Chapter 231: World Wave Showdown!
On the field, the game continues.
In the 9th minute, Roma got a free kick opportunity on the left side of the frontcourt.
Pellegrini kicked the ball, Smalling headed the ball in front of the penalty area and then shot at the goal. The ball hit Abraham's head and bounced off the crossbar.
In the 14th minute, Zahavi intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and launched a counterattack. Left-back Max made a cross from outside the penalty area on the left, and Gotze volleyed from the back point, but was saved by Patricio and went out of the baseline.
In the 18th minute, Cristante made a straight pass in the middle, Pellegrini received the ball and advanced to the left side of the penalty area. Facing Eindhoven goalkeeper Mwogo in a half-single situation, he made a curved shot with his right foot, but it missed the far post.
In the 25th minute, PSV Eindhoven center back Teze Jordan made a long pass from the backcourt, the ball came to the right side, right back Mauro made a cross from the bottom, Gakpo collided with Cristante on the penalty area line, and volleyed with his right foot. Patricio moved sideways to save the ball from going out of the bottom line, and was once again shocked and broke into a cold sweat.
Roma was surprised to find that based on a small 1-goal win in the first away game, they thought they could easily win this game with the bonus of home court and all the main players, but they did not expect to be played by PSV Eindhoven so well, and they fought against their own team in their own territory.
At the same time, compared to Roma's several insignificant shots, Eindhoven's shots, especially Gakpo's, were more threatening than the other.
Together with the other two forwards, Doan Ritsu who ran back and forth diligently, and Zahavi who moved erratically but did not stick to the ball, the efforts of the two gave Gakpo more space to move and opportunities to threaten the goal.
Chen Xiaoliang didn't expect that this guy had such a strong desire to shoot.
Basically, as long as he feels he is within shooting range and has a chance to shoot, he will never let it go. So much so that he was able to volley the ball after a sudden collision with Cristante just now. This unreasonable style of play is really a bit like Van Persie when he was young.
Head coach Roger Schmidt seems to be the creator of this style of play. Although this German, who is four years younger than Mourinho, has very different offensive and defensive concepts from Mourinho, who often likes to park the bus, the two have surprisingly consistent views on ball possession - controlling the ball is to execute tactics, and never controlling the ball for the sake of controlling the ball.
In the 30th minute, right back Mauro made a comeback. This time, Chen Xiaoliang retreated directly in front of the two defensive midfielders to help block Mauro's pass to Gakpo.
Unexpectedly, the Brazilian right back was so straightforward that he could not pass the ball and just attack on his own. He suddenly cut inside and shot from the left side of the penalty area against the Malaysian defense. Patricio once again rushed to the near post to block the ball.
However, just when Roma realized that they had underestimated their opponent before the game, Eindhoven fell into the same mentality.
This Dutch guard team with many young players found that the second place in Serie A is just like that. It seems that their defeat at home in the last game was purely due to an incomplete lineup. Now that the main players are all out, they can surround Roma and bombard their goal even on the road.
After Mauro's shot, the players in the frontcourt of Eindhoven did not retreat, but immediately conducted man-to-man marking in the frontcourt and prepared to launch high-pressure defense.
Patricio picked up the blocked ball, threw it forward lightly, and kicked it directly to the front court.
When the PSV Eindhoven players saw this, they thought that Roma couldn't break their high pressing, so they just went for broke and tried their luck with a long kick?
While retreating, he looked at his defensive teammates.
The high-flying ball naturally went to Cesco, the pillar of Roma in the frontcourt.
PSV's two central defenders, Teze Jordan and Ramalho, are both 183 cm tall. In front of Cesco, they look as petite as Bumblebee standing next to Optimus Prime.
Sesco jumped high, leaned back slightly, and headed the ball to Pellegrini on the right.
After receiving the ball, Pellegrini wanted to dribble forward and break through the defense of left-back Max as soon as possible, but the German obviously didn't want him to control him so easily. He bent his knees, leaned sideways and raised his elbows, and unfolded a fighting posture, clearly telling Roma's No. 7 that he would peel off a layer of his skin no matter what he thought.
Pellegrini, who lacks the ability to burst forward over short distances, had to pass the ball back to Chen Xiaoliang who came from behind to provide support.
No matter what, Cesco's fulcrum role finally broke Eindhoven's high-pressure defense, and this time he received the ball and completed his mission.
But Chen Xiaoliang, who received the ball, obviously had a different idea from Pellegrini. After receiving the ball, he adjusted his step, kicked straight forward and passed the ball behind him to Cesco.
Teze Jordan, who was following Cesco, had no idea that the ball would go half a circle and come back, while Cesco had already run up to go offside.
