Chapter 989: Battle of Stamford Bridge (2)

When walking onto the Stamford Bridge pitch, every Manchester United player was a little nervous.

Here they haven't won in nine years.

Even with Gao Xiaodong, Manchester United got a miserable draw here in the first round of the league by stalling for time.

Before kick-off, when the players from both sides shook hands, the Chelsea players were very confident and kept provoking the Manchester United players with their eyes, expressions, and actions, hoping to undermine the confidence of the Manchester United players before the game.

The Manchester United players were not polite at all. Gao Xiaodong and Ivanovic, who he had played with in the first round of the league, even cursed at each other.

The two coaches, Ancelotti and Ferguson, were very graceful, shook each other's hands and blessed each other.

Taking advantage of the pre-match ceremony, Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray reviewed the starting lineup and battle results of both sides in the first round of the league.

"Compared with the last red-blue war, Chelsea's defense has changed a lot. The full-back Ivanovic, who was teased by Gao Xiaodong last time, plays as a central defender today, and the full-back has become Bosingwa. Midfielder Ma Luda was replaced by Zhirkov, and Drogba's partner became the golden boy Torres. Both of them were the victims of Manchester United... For Manchester United, O'Shea was replaced by the younger and more capable Rafael. The forward is a fast and strong combination of Rooney and Hernandez. In the middle, Ferguson made a bold decision. He put Scholes on the bench and used Fletcher, Nani, Valencia and Gao Xiaodong. Partnering in the middle of the midfield. This midfielder is fast, but not as powerful as Chelsea, and not as technically superior as Chelsea. We have to wait until the end of the game to comment on the effect."

The first kick-off was the away game of Manchester United.

At Stamford Bridge, Manchester United is almost the most hostile team. Even at kick-off, Blues fans were booing wildly and shouting "Rooney" to humiliate Rooney.

Rooney seemed to be mentally prepared in advance. He ignored the boos and curses from the Blues fans and silently passed the ball and responded.

Chelsea's tactics today are very clear, which is to attack the midfield. After Manchester United kicked off, Drogba and Torres quickly pressed forward, and the midfielders and defenders also quickly moved forward, pushing the battlefield to inside and outside the center circle.

Manchester United missed almost seven or eight kicks in a row. Finally, under Chelsea's pressure, it was passed back to the goalkeeper. Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was not a ball-controlling goalkeeper like Neuer. The ball was passed to him, but he did not pass it accurately to the defender. Even if he had footwork, Van der Sar couldn't pass it, he just kicked the ball forward with a big kick.

The ball was easily grabbed by Terry, and Hernandez barely caused any interference to Terry.

The ball was passed to midfielder Ramirez.

Ramirez split the ball and Essien quickly dribbled the ball forward towards Manchester United's bottom line.

Facing Essien's attack, Evra stepped back sideways, waiting for Essien to pass or block when he made a pass.

Essien is nicknamed the African Buffalo, but he is strong and strong. Some golfers still saw that Evra maintained a good defensive posture and could not break through casually. Nani was still interfering on one side. He decisively slowed down and watched. When Bosingwa came in from behind at high speed, Essien pushed the ball forward. Bosingwa quickly broke through Evra from the outside and passed the ball to the penalty area with one kick.

Today, Manchester United's central defender is the strongest partner of Ferdinand and Vidic. The two are very experienced. While watching the players grabbing points, they used their peripheral vision to watch the players on the wing. When Bosingwa passed by Evra, After passing, Ferdinand quickly moved in front of Torres to prevent the cross from the wing.

Facts have proved that Ferdinand's experience played a crucial role. When Bosingwa passed the ball, Ferdinand got in front of Torres and headed the ball away.

Ferdinand's clearance was praised by Red Devils fans, and on-site commentator Andy Gray also said: "If Evans had been defending, Torres would have grabbed the spot."

However, Andy Gray's partner Liverpool legend Souness laughed and said: "If Vidic came to defend, Torres would probably have scored."

Andy Gray naturally knew that Vidic defended Torres and received three red cards in a row. He smiled and said: "A goal is not necessarily a goal, a foul is definitely a foul."

The opponent easily got a chance to cross from the left, which made Manchester United's captain Vidic very angry. He shouted to Evra and Nani repeatedly, asking them not to let the opponent go easily.

Ferdinand's clearance was captured by Gao Xiaodong.

Seeing that his opponent was aggressive and Gao Xiaodong did not stick to the ball, he quickly turned around and sent a kick to the wing to find Valencia, allowing Valencia to use his speed to attack Chelsea's defense.

Against Manchester United, Chelsea was still very stable. In the attack just now, Bosingwa on the right went up, but Ashley Cole on the left did not press so deep. When Valencia dribbled the ball forward, Zirko Husband was surpassed, but Ashley Cole quickly retreated, compressing Valencia's dribbling space.

When Ashley Cole retreated to the side of the penalty area, Valencia had to slow down. He continued to accelerate. Even if Ashley Cole did not defend him, he would probably take him out of the baseline.

