Chapter 58: Contest

"Dear viewers, welcome to watch the heavyweight showdown in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals given to you by espn! The two sides were the opponents in the Champions League final last season, Barcelona and Nottingham Forest! Due to the actions and words of coach Tony Donn after the final, the two teams have accumulated enough grievances in this season. Now they can finally understand this grievances on the football field!" The commentator of Chinese espn said the game between the two teams as if it were the final battle of the Forbidden City in martial arts novels, but it is very suitable for the current relationship between the two teams.

Of course, Barcelona fans in China will not think that Nottingham Forest is a hero, and can be compared with their own team.

Many Barcelona fans have "hate to the core" of Tony Don, and they are "gripping their teeth" when talking about it.

The intercept of espn China here is to show that this eighth final attracted the attention of the whole world. After long-term media hype, everyone is very interested in this "sequel" of last year's final.

Not only in England and Barcelona, ​​but also in the larger UK, Spain, other European countries, as well as in Asia, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and South America, will be able to watch the live broadcast of this game through satellites.

The two teams played 1:1 in the first half, but this was far from enough for the spectators.

So far, the two sides have only scored two goals, no red and yellow cards, no fierce physical conflict, no swearing in the stands... nothing is enough, it is really unworthy of the pre-match description of this game - "Mars hit the earth".

The commentators prepared a lot of words to illustrate how exciting the game was, but now they found that it was useless.

Tony Donn is certainly not the kind of saint who sacrifices himself to fulfill others. Rijkald was also a little embarrassed by the Forest team's defense. So now everyone hopes that some changes will occur in the second half of the game.

No matter which side scores the goal, or who is sent off. Or seriously injured, as long as there is an accident that can break the current balanced situation, then the second half is more exciting!

"The second half just started. Unexpectedly, Barcelona launched a fierce offensive against Nottingham Forest's goal at home! They hope to score as soon as possible... Let's see Nottingham Forest's countermeasures... It's really disappointing. They still have lifeless defense, defense, and defense! Is Tony Donn satisfied with being able to leave Camp Nou with a away goal?"

The TV broadcast gave Done a close-up to the coaching staff.

Tang En's previous smile disappeared, and the expression on his face gradually became serious.

"Okay, it seems he is not satisfied..."

George Wood did not forget the halftime break. Don Eun said to him, so he should not just stick to his feet and find a way to send the football forward.

But now it’s not that he doesn’t want to send forward, but that Barcelona’s attack is too fierce, making him unable to take into account the matter of moving forward.

Barcelona's offensive routine in the second half was more flexible and changeable. Ronaldinho is no longer the only core. If he thinks that the Brazilians are too dead, they will pass the ball to Messi or Etoo.

There are also Deco, Iniesta and Xavi who are inserted later. Barcelona's offensive is like the rising tide of the sea, one wave after another, one tide higher than another.

No matter how powerful George Wood is, he cannot appear on the left, middle, and right at the same time, right? Fortunately, the team gave him enough support in the second half.

It is currently a stalemate. Barcelona's offensive looks very strong, but it can never pose a real threat to the gate of Nottingham Forest. In most cases, Deco and others can only choose to shoot from a long time.

Etoo and Messi are even more under careful attention in their activities on both ribs. The Forests are very good at doing such a compressed defense.

In the last final, Barcelona tasted the Forests doing this, and that defense made them knock on the Forests’ goal until the end.

This time, the Forest team has a complete lineup and no one has been sent off. The goalkeeper is Van der Sar and the defensive core George Wood is under the team. Don Eun is confident of playing defensive counterattack with Barcelona away.

He wants to tie up Barcelona's proud offense with his reinforced concrete defense inherited from Italy, and then use one strike to kill with one speed!

It seems that the defense is not bad at present. It can withstand Barcelona's offensive. It depends on the attack...

When the team was on the defensive, Ribery and Ashley Young were on both sides and occasionally participated in defense. Ashley Young came back to defend more times, but Ribery couldn't do anything like his teammates.

Because when he came back, Wood would stare at him, and although he said nothing, Ribery understood the meaning.

Wood was worried that there were not enough people in front of him and that he couldn't get up when the key figures needed to attack. So he didn't let him go back to defense frequently.

He actually wanted to tell Wood that he had no problem with his physical strength. He was also fast and was enough to support frequent sprints from the backcourt to the frontcourt. But after looking at Wood's head full of sweat. He opened his mouth and gave up on this idea.

OK, just wait in front of you, waiting for your pass...

Ronaldinho got the ball, and George Wood leaned on it. This time, the Brazilian did not lead the ball to the middle, but pulled it to the right side, and he wanted to seek cooperation with Messi.

Wood followed Ronaldinho to the left, and Messi immediately understood what his senior was going to do, and he was ready to catch the ball.

Wood is not a fool. He agreed to notice Messi who was preparing to run in the middle, whether with Ronaldinho or Messi?

"George!" Bell called him behind him, obviously the little monkey was also facing such a choice.

Wood waved his hand behind his back and signaled Bale to make up for the middle lane and defend himself from the side lane. He decided that he would follow him regardless of whether Ronaldinho passed the ball or drove the ball through.

After Ronaldinho arrived on the wing, Messi ran past behind him. At this moment, Wood was alert and stared at the football. Ronaldinho walked around. He almost saved and intercepted the ball.

The football was not passed by Ronaldinho, and Messi just shot it. Fortunately, Wood did not move, otherwise it would provide Ronaldinho with a flaw in his breakthrough.

Messi ran away and Bale followed Messi again. Ronaldinho did not pass the ball at the first time, so he lost the opportunity to pass the ball again. Even if he passes the football to Messi now, it is not a good choice.

