"That was close! Bale had just dribbled the ball outside the penalty area when he unleashed a sudden shot! He almost helped Leeds United take the lead! As the first half neared its end, Lyon began to consciously tighten their defense, wanting to regroup after fifteen minutes, but Leeds United maintained their offensive momentum. It seems that Leeds United is not content with just one goal in the first half!"

After the television broadcast replayed Bale's shot, it seemed to confirm Lineker's words and quickly gave a close-up shot of Li Shiguang standing on the sidelines.

In the footage, Li Shiguang felt sorry that Bale's shot went slightly over the crossbar. He rubbed his cheeks vigorously and then gave Bale a thumbs up as he quickly returned to defend!

"That's right. Judging from Li's expression, he probably wants to take the lead in the first half. Unfortunately, the seven minutes of first-half stoppage time are almost over, and if nothing unexpected happens, the two sides should go into halftime with a 1-1 score." Hunter knows Li Shiguang's personality. Now that the team has raised its morale, given Li Shiguang's style, he will definitely have his players press the opponent hard and try to score more goals as soon as possible!

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Because of the farce that happened after Lyon scored.

Osato added a total of seven minutes of extra time in the first half.

The regular time ends and stoppage time begins.

Houllier was directing his players to solidify their defense.

The French coach could see that after such a long and unexpected attacking battle with Leeds United, apart from Benzema and Govou in front, the players in his midfield and defense were almost at their physical limit.

Although they were leading for a short time, their opponents equalized.

But to be honest.

He approved of his players' performance in the first half.

Given the real gap in strength between the two sides, it was remarkable that our players were able to score first and launch several beautiful counter-attacks after the opponent equalized.

Houllier was very satisfied with these two points. Now he just wanted to stabilize the situation, go back to the locker room during halftime to let the players rest, and then go back to fight Li Shiguang in the second half.

Lyon's players are tired, but Leeds United's players aren't much better off.

Speaking of which...

Leeds United players covered a greater area than their opponents.

The reason they can still maintain a high speed for a short period of time is twofold: firstly, they are young, and secondly, the rewards offered by Li Shiguang are simply too tempting.

It's important to know that Leeds United is completely privatized, and Li Shiguang has no other businesses, so there's no situation of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Aside from the tiny amount that Li Shiguang uses for his own enjoyment, almost all of Leeds United's annual profits are reinvested back into the club.

As a result, among all the Premier League clubs, Leeds United not only has the highest salaries, but also ridiculously high bonuses for all other competitions.

So it's understandable why the players are playing so hard.

And the facts have proven this.

In modern football, besides honor, money is also an extremely important component!

With the first half in the 50th minute, there were only two minutes left, and the seven minutes of added time were about to end.

Leeds United launched an attack from their own half, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, this was their last attacking opportunity of the first half.

Modric passed the ball to the right wing.

Ribery dribbled down the right flank and charged forward, but was cleared out of bounds by Grosso when he was about fifteen meters from the byline.

When the football goes out of bounds.

Osato first looked down at his watch.

With about a minute left, they gestured for Leeds United to take the throw-in.

However, this is Lyon's home ground after all.

By the time Ribery took the ball from the ball boy and turned back to the sideline, Lyon's defense was already in position.

The opponents had already taken their positions.

Left with no other option, Ribery had to throw the ball towards the byline, where it was at least closer to Lyon's goal.

Adriano was on the byline preparing to receive the ball, and he was entangled with Lyon's left center-back, Revie.

Adriano was in front, with Reviere pressing closely behind him.

In this situation, even if a Brazilian has excellent coordination, it is difficult for them to turn around while dribbling the ball.

So while the ball was in the air, Adriano immediately made a decision: not to take the ball!

And so, in everyone's sight.

Ribery's throw-in landed and then bounced back into the air. This time, instead of trying to stop the ball, Adriano, who should have been scrambling for it, turned sharply and blocked Revié, who realized what he was doing, with one hand.

When the football falls again.

Adriano had already calmly received the ball in the penalty area.

It was very similar to the goal that equalized the score.

Facing Squillaci rushing forward to cover the second ball, Adriano chose to use the instep of his foot to push the ball as it bounced back into the air, delivering another lob pass!

However, the quality of this overhead pass was rather average.

Lacking both speed and height, Claire, who was caught up in time, leaped high and headed the ball directly out of the penalty area.

But as luck would have it...

The ball had just flown out of the penalty area when Kaká, who was running sideways, stopped it with his right foot and brought it back into the penalty area.

Since it was just an accident, Kaká wasn't fully prepared when he stopped the ball, and he stopped it a bit too far away. By the time he adjusted his body and caught up with the ball, Claire had already rushed up to him.

During the scramble between the two players, the ball slipped from their control and slowly rolled towards the edge of the penalty area.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!