Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Chapter 331: The growing Cristiano Ronaldo

Lin Feng's goal made Manchester United's situation suddenly difficult.

Originally, according to the tactics formulated by Mancini, Inter Milan was supposed to retreat and launch a defensive counterattack after taking the lead.

Although the goal was scored a little later than expected, it was still a success.

Then what they have to do next is very simple, they just need to build a fence and wait for their opponents to attack!
After Inter Milan had demonstrated its strong counterattack ability with a goal, the risk for Manchester United to continue besieging the opponent's goal was very high.

So at this time, Manchester United is facing a dilemma.

We must attack, after all, this is our home court. If we can't even win at home, how can we play away?
But how to attack and how to prevent the opponent's counterattack?
This is an urgent problem that Manchester United needs to solve. If these two problems are not handled well, don’t even think about the next round. After this game, Manchester United may just go to bed!

Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Ferguson took advantage of a dead ball opportunity to call Ronaldo to the sidelines to give him instructions.

"Cristiano, you have to step up, because only you can save the team!"

"Next I need you to do this..."

Ronaldo's expression was very serious and he nodded heavily after listening.

The boss trusts me so much, I absolutely cannot let him down. Thinking of this, Ronaldo's eyes became firm again.

In the 13th minute, Ronaldo made a successful breakthrough on the right and sent a cross to Rooney who was lurking in the penalty area.

Rooney got the ball before the defender and completed the attack in one go, stopping and shooting.

But Samuel had already taken position and blocked Rooney's shooting route in advance.

With a bang, Rooney's ball hit Samuel's leg and bounced out of the penalty area.

Outside the penalty area, Vieira used his body to block the position, trying to control the landing point and pass it to his teammates in the frontcourt to launch a counterattack.

But after learning from the previous lesson, Manchester United became extremely decisive in defense. Before Vieira could stop the ball, Ferdinand fouled him and knocked him to the ground.

If a foul of this magnitude happened in a Premier League match, the referee might turn a blind eye and at most just give a verbal warning.

But in the Champions League, the referee will not indulge Manchester United just because the opponent is a Premier League giant.

Ferdinand received a yellow card for this tactical foul.

Ferguson's face was not looking good to begin with, and now it looked even uglier.

If the main central defender has a card on him, doesn't that tell the opponent that this is a breakthrough point in Manchester United's defense?
The game continued and Manchester United was still trying hard to attack.

But Inter Milan's defense remained unshakable, and no matter how hard Manchester United tried, they could not break through.

At the same time, the competition between the two sides in the midfield was extremely fierce.

In the 15th minute, Scholes fouled Zanetti and Inter Milan quickly took a free kick. Lin Feng passed the ball directly to Cruz, but unfortunately the Inter Milan striker's shot in the penalty area was caught by Van der Sar who fell to the ground.

In the 21st minute, Manchester United also got a chance to counterattack after intercepting the ball in the backcourt.

Carrick completed a penetrating pass in the backcourt, and Rooney dribbled into the penalty area before the defender.

Although Barzagli failed to stop Rooney, he bought time for the goalkeeper.

Cesar made a timely move and blocked the ball before Rooney could shoot.

There were sighs coming from the stands at Old Trafford. Manchester United fans thought the ball would go in, but reality slapped them in the face.

Rooney was a little annoyed at missing a great opportunity. After being tripped by Cesar who couldn't stop his car, he pounded the grass a few times, seemingly to vent his dissatisfaction.

Rooney just missed the chance and Ronaldo immediately stepped up.

In the 23rd minute, an Inter Milan player committed a foul in front of the penalty area, giving Manchester United a free kick in an excellent position.

Ronaldo chose to take the penalty himself. He took a few steps back, spread his legs, and struck his signature penalty pose, looking towards Inter Milan's goal with a determined look.

As soon as the referee blew the whistle, Ronaldo took a step forward and started running.

With a bang, the ball flew into the sky along with grass debris, passed over Inter Milan's wall of people, and after reaching the highest point in the air, it seemed as if it was suddenly hit heavily by someone and fell rapidly downwards.

"Here it comes, Ronaldo's tomahawk elevator ball!"

The Sky Sports commentator seemed extremely excited after seeing this goal.

Ronaldo's penalty kick was very powerful and fast, and the ball fell suddenly in the air.

