Almighty legend life

Chapter 417 The decisive battle is at home

For the Valencia team, it is a shame to be double-killed by Arsenal in the group stage. This team with young people at the core has quickly established a strong self-esteem and self-confidence after the arrival of strong coach Cooper. It can be seen from their performance in La Liga this season.

Cooper used strict training to train players and strict discipline to restrain players. At the same time, he also used his outstanding results to motivate his players well.

Although young players will lack game experience and other aspects, being young also means that the team will be very passionate. When they play their form, few teams can persevere under their mad attack.

In the first three and 10 minutes of this semi-final, the Arsenal team was like a ship that did not return in a typhoon. It has been trying to maintain its course, but it still looks a bit precarious.

In the No.30 second minute of the game, Arsenal midfielder Liu Han stole the ball and was about to launch a counterattack, but when he passed the ball to Overmars who was responding on the right, Valencia's left midfielder Gonzalez Si suddenly came out from behind Overmars and broke the ball again. Overmars was obviously not concentrating, and he didn't go forward to catch the ball.

After stealing the ball, Kiri Gonzalez went straight to the center and caught the Arsenal team, who was trying to push the defense out, by surprise. Argentina's "Bug" Lopez was successfully turned offside and faced Arsenal goalkeeper Lukic directly. .

Liu Han ran to the penalty area after Kiri Gonzalez stole the ball. Although the ball was not his mistake, Liu Han felt that he had to plug the loopholes in the team's defense.

Lopez was very calm in the face of Lukic, who was a little frightened. He lay his left foot over Lukic who was attacking, and then pushed the ball to the empty goal.

At this time, Liu Han raised his speed to the highest, and then rushed towards the football that was slowly rolling towards the goal line.

At the moment when the ball was about to roll across the goal line, Liu Han slapped his horse and slammed it down. He fell to the ground and slid the ball to destroy it.

The Valencia fans in the audience were almost all holding their heads with their hands in disbelief. They couldn't believe that such a goal was not scored.

The football shoveled out by Liu Han fell to the feet of full-back Adams. Angulo next to Adams immediately counterattacked, but Adams directly kicked the ball out of the sideline. Arsenal's defense had to slow down a little bit. The ball almost made everyone's hearts jump out of their chests.

Lukic returned to the goal line to pull Liu Han up, and then hugged Liu Han tightly. It can be said that Liu Han saved him and the team with this ball.

The Arsenal team, which escaped unharmed, began to push the defense line outward, and if they were besieged like this, they might be broken through by the opponent.There may be certain risks in pushing the defense line out, but this allows Arsenal's midfielder to threaten the gate of West Asia in the eighth round, at least to deter the opponent.

After missing the best opportunity from the first half to now, Valencia's offensive has also slowed down. After all, the physical strength of the players is not unlimited. Half an hour of mad attack like this has almost brought some players' physical strength close to the limit. Now, Cooper must guarantee victory in this game, so that he will have a chance to fight after going to London.

After Valencia's offensive paused for a while, Arsenal began to have an advantage in the midfield. Liu Han's spare no effort to run allowed Arsenal's midfield to operate reasonably. Not great, but Arsenal's possession rate is much higher than in the previous three 10 minutes of the game.

After the midfield started to function, Liu Han began to advance intentionally. Valencia can be said to attach great importance to Liu Han. As long as Liu Han passes the midfield, the Valencia players will foul as much as possible without any consideration. The movements are not big, the purpose is to keep Liu Han from approaching their half as much as possible.

However, Valencia still underestimated Liu Han's ability.

In the 41st minute of the game, Liu Han's midfielder dribbled the ball past Mendieta and made a wall-slamming cooperation with Bergkamp, ​​and then took a long shot from more than 30 meters away from the goal before the Valencia player came over.

Liu Han shot the ball very suddenly, and at the same time the ball was very fast, and the ball hardly rotated in the air.

Canizares was very focused in this game. Facing the opportunity to advance to the Champions League final, Spain's No. [-] goalkeeper did not want to give up such an opportunity. He also wanted to take revenge on Real Madrid and show them the goalkeeper they gave up. How powerful.

However, Canizares still underestimated the speed of Liu Han's kick. He started to move his feet after Liu Han shot, but found that if he did not save but continued to move, it might be too late, so Canizares could only Quickly throw your body out using inertia.

Canizares watched the ball fly past his fingertips, he almost closed his eyes in despair, but then the sound of "Dang--" from behind him made Canizares turn back God, Liu Han's ball concentrated on the post.

After turning around and hugging the ball bounced off the post tightly in his arms, Canizares breathed a sigh of relief.

The first half of the game ended shortly after Liu Han hit the post. Neither side could threaten the opponent's goal again. However, from the perspective of the scene, Arsenal did not have the advantage in the game.

