Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 243 Manchester City's Relaxed Mindset
gooooooooooal!

The instant the ball rolled into the goal, the English commentator strained his throat, shouting, "Gol, gol, gol!"

His voice flowed like the Yellow River, never ceasing, until it finally faded a little. In the end, he shouted in a slightly hoarse voice, "Shan Yongzhuo, he helped Manchester City score their third goal, which was also his personal hat-trick!"

"In just half a game, he scored his third goal against Porto!"

"The score is now 3-1!"

The television camera showed Shan Yongzhuo raising his hands, and the commentator immediately explained, "This is Shan Yongzhuo, this is a king. His existence is synonymous with goals and victory. He is indeed a winner, and we believe he can lead Manchester City to victory."

"This result may be hard for Porto to accept. They attacked for a long time and performed well, especially their Colombian striker Falcao, who posed a great threat to Manchester City."

"But they were facing Manchester City with Shan Yongzhuo, and in the end, it was Manchester City who scored, and it was that man again. Manchester City has a super striker that Porto can't defend against."

As the English commentator excitedly recounted the story, fans in the surrounding stands cheered and applauded. Many fans were discussing Shan Yongzhuo; those familiar with him were used to his performance, while those unfamiliar with him found it somewhat unbelievable.

Three goals, a hat-trick.

Scoring a hat-trick is a cause for celebration in any competition, especially in the Europa League final, which is only halfway through.

However, many fans felt that Shan Yongzhuo's hat-trick was far too ordinary.

He has so many hat tricks.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese commentator on the other side was somewhat frustrated and began to criticize Porto's defense, saying, "Shan Yongzhuo, scoring a goal was far too easy for him. Porto's defense was completely ineffective."

Porto's defense is indeed somewhat unsatisfactory; compared to their excellent midfield and attack, their backline is relatively weak.

However, it wasn't as weak as the Portuguese commentator criticized.

The main reason is that Manchester City eliminated two Portuguese teams, Braga and Benfica, along the way, leaving a deep impression on the Portuguese.

Facing Porto, Portugal's strongest team, the Portuguese commentator found that Porto's defense was even worse than Benfica's, which frustrated him greatly.

If Manchester City ultimately defeats Porto to win the title, then in this season's Europa League, Manchester City will have achieved a clean sweep of Portuguese teams.

This was a bit embarrassing for the Portuguese.

On the field.

Manchester City concluded with a simple celebration.

Shan Yongzhuo's expression was very calm, as if completing a hat trick was the most ordinary thing in the world.

His teammates were very excited and surrounded him to celebrate.

This left them no choice but to be excited.

This is the Europa League final!

Dan Yongzhuo's hat-trick is nothing special, and it has nothing to do with them. The most important thing is that the team was leading Porto 3-1 in the first half, and that's what matters most.

The match is the Europa League final. If they beat Porto, they will win the Europa League title, and Manchester City will be able to complete the treble this season.

Faced with such an achievement, the Manchester City players were naturally unable to contain their excitement.

Therefore, after Shan Yongzhuo scored, some players were even more excited than Shan Yongzhuo himself.

Shortly after the Manchester City players finished their brief celebrations, Porto kicked off, and the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

Porto could only return to the locker room, heartbroken, to endure the agonizing halftime break.

The players were dejected, and when they returned to the locker room, the atmosphere was terribly oppressive; not a single person spoke. When head coach Villas-Boas entered and saw the situation, he also felt somewhat helpless.

Villas-Boas could naturally see the problem with the game. Even someone who didn't know much about football could see the key issue: they couldn't stop the opponent's number 10. They had set up a tight defense, but the opponent was still able to score. What could they do?

Boas was somewhat troubled.

Any coach will be troubled by the outstanding performance of the opposing team's star player. Although football is an eleven-player sport, no matter how team sport it is, the performance of star players can sometimes affect the course of the game.

In football, this means that often a single goal can decide the outcome of a match.

Now, Shan Yongzhuo has scored 3 goals by himself.

The key is to limit the performance of the opponent's core marksman. So how do we limit him?
Villas-Boas will have to focus more of his energy on defending this player.

In fact, he knew that defending against Shan Yongzhuo was a global challenge, so he pointed to Otamendi.

"Nicholas, you don't need to do anything in the second half. Just stick close to number 10. No matter where he is or what he's doing, you have to keep a close eye on him."

Otamendi's face fell. He wasn't confident he could stop Shan Yongzhuo. If he were to mark him closely and the opponent performed well, wouldn't he be made to look even more incompetent?
But there was nothing he could do; he couldn't disobey Boas's orders, and in the end, he could only nod bitterly.

On the other hand, Manchester City's dressing room was filled with jubilation.

Every player was excited; they talked about the championship, about the treble, after all, the championship was within reach.

We're leading by two goals!
The championship trophy is within reach.

Head coach Mancini, however, was not blinded by the score. He used his authority to quiet the locker room and then reminded everyone, "The game is only halfway through!"

A two-goal lead is not a victory!

"We must remain vigilant and stay focused until the very last moment of the game!"

"..."

Of course, Mancini's words of discouragement did not affect the mentality of the Manchester City players. They walked out of the locker room with great confidence and stepped back onto the field.

Manchester City's players are all well-known stars, surpassing Porto's players in terms of fame.

As star players, they still have their own pride.

In their view, the outcome of the competition was no longer in doubt, and the championship was already within their grasp.

Shan Yongzhuo is like that.

Balotelli is like that.

Kompany, Yaya Toure, De Jong, and others thought the same way.

Then, after the start of the second half, Manchester City's arrogant players suffered a major blow.

In the 48th minute, Porto's first wave of attack reached the edge of the penalty area.

A distracted Richards was easily beaten by Hulk. Hulk's subsequent shot, though saved by Joe Hart, was followed up by Falcao, who shook off the distracted Kompany and slotted the rebound into the empty net.

3 is better than 2!

Porto pulled one back early in the second half.

(End of this chapter)