Chapter 406: Tyrannosaurus Rex saves the Lord, the old soldier never dies!
Manchester United takes a corner kick from the right side of the frontcourt.
Xiao Wang: "Kwa... at the back post... Maguire!!!"
"Ouch! It was almost there!"
"Marquez is definitely good at heading, guys."
Just like Xiao Wang, countless Manchester United fans felt regretful that Maguire's header over Saliba just missed the goal by a hair's breadth.
But Arsenal, after a slight shock, had changed their pre-match mentality and subconsciously began to adjust their playing style on the field.
When pre-match public opinion and predictions overwhelmingly favored Manchester United to win the title, Arsenal was the underdog and their preparation mentality was to maintain a draw and strive for victory, in order to win the title by surprise.
At this moment, with two goals in hand, the young players of Arsenal can no longer help but desire a big victory, a crushing victory, and to completely destroy their opponents with more goals.
This mentality is dangerous, for both sides, but for the audience, it creates an extremely exciting moment of confrontation.
In the 8th minute, Odegaard took a free kick from the right side outside the penalty area and the ball was lifted into the penalty area. Takehiro Tomiyasu headed the ball from the right side of the small penalty area and tried to pass it to the front of the penalty spot, but it was punched out by Livakovic who was standing in front. Then Casemiro cleared the ball with a long kick on the penalty area line.
Chen Xiaoliang rushed forward, but the ball was grabbed by Zinchenko who was left behind and kicked to Saka on the right.
Saka took a few steps forward and made another high cross while his own high point had not retreated.
This time Maguire found a good position and headed the ball directly. Rice and Milinkovic-Savic competed for the second point, but neither of them touched the ball, but fell to the ground at the same time because of colliding with each other in the air.
Referee David Cooper made no ruling and signaled the game to continue.
It was Casemiro again. This time he found Chen Xiaoliang's position and kicked a half-high ball forward.
Chen Xiaoliang ran forward a few steps and got the ball. Without stopping, he rubbed the ball forward with the outside of his right foot. The ball bypassed Zinchenko who was rushing towards him, then turned from left to right and flew in front of Benzema who was in the front.
After passing the ball, Chen Xiaoliang also rushed forward. At the same time, Kvadrat and Rashford also rushed forward at full speed.
The one defending Benzema from behind was Saliba. Although the young Frenchman was thrown away by Benzema's sudden start, he caught up with Benzema from behind before he ran far.
Age is always a player's biggest enemy. If this ball had been played five years ago, Saliba would never have been able to catch up with Benzema, who was still in his prime.
Benzema was helpless, knowing that if he continued running, he would be caught up by Saliba. Even if he controlled the ball at that time, he could only lead his teammates to catch up, thus wasting a counterattack opportunity in vain.
Without hesitation, he tried a curved shot from about 7 meters outside the penalty area, hoping that the ball would go around Ramsdale who was standing in front and into the goal.
Ramsdale did not make any save, and for a moment, everyone watching the game held their breath.
Regardless of the fans' stance, everyone was praying in their hearts whether the ball would go in or not. Only Ramsdale and Benzema could see when the rotation of the ball was not strong enough and would most likely miss the post.
As expected, the ball went about half a meter away from the right post.
Benzema stopped. After all, he was 36 years old. The sprint just now had consumed a lot of his energy. At this moment, he was panting and turned back to give Chen Xiaoliang a thumbs up.
Chen Xiaoliang applauded him, but still gestured that next time there was such an opportunity, he shouldn't force it and could pass it back to organize it again.
As the team pressed forward aggressively and missed counterattacks, the game became more and more open and intense.
Rice was like a chicken with its blood pumped up. In order to defend the team's lead and his own rare goal, he followed Chen Xiaoliang frantically.
Arteta emphasized more than 30 times before the game that as long as Chen Xiaoliang was contained, Manchester United would lose 75% of its offensive efficiency.
As for how this 75% was calculated, maybe he doesn't know, but the players under him believe it 100%.
In the 17th minute, Chen Xiaoliang forced his way through Rice's defense on the right side of the midfield, and after receiving a lateral pass from Kwa who was walking inwards from the left, he moved forward.
