Chapter 1091: Like a fish in water
"Be careful! Be careful! Be careful!!"
When Laski dunked the football back onto his right foot, Valente in the stands exclaimed.
Not only him, but the Alvara fans in their stands were screaming.
Because they are high up, they have seen the huge holes in their team's defense.
Just as Pinto turned to defend Lasky, left-back Nathan Shea, who hurriedly returned to defend, was restrained by Leeds City right-back Josh Lawler who advanced forward.
As a result, there was a big or small gap in the ribs between Pinto and Shay.
And Hu Lai is there!
Anyone watching the game saw it, and any fan who knows a little bit about penalty kicks knows what that means.
But the Alvara players on the field had no choice but to narrow their field of vision when they were highly nervous. They were all attracted by Lasky and completely ignored the connection between the center and the wings...
Sure enough, amidst the exclamations, Laski pushed the football sideways and kicked it straight!
The next thing will be a matter of course and a matter of course...
After seeing Hulay shoot the football into the goal, all Alvara fans made an action at the same time - holding their heads with their hands and shouting:
"Oh no—!"
Xia Xiaoyu also held his head in his hands, but he was trying to hide his inner joy - Brother Hu finally scored! I knew he could do it!
Then he put his hands on the back of his head and watched the familiar figure in front of Alvara's goal turn and run towards the corner flag area.
What he knew was coming was coming again!
From high school to now, Xia Xiaoyu still thinks this action is really cool, and he will never get tired of it no matter how many times he watches it...
He even thought about it in his own mind, and the thunderous "HUUUUU!!!" exploded in his head.
Then he had the same idea as Valente: I really... really want to be able to compete on such a field!
Even if it is at the opponent's home court, even if it is booed by the opponent's fans...
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"Damn it!" Alvara's head coach Ricardo Moya cursed off the court.
But the curse words were just his anger at conceding the ball, rather than blaming a particular player.
He knew very well that he couldn't simply blame Pinto for letting go of Hulay for conceding the ball just now, nor could he blame Shea for not following the defense back to the penalty area in time.
It can only be said that Leeds City's transition from defense to offense was so fast that Alvara's players did not even react. In the face of continuous passes and transfers, their defense has been completely disrupted by Leeds City. If a loophole appears in one position, people in other positions need to fill it, so loopholes appear in other positions.
Just such a loophole created more loopholes, eventually turning into an irreversible tragedy.
"Although I am very unhappy... I must admit that Leeds City's offense is indeed as sharp as the legend says." The assistant coach said next to him.
Moya nodded. As a head coach, you must have such judgment and calmness.
Then he said: "But it doesn't matter, their offense is strong, but their defense is weak. This is our home court, and we can't be suppressed by them all the time."
After saying that, he walked to the sidelines and shouted to the frustrated players in the stadium: "It doesn't matter, relax! After withstanding their offensive, we will attack again!! This is our home court! Our home court!!!"
He constantly reminded his players to have confidence and not to be afraid of Leeds City's offensive.
However, this kind of verbal adjustment and encouragement did not have any effect.
Moya guessed that Leeds City would continue to attack after taking the lead, but he still slightly underestimated the strength of Leeds City's continued attack.
Alvara shrunk his defense after losing the ball, waiting for Leeds City's offensive to pass, and then counterattacked to break through Leeds City's unstable defense.
But before they could break through Leeds City's defense, the moment came when their own defense was broken down for the second time...
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"Oh, it's dangerous!" the Portuguese TV commentator suddenly exclaimed.
In his exclamation, Hu Lai ran into a gap and raised his hand for the ball.
Fortunately, center back Bruno Pinto stepped over in time to cover.
But this time he left a gap between himself and another central defender Matthew Keffier.
And Pete Williams, who took the ball, immediately passed the football through the air!
Pass to the back of Alvara's back line!
"Kamala!"
The French winger had moved inward from just now, and at this moment he inserted himself behind the Alvara defenders and received Williams' pass.
It was too late for Kefir to turn around and return to defense, and he could only watch helplessly as Kamara took a shot!
Although Alvara goalkeeper Ferreira made a save, he was not able to completely seal it.
The football deflected slightly and flew into Alvara's goal!
Although Alvara's players signaled to the referee and linesman that Camara was offside, both referees made the same decision - the referee pointed to the center circle and the linesman ran directly to the center line.
"Good goal! The goal is effective! Kamara expanded the lead for Leeds City! Who would have thought that Leeds City, playing away from home, would lead by two goals before the first half was over!" He Feng said happily.
