Chapter 261: A goal from zero angle helped Arsenal achieve a 10-year championship drought!
Wenger's guess was correct, Manchester City's counterattack was fast and fierce!
In the 78th minute, Lin Quan cooperated with Nasri on the wing, and after passing the defender with a two-on-one pass, Nasri dribbled the ball to the bottom line.
Unfortunately, his cross pass in front of the goal was a little bit close to the goalkeeper, and the ball was blocked in advance by the goalkeeper who came out.
Two minutes later, Manchester City made a comeback. Lin Quan's long shot from the edge of the penalty area was narrowly saved by the goalkeeper and went out of bounds, giving Manchester City a corner kick opportunity.
Lin Quan took the corner kick himself.
He ran to the corner area, took a look at the positions of the players and goalkeeper from both sides in the penalty area, and then made a gesture to his teammates to shoot from behind.
Seeing Lin Quan's gesture, Manchester City players rushed to the back point.
When Arsenal players saw the opponent move back, they also moved along.
However, unexpectedly, this goal was actually a tactical corner kick.
When Lin Quan saw the players from both sides swarming back, he immediately passed the ball to Xavi Garcia on the right side of the penalty area.
The latter made a straight pass to Lin Quan who was rushing in from the corner area.
Lin Quan received the ball and rushed into the penalty area. Arsenal goalkeeper Fabianski chose to attack immediately, opening his arms, lowering his center of gravity, trying to block Lin Quan's shooting angle.
Since most of the players in the penalty area ran to the back point, the position near the right side of the penalty area was relatively empty. If he did not attack, Lin Quanneng could calmly adjust and then shoot.
Fabianski's choice was very decisive. If he had been a little slower, Lin Quan would have definitely completed the shot.
Because he had just run over from the corner area, Lin Quan's shooting angle was originally very small, and with his blockage, there was almost no angle.
Lin Quan did not force a shot himself, but calmly passed the ball to his teammates.
Unfortunately, Xavi Garcia reacted a beat too slow and did not move forward immediately. By the time he received the ball, the Arsenal defender had already recovered and blocked his shooting angle.
Seeing Xavi Garcia's shot hit the defender's leg and bounce out of the baseline, Lin Quan couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
If De Bruyne or David Silva was on the field, this goal would definitely have happened.
On the sidelines, Pellegrini also realized this problem.
He quickly called De Bruyne who had completed warming up, whispered a few words in his ear, and quickly substituted him onto the field.
Lin Quan returned to the corner area with the ball. Seeing that Manchester City was going to make a substitution, he did not rush to take the penalty kick. He waited until De Bruyne came on the court before making tactical gestures to his teammates again.
The Manchester City players saw that the ball should still be played at the back point, so they ran towards the back point again.
Arsenal has been fooled once, so it is impossible for them to be fooled a second time.
So, except for Mertesacker who stared at Lescott, the only high point in Manchester City, everyone else stood still.
However, just when they thought Manchester City was tricking them again, Lin Quan actually kicked the ball to the back point.
Lescott took the lead and jumped up hard, overtaking Mertesacker.
Although he was seven centimeters shorter than Mertesacker, he seized the opportunity and headed the ball before Mertesacker!
With a loud bang, the football flew towards the goal.
Fabianski jumped up in a hurry, but it was too late. He could only watch the ball fly into his own goal! Manchester City quickly equalized the score in the 83rd minute! After scoring the goal, Lescott excitedly ran to the sidelines, raised his arms vigorously, and asked for applause and cheers from the Manchester City fans who came to watch the game.
Manchester City fans were all so excited! Arsenal's goal in the 76th minute made them feel the danger of death, and they couldn't help but worry about whether the team could advance to the final.
Unexpectedly, the team equalized the score so quickly!
"Well, it looks like you can handle the battle without me having to take part!"
De Bruyne had just come on the pitch and before he had time to touch the ball, the team equalized the score, which made him feel relieved all of a sudden.
I had been planning to come up and act as a savior, but it seems I was just being too sentimental!
"Isn't this just the equalizer? We need to score one more goal to win the game!"
