolled up the crazy storm in the El Molinon stadium!!!
PS: Second update.
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