Chapter 296: The Enraged Chen Xiaoliang
Liverpool's dream start has brought about significant changes both on and off the field.
In the stadium, not only were Liverpool fans excited, but Liverpool's players also seemed like a different person, changing from their previous gloomy appearance to become full of energy and continued to press Roma in defense.
Outside the stadium, a large number of neutral fans turned around to watch after seeing the first goal scored in the game.
Leading to another strong match, the number of viewers for Bayern's home game against Inter Milan was less than a quarter of that of this game.
It also created a record for the Champions League, becoming the Champions League group match with the highest number of viewers in history, and the main growth points came almost entirely from Asia.
Of course, Salah scored a goal at the beginning, which made the fans expect that this game would become a goal battle.
Coupled with the 4-1 victory in the first leg, it completely aroused the curiosity of the fans.
Unlike Bayern and Inter Milan next door, both teams have already secured the top two places in the group no matter how they play, while Barcelona coached by Xavi fell into the Europa League.
However, the game had only been going on for more than 4 minutes, so it was too early to judge whether it was exciting or not, but everyone could see that both sides played very fiercely.
Liverpool, who successfully seized the start of the game, fought even more aggressively. They also knew that scoring only one goal was not enough. They hoped to follow up a straight punch with two or three swinging punches and hooks, and completely knock out Roma with a set of combination punches in the first half.
Although Roma did not have many opportunities to control the ball, they did not give the home team any face in defense. Malaysia, Enzo, and even Kvaratskhelia who returned to defense were all called for fouls.
Referee Stiller suddenly became the busiest person on the field, whistling this and that, and he couldn't spit out the food in his mouth even if he wanted to.
Chen Xiaoliang, who was closely watched by Bayicetic, also realized that Klopp did not play a 4-3-3 single defensive midfielder formation today, but the same 4-2-3-1 as Mourinho.
Thiago and Fabinho played as double defensive midfielders, and Bačetic was a "strange child" in the tactics.
Klopp wanted to use a one-for-one substitution, abandoning a player on the field, to try his best to limit the number of times Chen Xiaoliang received the ball, so as to achieve the goal of leaving Roma with one less person, the most important one.
Klopp did plan this, and he also knew that with Baicetic's physique and physical fitness, he could only block Chen Xiaoliang for about 25 to 30 minutes at most .
After that, as his physical strength decreases, Bayicetic's weaknesses in speed and confrontation will be magnified doubly, and it will be difficult for him to keep up with Chen Xiaoliang's continuous harassment and interception.
But if by that time the team can hold a two-goal lead, they can maintain the lead until the end of the first half with a defensive attack.
As for the second half, if the plan goes well, he still has a backup plan.
In the 7th minute, Smalling headed out Arnold's cross from the right. Cristante, who received the ball, was afraid to hold the ball due to the double pressure of Firmino and Nunez, and pushed it forward to pass it directly to Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang had to admit that, given time, after Bayicetic had received enough training from high-intensity games, he would definitely become a very outstanding player, because when he was defending himself, he was not just running around stupidly, but was always thinking.
This can be seen from his position selection, early prediction and early start. He is not only keeping an eye on himself, but also observing the situation around him.
At this moment, the moment Cristante glanced in the direction of Chen Xiaoliang and made a straight pass, Bayicetić had already seen Cristante's intention and blocked the right side of Chen Xiaoliang who had turned around and was about to receive the ball, separating him from the ball's path.
This defensive move was so beautiful that Mourinho, who was watching the game on the sidelines, couldn't help but secretly praise Liverpool's scouting system and youth training system in his heart.
But this prediction is enough to show that this kid's defensive awareness is outstanding.
However, no matter how outstanding a youth training product is, they will appear very immature when they meet Chen Xiaoliang.
Mireti, Asllani, Scalvini, and Bajcetic in front of them, it’s not that they are not good enough, but that their opponents are too strong.