Lin Quan took a look at Arsenal's goal and was obviously not very satisfied with the score of 1:1.
"Haha, have you come up with any new ideas?"
De Bruyne knew Lin Quan very well. When he heard what he said, he knew that he had probably come up with some ideas.
"Well, I plan to do this..."
Hearing Lin Quan's plan, De Bruyne wondered, "Will it really work?"
"Just give it a try and you'll know. Of course, you have to cover for me!"
"Okay, I'll cooperate with you!"
De Bruyne was not sure whether Lin Quan's method would work, but he still chose to believe in Lin Quan.
Manchester City players know that time is precious and they don't want to be dragged into overtime or even a penalty shootout by Arsenal.
So, they quickly ended the celebration and returned to the field to continue to strengthen the attack to see if they could eliminate Arsenal before the final whistle.
Manchester City's goal dealt a heavy blow to Arsenal's morale, and the players began to doubt themselves one by one.
We had already deployed five defenders, but why couldn't we stop the opponent's attack? We worked hard to attack for most of the game and finally scored a goal.
The opponent easily equalized the score with a corner kick. How could they play like this? Wenger was also depressed in the coaching booth.
Is it Wenger's fate to be without a title? No, there is still a chance!
If the game drags on and goes into overtime, the opponent's physical problems will be further exposed.
Arsenal will still have a chance then!
Thinking of this, Wenger immediately gave orders to the players on the field, asking them to continue to implement the defensive tactics and keep the score of 1:1 until the end of the game! It must be said that this tactic is a bit conservative.
If Arsenal goes all out and fights Manchester City at this time, it is hard to say who will win.
After all, Manchester City's midfield lacks physical strength. If the opponent rushes out to compete with them for control of the midfield, they may not be able to withstand it.
However, Arsenal backed down at the critical moment!
They retreated proactively, giving up control of the midfield, allowing Manchester City to calmly control the initiative of the game and launch attacks from the midfield time and time again.
Seeing that Arsenal was determined to continue defending, Pellegrini couldn't help but shook his head.
To be honest, he didn't quite agree with Wenger's substitutions.
If the defender had not been replaced and a sweeping defensive midfielder had been used instead, Manchester City would probably have been carried away.
But after taking a look at Arsenal's bench, he began to understand Wenger a little bit.
It’s not necessarily that Wenger can’t think of it, but he simply has no one available.
Ozil, Eisfeld and Karlstrom, these three midfielders are not capable of doing dirty work, and substituting them for the field may only have the opposite effect.
With De Bruyne coming on, Manchester City's attack became more threatening.
De Bruyne's creative passes were simply impossible for Arsenal to defend against.
The most important thing is that Lin Quan can form a tacit understanding with De Bruyne every time. The two can always think of the same thing. Wherever they run, the ball goes! Arsenal's defensive players are always a step slower and are always at a disadvantage when defending.
In order to stop Manchester City's attack, they had to resort to foul tactics.
In the 84th minute, Monreal pulled Lin Quan and received a yellow card.
Two minutes later, Arteta also received a yellow card for kicking down De Bruyne.
In the 89th minute, Sagna also received a yellow card while defending.
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As the game time passed, Arsenal defended against Manchester City's attack again and again in an extremely tragic way.
With their tenacious persistence, the last second of regular time finally passed and the game entered the injury time.
The referee gave 3 minutes of injury time. As long as Arsenal can hold on for the last three minutes, the game will enter overtime.
By that time, maybe the coach can make a magical substitution and lead the team to victory! The players held on to this belief and persevered tenaciously.
However, Manchester City did not intend to give them the opportunity to delay any further.
In the 91st minute, De Bruyne made a precise pass that broke through Arsenal's defense. After Lin Quan ran in the opposite direction to get rid of the defender, he received De Bruyne's pass on the right side of the penalty area.
De Bruyne made a good pass and Lin Quan's shot was also of high quality.
However, Fabianski seemed to be assisted by God and completed a god-level save, narrowly blocking Lin Quan's high-quality shot.
After Fabianski completed the save, he stood up excitedly and roared at Lin Quan.
However, Lin Quan was not angry. Instead, he gave him a thumbs up.
