The game was in a stalemate for 15 minutes. Manchester United had the absolute advantage on the field. They were just a little unlucky not to score.
Twain did not expect his team to be so miserable at Old Trafford. He was a little annoyed.
It was useless to blindly defend against Manchester United's offensive. If the Forest team could not counterattack, they would slowly be eaten up by Manchester United.
But how could they defend against Ronaldo, who was in good form …
※ ※ ※
Cristiano Ronaldo almost retreated to the midfield to get the ball. The Nottingham Forest players were forcing him to walk out. He also took advantage of the situation and came back to receive the pass. After getting the ball, he used his superb footwork to break through the Forest team's defense.
George Wood discovered that Ronaldo was harder to defend against this season than in previous seasons. It was not that Ronaldo's footwork was much more fancy. On the contrary, the Portuguese's footwork was more practical. Not only did he bury his head in dribbling, he also knew when to pass and when to shoot. The variety of offensive methods made it harder for him to defend.
George Wood saw him dribble the ball up and looked left and right. After confirming the position of his team and the opposing players, he went up to meet him. Although Twain did not ask him to specifically mark Ronaldo, now that the opponent was in his defensive zone, was he going to hide instead of going up to defend?
He went up to intercept Ronaldo head-on, but Ronaldo passed the ball and was unwilling to tangle with George Wood.
Ronaldo, who ran without the ball, bypassed Wood and received the ball from his teammates again. He successfully squeezed Wood behind him. It was now a dangerous zone. Wood did not dare to easily foul.
Wood did not dare to easily foul. He wanted to stab the ball from behind, but Ronaldo did a good job of protecting the ball in the process of dribbling, so he could not find the right time to make a move. With a little hesitation, Ronaldo had already found a gap and drilled into the penalty area.
This time, he did not dare to foul even if he wanted to.
Pepe planned to intercept Ronaldo's ball when he had just broken into the penalty area and was still unsteady. He did not expect Ronaldo to still control the football under his feet in such a narrow space. No matter how many people wanted to intercept his ball, it could not be intercepted! And because it was in the penalty area, the defenders had to be careful. They did not have enough strength to intercept and it was not so easy to successfully intercept the ball.
Ronaldo looked for an opening and suddenly raised his leg to shoot in the crowd. Although he did not use much strength, the angle was good enough.
Edwin van der Sar's line of sight was blocked by the crowd. Even so, he struggled to save the football, using his fingertips!
"Wooooow — Cristiano Ronaldo looks to be in great form today! One man in the penalty area attracted all of Nottingham Forest's defensive power, and he can still lift his leg to shoot. He can also shoot with such quality. If it weren't for Edwin van der Sar's heroic performance, Manchester United would have been leading by 1: 0! "
Ronaldo squeezed through the crowd with his head held high, ready to attack from the corner. With a height of 1.89 meters, he was in no way inferior to those center backs. Coupled with his outstanding jumping ability, he was indeed a threat to the Forest team in front of the goal.
Pepe pulled George Wood and pointed at Ronaldo. He motioned for him to guard against Manchester United's number 7.
He stood in front of Ronaldo.
The Portuguese looked at Wood, who was opposite him, but he did not push him. The two men looked at each other face to face. Such a "friendly" corner defense seemed a little inexplicable to the onlookers.
But when the ball was kicked out, Wood and Ronaldo both moved almost at the same time. Wood wanted to hold Ronaldo back, while Ronaldo wanted to push Wood away.
The two men tangled and jumped up only to find that their efforts were in vain. Manchester United's corner kick was not good enough. It went straight out of the end line in the air …
※ ※ ※
Ronaldo's great activity made the Forest team quite nervous. After that, when he took the ball, there would be at least three people surrounding him to prevent him from easily breaking through. Anyway, the Forest team's middle was a densely packed place. It was normal for three people to besiege him. As one of the current attacking players in the limelight, he deserved this treatment.