At this moment, when Kamara ran to do his weird robot dance in front of the camera again, the noise in the stands of the Lisbon Arena was much quieter.
Many Alvara fans put their heads in their hands and looked at the stadium quietly, their eyes unfocused and their minds empty.
"In the 40th minute of the first half, Leeds City led by two goals! The only pity is that UEFA canceled the away goals rule three seasons ago, otherwise Leeds City would have almost killed the suspense of the two-leg match in advance. !" Matthew Cox said with regret.
UEFA has abolished the away goals rule in all European competitions in the 2023-2024 season.
The previous away goals rule stipulated that in the two-round home and away Champions League knockout match, if the two teams tied with the total score, the team with more away goals would advance.
Now that this rule is cancelled, if the total score of the two teams is tied in the two rounds, there will be an overtime of 30 minutes in each half.
If the game was still tied in overtime, it went into a penalty shootout.
The number of so-called away goals is not considered in this process.
That's why Cox regrets it.
Otherwise, with these two away goals now, Leeds City is almost invincible.
If Alvara wants to erase Leeds City's two away goal advantages, he must also score two away goals when he goes to Leeds City's home court in the second round - but this is difficult.
Even if Alvara achieved a shocking reversal in this game, he won with a score of 3:2. In the second round, Leeds City only needs a 1:0 win at home to advance to the Europa League last sixteen.
This greatly reduces the pressure on Leeds City to advance.
The away goals rule has been implemented in UEFA competitions for half a century and has resulted in countless classic games. It has long been a part of the football game, and many fans even think that it is natural that the home and away knockout system has an away goal advantage.
There was also a lot of controversy when UEFA decided to scrap this rule.
Almost all fans are scolding UEFA and clearly oppose the cancellation of the away goals rule.
They believe that the away goals rule is a "great invention" and that without the away goals rule, the football game would not even be complete.
But regardless of whether the fans are willing or not, UEFA's decision will not be changed once it is made, and fans cannot influence the life or death of this rule.
After all, even if UEFA cancels the away goals rule, they will not be able to stop watching the European war.
Moreover, after this rule was cancelled, some people benefited - Leeds City is now the loser of the cancellation of the away goal rule, and Alvara is the beneficiary.
Alvara fans are now extremely grateful that the away goals rule in European wars has been abolished.
In this way, they don't have to bear huge pressure to play away games.
Assuming they can tie this game at 2:2, then if they go to the away game, they only need to win one goal to eliminate Leeds City.
This is a good thing for them.
It is for this reason that although they are silent and in pain, they still remain in the stands.
After all, there are still fifty minutes left before the end of the game, and Alvara still has a chance.
If it were in the past, many people would have left the Lisbon Arena during halftime.
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João Valente held his head in his hands, eyes wide open and couldn't believe what he was seeing.
In front of him, on the big screen in the opposite stand, Alvara's score of 0:2 Leeds City was very dazzling, bloody and stimulating his heart.
"How could this happen..."
he murmured.
Xia Xiaoyu remained silent beside him.
He was not very surprised. On the one hand, he believed in Brother Hu, and on the other hand... to be rebellious, he thought that the first-team head coach, Mr. Ricardo Moya, was a bit "aggressive".
Mr. Moya must have thought that this was Alvara's home court. Leeds City was good at attacking and weak in defense, so he took advantage of the home momentum to overwhelm Leeds City.
Unexpectedly, he did not expect the ferocity of his offensive against Leeds City, and made a misjudgment...
He thought that Alvara's home court advantage could be like a rope, binding Leeds City's hands and feet, making them unable to play.
But from the actual effect, the advantage of Lisbon Arena is not as great as everyone thinks.
Not only were Leeds City not affected, they were in excellent condition.
Facing Alvara, who also chose to attack, Leeds City was at ease.
In fact, after fully understanding Leeds City, Xia Xiaoyu felt that Alvara should choose more secure and pragmatic tactics.
That is to play steadily at your home court, and deal patiently with Leeds City first to wear down the opponent's fighting spirit and momentum.
Then use the home field advantage to suppress Leeds City.
According to this strategy, even if the goal is not achieved so smoothly, we will not concede two goals in the first half...
He felt that Mr. Moya's response was simply to kill someone in a hurry.
Since there is no away goal rule, it would be okay if Alvara can come back and win this game.
Once he fails to win, Mr. Moya may be under great pressure... (End of Chapter)