Chapter 500: Chapter 499: Changing Formation, Square Midfield
Drogba, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Evra, Vidic, Barzagli, Maicon, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Reina and others were boiling with animalistic fervor!
These young people were insanely pumped up!
Even Guardiola, Matthaus, Schmeichel, and Deschamps, who were used to motivational talks, expressed shock at Maxa’s speech.
Matthaus, "Maxa’s level of motivation is too high!"
Guardiola, "This is an epic pre-battle mobilization!"
Deschamps, "Mr. Maxa is arguably among the top five in creating an atmosphere in our times!"
When the players were leaving the dressing room one after another, Deng Kai was the last to leave, and he said to Maxa next to him, "Not bad with the lines."
Maxa scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, "There are still a lot of details that weren’t perfect, far from the interpretation of Vigo Mortensen."
Deng Kai nodded, "Adding facial muscle tremors to some of the lines can make the emotions more genuine. If you could have cracked your voice in the last ’fight,’ the effect would have been even better."
"The essence of acting lies in those subtle moments of losing control!"
Maxa immediately took out his notebook, jotting down Deng Kai’s tips to recite repeatedly when he got back home.
The above scene is excerpted from the time Maxa drove Deng Kai to visit the set of ’The Lord of the Rings’ by Hathaway, where they watched Aragorn’s speech before the final great battle.
It was content from the third part.
And since the second part of ’The Lord of the Rings’ hasn’t been released yet, naturally, nobody knew about this.
The second part will be released at the end of this year.
It will once again directly compete with ’Harry Potter.’
...
In the second half, the morale of Sporting Lisbon had indeed greatly improved.
The situation on the field went from a slight advantage for Manchester United to a true fifty-fifty fight.
The fiftieth minute.
Veron passed sideways to Keane, who slotted it through to Scholes.
Scholes suddenly fired from the right flank.
This midfield master’s long-range shots are truly exceptional.
Wing crosses and midfield long shots are among the most threatening and favored tactics in Manchester United’s offensive system.
As Scholes’ shot soared over the goalpost.
Beep!
The referee halted the game.
Scholes lay on the ground.
He had been charged by Pepe during the shot.
Despite Pepe pulling back on his action, he still knocked over Scholes.
This also caused Scholes’ long shot to go high.
The referee showed Pepe a yellow card.
As a result, Pepe would be suspended for the next match due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
This was a problem for Sporting Lisbon.
On the other hand, Sir Alex Ferguson did not look very pleased.
Because with the intensification of the match, Manchester United’s tactics had reverted to the ’triple hammer’ of the treble-winning era mentioned earlier.
And his attempts to transform the team’s tactics to a more continental style hadn’t been reflected in this match.
Or rather, the whole season’s revamp of Manchester United under Ferguson hadn’t yielded great results.
The team’s most critical victories often came about through their traditional style of play.
In moments of crisis, the players would also instinctively change tactics, reverting to their old ways.
From a tactical perspective, this was the wrong approach.
It was a short-sighted solution.
The fifty-ninth minute.
It was Veron defending against Deng Kai again.
Deng Kai nudged the ball to the right but immediately pulled it back, squeezing the ball to the left with the inside of his foot to perform a one-legged deep-fried meatball.
Veron wasn’t completely fooled; he cautiously stuck out a leg aiming for a tackle.
But Deng Kai followed up with his left heel, pulling off a Marseille Turn.
Veron was completely outplayed.
Bang!
Deng Kai made a through pass to Kaka.
Kaka blasted a shot from the left side of the large penalty area.
Silvestre dove to block the ball.
And got kicked again.
His performance today deserved the title of Red Devil.
Keane responded to the descending ball in the penalty area with a big clearance toward the front field.
Bang!
He miskicked!
The football spun rapidly, yet paradoxically floated slowly towards Deng Kai’s feet not far away.
Bang!
Deng Kai passed the ball to the unguarded Ronaldinho on the right, then decisively burst forward!
Silvestre endured the pain and got up, glaring at Deng Kai.
Bang!
Ronaldo delivered the cross.
"Mark him!"
Blanco blocked Drogba, and Silvestre blocked Deng Kai.
But Phil Neville’s facial expression was extremely distorted as if he had seen something terrifying.
This...
Silvestre noticed a shadow over his head.
Logically, Deng Kai couldn’t possibly leap to this height.
Silvestre turned around to check on Deng Kai first.
He found that not only had Deng Kai not jumped, but he had actually crouched down.
This is...
Bang!
Ronaldo almost detached from the surface of the Earth.
He fiercely whipped his head.
And sent the football hurtling towards Manchester United’s goal.
Barthez didn’t react immediately, but his positioning was good.
He reached out and touched the football.
However, he couldn’t alter its trajectory.
The football still drilled into the back of the net.
"GOAL! Ronaldo! It’s Ronaldo again!"
"He’s too strong! Ronaldo has shaken off O’Shea, and he’s taken off!"
"That height is absurd! Silvestre’s head was at Ronaldo’s waist! Deng Kai’s head was at Silvestre’s waist, this..."
"Two to one!"
"Ronaldo helps the team take the lead again!"
"Also, he has become another player who has scored a brace on his very first appearance at Old Trafford Stadium!"
"Twelve goals! Ronaldo once again stretches his goal difference over Van Nistelrooy to two!"
"He continues to reign at the top of the Champions League scoring chart!"
Inside the stadium, Silvestre was protesting to the head referee.
He believed Ronaldo’s jump was too high, an abnormal height.
But the head referee saw it clearly.
The reason Ronaldo could fly that high was because he had used his hand to prop himself up on Deng Kai.
That was also why Deng Kai’s head ended up only at Silvestre’s waist.
Teammates propping up teammates isn’t illegal, is it?
Silvestre was full of frustration.
Could this even be allowed?
I could stack up some players, and if the player at the top heads the ball, you won’t be able to touch it at all.
The sixty-sixth minute.
Van Nistelrooy, as if once again responding to the comparisons between him and Ronaldo, displayed his exquisite shooting technique.
His shooting was superb, and so was Ronaldo’s.
Ronaldo was good at breaking through, and Van Nistelrooy could do it too.
Bang!
After dribbling past two players, Van Nistelrooy took a shot, but unfortunately, due to uneven distribution of his strength, he was somewhat exhausted by the time he shot.
The football wasn’t fully powered.
Reina easily caught the ball.
Soon, Manchester United adjusted their formation.
Super-sub Solskjaer replaced Scholes at the shadow striker position.
The difference between them was that Solskjaer was a proper striker, whereas Scholes’s style always unconsciously reverted to that of a midfielder.
On the other hand, Sporting Lisbon made an even more drastic change, substituting three players at once.
Even Ferguson, who was famous for making bold substitutions, had to tip his hat in admiration.
Ibrahimovic replaced Drogba.
Veloso replaced Matthaus.
Feng Te replaced Guardiola.
It was mostly a matter of stamina.
At the same time, Sporting Lisbon adjusted their formation, switching to a four-back system.
Pepe, Feng Te, Vidic, and Barzagli formed the defensive line.
Veloso and Deng Kai as the holding midfielders.
Kaka and Ronaldo as the attacking midfielders, with the four players forming a square midfield.
They deployed a 4222 formation!