The Forest players all went to guard against Ronaldo, but gradually ignored one person.
When Ronaldo was once again surrounded by the Forest team, this time he did not choose to break through individually or lift his leg to shoot. He distributed the football to the left flank.
Wayne Rooney received his pass.
Now there was only Rafinha in front of Rooney.
Due to Ronaldo's active performance, Nottingham Forest unwittingly shifted the focus of the defense from the flank to the middle, and then to him alone. Even Beckham sometimes needed to retreat to the middle to assist in the defense.
After Rooney took the ball, there was no one to guard against him.
In the face of Rafinha, who was strong in offense and weak in defense, Rooney did not hold back. He feinted to shake him until he lost his center of gravity and accelerated to break through. Rafinha's reaction was fast. When he saw Rooney was going to pass by him, he immediately turned around and shoveled. Even if it was a foul, it was better than letting him easily break through.
The English boy seemed to have eyes behind his back. When Rafinha's foot arrived, he jumped up. Rafinha did not shovel the ball and only hooked Rooney.
Rooney stumbled, but he quickly adjusted by relying on his outstanding physical fitness and stumbled to catch up with the football. Pepe had already charged over from the penalty area. At the same time, Beckham also rushed over from the middle to assist in the defense.
Seeing that Rooney was about to be cornered, he suddenly swept the football to the middle.
At this moment, Ronaldo, Scholes and Hargreaves were all in the penalty area. On the Nottingham Forest side, there was also Piqué, Bale, Wood and Rafinha, who had just run back.
With Rooney's pass, there was chaos in front of the goal.
Ronaldo was about to rush up to grab the ball when he suddenly felt someone's hand grab his shoulder and pull him forward. His brain quivered, and he immediately fell headfirst onto the ground.
The falling Ronaldo also knocked over Piqué in front of him.
For a moment, the penalty area was in chaos, but the football flew past the goal in the chaos. No one touched it!
The Manchester United fans were excited because they saw Ronaldo fall to the ground and heard the referee's whistle.
The referee on duty ran into the penalty area and pointed to … the penalty spot!
※ ※ ※
"Damn it!" Tang En saw the scene and flew into a rage off the field. "It's clearly a dive! That referee must be blind! "
Next door, Ferguson stood on the sidelines with a smile and applauded. He did not care whether it was a dive or not. As long as the referee ruled that Nottingham Forest had fouled, then it was Nottingham Forest's foul.
Loud cheers rang out in the stands at Old Trafford, covering the boos of the Nottingham Forest fans. At this moment, the home advantage was fully demonstrated.
On the field, amidst the overwhelming cheers of the Manchester United fans, the Nottingham Forest players were arguing with the referee. Bale put his hands together and kept explaining to the referee that he did not push anyone. It was just normal physical contact, and his strength was not enough to push Ronaldo down.
But the referee just shook his head and stood on the penalty spot. He would not change his decision.
Tony Twain, who had lost his head in anger, pointed at the group of Manchester United players who were hugging and celebrating on the sidelines and roared, "Liar! Ronaldo, you're a liar through and through! "
Ronaldo had long had a bad reputation because of his many dives. But Tang En was so blatantly scolding him in someone else's territory, so he really did not care about anything.
Ferguson heard his shouts and frowned slightly. The fourth official was attracted by his shouts.
"Mr. Tony Twain, please calm down a little. I'm warning you, don't get sent to the stands for this. "
Tang En certainly knew what the other person said was not a joke. He pursed his lips and stopped yelling. He just turned to face the technical area with his back to the field. He did not want to watch the Manchester United people's revelry.
※ ※ ※
Cristiano Ronaldo was surrounded by his teammates. There were excited roars all around him. He did not know what Tang En was shouting on the sidelines. But it did not matter. After the game, someone would naturally tell him what happened on the sidelines. Then the media could sit on the sidelines and watch the tigers fight.
