Chapter 343 Free Kick

Anfield Stadium, Liverpool.

Before the game started, Liverpool coach Benítez already had a deep understanding of Chelsea. In fact, all Premier League head coaches must understand Chelsea this year. Even if they have no hope of winning the game against them, they can still find some methods suitable for their own team from Chelsea's playing style and personnel combination. After all, it is the first time in history that a team has won all the games in half a season. There must be something to learn from them.

Of course Nenites knew that Liverpool was no match for Chelsea. He had prepared himself mentally for losing before the game. Arsenal was defeated by Chelsea at home, so Liverpool's hope of winning was really slim.

However, even though they were mentally prepared and had thought about several possible game situations, they never expected the game to go like this: Liverpool was leading in the score, but was completely suppressed by Chelsea in terms of form.

When the game reaches this point, no matter what tactics the head coach arranges, it will be completely useless. It all depends on the players' willpower.

"As long as we can defend, we will win." Benítez knew this very well, so he immediately walked to the side of the court and kept shouting loudly to direct the team's defense---

"Stay back a little, Finnan, and pay attention to the defense on the wing."

"Fuck, keep an eye on that black-haired guy"

"Pay more attention to your step. Are you wasting your energy on a woman?"

"Pongler, what are you still doing in the front court? Pay attention to returning to defense."

…

On the sidelines, Benítez was anxiously watching the situation on the field, constantly directing the team's defense. Now, this Spaniard had no image at all. That kind of gentlemanly demeanor had long been thrown into some minions country by him. He kept shouting on the sidelines, often spitting out some dirty words, which made the fourth official next to him frown.

Under the command of Benítez, all the Liverpool players on the field started to move. At this time, there were no players in red jerseys in the entire Chelsea half, and Chelsea had already pressed forward. Every player wanted to make contributions to the team and strive to score a goal to equalize the score.

The focus of the whole stadium was not Benítez. Almost no one cared what the Spaniard was doing. Instead, the performance of No. 21 Wang Li in a black jersey shone throughout the stadium.

The reason for this is that between the 50th and 60th minutes of the game, Wang Li completely became the focus of Chelsea's attack. To put it in a classic way, he completely dominated the game on the field.

Almost everyone in the stadium focused their attention on him, and on the field, Wang Li was running almost non-stop. This kind of running in front of the penalty area directly caused chaos in Liverpool's defense, because Xavi Alonso, who was responsible for keeping a close eye on Wang Li, could not make even the slightest impact on the former's pass. Soon, Liverpool added more people, and Riise stepped up again. This time the two's defense was a little useful---

Just a little bit

This only slowed down Wang Li's running a little, but in front of Lingbo Weibu, the number of people was not a problem at all. Chelsea players knew that the black-haired boy in the team would definitely get the ball at the front of the penalty area, so almost everyone would choose to pass the ball there as soon as they got the ball.

So, under the gaze of everyone in the stadium and countless fans watching on TV, Wang Li performed a classic tutorial on how to catch the ball on the court.

Leaning against the defender with his back, forcing the ball...

Flexible running towards the ball, stuck in position...

The back heel magically hooked the ball in front of him...

And so on and so forth.

In short, Wang Li's ways of receiving the ball are really varied. Liverpool's two close defenders are almost like phantoms and have no way to stop him from receiving the ball. And because Wang Li has no fixed route when running in front of the penalty area, the two men's physical strength is constantly declining. After only 10 minutes, Xavi Alonso is already exhausted and out of breath. The Spanish rising star stood on the court, his hands on his knees, a helpless expression flashed across his face. He now finally understands the gap between himself and the Premier League super players. At least the gap in physical strength is really not a little bit.

After getting the ball, all Wang Li had to do was shoot or make a precise through ball, and almost every time he did so he could create a crisis for Liverpool's goal. It was because of Wang Li's extraordinary performance that Liverpool was forced to return to defense, because they knew that if they didn't return to defense, it would only be a matter of time before the opponent scored.

In this situation, the area in front of Liverpool's goal was as solid as a bus. At the beginning of the season, Chelsea faced such a game. In that game, Wang Li played very well, but Chelsea only scored two goals. This was also the league game with the fewest goals for Chelsea this season when Wang Li played.

And this time, Liverpool did the same. Under the premise of leading the score, in Benítez's mind, defeating Chelsea was more important than maintaining the style and dignity of the Red Army.

The Spaniard's idea is actually correct. As long as they can defend until the end of the game, Liverpool will become the winner and the team that ends Chelsea's terrifying winning streak. Faced with this result, the Red Army fans will forgive his approach.

History is written by the victors after all, even in football matches. If they can beat Chelsea, it will be of great benefit to the team's subsequent games. The Reds need this victory too much. As for failure---

I've thought about it enough before the game. Benítez won't think about this now.

