Chapter 418 Extreme Speed

This goal made Liverpool players feel depressed, but also made Chelsea extremely excited.

In the Champions League final, leading by two goals, this advantage is really too big!

After scoring the goal, Drogba seemed very excited. The Ivorian monster was not in good shape in the second half of the season, and he was only on par with Icelander Gudjohnsson in the center position. Fortunately, before the game, the head coach chose him, and he did not disappoint the coach's trust and scored a very important goal.

This is a goal in the Champions League final!

Drogba rushed to the Dutch boy frantically, thanking him for the good pass he made. "Great pass, Alkin, you are awesome!"

"You too" Robben felt a little embarrassed when being held in Drogba's arms.

"Hahahaha, I scored a goal!! Oh my god!! Alkin, you are awesome!!"

"But can you let me go? You know, what I care about is this, not your goal." Robben couldn't help it, so he said directly.

Drogba smiled kindly, let go of his hand, and scratched the back of his head. This action made Robben unable to say anything.

At this time, other Chelsea players also rushed up to celebrate the goal.

"Chelsea is leading by two goals! I'm afraid it will be even more difficult for Liverpool in the next game. Just like the opinions of many media and fans before the game, they are no match for Chelsea at all" Sky TV.

"This attack has a lot to do with Wang Li. Although the goal was scored by Drogba, it is undeniable that the organizer of the attack was Wang Li. He was also the 'indirect' assist provider. This goal also reflects his current position in Chelsea - the undisputed core of the midfield" Chaoting TV.

"As you can see, Liverpool fans have completely lost confidence. Only our London team is the best in the world" BBC Sports Channel.

As if to confirm the BBC commentator's words, at this time, the wide camera of the stadium cut to Liverpool coach Benitez. At this time, the Spaniard was seen covering his cheeks with his hands, looking helpless.

This scene made the fans feel that Liverpool really had no chance.

When Chelsea was celebrating their goal, a player with a determined face stood in his own half with his hands on his hips, watching the celebration on the opposite side. He did nothing and said nothing, but the determination and unyielding spirit on his face made the players next to him regain some fighting spirit.

All Liverpool players know that this man will never give up, no matter what the circumstances, so why should we?

This is Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard!

On November 5, 1997, Gerrard signed his first professional contract with Liverpool. The following year, he played for Liverpool in the Premier League. When he crossed the world, he had become the absolute main force of the team. Just two years later, in 2003, Gerrard replaced Hyypia and became the new captain of Liverpool.

At that time, head coach Houllier hoped that he could pass on his indomitable spirit to his teammates and improve their performance, and hoped that he could improve his bad habit of frequent fouls. As a result, he only received two yellow cards this season and performed extremely well. He almost sent Liverpool into the Champions League by himself. He also deservedly said: "I am Liverpool's best player of the season."

Until now, Gerrard has spent his entire professional career in Liverpool. Although he has no championship to show for it, he has become a star recognized by English fans and an absolute main force of the England national team.

However, if we talk about what Gerrard is good at, I am afraid that fans can't say anything except that he is good at long-range shots.

Yes, compared to many world superstars, Gerrard's overall quality is not strong, but all fans know that he has a strong heart, a heart that never gives in! !

This is Steven Gerrard.

Now, many Liverpool players have lost confidence in the game, but Gerrard has not given up. He is still thinking about how to fight and grab the ball, and how to score a goal.

That's what makes him different from the others, that's why Gerrard can be the captain of Liverpool, and that's why all the players are convinced of him.

As a captain, he has a great responsibility. Whether for himself or for Liverpool, he should not give up this game so easily.

Chelsea's goal celebration lasted about two minutes. At the referee's signal, the two teams regained their positions and prepared to kick off.

Although the score is already 2:0, in fact, it is only the 23rd minute of the game. It can be said that the whole game has just begun.

The game resumed. After kicking off, Liverpool tried to attack and seek a counterattack, but Chelsea's defense was also very tight. They knew that Liverpool was going to attack, so the players consciously stood far back. With a two-goal advantage in hand, they didn't need to fight Liverpool hard.

On the field, Finnan kicked the ball to Carragher, who passed it directly to Garcia.

After Garcia got the ball on the wing, he made a one-two combination with Gerrard, and then immediately passed the ball straight to the middle. Xabi Alonso got the ball and passed it to Gerrard with his heel.

After getting the chance, Gerrard took the ball and shot directly from long distance. The kick was beautiful, with good speed and angle. Unfortunately, Thomas' reaction was too quick. As long as he did not perform abnormally, this long-distance shot would not be a big threat.

Facing this shot, Thomas jumped up suddenly and knocked the ball to the sideline with both hands, where it was caught by Makelele, who cleared the ball with a big kick to the front court.

