Chapter 989 Battle of Stamford Bridge (2)
When walking onto Stamford Bridge Stadium, every Manchester United player was a little nervous.
Here, they have not won the ball in 9 years.
Even with Gao Xiaodong, Manchester United won a vulgar draw in the first round of the league by delaying time here.
Before the kickoff, when the players of both sides shook hands, Chelsea's players were very confident and kept provoking Manchester United's players with their eyes, expressions and actions, hoping to hit Manchester United's players' confidence before the game.
Manchester United players were tit-for-tat, not polite at all. Gao Xiaodong and Ivanovic, who he had played with in the first leg of the league, even cursed each other a few words.
The two head coaches Ancelotti and Ferguson were very graceful, shook hands with each other and blessed each other.
Taking advantage of the pre-match ceremony, Sky Sports' commentator Andy Grey reviewed the situation of the two sides in the first round of the league.
"Compared with the last red and blue battle, Chelsea's defense line has changed a lot. The full-back Ivanovic, who was played by Gao Xiaodong last time, played as a central defender today, and the full-back became Bosingwa. Midfielder Maluda was replaced by Jerkov, and Drogba's partner also became the golden boy Torres. Both of them were Manchester United's victims... In terms of Manchester United, O'Shea was replaced by Rafael, who is younger and more capable of running. The forward is a fast and strong combination of Rooney and Hernandez. Ferguson made a bold decision in the middle. He put Scholes on the bench and partnered with Fletcher, Nani, Valencia and Gao Xiaodong in the midfield. This midfielder is very fast, but his strength is not as strong as Chelsea, and his skills are not as good as Chelsea. The effect is good. I will comment when the game is over."
The first kickoff was Manchester United, who played away.
At Stamford Bridge Stadium, Manchester United is almost the most hostile team. Even when kicking off, Blues fans were booing and shouting that Lupiao guests were coming to humiliate Rooney.
Rooney seemed to be mentally prepared in advance, ignored the booing and scolding of Blues fans, and silently passed the ball and ran to the position.
Chelsea's tactics today are very clear, which is to fight to the midfield. After Manchester United kicked off, Drogba and Torres quickly pressed forward, and the midfield and defenders also had a quick premise, pushing the battlefield inside and outside the central circle.
Manchester United beat nearly seven or eight consecutive balls, and finally passed it back to the goalkeeper under Chelsea's press. Goalkeeper Van der Sar is not a ball-controlled goalkeeper like Neuer. He passed the ball to him, but he did not pass it accurately to the defender. Even if there was, Van der Sar would not pass it. He just kicked the frontcourt with a big kick.
The ball was easily grabbed by Terry, and Hernandez caused almost no interference to Terry.
The ball was passed to midfielder Ramirez. Ramirez made a pass, and Essin quickly dribbled the ball forward and rushed to Manchester United's bottom line.
Facing Essin's attack, Evra retreated and waited for Essin to block when it made a cross or went to the bottom.
Essin is nicknamed African Buffalo, but even though he is strong, some players still see Evra maintaining a good defensive posture and cannot break through at will. Nani is still interfering on one side. He slowed down decisively. Seeing Bossinwa inserted at high speed from behind, Essin put the ball in, and Bossinwa quickly broke through Evra from the outside, and passed the ball into the penalty area with one kick.
Today, Manchester United's central defender is the strongest partner of Ferdinand and Vidic. The two are very experienced. While watching the penalty kicker, they also look at the players on the wing with their own light. When Bosingwa passed by Evra, Ferdinand quickly moved to Torres to defend the cross from the wing.
Facts have proved that Ferdinand's experience played a crucial role. When Bosingwa made a cross, Ferdinand happened to get stuck in front of Torres and a header was pushed out.
Ferdinand's clearance was praised by the Red Devils fans, and the live commentator Andy Gray also said: "If Evans came to defend, Torres would probably have won the landing point."
However, Andy Gray's partner Liverpool legend Sones laughed: "If Vidic comes to defend, Torres will probably score."
Andy Gray naturally knew that Vidic defended Torres to take red cards three times in a row. He smiled and said, "The goal may not be scored, the foul is certain."
The left side easily gave the opponent a cross opportunity, which made Manchester United's captain Vidic very angry. He shouted to Evra and Nani repeatedly, telling them not to let the opponent go easily.
Ferdinand's rescued landing point was obtained by Gao Xiaodong.
Seeing that his opponent was aggressive and Gao Xiaodong did not stick to the ball, he quickly turned around and stepped on the side to look for Valencia, allowing Valencia to use his speed to attack Chelsea's defense.
When playing against Manchester United, Chelsea was still very stable. Just now, Bosingwa on the right went up, and Ashley Cole on the left was not as deep as he pushed. When Valencia dribbled the ball forward, Jirkov was surpassed, but Ashley Cole quickly retreated to compress Valencia's dribble space.
