Ranieri was completely dumbfounded.
He had arranged for Balaje to target Carlos and think of a way to get Carlos off the field. Now, Balaje was sent off the field.
At that moment, Ranieri only had one word in his mind: defeat!
As the manager of the team, he was very clear about Balaje's role in the team. Now that such a key player in the midfield was sent off, the impact on Valencia was imaginable.
Ranieri began to consider substitutions. His gaze swept across the substitutes' bench and finally stopped on Fiore. As the "collateral" that Lazio could not afford to pay Mendieta's transfer fee, Fiore joined Valencia and was quite trusted by Ranieri.
"Stefano! Go and warm up! " Ranieri shouted at Fiore. The latter quickly stood up, put on his yellow singlet, and followed the assistant manager to warm up.
At that moment, Balaje could only leave the field dejectedly after failing to plead for leniency.
Ranieri showed his good side. He did not take out his anger on Balaje for failing to complete his task and making things worse. He went up to shake Balaje's hand and comforted him.
Li Ang saw the scene from afar and could not help but twitch his mouth. The old man was quite good at buying people's hearts.
*****
With Balaje sent off, Valencia did not have time to adjust their players and tactics. It was a good opportunity for Sporting de Gijón to launch a large-scale attack.
As Li Ang waved his hand on the sidelines, the wind and clouds on the field moved.
Sporting de Gijón suddenly increased their offensive.
Albertini took the ball in the midfield. Dinatale ran out of the penalty area and raised his hand to ask for the ball. Just when everyone thought that Albertini was going to pass the ball to Dinatale, he suddenly passed a diagonal ball with a wide range. It was like a scalpel cutting open a curtain. With a rip, it tore open Valencia's defensive line.
The ball was passed to Modric after he received the ball from the flank. There was a large area of empty space in front of him. He adjusted the football diagonally and dribbled the ball towards the penalty area.
Navarro desperately went back to defend. He knew that the Croatian was not the kind of player who was extremely fast. It was not impossible to catch up with him.
Seeing that Navarro had caught up, Modric suddenly braked and pulled the football to avoid Navarro's tackle!
Then, the Croatian youth looked up at the penalty area, raised his leg, and passed!
Diego Milito showed his true colors as a killer in front of the goal. He was originally running towards the middle, but he suddenly stopped halfway, turned back, and ran towards the front!
At this moment, Modric's pass arrived!
Milito immediately fell to the ground and used a [Slide Tackle]!
The reaction speed of the Valencia goalkeeper, Canizares, was amazing. Although there was a lot of criticism about this veteran goalkeeper, his performance at that moment was admirable.
He quickly fell to the ground and threw himself sideways.
*****
Canizares pounced on the football!
Milito's shot did not go in!
The Sporting de Gijón players had intended to raise their hands and cheer for the goal, but when they saw the football being pounced on, they put down their raised hands regretfully.
The Valencia fans in the visiting fans' stands saw that the football had been pounced on by Canizares and were about to shout his name excitedly. Pouncing on the ball meant that Valencia continued to have hope of equalizing the score!
They were about to shout Canizares' name, but just as the first syllable left their mouth, the situation in front of the goal changed.
For the first time, Canizares tried very hard to pounce on the football. He had done his best. He did not have the energy to push the football further. The football landed in front of the goal, and as the goalkeeper, Canizares naturally knew that it was safest to have the football in his hands. He almost rolled and crawled to pounce on the football.
Ribéry was originally going to rush in and grab the middle point. This would have caused him and Milito to pounce on the middle at the same time, which would have interfered with each other. However, Milito suddenly ran forward a little and completed a beautiful shovel shot.
Ribéry was a little happy and a little regretful. He was happy that Milito was going to score, but regretful that the ball was not scored by him. He did not expect that the shot would not go in. Instead, it was pounced on by Canizares. He did not expect that the ball would land not far from his feet!
A God-given opportunity!
Ribéry, who was about to shoot, already felt the shadow in front of him. It was the goalkeeper, Canizares, pouncing on him!
How could Ribéry let such a fat piece of meat slip away from his hands?
He chose the safest way to shoot. He fell to the ground and did a shovel shot.