Then, before Zinchenko came up, he took a long shot from 39 meters away from the goal. Ramsdale saw that the ball was coming with great force and its trajectory was not as traceable as an arc ball. It seemed a bit like an elevator ball. He did not dare to catch it directly with his hands, but blocked it with both palms.
The ball fell at Benzema's feet on the right side of the arc. The French veteran shot again, but the ball was blocked by Gabriel and went out of the baseline. Manchester United got another corner kick.
At this time, the shooting data of both sides was exactly 6 to 6, with 3 to 4 shots on target, and Manchester United had one more shot.
Maguire, Milinkovic-Savic and Casemiro pressed forward again, leaving Wan-Bissaka, Luke Thomas and Lima to guard the backcourt.
Kva took a tactical free kick, Chen Xiaoliang suddenly moved out from the right side of the penalty area to receive the ball, then turned to face Zinchenko, dribbled the ball with his left foot and forced his way inside, moving towards the top of the arc along the area near the corner of the penalty area.
Rice and Amadou Onana rushed over immediately. Everyone knew that although Chen Xiaoliang's left foot was weak, his passing ability was better than many players whose main foot was left-footed, and this distance was completely within his shooting range, so the two of them surrounded him, one on the left and one in the front.
What Chen Xiaoliang wanted was for the formation in the penalty area to be disrupted.
The best way is for him to hold the ball nearby and use his strong presence to force opponents to come out to defend him, thereby reducing the defensive pressure on his teammates in the penalty area.
He ignored Rice who was coming from the front, but as soon as Amadou Onana who was rushing over from the edge of the penalty spot started to move, Chen Xiaoliang started to step on the spot.
Suddenly, the long strides he took with the ball turned into small steps. Everyone knew that Chen Xiaoliang was going to pass the ball, but he still inhaled, waved his hands, and swung his left leg back to exert force.
"Block it!" Rice knew it was too late for him, so he shouted to his teammates nearby, just like when he was being chased and beaten by the opponent in a MOBA game with very little health left. Even though there was no teammate nearby, he would still shout for help like "Come and help" to his teammates.
In a flash, Onana heard it and subconsciously turned his body to the side, put his hands on his chest, and pretended to sacrifice himself to block the long shot!
The moment Chen Xiaoliang touched the ball with his left foot, he exerted force and pushed the ball towards the back post. At first, even Ramsdale thought it was a shot, but the members of the extra training group in Manchester United, whether it was Kwa, Rashford on the field or Cesco and B Fee off the field, all saw that it was a pass!
Maguire, the man who was abused over and over again by the young Chen Xiaoliang in the extra training group, endured the ridicule of fans day after day, but chose to stand up again and again, started from the back point and rushed towards the far post.
He jumps high. Although his weight has dropped from 100 kg to 91 kg, losing nearly 20 kilograms, this weight combined with his height of 194 cm makes him still a behemoth to other players on the court.
What's more, he only lost fat, but his big head didn't get any smaller.
Maguire was in the air for about 0.2 seconds. Takehiro Tomiyasu in front of him was no match for the former Manchester United captain in the header. Maguire's forehead hit the ball, and the ball hit the ground, bounced under Ramsdale's hands as he dived sideways, and crossed the goal line.
Although Ramsdale fished out the bouncing ball again, the referee David Cooper's wristband had already received an alert from the goal line system that the ball had crossed the goal line as a whole and the goal was valid.
“Beep!”
Only the whistle that was needed to sound after a controversial goal to indicate the final decision, coupled with his gesture pointing to the center circle, aroused shouts from half of the Manchester United fans at Wembley.
Xiao Wang: "This ball was awesome by Magui and a brilliant pass by Xiaoliang!"
"If you want to win, you have to ask my Maguire first!"
"Isn't this ball awesome, guys? Haha!"
"2-1, 19 minutes have passed. Manchester United will definitely have a chance in this game."
"Oh my god, Marquez kept stroking his hair to look cool. It's not easy. He showed off after such a long time. He probably forgot that he was the one who rubbed the ball in."
