long live football

Beckham leaned over to place the football on the penalty spot.

Then straightened up, and Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar looked at each other.

Van der Sar's entire face was full of dignity.

Beckham's expression was very calm.

Frankly, it is because Beckham knows that Van der Sar is not familiar with him-Beckham left Manchester United for Real Madrid in 03, and Van der Sar came to Manchester United from Fulham in 05. During the few years when Ham played for Real Madrid, Manchester United and the Galacticos have never had a direct dialogue, and he has not been able to set foot in Old Trafford again. Speaking carefully, since the heartthrob left Manchester United in 03, in the past 5 years, only I have played head-to-head against my former old club once, and it is today's game.

Of course, Van der Sar looked dignified, but also because of the same reason.

Beckham, as the second-ranked free kick master in active service, second only to Junio ​​Jr., really made him feel afraid.

The Manchester United goalkeeper hadn't faced the power of the full moon scimitar much. He couldn't even guess whether Beckham would use his famous stunt in this free throw, or pretend to score with a curve ball, and then shot a shot. An ordinary volley from the foot to surprise?

While thinking wildly, Van der Sar realized that Beckham had retreated far enough to wait for the referee's whistle before starting to run up.

He immediately changed his expression and stared at the football.

"Beep-!"

The entire Luzhniki Stadium fell silent immediately.

Beckham started the approach, his speed was very slow.

But it fell into Van der Sar's eyes very quickly. Before the Manchester United goalkeeper could even see his specific movements, he saw a white shadow flying towards him!

Van der Sar immediately stretched his body towards the left of the goal!

But his reaction is still too slow compared to the speed of the ball!

The football has drawn a beautiful arc and got into the dead corner of the goal!

"Goal! Goal! Beckham lives up to expectations!!!"

"A beautiful round moon scimitar! Beckham created a leading advantage for Munich 1860, and also brought boundless pressure on Manchester United's next penalty shooter. The dull atmosphere of the entire stadium immediately broke down, and the stands were full. The excited cheers of the 1860 fans!"

After scoring the goal, Beckham ran back and hugged his teammates.

Karl and other coaches and players applauded vigorously outside the court. Although they celebrated loudly and happily, to be honest, this goal did not surprise many people. If Van der Sar can make Beckham's full moon When the scimitar was thrown out, it was shocking to the audience.

……

Cristiano Ronaldo watched Beckham's movements without batting an eyelid.

His super attention to the opponent also attracted the attention of the commentator. Andy Gray of British Sky Sports said in a very nostalgic tone: "It is really a fateful encounter. The former No. 7 of Manchester United and the current No. 7 Not only have they become opponents with opposite positions in the same game, but now they are fighting on their own, and the winner must be decided through penalty kicks. It is predictable that no matter what the final result of this matchup is, Beckham and Ronaldo The encounter and confrontation will become the highlight that the media has to mention..."

This is also the reason why Ronaldo pays attention to Beckham.

For the former owner of his jersey number, Ronaldo has complicated feelings-he also regarded Beckham as an idol when he was a teenager, and he admired the latter's world-renowned "full moon scimitar" even more, and persistently believed that If you want to become a star, you must have a unique skill, which is why he has been practicing free kick skills, and finally successfully honed the "elevator ball" stunt for himself. When he just transferred to Manchester United and was given the number 7 , he was so excited that he was about to lose sleep, and told himself to play well, and he must not humiliate this jersey.

But when his performance in the Premier League is getting better and better, and the light that blooms becomes more and more brilliant, until he becomes the core of the whole team, praised and even relied on by the coaches, teammates and fans, Ronaldo's feelings for Beckham in his heart are not clear. A slight change has occurred.

From admiration, to admiration, to respect, to... subtle hostility and unconscious comparison.

'I will wash away the marks left by the predecessors on the Manchester United No. 7 jersey. '

"One day in the future, when someone thinks of number 7, the first person to be remembered must be me, Cristiano Ronaldo, not Beckham."

These unwitting thoughts, which used to be Ronaldo's fuel, have now become unprecedented pressure.

