After Gu Ran got the ball from the backcourt, he dribbled along his own left side, passed Atsuto Uchida, changed route and cut inside, dribbling the ball directly into the "Gu Ran area" on the left side of Schalke 04's penalty area, and then fired a long shot.

The Schalke 04 goalkeeper is powerless!

The ball went in! The score on the big screen immediately changed to Schalke 04 0:2 Southampton.

This score remained until the end of the game.

In the end, Southampton beat Schalke 04 away from home with a 2-goal advantage.

Of course, this is only the first round of the first knockout round.

The two sides will also play the second round at Southampton's home ground, St. Mary's Stadium, five days later.

The scores of the two rounds are added together. Whoever scores more goals will advance to the next round, otherwise they will be eliminated.

Southampton beat Schalke 04 away from home, which means they have taken the initiative.

After leaving Germany on a chartered flight, head coach Adkins gave the players a day off.

After the holidays, the players returned to Staplewood training base for new targeted training.

On February 21, the second round of the Europa League first knockout round officially began.

Schalke 04 continued to maintain their defensive confrontation strategy, looking for opportunities to counterattack, relying on consuming Southampton's physical energy and causing Southampton to make mistakes.

This style of play is indeed very effective against European teams, but when facing a team like Southampton, Schalke 04's tactics will not work.

After all, Southampton is also a team that relies mainly on physical fitness and confrontation. Although Southampton is not as good as Schalke 04 in terms of physical fitness and confrontation, Southampton has Gu Ran.

If it was a simple comparison of defense and physical strength, Southampton would definitely lose to Schalke 04, but precisely because Southampton has Gu Ran, Southampton's tactics are varied.

Gu Ran played as a central midfielder, teaming up with Mikel and Van Dijk to break up several threatening breakthroughs and crosses from Schalke 04. When Gu Ran got the ball, Uchida Atsuto's nightmare began.

The right side defended by Atsuto Uchida was directly beaten to pieces by Gu Ran.

In the 19th minute, Gu Ran used his body to push away Atsuto Uchida and passed the ball to Sturridge.

Sturridge dived in front of the goal and scored the goal as expected.

The score on the big screen at St. Mary's Stadium was immediately changed to Southampton 1:0 Schalke 04, and the total score became Southampton 3:0 Schalke 04.

In the 35th minute, Gu Ran once again made a beautiful cross from the left, and this time it was Salah who stopped the ball, turned around and shot - the ball went in again.

Southampton 2:0 Schalke 04, the total score also reached 4:0.

Before the end of the first half, Atsuto Uchida tackled Gu Ran who was cutting into the penalty area and was shown a yellow card by the referee, who also awarded Southampton a corner kick in a good position.

This kind of corner kick is equivalent to a penalty kick for Gu Ran.

Gu Ran kicked the ball steadily, using the crescent-shaped scimitar and the deadly elevator to easily score the goal.

The score on the big screen was also changed to Southampton 3:0 Schalke 04, and the total score reached 5:0.

Even if there was a miracle, Schalke 04 would not have been able to score five goals in the second half.

After a 15-minute break, the two sides exchanged venues and continued the game.

Schalke 04 adopted a more conservative defensive formation and intensified physical confrontation.

Although losing is a foregone conclusion, Schalke 04's goal is to prevent Southampton from expanding their advantage in the second half.

The competition between the two sides in the midfield and frontcourt became extremely intense, and the movements of the players on both sides became more vigorous.

In order to prevent the players from receiving cards or getting injured, Coach Adkins stood in the technical area on the sidelines and shouted loudly, asking the players not to fight too hard.

In the 78th minute of the game, Schalke 04 got a good chance in the midfield. The midfielder made a long pass to Huntelaar who had already run out of the open space. Huntelaar took the ball and turned around, but before he could shoot, he was knocked to the ground by Rudiger who raised his leg high.

The referee showed Rudiger a red card and awarded Schalke 04 a penalty.

Rudiger paid the price for his high-legged move.

The beating Huntelaar received was not in vain, at least it was much more comfortable than being beaten by Van Persie three times.

Huntelaar stood on the penalty spot and scored in one fell swoop.

The score on the big screen was changed to Southampton 3:1 Schalke 04, and the total score was changed to 5:1.

Although Schalke 04 scored a face-saving goal, it was of no avail.

Finally, the referee blew the whistle to end the game, and the second round of the knockout match of the first round of the Europa League ended. Southampton easily eliminated the veteran European powerhouse Schalke 04 with a total score of 5:1.

Four days later, Southampton's main players went to a five-star hotel around Wembley Stadium to prepare for tomorrow's League Cup final with Chelsea.

Mikel was unable to play in this match and could only sit in the family seat behind the visiting team's bench and watch silently.

At the pre-match press conference, Ancelotti praised Gu Ran generously and vowed to bring Gu Ran to Chelsea during the summer transfer window.

Coach Adkins surprisingly did not refute Ancelotti, because everyone knew that when Southampton returned to the Premier League, Gu Ran would leave Southampton.

Although it is no longer a secret that Gu Ran is the "big boss behind the Southampton Club", Southampton is not a wealthy club after all. It can only be regarded as a black shop in the Premier League. It is difficult for such a team to attract world-class stars, and to realize the Champions League dream, it is difficult for Gu Ran alone to drag a group of young players who have not yet fully experienced.

On February 26, the League Cup final begins.

Chelsea attacked fiercely from the start. Ancelotti had been using the golden boy Torres for Abramovich's preference, but after one season, Torres had become a clearance defender. Drogba returned to the front line and scored many goals in the Premier League.

At the beginning of the first half, Lampard passed the ball to Drogba at the front of the penalty area. After Drogba stopped the ball, he rushed forward with the ball. Rudiger and Jaidi's defense was instantly knocked away, and Drogba shot hard! Goalkeeper Davis judged the line of Drogba's shot, but he couldn't catch the ball at all.

The football hit Davis' fingers and went straight into the net without even changing its direction.

The ball went in! ...(End of this chapter)