It seems that he plans to fight Wood one-on-one again on the wing.

In fact, Ronaldinho really planned to pass the ball to Messi at the moment when he and Messi crossed. Then he cut the run-off position himself.

But seeing Wood staring at the football, he raised his foot and changed his mind temporarily, and turned into a fake shot.

He only won once in the first half of the game, but he didn't want to just let it go.

He is very good at doing all kinds of fake moves on the side, especially he is best at... Oxtail!

Wood didn't know what his opponent was thinking at this moment. He just stared at the football and didn't even look up at the expression on Ronaldinho's face at this moment.

He stared at the football, staring at it... No matter how Ronaldinho's foot drew circles next to the football and disturbed him. He only recognized football. If the football didn't move, he wouldn't move.

He was not afraid of time passing by at all. Anyway, he should be anxious not by himself, but by Barcelona who was eager to win. But at the same time, his body seemed to be tense strings. It seemed that he was going to shoot the arrow out.

The football in front of me suddenly shook and was about to rush over from the right side of my body!

Wood shoveled to that side without hesitation.

Where is football?

He saw that the football was clearly coming to the ground, but as soon as he moved, he suddenly changed direction 90 degrees in the air and flew to the left side of his body?!

Before he could figure out the reason, Ronaldinho had already started rushing towards him from the left side of his body!

"Oxtail! Wonderful! Wonderful... Can we say anything else besides the excitement? No, the language is pale and powerless in front of this extraordinary performance! Yes, this is a performance! A performance that elevates technology to art!"

With the commentator's unswerving praise, there were huge cheers in Camp Nou and the entire city of Barcelona... or rather, it was a demonstration and warning to Nottingham Forest, which was intended to show off on their territory.

We have Ronaldinho! He is the football elves of the earthly earth given to God!

Someone stood up on Barcelona's bench and shouted for this extraordinary person, while looking forward to the next goal.

At this point, no matter whether Ronaldinho scored a goal at a small angle or passed the ball, the chance of scoring was very high. Etoo, Messi, and even Deco rushed to the Forest's goal as soon as possible.

Because Bale was torn apart, Wood was passed. It was supposed to be defending those people in the middle lane that Kompany and Pique had to separate one person to kill to the flank to stop Ronaldinho.

The situation in front of the Forest team's goal is critical!

Pique looked back at Company and rushed towards Ronaldinho without hesitation, but he had just started. He heard a loud roar. It seemed as if a bolt from the blue exploded in his ears-"Go back! Keep the middle!"

Then he saw George Wood, who had just been shaken by Ronaldinho, turned around and rushed forward with a ferocious face. He seemed to have seen the black panther in the prey.

He was frightened by Wood's expression and such a quick reaction, and did not retreat to defend, but stood there in a daze.

This is a good opportunity for Ronaldinho. Forest's mid-lane defense has been snatched by his breakthrough. There are three Barcelona players in front of the goal, with three points in front, middle and back. As long as the passing quality is high, the goal may be very large!

He no longer hesitated and was ready to pass the ball.

At this moment, he saw Messi who was pounced forward suddenly stop and looked at him in horror, as if he had seen something incredible.

You idiot...what are you standing there? You are on the same line as Pikui, how can I pass it to you?

Ronaldinho scolded Messi in his heart for losing the chain at a critical moment, but he completely forgot the dangers around him.

Wood saw Ronaldinho swing his leg high while sprinting back to defense at high speed, and he seemed to have to pass the ball. The support foot was still a distance away from the football. This was the best opportunity and the only opportunity...

"George Wood - a fierce tackle! Oh!" the commentator screamed, as if he was shoveled off the court by Wood.

Wood took advantage of the moment when Ronaldinho was preparing to pass the ball and shoveled the football out, but the remnant force that could not be restrained knocked the Brazilian out of the penalty area. The two fell to the billboard outside together.

Camp Nou stadium took a breath and then let out a roar at the same time: "Penal!!"

The same voice came from the bench in Barcelona. Rijkaard even stood up and rushed to the sidelines, intending to cheer for the penalty kick.

But what did they see?

The lineman and the referee point to the corner flag at the same time!

Corner kick?

Corner kick!

Corner kick?!

Rijkald jumped up suddenly, and was furious.

Barcelona fans quit, and Barcelona players quit. Ronaldinho turned out to be lying on the ground in pain, preparing to let Wood confirm the foul charge.

As a result, after he saw the referee's gesture clearly, he jumped up directly from the ground and waved his arms angrily to protest the referee's penalty. His teammates had already rushed up to surround the referee and asked for an explanation.

"The referee awarded a corner kick... It's incredible. George Wood's tackle is so fierce and looks very lethal. It's just a corner kick? Let's take a look at the replay..."

During the replay, the slow motion repeatedly played back and forth that moment several times. It was clearly shown that Wood first shoveled the ball, and then knocked Ronaldinho out because of the huge kinetic energy of the rushing ground. The referee's penalty was correct.

"Uh, it looks like a clean and beautiful tackle... It's really thrilling. If he were one second later, I bet this foot would definitely hit Ronaldinho's right foot."

George Wood was pulled up by Pique, and the Spanish boy patted him on his thigh, and said with lingering fear: "I didn't expect you to really shovel..."

"Is there any other way?" Wood asked strangely.

"No, uh...I mean you aren't afraid of being awarded a penalty?"

"I didn't think so much." Wood's answer made Piku not know what to say. Should he say that this person is skilled and brave, or is he simple in his mind and developed limbs?

Bale rushed up excitedly, hugged Wood hard, and shouted: "You're doing such a beautiful thing, George! You know he'll leave football, right?"
To be continued...