Especially after Beckham took such an exquisite penalty.

Although he has done a lot of psychological construction for himself in advance, Ronaldo still has a little worry about gains and losses in his heart.

Under the urging of the referee, Ronaldo personally held the football and placed it on the penalty spot.

Like Beckham, he and his opponent - 1860 Munich goalkeeper Lambert Koch - looked at each other when he raised his body.

Then Ronaldo saw the opponent's extremely hostile eyes.

This look almost made Ronaldo's hairs stand on end.

At this moment, a whistle sounded!

Ronaldo froze for a moment, and immediately started to run.

He emptied his mind, and he gave only one command from thought to action: shoot!

After a few steps in the run-up, Ronaldo rushed to the football. Just before reaching the penalty spot and raising his foot to shoot, he quickly looked up and glanced at the opposite side.

The Lions keeper is leaning to the left, moving no more than 20cm.

Is he predicting that I will shoot to the left?

Overjoyed, Ronaldo's body reacted faster than his brain.

Swing your right foot and shoot to the right of the goal!

Koch leaps!

The one who jumped was also on the right!

When Ronaldo saw that the direction of Koch's save was exactly the same as the direction where the football was flying, his face immediately turned pale!

Then in the next second, the Lions goalkeeper's palm touched the football!

The football hit the thick glove and bounced off!

"Koch-!!!"

"Lambert Koch!" German commentator Gaynor yelled desperately: "He blocked Manchester United's No. 7's shot, and the timing of the flying save was very accurate. It couldn't be a second faster or slower! Munich 1860 Great goalkeeper, he played so bravely!"

……

After the Luzhniki Stadium was quiet for a few seconds, a huge noise suddenly broke out!

Part of it was the cheers of the Lions fans, and the other part was the surprised questions of the Manchester United fans.

Ferguson in front of the Manchester United coaching bench had a rare dull expression on his face. Obviously, Ronaldo's free throw failure was unexpected by the Red Devils coach.

The faces of other Manchester United players were also very ugly, obviously they were also hit by the scene in front of them.

The opposite was the elation of the Munich 1860 side.

The cheers from the coach's bench and the bench became one piece.

There is only one place that is quiet.

That's where the Lions coach stands.

Carl's eyes stayed on the red figure kneeling in front of the penalty spot covering his face for a long time before moving away.

His body was stiff and his mood was complicated, but he couldn't react as he wanted.

One is that the status does not allow it, the other is that the occasion does not allow it, and what's more...he is probably one of the culprits who made the other party cry.

The coaches and players next to him caught a glimpse of Carl's expressionless face, thinking that their boss was worried about the next few rounds of penalty kicks, and they all sighed in their hearts: "We are so excited that we can't find the north just one goal ahead. Weak, it seems that the boss is calm enough."

When Ronaldo realized that he missed his free throw, his legs softened and he fell to his knees on the ground.

Then tears flowed down involuntarily, and he had to cover his face to hide his ugliness, so as not to be seen by the whole world looking sad and disappointed.

A few Manchester United players quickly ran from the field, and helped him off the field.

The Lions goalkeeper watched these people slowly move away from the field, with an imperceptible smile on his face.

A while ago, he saw a sports paper just published in an academic weekly. It was written by two sports psychologists from the German Sports Academy in Cologne and Saarbrücken University. The paper mainly explained the goalkeeper's position and posture. The impact on shooters, there is an interesting experiment in it, that is, these sports psychologists found nearly a hundred football experts and fans to practice penalty kick points, and concluded that if a goalkeeper moves slightly to the left in the middle of the goal line by 10 cm, Then the probability of the shooter to the right free throw is as high as 75%.

To sum it up in one sentence, that is: the subtle fake action made by the goalkeeper before the shooter shoots can have a great impact on the direction of the shooter's shot.

Koch used to be a goalkeeper, purely relying on his strong physical fitness and extremely sensitive ability to predict. Today, facing Ronaldo, because he pays too much attention to his opponent, he used a small trick for the first time in his life, but he did not expect this trick The effect is so good, it easily deceived the other party.

