When Laski dunked the football back onto his right foot, Valente in the stands exclaimed.
Not just him, 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.
So a large or small gap appeared in the ribs between Pinto and Shay.
And Hu Lai is right there!
Everyone watching the game has seen it, and any fan who knows a little bit about penalty kicks knows what it 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 wing...
Sure enough, amid the exclamations, Lasky pushed the football sideways and kicked it straight!
The next thing will be a matter of course...
After seeing Hulay shoot the football into the goal, all the Alvara fans made a gesture at the same time, holding their heads with their hands and shouting:
“Oh no!”
Xia Xiaoyu also put 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 looked at the familiar figure in front of the Alvara door, turning around and running 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 made up 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...
※※※
“Damn it!” Alvara’s head coach Ricardo Moya cursed off the court.
But this swear word was just his anger at conceding the ball, rather than blaming a specific player.
He knew very well that for conceding the ball just now, he could not simply blame Pinto for letting Hulay go, 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 line had 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.
Such a loophole created more loopholes, eventually turning into an irreversible tragedy.
“Although I am very unhappy...but 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.
He then 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 finishing speaking, 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 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…
※※※
“Oh, it’s dangerous!” the Portuguese TV commentator suddenly exclaimed.
Amid his exclamations, 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 space between himself and the other centre-back Matthew Keffier.
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 just now, and at this moment he got behind the Alvara defenders and received Williams' pass.
Kefir turned around and returned to defense too late, and could only watch helplessly as Kamara took a shot!
Alvara goalkeeper Ferreira made a save, but 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 his finger 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 lens again, the noise in the stands of the Lisbon Arena became 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 side with more away goals would advance.
Now that this rule has been cancelled, if the two teams are tied in two rounds, there will be an overtime of 30 minutes in each half.
If the game is still tied in overtime, it will enter 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, Leeds City is almost invincible.
If Alvara wants to erase Leeds City's advantage of two away goals, he has to score two away goals when he goes to Leeds City's home court in the second round, but this will be difficult.
Even if Alvara achieved a shocking reversal in this game and won with a score of 3:2. In the second round, Leeds City only needs to win 1:0 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 football matches, and many fans even believe that the home and away knockout system has an away goal advantage.
Things that should be done.
When UEFA decided to cancel this rule, it caused a lot of controversy.
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". Without the away goals rule, the football game would not even be complete.
But regardless of whether the fans want it 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 abolishes the away goals rule, they will not be able to stop watching the European wars.
Moreover, after this rule was cancelled, some people also benefited. Leeds City is now the loser of the cancellation of the away goals rule, and Alvara is the beneficiary.
Alvara fans are now extremely happy that the away goals rule in European competitions 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.
For this reason, although they were silent and in pain, they still stayed in the stands.
After all, there are still fifty minutes left before the end of the game, and Alvara still has a chance.
In the past, many people would have left the Lisbon Arena during halftime.
※※※
Joao Valente held his head in his hands and opened his eyes wide, unable to believe what he was seeing.
In front of him, on the big screen in the opposite stand, the score of Alvara 0:2 Leeds City was very dazzling, and it was bloody and stimulated his heart.
"how so……"
He murmured.
Xia Xiaoyu remained silent beside him.
He was not very surprised, on the one hand because he believed in Brother Hu, and on the other hand... to be rebellious, he thought the first-team head coach Mr. Ricardo Moya was a bit "adgressive".
Mr. Moya must have thought that this was Alvara’s home court, and Leeds City was good at attacking but 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 he 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 advantages of the Lisbon Arena are not as great as everyone thinks.
Leeds City is not only unaffected, but is 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 a more stable and pragmatic tactic.
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 advantage to suppress Leeds City.
According to this strategy, even if the goal is not achieved so smoothly, it will not concede two goals in the first half...
He felt that Mr. Moya's response was simply to kill someone in a hurry.
Because there is no away goal rule, if Alvara can come back and win this game, that would be okay.
Once he fails to win, Mr. Moya may be under great pressure...