Wenger originally planned to adjust the lineup during the intermission, but he had concerns at this time. He worried that the team would lose control in the midfield after Liu Han returned to the front line.

Facing the chance to qualify for the Champions League final, Wenger, who had never participated in a Champions League final in his life, was lost. He was burdened with the burden of wanting to win and fearing losing.

Wenger, who was entangled in whether he should adjust or not, even forgot to appease the players during the halftime break. Wenger was nervous because he was lost, and Arsenal's players were inevitably affected.

When the whole locker room was quiet, Liu Han suddenly spoke.

"Guys, are we in the final?"

"Hey, this is the semi-final. If we want to play the final, we still have a home game to fight. Wembley is our turf. Even if we lose this game, we will regain our victory at Wembley."

Compared to the inexperienced Arsenal players in the finals, Liu Han has seen big scenes in the NBA after all, and he is much calmer than other Arsenal players.

Although Liu Han's words had some effect, but the effect was not obvious, but Wenger felt that the game should stick to it, and it was in Arsenal's interest to return to the home court to resolve the battle.

After the start of the second half of the game, Liu Han tried his best to run in the midfield, but he found that his teammates seemed to be a bit conservative, and even Overmars, who had always been extremely aggressive, began to retreat.

Arsenal's attack lacked the usual grit and coordination.

Valencia first made adjustments at halftime, and Cooper went to the extreme with a three-forward lineup, for which he even replaced a full-back.

Compared to Cooper's boldness, Wenger's game fell short. He seemed to have the idea of ​​completely putting Liu Han in the central defender position.

As Valencia's offensive became more and more powerful, the cheers of the Valencia team in the auditorium became louder and louder.

Liu Han ran without hesitation. He and Vieira guarded the midfielder position. Two tall and strong young men fought fires everywhere, but Valencia's offensive was like a tide.

After the start of the off-duty game, the Arsenal team was suppressed by Valencia in terms of momentum and tactics.

In the 54th minute of the game, Valencia took a long shot from outside the penalty area. The ball bounced off Keown's feet and hit the sideline. This made Lukic's save useless, but the ball was saved on the goal line again. The second meritorious service was Vieira.

In 9 minutes, Angulo shot a cold arrow on the penalty area line, and Lukic struggled to save the ball.

Three minutes later, Valencia made a comeback, and Mendieta sent the ball to the winger Kiri Gonzalez under the defense of Liu Han, who sent a cross that seemed to pass and shoot.

Lukic rushed towards the football, but he collided with central defender Keown, but the ball was headed out by Liu Hanyi near the landing point.

Just when Arsenal thought they had once again defended Valencia's offensive, Liu Han's kicked football fell to Mendieta outside the penalty area.

Mendieta volleyed without hesitation in the face of the incoming ball. Facing Arsenal goalkeeper Lukic who had not had time to return to the goal line, Mendieta chose to shoot with a kick.

The round shot from the outside of the instep made the arc of the ball very large, and Liu Han has nothing to do with such a ball. If it is a violent straight ball, Liu Han will block the hole without hesitation, but now he can do nothing.

The football flew into the net against the post on the right side of the goal, and the entire Mestalla stadium was full of joy.

Arsenal's persistence lost its meaning when the game progressed to 62 minutes.

One goal behind in the away game, and he didn't score. At this time, Wenger woke up like a dream. He realized that Arsenal had lost their consistent attacking style. Such an Arsenal team was no longer a "gunner".

Wenger, who realized this, wanted to make adjustments quickly, but now there is less than half an hour before the end of the game. If he makes adjustments during the draw, Arsenal will still have a chance, but now the opponent has already been compared. Zero is ahead, and he can organize defense and counterattack calmly. Now if he makes a forced adjustment, it may be in the opponent's hands.

Wenger went from one entanglement to another, but Liu Han on the field chose the answer for him.

Liu Han went up to the striker immediately after the Valencia team scored, and then let Bergkamp retreat to the front midfielder to organize the attack.

Arsenal tried to attack after the re-kick-off, which forced Valencia to retreat to defense. Liu Han's deterrence was much greater than other Arsenal players.

After Liu Han pushed to the frontcourt, Valencia failed to organize an effective counterattack, because Liu Han didn't stick to the front, but kept erratic moves, sometimes in the midfield, sometimes on the side, This made Valencia's defense a bit messy, and their counterattacks were no longer sharp.

The game time passed little by little, and the Arsenal team finally failed to break through the gate of Valencia. Although Liu Han was strong enough, he alone could not change the poor state of the entire team.

Losing an away goal to Valencia is not the end of the day for Arsenal. As Liu Han said during the intermission, this is not the final, and it will be the decisive battle at Wembley.

(End of this chapter)