Although Cesar judged the direction correctly, he was unable to save the ball because it was going too fast.

With a swish, the ball went into the net.

Manchester United equalized the score in just ten minutes!

After scoring the goal, Ronaldo seemed extremely excited. He ran to the stands where Manchester United's diehard fans gathered, raised his hands and asked for applause from the fans.

In an instant, a terrifying wave of noise erupted at the Theatre of Dreams, with nearly 80,000 Red Devils fans celebrating wildly.

"C Ronaldo's shot was really amazing, the goalkeeper had no way to stop it!"

"Indeed, you can tell from the expression on Cesar's face that he is quite depressed!"

"I feel that Ronaldo has really become stronger in the past two years. His dribbling, passing, shooting and even free kick skills have made great progress compared to when he first came to Manchester United. I thought his explosion last season was an accident, but now it seems that everything is just a natural result of his strength!"

"The post-1985 generation is really star-studded. Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Lin Feng, and Rooney all seem very strong. I wonder who will have the last laugh in the future!"

With Ronaldo's explosion at Manchester United last year, he has more and more fans in China.

When everyone was discussing the talented players of the younger generation, the focus was mainly on Lin Feng, Kaka, Messi, Rooney and others.

But now, with Ronaldo's rapid growth, no one can ignore this young winger from Portugal.

After the score was tied, the situation on the field was different again.

Although Manchester United is still slightly behind Inter Milan because of the away goal.

But they had just scored a goal and their morale was high.

So, after the game resumed, Manchester United continued to launch a fierce attack on Inter Milan, trying to completely eliminate the opponent in one go.

The situation was slightly unfavorable for Inter Milan, so Lin Feng took the initiative to retreat and participate in the defense.

With Lin Feng's return to defense, coupled with the excellent performance of Inter Milan's defense, Manchester United's attempt to take advantage of the opportunity to expand the score failed.

After withstanding Manchester United's counterattack, Inter Milan also tried to attack several times.

But Manchester United became extra vigilant after losing the ball and did not give Inter too many good opportunities. As for the positional battle, both sides could not organize threatening attacks due to fierce fighting and frequent fouls in the midfield.

After 30 minutes, the score was still 1:1.
The two sides had similar ball possession rates and the number of shots was almost the same.

The situation seemed to be deadlocked, which was good for the visiting team Inter Milan, but not good for the home team Manchester United.

The other side can accept a draw, but we can't.

So Manchester United once again focused on the flanks. In addition to letting Ronaldo and Giggs continue to rush to the flanks, the two full-backs also boldly assisted.

After investing more manpower, Manchester United's attack on the flanks began to improve.

In the 37th minute, Ronaldo broke through the wing and caused Grosso to foul. The free kick he took himself hit the wall.

It is rude not to reciprocate. After Ronaldo finished his performance, Lin Feng quickly stood up, got rid of Scholes's entanglement in the midfield, and made a long pass to find Figo on the wing.

Figo passed Heinze who was defending him, broke into the penalty area and knocked the ball across the middle.

Unfortunately, Cruz's shot in front of the goal was saved by the Manchester United goalkeeper.

After that, neither side made any progress and the first half of the game ended with the two teams temporarily tied.

Manchester United was naturally dissatisfied with this result, so during the half-time break, Ferguson turned on his hair dryer and gave the Manchester United players a thorough baptism of fire.

The three defensive players who were fooled by Lin Feng were the first to be scolded and could hardly raise their heads.

"We didn't do well enough in the first half, so I hope that in the second half each of you can cheer up, play your best and help the team win this game!"

Ferguson glanced around the locker room with sharp eyes, and under his gaze, the players nodded one after another.

Ferguson was somewhat dissatisfied with the players' attitude. He felt that these guys were too soft, not tough enough, and not Red Devils enough!

Unfortunately, Manchester United captain Gary Neville suffered a serious injury in a Premier League match last month, which ruined his season and forced him to undergo surgery.

If he were still in the locker room now, the atmosphere in the team would definitely not be like this.

……

At the start of the second half, it seemed that the hair dryer Ferguson used in the locker room took effect.

The mental outlook of Manchester United's players has indeed changed a lot. Not only are they running and fighting more aggressively, they have even become more "aggressive" in committing fouls.