Chen Xiaoliang chased the ball forward while pushing hard to the right. Bayicetić thought that Chen Xiaoliang was going to use force, so he immediately pushed the ground with his right foot and used his left shoulder and arm to push back with more strength to prevent Chen Xiaoliang from squeezing through.
Unexpectedly, the strength he exerted seemed to hit the air, and Chen Xiaoliang suddenly withdrew his strength and stopped.
At this moment, Bayicetic lost his balance and fell to the front left, while Chen Xiaoliang flashed past him, received the through pass from Cristante, and rushed forward with the ball.
Although he failed to prevent Chen Xiaoliang from receiving the ball, Bačetic's interference still slightly delayed Roma's counterattack speed.
The full-backs Arnold and Tsimikas on both sides retreated, and Salah and Firmino were also retreating at full speed.
Not far from Cesco, who is in the front, is Van Dijk.
It is unrealistic to expect the current Cesco to completely control the former world No. 1 defender Van Dijk in a one-on-one situation.
Chen Xiaoliang didn’t have a good point to counterattack at the moment, but it didn’t matter. Even if he brought the ball to the front court himself, he could still shoot and end the attack.
Just as he was advancing and observing the positions of his teammates, he suddenly tripped, fell forward and fell to the ground.
“Beep!”
Chen Xiaoliang looked back and saw that it was Bayicetic, who had just caught up with him and made a sideways tackle at him.
Referee Stiller was very close by and although he blew the whistle, he only gave Baycetic a few warnings and did not pull out a card.
Enzo, who had been running behind Chen Xiaoliang, rushed up to argue with Stiller.
But the German referee completely ignored Enzo's words and instead gave him a warning, asking him to be careful with his words and not to interfere with the referee's normal judgment of the game.
The goal was obvious, and Klopp even made a decision. Even if he got a card for a foul, he had to stop Chen Xiaoliang's dribbling in the cradle of the counterattack and resolutely not let him fully speed up.
In the 13th minute, Roma withstood several waves of Liverpool's attacks, and Malaysia kicked the ball away during an inward defense.
The ball flew to the end of the center circle close to the Roma goal and fell quickly.
Chen Xiaoliang, who was still being harassed by Bayicetic, jumped with all his strength and passed the ball back to Enzo who was running forward behind him.
But Bayicetić, who also jumped, hit Chen Xiaoliang's nose heavily with the top of his head. After Chen Xiaoliang landed, he felt his eyes go dark and fell to the ground again.
Referee Stiller didn't notice anything wrong at first. After seeing Bajicetic control the ball and pass it to Salah on the right, he still didn't blow the whistle.
But Roma's players saw Chen Xiaoliang fall to the ground, and an angry Malacia clung to Salah while shouting "Someone's injured! Kick him out!"
Enzo, who was equally dissatisfied, yelled at Stiller while retreating and pointed his finger at Chen Xiaoliang.
Salah made an abrupt stop and cut inside. When he was about to change direction again, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that there was indeed someone lying there, so he gently kicked the ball out of the sideline behind him.
Although all the Liverpool fans in the stadium immediately applauded and praised Salah's sportsmanlike behavior, the referee Stiller, who had just caused strong dissatisfaction among the Roma players because he did not give a card to Baicetic, was immediately surrounded by Enzo, Dybala and others, who loudly questioned him why he did not stop the game.
On the Anfield Road stands on one side of the stadium, thousands of Roma fans booed loudly and raised their hands with their thumbs down to express their contempt.
Chen Xiaoliang was lying on the ground, and he could only hear Kewa calling him: "Captain! Captain! What's up?"
Chen Xiaoliang waved his hands to indicate that he was fine. Although he felt hot blood flowing from his nose and cheeks, he pinched his nose bridge and found that it was not broken.
I was just hit in the face and felt a little dizzy for a moment.
But Kva was anxious, thinking that Chen Xiaoliang's waving of his hand meant that he was dying, so he quickly stood up and waved nervously towards the coaching bench.