In this situation, even if Wang Li played like this, it seemed like a luxury for Chelsea to score a goal.

When a top team that has almost completely given up attacking starts defending, how should they deal with it? Perhaps no coach can give a clear answer.

Originally, the strength of a team like Liverpool is already at the world's top level. If they don't want to lose face and retreat, the power they can show in defense will be absolutely terrifying. In front of the "sea of ​​stars tactics" of a large group of stars, any footwork, exquisite coordination, and personal skills seem to become very powerless.

At this time, the smile on Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho's face had long disappeared. He frowned tightly, kept cursing the Spaniard in his heart, and stood up from the coaching seat, walked to the sidelines and began to direct the team's attack at close range.

Although losing a league game is not a big deal, this game is very important to Chelsea. The "North-South War" has always been a highlight for fans and the media. Victory or not even affects Chelsea's dominance after replacing Arsenal.

But in fact, he really didn't have any good solution. The opponent was shameless and all of them defended, just staying near the goal and not coming out. Then, no matter how the team positioned themselves or ran, it would be meaningless.

"Fuck, they guard too tightly," Arkin Robben walked up to Wang Li and complained while looking in the direction of Liverpool's goal.

Wang Li spat hard, stopped and supported his knee with one hand, panting. In fact, the violent attack just now still consumed a lot of his physical strength. However, he still failed to score a goal despite playing so seriously. He had to admire the opponent's tight defense. He looked up at Robben and comforted him, "It doesn't matter. There is still time. There will always be a chance."

"I hope so." Robben wiped the sweat off his face with his clothes, a smile appeared on his face, and he said, "Alan, I have always wanted to ask you, how did you avoid the opponent's tackles? I saw the opponent's No. 14 tackled you quite a few times just now."

"It's nothing. I react quickly. When he kicked, I dodged it. Otherwise, I would have been injured in the leg..." At this point, Wang Li suddenly remembered something. A strange expression flashed across his face. He stood up, patted Robben on the shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, there will be a chance soon."

After saying that, he turned and ran forward again. Behind him, Robben was confused. He shook his head helplessly and thought: "Is this the gap between us?"

In the 75th minute of the game, Damien Duff made a long run with the ball on the right. When he was about to reach the baseline, he made a high pass back to the front of the penalty area. It was obvious that the ball was still targeting Wang Li.

At this time, Xavi Alonso was no longer defending Wang Li. He was replaced by defender Finnan. As a full-back, Finnan was very strong and had slightly better physical strength than Alonso. He was also very experienced in close defense, but all these things seemed to have no effect on Wang Li.

Seeing the football coming, Wang Li swung his shoulders, pushed away Finnan and Riise who were defending him closely, and ran directly towards where the football landed.

Of course, Liverpool players would not let him get the ball so easily. At the front of the penalty area, the players were standing very densely, and Gerrard happened to stand where the football landed. His eyes were fixed on the flying football, and his body was slightly bent downward, ready to jump up and head the ball out of the danger area.

At this moment, Wang Li had already run to Gerrard's left side, his eyes fixed on the whereabouts of the football.

Under the gaze of all the fans, Gerrard and Wang Li jumped up almost at the same time. The figures of one red and one black were suspended in the air, while the football was still above their heads. In this situation, the two bodies collided directly with each other.

In fact, Gerrard was a little anxious. Seeing that Wang Li could get the ball every time Chelsea passed the ball, he wanted to take the initiative and jump early this time. However, he didn't know that Wang Li possessed the Xiaoyao School's light Kung Fu "Fei Yao Shu" and could jump much higher than ordinary people. If he jumped with all his strength, he would be no worse than those basketball players in the NBA. Therefore, he found the right position, estimated silently, and jumped early.

As a result, the two collided with each other, causing both of their bodies to become unbalanced. At that moment, everyone in the audience imagined the following scene in their minds: Gerrard and Wang Li fell to the grass together, and the football was cleared away by a Liverpool player.

But in fact, the situation did not develop in that direction. After Wang Li lost his balance in the air, he anxiously used his internal force with his left foot, stepped on the instep of his right foot, and jumped upwards a little diagonally, which caused the football to hit him on the head. Then he fell to the ground, twisted his waist forcefully to balance his body, then took a light step and flew up to stop the ball.

Shock

Everyone in the audience was shocked by this strange painting that almost violated the laws of physics.

However, the game would not stop because of their shock. Two Liverpool defenders immediately ran over to grab the ball, and the players in the penalty area also blocked the Chelsea forwards' position, leaving them no chance to receive the ball, thus posing a threat to Liverpool's goal.

