Chapter 408 The helicopter above the new Wembley Stadium, the perfect ending to the British game

Chapter 408 The helicopter above the new Wembley Stadium, the perfect ending to the British game

A goal came just nine minutes into the FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium.

Martin put Alves' precise cross from the right into De Gea's guarded goal.

The Arsenal fans in the audience were ecstatic, while the Manchester United fans were sad.

"aoaoaooaoooooo——"

Wave after wave of overwhelming cheers resounded throughout the new Wembley Stadium.

Manchester United fell behind in the first nine minutes. Head coach Mourinho stood in the home team's coaching area with his brows furrowed and his brain running at high speed to see if he could find a way to get the score back.

Before the game, his best plan was to beat Arsenal.

The secondary plan is to drag the 0:0 score to overtime and then try for luck in the penalty shootout.

As the score fell behind, the two plans had to be pushed back.

The top priority is to equalize the score.

"what can we do about it?"

Mourinho appeared on the broadcast screen with a serious and unsmiling expression.

It was easy to see that he was in big trouble.

The look on Mourinho's face epitomizes all Manchester United fans.

Depressed, powerless and melancholy.

After losing the ball and gaining the right to kick off, Manchester United played impatiently, but Mourinho did not stop it.

Losing against Arsenal in many games in the past made him abandon the comprehensive defensive concept that he had firmly established during his coaching period at Inter Milan.

Of course, this abandonment is for Arsenal led by Martin.

When playing against other strong teams, it is a priority to defend well first.

But playing against a strong team with no shortcomings like Arsenal, the defense will only get deeper and deeper.

With a strong offense, it may be possible to win a glimmer of hope.

Therefore, Mourinho became a little different from before. He did not tell his players to play more steadily.

The Manchester United players involved in the attack saw that head coach Mourinho was still standing in the coaching technical area, so they played more actively.

Defense is ultimately passive, and only taking the initiative can gain the upper hand.

With this idea in mind, Manchester United's offense seems to be getting better and better, with a surge of attacks.

The die-hard Manchester United fans in the audience responded to Mourinho's call and shouted with excitement to cheer for the players on the field.

PP sports commentator Zhan Jun took an overview of the overall situation and said in a deep voice: "Manchester United's offense seems to be getting sharper and sharper, but it actually does not pose any threat to Arsenal's defense. Goalkeeper Cech barely made any saves. Arsenal's defensive players He didn’t panic, he played with ease, and Martin directed his teammates to make up positions from time to time to ensure that the overall defense would not easily have loopholes.”

"Martin, who serves as a free agent in the frontcourt, is very flexible and has absolute freedom to attack and defend. This is why his presence makes it difficult for opponents to defend. It is very difficult for Arsenal to restrict Martin when attacking. When the team defends It is also difficult to get around him, so many teams against Arsenal must pass the ball quickly and transfer the ball to the weak side of the defense at the other end..."

Guest commentator Li Yuankui spoke eloquently: "But Arsenal's defense is very integrated. Since the strong side has Martin's strong defense, it actually does not require too many defensive players, and the weak side is well protected. Manchester United has a lot of offensive attacks, and if there is no way to score goals in continuous attacks, I think... it will not be too far away from conceding a goal."

Mourinho naturally has his back-up, and there are many supplements for transitioning from offense to defense, but the tactics ultimately require players to complete them.

Pay attention to the overall football game, an oversight in any link may bring unexpected consequences.

Manchester United's continuous attacks did not create a shooting opportunity. Pogba was a little impatient with the ball. Seeing that his national teammate Kante kept a safe distance, he decisively used the outside instep of his right foot to move the ball to the right, and then about three meters away from the goal. He suddenly shot out from about ten meters away.

The football he played was full of power, but lacked aim.

Cech, who chose his position very well, raised his hands and held the ball firmly in his arms.

Rashford, who was at the forefront of the striker, was not qualified enough and shook his head.

Sanchez, who ran out of space to catch the ball, joined Manchester United with the second-highest salary in the Premier League in order to achieve a new breakthrough in his career. Seeing that Pogba was mindlessly squandering players, he showed some dissatisfaction.

Pogba does not yet have a World Cup title, and Ibrahimovic has not completely left the team. He is still relatively honest in the team and raised his hand to make an apologetic gesture.

Sanchez, who originally wanted to say something, had to call on his teammates to defend high.

At this moment, Cech took two lunges to run up, grabbed the football with his right hand with one hand, flicked it hard, and threw the ball far to Mahrez on the right.

Manchester United's focus from offense to defense was basically on Martin, which caused other players to neglect defense.

Mahrez is the Arsenal player who was let go!

Left center back Phil Jones rushed over, applying pressure while maintaining a safe distance, and Matic, who was trailing behind, also moved diagonally over.