Team doctor Manara immediately rushed into the field with a first aid kit.
Seeing this, the teammates around him left only Enzo and Dybala, two Argentine stalwarts, to continue questioning the referee, while everyone else surrounded Chen Xiaoliang, only to see that half of his face was covered in blood and his eyes were a little scattered and dull. Everyone became anxious immediately.
In the live broadcast room, Ferdinand also expressed his dissatisfaction: "Baicetic's jump was slow to begin with, but he deliberately headed the ball. It's obvious that the ball and the player had to head into the same place. "
Carragher scoffed at his remarks: "Baicetic is 2 centimeters taller than Chen Xiaoliang. Since he has the height advantage, why doesn't he jump and give it a try?"
Ferdinand: "Give it a try? Pushing someone in the face is also called giving it a try?"
Carragher responded: "There are so many collisions on the field. Just because he is Chen Xiaoliang, the most valuable person on the field, he can't be hit?"
Ferdinand: "It's one thing to fight for the ball and another to pretend to fight for the ball and hurt someone!"
Seeing that the two were arguing more and more fiercely and to no avail, the beautiful host asked Gerard what he thought.
Gerrard was worried about Chen Xiaoliang and didn't want to get involved in a meaningless war of words, so he threw the question to Capello.
Capello hit the nail on the head: "Whether Bajicetic's ball was aimed at someone or not is only known to him. Every spectator will have his own judgment. In my experience, Gattuso, Genletti and even Baresi have done so . Bajicetic is no exception. But it doesn't matter. The real problem is the referee. He didn't stop the game immediately, which only exacerbated the conflict between the two sides and made the game more tense."
The famous coach is worthy of being a famous coach. His words immediately calmed down the chatter in the live broadcast room.
On the court, referee Stiller was indeed being questioned by both sides.
Roma asked him to give Bajicetic a card because this was his second malicious physical contact, while Liverpool emphasized to him that Bajicetic did not commit a foul and that he did not blow the whistle immediately. Now that the ball had gone out of the sideline, he should not make a supplementary call.
On the side, after Manara found that Chen Xiaoliang was fine, he used hemostatic cotton and cooling spray to stop his nosebleed and wiped the blood off his face and neck.
Chen Xiaoliang's dizziness soon disappeared, and his eyesight recovered. He was pulled up by his teammates. Listening to the applause from the Roma fans, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.
"Today, I was attacked by a little boy."
In the past, he had been confronting and colliding with famous midfielders such as Barella, Zielinski and Milinkovic on the court. Unexpectedly, today he was defeated by Bajicetic, who is younger than him.
Stiller sternly warned Dybala and Firmino , then drove away the crowd. After turning around to confirm that Chen Xiaoliang was okay, he blew the whistle to signal the game to continue.
Malaysia threw the ball to Cristante, who kicked the ball directly into Liverpool's penalty area, returning the ball in response to Salah's kick out of bounds.
Chen Xiaoliang pressed his hands down and pointed to his temples, signaling his teammates to calm down.
Enzo was unhappy and said softly, "Captain, I will help you deal with that forearm guy later to see if he dares to play dirty again."
Chen Xiaoliang gently pushed Enzo's shoulder and said, "Just do your own thing and don't mess around."
Then he turned and looked at Bayicetic who was cooperating with his teammates in the midfield to launch an attack.
You should take revenge yourself, let alone educate a child, so there is no need to let others take the lead.
At this time, Zimikas passed the ball from the left to Bajicetic in the middle, and Bajicetic moved forward.
Mourinho was a little annoyed because of the header just now, but at this moment, he found it a little funny to see the 18-year-old Spaniard dribbling the ball forward.
The way he dribbled the ball forward these two times is really a bit like Chen Xiaoliang.
It turns out that Klopp just copied the same thing and directly developed an unfinished version of Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang went to meet him.
Of course, Bayicetić saw him approaching, and he also saw the murderous look on his face, as if it was emanating from his entire body.