When Ashley Cole retreated to the side of the penalty area, Valencia had to slow down and he continued to speed up and rushed down. Even if Ashley Cole didn't defend him, he would probably have to take it out of the bottom line.
Ashley Cole was experienced and was waiting for Valencia to slow down. As soon as Valencia's speed dropped, he immediately rushed up.
Valencia has two ideas for slowing down. If Ashley Cole comes up and grabs, he will accelerate down the bottom. If Ashley Cole doesn't grab, he will make a 45-degree cross, allowing his teammates to attack Chelsea's defense.
Seeing Ashley Cole coming, Valencia immediately rushed to the bottom line and accelerated from the outside to overtake.
Ashley Cole was called the world's number one left-back at the peak. Although his peak period has passed, his experience is still there. He also judged Valencia's intention in advance. Before Valencia dribbled the ball, he fell to the ground and intercepted the ball.
Valencia stopped suddenly, turned around and grabbed the ball. Ashley Cole fell to the ground, holding the grass and swept the ball across to Jirkov who came back to pick him up.
Hernandez and Rooney just wanted to score a shot, but were next to the two central defenders. Jirkov did not return the route and could only get the ball with his back.
In order to prevent the opponent from stealing from behind, when he took the ball, Jerkov stopped the ball in the opposite direction.
Although this action is a bit more than it is, if someone steals it, it may be shaken.
However, after stopping the ball, Jirkov wanted to turn around, Gao Xiaodong had already inserted it between Jirkov and the ball at high speed and snatched the ball.
However, when Gao Xiaodong adjusted his steps and prepared for a long shot, Lampard arrived from behind and pushed Gao Xiaodong down.
The referee Malenko blew his whistle, and Manchester United fans in the stands shouted a yellow card to Lampard, but Malenko ignored it and signaled that Lampard would foul and gave Manchester United a free kick in the left front of the penalty area.
Since Gao Xiaodong has been going to grab points recently, Nani came to Gao Xiaodong and said, "Gao, will you punish this ball?"
Gao Xiaodong looked at the distance and direction and said, "I'll try it."
"Okay." Nani retreated to the side of the penalty area and waited for the opportunity.
While Gao Xiaodong was preparing for a free throw, Manchester United boss's son Edward and Manchester United manager David Jill came to the scene. He walked into the box, put his bag on the table, and quickly ran to the window to watch Gao Xiaodong's free kick.
This foul goal is not too far, but it is quite biased. After goalkeeper Cech sealed the near corner, Gao Xiaodong only played in the back corner, but the requirement for footwork accuracy is very high, and if you enter, you will be a world wave.
Although Gao Xiaodong is versatile with both legs and feet, Manchester United players still think that Gao Xiaodong may pass the ball, and Vidic and Ferdinand both came to the penalty area to compete for the header.
The referee's whistle sounded, Gao Xiaodong made a small run-up, and his left-footed banana ball was directly on the back corner of the goal.
Goalkeeper Cech had a premonition that Gao Xiaodong would choose this angle. He flew forward and wanted to intercept the ball, but Gao Xiaodong was walking a bit big in this arc, and Cech, who was tall and long, could not touch the ball.
Although he did not touch the ball, Cech was not worried. If he could not touch the ball, it means that the ball could not be transferred to the goal range.
When Cech looked back, he found that the ball was indeed close to the back post and flew out of the bottom line without expectation.
But Cech was not happy, but was secretly shocked. The ball was too close to the goal post, which was much different from his judgment. If Gao Xiaodong adjusts the arc for a while, he may score a goal.
The Blues fans in the stands also exclaimed, and they didn't care when they were free throws. They looked at them after playing, and the ball was really overwhelming.
Chelsea goalkeeper Cech served the goal, and Drogba in the frontcourt. Cech directly passed the ball with his big foot, allowing the Warcraft to compete with Manchester United's defender.
The 33-year-old Drogba is no longer at his peak, but his strength is still terrifying. He is stuck in the position, and Ferdinand just can't stand it. He can only watch Drogba make the ball to Lampard in the middle.
Lampard stopped the ball in his chest and walked forward, preparing to have a long shot.
Lampard has the title of King of Scoring Goals. No matter how far apart, Fletcher dared not let him shoot. He pressed him at the first time and blocked the angle of Lampard's shot.
Generally, players will get rid of the shot angle when they block the opponent and then shoot, but Lampard scores too many refraction balls and is very confident in the face of interception, so they directly hit the goal.
Fletcher stretched out his foot and the ball hit Fletcher's foot and flew backwards to the goal.
Veteran Van der Sar is still strong and his reaction is still very fast. When Lampard kicks his feet, he originally moved to the left, but when he sees a refraction, he quickly turns around and moves to the right and strikes.
Fortunately, the distance was far, Fletcher's interception was relieved, and Van der Sar narrowly saved the ball from the bottom line.
Chelsea won the first corner kick of the game.
As a strong header team, such opportunities should not be missed.
