There were no defenders at the far post of Manchester United's goal, and Ribery easily stopped the pass.
When he controlled the ball, he used a little bit of skill with his right foot. The ball didn't obediently stop directly at Ribery's feet, but rolled a little distance in front of him. This distance gave Ribery the opportunity to shoot!
Seeing that Ribery had already raised his right leg, Van der Sar had no choice but to spread his arms and leave the goal, trying to maximize his defensive range and block Ribery's shooting angle as much as possible.
But Ribery did not do as he wished.
Just as Van der Sar fell, Ribery changed his shot to a pass, sending the ball towards the center with his right foot.
Yaya Toure, who followed up, easily pushed the ball between Van der Sar and Neville into the goal.
"Yaya Toure!!! A perfect counter-attack!!! A perfect team effort!!! Leeds United have equalized!!!" Eddie Gray's voice was almost drowned out by the cheers of the entire stadium.
"Goooooooooooooooool~~~~" Lineker shouted excitedly in the studio, "Just seven minutes after Manchester United took the lead, Leeds United, who hadn't found any effective attacking methods since the start of the game, equalized the score through a corner kick counter-attack! This counter-attack started with Yaya Toure using a beautifully executed Marseille turn to get past Carrick, and ended with him receiving Ribery's cutback pass and slotting it into the net. The whole process took only eight seconds. Leeds United once again showed us what an extreme fast counter-attack looks like!"
"And most importantly, I think I've figured out why Lee made those adjustments to Leeds United's midfield today!"
"Kevin, did you notice? Carrick suffered greatly in both of his direct confrontations with Toure. Not only did he get a yellow card, but Manchester United's goal just now was also a chain reaction triggered by Toure easily getting past him! Impressive, Lee knew that his flanks would be suppressed by Manchester United, so he placed his breakthrough point next to Carrick in the middle. That's why he didn't start Rivaldo or De Bruyne as the central midfielder today, because the two of them, one big and one small, might not be a match for Carrick!"
When Lineker asked him, Blackwell, who wasn't particularly happy after Toure's goal, gave an awkward smile and spoke somewhat unnaturally.
"Well, perhaps that's your analysis, but after Leeds United equalized, Ferguson must have been more prepared for Toure. Looking at the overall situation, Leeds United's situation is still not optimistic!"
····
When the ball hit the goal, the cheers of the Leeds United fans, who had been supporting them since the start of the counter-attack, suddenly rose.
After scoring, Toure ran to the corner flag, turned his back to the fans, and opened his arms to his teammates who rushed towards him. Everyone embraced each other to celebrate the goal.
Li Shiguang, who was sitting on the coach's bench, was also very excited. He jumped up from the bench and grabbed Simeone's shoulder, shaking him repeatedly until Simeone was dizzy. Then he rushed to the sidelines to high-five his players one by one.
Ferguson glanced at Li Shiguang's smug expression and felt rather helpless.
After dominating Leeds United for a long time, and just as his team had gained the lead, Leeds United quickly turned the tide with a simple counter-attack.
Seeing Carrick's dejected state, Ferguson was caught in a dilemma: to scold him or not to scold him.
After all, Carrick already had a yellow card. If he had recklessly tackled him, Manchester United would have been down to ten men for the next 60 minutes, and Leeds United would have equalized or even overtaken them sooner or later!
····
"This goal came at just the right time. Leeds United's morale has been completely boosted, and the situation on the field seems to be slowly changing." Lineker looked at Mascherano with the ball on the field and couldn't help but sigh. "A simple counter-attack has brought both sides back to the same starting line. I'm afraid the Manchester United players didn't expect that the advantage they had worked so hard to gain would vanish so quickly."
As Rheinkel said.
After the game restarted, Leeds United's attack was indeed much more intense than before.
In the 41st minute, Leeds United launched another attack.
Mascherano dribbled the ball across the halfway line and, under pressure from Carrick and Scholes, passed it to Toure, who had retreated to his left to receive the pass.
After receiving the ball, Toure glanced up slightly and then sent a powerful through ball down the left flank of Manchester United's defense. The ball flew quickly into the space between Evra and Vidic.
As Toure passed the ball, Bale on the left wing had already started his run. He quickly overtook Evra, who still needed to turn, and successfully got the ball before Vidic could clear it out of bounds.
He then repeated his tactic, dribbling past Vidic before changing direction and charging towards Manchester United's penalty area line.
In this relatively ambiguous position, Ferdinand, who came up to cover, dared not make a move easily, fearing that he might accidentally hand Leeds United a penalty.
Bale knew that Ferdinand wouldn't dare to easily intercept the ball, so he changed his approach as soon as he entered the penalty area while dribbling at a steady pace. He used his left foot to flick the ball to the left, creating space, and then quickly followed up with a shot.
"Bang!"
Another loud bang, and the football headed straight for the near corner of the goal.
Fortunately, the experienced Van der Sar positioned himself in advance. When he saw the ball, he leaped high and tipped Bale's shot over the crossbar with both hands.
"Whoa~~" The fans sitting behind the Manchester United goal were about to cheer, but Van der Sar's save brought the sound to an abrupt halt.
However, the fans immediately applauded Bale's brilliant shot.
Seeing his players looking somewhat stunned, Ferguson was furious. He couldn't help but rush to the sidelines and yell at them to cheer up.
Perhaps Ferguson's shout had an effect, because in the next few minutes, Manchester United's players also improved their focus and did not give Leeds United such an easy chance to break into the penalty area again.
"Beep~~~"
With the referee's final whistle, the score remained 1-1 at halftime....
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