On the evening of April 29, Old Trafford Stadium.

When the referee Herbert Fadel from Germany blew the whistle to the end of the game, Old Trafford ushered in a tsunami-like craze, and Manchester United fans were celebrating.

Although, in terms of scores, they didn't win!

The scoreboard shows the time of this game. In one hundred and twenty minutes, the score is still zero to zero.

Yes, this game was overtime, but it was still impossible to decide the winner.

...

This is the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals, with Manchester United facing Liverpool at home.

The first leg of the two sides took place a week ago at Anfield Stadium, with the final result being zero to zero.

After the game, it caused heated discussions among the media and fans around the world, and Ferguson's team encountered huge accusations.

Because Manchester United adopted a tactic of defending and counterattacking away, almost all the players on the court were pulled back to their own half and defended in the middle of the game, and finally successfully frozen Liverpool's offense.

After the game, Liverpool Echo satirized Manchester United, believing that Ferguson's team adopted a 901 or even 100 formation and successfully won a draw from the away game.

Liverpool scored twenty-one shots in the whole game, but failed to break through Manchester United's goal.

The double central defender formed by Vidic and Ferdinand, coupled with Van der Sar behind them, has made Manchester United's defense become impeccable, and it can be said to be the team with the strongest defensive ability in European football this season.

Facing Liverpool like a wolf, it is understandable that Ferguson defended the draw away.

After all, at Anfield Stadium, Barcelona, ​​even if they are stronger than Barcelona, ​​they will lose zero to five, who is not afraid?

But what no one expected was that after returning to home, Manchester United still adopted a tactic of strict defense. Except for Cristiano Ronaldo, everyone else retreated on the whole line.

Manchester United only had a few five-foot shots in the whole game, one shot direct, three shots missed, and one was blocked.

The possession rate is only 37.6%, two percentage points higher than the first round.

In the whole game, football was played in Manchester United's halftime for 57.5%.

On the other hand, Liverpool shot nineteen times in the game, but only five shots were truly threatening, and they were blocked ten times.

There was a controversy in the first and second halfs.

There was a penalty kick in the first half. At that time, Yang Yang dribbled the ball into the penalty area, but was dragged by Manchester United and the midfielder Carrick committed a foul from the side and back. Through slow motion, the foul should be within the penalty area line, which should be a penalty kick.

But referee Herbert Fadel gave a yellow card and a free kick.

Another time in the second half, Yang Yang scored a single goal, but the lineman raised his flag to signal offside and blew the goal offside. However, through slow-motion replay, it was a very beautiful counter-offside.

After escaping twice, Manchester United finally managed to defend the zero-to-zero score to 120 minutes later.

In the two rounds of the game, the two sides played for a total of 210 minutes, but they didn't score a single goal.

The game was dragged into a penalty shootout.

...

Compared with the tragic tragedy between Liverpool and Manchester United, the other semi-final match was also equally tragic.

Arsenal drew 1-1 with Chelsea at home, but in the second leg, he lost to the Blues 2-3 in overtime, and eventually stopped in the semi-finals and missed the final of the Champions League.

Grant's Chelsea team is really lucky. They entered the semi-finals with a nearly-walking draw, and their opponent is Arsenal. They are also lucky. They know each other well in the Premier League civil war.

But even so, in the three away games in the three rounds of knockout matches, Chelsea draws and loses, and you should know that in addition to Arsenal, the other two opponents are Olympiacos and Fenerbahce.

Although Grant led Liverpool to a breakthrough in Champions League results, judging from his arrangements along the way, it is impossible for him to stay in the team this summer because his coaching ability is really bad and he has made serious mistakes repeatedly.

It can even be said that if the opponent was not too weak, Grant would never have led the team to the semi-finals.

But on the football field, sometimes luck is more important than anything else.

It's like Liverpool this season.

The group stage is relatively better, starting from the knockout round, Inter Milan, Barcelona, ​​Manchester United...

He fought against the top European teams all the way and came to the semi-finals, but was dragged into the penalty shootout by Manchester United.

...

The penalty kick final battle is the most suspenseful, cruel and dramatic part on the football field.

According to data provided by FIFA, the penalty shooting percentage is 79%.