The Nottingham Forest players' protests were ineffective. The decision that had been made could not be changed. They could only helplessly accept the result. But when a few people retreated from the penalty area, they still cast resentful gazes at Ronaldo, who was holding the football and preparing to take the penalty.
Among them, Gareth Bale, the "perpetrator," had his eyes nailed to Ronaldo.
Ronaldo did not have time to care about whether the other people's eyes were friendly or not. He carried the football to the penalty spot and placed the football firmly on it.
"Ronaldo has scored 30 goals in the league tournament and is currently at the top of the goalscorers list. But he clearly does not want to end his scoring spree. If he can help Manchester United beat Nottingham Forest and finally pick up the league title trophy, then he must be the best player of the season. There is no doubt about that. As a midfielder, his total goals in a single season have reached 40. This is a very remarkable result! Ferguson put him on the forward line for this game. Does he think he is a greater threat to the opponent in the forward position? "
The noisy Old Trafford stadium gradually quieted down. Ronaldo got up and retreated, ready to run for the penalty. He spread his legs and crossed his arms. His eyes were fixed on the goal and his mouth was constantly inhaling and exhaling. This was a habitual posture of his. It was like this before he took the free kick.
Edwin van der Sar stared at the ball at his feet. He stood in the middle of the goal and opened his arms. His height and arm length allowed him to cover almost half of the goal.
Edwin van der Sar's ability to save penalties had improved significantly since he defeated Arsenal in the semifinals of the 05-06 Champions League and helped the team break into the Champions League final.
And …
"It looks like Ronaldo is going to personally take the penalty he created. He missed a penalty in the semifinal penalty shootout against Chelsea in the Champions League. I wonder if he has a chance to wash away the shame this time? "
Cristiano Ronaldo had just missed a penalty in an important game and the team was tragically eliminated. Right now, his mood should still be in a relatively large fluctuation. He was now taking the penalty himself in the hope of getting rid of the shadow of his missed penalty. But … more haste, less speed. The more he wanted to do something, the worse it was.
So, even though the Forest team was sentenced to death in this game, the situation was not necessarily that bad.
When Edwin van der Sar opened his arms in front of the goal, Tang En's violent heart calmed a little.
Except for Edwin van der Sar and Ronaldo, everyone else withdrew from the penalty area.
The referee used his whistle to signal that Ronaldo could kick.
He took a deep breath and began to run up. At the same time, Edwin van der Sar quickly judged the direction.
Ronaldo, who was running up, stopped and raised his leg to shoot!
Edwin van der Sar pounced sideways!
The football hit Edwin van der Sar's arm and bounced back. But the commentator and the Nottingham Forest fans had not remembered to cheer because the danger had not been lifted at all!
The ball that Edwin van der Sar had pounced on happened to bounce back in front of the vexed Ronaldo …
Am I going to miss a penalty?
Ronaldo was vexed when he saw the football bounce back.
He only froze for less than a second before he looked up to see Edwin van der Sar still in the air, looking at him with a look of despair.
He smiled.
He lifted his leg and bounced …
“GOOOOAL！！ Manchester United is in the lead! In the opening 21 minutes, Manchester United has taken the lead on their home ground! Ahhhh … But we are not surprised by this score at all. From the looks of this 20-minute game, Manchester United taking the lead is a matter of course! Nottingham Forest has no chance at all. They can only passively take a beating! Maybe Tony Twain will have something to say about this penalty, but he can't deny this score! "
Deafening cheers rang out in the stands at Old Trafford. The commentator's words might make Tang En fly into a rage again. But after calming down, he had to admit that the other party was right. Nottingham Forest had not gained any advantage in these 20 minutes. Not to mention the situation, they did not even play the style that they were good at. How could they hope to beat Manchester United in this away game?
Now with his back to the field, he heard the cheers coming from all around and knew that Manchester United was in the lead. He did not turn around but continued to face the technical area. Both Dunn and Kerslake could see that his face was getting darker.
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.