Koch enjoyed a great sense of satisfaction in his heart.

……

In the second round of the penalty shootout, 1860 Munich sent Portillo.

Portillo does not have the exquisite free-kick stunt like the full-moon scimitar, and his shooting action has always been very solid.

Of course, it is also very practical.

Fast run-up and shooting, the whole process does not exceed 3 seconds.

The Manchester United keeper didn't even stretch his body before the goal went in.

It was Manchester United's second penalty shooter Carlos Tevez.

Munich 1860 made two free throws, and his side's first free throw loss put a lot of pressure on Carlos Tevez.

Perhaps because he was too nervous, his shot to the left of the goal was also saved by Koch.

After missing a penalty kick, Carlos Tevez covered his face and cried like Ronaldo.

The cheers from the Lions fans inside the Luzhniki Stadium grew louder and, on the face of it, it seemed that the balance of victory was tipping in favor of 1860 Munich.

……

Third round.

After observing the first two free throws, Van der Sar suddenly found that before Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez shot, the Munich 1860 goalkeeper seemed to have made a little fake action that was not easy to be found.

After reviewing all the scenes from the previous two rounds in his mind, Van der Sar confirmed his discovery: that Lambert Koch did make some misleading body movements before the Manchester United player took the penalty kick. Then Ronaldo and Tevez probably thought they were smart enough to interpret the wrong body language of the opponent, and fell into the trap designed by the opponent when they shot, which caused Manchester United to miss the first two free throws.

Time waits for no one, and before preparing to guard the goal, Van der Sar hastily informed coach Ferguson of his new discovery in concise language.

Ferguson nodded to him with a serious expression.

The Manchester United goalkeeper knew that the head coach had listened to his own words, so he was relieved and ran to start the third round of the penalty shootout.

He is also fully prepared this time, to let the forwards of Munich 1860 also taste the feeling of being cheated in front of the goal.

When Lewandowski, the player who took the third round of free throws in Munich 1860, finished his run-up and rushed in front of the penalty spot, he subconsciously raised his head and saw the Manchester United goalkeeper's body leaning a little to the right.

Lewandowski raised his foot reflexively and volleyed the ball to the left of the goal!

Van der Sar leaps to save the ball!

Lewandowski was dumbfounded.

Van der Sar smiled for the first time since the penalty shootout.

It's Manchester United's turn.

Hargreaves usually put the ball, usually back a few steps to run.

When he ran up to the penalty spot, his raised right foot suddenly paused in the air.longer than 1 second.

Koch's reflexes are excellent, and he was ready to make a save when Hargreaves was running up. At this time, he saw that the opponent paused inexplicably and seemed to have no intention of shooting immediately, so he was also taken aback for a while.

Taking advantage of this moment, Hargreaves suddenly stopped poking posses and poked and shot!

The football scraped the turf and rolled towards the goal like a bolt of lightning!

In just one breath, it has already rolled into the net!

The pitch shook again.

But this time it was Manchester United fans who cheered.

"Get back a goal! Manchester United pulled back a goal! It's only 2:1 now, the Red Devils still have a chance!"

……

The fourth penalty shooter for 1860 Munich was Owen.

When van der Sar faced Owen, he also tried to confuse him with feints.

Owen has more experience than Lewandowski, and he was not disturbed by Van der Sar much. He smoothly volleyed the ball and shot it in the direction he had prepared for a long time.

However, Owen's shot angle was not tricky enough, it was just a low shot in the middle.

Probably because of God's favor, Van der Sar failed to confuse Owen this time, and he also failed to predict the direction of the opponent's shot in advance. He squatted down graciously, just enough to hold the ball in his arms.

"This is a save that saved Manchester United! Look at Ferguson's expression outside the field. Sir Ferguson, who tried to control his expression very well, couldn't help but smiled and applauded. Presumably in his heart, Fan De Sa is guarding Manchester United like Schmeichel at Old Trafford!"

