Chapter 432: Chapter 431 Angel Kai
Boom!
Kaka caught up with the football, took a shot without stopping the ball, clean and crisp!
Whoosh!
Peruzzi leapt to save, but Kaka’s shooting technique was precise, pushing the ball into the near corner, almost brushing the post as it entered the goal.
Not to mention Peruzzi, even if Kahn came, it would be useless.
"GOAL! Kaka! This boy with a name like a big convenience scores!"
"Three to one! An unbelievable score!"
"If Lisboa Sport wins this game, they will surpass Galatasaray by eleven points and become the group leader!"
"Lazio is already on the brink of elimination! If they lose the game..."
"Oh! PSV Eindhoven’s ace striker Kezman has scored again! They’re leading the disinterested Galatasaray, and their real-time points have surpassed Lazio!"
"If Lazio really loses, their European campaign this season will come to an end, they won’t even be able to play in the Europa League!"
"Coming back to Kaka, this excited Brazilian youngster is hugging Deng Kai, he seems hardly to believe all this. He has already achieved one assist and one goal in this game!"
"This is Kaka’s best performance since the friendly match against the Chinese team Dalian Shide FC!"
"Especially considering the opponent is the formidable Lazio."
"For a long time, Kaka’s performance has been under criticism. He might not have obvious mistakes like Feng Te or Yaya Tu Lei, but he has been nearly invisible on the field."
"Interestingly, the last time Kaka performed well was also when Ronaldo was not around. It seems that there’s no chemistry between the two Brazilians."
"Instead, Kaka seems to have a special connection with Deng Kai."
On the field, Lisboa Sport’s players began to celebrate once more.
In the stands, Lazio’s fans, after a brief moment of despair, started singing their anthem.
They wanted to encourage the players, for this might be the start of a comeback.
The thirty-ninth minute.
Popovski crossed from the wing, creating a corner kick.
During the corner kick attack, Stam successfully headed the ball, but unfortunately, it drifted just a bit off, with the football sliding past the goal.
The forty-fourth minute.
Lazio’s midfielder Stankovic took a long-range shot from outside the box, astonishingly powerful and of high quality.
But Schmeichel’s save was of equally high quality, pushing the football out.
Pippo Inzaghi started quickly to follow up with a rebound shot.
But under Vidic’s pressure, the follow-up shot flew over the bar.
Pippo Inzaghi held his head in his hands, deeply regretting the missed opportunity.
Finally, the first half ended.
The teams returned to the dressing room.
Lazio made a series of arrangements targeting Lisboa Sport’s biggest weak spot, Feng Te.
They focused on Popovski and Pippo Inzaghi’s assault on Feng Te.
However, right at the start of the second half, Lazio’s players found that Lisboa Sport had made a substitution.
Substituting at halftime is the greatest humiliation for a player!
How could Lisboa Sport treat Feng Te like this, weren’t they afraid of sparking a locker room conflict?
Look, he didn’t even show up on the bench in the second half.
Trigella did indeed have some concerns.
Worried that Feng Te would start a fire in the locker room.
After all, Assam tea needs fire to boil.
...
However, Lazio’s targeting still worked because Lisboa Sport replaced Feng Te with Maicon.
Although he is extremely fast, theoretically able to contain Popovski with his speed,
playing as a right-sided player on the left still felt somewhat awkward.
Moreover, Maicon is an attacking full-back, not likely to play well as a left center-back.
In the fifty-seventh minute, the main referee blew the whistle and showed Matthaus a yellow card.
Because Matthaus had forcefully taken down Popovski.
Matthaus didn’t argue with the referee but looked towards Deng Kai, shaking his head.
Maicon’s gap was too big, and Matthaus wouldn’t be able to cover for much longer if this continued.
Deng Kai nodded and signaled for a substitution to Trigella.
Trigella immediately chose to make a substitution.
Veloso began warming up.
The head referee had indicated that the substitution would occur after the free kick, which gave Veloso the chance to prepare.
Clang!
With Mendieta’s free kick hitting the crossbar, Sporting Lisbon had a close call and then started to make the substitution.
You could say Mendieta wasn’t up to par, as each time he was only a bit away from scoring or creating a threat.
But you could say he was competent, as every time he was only a bit away from scoring or creating a threat.
Veloso was replacing Matthaus, who had received a yellow card, and was playing as a defensive midfielder.
However, he brought new instructions from Trigella, ordering Maicon and Barzagli to switch positions.
Afterward, Sporting Lisbon shifted their ball control focus from the left to the right side.
This way, even if Lazio got the ball, transferring it to Popovski would take time, enough for Sporting Lisbon to get set for defense.
"That’s a smart move," Huang Jianxiang said, "Although this means that Sporting Lisbon’s offensive play is nullified for today, with the well-performing Kaka and main attacker Ronaldo both on the left wing."
"But Sporting Lisbon still has the advantage of two goals. If they run down the clock, they win!"
In the 63rd minute, Deng Kai proved Huang Jianxiang wrong.
Deng Kai went back to the defense to ask for the ball, helping his teammates deal with Lazio’s increasingly desperate pressing, then he passed the ball back to Maicon and signaled him to advance forward.
Then Deng Kai himself sprinted forward, gesturing to right midfielder Tu Lei to switch positions with him.
Tu Lei’s positioning was more like a midfielder’s as the newcomer knew he had to focus on defense first.
Maicon advanced forward with the ball.
Stankovic lunged toward Maicon.
Tu Lei moved toward the middle, giving Maicon the perfect angle for a through pass.
Maicon made the pass.
After receiving the ball, Tu Lei turned around and before he even had time to dribble, he saw Deng Kai continuing to make a diagonal run from the right midfielder position.
Bang!
Tu Lei passed the ball to Deng Kai.
But his courage was still somewhat lacking, or perhaps he didn’t fully understand the determination and speed of Deng Kai’s forward runs.
He gave a ground pass instead of a lofted ball to the backline.
But it wasn’t a problem.
Deng Kai, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, didn’t slow down and stretched his left leg behind him, deftly pushing the football forward in one smooth motion.
This seamless action made Favali half a step too slow.
Bang!
Deng Kai caught up with the football and delivered a cross.
Salihamidzic’s Angel Wings took effect, greatly improving the quality of the cross!
Favali dived and stretched out his leg.
But the cross had such a perfect curve that it just bypassed the tip of Favali’s boot.
If Deng Kai’s touch and push hadn’t been as smooth, Favali would have successfully intercepted it.
In the middle.
Ronaldo and Nesta engaged in a fierce competition as Ronaldo made his run.
Nesta gained the upper hand once again.
However, as the ball flew toward them, Ronaldo suddenly launched himself forward, stretching his toes past Nesta’s shin while being half a body length behind.
Nesta was one step too late and continued to lag behind; if he stretched his leg out now, he would only hit Ronaldo’s shin, and might even send Ronaldo flying.
Nesta wasn’t one to injure players deliberately, and besides, that would have definitely been a foul, possibly even warranting a red card.
So Nesta could only watch as Ronaldo’s toe poked the football.
Whoosh!
Less than a meter from the goal line, any touch on the football almost certainly meant a goal.
Yet Peruzzi made a miraculous save.
His toe punted the football towards the side netting, and then he continued to fall, swatting the ball away.
Nesta cleared the ball immediately with a big kick.
However, Ronaldo immediately raised his hand and rushed towards the head referee.
Drogba was also raising his hand on the side.
After seeing Ronaldo’s actions, Nesta quickly moved towards Ronaldo, trying to shut the youngster up.
But the linesman quickly made a report.