Ashley Cole was experienced and was just waiting for Valencia to slow down. As soon as Valencia's speed dropped, he immediately stepped up.

Valencia has two ideas when it comes to slowing down. If Ashley Cole attacks, he will speed up and go down. If Ashley Cole does not attack, he will cross the ball at a 45-degree angle, allowing his teammates to attack Chelsea's defense. .

Seeing Ashley Cole coming up, Valencia immediately moved the ball to the baseline and accelerated to overtake from the outside.

When Ashley Cole was at his peak, he was called the best left back in the world. Although his peak period has passed, his experience is still there. He also judged Valencia's intentions in advance and knocked down the ball before Valencia. He kicked the ball underground and intercepted the ball.

Valencia stopped suddenly and turned around to grab the ball again. Ashley Cole fell to the ground, holding the turf with his hands and swept the ball to Zhirkov who came back to respond.

Hernandez and Rooney just wanted to grab a shot, but they were next to the two central defenders. Zhirkov had no return line and could only get the ball with his back.

In order to prevent his opponent from stealing the ball from behind, Zhirkov stopped the ball in the opposite direction when picking up the ball.

Although this action is a bit excessive, if someone steals the ball, he may be shaken.

However, Zhirkov stopped the ball and then tried to turn around. Gao Xiaodong had already inserted between Zhirkov and the ball at high speed and stole the ball.

However, when Gao Xiaodong adjusted his steps and prepared for a long shot, Lampard arrived from behind and pushed Gao Xiaodong down.

The referee Malenko blew the whistle, and the Manchester United fans in the stands shouted to give Lampard a yellow card, but Malenko ignored it, signaled Lampard for a foul, and gave Manchester United a free kick in the front left corner of the penalty area.

Since Gao Xiaodong has often been grabbing points recently, Nani came to Gao Xiaodong and said, "Gao, do you want to take a penalty on this ball?"

Gao Xiaodong looked at the distance and direction and said, "I'll give it a try."

"Okay." Nani retreated to the side of the penalty area and waited for the opportunity.

When Gao Xiaodong was preparing to take a free kick, the Manchester United owner's son Edward and Manchester United manager David Gill came to the scene. He walked into the box, put his bag on the table, and hurried to the window to watch Gao Xiaodong take the free kick.

This foul goal was not too far away, but it was quite biased. After goalkeeper Petr Cech blocked the near corner, Gao Xiaodong had no choice but to hit the back corner. However, the accuracy of his footwork was very high. If he scored, it would be a world-famous goal.

Although Gao Xiaodong is versatile with both left and right feet, Manchester United players still believed that Gao Xiaodong might pass the ball. Vidic and Ferdinand both came to the penalty area to compete for headers.

The referee's whistle sounded, Gao Xiaodong made a small run-up, and the banana ball with his left foot hit the back corner of the goal.

Goalkeeper Cech had a premonition that Gao Xiaodong would choose this angle. He flew forward and tried to intercept the ball, but Gao Xiaodong's arc was a bit wide, and Cech, who was tall and had long arms, was unable to touch the ball.

Although he did not touch the ball, Cech was not worried. He could not touch the ball, which meant that it was impossible for the ball to reach the goal.

When Cech looked back, he found that the ball flew past the back post and out of the baseline as expected.

But Cech was not happy. Instead, he was secretly frightened. The ball was too close to the goal post, which was very different from what he judged. If Gao Xiaodong adjusted the arc, he might have scored.

The Blues fans in the stands also exclaimed. They thought it didn't matter when the penalty was taken, but after watching it, the ball was really hanging in the air.

Chelsea goalkeeper Cech took a goal kick, and Drogba was in the frontcourt. Cech passed the ball directly, allowing Warcraft to fight with Manchester United's defender.

The 33-year-old Drogba is no longer at his peak, but his strength is still terrifying. He is stuck in the position, and Ferdinand just can't resist it. He can only watch Drogba pass the ball to Lampard in the center.

Lampard stopped the ball with his chest and moved forward, preparing for a long shot.

Lampard is known as the king of reflection goals. No matter how far the distance is, Fletcher does not dare to let him shoot. He immediately presses over and blocks Lampard's shooting angle.

Most players will break free and then shoot when their opponent blocks the shooting angle, but Lampard has scored many deflected goals and is very confident in the face of interceptions, so he directly kicks the ball and hits the goal.

Fletcher stretched out his foot to block, and the ball hit Fletcher's foot and flew towards the goal.

Veteran Van der Sar is getting stronger and his reaction is still very quick. When Lampard took off, he originally moved to the left. When he saw the refraction, he quickly turned around and moved to the right to attack.

Fortunately, the distance was far away, and Fletcher's interception was somewhat relieved. Van der Sar saved the ball from the bottom line with great difficulty.

Chelsea gets the first corner kick of the game.

As a strong header team, this opportunity cannot be missed.

