The strongest winger

Chapter 730 Header assists Drogba

Although Van der Sar was 'bombed' off the field by Aiello's shot, it did not affect his subsequent game status, because as early as four years ago in the Dutch World Youth Championship group match, he had blasted the main goalkeeper of the Ukrainian National Youth Team into a broken finger. Football games are not play games, and accidents can happen at any time.

In the second half, they changed sides and fought again, but in the first few minutes of the game, the commentators on the spot almost all discussed the topic of Van der Sar leaving the field due to Aiello's shot.

Of course, the biggest reason is that the plot that happened on the court could not attract too much attention from them.

There was nothing to watch in the first 5 minutes, and the two sides moved forward slowly as if they had made an appointment. There was no such open attack in the first half, even Aiello and Cristiano Ronaldo, moving forward slowly with the overall rhythm of the team.

It seems to be accumulating energy, and it seems to be drifting with the tide.

This situation is no problem for the leading Chelsea, but it is extremely abnormal for the lagging Manchester United, because the unhurried forward attack simply cannot allow them to equalize the score on the field, and even cause their last bit of morale to be exhausted.

It was not until the 7th minute of the second half, that is, the 52nd minute of the game, that Manchester United, which had been lurking for a long time, launched its first truly threatening attack. Through layers of advancement, the battle was burned to Chelsea's defensive 30-meter area. Left-back Evra rarely pressed to the sideline in the second half to participate in the team's attack.

Evra looked up at the running position of his teammates in the penalty area, and then kicked a pass before Bosingwa. Cristiano Ronaldo abruptly killed a bloody path in Terry's iron-blooded defense, and dived sideways with a header.

"What a pity!" said the Manchester United TV commentator regretfully.

Mourinho saw that the team lacked enthusiasm after the start of the second half, so he called Modric in the warm-up zone to come over. He wanted to use the tacit understanding between Aiello and Modric to expand the score on the field.

The score of 2:1 is too unsafe. It always feels that the ball will be lost in the defense again and again.

Unknowingly, Mourinho's coaching style has also gradually changed, developing in an offensive direction.

Sometimes he himself is surprised. From the time he coached Benfica to Porto, and now Chelsea, his firm defensive philosophy has undergone a qualitative change with Chelsea’s offense. However, this change does not make him a pure offensive style like Wenger’s. It is to increase his support for the offense while stabilizing the defense, especially when Aiello, who has super personal ability in the frontcourt, is on the court. A one-goal lead can no longer satisfy his appetite.

In the 62nd minute, Modric replaced Ballack to strengthen the attack.

"Oh? Mourinho took the lead in making substitution adjustments, replacing Ballack with Modric, who has a stronger offensive ability. This is definitely a signal to strengthen the offense. Couldn't a one-goal lead not satisfy Mourinho's appetite? Do you want to beat Manchester United at the new Wembley Stadium?"

Lineker said suspiciously.

Immediately, his guest commentator nodded and said: "Judging from this substitution adjustment, it is very possible. Manchester United's midfield organization is weak now, and there is no way to organize an attack that threatens Chelsea. Taking advantage of this time to strengthen the attack, it may be really possible to expand the score on the field, and then they can comfortably control the game."

"I really can't see it. Mourinho actually chooses to strengthen the offense at this time. This is to force Manchester United to death!"

At the same time, Liu Jianhong said: "Mourinho's intention to replace Modric is very obvious. Use the tacit understanding between Modric and Aiello to expand the score, so as to secure the victory in this final! After the League Cup final, they will have the FA Cup quarter-finals and the Champions League 1/4 finals. And before the two international games at the end of March and early April, they still have two league games and a make-up match to play. It is not safe to lead by one goal. Overtime, no benefit to either side..."

※※※

Ferguson, who was sitting on the coach's bench, couldn't sit still, and called his assistants to bring Hargreaves and Berbatov from the warm-up area to wait for orders.

However, Ferguson did not dare to use two substitutions at once, because Van der Sar's end had already used up one substitution. If two substitutions were made at one time, and another injury occurred, it would be very uneconomical to play more with less.

After a short period of contemplation, Ferguson decided to let Hargreaves play first. His defensive ability was not possessed by the veteran Stearns. In addition, Scholes was too old. After fighting for more than an hour in the final, it was time to enjoy the applause of the Manchester United fans in the stands.

Two minutes later, Manchester United made the second substitution adjustment of the game, replacing Scholes, who had already declined significantly in physical fitness, with Hargreaves.

It is worth mentioning that when Scholes was off the field, fans from both sides in the stands applauded him subconsciously, paying tribute to the 35-year-old veteran!

