Chapter 498: Chapter 497: I Would Call It Top Five in the World
Because although Vidic seemed decent, he still fell well short of Manchester United’s true goal this summer, Rio Ferdinand.
The tenth minute.
After Kaka and Ronaldo played a one-two on the wing, realizing Drogba wasn’t in position, they sent a reverse pass to Deng Kai at the edge of the penalty area.
Deng Kai met the football and played a backheel pass.
Knocking the football to his rear.
Bang!
Germany’s cannon, Matthaus, unleashed a super long-range shot from twenty-seven meters away from the goal.
Unfortunately, Matthaus had aged a bit and didn’t quite keep the ball down, sending it flying into the stands.
At the twenty-fifth minute, Manchester United kept the game going back and forth.
Beckham’s cross from the flank resulted in a corner kick.
Right after, Beckham took the corner, creating chaos in the box.
The ball eventually bounced off an unprepared Scholes and fell to Keane’s feet.
Within the penalty area, Keane instinctively took the ball forward a step, missing the best opportunity to shoot.
By the time he caught up with the football and was ready to shoot,
Deng Kai unexpectedly chose to clear with a diving header along the ground.
Keane swore, had there been even a hint of malice in his mind, he would have just aimed that kick at Deng Kai’s head.
But in the end, honoring the principles of football, Keane pulled back his leg, as Deng Kai had already disrupted the play with his clearance.
Even so, the Sporting Lisbon medical team entered the field.
Keane’s cleat grazed past Deng Kai’s left ear.
Though originally from Sichuan, Deng Kai’s ears were not soft but terrifyingly hard; the cleat left a deep cut and he bled quite a lot.
Overall, though, it was not a severe wound.
The medic treated Deng Kai’s injury right on the field, applying several band-aids.
On the spot, Manchester United’s fans gave Deng Kai a warm round of applause.
But after Deng Kai got up, he headed towards Keane.
Many were perspiring with tension.
While Deng Kai could be considered a semi-technical midfielder, he was well-known for his tough temper.
This was someone who dared to box with Barcelona players at Camp Nou!
But Keane was certainly no "good guy" either.
He was the notorious "bad boy of the Premier League."
Just last April, to avenge a grudge from three years prior, he went into a flying tackle, knee-high, riding the momentum to strike Alfie Haaland’s right knee, and celebrated with mockery.
In his autobiography published this year, Keane also admitted to intentionally injuring someone.
Affected by the leg injury, the then-captain of Manchester City, Alfie Haaland, is currently considering retirement.
He personally hopes to play for another two or three years to earn some milk money for his son, not even two years old yet, Erling Haaland.
But after Manchester City was acquired by Mansour, they’ve shown exceptional strength, and they’re set to return to the Premier League next season.
Alfie Haaland could manage in the League Championship, but the Premier League was proving too much, especially given such a serious injury, and his competitive level had further declined.
Amid the worried gazes of many, Deng Kai gave Keane a hug: "Thank you."
Deng Kai knew that Keane had pulled back.
Keane nodded, showing great satisfaction with this sensible young man.
My Keane is an understanding person.
But three minutes later, Keane regretted it.
He thought he should have simply kicked Deng Kai out of the match with a headshot.
The twenty-fifth minute.
Kaka moved down the left side with the ball, looking for Ronaldo.
Ronaldo tried to break through but was tightly marked by O’Shea.
The thwarted Ronaldo passed the ball back to Deng Kai.
After receiving the ball, Deng Kai feigned a left break at a spot five meters behind the arc top.
Veron immediately moved, taking Deng Kai one-on-one.
However, Deng Kai shifted his weight, pulled the ball, and then feigned a break to the right.
His right foot, stretched taut after dragging the ball, was ready to flick the football from behind.
It sounds slow when said, but it was actually a split-second movement.
It was as if it was a paused frame in the middle of a ball-pull and ball-push maneuver.
But reality has no pause.
Deng Kai’s instep was truly pushing the ball.
Veron knew Deng Kai wouldn’t simply choose to break through on the left side so he kept some of his weight there.
Just then, he was still in time to shift his weight back to intercept Deng Kai breaking to the right.
Bang!
Deng Kai pushed the ball, but at the moment of exertion, his ankle flicked and the football shot out directly towards the front left.
This was not a "Cruyff turn" but a "gun pass"!
This was NBA player Pete Maravich’s signature passing technique.
It looked like he was passing the ball forward, but the ball actually flew out to the left.
This was a peculiar and flamboyant way of passing the ball, unique in both basketball and football.
Veron tried to block it because the football was really close to him.
But he had completely lost his balance.
Plop!
Veron fell to the ground.
He was tricked by Deng Kai!
On the left side of the penalty area.
Ronaldo, who had started his run early, shrugged off O’Shea’s harassment with a wave of his hand and made a run inside without the ball.
Silvestre lunged forward to cover Ronaldo.
But Ronaldo used his left foot to stop the football to his right front.
He stopped the ball with the effect of cutting inside.
Then Ronaldo used a second burst of speed, a shuffle that completely took Silvestre out of the game.
Bang!
Ronaldo, left unguarded at the penalty spot, didn’t hesitate, chasing down the ball and blasting a shot!
Following the shot, Ronaldo flipped over.
Because with that shot, he actually aimed for the near post!
The force required to shoot at the near post and far post is different.
Basically, the foot, the football, and the target are in a straight line.
If you consider the football as the origin, after the player cuts inside, they can follow through to shoot at the far post.
It saves a step in time and distance.
But to shoot at the near post, you must wrap your foot around the football from behind by sixty to ninety degrees to the right.
Not to mention the extra step, the difficulty of the shot is also significantly increased.
The burden on the player’s back and thighs is greater as well.
Many drawbacks, right?
But the advantage is that if you still aim for the near post under these circumstances, as long as the football is on target, the goalkeeper and center-back have almost no way to stop it.
Swoosh!
The football grazed the post and drilled into the net guarded by Barthez.
He even dived in the wrong direction.
He dived for the far post.
Blanco, who couldn’t arrive in time to close down Ronaldo, also chose to block the far post.
They did it all in vain.
After tumbling to the ground, Ronaldo quickly rolled up, pointed his hand at Deng Kai, and the two sprinted towards the corner flag area.
"GOAL!"
"Champions League! Sporting Lisbon really want to win the Champions League!"
"One to zero! They’ve taken the lead over Manchester United!"
"An incredible goal!"
"Ronaldo’s attacking power is too strong! He devoured O’Shea! With his stop and go he shook off Silvestre and his blasted shot nearly broke through Manchester United’s goal!"
"That’s definitely top-level shooting skill! That shot was too beautiful!"
"Everyone thinks that Van Nistelrooy, who joined Manchester United this season, has a terrifying shooting technique, but I think Ronaldo’s shooting is just as good as Van Nistelrooy’s!"
"I would rank it among the top five in the world! The others include Ronaldo, Henry, Shevchenko, Batistuta, Vieri, Zidane, Figo, Rivaldo..."
