Not only that, their youth training strength is also very strong, especially the production of wingers, which can definitely be regarded as one of the star factories in Europe.

But at this stage, Sporting Lisbon does not have any big-name stars.

After the start of the game, Southampton was relatively cautious at first, and Sporting Lisbon also played to its strengths and pressed Southampton.

Sporting Lisbon attacked continuously for more than 20 minutes but still could not break through Southampton's defense.

Instead, Southampton seized several opportunities and launched a few tentative counterattacks.

Southampton immediately realized that Sporting Lisbon was not as strong as they had imagined, so Southampton changed its defensive strategy and began to use physical confrontation and high pressure throughout the court.

This change in rhythm made Sporting Lisbon very uncomfortable.

In the 27th minute, Gu Ran cooperated with Lallana in the middle. After two two-on-two passes, Gu Ran dribbled the ball into the penalty area of ​​Sporting Lisbon, then used a pendulum move to shake off the two central defenders who were defending him, and then kicked a powerful shot!

The goalkeeper of Sporting Lisbon is powerless!

The ball went in! Southampton took the lead away from home! The Saints fans who came from afar to support the game celebrated wildly.

After losing one goal, Sporting Lisbon did not reflect on its own problems well, but instead increased its offensive intensity.

This also caused a serious disconnect between Sporting Lisbon's front and back fields, and the loopholes became more obvious.

In the 33rd minute of the game, Van Dijk intercepted a cross on the right side, and then kicked the ball to Gu Ran who ran into an open position.

Gu Ran stopped and dribbled past the defense, and after attracting the attention of most of Sporting Lisbon's defensive players, he kicked the ball low to the ground and passed it directly to Sturridge on the left side of the penalty area.

Sturridge took the ball and turned around to shoot! The goalkeeper of Sporting Lisbon missed the ball, and Salah, who followed from the back row, lightly touched the ball with his toes and poked it into the net!

The ball went in! The score on the big screen immediately changed to Sporting Lisbon 0:2 Southampton! In the first half injury time, Sporting Lisbon got a corner kick opportunity.

The midfielder of Sporting Lisbon kicked the ball far away, and there was chaos in Southampton's penalty area. A defender of Sporting Lisbon took advantage of the chaos and headed the ball into the goal.

Davis was unable to react and could only watch the football roll into the net.

Sporting Lisbon pulled one back! This goal also kept Sporting Lisbon in suspense of winning.

After the first half, players from both teams left the field and returned to their respective locker rooms to rest.

In the second half, Southampton played more relaxed and proactively, while Sporting Lisbon gambled everything and attacked desperately.

It’s a pity that Sporting Lisbon doesn’t have a star player who can carry the team.

In the 59th minute, Sporting Lisbon made some wonderful cooperation in the frontcourt, but the final shot was just a hair's breadth away.

Immediately afterwards, Southampton launched a counterattack from Van Dijk's position on the right.

Van Dijk dribbled the ball quickly along the right side, and after a wonderful overlap with Henderson, Van Dijk passed the ball to Henderson.

Most of Sporting Lisbon's players were attracted by Henderson who was going down the flank.

Henderson seized the opportunity and made a curved cross, beautifully bypassing the Sporting Lisbon players who rushed up to intercept, and passed the ball into the penalty area of ​​Sporting Lisbon.

Gu Ran was originally one body length behind the two defenders, but he started very quickly and his sprinting speed was ridiculous. In the blink of an eye, he surpassed the two defenders with his speed and used his body to absorb the pressure from the two defenders. Under the full-strength defense of the two defenders, he stretched out his right leg and shot! The football was like a heavy artillery bomb that exploded at close range, and it directly hit the goal of Sporting Lisbon.

The goalkeeper of Sporting Lisbon just stood there without any reaction.

Southampton leads Sporting Lisbon by two goals again! Sporting Lisbon will have to fight back against Southampton.

The battle between the two sides in the midfield was very fierce, and both sides had several good opportunities and several obvious mistakes.

After the 80th minute of the game, the situation on the field completely turned to Southampton, which had the advantage in physical strength and confrontation.

Southampton, led by Gu Ran, attacked with all their might to expand their lead.

In the 81st minute, Gu Ran stole the ball from the backcourt and ran all the way, using his speed and stamina to eat up at least 6 Sporting Lisbon players. Then he rushed to the top of the penalty area with the ball and shot directly from a distance - the ball went in!

In the 89th minute, Gu Ran received a pass from Henderson again, made a beautiful feint to dribble past the opponent, dribbled the ball into the penalty area, and was knocked to the ground by two Sporting Lisbon players.

The referee immediately awarded a red dot package.

Sporting Lisbon had one player sent off, and Gu Ran stood on the penalty spot and scored in one go!

The score on the big screen was immediately changed to Sporting Lisbon 1:5 Southampton.

This score remained until the end of the game.

In the end, Southampton easily won the first round of the second knockout round of the Europa League.

The two sides will play the second round at Southampton's home ground on March 13th.

Judging from the current score, if Sporting Lisbon wants to eliminate Southampton at Southampton's home ground, they have little hope even with Figo and Ronaldo, unless they have Gu Ran.

Unfortunately, not only did they not have Gu Ran, but Gu Ran was also on the opposite side of them.

After this game, Coach Adkins let all the main players take turns to rest so that they could better relieve the physical exhaustion from the game and long-distance travel.

On March 10, the Championship League match day began, with Southampton away challenging the strong team Birmingham City.

Coach Adkins still rested Southampton's main players and only sent out the substitute lineup to challenge away.

Birmingham City seized the opportunity and eventually defeated Southampton, a team with an all-substitute lineup, 2-0.

Of course, winning or losing in the Championship is no longer of any significance to Southampton. After all, they have already won the Championship title, and promotion to the Premier League next season is a foregone conclusion, so giving substitute players more playing time is the most meaningful thing.

On March 13, the Europa League battle resumed. In the second round of the second knockout match, Sporting Lisbon challenged Southampton away.

After the start of the game, Sporting Lisbon focused on attacking from the flanks.

However, Southampton has young players such as Van Dijk and Luke Shaw, and Chamberlain and Henderson are also strong players. There is also Gu Ran who can sprint to save the game at critical moments, so Sporting Lisbon's wing attack is completely useless.

...(End of this chapter)