As Jon said in the studio before.
After a fierce exchange in the opening two or three minutes, both sides slowed down the pace of the game after Schmeichel restarted the match.
During this period, both teams mostly passed the ball around the midfield looking for weaknesses in each other's defense. Once they found a gap in the opponent's defense, they would immediately send a through ball to try and break through the opponent's back line.
This slow but back-and-forth style of play lasted for nearly half an hour, during which both sides had some good attacking opportunities.
Unfortunately, Leeds United's two shots from Ibrahimovic and Torres were both too straight and were easily saved by Cudicini.
For Chelsea, Robben made a solo run past Mills, seizing three opportunities to cut inside and shoot from just outside the penalty area. One of these shots was of particularly high quality, but Schmeichel remained focused and made a crucial save to tip the ball over the bar.
With the score unchanged at the 37th minute, the two commentators in the Sky Sports studio seemed to notice changes in Mourinho and Li Shiguang from the occasional flashes of the camera.
“Gary, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Lee seems a bit anxious.” Looking at the Leeds United players passing the ball around in midfield on the screen, Jon took the initiative to change the subject.
“I think so too,” Lineker nodded. “I noticed what you said on the screen just now too. Mourinho had already gone back to the bench and was sitting with his arms crossed. Although he still looked grim, you know, he always does that, hehe.”
“Hmm.” Jon continued, “But Lee has been frowning ever since the start of the game, standing on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets and never relaxing. Just now I noticed that after Bale was dispossessed by Ferreira again, he seemed to call Bale over and say a few words to him, while gesturing with his hands. It seems that he is a little dissatisfied with Bale’s inability to break through Ferreira’s defense today.”
“You’re right, Ferreira is indeed very experienced. He knows very well that he can’t outrun Bale, so he has hardly given Bale any chance to get going in the last half hour. No wonder he’s a player who won the Champions League with Mourinho!” Lineker agreed. “I think Li should have made adjustments earlier. If nothing unexpected happens, Bale will hardly have a chance to perform today.”
Although the two commentators' analysis seemed very logical, they were only half right!
Li Shiguang did find it difficult to rely on Bale to break through Ferreira's defense alone; the Portuguese was too troublesome!
But at the same time, he also noticed another problem: Ferreira was having trouble keeping up with Bale's dribbling breakthrough!
Leeds United's two previous threatening attacks were ultimately scored by Ibrahimovic and Torres.
However, the attack started from the left flank. Bale found himself unable to break through Ferreira's defense in positional play, so he passed the ball out near the penalty area.
To be precise, almost all of Leeds United's attacks so far have started from the left flank!
In this situation, after nearly 40 minutes of high-intensity running, even though Ferreira had plenty of stamina, he was now approaching his physical exhaustion point.
In the last few minutes, Ferreira has basically been holding on with his strong willpower. He is now looking forward to the 15-minute break at halftime so that he can replenish his exhausted energy.
So when Li Shiguang yelled at Bell just now, he wasn't blaming him for not succeeding in breaking through.
on the contrary.
Bale heard encouragement from his head coach.
"Well done, Gareth, keep up the momentum, he's about to give up!"
However, in such a noisy environment, not only the two commentators sitting in the studio, but even Simone, who was behind Li Shiguang, couldn't hear what he had just said to Bale...
····
In the 41st minute of the match, Chelsea launched a relatively threatening attack from midfield.
However, when the ball reached Shevchenko's feet, he didn't pass it to Drogba, who was waving and making a run into the penalty area. Instead, he chose to force his way past him. But this time, Lahm wasn't easily beaten. Instead, he seized the opportunity and poked the ball away from Shevchenko's feet.
"Wow! I'd give that steal a perfect 100!" Lineker exclaimed excitedly upon seeing this. "Perfect positioning, blocking the path, quick tackle—a clean and decisive steal!"
"Yes! A beautiful tackle! And Leeds United launched a counter-attack on the spot!" Even though he favored Chelsea a bit more, Jon also praised Lahm's decisive tackle. At the same time, he noticed a problem on TV: because it was Chelsea's attacking turn, their defense had pushed up to the midfield line, leaving a large gap behind them!
Even Jon, sitting in the studio, noticed the problem, so the two head coaches standing on the sidelines must have noticed it long ago as well.
From the moment Lahm intercepted the ball, Li Shiguang went berserk, waving his hands and yelling in Lahm's direction, "Philip! Pass the ball!"
Mourinho, as if his feet were springy, leaped up from his seat and ran to the sidelines, shouting, "Back up!! Paul!! Mark that Welshman!! Even if it means fouling him, stop him!!"
However, Lahm did not give Ferreira any chance to foul.
After intercepting the ball, he simply looked up at Bale's position directly in front of him, and after noticing that his teammate had already started moving, he immediately launched a long pass.
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