"Beautiful! Oh dear, what a pity! A beautiful long-range shot from Milner, but unfortunately it hit the post. Leeds United were just a hair's breadth away from equalizing!"
Equally disappointed as Erre Geddy were the Leeds United fans in the stadium, their sighs echoing throughout Elland Road.
After scoring, Arsenal did not retreat to defend. Instead, they moved their entire defensive line forward again, continuing to put pressure on Leeds United's goal. Seeing that Arsenal showed no signs of letting up, Li Shiguang called Milner to the sidelines and instructed him to tell the players to abandon short passing combinations in the middle and look for gaps behind Arsenal's two full-backs when they went up to participate in the attack, launching attacks from the flanks.
After nearly 30 minutes of high-intensity running, Ljungberg and Pires on both sides gradually ran out of energy. In these few minutes, after receiving the ball, the two of them basically chose to pass the ball to Fabregas in the middle or cut inside from outside the penalty area to look for long-range shooting opportunities. Therefore, Arsenal's recent crosses from the flanks were all from Ashley Cole and Eboue.
However, the frequent forward runs of the two full-backs also gave Leeds United counter-attacking opportunities. Milner seized the gap left by Eboue's forward run and completed a counter-attack shot. The only regret was that it hit the post, and the ball was then caught by the quick-reacting Lehmann.
Wenger, who was in his seat, had already noticed the problem, so he quickly returned to the sidelines, wanting his players to slow down the pace. However, since Lehmann had already restarted the game, Wenger thought he would call Fabregas over to talk to him after the ball was dead.
Arsenal quickly advanced the ball back into Leeds United's half. After a few passes, the ball returned to Fabregas's feet. As soon as he received the ball, Mascherano closed in.
To be fair, Mascherano's defense against Fabregas was quite successful today. In previous matches, Fabregas only managed one successful breakthrough against Mascherano. None of his usual threatening through balls appeared today. More often than not, he passed the ball back or to the wing under Mascherano's close marking.
Just like before, seeing Mascherano closing in, he quickly passed the ball to Ljungberg, who then dribbled diagonally towards the center. In the distance, Van Persie was waving, calling for the ball. Ljungberg's dribbling attracted Lahm's defense. At the same time, since Ljungberg and Fabregas weren't too far apart, Mascherano quickly moved closer to help Lahm defend.
Just then, a red figure suddenly darted out from behind Ljungberg, and Ljungberg, in perfect unison, kicked the ball to the left, a through ball down the wing that directly pierced through Lahm, whose attention was completely on his right!
"Ashley Cole! He's incredibly fast, and Ljungberg's pass was spot on. Cole received it comfortably; he didn't need to slow down at all! He was about to break into the penalty area when Kompany appeared in front of him, making a clean tackle without a foul! Throw-in!" The sudden change in the situation caused Su Tao's commentary voice to rise several decibels.
On the field, Kompany, who had just shoved the ball out of bounds, quickly got up and ran towards the sideline, gesturing to the ball boy next to him to throw the ball to him.
After receiving the ball, Kompany did not hesitate. He took two steps back, held the ball with both hands, and after a short run-up, threw the ball with all his might into Arsenal's half, where Ribery was waiting.
"Oh no!" Wenger felt a surge of unease the moment he saw Kompany make his move!
"Run! Counter-attack!" Li Shiguang's voice reached Wenger's ears. He turned his head and saw that Li Shiguang, who had been calm just moments before, was now frantically waving his hands on the sidelines, signaling his players to quickly organize a counter-attack.
The Leeds United players, understanding the situation, quickly sprang into action. When Ribery received the ball, Milner, Deisler, and Modric, who had just been in their own half, had already crossed the halfway line. Including Falcao, who had remained in Arsenal's half, Leeds United quickly created a 5-on-4 situation.
Ribery sprinted with the ball, and just as he was about to enter the penalty area, Senderos finally couldn't resist pressing him. He tried to use his body to push Ribery towards the sideline, but Ribery's speed was already at its peak. With just a simple touch, he used his speed to get past Senderos, and then delivered a beautiful cutback pass near the byline. Falcao cleverly let the ball slip past him, and Milner, unmarked behind him, followed up with a powerful shot. This shot didn't hit the post again, but instead whistled into the goal from Lehmann's left. Due to the speed of the ball, Lehmann didn't even have time to react.
"Goal! Leeds United have equalized in the 29th minute!!" Eddie Gray's voice sounded much louder than when Arsenal scored. "The goal was scored by our captain, James~~~~~~~~~"
As Eddie Gray's drawn-out voice echoed, the fans in the stadium shouted the name of Leeds United's goal scorer, "Milner!!!"
While Li Shiguang and the Leeds United players were celebrating their goal, Wenger hurriedly called Fabregas to the sidelines, telling him to slow down the team's pace, not to push too hard, and to look for opportunities slowly in the remaining time.
After the restart, Leeds United didn't care whether Arsenal wanted to slow down or not. Instead, they took advantage of their high morale after the goal and launched a relentless pursuit. For a time, Arsenal's penalty area was in a state of chaos, and Lehmann was extremely busy.
Finally, just before the end of the first half, Deisler found an opportunity outside the penalty area and unleashed a long-range shot, but Lehmann reacted quickly and managed to save the ball, though not too far. This gave Falcao, who had been roaming in the penalty area, the chance to follow up and, before Kolo Toure could get a shot off, he poked the ball into the Arsenal goal.
Four minutes later, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half. To everyone's surprise, Arsenal, who had scored first, were now trailing by one goal going into halftime.
Seeing that the TV broadcast had switched to commercials, Wang Lu said with lingering enthusiasm, "Alright, the first half of the match between the two teams is over. The current score is 2-1, with Leeds United leading Arsenal by one goal at home. It can be said that the two teams have given the fans 45 minutes of exciting attacking back-and-forth in the first half, scoring three brilliant goals in the first half alone. Let's take a short break and look forward to the two teams bringing us an even more exciting match in the second half!"
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