Chapter 967: I Can’t Shoot Anymore

In the 67th minute of the game, the score was 1:2. Manchester United led by one goal but had one less player on the field.

Both sides have advantages in this situation. As for who will have the last laugh, we can only look at the performance in less than thirty minutes in the end.

After Yaya Toure scored a penalty kick, Ferguson made substitution adjustments. Starting center Berbatov was replaced and defensive midfielder Park Ji-sung was replaced.

This substitution is also reasonable. Originally, Manchester City's strength was not much worse than that of Manchester United. Now that Manchester United has sent off one player, it is already weaker than Manchester City. It must strengthen its defense to be able to hold on for the last 20 minutes.

As for why Park Ji-sung was replaced, the main reason is that Park Ji-sung can run without any effort. Although he is older now, he can still run for twenty or thirty minutes.

Manchester United replaced the striker with a defensive midfielder. This signal was obvious, that is, to defend and maintain a one-goal advantage.

This is an FA Cup semi-final. If you win, you advance, if you lose, you go home. Manchester City has a numerical advantage, and of course it must be firmly grasped.

Mancini also issued an order to attack with all his strength when Ferguson made substitutions. At this time, Manchester City had no retreat. Even if they were killed by the opponent's counterattack, they had to attack.

Manchester City's offense is still launched from the wing. The difference from before Scholes was sent off is that now Manchester City's wing assists are more active and bolder, and the assists in the center are also inserted deeper.

Manchester United is almost defending intensively at the moment. Manchester United originally disdained to do this. They couldn't afford to lose face. Even if they defend after taking the lead, Manchester United does not defend around the penalty area. It is more of a half-court defense, but now there is one less person. , Manchester United was able to let go and shrink around its own penalty area when there was no ball, not giving Manchester City any space to attack.

Manchester City's repeated attacks failed, and the ball was passed to Silva's feet.

Silva once again showed his creativity. He swayed continuously on the wing and passed Evra through his crotch. However, this time Silva was not able to cut into the penalty area. After Park Ji-sung came on the court, he mainly defended Silva, who is the greatest threat to Manchester City's offense, with Evra. Look. When Silva passed Evra, Park flew over and scooped the ball out of the baseline.

Silva took a tactical corner kick and passed the ball to Zabaleta. Zabaleta made a pass and the ball was pushed out by the defensive player.

Manchester City has more people than Manchester United. After the ball is cleared, the landing point is still controlled at the feet of the Manchester City players.

Kolarov, who got the ball this time, did not pass the ball to Silva, but passed it to Wright on the other side.

Little Wright continued to dribble the ball and beat Rafael, trying to break through to the bottom line, but at this moment Manchester United was shrinking very much, and Rafael was guarding one side of the penalty area. Little Wright wanted to break through the fast and flexible team in such a small space. Raphael is anything but easy.

Two consecutive changes of speed and direction failed to pass Rafael, so Wright had no choice but to pass the ball back to Kolarov.

Korolav did not pass the ball blindly. He suddenly moved the ball to the center and cut across to the front of the penalty area.

The full-back crossed, and Manchester United forward Valencia quickly followed up and intercepted to prevent Kolarov from hitting the goal.

Kolarov started a step faster. He took off his kick before Valenci and shot the ball straight to the left side of the goal.

It is always difficult for Manchester City to find a good way to attack, and Kolarov also tried another offensive method.

There were a lot of people in the penalty area, and Kolarov's shot bounced off the defender.

The ball bounced out and was snatched by Gao Xiaodong, but Manchester City's pressing was very fast and fierce. As soon as Gao Xiaodong got the ball, De Jong pounced on him. Looking at his momentum, he must have rather fouled than Gao Xiaodong. Pass the ball, let alone take it away.

Gao Xiaodong saw De Jong coming towards him. Instead of moving forward, Gao Xiaodong turned the ball in the direction of his goal, just in time to avoid De Jong's tackle.

Although De Jong did not grab the ball, he was successful in forcing Gao Xiaodong to turn around. After all, all he had to do was delay Manchester United's attack and give his teammates a chance to defend.

But I never thought that Gao Xiaodong was wearing super glasses and had an extremely wide field of vision. When he turned to avoid De Jong's pressing, Gao Xiaodong had already observed Valencia's position. This down-to-earth young man moved forward when he saw Gao Xiaodong get the ball. Out of position.

Not only was Valencia running, Park Ji-sung was also running forward, but Gao Xiaodong didn't see it.

Valencia has great trust in Gao Xiaodong, and Gao Xiaodong will certainly not betray his trust. After avoiding De Jong, Gao Xiaodong did not wait for De Jong to come up again. He half-turned and volleyed the ball to Valencia. The side road where it is located.

After Gao Xiaodong passed the ball, he wanted to run forward to meet Valencia. Although the possibility of receiving the ball was very small, Gao Xiaodong did not want to give up.

However, a dangerous figure like Gao Xiaodong will not be let go by Manchester City players even without the ball. Gao Xiaodong has just started, and De Jong stretched his leg unscrupulously, tripping Gao Xiaodong to the ground.

Fortunately, it was Valencia. No Manchester United player on the field could catch up with Gao Xiaodong's volley-like pass.

But speed also has its benefits. When Valencia caught up with the ball near the baseline, none of the Manchester City players were within ten meters, giving Valencia ample time to adjust.

But Valencia stopped the ball and looked at the penalty area. No teammate could follow him. The closest one was Nani, but Nani had not yet reached the edge of the penalty area.

This is normal. With the real forward Berbatov gone, Manchester United defended intensively. The two wingers in front were Valencia and Nani. Gao Xiaodong in the middle was the main scorer in assists, but Gao Xiaodong was He tripped and fell, so no one stepped into the penalty area.

The Manchester United fans in the stands were very excited when Valencia caught up with the ball and thought they had it. However, when they saw that only Nani was outflanking the ball, they felt a chill in their hearts and felt that there was no chance of this counterattack.

It's normal for fans to think this way, because Valencia has a nickname of "Wa Bu Ke", which shows how low his desire to shoot is. Now that he has got the ball and there are no forward players, it is estimated that this ball may not even be able to be shot.

But it will be very difficult for Valencia not to shoot today. If he waits for Nani to catch up, the defensive players will also come back. Valencia is not sure that the ball will be accurately delivered to Nani's feet through several defensive players. .

Valencia rushed the ball, and he quickly moved the ball to the penalty area, diagonally, and found a suitable angle for his shot.

Seeing Valencia cutting inside, goalkeeper Joe Hart quickly moved sideways to the near corner to prevent Valencia from hitting the near corner.

Kompany, who returned to defense, also moved closer to Valencia as quickly as possible, preventing him from continuing to walk towards the center.

As Kompany closed the gap, Valencia's passing route became narrower, and it was already difficult to see Nani, who was running so hard.

Valencia finally took off. Instead of passing the ball, he used the arch of his foot to shoot towards the upper left corner of the goal.

Valencia's shot was from a very tricky angle, and it was more sudden, as the main player in Manchester United's lineup. Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has actually studied Valencia a lot, and he also knows his nickname for not shooting. He did not expect that Valencia actually shot, and he shot the back corner of the goal from such a small angle.

Joe Hart failed to block the block, and the ball bypassed his hand, hit the inside of the post and bounced into the net.

3:1

Valencia received Gao Xiaodong's long pass and used a curve ball to break through Manchester City's goal for the third time, expanding the score advantage.