In the away team's locker room at the El Molinon Stadium, the Real Zaragoza manager, Fernández, had an ugly expression on his face as he scolded all the players. He was extremely dissatisfied with the first half of the game.
After the first half of the game, the referee, Ribeiro, gave Sporting de Gijón a red dot package, which made Fernández very happy. He thought that eliminating Sporting de Gijón in this away game would make the road smooth.
However, the subsequent process of the game made Fernández's mood very bad. The Chinese player actually changed the goalkeeper to save the penalty kick. At first, he thought that the other side's substitution was a joke, but the most painful thing was that the penalty kick was actually saved! The penalty kick did not go in. In addition, the opponent's tough defense in the midfield made Zaragoza's attack ineffective. They had the advantage in numbers, but they could not really threaten Sporting de Gijón's goal.
Under such circumstances, Sporting de Gijón withstood the defensive pressure and scored a crucial goal through a counterattack. This was a head-on blow for Zaragoza. In the tactical arrangement before the game, Fernández particularly emphasized not to let Sporting de Gijón score and not to give the opponent a chance to score. However, Sporting de Gijón seized this one and only chance to counterattack, and Juan Mata scored the goal.
Now, the score of the game was 0: 1. For Zaragoza, the situation was becoming more and more unfavorable. Sporting de Gijón, with a goal in hand, could retreat to the half of the field and then use their brutal defense and home momentum to block Zaragoza's counterattack and strive to maintain the score of 1: 0 until the end. Even if Zaragoza scored, even if they could score two more goals, Sporting de Gijón could accept it, because in that case, Sporting de Gijón would still advance to the final!
In the first leg of the game between the two sides, Zaragoza lost 1: 3 at home. That loss and the score could be said to be quite fatal in retrospect.
Fernández had a headache when he thought that Sporting de Gijón might adopt more conservative tactics in the second half of the game. This was the scene he did not want to see the most.
*****
When the second half of the match began, Sporting de Gijón's performance seemed to confirm Fernandez's thoughts.
Sporting de Gijón paid more attention to protecting their defensive line. They used a fierce and brutal defense to stop Zaragoza's counterattack.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Zaragoza still had not scored. Even though they had the ball, they did not have the chance to threaten Sporting de Gijón's goal.
In these 15 minutes, David Villa, whom Fernandez had high hopes for, was completely restrained by Juan and Carlos. Carlos used a fierce tackle to successfully contain Zaragoza's number one striker.
This time, Carlos once again shoveled the ball close to the turf, and both Villa and the ball fell to the ground.
"Bastard! This is a barbaric foul! "Zaragoza's manager, Fernandez, protested angrily on the sidelines.
On the field, the referee, Ribeiro, hesitated for a moment before showing a yellow card to Carlos.
This immediately angered Li Ang. In his opinion, this was an absolutely good ball. A beautiful tackle. When Carlos tackled the ball, he stuck close to the ground and did not do anything like flashing his studs. There was no foul at all!
In Li Ang's eyes, this was another blatant demonstration of the referee's bias towards the La Liga team. That bastard Fernandez protested on the sidelines, and the referee hesitated and showed a card!
Damn it!
Li Ang gnashed his teeth in hatred.
After Márquez was sent off with a red card, Carlos was Sporting de Gijón's biggest barrier in the midfield. Under such circumstances, Carlos received a yellow card, which would definitely affect Carlos's subsequent game.
*****
The Real Zaragoza players were infuriated by the fact that they had not been able to win after a long time. Furthermore, they were faced with Sporting Gihon's tough and somewhat barbaric defense. This predicament made them angry. As time went by in the game and they were unable to score a goal, the Real Zaragoza players' anger grew. They became more and more impatient.
In the 71st minute of the game, Zaragoza's midfielder, Zapata, saw that Carlos was extremely active, sweeping the entire midfield and stopping Zaragoza's attack. Zapata had been suppressing his anger for a long time, and he was determined to find an opportunity to "warn" Carlos.
Speaking of which, there was a reason why Zapata was unhappy with Carlos. Before the first leg of the game, the media talked about Zapata and Carlos. Sporting de Gijón's media praised Carlos as "Little Gattuso." This made the Zaragoza media snort. They said that their Zapata completely destroyed their Carlos. In the end, in the first leg of the game, Carlos took the veteran Savio off the field and froze Kani. He was the main contributor to Sporting de Gijón's away win. But what about Zapata? He was practically invisible throughout the game, and he was not able to stop Sporting de Gijón's few chances to attack.
After the game, when the Spanish media discussed the game, they praised Carlos and criticized Zapata at the same time.
Therefore, in the second leg of the game, Zapata held his breath and wanted to PK Carlos again. However, he realized in despair that Carlos's brilliance was so dazzling. This kid had swept the entire midfield when one of his own players had been sent off, limiting Zaragoza's offense to the greatest extent. He had also successfully defended against Villa. It was obvious that Carlos's performance was once again the highlight of the game.
At this time, a feeling of unbearable jealousy overflowed in Zapata's heart.
This time, Juan Carlos successfully snatched the ball and intercepted González's pass to Villa. He then prepared to launch a counterattack.
This time, Zapata's reaction was abnormally fast. He rushed up quickly. It looked like he was trying to snatch the ball, but in reality, his arm was placed on Carlos's ribs. Using the momentum, he lifted the unprepared Juan Carlos off the ground!
To make an analogy, it was like a bull suddenly rushing up from the side and knocking someone to the ground. This was the move!
It was a very obvious foul. There was no doubt about it.
*****
Referee Ribeiro's whistle blew. He ran over, but someone was faster than him. It was Mata. He rushed straight at Zapata, who had committed the foul.
Mata was blocked by Zaragoza's player, González. Players from both sides surrounded him. Zaragoza's players had been unable to break through for a long time and had long since been frustrated. Sporting de Gijón's players were also very unhappy. The referee was too biased towards the away team. At the start of the game, he had given Sporting de Gijón a groundless red dot package. This had long since made the home team's players angry.
Now, Zapata's extremely vile foul was like a match that ignited a barrel of gunpowder.
Loud boos rang out from the stands.
The scene was chaotic.
"Bastard!!" Li Ang cursed off the field. He shouted at Fernandez, "You can't play football, so you've switched to kicking people?!"
The latter's face was ashen. He almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Whose team was it that kept fouling?!
"If anything happens to my player, this matter is not over!" Li Ang continued to roar.
Fernandez was furious. He was about to go crazy. Could this person be any more shameless? Carlos had already gotten up from the ground. It looked like nothing had happened to him! This person actually had the face to say 'if anything happens to my player, this matter is not over!' … My god, how did Savio leave the field with such a serious injury in the first leg of the game?!
Fernandez was really about to faint from anger. As a person, as a manager, how could he be so shameless?!
"Red card! Mr. Referee, that guy's behavior is a provocation to sportsmanship! Send him off! " Fernandez saw that the guy was jumping up and down shouting after being angered to the point of vomiting blood.
PS: I wish everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival and a happy family.
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