But in fact, the shooting percentage is of no use. Anyone who stands at the free throw point and faces the goal will always be that 21% because that is the key to winning.

Former England national team coach Hoddle once said that even if you play a thousand or ten thousand times, you still can't practice the penalty kick skills in the key battles, because the pressure in reality cannot be restored.

Some research institutions have shown that the key to winning a penalty kick is not the penalty kick skills. Eighty to ninety percent depend on psychological factors, while ten to twenty percent depend on physiological factors, which has nothing to do with penalty kick skills.

Some people say that penalty kicks are the most perfect test of stress resistance.

In the real penalty shootout, many players are very resistant to the first penalty kick, and the pressure is too great.

The first and fifth ones are what most players try every means to avoid.

But sometimes some people should stand up with their own actions.

Yang Yang volunteered and chose the first penalty, and the captain Gerald was the last one.

Manchester United's first player to take the penalty was Argentine beast Tevez. His psychological quality has always been quite strong, so he was entrusted with an important task by Ferguson and was the first to stand up and punish the penalty.

Teves did not disappoint Ferguson's trust and calmly scored a penalty kick.

At this moment, all the pressure is on Liverpool's side.

Yang Yang is the first player in Liverpool to take a penalty kick, and has withstood all the pressure.

When he stood at the penalty spot and faced Van der Sar, he was thinking silently.

In the past few penalty kicks, he has pushed straight to the middle, and this time...

"The ball is in!!!"

"Yang Yang was very clean and neat, and directly pushed the bottom right corner of the goal, and the speed was very fast. Van der Sar thought Yang Yang would push the middle lane again, but he didn't expect Yang Yang to change his strategy this time."

"Liverpool chose Yang Yang as the first penalty kicker, which obviously valued his strong resistance to pressure, and Yang Yang did not disappoint the expectations of the outside world and calmly took the penalty and hit it."

"His performance in this game is also quite outstanding. If it weren't for the referee Vander's two misjudgments, I believe the game would not have been dragged into a penalty shootout."

"No matter what the final result is, after scoring this penalty, Yang Yang can proudly leave Old Trafford Stadium."

...

After Yang Yang, Carrick and Aurelio also calmly took the penalty and made a penalty kick in the second round of Manchester United and Liverpool.

In the third round, Cristiano Ronaldo lost a penalty, but Xavi Alonso made a calm shot.

This immediately made Liverpool feel as if they saw hope.

Subsequently, Hargreaves also took the penalty in the fourth round, but Crouch made a mistake when taking the penalty.

Later, Nani and Gerald, Anderson and Kuyt also hit one after another.

Until the seventh round, Giggs made a penalty and Carragher made a mistake.

…………

…………

When Carragher kicked the ball away with one kick, Liverpool's vice captain knew it was over.

He fell to his knees at the penalty spot, hugging his head and crying.

The pressure is too great!

At this critical moment, no one will blame Carragher.

On the contrary, Yang Yang and Gerald walked to Carragher one after another and hugged the deputy captain hard, and other Liverpool players also surrounded him one after another.

Many people's eyes were filled with tears, but their hearts were full of reluctance.

Liverpool performed well, but encountered a Manchester United team that was strictly guarded and defended. Coupled with the misjudgment of the referee, they were eventually dragged into a cruel penalty shootout, losing the opportunity to enter the Champions League final again.

Whether it is Liverpool or Manchester United, whoever enters the finals will be the champion.

But unfortunately, Liverpool has no chance to defend the Champions League.

Liverpool players on the bench on the sidelines also ran into the stadium, and everyone surrounded Carragher and no one persuaded him, because at this time, it might be better for him to cry.

In terms of results, Liverpool is still honored to end in the Champions League semi-finals in this way, but who doesn't want to win?

Many people, including Benayon, Lucas Reva and other players, burst into tears without any hesitation.

They all came to Liverpool last summer. God knows when will they see the next chance to see the Champions League final?

Maybe they will never have a chance in their lifetime.

...

Manchester United players are celebrating.

After eliminating Liverpool, they entered the finals and basically won the Champions League title.

They have such confidence and confidence.

Of course, this does not mean that they can be careless.
To be continued...