Chapter 465: Chapter 464: Golden Boot VS Goalkeeper God
Didn’t you see, on the football field, how Peachy would ruthlessly take down his opponents in one-on-one matches, yet inexplicably crumble when it came to team fights in the mid-game?
In many games like League of Legends and King of Glory, players who can steadily accumulate advantages are always more valuable than those who only shine occasionally.
But, after all, Juventus is Juventus.
In the 27th minute, Zambrotta teamed up with Nedved to deliver a 45-degree cross.
Trezeguet dashed to the spot to break the deadlock, scoring the first goal of the game.
However, the linesman raised his flag high, indicating that Trezeguet was offside beforehand; the goal was disallowed.
This was also a drawback of having Guardiola and Deng Kai, two intercepting midfielders, playing together—they lacked the ability to tackle hard, which made it difficult to counter players like Zambrotta who excelled in both speed and technique.
The 31st minute.
Deng Kai dropped back to ask Vidic for the ball.
Vidic passed the ball, with Nedved trying to challenge from behind Deng Kai.
Deng Kai flicked the ball to the left without turning around, sending the football to Ronaldo who was in his blind spot on the left rear side, causing Nedved’s attempt to come to naught.
At the same time, he shouted to Ronaldo, "To Chris!"
Bang!
Ronaldo dribbled a couple of steps and didn’t even need to look up; he relied on Deng Kai’s direction to pass the ball to the left wing.
Cristiano Ronaldo was successful in breaking the offside trap on the left flank, charging towards the ball.
Thuram had a way with defending Cristiano Ronaldo, but once overcome by Cristiano, he wouldn’t catch up quickly; he could only opt to tuck in early, conceding the wing to Cristiano.
Indeed, after Cristiano Ronaldo received the ball and entered the offensive third, he began to try cutting in.
He hadn’t taken more than a couple of steps before he was face to face with Thuram.
Cristiano Ronaldo indeed unleashed his signature move—the "Zombie" dribble.
In a flash, Cristiano Ronaldo nudged the ball along the byline, abandoning the head-on challenge with Thuram.
The last time they clashed, Cristiano Ronaldo, aside from a one-on-one opportunity, was tightly contained by Thuram throughout the match.
He was not yet a match for this top-notch defender.
Mainly because he was physically at a disadvantage.
With Thuram focusing on defending against the cut-in, Cristiano Ronaldo, going down the line along the edge of the box, put Thuram slightly behind.
However, he was still in a position to cover Cristiano’s angle for a Backward Triangle Pass.
As for a cross... Cristiano was almost on the byline; was he going to pass it to Buffon?
The one-meter area in front of the goal is the keeper’s domain—under normal circumstances, for a cross to be considered good, it needs to be at least one and a half to two meters away from the goal line.
Bang!
Cristiano Ronaldo caught up with the ball but didn’t use his left foot for a cross or a Backward Triangle Pass.
His passing wasn’t great, and his left foot was even worse.
Besides...
Why pass?
Thuram lunged forward, almost brushing the back of Cristiano Ronaldo’s right foot.
But Cristiano Ronaldo still managed to execute a shot right along the byline with his right foot.
Buffon was certain Cristiano Ronaldo would cross; the slight delay from processing the ball with his left foot to his right might have been to deliver a half-high ball to avoid Thuram’s block.
So...
Buffon stepped out with his right foot.
Then, the ball landed where his right foot had just been, sneaking into the goal through a gap no wider than twenty-five centimeters between Buffon’s right foot and the right post.
Buffon tried to turn, but his center of gravity shifted, and he dropped to his knees on the spot.
"GOAL! It’s in! There’s nothing wrong with this goal!"
"Cristiano Ronaldo!"
"What a beautiful goal! That was a super tight angle shot!"
"Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot was at an angle of no more than ten degrees! When he shot, there was no apparent path for the ball to enter the goal!"
"But he anticipated Buffon’s leg movement, or rather, Buffon misjudged Ronaldo’s technique and didn’t expect a shot. He thought Ronaldo was going to make a cross."
"There was only one route for the football to pass through. That gap was no more than twenty-five centimeters wide, and the diameter of a football is twenty-two point one centimeters."
"Eight goals! Ronaldo has tied with Henry for the top spot on the UEFA Champions League scorers list! He has surpassed Van Nistelrooy, who the English media believed was stronger than him, in terms of statistics!"
After scoring, Ronaldo began a jubilant celebration.
This was Lisbon Athletic’s home ground, and the advantage of playing at home is that when you celebrate, the fans join you in creating an atmosphere.
If no one reacts while you’re celebrating, that kind of embarrassment could be incredibly disheartening.
In the midst of the celebration, Deng Kai noticed Buffon’s unpleasant expression.
Buffon, born in 1978, was only around twenty-three or twenty-four at the time, a very young age for goalkeepers, roughly equivalent to a seventeen or eighteen-year-old forward.
Players at this stage can be extremely inconsistent, with their performance largely affected by their mentality and emotions.
Conceding a goal, Buffon should have been able to shrug it off in theory.
No goalkeeper can keep a clean sheet forever.
For an extraordinarily miraculous goal, Buffon wouldn’t brood.
For an exceptionally foolish mistake, Buffon would feel upset but wouldn’t take it to heart.
But Ronaldo’s recent goal, while brilliant, wasn’t particularly difficult; the probability of saving it was far greater than that of the goal being scored, which made Buffon a bit indignant.
Buffon was confident that out of ten thousand such shots, he could block them all ten thousand times.
But... somehow... just... it was so clear that...
Buffon felt a wave of emo within him.
Deng Kai immediately told his attacking teammates to take their chances and shoot, as the opposing goalkeeper wasn’t in good form today.
This greatly motivated his team’s forwards.
During their last encounter, Buffon’s performance was exceptional and had been considered the best on the field, causing Lisbon Athletic to doubt their abilities.
He denied breakaways twice, saved four out of four shots, and resolved crises in advance, appearing as vigorous as a ten-years-younger Kahn.
In the thirty-fifth minute, Ronaldo took a direct long shot.
Buffon obviously couldn’t keep up with the pace and didn’t make a save.
Unfortunately, the shot wasn’t kept down, and the football flew well over the crossbar.
In the thirty-seventh minute, Deng Kai, after receiving a pass from Maicon, passed the ball to Ronaldo and dropped back.
Maicon continued to advance.
Ronaldo passed the ball back to Deng Kai.
Deng Kai, without controlling the ball, immediately sent a lofted through ball towards the right flank.
With no clear defender beside him, Maicon sprinted forward and successfully connected with the football.
After driving the ball to the end line, he found himself completely unmarked, with plenty of time and space to adjust the position of the football.
Bang!
As Maicon adjusted and looked for his teammates’ movements in the box, he whipped in a cross.
The ball was fast and had a large curve.
Just by looking at the trajectory of the football, you wouldn’t be able to predict where this kind of pass would drop.
But if you looked inside the penalty area, you would know that no matter how Drogba moved, the ball was intended for him and would reach him.
The brilliance of this cross lay in its proximity to the goalkeeper but in such a way that it barely left the keeper any confidence to come out and catch it.
Not only the speed and curve of the ball made it difficult for the goalkeeper to judge, but the distance was also an extremely disconcerting factor.
Buffon could only stand in front of the goal line and concentrate.
Bang!
Drogba was slightly slowed down by Monteiro’s interference and thus a bit late.
But it wasn’t important, because Maicon’s pass was quite good, and the drop point would never be too far from Drogba.
As long as Drogba was smart enough, he always had a way to reach the football.