Liverpool's attack this time was very good. The way they passed the ball from the wing to the middle directly tore open Chelsea's defense. This ability was not shown at all in the first 20 minutes.

Seeing that the ball did not go in, Gerrard shook his head in annoyance, thinking that he could only look for another opportunity next time.

Just two minutes later, Liverpool made a comeback. After shaking off Makelele on the wing, Riise passed the ball to Kewell, who then passed it to Gerrard.

At this time, Gerrard was already in the left corner of the penalty area, but there were two Chelsea defenders blocking him, which made it difficult for him to find a chance to pass or shoot. However, Gerrard reacted quickly. Before Lampard could get the ball, he kicked his heel, as if to pass it back. This action fooled Paulo Ferreira next to him. In the staggered situation, Gerrard changed direction and actually passed through the two defenders!

"Beautiful!!!" Even the commentator on the scene couldn't help but marvel.

In fact, as a midfielder, Gerrard has comprehensive abilities, but his abilities in all aspects are not outstanding. Although his dribbling ability is stronger than Lampard, as an English player from the Liverpool training camp, his skills are different after all, and his physical strength is still the main focus.

But this time, Gerrard dribbled past Lampard and Paulo Ferreira. With Liverpool trailing, this dribble was really a morale-boosting move.

Not only that, after passing two people, Gerrard rushed into the penalty area with the ball, and without thinking, he chose to volley the ball the next moment! !

Unfortunately, the ball was hit with great force, but the angle was a little too straight, and the football was punched out by Thomas Clark, causing all the fans in the stadium to sigh with regret.

They were sighing for not being able to score a goal after a beautiful pass and dribbling past the opponent. No matter which team they support, they are all pure fans. Pure fans not only like the team, but also like football.

However, the game did not end because of this. The football was hit into the penalty area, and then captain John Terry kicked the ball to the front court with a big kick.

The fans in the stadium had just finished sighing, but then they changed their attitude and couldn't help but cheer loudly.

The football drew a beautiful curve in the air, and where it landed, there were two players standing. One was a Liverpool player wearing a red jersey, that was No. 4 Hyypia, and the other was wearing a blue jersey. The '21' on his back told all the fans that he was Wang Li.

At this time, there were only three people in Liverpool's backcourt, including Hyypia, and No. 23 Jamie Carragher had just run back from the wing across the center line. If Wang Li had not wasted time and directly stopped the ball and broke through, Carragher's defense would have been a joke.

After seeing the ball flying towards him, Wang Li immediately took a horse stance, which was as firm as a mountain and was the basis for practicing external skills. Therefore, no matter how hard Hyypia pushed, Wang Li's body did not move at all. He just stood where the football landed, watching the ball fall little by little.

This time, he stopped the ball with his chest.

When he saw that he couldn't squeeze Wang Li, Hyypia reacted and wanted to move to the front and jumped up to fight for the ball in advance. But how could Wang Li let him succeed? At the critical moment, he blocked in front of Hyypia again, then jumped up easily and used his chest to stop the ball steadily under his feet.

Then, Wang Li stepped on the back of his right heel and the ball passed easily between Hyypia's legs. He then turned around and walked past him with light steps.

Then he turned around and passed the ball!!

Generally speaking, in the understanding of professional players, dribbling past a player through the crotch is an insulting kick. If someone dribbles past a player through the crotch in a game, it will make people feel very embarrassed. However, this is for ordinary players. There are too many people who have been dribbled past by Wang Li, and these defenders can already ignore this rule.

This is indeed the case. From Hyypia's expression, it can be seen that he has no emotions at all. He is just trying to chase the ball, but he finds that the distance between him and the black-haired boy No. 21 in front of him is getting farther and farther.

After passing Hyypia, Wang Li immediately changed his pace, from light steps to walking on snow without leaving any trace. Turkish fans only saw a blue whirlwind passing through Liverpool's backcourt. At the extreme speed, the fans were a little bit unbelievable. If everyone didn't know that this was a football match, they would even think it was a 100-meter sprint in track and field.

What's more, the black-haired boy had the football under his feet, the gap between them was beyond reason.

In a blink of an eye, Wang Li had already dribbled the ball to the Liverpool penalty area line. At this time, standing in front of him was No. 21 Traore.

Jimmy Traore, 25 years old this year, transferred from French League 2 team Laval to Liverpool for 550,000 pounds in 1999, when he was 19 years old.

After returning from Lens on loan in the third year, he became a key player for the team. Technically, he has comprehensive abilities as a full-back, especially in one-on-one defense.

This time, all of Liverpool's hopes almost rest on Traore alone!

In the tactical classes for several consecutive days before the game, the thing that head coach Benítez asked Liverpool's defensive players to do most was to watch Wang Li's game videos. These videos included all of Wang Li's dribbling videos from Christmas to now. His purpose was to hope that the players could find some defensive rules from them.