The football jumped up from his shovel and flew past Canizares' cheek. It fell into the goal behind him, and Ribéry was tackled to the ground by Canizares.
However, the result was undeniable!
The ball went in!
*****
“Goooool！”
"Franck Ribéry! He scored! He fell together with the goalkeeper, Canizares. Is this a foul for colliding with the goalkeeper?! No! The referee indicated that the goal was valid! Sporting de Gijón extended their lead at home. They now lead Valencia by three goals to one! "
"Oh, oh, oh, oh! The ball went in! Beautiful rebound shot! Sporting de Gijón leads the defending champions by two goals! Look! Look at Manager Li Ang's excitement on the sidelines. Ha, it's as if he was the one who scored! "
"Sporting de Gijón has changed the score to three goals to one! The defending champions are in big trouble. Ranieri is in big trouble. Ballaha was sent off with a red card. Now, they have conceded a third goal! Ranieri's team is facing a difficult period. Can they overcome this difficulty? They don't have much time left. There are less than twenty minutes left in the game! "
The camera gave a close-up of the two managers. In one shot, Li Ang waved his fists to the sky and roared with his mouth open. A little further away, Ranieri stood on the sidelines. The old manager scratched his head in pain. It looked like there was nothing he could do about the current situation!
*****
Indeed, there was nothing they could do.
Ranieri then brought on Fiore to replace Ruffalo, who did not do much in today's game. Then, he brought on the 26-year-old Spanish striker, Mista, to replace Angulo. However, Valencia's offense did not improve. On the contrary, Sporting de Gijón's counterattack was very sharp. If not for the outstanding performance of the old goalkeeper, Canizares, they might have continued to concede goals!
Li Ang looked at the time. It was already the 90th minute of the game. The regular time for the game was up.
It was time for injury stoppage time!
The fourth official walked to the sidelines and raised the sign for injury stoppage time. It was three minutes.
Ranieri waved anxiously on the sidelines for the players to press forward and ignore the defense. The score was still one to three. Valencia was behind by two goals!
Ranieri paced back and forth on the sidelines anxiously. He had realized that there was nothing he could do to turn the situation around. However, he still hoped that the team could score another goal. For the defending champion, Valencia, losing to the newly promoted team, Sporting de Gijón by one to three or two to three did not make any difference in terms of the result. However, in terms of the details, it was more or less a way to save some face.
Li Ang was also on the sidelines. However, he did not roar or direct the team to defend. He was very quiet. He stood outside the sidelines with his hands in his pockets and watched the game quietly.
There was basically nothing for the coaches to do. The adjustments that needed to be made had already been done. Everyone knew what needed to be said. What was the use of shouting?!
Moreover, Li Ang knew that no matter how Valencia attacked, he believed that his team could hold on. On one hand, Valencia's attacks were all talk and no action. They did not really threaten Sporting de Gijón's goal. On the other hand, Li Ang knew that his players were eager to win the game. They wanted to take revenge for the double elimination in the Supercopa de España before the season. They wanted to dedicate the victory to Mata, who was still recovering from his injury. This group of people would not allow the victory to slip away.
*****
Finally, the three minutes of injury stoppage time was up.
After Fiore's dribbling was intercepted by Carlos, Valencia lost possession of the ball. The referee blew the whistle to end the game.
At that moment, the Sporting de Gijón manager could no longer stay calm. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and ran with his arms wide open. He even jumped up and waved his arms vigorously in the air!
The other players and coaches who rushed out from the substitutes' bench did the same thing as him.
They were overjoyed!
They were so excited not only because they had won the game and defeated the defending champions, but also because they had taken revenge for the double elimination in the Supercopa de España before the season.
More importantly, a minute ago, on another field, Sevilla had been forced into a 1: 1 draw by Mallorca on their home ground!
What did that mean?!
This meant that Sporting Gihon, who had defeated Valencia, had obtained three points. If that was the case, now:
Now, they were second in the league!
Author's Note: The fourth and guaranteed second update.
It was almost three o 'clock in the morning. Xiao Qi, who had stayed up late to write, was asking for support.
Asking for subscriptions, monthly tickets, tips, and recommendation tickets.
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