Bayicetic suddenly panicked, because he felt guilty about the header just now, he quickly kicked the ball to Salah on the right. Unexpectedly, the pass was a bit short and was intercepted by Kva.
Gerrard, who knew Chen Xiaoliang's temper, couldn't help but say: "Baicetic will be in trouble next."
You know, no matter how outstanding a product of youth training is, this is only Bayicetic's first start in an official game.
Since the referee didn't issue a card, Chen Xiaoliang fought back in his own unique way.
In the 26th minute, Salah dribbled the ball quickly on the right. Seeing Enzo and Malaysia closing in front of him and intending to team up to double-team him, he dribbled the ball inside and made a diagonal move to the middle.
Chen Xiaoliang came over, and not far away from him was Bayicetić, who was still half attacking and half defending. He could support his teammates and stick to Chen Xiaoliang at the first moment during the transition from offense to defense.
Salah suddenly accelerated to the left with the ball, and Enzo used his positional advantage to move sideways to block his breakthrough route.
Salah suddenly passed the ball to Nunez, then ran forward without the ball from the other side of Enzo.
Nunez made a wall pass and kicked the ball back to Salah who was making a forward run.
Just as Salah was about to put out his left foot on the penalty area line and kick a curved ball, Enzo rushed over and blocked him with a sliding tackle.
Pharaoh, who once won the third place in the Ballon d'Or, did not shoot after his left foot landed. Instead, he took a light step forward and took a very short step. But with just this one step, he completely got rid of Enzo who was sliding across the grass in front of him.
Salah kicks again! This time it's a real shot!
But Chen Xiaoliang, who had been waiting on the side for a while, would never give him a chance. He judged the timing of his shot from the rhythm of his fake shot to dribble past Enzo. He seized the opportunity, flew forward, stretched out his left foot, and poked the ball out. In order to avoid missing the ball, Salah had to slow down.
[Superstar Mission: Block or steal the ball 5 times when Salah is passing the ball]
[Task progress: 3/5]
Malaysia on the left received the ball, and at this time Chen Xiaoliang had already run forward and stretched out his hand to signal his request!
Malaysia immediately passed the ball diagonally to a place not far in front of Chen Xiaoliang!
The key to counterattack is just one word: fast!
What Mourinho repeatedly emphasized during training was to make continuous use of the ball behind him, to make straight passes, diagonal passes, and straight passes, to quickly transfer the ball to the frontcourt!
Bayicetić immediately came over, and the first thing he did was to raise his left elbow to hit Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang had seen this kind of trick many times. He slapped his right hand and knocked his arm off, then blocked it backwards and slowed down Bayicetic's speed of chasing forward.
Seeing that the middle road was broken, Fabinho took the initiative to block it and had already made a move. It seemed that he could not stop Chen Xiaoliang, so he had to pull him down.
Considering that the referee tonight might have forgotten the red and yellow cards in the locker room, Chen Xiaoliang immediately pushed the ball hard and passed it to Kva who was cutting in from the left.
Salah just cut inside and left the wing, and at this time there was only Arnold in front of Kva.
He quickly came to Arnold, and after entering the attacking distance, he slowed down and took two steps. Suddenly, his left shoulder sank, and his body immediately leaned to the left!
Arnold was indeed caught in the trap and immediately retreated to block the outside wing to prevent Kvadrat from overtaking.
With just a shift of his center of gravity, Kva moved his right foot 45 degrees diagonally forward and completely passed Arnold from the inside.
Carragher couldn't help but yelled: "What the hell!"
Gerrard and Ferdinand couldn't help but shake their heads.
In the two rounds of confrontation, Arnold was dribbled past by a Georgian left winger who had just entered the top five leagues. He is actually the main right back of the England team. If he goes to the World Cup in this state, he will definitely be shot to death.
Kva cut inside and broke into the penalty area!
Konate made up for it!
In the penalty area, Cesco and Dybala assisted at the penalty spot and the far post respectively!
