So, taking advantage of Leeds United's inbound pass, he quickly called Alonso over to the sidelines and whispered his plans in his ear.

"Xavi, find a chance to communicate with Toure. You two pay attention to the space behind Essien after he comes up. No matter how fast Makelele can run, he can't cover the entire midfield and defense by himself. You two find a chance to pass the ball into their flanks!"

"good!"

Alonso quickly agreed and immediately ran back to Toure's side to whisper a few words in his ear.

····

Essien's arrival has indeed put considerable pressure on Touré.

Previously, when Lampard was alone, he could find opportunities to combine with Alonso and try to pass the ball forward.

But ever since Essien set his sights on him, things haven't been so easy. Most of the time, when he receives the ball, he has to pass it back immediately, otherwise he'll be brought down by those two players in no time.

But because of this, Essien's position became more and more advanced, and sometimes he wouldn't even go back when Leeds United launched long balls from their own half into Chelsea's half.

As time ticked by, Mourinho grew increasingly anxious. Seeing that Leeds United's only way to get the ball across the halfway line was through long passes, he put aside his last worries and stood on the sidelines, waving his hands repeatedly towards the Leeds United goal, signaling his players to push forward.

In this situation, in the 84th minute, Kalou's shot was caught by Schmeichel. After getting up, Schmeichel did not make any extra movements, but ran to the sideline and threw the ball to Lahm on the left.

Under Mourinho's management, Chelsea's players are very disciplined. When they saw Leeds United launch a quick counter-attack, the players who had just finished their attacking rounds all went to the marksmen assigned to them by the coach. So, as soon as Lahm got the ball and took a few steps, Geremi, who had just come on as a substitute, came up to him.

Facing a physically fit opponent, Lahm didn't stubbornly try to break through. He slowed down, adjusted his angle slightly, and passed the ball across to Alonso, who was waving for the ball in the middle.

Seeing Lahm slow down and pass the ball towards the center, the Chelsea players who were just sprinting back to defend also slowed down in unison, subconsciously changing the direction of their bodies, trying to intercept the ball in the attacking third.

Having ingrained the determination to execute the coach's tactical intentions on the field into his very being, Ballack immediately rushed toward Alonso, who was preparing to receive the ball. Due to excessive physical exertion, Ballack did not control his strength when he got close to Alonso, causing Alonso to stumble.

To his surprise, after he bumped into Alonso, he didn't see the football he expected on the grass! This discovery left Ballack stunned for two seconds.

"Whoosh! It seems the Germans have been outmaneuvered by Alonso; he let the ball slip past Toure behind him!"

Lineker, watching the game from God's-eye view, immediately made a joke.

"And taking advantage of Ballack's momentary lapse in concentration, Alonso, who had already regained his balance, had already run past him towards the halfway line, and Toure also passed the ball back! An unexpected one-two pass! Leeds United suddenly picked up the pace again!"

At this moment, Alonso, who had regained possession of the ball, had run to the vicinity of the midfield line. Of the four Chelsea midfielders, three had already been left behind by him, leaving only Makelele, who was striding towards him, in front of him!

"Claude! Even if it means getting a card, you have to stop him!" Seeing this, Mourinho was furious and rushed to the sidelines to shout at Makelele!

He never expected that, near the end of the match, Leeds United's two defensive midfielders, who had been under pressure for almost 90 minutes, would find an opportunity!

But Alonso didn't give Makelele a chance to foul.

As Li Shiguang said, Makelele, who was essentially a single defensive midfielder, moved to the left half of the field where Alonso was, and a large gap behind him was immediately exposed.

Alonso, with the ball in his hand, glanced up, then powered through the ground with a precise long diagonal pass, sending the ball to Chelsea's right flank.

Ibrahimovic was rushing toward that opening at an incredible speed!

Seeing Ribery break through Chelsea's defense, Lineker, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly raised his voice and shouted at lightning speed: "A brilliant pass from Alonso! Makelele stretched his leg to its maximum but still couldn't touch the ball! Beautiful! Ibrahimovic poked the ball with his long leg, dribbling past Carvalho who rushed up to stop him, one-on-one!"

"Ibrahimovic is incredibly fast! It's hard to imagine that he still has so much energy in the 84th minute! Could it be that Chelsea shot themselves in the foot? Their dominance over Leeds United throughout the game meant that Ibrahimovic and Torres were largely inactive, which is why he was able to unleash such explosive power near the end of the match!"

Meanwhile, in the stands at Stamford Bridge, more than 40,000 home fans were trying to disrupt Ibrahimovic's dribbling advance with a huge chorus of boos.

But for the Swede, the louder the boos from his opponents, the more excited he became!

Today, the man in front of Chelsea's goal was no longer Cudicini, but Cech, who was wearing a helmet and playing his first game since returning from a serious injury. Seeing Ibrahimovic break through the last line of defense in front of him, Cech, not wanting to lose so soon after his return, immediately stretched out his arms and rushed over the goal line, trying to stop Ibrahimovic outside the penalty area.

But how could Zlatan Ibrahimovic let such a one-on-one opportunity slip by!

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