Football: The strongest post-2000s Chapter 123

“Gooooooooooooa 1——”

Andy Gray, the commentator for Sky Sports in Great Britain, let out his characteristic elongated cry.

Guest commentator Martin Tyler was surging with emotion: “Aoaoao—Unbelievable! How much time has passed? A goal in less than seventeen seconds! Li’s left-footed push-shot helps Liverpool take a 1- 0 lead over Manchester United away from home!”

“Left-footed push-shot—”

LeSports commentator Zhan Jun’s emotions instantly became agitated: “Goal! Goal! Liverpool’s lightning-fast goal! Li Qing received Arnold’s inverted triangle pass and directly pushed the shot without stopping the ball! 1- 0!! Who would have thought of such a start to the Double Red Derby?”

“Li Qing’s goal helps Liverpool achieve a lightning start! This game is going to be exciting! If I remember correctly, Manchester United players haven’t even touched the ball before Li Qing’s goal, have they? Too fast!”

New English Sports commentator Jin Xiang Kai shouted loudly.

Li Qing, who scored the goal, turned a corner, spread his arms, ran towards Arnold, who delivered the brilliant pass, and leaped, directly jumping onto Arnold, raising his arms and cheering towards the damned Manchester United fans.

“Wuwuwuwuuuuu—”

How could Manchester United fans tolerate Li Qing showing off his power at Old Trafford? Deafening boos quickly spread from the Stretford End, where the loyal fans were located, to the Ferguson Stand and the Bobby Charlton Stand.

The East Stand was the area for disabled people and away fans, so it was naturally impossible for Liverpool fans to boo. They hysterically created cheers, but due to their absolute numerical disadvantage, their cheers were completely drowned out.

However, the Liverpool players’ emotions were not affected. The louder the Manchester United fans booed, the more excited they became. Firmino even made a gesture of cupping his ear to listen, mocking the Manchester United fans for not booing loudly enough.

Liverpool manager Klopp had anticipated that his team would score at Old Trafford before the match, but he hadn’t expected the goal to come so early. Excitement quickly enveloped his entire body, and his iconic combination punch was displayed for the first time at Old Trafford.

Just over ten meters away, in the home team’s coaching area, Mourinho stood there with pursed lips, his gaze coldly fixed on Pogba. In his opinion, the biggest defensive flaw in the team this time was that Pogba, who bore a great deal of defensive responsibility, did not track back in time, which led to Herrera becoming the only barrier in front of the center-backs.

Pogba’s talent was unquestionable, but what was regrettable was his lazy personality and his lack of seriousness towards the game.

Damn it!

Tong Shenbing, sitting in the Liverpool fan section, had her small face mostly flushed with excitement. Although she was a Manchester United fan, at this moment, she was Li Qing’s fan!

A goal in less than a minute after the start, it was too thrilling!

Domestic fans in China had just heard their alarm clocks and were painfully getting up at this time, but… they turned on the TV and a goal had already been scored.

Instantly, their still sleepy brains became wide awake.

Fortunately, the live director also provided a slow-motion replay of the entire goal, from kick-off to goal, it only took 16 seconds!

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Too strong!

LeSports commentator Zhan Jun spoke with emotion: “A genius like Li Qing can only grow in developed football regions in Europe.”

Chinese fans in front of their televisions and computer screens all nodded slightly. In China, even if there were geniuses, they would be ruined. Weren’t the geniuses from the 2005 Netherlands Youth World Cup ruined by those short-sighted club owners and the Football Association in China?

Looking back, Hao Haixi, known as Asia’s top striker, and General Fan, the top defender, were both ruined by the Football Association’s regulation that they couldn’t play abroad before the age of 28.

Going back to the 1980s, Li Huajun, whose talent was even higher than Van Basten and Romário, was forcibly prevented from playing abroad by the Football Association, and eventually suffered an early retirement due to injury at the peak of his playing career.

The live director’s close-up shot focused on Li Qing, the goal-scoring hero. LeSports commentator Zhan Jun said loudly: “Li Qing is truly a player who can turn decay into magic! The ball in his feet will always produce different tricks, from the ‘fried meatball’ (roulette) to the Marseille turn, and then to the nutmeg. It’s really hard to imagine him doing these things with such ease. The next challenge will be for Manchester United.”

Immediately appearing on the broadcast screen was Manchester United manager Mourinho, his brows tightly furrowed, wearing an expression as if someone owed him five million. His gaze was fixed on the pitch. The team conceded a goal less than a minute into the game. Even by simply thinking about it, the rest of the match would be very difficult.

Originally, his plan was to defend steadily first, and then wait for opportunities to counterattack. Now that Liverpool had scored an early goal, should they continue to defend steadily and counterattack?

Please!

The team was behind!

Attack?

Damian on the left, Walcott on the right, how to attack?

After much thought, Mourinho still decided to follow the pre-match plan, trying his best to maintain the current score. If there was an opportunity to equalize, that would be good. If they couldn’t score, they would have to wait until halftime for adjustments.

So, he characteristically picked up a pen and quickly wrote a few lines in his small notebook.

Before the match started, the live director also gave Manchester United stars a close-up shot of their faces, starting from Ibrahimović, then Pogba, Mkhitaryan…

Rashford was the most frustrated. His sliding tackle looked stylish, but it appeared very clumsy under Li Qing’s Marseille turn…

Manchester United’s defense conceded a goal before even directly engaging with Li Qing, which was extremely frustrating.

Goalkeeper De Gea stood with his hands on his hips, constantly shaking his head.

The match restarted, and Manchester United, with the kick-off advantage, attempted to organize an effective attack. However, Pogba, who was responsible for linking and organizing the offense, noticed that the team’s two wing-backs were hesitant to push forward and participate in the main attack. Being fully aware of tactics, he immediately realized that this was manager Mourinho’s instruction for the team to continue playing according to the pre-match strategy.

But the team was currently trailing, so what was the point of defending steadily?

What a coach who only knows how to park the bus, damn it!

Pogba couldn’t help but curse inwardly, but his feet didn’t delay the opportunity. He directly sent a long pass with his right foot to find Ibrahimović.

Lovren and Klavan, one in front and one behind, sandwiched Ibrahimović in the middle. Despite this, Ibrahimović still managed to head the ball while holding off both of them.

However, Ibrahimović, under defensive pressure from the two, couldn’t put much power into it, otherwise, this shot would have likely threatened Mignolet’s goal.

Manchester United’s attack relied heavily on long passes and Ibrahimović. Klopp had a specific defensive strategy to counter these two points before the match, which allowed visiting Liverpool to take control at Old Trafford.

Gary Neville, a former Manchester United star guesting on BBC, frowned and said, “José Mourinho is diluting Manchester United’s attacking blood. Paul Pogba is born to attack, how can you make him defend with all his might?”

How could Mourinho not want to attack?

Look at these Manchester United players now, apart from Ibrahimović and Pogba, which other player can shoulder such a heavy responsibility?

For Mourinho, he was like a clever housewife who couldn’t cook without rice.

PS: Two updates sent together at noon.

Feilu reminds you: Three things to do when reading – collect, recommend.