Arteta immediately called Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel, Saliba and others to the sidelines and gave them some reminders.
The previous ball was not Tomiyasu's responsibility. It was because after Amadou Onana and Rice blocked the ball, the man-to-man defense in the penalty area was unbalanced. Milinkovic-Savic and Casemiro, who were supposed to be defended by them in the middle of the penalty area, were left unguarded. Gabriel and Saliba had to go over to make up for the defense, and once they did, Tomiyasu had to fill in for the two of them who were out of position.
By the time the ball came, Takehiro Tomiyasu came back to compete with Maguire for the header, but he had already lost the initiative.
One wrong step leads to another. Arteta, as a bystander, saw things clearly and immediately gave instructions to several people to tell other teammates, especially the three forwards, that when Manchester United attacked with a corner kick, at least two of them had to retreat to defend.
But Arteta's earnest advice did not change the players' mentality. They felt that Maguire's goal was just an episode caused by a mistake. The initiative of the game was already in their hands. Retreating at this time would only hand over the good situation to others. It would be better to continue to fight for it, just like they did at the beginning. They will definitely be able to break Manchester United's goal and completely kill the game.
In the 25th minute, Saka held the ball on the right and faced Luke Thomas one-on-one again.
This time, Luke did not rush forward blindly. Casemiro was assisting him in defense, and Kva was roaming behind him, ready to double-team him at any time.
Seeing this situation, Saka did not choose to force a breakthrough, but instead lifted the ball behind Casemiro. Havertz ran here, kicked the ball off, then turned around and wanted to go to the middle.
"Look behind you!"
Casemiro immediately turned and rushed towards Havertz, but at the same time he shouted at Luke Thomas.
He had already remembered the missed shot just now, and now he knew that if he didn't remind him, Luke Thomas might still follow the ball.
As expected, Saka did the same thing after passing the ball and began to slide into the deep of the penalty area. After being reminded by Casemiro, Luke Thomas immediately blocked the route for Havertz to pass the ball to Saka.
Havertz saw that his tactics had been seen through and Milinkovic-Savic had come over from the center, so he could only pass the ball back to Odegaard.
But he probably forgot why he could be sold for tens of millions of pounds but couldn't stay in Chelsea.
What Arteta needs is his ability to control the ball and pass the ball in the frontcourt, and what Pochettino abandons is his frequent unreasonable and incorrect passing methods.
The ball passed back to Odegaard had not yet reached the target when Chen Xiaoliang, who was behind Odegaard, blocked it and kicked it directly in front of Kva who was ambushing on the wing.
【oops!】
【Parallel imports! 】
[This kind of ball also made a mistake! 】
[Is Arteta unable to buy an attacking midfielder? Why did he spend so much money on a loser like him?! ]
After passing the ball more than a dozen times and finally advancing to the frontcourt, it ended like this. Before the barrage of comments appeared in the live broadcast room, the Arsenal fans at the scene had already sent their "saliva blessings".
On the field, Arsenal players were also nervous. What they were most worried about was that Manchester United would launch a quick counterattack after they pressed forward.
They still remember vividly how they lost 5 goals to Manchester United at home in the league.
Facing Takehiro Tomiyasu who immediately wanted to get close and even threatened to commit a foul, Kva knew that he was unlikely to get through. Without any hesitation, he passed the ball back to Chen Xiaoliang who had already bypassed Odegaard and was moving forward, just like doing a wall pass.
Rice was next to Chen Xiaoliang. He was not afraid of not being able to get rid of Rice, but he was afraid that Rice would commit a tactical foul against him.
Chen Xiaoliang stopped on the spot, swept the ball to Rashford on the right, and then sprinted forward quickly.
Rashford dribbled the ball along the right, while Chen Xiaoliang, who easily got rid of Odegaard and Rice ran diagonally to the right rib area and then advanced.
He did this to help Rashford share the defensive pressure on the wing, either to open up a path for him to advance, or to pass the ball to himself as soon as possible when he was blocked.
