Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 240 Falcao and Moutinho
On the field, the match officially began.

When Manchester City launched their first attack, Shan Yongzhuo rushed to the front and soon realized how much Porto valued his defense.

That comes from the emphasis on passing lanes, the emphasis on running, and the close marking by players in different positions.

In short, Porto is targeting itself in every aspect.

When Manchester City attacked, Porto's defense carefully targeted them.

“Mr. Boas said he’s going to lock him down.”

"We must be extremely careful and cautious in our defense!"

"He is the biggest threat."

"..."

Under Porto's cautious defense, Shan Yongzhuo, who was at the forefront, was tightly marked and had difficulty getting a chance to touch the ball.

Once Manchester City's offensive was thwarted, it was Porto's turn to attack.

Porto's offensive was very strong.

Manchester City had previously played against Braga and Benfica, and their consecutive victories against the two Portuguese teams made them somewhat complacent about Porto. In their view, even if Porto was stronger, they believed that Porto was only slightly better than Benfica.

But when the match actually started, they realized how strong Porto was.

Porto's relentless attacks and skillful teamwork left Manchester City somewhat unprepared.

In particular, their striker Falcao completely dominated Kompany in the attacking third, leaving Kompany in a very difficult position.

Falcao, nicknamed "The Tiger," is only 177cm tall, but he has outstanding physical qualities, a keen sense of smell in the penalty area, and excellent shooting skills, especially his heading ability. He is considered a model player for excellent strikers.

Falcao has scored 34 goals for Porto in all competitions this season. Although he is still far behind Shan Yongzhuo, he is already a very outstanding striker.

Manchester City does value Falcao to some extent, but clearly not enough.

Then, Porto took the lead.

The goal came very suddenly, and Manchester City were completely unprepared.

In the 11th minute, Hulk made an attack down the wing and then delivered a long pass that found Falcao in the penalty area.

Falcao didn't even stop the ball, directly overtaking Kompany and unleashing a beautiful back-turn volley.

The football hurtled toward the goal like a cannonball.

Joe Hart reacted a beat too slow and could only watch the ball fly past his hand and plunge into the side netting.

1 is better than 0!

Porto are ahead of Manchester City.

As Falcao scored, the stands erupted in cheers from the Porto fans. The commentators immediately began analyzing the goal, praising Falcao while also pointing out that the situation was very unfavorable for Manchester City.

"Porto scored in the 11th minute, making it a tough game for Manchester City."

"Porto scores goals too quickly."

"Porto got into the game quickly. Falcao's shot was sudden, powerful, and well-angled. Most goalkeepers would have a hard time reacting to it. This shows that Falcao is in good form today, and we can look forward to his performance."

"..."

The Manchester City players on the field also knew that the situation was somewhat unfavorable for their side.

When the game restarted, Shan Yongzhuo applauded his teammates and told them not to worry too much, which gave them some confidence. However, once the game began, the two sides remained evenly matched.

Manchester City's overall strength was indeed not much stronger than Porto's, and the two sides engaged in a fierce battle in midfield, resulting in a stalemate.

In the battle for midfield, Porto even held a slight advantage.

Moutinho, the midfield maestro of Porto, rose to fame at Sporting Lisbon. From the age of 18, he became the core of Sporting Lisbon's midfield and competed in the Champions League. He is the most talented Portuguese midfielder after Rui Costa and Deco.

Standing at only 170cm tall, he not only possesses excellent defensive and playmaking abilities, but also demonstrates impressive offensive prowess.

The midfield partnership of Moutinho and Fernando Riggs completely dominated the muscular defensive midfield of De Jong and Yaya Toure.

However, Manchester City dominated down the two flanks.

In particular, David Silva on the left wing, through his back-and-forth movement between the wing and the center, organized Manchester City's attack in an orderly manner, and was not inferior to Porto in terms of offensive momentum.

Then, in the 19th minute of the match, Manchester City launched an attack.

Manchester City passed the ball to David Silva on the wing through four consecutive passes. After receiving the ball, Silva did not break through along the wing, but instead dribbled the ball into the middle and made a cross-position exchange with Shan Yongzhuo.

After passing the ball to Shan Yongzhuo on the wing, he charged forward, waiting for Shan Yongzhuo to pass the ball back.

This is a very typical Manchester City-style combination, with the wingers and strikers making overlapping runs.

At this moment, Shan Yongzhuo was positioned on the wing, a position that Porto believed was impossible for him to shoot from.

He has two best options: one is to continue breaking down the wing and then cross from the byline, and the other is to try to pass the ball back to Silva, who has switched positions to the center and is making a forward run.

However, the next moment, just as the Porto players were ready to cut off the connection between Shan Yongzhuo and Silva, Shan Yongzhuo unexpectedly swung his right foot.

The football shot forward at high speed.

"A cross?"

"wrong!"

"Watch out, is this a shot?"

Dan Yongzhuo was not close to the goal, more than 30 meters away, and on the left side, where almost no one would choose to shoot.

For this reason, Porto's defender Rolando and full-back Sapnaru only focused on defending against Shan Yongzhuo's breakthroughs and passes, and did not get too close.

Then, Shan Yongzhuo got the chance to shoot.

Porto only realized it was a shot when the ball was already in motion.

Goalkeeper Hayden was the same.

By the time Hayden reacted, the ball had already rushed past his hand and into the goal. The ball was too fast, the curve was too unpredictable, and the angle was too tricky. The goalkeeper had no chance at all and could only watch helplessly as the ball went into the corner of the net.

The ball went in!
In that instant, the surrounding stands fell eerily quiet.

The spectators looked at Porto's goal, and most of them had a look of surprise on their faces. Some even opened their mouths in astonishment.

Especially the neutral Irish fans and the Portuguese fans who had traveled from afar, some of them could hardly believe that such a shot had actually gone in so directly.
It was almost a one-second pause.

Then, a burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the stands.

Those were cheers from Manchester City fans and Chinese fans.

They weren't as surprised as the Irish and Portuguese fans; they were already used to Shan Yongzhuo's various fancy and unpredictable shots.

(End of this chapter)