Chapter 1,186 The Opportunity Was Seized by the Opponent

Previously, Giggs gave Rooney a hidden pass, and then hit such a beautiful shot. Benfica's players immediately put away their contempt, feeling that the old guy still had two brushes, and they must be vigilant.

When Benfica first started attacking, they targeted the two young boys on the right side of Manchester United. They felt that they were inexperienced and easy to break through. Now that they saw that Giggs was on the left, Benfica immediately attacked Giggs. Launch an attack from the left and use the attack to suppress the attack.

When attacking, Giggs can control the rhythm, lead when he wants, and pass when he wants.

This is not possible when defending. The defensive players have to follow the rhythm of the offensive players, which consumes a lot of physical strength and energy.

Especially when Benfica moved Gaitan to the right and focused on Giggs, Giggs couldn't keep up even more, and Fletcher had to frequently run to the wing to support.

Originally there were two defensive midfielders, but Fletcher kept running to the wings, almost equivalent to missing one person in the middle, leaving a lot of space for Benfica to attack.

Benfica is a Portuguese team that plays in the European Latin style and is good at passing and penetrating. Once they are given a large space, the result is very scary.

In the 10th minute of the game, Benfica made a quick pass in the frontcourt! Forward Cardoso pulled the center back out of the penalty area. Clown Aimar quickly moved forward. Gaitan passed the ball to Cardoso. Cardoso made a straight pass into the penalty area to find Aimar!

The passer and shooter reversed their positions, catching the Chinese defender off guard. Smalling's tackle was a step too slow, and Aimar got the ball first.

As a result, Evans, another central defender of Manchester United, helped defend in time and made a risky tackle on the ground to shovel the ball out of the baseline.

This is because Aimar is older, otherwise, Evans might not even be able to touch the ball.

Although Benfica's attack failed to result in a shot, it was no less dangerous than Giggs's shot that hit the crossbar.

Gao Xiaodong is very sensitive. He realized earlier than Ferguson that Fletcher frequently covered the wings and Benfica would focus on attacking the center. Therefore, Gao Xiaodong paid great attention to filling Fletcher's left position and reducing Benfica's space for cooperation in the center. .

Gao Xiaodong's judgment was accurate and he took action. However, in Ferguson's pre-match tactics, Gao Xiaodong's main task was to attack, while defense was the task of Fletcher and Carrick.

Gao Xiaodong focused mainly on offense and often ignored defense. Especially when someone intercepted him during the transition between offense and defense, Gao Xiaodong simply couldn't get back.

In the 15th minute of the game,

Manchester United launched an attack from the right. Smalling passed to Jones on the right. Jones went straight to Valencia in the frontcourt. When Valencia wanted to pass the ball, the opponent saw through it and the ball was intercepted.

Benfica counterattacked, and Amorim dribbled the ball forward quickly from the left. Gao Xiaodong had already stepped forward and had not come back yet. Carrick stepped to the side to intercept Amorim.

Amorim changed direction while dribbling the ball at high speed, passed Carrick with his speed, and continued to advance towards the baseline.

Benfica's counterattack was very fast. When they retreated, right back Phil Jones showed his youthful and impatience.

Under Amorim's pressing step by step, Phil Jones lost his patience and suddenly stepped forward to steal the ball between Amorim's two touches.

Amorim was well prepared. He moved the ball to avoid Phil Jones' steal, drove straight in, and crossed to the front of the penalty area before Fletcher, another midfielder, could make up for it.

There is a large gap at the front of the penalty area of ​​the Chinese team, and Gao Xiaodong cannot cover it even if he returns to defend in place.

Gaitan caught the ball, moved it horizontally, and shot immediately.

De Gea was already ready to make a save. He jumped halfway and found that the ball was higher than the crossbar. He retracted his hand and let the ball fly towards the stands.

This time, Ferguson saw that Manchester United had defensive problems in the middle. They were slow and unable to flank Benfica's attackers with the defenders, allowing the central defenders to often directly face the opponent's attacks.

Defense is passive. No matter how high the defender is, he cannot be directly attacked, otherwise there will be problems.

At this time, the best solution is of course for Gao Xiaodong to retreat and play three midfielders, but this way the offensive power is weakened.

At this moment, the game time was just 15 minutes, and Ferguson was still unwilling to focus on defense. In Ferguson's heart, Benfica was not worthy of allowing Manchester United to defend in the away game.

Judging from the historical record, Manchester United has played 7 games against Benfica, winning 6 and drawing 1. Ferguson is qualified to set a higher goal.

Of course, Ferguson would not make any changes at all. He gave Gao Xiaodong an order to cover the two wings more, instead of returning to the front of the penalty area to reduce the pressure on the midfielder.

Ferguson's response cannot be miscalculated, but it is suitable for Manchester United to lose the ball in the midfield and frontcourt. If Manchester United loses the ball in their own backcourt, Gao Xiaodong has nothing to do.

In the 17th minute of the game, Evans took the ball in the backcourt and passed it back to De Gea, who passed it to Phil Jones on the right.

Phil Jones wanted to pass the ball to Gao Xiaodong, but his passing intention was seen through and the ball was intercepted by Aimar!

Aimar passed to Garcia from the left side of the frontcourt, and Garcia returned to the penalty area and passed it to forward Cardoso.

Cardoso met the ball with a furious shot!

De Gea flew to the ground and saved the ball!

In the 20th minute, Valencia passed the ball back to Evans from the wing. The ball was a bit powerful. Manchester United center back Evans made a mistake in stopping the ball and the ball flew directly in front of Cardoso.

This is an assist! Cardoso was overjoyed. He stopped the ball and volleyed the goal from 23 meters away.

The ball came so unexpectedly that Cardoso was not prepared and hit it with his feet raised. As a result, the shot was too straight and De Gea moved the ball sideways and flew into his arms.

Benfica's two attacks were initiated by stealing in the frontcourt or taking advantage of Manchester United's mistakes. The forwards and wingers directly attacked the penalty area. Gao Xiaodong, Valencia, and Giggs had no way to return to defense and could only watch their opponents shoot.

The experienced Ferguson felt a little uneasy. He felt that if this situation continued, if Manchester United failed to break through Benfica's door, they might be beaten by Benfica first.

Ferguson decided to adjust Gao Xiaodong's position and let Gao Xiaodong return between Carrick and Fletcher, playing as a defensive midfielder and erecting a barrier in front of the central defender.

Ferguson made a decision, but there was no way to pass this decision to Gao Xiaodong. He had to wait until the ball was dead to tell the players on the wing and let the players tell Gao Xiaodong.

This is the helplessness of football coaches. They cannot instill their consciousness into their disciples at any time like basketball coaches.

On the field, Gaitan, who was active in this game, controlled the ball. He was trying to break through Valencia on the wing, but suddenly he passed the ball to the penalty area with a tricky outside instep!

Benfica forward Cardoso stepped forward to receive the ball, and Manchester United defender Evans followed closely.

Cardoso turned sharply as he caught the ball, got rid of Evans' defense, took another step, and shot angrily from the top of the penalty area!

The ball hit the inside of the left post and hit the goal!

1:0

Cardoso, who had scored 7 goals in the previous 8 games, used his personal ability to break through Manchester United's goal and give Benfica the lead.