Just as Teze Jordan was about to wait for Cesco to receive the ball and pause before going forward to defend, Cesco did not let the ball fall to the ground and volleyed the ball directly from 2 meters outside the penalty area line!
The ball rose up obviously and then fell sharply. It was a typical falling leaf ball!
The PSV goalkeeper was confused by the ball's flight path and made a misjudgment. The ball flew into the goal under his hands as he dived sideways! It was a complete waste of time!
"oh!!!"
"Oh mio Dio!!!"
“Oh my god!!!”
"Wang Defa!!!"
"What the hell, the Bull Cup!!!"
Exclamations in various languages suddenly rang out from the stadium and in front of the screen!
The broadcaster Sky Sports Italia even brought out the Premier League match between Manchester United and Aston Villa on April 22, 2013, in which Rooney made a long pass to assist Van Persie's volley!
After scoring the goal, Cesco opened his arms and rushed to the sidelines like a soaring eagle to accept the worship of the home fans!
Zhan Jun: "In the 31st minute, 1-1! Roma equalized the score. This goal was brilliant! It is likely to become the best goal of the season in this season's UEFA Europa League!"
"From a technical statistical point of view, this is Cesco's fifth goal in the European competition this season and his 24th goal in all competitions! What's more worth mentioning is that he has contributed a total of 10 assists in all competitions this season! A double-double!"
"He is less than a month away from his 19th birthday and he has achieved such results in his first season with Roma. We can't help but be full of expectations for his future!"
"This assist is Chen Xiaoliang's fourth assist in the UEFA Europa League and 22 in all competitions. In Europe, only Thomas Muller of Bayern Munich with 23 and Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain with 24 are ahead of him in club competitions."
"But these two giants have already been eliminated from the Champions League and their own cup competitions, and only have 2-3 league rounds left to play, so Chen Xiaoliang is likely to become the new European assist king!"
On the court, Chen Xiaoliang happily hugged Cesco to celebrate, but he also felt a little surprised.
His original intention was to pass the ball over the top and let Cesco try to get offside and have a one-on-one shot, but he didn't expect that this guy would be stimulated by something and actually make such a powerful volley.
Stimulated | stimulated ...
Thinking of this, Chen Xiaoliang couldn't help but look at Jakpo.
I see, the source of stimulation is here.
When Cesco saw the video of Gakpo for the first time, he said that he wanted to be able to score the same goal that others could score.
Especially in front of the home crowd, Gakpo's first volley shot further stimulated Cesco's fighting spirit.
Young people are competitive and full of vigor. Many of them are made reckless and aggressive by their strong desire to win, but Cesco is one of the few who can transform stimulation into real motivation.
This is also related to the fact that he was called the next Haaland by the outside world after he became famous in Salzburg Red Bull.
Everyone celebrated for a while and then the game continued.
Eindhoven continued to play crazy football according to Roger Schmidt's tactical arrangements.
They pressed and attacked madly, grabbing the ball and shooting at the goal.
Roma deliberately slowed down the tempo. After all, they were now leading in the overall score again. Keeping their three-pronged strategy and looking for the opponent's loopholes were their more familiar way to win.
However, compared to the two teams that played according to plan, these two talented forwards changed their usual style of play and seemed to be competing with each other.
In the 35th minute, Zahavi received a pass from Mauro on the right and Gakpo made a back hook shot from 1 meter to the left of the penalty spot, but the ball went over the crossbar.
In the 37th minute, Pellegrini took a low shot from outside the penalty area. The ball was blocked by center back Ramalho and then bounced back. Cesco rushed to the landing point and did not choose to stop the ball before dealing with it. Instead, he turned sideways and shot, but the angle was too straight and was caught by Mwogo .
Turning around, Eindhoven advanced to the frontcourt, and Gakpo once again took a long shot under the defensive watch of Matic.
This time the ball hit the outside of his foot and Patricio made a desperate save!
Roma counterattacked, Celik made a run and passed the ball to Sesco in the middle. Sesco took a few steps diagonally to create some distance. He, who rarely took long shots in the game, also made a stunning shot. Although the angle was not high, the ball was extremely fast. Mwogo did not dare to save the ball, as he was afraid that he would not be able to hold it firmly and Roma would launch a second attack, so he chose to drag the ball out of the baseline.
Roma takes a corner kick.
After Pellegrini took the corner kick, players from both teams failed to get the first point, so there was a melee in the penalty area. After players from both teams passed the ball, it rolled out of the penalty area.
Cristante's low shot from the penalty area line hit Smalling's foot and was deflected. Mwogo looked at the ball and sighed. It was Teze Jordan's back hook clearance on the goal line that kept the score from being scored again.