The left-back Ashley Cole, Terry, Ivanovic, Drogba and Torres all came to the penalty area to grab the header. Essin and Lampard prepared for a long shot at the front of the penalty area, Ramirez and Jerkov grabbed the clearing ball on both sides, and Chelsea surrounded Manchester United's penalty area in all directions.
Ashley Cole passed the ball in the arc to the penalty area, pushing and shoving in the penalty area, and people were in chaos.
Torres fell to the ground in the crowd and Drogba headed the ball out of the crossbar.
"Foofing foul!"
"Vidic!Vidic!"
"Punishment!"
There were shouts in the stands. In fact, the fans didn't see clearly how Torres fell to the ground at that time. They just started to cheer and stimulate Vidic.
Referee Malenko ignored it and asked Manchester United goalkeeper Van der Sar to serve the ball.
In just five minutes of the game, both sides shot, scored into the opponent's penalty area several times, and had set pieces. The game was very fast, and it seemed that neither side was convinced by each other, and they both hoped to score a goal and master the initiative of the game.
When Cech kicked the ball, he always made a long pass to Drogba with big feet, but Van der Sar couldn't do that. Manchester United strikers Rooney and Hernandez were less than 1.8 meters tall, and a long pass was almost equivalent to giving the ball to the opponent.
Van der Sar passed the ball horizontally to Evra and slowly advanced from the backcourt.
Chelsea knew Manchester United's way of doing things very well. When Van der Sar serves, they started to grab the ball. Torres, Drogba, Jerkov, and Essin, four of them grabbed Manchester United's four defenders and did not let them get the ball comfortable.
Chelsea's steals are fast and fierce, Drogba has the cunning of African blacks, and Torres has the shrewdness of European whites. When they steal, they do not forget to fight against their opponents physically, and they knocked down their opponents reasonably or unreasonably, leaving Manchester United missing a catch point.
Chelsea's pressing effect was very good. Manchester United failed to pass the ball through the midfield with three passes, and then the ball reached Evra's feet. Evra's pass to Fletcher was too weak and was quickly started and intercepted by Torres.
The Spanish Golden Boy dribbled the ball and headed straight for Vidic. After years of confrontation, Torres prefers to play Vidic.
Vidic is a top central defender and a tough guy. He is not "feared" any opponent, including Drogba, but his technical characteristics determine that he is "feared" the striker like Torres who starts quickly and reacts quickly.
In October 2009, Manchester United ushered in the league with Liverpool. Before the game, Vidic made a bold statement that Torres should never let him humiliate himself again. Of course, there is a reason for saying such words. You should know that Vidic was the PFA Player of the Year candidate of the previous season and Manchester United Player of the Year, but in the two league matches against Liverpool, Vidic received a red card, and it was Torres who caused Vidic's pain to be remembered.
However, the bold words were useless. When he met Vidic, he won a red card again and scored a red card hat trick against Torres. Since then, Torres has become the biggest shadow of Vidic's career.
Suddenly, when Torres saw him bring the ball over, Vidic was nervous and did not dare to go over and hit him. He took two steps to Torres and asked Torres to shoot, so he would not let him break through.
Vidic's choice made Ferguson very dissatisfied. For the top forward, shooting at this position is no less threat than breaking through.
The live commentator Andy Gray also smiled and said that Vidic really has a shadow, and this distance cannot be so far away from Torres.
If you buy against other defenders, Torres will probably shoot directly, but facing Vidic, Torres is full of confidence. He made a fake move to the left dribble and accelerated to the right.
Under normal circumstances, such fake moves are useless for defenders of Vidic, but Vidic is still too nervous. He moves to the left nervously. When Torres breaks to the right, he is already passive.
Fortunately, Vidic left two steps away, and fortunately, Torres' explosive power decreased after being seriously injured, allowing Vidic to withstand Torres with his body before Torres entered the penalty area.
Torres was unbalanced under Vidic's squeezing and staggered into the penalty area. The ball was taken by goalkeeper Van der Sar.
"Punishment ball...Vidic foul! Foul! Red card! Red card!"
For a moment, the Stamford Bridge Stadium shouted loudly, like a tsunami.
Ancelotti jumped up and shouted at the stadium: "Foof! Foul!"
Even Abu in the VIP box was alarmed. He stood up suddenly and stared at the referee to see how Malenko ordered the penalty.
Under the booing and shouting of 40,000 fans, referee Malenko did not play cards at Vidic, but instead waved to Torres and signaled him to get up.
The Stamford Bridge Stadium suddenly booed and Blues fans protested angrily.
Chelsea players were also very dissatisfied and surrounded Malenko and questioned his punishment.
Malenko had no intention of changing, he explained that this was normal physical contact and could not reach the foul.
The live commentator Andy Gray teased: "Mallenko shows mercy, and it seems that Marilenko has also developed sympathy for Vidic."
Sones complained: "Actually, it's nothing to judge a free kick. This is Chelsea's home court. Maybe Marienko really sympathizes with Vidic."
Chapter completed!