The presence of Hargreaves has strengthened Manchester United's defense in the middle. With the cooperation of Park Ji-sung, it is more difficult for Ai Luo to easily break through the past and directly face the defense.

Hargreaves, who had just played, had a very clear mind, but he couldn't let Ai Luo kick his own rhythm.

Of course, facing the confident Hargreaves who came to the court just after playing, Ai Luo also has his own way to deal with it, which is to use his role as a magnet board to create space for his teammates to pass the ball, and his own role has also changed from a terminator to a creator.

In the 69th minute, Modric suddenly accelerated to get rid of Carrick's defense and quickly passed the ball to Ai Luo. Hargreaves and winger Park Ji-sung instinctively approached Ai Luo, but Ai Luo suddenly pushed with his foot, passed the ball back to Modric, and then accelerated to run forward.

Park Ji-sung and Hargreaves instinctively followed Aiello back, but Modric used the outside instep of his right foot to develop the ball to the middle.

This frightened the two central defenders and left back Evra. Carrick was easily passed by Modric, but Park Ji-sung and Hargreaves chose to defend Aiello because of inertial thinking. At this moment, they seemed to have forgotten that Modric also has a strong dribbling ability.

Evra had to recover to the defensive position on the right rib, ready to fill in when the central defender Vidic stepped forward to defend.

And this choice of position also directly led to an obvious vacancy on the left side of Manchester United's defense. Anelka saw the opportunity and suddenly advanced from the attacking right rib to the baseline. Modric passed a through pass without hesitation.

Anelka sprinted hard, and Evra had to pull back from the penalty area to his defensive left.

However, Modric's passing angle is very tricky, and Evra, who was recovered into the penalty area, had to twist his waist and turn around to rush towards Anelka.

Unless... Anelka makes a mistake on his own initiative.

It's just that the possibility is too low.

Modric's pass is very comfortable, Anelka can pass directly without stopping the ball.

Evra flew to block and did not shovel the football, and the football flew to the goal.

Foster looked up at the football in mid-air, hesitated for a moment, and did not choose to attack to pick the ball.

Drogba in the middle looked at the oncoming football, and did not take off. The football flew to the back point, which is the route Ai Luo advanced forward. However, he did not stand still and watch Ai Luo head the ball, but retreated two steps.

Ai Luo is now stuck in the middle of Hargreaves and Park Ji-sung. It is still unknown whether he can hit the ball. It is more difficult to directly attack the goal.

Park Ji-sung and Hargreaves were stuck in the inside line, and the other was right behind Ai Luo, and they also pulled the jersey from time to time, causing additional interference.

Therefore, they do not have much time to watch the football in mid-air.

Ai Luo suddenly accelerated when Manchester United's defensive left rib was about ten meters away from the bottom line, and Park Ji-sung behind him instinctively reached for the jersey behind him.

At this moment, Ai Luo, who seemed to be running all the time, suddenly stretched out his right hand and swung back, just knocking off the palm of Park Ji-sung who was trying to pull the jersey.

What's more terrible is that Hargreaves, who was stuck inside, didn't know what was going on behind him at all, until Foster moved from the far corner to the short cut, he realized that this defense had unexpected difficulties, and the pressure from behind also surged!
When Hargreaves turned his head to interfere with Ai Luo, the latter had already jumped first, which frightened Hargreaves. Fortunately, he looked at the football in mid-air again, and he was a little relieved.

According to his prediction, taking off now is an early jumping behavior, and it is impossible to hit the football at all.

But what he didn't expect was that there are exceptions to everything, and Ai Luo is like this. When he jumped to the highest point, he didn't fall down immediately, but was suspended in mid-air like a helicopter, 'waiting' for the football!

The hearts of Rio Ferdinand and Hargreaves, who subconsciously turned their heads to look at where the football landed, 'clicked' at the same time.

They all know that something bad is going to happen...

However, they are still a little lucky, because Ai Luo is only five meters away from the baseline, and the shooting angle is not even [-] degrees, so scoring with a header is impossible.

It's just that they fell into a fixed mindset again. Aiello didn't choose to head the goal, but twisted his waist and shook his head to head the ball towards the penalty spot of Manchester United's penalty area.

"Danger!"

Goalkeeper Foster's pupils shrank suddenly, and his body tensed up instantly. Drogba swung his left foot without stopping the ball, and then kicked the football firmly under the exclamation of the fans.

Due to the short distance, Foster did not make any reaction, but instinctively followed the football and looked sideways.

Then, the football plunges headlong into the arms of the goal net...

(End of this chapter)