However, his idea was not realized. The players did not find a way to defend from it. Instead, they were deeply shocked by it. So, now Traore is very clear that if he wants to steal the ball from the black-haired boy in front of him, he will definitely be easily dribbled past. He retreated steadily. The standard he set for himself was not to grab the ball, but to prevent the opponent from breaking through.

He succeeded!!

When Wang Li reached the penalty area line, his speed suddenly slowed down because he was looking for a shooting opportunity. In this way, Traore caught up with Wang Li.

But in fact, Wang Li didn't even think about dribbling past Traore, because the goalkeeper had already attacked and he had every chance to shoot directly. Any unnecessary dribbling would only cause more trouble.

So, when Traore was still overjoyed, Wang Li had already shot.

The location of this shot was on the left side of the penalty area. When he stepped into the penalty area, he immediately passed the ball to the left, dodged Traore to create a shooting angle, and then chose to kick a lob shot.

Facing this ball, goalkeeper Dudek could only watch the ball fly over his head into the net without doing anything. The score between the two teams became 3:0, which was really a desperate score.

Wang Li was obviously in a good mood after scoring the goal. The score now became 3:0, which almost meant that Chelsea won the Champions League trophy. Obviously, all the fans in the stadium also thought so. Before the first half was over, many Blues fans had already started raising their glasses to celebrate the Blues winning the championship!

A group of teammates rushed forward to pat Wang Li on the head. This was the way the players celebrated after scoring a goal, out of jealousy, envy, and excitement. However, Wang Li did not give them this opportunity. He ran madly and did three backflips in a row, running directly to the bottom of the Blues fans' stand, holding his hands high and shouting: "Three to zero! Champions!!"

"Three to zero!! Champions!!"

"Chelsea are the champions!! Champions!! We are the quadruple champions!!"

Soon, the atmosphere of all the fans was aroused, and even many local Turkish fans started shouting.

At this time, many TV stations were also constantly analyzing this goal.

"Alan is so fast, my God, I think he can even run a track and field sprint when he's running with the ball. It's incredible."

As he was talking, the commentator from Sky TV got a piece of data that had just been compiled. Seeing the numbers on it, he shouted in surprise, "Oh my god!! My god!! Our technical department just did a statistics, and the data showed that Alan's fastest speed just now reached 11 meters per second!! He ran 37 meters in just 3.59 seconds!!"

"Oh my god, you know, the starting speed is the slowest. He ran so far from the start, and it only took this little time. I can say for sure that at this speed, he can win the championship in the 100-meter race! If this was a track and field competition, I'm afraid he would have broken the world record!!"

Since the goal, Sky TV has been playing the video of Wang Li dribbling the ball for the fans. Compared with the real goal, this is indeed a highlight. This kind of speed, let alone on the football field, even a 100-meter sprint champion would probably be stunned.

The Imperial Court Sports Channel emphasized the role of this goal. "Allen scored twice. This goal put Chelsea ahead by 3 goals. The game is not even halfway through, but I believe Chelsea should be the winner. 3 goals is really hard to catch up."

"From the last goal, Wang Li's movements were smooth and seamless, from receiving the ball, passing Hyypia, dribbling, to scoring the goal. We can see that his personal skills have reached a very high level. I think our players should train more, find their own shortcomings, and work hard to improve. If everyone does this, the level of football in our country will improve accordingly."

After Wang Li scored, Liverpool's morale dropped even more. Except for Gerrard who kept playing hard, other players were passively defending. From the helplessness in their eyes, it can be seen that they had lost confidence in the game.

This is the European final, and their opponent is a team like Chelsea. Now they are three goals behind, do they still have hope of catching up?

No one could answer, but they all had the answer in their hearts.

Seeing the state of his teammates, Gerrard could only helplessly remind them to defend seriously. He still felt that he should try harder. No matter what, there was still a chance in the game, and he would not give up even if there was only a small chance.

Fortunately, after Wang Li scored this goal, Chelsea players seemed to have little motivation to attack. The occasional positional battles they launched were mainly stable, which made Gerrard breathe a sigh of relief.

Although they are now three goals behind, he still feels that the team has a chance to equalize, but if Chelsea scores one more goal, then the little chance they have will be gone.

After all, this wasn't a basketball game, and he wasn't delusional.

The game continued in this state. In the second half of the first half, neither team scored any more goals, but the atmosphere in the stadium was still good. The Blues fans were all watching the game excitedly. In their eyes, it didn’t matter whether there were goals or not. They just wanted the time to pass quickly. When the game was over, they could confidently say: "We are the quadruple champions!"

Just thinking about that scene makes the Blues fans excited.

Amid the fans' anticipation, the referee finally blew the whistle to end the first half and the game entered halftime.

(To be continued)