Carl on the sidelines hadn't reacted yet, but Ferguson swung his right fist vigorously: "Good job, Edwin!"

Ryan Giggs came on for a penalty for Manchester United.

Thanks to Ferguson's face-to-face instruction, Giggs was more cunning in his free throws than his team-mate Hargreaves.

His behavior can be called unscrupulous.

Giggs first put the ball on the penalty spot, then took two steps back and turned around to come to the ball.

Just when Koch thought he was going to take a shot, Giggs said to the referee without moving: "The position of the ball is not right, can I do it again?"

The referee nodded to him.

Giggs then slowly moved the ball on the penalty spot again, stepped back and started to run up again.

When he was about to run up again this time, and the whole world thought he was about to shoot, Giggs said to the referee: "My right foot suddenly lost strength and I couldn't shoot the ball. Can I do it again?"

The referee agreed again.

Giggs then took a third run-up and didn't shoot: "This turf doesn't feel very watery, there is too much water, I need to reposition it."

He started the fourth swing, run-up.

When the German commentator was wasting time back and forth like Giggs, the atmosphere scolded: "Despicable! Despicable!"

The England commentator laughed a few times dryly, and excused Giggs: "It's a kind of psychological tactics like Giggs's current situation where he doesn't make free throws a few times. Boy, many Manchester United players have learned to play psychological warfare..."

Rao was as calm as Carl, and couldn't help frowning at this moment, but unlike the fans in the stands who were scolding Giggs at the moment, Carl was a little dissatisfied with the referee: Giggs is so Unscrupulously challenging the bottom line of penalty kick rules, you just watch and don't deal cards, does UEFA know?

Just after Giggs' fourth run-up ended, he moved!

From the run-up to the front of the ball to the shot, Giggs did it in one go!

The football flew to the lower left corner of the goal!

A blind spot!

Although Koch jumped in the right direction, he still couldn't catch the gap between the post and the grass. The football almost rubbed against his fingertips at one end and the post at the other end and got into the goal.

"2:2! Munich 1860 and Manchester United missed and scored twice! They are back on the same starting line!"

Koch's already deep complexion was now even more gloomy, almost dripping water, he took off his gloves suddenly and threw them on the ground.

In the next final round of the match, he planned to guard the goal with bare hands.

"Can the two teams decide the winner in the fifth round? If so, the winner of this season's Champions League will be decided. If not, Manchester United and Munich 1860 will enter a suffocating 'sudden death'!"

The "sudden death method" is a decisive method adopted by the two sides in the penalty shootout after five rounds of penalty kicks have not yet been found. If one team makes a free throw and the other team does not make a free throw, the team that made the free throw wins the game.

If it is said that the penalty shootout has already made the players feel a lot of pressure, then the "sudden death method" will test the nerves of the players even more. The winner will be ecstatic, but the loser will be depressed because of this failure, and even suffer from penalty kick fear. Syndrome is possible, so most players with normal mentality don't like and don't want to face the "sudden death method".

……

The last penalty shooter in Munich 1860 was Lambert Koch.

The world-famous magical goalkeeper!

When the news was announced on the big screen in the stadium at the beginning of the penalty shootout, fans all over the world were stunned together with their boys.

In the stadium, on the Internet, in front of the TV, in the bar... There are voices of discussion everywhere.

The topic of discussion became like this among the fans' questioning and investigation: Suspected that the list was wrong-suspected that Munich 1860 submitted it wrong-Oston's head was flooded and he would arrange it like this! ——Auston's IQ is absolutely no problem! ——He must have a deep meaning——Oh, I dug it out, Koch played as a striker! ——Is Koch the secret weapon of 1860? ——Look, I know that Auston has a deep meaning in doing this!

The penalty shootout on the field is not yet over, and the excitement outside cannot be transmitted for the time being.

Before the start of the fifth round of free throws, Karl took Koch by his side and told him.

"Don't think too much when you shoot, and don't be confused by Van der Sar's fake moves." Carl also saw the "imitation learning" of the Manchester United goalkeeper in the third round: "Also, when Nani shoots, no matter No matter what kind of tricks he plays, you must concentrate on it, don't look at his body movements, just stare at the ball, at least the ball will not lie to you."