Ronaldo has already taken two free kicks, how could Lin Feng, a free kick master, fall behind?
In the 46th minute, Vieira fouled Ferdinand while participating in the attack in Manchester United's penalty area.

The two inevitably had another quarrel, but the referee only gave them a verbal warning and did not give Vieira a card.

Ferguson was obviously dissatisfied with the decision and tried to negotiate with the fourth official on the sidelines, trying to put pressure on the referee team.

But before the referee could change the whistle, the Manchester United players on the field were the first to get restless.

Just one minute later, Scholes deliberately tackled Vieira who was dribbling the ball during a defensive move, knocking him to the ground.

Vieira fell to the ground with a painful expression on his face, holding his ankle and screaming.

Inter Milan's players were furious and rushed towards Scholes to demand an explanation from him.

In their opinion, Scholes' foul was completely unnecessary and was obviously committed for the purpose of revenge!

When Manchester United players saw their teammate being besieged, they immediately rushed over and protected Scholes behind them, while also pushing and shoving each other with Inter Milan players.

The situation on the field started to get heated, and even the fans of both teams in the stands began to add fuel to the fire and shout.

"Kill these Italians, a bunch of football hooligans, who actually dared to run wild in the British Empire!"

"Fuck you, you British people have the nerve to call others football hooligans. Have you forgotten the more than 30 lives lost in the Heysel Stadium tragedy? Wait, when you get to Italy, we will show you how we kill you!"

The conflict between Italian fans and British fans is really long-standing.

Both countries are home to many football hooligans, so when fans from the two places meet, there are always some sparks.

The Heysel Stadium tragedy 20 years ago was the most violent conflict between fans of the two countries.

The conflict resulted in the deaths of more than 30 Italian fans and more than 300 injuries, shocking the entire football world!

Perhaps it was because the lesson learned that year was too painful that Manchester United, not wanting to follow in Liverpool's footsteps, attached great importance to the security of this game.

Not only were the fans of the two countries forcibly separated, but a large number of iron fences and security personnel were placed in the middle to prevent anyone from crossing the border to provoke.

So even though the fans of both countries are cursing each other now, it is still unlikely that they will really start fighting.

But the iron railings in the stadium cannot protect them forever. When these Italian fans leave the stadium and meet the large number of British fans outside, I am afraid that what awaits them will not be a good thing.

The referee's whistle in this game was indeed a bit soft. Scholes committed such a serious foul, but he did not get a direct red card, but only a yellow card warning.

This penalty made Inter Milan very dissatisfied. Just now, Ferguson was negotiating with the fourth official, but now it was Mancini who was chattering to the fourth official.

Vieira injured his ankle and the team doctor determined that he could not continue after examination.

Inter were forced to use a substitution, with Cambiasso coming on to replace the injured Vieira.

Vieira's injury has a great impact on Inter Milan.

Although Cambiasso is also an excellent defensive midfielder, he still has a gap compared to Vieira.

Therefore, when Manchester United saw Vieira leave the field, they were overjoyed, thinking that they had finally cleared the stumbling block and could take control of the initiative in the midfield.

However, the development of things was beyond their expectations. Inter Milan, completely infuriated by Manchester United, became ruthless and fought desperately in the following game.

In the 52nd minute, Lin Feng broke through with the ball on the right rib, and then his long shot from 27 meters in front of the goal was saved by Van der Sar over the crossbar. Then Figo's corner kick was deflected by Crespo.

But Inter Milan's attack did not stop.

In the 54th minute, Lin Feng stood up again!
After intercepting Scholes in the midfield, he again took the ball along the right and launched a counterattack.

Facing O'Shea's interception, Lin Feng got rid of it with a beautiful bull tail and then dribbled the ball into the penalty area.

But at this moment, Scholes, who had been intercepted by him, finally caught up.

Seeing that Lin Feng was about to break into the penalty area, Scholes seemed to forget that he had a yellow card and subconsciously stretched out his right leg to trip Lin Feng from behind.

Beep!
A sharp whistle sounded!
German referee Van der Leyen walked towards the scene with a grim face, reaching into his pocket as he walked.

The hearts of tens of thousands of Manchester United fans at the scene were in their throats, not knowing how the referee would punish Scholes.

Van der Leyen showed no mercy this time. He first showed Scholes a yellow card, and then raised the red card high. Two yellow cards turned into one red card, and the opponent was sent off!
(End of this chapter)