Chapter 506: Chapter 505: One Star Seven Arrows, Ronaldo In Tears
"Phil is cutting inside; he’s running towards the football, thinking his teammate has Ronaldo covered, but to his surprise, Wu Xudong is coming up instead."
"So fast... Control the ball! Wu Xudong kicks the football forward. He’s about to eat Phil alive! He’s past him, Wu Xudong has gone past!"
Bang!
Wu Xudong crosses the ball, and Phil Neville, try as he might, can’t interfere with it.
Luckily, Blanco anticipates well, getting to the near post and clearing the football away.
If that ball had a bit more curve, Manchester United would have been in danger.
"Sporting Lisbon are indeed not giving up!"
"The fullback moves up, echoing the winger and the wide midfielder, creating a huge threat."
"It’s a shame Maicon is injured; otherwise, with Wu Xudong on one side and Maicon on the other, both flanks would have been soaring! Add C. Ronaldo and Ronaldo, Sporting Lisbon with four wings might have really been able to score."
"Now Sporting Lisbon’s left-back is Evra, whose speed is not quite there, still some way from taking off, far less sharp than Wu Xudong and Maicon."
Evra: Can this also be a put down???
Ronaldo approaches the corner area.
Bang!
Ronaldo takes the corner kick.
The penalty box is surging with people.
But suddenly, Feng Te rises above all alone.
Bang!
A standard Lion’s Header.
The football drills into Manchester United’s net.
"GOAL! Feng Te! It’s Feng Te!"
"Sporting Lisbon have done it! They took this corner kick opportunity, they..."
"What? The goal’s been disallowed? Why!"
"Damn it! The referee thinks Feng Te fouled Blanco by pushing before scoring the goal."
"With the slow-motion replay we can definitely see it; no wonder Feng Te had a clear position, he didn’t go easy on him, Blanco’s face got a good slap!"
Manchester United had a scare but continue to maintain a two-nil lead.
On Sporting Lisbon’s side, a storm of offensive plays is unleashed.
Evra and Wu Xudong continually hover around the position of wide midfielders.
Rather than saying Sporting Lisbon play a 442, it’s more like they are actually deploying a 226.
And in extreme cases, they are really playing a 217!
Evra, Kaka, C. Ronaldo, Drogba, Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo, Wu Xudong.
Following Sporting Lisbon’s previous One Arrow Six Stars and One Arrow Five Stars, they’re now using the One Arrow Seven Stars extreme offensive lineup against Manchester United!
They are indeed crazy.
Eighty-second minute, Manchester United took the opportunity to make a substitution.
They brought on Cole for the tired-out Van Nistelrooy.
This substitution reflected Ferguson’s anger.
Sporting Lisbon’s seven-forward formation was just too disdainful.
Winning as a top team is not only about the score; it’s about the momentum.
This will benefit Manchester United when facing Real Madrid in the final.
Therefore, Manchester United didn’t pull any offensive players off.
They wanted to punish Sporting Lisbon.
One Arrow Seven Stars?
A joke!
Eighty-third minute.
Giggs and Scholes work together to intercept Kaka; Scholes delivers a superb through ball.
Cole receives the ball and is one-on-one with Reina, who is rushing out. He shoots coolly, finding the back of the net.
Estádio Alvalade, a field of wails.
But the referee blows the whistle.
He once again announces the goal is disallowed.
Cole was offside.
"Oh! Sporting Lisbon dodged a bullet. But it doesn’t mean much."
"They are two goals down and virtually out of hope."
"One Star Seven Arrows sounds fierce, but in reality, it doesn’t stand up to any mistake."
"Clearly not the right way to catch up on the score."
He Wei is very skeptical of this method that completely relies on Deng Kai’s passing ability.
It’s too childish.
The eighty-eighth minute.
After Kaka’s breakthrough in the middle, he passed the ball laterally to the following Deng Kai.
Sporting Lisbon’s attack involved eight men in the front, leaving only Feng Te and Vidic in the back, definitely dead meat if they lost the ball.
Bang!
Deng Kai didn’t handle the football calmly even though everyone thought they should be as careful and steady as possible at this moment.
But Deng Kai opted for a direct through pass without stopping the ball.
The football instantly penetrated Veron and Silvestre.
Ronaldo, with Gary Neville on his back, took a fierce shot from the edge of the box.
Gary just couldn’t stop Ronaldo.
Clang!
But the crossbar at Estádio Alvalade betrayed them.
It actually blocked the shot.
The football flew towards the stands.
Making the Sporting Lisbon supporters feel choked up.
"Ah, so close! Just a bit more!"
"Ronaldo! Just a little difference, and it would have all changed!"
Huang Jianxiang was deeply distressed.
"This is the gap between a good striker and a top-notch striker, a small gap, but once it shows, it’s always at the most critical moment," He Wei shook his head and said, "Ronaldo is still too young. He scores a lot, but very few are truly lethal."
"He... huh? Is Ronaldo crying?"
"He’s crying! Ronaldo is actually crying! It seems he too knows their Champions League journey is over."
"At this moment, his heart is filled with bitterness, but that’s football; there always has to be a loser in the game."
"Ronaldo’s heart is still not strong enough."
On camera, watching the football being deflected, Ronaldo’s eyes suddenly reddened.
Tears circled in his eyes.
He widened his eyes, nearly biting his cheeks to pieces, but still couldn’t hold back the flood of tears.
Ronaldo hugged his head, so unwilling to accept it; given another chance, he would do better, he would score that damned goal!
He definitely would!
Ronaldo knew that in a match, there’s always someone who loses.
But... why did it have to be him?
He was unresigned!
He hated this feeling.
Madeira national, Sporting Lisbon youth academy, Moreirense, Sporting Lisbon’s first team... Ronaldo had never faced such a huge setback in his life.
The stronger he usually was, the more devastated he was now.
That stubborn breath stuck in his throat, almost suffocating him.
"Hey!"
Ronaldo heard a familiar voice; he turned his head, his tear-filled eyes unable to see anything clearly.
A blurred figure in white and green said to Ronaldo, "You’re not going to give up now, are you?"
Ronaldo wiped his tears.
"Get back on defense now. If we really lose, I’ll cry with you," Deng Kai waved at Ronaldo and turned to run back to the defense.
Watching Deng Kai’s receding figure, Ronaldo’s gaze became resolute: "How could you possibly give up!"
Ronaldo pursed his lips and started retreating.
During the regular game time, Sporting Lisbon failed to change the score.
There were three minutes of added time for the match.
Ferguson immediately complained.
There were no goals in the second half, why three minutes?
It should only be one minute!
But the referee explained that there were many instances of players being down and injury checks in the second half, so the added time was justified.
Ferguson could only signal his players to all fall back.
This time, even Cole and Fran didn’t cross the halfway line.
The ninety-first minute.
Ronaldinho was carrying the ball on the right, ready to cut inside.
But Phil shrunk back near the penalty area, not planning to defend out.