Koch originally wanted to say a lot, but in the end he didn't say anything, just nodded, and then said in the calmest voice: "I won't let you down, boss."

Carl patted him on the shoulder with a smile: "Go."

Koch placed the football in front of the penalty spot very seriously.

Then he straightened up and, for the first time in his life, stood in front of the goal as a penalty shooter in such an important event as the Champions League final, facing the opponent's goalkeeper.

Van der Sar snorted softly in his heart, a little puzzled and a little disdainful.

Actually sent the goalkeeper to take a penalty kick?

Is Karl Alston megalomaniac, or is he megalomaniac?

As if seeing the contempt on the Manchester United goalkeeper's face, Koch hooked the corner of his mouth, looked directly at him, and showed a utterly contemptuous smile.

Van der Sar was taken aback by the giggling chuckle.

so dragging?

It's so hot? !

A surge of anger suddenly surged up in his chest, and when Van der Sar was about to take advantage of Koch's run-up to goug the opponent's back viciously a few times, he suddenly heard a whistle!

"Beep!" The referee immediately blew his whistle when he saw Koch gesturing to him. Although he also felt that it was strange that the opponent asked for a shot without a run-up, football rules did not stipulate that a run-up must be made before a free throw, so the player If you want to blow the whistle, shoot immediately and blow it.

Then in the next second, Van der Sar felt that his whole body was not ready, and when some limbs were even stiff, he saw a football, which was shot towards the sky above his head like a shell!

The opponent actually shot without a run-up!

Although he could feel the strong force carried by the football from a distance, and he might be slightly injured if he used his body to block it rashly, Van der Sar still used his strong willpower to overcome the feeling that his body wanted to retreat, and closed his eyes. Jump up in place!

But he reacted too late.

Accompanied by a strong sound of airflow, the football flew into the goal, brushing against Van der Sar's head.

The Luzhniki Stadium was full of ghosts and wolves.

The fans of Munich 1860 saw that Koch actually scored such a wonderful and easy penalty. They were so excited that they couldn't speak. "Ohohoho!" sound.

"Koch took the ball into the penalty area! This is the last round of penalties, and it may be the last battle!"

"Can Nani, who played last for Manchester United, hit the ball like Koch? If he can, Manchester United and Munich 1860 will enter the 'sudden death law' and continue to fight. If he can't... the new European champions To be born!"

Nani hugs the football and walks towards the penalty spot.

Looking from outside the court, his back actually looked a bit weak.

When Nani walked up to the referee, the referee warned him not to make any fancy fake moves before the free throw, otherwise he would be dealt a card-after Giggs shot, 1860 Munich had too much resentment. Shang Karl also went to protest with the fourth official, so the referee was a little harsher in the last round.

The referee's warning was obviously something Nani did not expect. His footsteps stopped, and his aura suddenly weakened a little.

When placing the football, Nani's hands trembled a little, and it took him several times to place the ball correctly.

Turn around, run up, shoot.

At the same time, Koch made a save.

The goalkeeper of the Lions team listened to his intuition and predicted the position on the right side of the goal. When Nani raised his foot, he rushed towards him without thinking!

He was right!

A flying half-height, spinning team seemed to be equipped with radar, and flew straight to Koch!

The goalkeeper likes this kind of ball with a moderate height and a moderate angle!

Koch stretched out his arms, and the football appeared in his arms!

Feeling the soft and hard touch of the round object in his arms, Koch finally showed the same excited and fanatical expression on his face as the fans!

Not far away, the players of 1860 Munich jumped three feet high!

On the coach's bench, Karl rushed into the court uncontrollably!

In the stands, regardless of the danger, countless fans opened their arms and rushed towards their closest friends!

At the same time, commentators from an unknown number of countries are facing the microphones, showing their extremely loud voices: "The winner of the European Champions Cup in the 2007-08 season has been born, and it is - Munich 1860!"