Facing the defense of two Liverpool players and the pursuit of the ball by the full-back Finnan behind him, surprisingly, this time Wang Li did not choose to pass the ball, but instead dribbled the ball horizontally in front of the penalty area, which reminded many players of the Dutch boy Arjen Robben's signature long-range shot.

So, they immediately blocked Wang Li's shooting angle to prevent him from making sudden and powerful shots. Almost everyone knew that Wang Li's long-range shots were much more powerful than Robben's.

At this time, the Liverpool players following Wang Li were also trying their best to grab the ball. In this game, the black-haired boy in front of them kept dribbling the ball, which made their confidence drop sharply, but this was at Anfield, and they would never lose confidence here. When Wang Li dribbled the ball to the front of the penalty area, winger Riise couldn't help but fall to the ground to tackle the ball again. Although he had tackled the ball three times in a row in the first 10 minutes without touching Wang Li's trouser legs, this action was almost subconscious, and he also knew that the black-haired boy would definitely dodge it, so he didn't worry about his foul attracting the attention of the referee and being awarded a free kick.

However, while falling to the ground to tackle the ball, Riise was surprised to find that he had tackled "something", and then a black body fell directly next to him...

Under the gazes of everyone in the stadium, Reise's tackle hit Wang Li's right leg directly, and the latter fell directly to the grass with a stumble.

"Oh my god, that's a serious foul!" At the same time, Graham's shouting was heard on the Sky Sports Channel---

"Liverpool's defender fouled Allen and knocked him to the ground. Oh my God, this is too serious. I hope Allen is okay. Otherwise, this Liverpool player is destined to become a sinner of English football. He is killing the future of English football. It is too serious. He should be sent off with a red card. This kind of stadium violence should be punished most severely..."

Although Graham had a good idea, in fact, Riise's tackle was not a tackle from behind. Even if it had hit the attacking player's leg, the referee would have no reason to give a red card. Moreover, this was at Anfield. Even if the penalty would not favor the home team, it would not favor Chelsea either. So when the referee ran over, he just showed Riise a yellow card and awarded Chelsea a free kick.

Of course, no one cared about this at the moment. Even Liverpool fans were paying attention to the black-haired boy lying on the ground.

Fortunately, at this time, Wang Li had already stood up from the grass. He frowned and rubbed his right knee, took two steps on the spot, turned around and jumped, and smiled at his teammates as if he was slightly relieved, indicating that he was fine.

Seeing this situation, Mourinho on the sidelines finally put his mind at ease. However, the most confused person on the field at this time was Frank Lampard. In his opinion, this black-haired boy was almost an iron man, and anyone who was tackled by him would hardly have a good ending, such as Van Nistelrooy... But this time the situation was reversed, he was actually tackled directly, this serious difference between the before and after really made him confused.

In fact, Wang Li did it on purpose.

Now, given the situation on the field, it is simply a luxury to want to break through Liverpool's defense and score a goal, but Robben's words reminded him that scoring a goal does not necessarily require any tactics, and directly creating a free kick is also a feasible method.

And now, after a simple performance, Chelsea got a free kick opportunity in a good position.

"This position is about 25 meters away from the goal, right in the middle, which is definitely a good position." At this time, the straight-line distance of the free kick was also shown at the bottom of the screen.

Liverpool coach Benítez stood anxiously on the sidelines, complaining in his heart, "Riise always causes trouble, he is really a waste, etc.", while verbally he was shouting and directing the team to defend the ball.

At this time, all the Blues fans were excited. Chelsea had an absolute advantage in the second half of the game, but they had no chance to pass the ball. This made them feel that the team might face its first failure since the beginning of the season. But now, Chelsea has got another good chance. Thinking about the free kick skills of the team's black-haired boy, this ball seems to be a sure goal.

Just as they thought, Chelsea didn't have any discussion at all, and Wang Li stood in front of the ball.

Of course, Liverpool also knows that this black-haired boy is very good at taking free kicks, so they immediately lined up a 6-man wall, and the other players also stared at the edge of the penalty area to prevent any accidents. Now the game has reached the 77th minute. After defending for such a long time, they don't want any more accidents to happen and let victory go.

After Liverpool formed their human wall, the referee made an OK gesture and blew the whistle lightly, indicating that the free throws could begin.

Wang Li put down his hands, raised his head slightly to glance in the direction of the goal, and then without any warning, he slightly raised his right leg and kicked the bottom edge of the football.

The football drew a perfect arc, bypassed the jumping wall of people, and fell straight into the right foot of the goal.

When Liverpool goalkeeper Dudek saw the ball go around the wall, he immediately dived to the right, but despite this, the speed of the ball was too fast and the football still fell into the net before him.