At this point in the game, not only the local broadcasting media in Italy and the Netherlands, but also the fans and commentators watching the game around the world, all said that this was the best game of this season's Europa League!
With the tacit approval of the head coach, the two talented forwards seemed to be showing their offensive talents to the whole world. They went back and forth, constantly using various difficult moves and breathtaking shots to try to let people know how good they are.
Even Van Gaal, who always protects his players in the stands, had to admit in his heart that if Cesco was a Dutchman, he would definitely let him go to the World Cup and give him a main center position!
Time flies and the first half is over.
Overall, both head coaches were very satisfied with what their teams played in the first half. The players faithfully implemented the tactics they arranged before the game, attacking resolutely and defending tenaciously.
Although the performance of the two forwards was somewhat beyond their expectations, this is obviously not a bad thing, because both the coach and teammates can see that the two players' condition tonight can no longer be simply described by the word "good".
Soon, the second half of the game continued.
The two geniuses continued their crazy performance.
In the 48th minute, Roma made a mistake in the backcourt. Götze intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and fell to the ground before Cristante made up for it, and passed the ball to Zahavi in the penalty area. The Israeli striker made a low shot to the far corner, the ball hit the far post and bounced out, and Gakpo made a supplementary shot in front of the goal to score!
But soon, the referee received firm feedback from the video referee team and the ball was called offside.
In the 53rd minute, Chen Xiaoliang intercepted the ball from Max from behind Gotze, then dribbled forward and passed it to Malaysia on the left in front of the penalty area. The latter swept directly in front of the goal, and Cesco received the ball and shot at a small angle, and the ball hit the outside side net.
As they kept playing, the two of them became so excited that they were like a stagehand and their enthusiasm gradually spread to other players on the field.
In the 62nd minute, PSV Eindhoven took a corner kick. Zahavi received the ball from the front point in the penalty area, lifted the ball with his thigh, and then looked back at the moon to head the ball into the goal, but the speed was not enough and was hugged by Patricio.
In the 67th minute, Chen Xiaoliang intercepted Sangar's pass from the wing to the middle and made a long pass to Cesco. Cesco headed the ball and Pellegrini made a direct offside move to get a single shot.
But because the distance from the goal was quite far, Pellegrini knew that if he continued to move forward he would most likely be caught up by the opponent's center back Teze Jordan. Seeing that goalkeeper Mwogo was standing forward, he directly kicked the ball into the goal!
Mwogo failed to catch up, and the ball was slightly higher than the crossbar, and he missed the goal unfortunately.
However, sometimes the game is like this. No matter how many offensive routines there are or how tacit the cooperation is, they cannot withstand a miracle-like kick from the sky.
In the 69th minute, Volpato and Binya had finished warming up on the sidelines and were ready to replace Matic and Celik, but these two presented a brilliant cooperation.
Roma advanced to the front court but did not find any shooting opportunities, so they chose to pass the ball back and organize an attack.
The ball was passed three times and twice to Matic, who was holding the ball on the left side outside the penalty area in the frontcourt.
Seeing that there were too many people on the left, the veteran chose to use a flat and quick half-high ball to transfer the ball to the right.
Who would have thought that Celik, who usually plays football diligently and steadily and is often praised by Mourinho as a "young veteran", rushed up to receive the ball from the other side of the penalty area, and swung his leg directly towards the middle of the ball!
A powerful outside-of-the-foot shot suddenly flew toward the goal like a bullet from a rifle.
Mwogo subconsciously jumped up and reached out to grab the ball, but as soon as his hand stretched out, the ball had already flown past!
Zhan Jun: "In the 70th minute! Roma reversed the score to 2-1! The total score is 3-1! One foot has already stepped into the final of the European Cup!"
"Oh my God! Matic made a great pass and Celik made a brilliant move!"
"The two players who were about to be substituted joined forces to create a brilliant goal!"
"This is also the first goal scored by the Turkish defender since joining Roma!"
"This kick sent the team into the finals!"
Afterwards, Mourinho replaced the two players who had just scored the goal, as well as Chen Xiaoliang, Pellegrini and Malacia.
Although the situation became very serious at one point, the team relied on their rich experience in bus driving and finally managed to withstand the indiscriminate shooting frenzy of the young PSV Eindhoven attack group.
The total score of 3 to 1 was maintained until the end.
As the whistle sounded, the players ran into the field happily to celebrate the team's advancement to the European final.
The game was soon titled in the media:
《First time showing their talents! The duel between two talented strikers who will shock the whole of Europe! 》
