Chapter 689: Chapter 688: Deng Kai Injured and Retires?
The twenty-ninth minute.
Adriano dropped back to support his teammate.
Taking advantage of the situation, Tu Lei made a direct pass.
Cristian’s line of sight was blocked by Adriano, and by the time he saw the football, it had already zipped past him at such speed that he had no time to intercept it.
Deng Kai, on the left flank, started his run and successfully got ahead of Cristian to receive the football.
With a touch of the ball, Deng Kai directly challenged the only disruptor in Roma’s defense, Samuel.
"Step-over!"
"Step-over!"
"Too close! No choice, Samuel has to stick a foot out... he’s beaten!"
"Deng Kai’s past him! Samuel misjudged!"
"One-on-one!"
"Shoots!"
"Pellizzoli didn’t even have time to come off his line!"
"GOAL!"
"A very sharp off-ball cut-inside and then taking the shot! A wonderful individual performance!"
"Two-nil! Deng Kai helps his team to another goal!"
"The Romans simply can’t stop Manchester City’s unstoppable charge!"
"This kind of goal is absolutely exhilarating, something we often saw from Cristiano a few years ago. But who would have thought that one day Deng Kai, the man who used to serve up delightful passes for Cristiano, could play like this!"
"Deng Kai is still improving! The Golden Ball winner is still on the up! That’s more terrifying than the formidable Blue Moon!"
It was clear that Roma really wanted to score.
But on both flanks, they couldn’t make any progress against Lahm and Maicon.
Mainly, they were completely outpaced.
Flank play is all about speed.
If you’re slower than your opponent, they have the initiative.
Of course, Roma also had a central-route strategy.
Emerson and Totti could initiate deadly passes from the middle.
Totti’s passing was particularly exceptional.
But... Essien was too solid!
Tu Lei was responsible for sweeping.
Essien took care of plugging any gaps.
Roma’s direct passes through the middle couldn’t get past these two barriers.
And once they were intercepted, what awaited Roma was a torrential counterattack from Manchester City.
The forty-first minute.
Ribery took on Candela one-on-one on the right flank.
Candela was already struggling to cope.
To make matters worse, Maicon overlapped effectively.
Ribery sent a no-frills direct pass upfront with zero technical finesse.
Maicon used his speed to overpower Candela, then crossed from the bottom.
Samuel knew it was bad news as soon as he saw the trajectory of the football.
This pass wasn’t for Adriano in the centre but for...
Samuel turned his head.
Deng Kai darted through the gap between Samuel and Roma’s right-back Jonathan from behind them and leaped like a fish to meet the cross with a header at the far post!
Bang!
Pellizzoli turned and dived for the save, got a touch on the football, but it changed nothing.
Deng Kai’s header was too powerful.
The ball moved too fast.
What was meant to go in, went in.
"GOAL! Another goal!"
"Three-nil!"
"Do Manchester City intend to end this series right here?"
"Deng Kai scores a brace!"
"Before the match, many doubted Manchester City, thinking they were in a weak state recently, including underwhelming performances from Deng Kai."
"But it seems now that it might have been more about Manchester City’s own adjustments. They’ve been gathering strength."
"On the grand stage of European competition, they’ve maintained the might of undefeated Manchester City! The Blue Moon is taking over the City of Rome!"
The camera turned to the Roma players.
Emerson shook his head and sighed, unable to stop it, simply unable to stop it.
The problem was that even though there seemed to be no clear fault, they just couldn’t stop it.
His partner Dakota was also quite good, but their opponents weren’t even taking the central route past them.
Uh... except for Deng Kai’s off-ball movements.
Off-ball Kai was too hard to follow.
Damn, running all over the field.
Totti and Cassano were equally furrowed with worry.
They couldn’t break through.
Manchester City’s defense was impenetrable.
The key issue was that once Roma had the ball, they struggled to bring the football past the halfway mark, how could the offensive players attack?
Without the ball!
This was a dual suppression on both the offensive and defensive fronts!
In view of this situation.
The referee’s whistle signaling the end of the first half sounded more like a relief to the Romans.
The Roma players quickly entered the locker room to look for solutions from the head coach.
After all, the players themselves were out of ideas.
Soon, the second half began.
This time, Roma focused on defense first.
They couldn’t afford to concede another goal.
At the very least, they had to take the match back to Manchester, right?
They couldn’t let Manchester City just kill the game here.
That would be hard to explain to their fans.
It would also be a huge blow to their campaign for the league championship.
Morale would surely suffer!
For a full twenty minutes, Roma’s possession remained at just over twenty percent.
They hardly even attempted to attack anymore.
Whenever they won the ball, it was a long clearance.
It all came down to whether Cassano could pick up a chance.
The offensive tactic was known as "leaving it to fate".
In the 73rd minute.
Roma gradually regained confidence in their defense.
But perhaps for that very reason.
They attempted to quietly launch an attack.
The result...
Essien once again succeeded in intercepting Emerson’s through pass.
Then with a backhand stroke, he sent a through ball to Deng Kai on the left.
Deng Kai received the ball and sprinted, easily bypassing the out-of-position Emerson.
For a moment, Dakota and Samuel were both trying to move towards Deng Kai’s side.
This was the consequence of being out of position.
Sometimes it affects not just one person, but the entire defensive line.
After all, it’s not very realistic to expect one person to cover for Deng Kai and limit him.
Boom!
With just a slight slack in the Roma defense, Deng Kai made a flick pass with the outside of his foot while on the run.
Not only was it precise, but also it was covert and sudden.
The football cut straight through the Roma defense.
Adriano received the ball perfectly with ease in the penalty area and followed up with a powerful shot.
Pellizzoli was left without recourse for the fourth time.
"GOAL!"
"Four to zero! Adriano has killed off the game!"
"Roma are out of it now! Nobody could save them this time!"
"I’m not talking about this match, but the entire series!"
"If this is how they play at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, can you imagine what it would be like at the Etihad Stadium, known as the hellish home ground?"
"Deng Kai with two assists and two goals! This is the power of the Golden Ball winner!"
"Some say that the Golden Ball has been in La Liga for the past few years, which is unfair. Others feel sorry for Nedved, who they believe should have been this year’s Golden Ball winner."
"But after this game, I think the fans of Serie A will recognize the level of the Premier League."
"The Premier League and La Liga are both developing. Serie A must take such opponents seriously; they’re not the ones we can easily defeat anymore."
After this goal.
Manchester City made a triple substitution.
Fabregas replaced Deng Kai.
Torres replaced Ribery.
Feng Te replaced Desailly.
This substitution was a bit... unconventional.
Because Deng Kai almost always played the full match.
It was rare for him to be substituted mid-game.
Moreover, this match was very important.
Unless...
Deng Kai’s condition was indeed not optimal!