The opponent did a good job in saving this ball, and Lin Quan was convinced.
However, this god-level save was probably just a flash of inspiration from Fabianski and it would be difficult to replicate it again!
Give me ten chances, I am confident that I can make ten such shots. Can you make ten such god-level saves?
Fabianski didn't expect the other party to have such a good temper. He was stunned for a moment, then gave Lin Quan a thumbs up and praised him for his good play.
His demonstration did not anger the other party, but instead won him praise. This made him feel a little guilty and he felt like a villain who was a little too proud of himself.
The Arsenal players didn't care about that. They rushed up one by one, hugged Fabianski and thanked him for his wonderful save.
If Fabianski hadn't scored this goal, Arsenal would have been defeated! "Come on, everyone, there's only one minute left in the game, so hold on!"
Captain Arteta gasped, clapped his hands vigorously, and encouraged his teammates loudly.
Lin Quan once again came to the corner area with the football in his arms! Arsenal players couldn't help but feel a little nervous when they saw Lin Quan walking to the corner area.
This was his third corner kick in this game. The first two corner kicks were threatening. I wonder what tactics he will use this time? Lin Quan, like before, looked at the positions of the players on both sides in front of the goal, then looked at Fabianski's position, then stepped back a few steps and made the same gesture as the first and second times.
Coming again?
The Arsenal players had already recognized the gesture, after all, the opponent had not changed the gesture three times in a row! However, even though they recognized the gesture, they did not dare to believe it!
Who knows if this guy really scored from the penalty spot?
They noticed that Manchester City's attacking midfielder De Bruyne was standing at the position where Xavi Garcia had passed the ball before.
If he played a tactical corner kick like the first time, wouldn't the Arsenal players be fooled if they rushed to the back post? Thinking of this, some of the Arsenal players focused on Manchester City defender Lescott, not giving him the chance to continue to head the ball.
Another group of people stepped forward to interfere with and mark De Bruyne, not giving him the chance to pass or receive the ball.
Arsenal's players had basically blocked all of Lin Quan's possible options, so the opponent couldn't come up with any tricks anymore, right? However, the facts proved that they were still too naive!
Lin Quan made a gesture, and the Manchester City players continued to rush back. Although they were not sure whether Lin Quan would lob the ball to the back point, what if? The actions of the Manchester City players still disturbed the Arsenal defenders. The opponent was rushing back. If they did not follow, the back point would be empty! So, their formation subconsciously moved back a little.
However, Lin Quan neither passed the ball to the back post nor looked for De Bruyne.
His choice was to shoot directly at the goal! This choice was beyond the expectations of almost everyone on the field, except De Bruyne!
The corner area and the goal line are on the same line. In the corner area, players can't even see the goal.
In order to score the ball in this zero-angle situation, you have to hit it in an exaggerated arc.
It is extremely difficult to achieve this!
So, it’s not that no one has tried to shoot directly from a corner kick, but there are only a few who can accomplish this feat!
This is also the reason why Arsenal players were so surprised by Lin Quan’s choice. They really didn’t expect the other party to make such a choice!
Arsenal goalkeeper Fabianski's face suddenly changed when he saw the football draw a beautiful arc in the air and fly towards the goal.
He was standing a little close to the near corner, while the opponent was shooting at the far corner.
Fabianski hurriedly moved to the left side of the goal, but it was too late!
With a crisp sound, the football flew into the net.
Fabianski was 2 meters away from the ball going into the net, and it was beyond his reach! Wembley Stadium fell into a brief silence, and a moment later, the stands where Manchester City fans sat burst into warm cheers!
They actually defeated Arsenal at the last moment and eliminated their opponent! Arsenal fans were disappointed: they were reversed again! Did they lose the championship trophy again?
Could it be that Arsenal is really cursed and can never win a championship? By missing the chance to win the FA Cup, Arsenal has truly achieved a decade without a championship.
After winning the championship in 2003-04, there has been no championship for a full ten years! The achievement of ten years without a championship was achieved by Arsenal today.
However, no Gunners fans were happy about the record.
Instead, they felt only deep sadness.
(End of this chapter)