Just as Kva was about to shake off Konate and was about to shoot himself if he had the chance or pass it to Cesco for the header if he didn't, he caught a glimpse of Chen Xiaoliang who was running in quickly and reaching for the ball from the corner of his eye on the right!
If the boss wants the ball, he must be given it!
Kvart swayed to the right, forcing Konate to adjust his pace to keep up with him. With this adjustment, Konate had no feet to block Kvart's pass.
Kva pushed the ball out of the penalty area with the outside of his right foot. Chen Xiaoliang, who rushed up like a fly, made the same move as Salah just now. He raised his left foot on the penalty area line, as if he was going to use all his strength to kick a heavy cannon at Liverpool's goal!
Bayicetić, who had been following him closely, fell to the ground and slid out desperately, using his body to block Chen Xiaoliang in an attempt to stop the shot, but he was a little slow and it seemed too late!
However, Chen Xiaoliang did not shoot, but shot with his left foot in the left half. And because Kva had just broken through from the left and Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson was also on the left side of the goal post, so shooting directly here was not the best choice.
He hooked his left foot to his main right foot, then took a step to the right!
It was almost a complete replica of Salah's action just now, except that the order of the left and right feet was different, like a mirror image!
Before Bayicetic got up, he tried to block the ball again, but the last time he used his foot to block from right to left, and this time he didn't have time to adjust the direction of his body, so he could only use his upper body to block from left to right!
This is the moment Chen Xiaoliang has been waiting for!
He seemed to use all his strength and kicked the ball hard with his right foot!
Bayicetić, whose body was only one meter away from the ball, had not yet heard the loud "bang" when he had already felt the sound of the wind when Chen Xiaoliang swung his leg with all his strength.
“Bang!”
Finally the sound became two!
The ball refracted and flew high out of the baseline!
All the Roma players nearby raised their hands immediately.
Players from both teams once again surrounded the referee Stiller, while Chen Xiaoliang looked down at Bayicetic, who was lying on the ground with his hands covering his chest.
Referee Stiller listened to the headphones and told the players not to follow him, then made a VAR gesture and ran to the sidelines.
When passing by the coaching booth, Klopp wanted to interfere with Stiller's judgment and said, "Put your hands on your chest!"
Mourinho heard him putting pressure on the referee and immediately shouted: "Shut up!"
These two people already have a lot of grudges and anger, and they dislike each other. How could they reciprocate on such a crucial penalty?
The fourth officer immediately warned the two men to return to their respective command areas.
Stiller watched it over and over again on the tiny screen.
Soon, everyone in the live broadcast room also saw a clear replay of the incident!
VAR slow motion showed that at the last moment, Bačetic was still scared!
He involuntarily raised his arms and opened his palms to protect his front and chest!
But his arms weren't kept close to his torso, they were stretched forward!
This is a subconscious self-protection action taken by people in critical situations.
When the referee Stiller saw this, he immediately turned around, made a screen square gesture with both hands to the entire audience, then blew the whistle and pointed to the penalty spot!
Bajicetic heard the boos from Liverpool fans in the stadium. He knew what was happening best and understood that the referee had awarded a penalty.
But when he opened his eyes, he found Chen Xiaoliang was still standing beside him, still looking down at him.
Seeing him looking at him, Chen Xiaoliang pointed to a small red mark next to the Roma team logo on his chest.
Obviously, this was the mark of blood from his nose dripping onto his jersey.
Chen Xiaoliang didn't say anything, but his eyes made it clear.
If you want to fight, I'm here to fight you. If you want to play dirty, just wait to be taught a lesson.
Carragher was still cursing, claiming that the referee's decision was unreasonable and that the ball could have been called or not.
Ferdinand said: "I remember when he was in the Scottish Premier League, he seemed to really block the opponent's shot with his head like Terry did back then?"
Gerard nodded and couldn't help but say, "This kid is like this. If you irritate him, he will fight you tooth for tooth and blood for blood."