As expected, Zinchenko did not dare to move completely to the side to rush towards Rashford, nor did he dare to just stare at Chen Xiaoliang and completely let go of Rashford. He could only keep retreating in the middle area between the two to wait for the opportunity or to receive help from his teammates.
In the middle, Benzema led Gabriel and Saliba forward.
Rashford ran to the outside of the right side of the penalty area and passed the ball to Chen Xiaoliang who was slightly behind him on the left.
Chen Xiaoliang received the ball forward, entered the penalty area, and continued to advance on the right flank.
Gabriel rushed forward, and Chen Xiaoliang continued to pass the ball to the left. As soon as the ball was pushed out from under his feet, Benzema, who had just arrived near the penalty spot, received the ball.
Benzema stopped his feet, turned his back to meet the ball, but he knocked the ball with his heel, and then made another wall pass, knocking the ball back in front of Chen Xiaoliang!
So far, Xiao Wang has shouted "Piolion" eight times in the live broadcast room.
This back and forth lateral pass and two-on-one pass against the wall has confused Arsenal's defense.
Chen Xiaoliang moved forward again and was almost at the line of the small penalty area. He kicked the ball directly into the far corner with his left foot.
But it was so close that the ball didn't curve as the brave Ramsdale leaned slightly to the right and raised his hands with the fastest reaction to block the shot!
However, the ball bounced at Benzema's feet, who continued to move forward after hitting the ball with his heel!
Just now he was facing Saliba. After knocking the ball, Saliba saw that Chen Xiaoliang had been left open, so he immediately fell to the ground and tried to intercept the pass, but Benzema's pass was very accurate, Saliba missed the ball and fell on the grass in front of the small penalty area.
Benzema immediately turned to the right, and then relying on his rich experience, he did not exceed the parallel line of Chen Xiaoliang and outflanked the small penalty area.
At this moment, the ball that Ramsdale saved fell in front of him. Benzema pushed the ball towards the open left side of the goal with his right foot, and immediately turned around and ran towards his teammates to celebrate!
Xiao Wang: "Beautiful, beautiful! Benzema! Benzema the Tiger! Benzema the Tyrannosaurus Rex! This is the cooperation between two Ballon d'Or winners, brothers!"
"In Real Madrid, even though they won three consecutive Champions League titles, there was only one Ballon d'Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo. Modric and Benzema had not won the award yet. Bale had the ability, but like many top stars, he was suppressed by Messi and Ronaldo and had no chance of winning the trophy."
"I didn't expect to see such smooth cooperation in Manchester United. I believe no one will say that Benma is here to retire now, right?"
"If it weren't for Xiaoliang, Casemiro and Manchester United management's strong invitation, I would have gone to Saudi Arabia. There's a lot of money to be made there, and I would have saved myself ten years of detours in my life, brothers."
"If I were this age and had won almost all the individual and collective honors, I would definitely go too."
"But Benma still signed a six-month plus one-year priority renewal contract with Manchester United."
"However, he still revealed that he would still consider going to the Saudi League in his career. It's not bad to make money! No matter what the reason for these famous players to go to the Saudi League, they deserve blessings."
Benzema, wearing the No. 35 jersey, scored this fourth cup goal since joining Manchester United, which is extremely precious.
Except for the goalkeeper, all his teammates ran over to congratulate him, and the score of 2-2 brought the game back to the starting line.
Ten Hag felt relieved. At least up to this point, there would be no tragedy.
But Arteta became anxious, and the thing he was most worried about happened.
Despite replacing a lot of players, this team still doesn't know how to play with the wind and doesn't know how to handle the mentality when they are leading.
Last season, they led the league for 93% but lost the championship to Manchester City after an 8-point lead. This was because the team had more ideas after taking the lead, their tactical mentality was unstable, the young players underestimated the opponent, and they panicked and could not control themselves after losing points.
He had no choice at this time. Before the first half even reached 30 minutes, he asked Ben White and Martinelli to start warming up, and then shouted at the players on the field.
Your attitude is very clear. If you don’t play according to my instructions, I will replace you all.
Chen Xiaoliang, who was walking back after celebrating, noticed this.
It’s just that now the offense and defense have changed, and they are the ones who should score points and kill the game.
