After Falcao scored, the expressions of the two coaches completely reversed.
Even though they were still trailing by one goal, Li Shiguang's face turned bright red as soon as the ball rolled into Manchester United's goal. After guiding the fans' emotions, he hugged Falcao, who came to celebrate, and jumped around wildly.
On the other side, Ferguson's previous composure had vanished, replaced by a grim expression as he stared at his dejected disciples, his hands now clasped tightly to his chest.
Looking at Li Shiguang jumping and hopping beside him, Ferguson couldn't understand it at all. In just 15 minutes of halftime, with such a huge disadvantage, had this Eastern boy cast some kind of spell on the Leeds United players? The second half of Leeds United was like two completely different teams compared to the first half!
While Ferguson was still thinking, Li Shiguang had already calmed down, clapped his hands, and shouted to the players who came to celebrate: "Calm down! Ladies, calm down! The game isn't over yet, we're still down by one goal! Don't forget what I told you in the locker room at halftime!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then they immediately realized what was going on.
Yes, we're still down by one goal!
But Leeds United are in high spirits right now, and with more than ten minutes left in the game, it doesn’t seem too difficult for them to score another goal and equalize.
With this unwavering courage and confidence, the players returned to the field and took their positions, waiting for Manchester United to kick off.
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Ferguson still has two substitutions available, and since the game restarted, he has been thinking about how to use them.
Initially, Ferguson wanted to make some adjustments to the attack, since the best defense is a good offense. But seeing Leeds United's relentless attacks, reason told him that strengthening the defense was the wiser move. After all, Manchester United were still leading, and if they could maintain this score, they would ultimately be the winner!
After making the decision, Ferguson used his last two substitutions to adjust Manchester United's two flanks. Captain Neville replaced Evra in the starting lineup, Fletcher returned to the full-back position, and O'Shea and Park Ji-sung partnered up in midfield.
After Neville came on, Manchester United's players seemed to find their backbone. Under his and Scholes' leadership, Manchester United did not rush to attack during this period. After gaining possession, they kept passing the ball around in their own half. Anyway, time was running out, so they maintained the status quo and dragged it out until the referee blew the whistle, and then they would be the final winners.
Time ticked by, and after Manchester United deliberately slowed down the pace of the game, Leeds United failed to find any good attacking opportunities during this period.
As the match approached the 90-minute mark, the fourth official raised an LED sign on the sidelines, announcing that three minutes of added time would be played!
Time is really running out for Leeds United!
With the game nearing its end, Leeds United, except for Neuer, had almost the entire team pushed into the other half. Whenever a Manchester United player got the ball, they would immediately pounce on him and press him relentlessly. This style of play was quite dangerous, as their own back was wide open. If a Manchester United player found an opportunity to pass the ball out, it would immediately create a one-on-one chance, which could potentially kill the game!
Fortunately, the entire Manchester United team was focused on stalling for the remaining minutes, so even when Leeds United created openings in their flanks, they didn't immediately pass the ball out. By the time they realized what was happening, the Leeds United players were already pouncing on them aggressively.
Thus, the game reached the 91st minute, with Leeds United now in possession of the ball, and only 2 minutes remaining in the match.
Alonso had the ball, and O'Shea, who had just come on, immediately closed him down. Seeing no good passing options, Alonso could only pass the ball to Milner on the wing. Milner then dribbled along the sideline, and Fletcher, who came up to defend him, was clever, keeping his distance and not daring to cut inside. Milner had no choice but to bring the ball to the byline. Seeing Ferdinand rushing up to press him, he had to kick the ball off Fletcher's foot, causing it to bounce out of bounds.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this should be Leeds United's last attack of the match. Li Shiguang waved his hands exaggeratedly on the sidelines, shouting, "Everyone go up! Everyone go up! No need to hold back any players!"
Under his direction, even Neuer, who was standing in front of the goal, quickly ran towards Manchester United's half.
Meanwhile, on Manchester United's side, Van der Sar was directing his teammates' defensive positioning in the penalty area, while several defenders were waiting for the Leeds United players to come over so they could close in and mark them closely.
"Leeds United won a corner, and without a doubt, this was their last attack. All the players, including the goalkeeper, were running towards Manchester United's penalty area. Now, let's see how well Alonso takes that corner. But anyway, they managed to come back from four goals down to win three, and even though they ultimately lost the game, they can still be our heroes, right?" Eddie Gray's voice was somewhat dejected. In his opinion, Leeds United had done enough in the second half, but unfortunately, they had fallen too far behind earlier...
Fletcher, who didn't immediately return to his own penalty area, knew that Alonso had been taking all of Leeds United's corner kicks throughout the match. So, after seeing Milner place the ball in position and walk in the opposite direction of the corner flag, Fletcher also turned around and walked back into his own penalty area; he had to hurry back to his position.
Just as Fletcher turned and took two steps, Milner, who had already left the corner flag, suddenly turned and ran back to the corner spot. With a flick of his left foot, he saw the ball fly into the penalty area.
From Milner placing the ball, Fletcher turning, to Milner taking the corner kick, the whole process took only two or three seconds. At this point, almost no one in the Manchester United penalty area was paying attention to the corner flag. It wasn't until the ball had already flown into the penalty area that Van der Sar reacted.
But before him, Ribery, who had been watching Milner at the near post, had already reacted. Unmarked, he simply stretched out his left foot and used the instep of his foot to cushion the ball as it flew towards him, changing its trajectory and sending it flying toward Manchester United's goal. The whole process was too fast. Even though Van der Sar reacted immediately, simply waving his hand couldn't change the ball's path, and it still flew smoothly into Manchester United's goal!
Goal!
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! What did I just see?!" Lineker shouted almost frantically, "Frank Ribery!! James Milner!! They've teamed up to save Leeds United! In the 92nd minute! Leeds United have equalized!"
Amid cheers from the crowd, Li Shiguang, who could no longer control his emotions, was running frantically towards Milner along the sideline.
Looking at that young man in a sharp suit, who didn't care about his image at all, running and jumping.
Ferguson closed his eyes in despair and pain!
He never imagined that despite having a four-goal lead, he would be dragged into overtime by this young man!
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