The corner kick was taken by left back Ashley Cole. Terry, Ivanovic, Drogba and Torres all came to the penalty area to grab headers. Essien and Lampard were preparing for a long shot from the front of the penalty area. Lamy Reis and Zhirkov scrambled to clear the ball from both sides, and Chelsea surrounded Manchester United's penalty area in all directions.

Ashley Cole passed the curve ball into the penalty area, and there was a lot of people pushing and shoving in the penalty area.

Torres fell to the ground in the crowd and Drogba headed the ball over the crossbar.

"Foul foul!"

"Vidic! Vidic!"

"Penalty kick!"

There was a lot of shouting in the stands. In fact, the fans did not see clearly how Torres fell to the ground at that time. They were just booing and irritating Vidic.

Referee Malenko ignored it and asked Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar to take the goal kick.

Only five minutes into the game, both sides had shots, both attacked the opponent's penalty area several times, and also had set kicks. The pace of the game was fast. It seemed that neither side was convinced by the other, and both hoped to score first and take the initiative in the game.

When Cech took a goal kick, he always made a long pass to Drogba, but Van der Sar could not do this. Manchester United's forwards Rooney and Hernandez were both less than 1.8 meters tall. The ball is given to the opponent.

Van der Sar passed the ball across to Evra and slowly advanced from the backcourt.

Chelsea knew Manchester United's approach very well. When Van der Sar served, they started to grab the ball. Torres, Drogba, Zhirkov, and Essien, four people grabbed the four defenders of Manchester United and prevented them from playing the ball comfortably.

Chelsea's steals are fast and fierce, Drogba has the cunning of a black African, and Torres has the shrewdness of a white European. When they steal, they do not forget to confront the opponent physically, knocking down the opponent reasonably or unreasonably, leaving Manchester United without a pick-up line. ball point.

Chelsea's pressing effect was very good. Manchester United's three passes did not pass the midfielder, and then the ball went to Evra's feet. Evra's pass to Fletcher was too weak under the pressure, and Torres quickly started to intercept it.

The Spanish golden boy dribbled the ball straight towards Vidic. After these years of confrontation, Torres prefers to play Vidic than Ferdinand.

Vidic is a top central defender and a tough guy. He is not "fearful" of any opponent, including Drogba, but his technical characteristics determine that he is most "fearful" of forwards like Torres who are quick to start and react quickly.

In October 2009, Manchester United faced Liverpool in the league. Before the game, Vidic made a bold promise not to let Torres humiliate him again. Of course there is a reason for saying this. You know, Vidic was the PFA Player of the Year candidate and Manchester United's Player of the Year the previous season. However, in the two rounds of the league against Liverpool, Vidic received red cards, which caused Vidic to It was Torres who recalled it painfully.

However, the rhetoric was of no use. Vidic received another red card that time and scored a hat-trick of red cards against Torres. Since then, Torres has become the biggest shadow of Vidic's career.

Something happened suddenly. When he saw Torres bringing the ball, Vidic felt nervous and did not dare to go over to hit it. He gave Torres two steps to hit the goal and prevented him from breaking through.

Vidic's choice made Ferguson very dissatisfied. For top forwards, the threat of shooting from this position is no less than a breakthrough.

On-site commentator Andy Gray also laughed and said that Vidic was really in a shadow, and Torres couldn't be placed so far away.

If you were against other defenders, Torres would have shot directly, but facing Vidic, Torres was full of confidence. He made a fake dribbling move to the left and accelerated to the right.

Such a fake move would normally be of no use to a defender of Vidic's level, but Vidic was still too nervous. He moved to the left nervously, and by the time Torres broke through to the right, he was already passive.

Fortunately, Vidic stayed two steps away, and fortunately Torres' explosive power decreased after his serious injury, allowing Vidic to use his body to hold Torres before Torres entered the penalty area.

Torres lost his balance under Vidic's collision and staggered into the penalty area. The ball was caught by goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.

"Penalty kick... Vidic foul! Foul! Red card! Red card!"

For a time, the Stamford Bridge stadium was filled with shouts, like a mountain roaring and a tsunami.

Ancelotti jumped up and shouted towards the pitch: "Foul! Foul!"

Even Abramovich in the VIP box was alarmed. He stood up suddenly and stared at the referee to see how Malenko would make the penalty.

Under the boos and shouts of 40,000 fans, referee Malenko did not show Vidic a card. Instead, he waved to Torres and signaled him to get up.

The Stamford Bridge stadium was immediately booed, and Blues fans protested angrily.

Chelsea players were also very dissatisfied and gathered around Malenko to question his penalty.

Malenko had no intention of changing. He explained that this was normal physical contact and not a foul.

On-site commentator Andy Gray joked: "Malenko showed mercy. It seems that Malenko also has sympathy for Vidic."

Souness complained: "Actually, it doesn't matter if we award a free kick. This is Chelsea's home court. Maybe Malenko really sympathizes with Vidic."

Vidic survived the catastrophe. Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar did not dare to let his teammates control the ball in the backcourt. He kicked the ball towards the frontcourt, allowing Rooney and Hernandez to grab the header.