Mahrez, who received the ball, was about ten meters away from the center line on the right, trying to take the ball and run in a straight line. This deceived Matic, who was defending, into covering the defensive gap exposed by Ashley Young, who was joining the attack. .

In fact, he just used the feint of his upper body, braked suddenly on the spot, and moved the ball laterally to the left with the outside instep of his left foot.

Start accelerating!

Just in time, Matic passed by Matic who had no time to brake.

Cavani is deeply involved in the defense, and there is enough space in the middle. Phil Jones's defensive position selection was based on Mahrez's original body feint to the left.

Seeing Mahrez feinting a shot towards the middle, he took another step and followed it in.

However, due to the impact of last year's six injections to close out the national team's warm-up match, Phil Jones's overall condition has declined seriously, and his position is relatively conservative.

Mourinho's defensive strategy is that Smalling is the main defender and Phil Jones is responsible for the supplementary defense.

Matic was shaken by Mahrez and did not chase him. He was not fast, so he ran back in a straight line.

It prevents Cavani, who is relatively deep in the defensive position, from diagonally inserting depth, enriching Arsenal's offensive width and tactical three-dimensionality when switching from defense to offense.

Mahrez, who was getting faster, took the ball to the arc of the center circle. After attracting the defensive attention of Smalling and Phil Jones, he did not continue to break forward. He sent the ball to Phil Jones and Positive with the arch of his left foot. There is space behind Matic who returns to cover.

Matic, who had already noticed Cavani, raised his eyebrows when he saw the direction of the football.

What does this inclined straight plug with a relatively large advance amount mean?

Cavani doesn't have the speed of a lightning bolt.

Aubameyang, who joined Arsenal in the winter window this year, has an active area on the left.

This... is also the fundamental reason why Valencia's forward penetration has always been limited.

So……

There is only one reason.

In an instant, another Arsenal player came to Matic's mind!

"aoaooaoaooooooo——"

At the same time, the sky above the new Wembley Stadium rang out with huge hysterical chants from Arsenal fans.

The on-site director cut to a longer distance shot covering the middle of the court.

"Martin—"

Sky TV commentator Andy Gray couldn't help but raise his voice an octave higher when he saw the Arsenal players appearing on the broadcast screen.

Matic turned his head and saw that Martin, who was "ambushing" behind Cavani, had completely thrown away Herrera's close defense and ran towards the right rib of the attack at full speed.

All he can do is turn around and face his own goal, run at full speed towards the landing point of Mahrez's pass, and see if he can clear the ball before Martin is in place.

Martin, who was at full speed, was like a dark blue supercar that was speeding on the highway. He passed Cavani at a speed visible to the naked eye, passed the center line, and completed the overtaking of Matic from the outside.

Matic, who has a strong defensive awareness, still wants to make a final effort, even if he is given a card.

But Martin did not give him a chance. He took advantage of his speed, took two steps outside, and sent Mahrez a well-placed diagonal through ball in the direction of travel.

De Gea is a goal-line goalkeeper and has no habit of attacking. His opponent is Arsenal, who is good at counterattacks, and his position is relatively deep.

After seeing Mahrez passing the ball to Martin, he felt even more unsure and had no intention of attacking.

Martin, who was at full speed, picked up the ball and rushed towards the Manchester United penalty area with the ball without losing speed.

The Manchester United fans in the audience were silent, and some of Martin even closed his eyes in pain when he saw that the single goal was not missed.

Real Madrid head coach Zidane, who was sitting in a certain stand, frowned, watching Arsenal's very concise and quick counterattack. His frown was not inferior to Mourinho's.

Obviously, he was brought into the future Champions League final at this moment! Arsenal this season has made enough progress compared to the previous two seasons, making it even more difficult to guard against.

In the past, Martin was strong, but now it is... overall strong + Martin is strong.

With a few quick steps, Martin took the ball to the penalty area line and slowed down slightly.

Facing De Gea, who was extremely panicked, he didn't show any bells and whistles. The moment his left foot crossed the line of the penalty area, he raised his right foot and kicked out a powerful ground-breaking kick.

De Gea watched the extremely fast football rolling close to the ground. He instinctively used his special skill of "De Gea sitting on the lotus", but... his reaction was still half a beat too slow, and the football escaped from under his crotch first. Past, across the goal line, crashing into the snow-white net...

"Goooooooooooooal——"

"Martin! In the 17th minute of the game, he helped Arsenal expand the score to two goals!"

"Arsenal's high-quality and quick counterattack, captain Martin once again served as a ruthless terminator!"

"Beautiful counterattack goal! Arsenal leads Manchester United 2:0!"

……

The commentators in the live commentary box/remote live broadcast room shouted in unison.

Martin, who scored, faced the Arsenal fans gathering area and waved.

"Martin!"

"Martin!!"

"Martin!!!"

Arsenal fans subconsciously turned up the volume and cheered for Martin who expanded the score.

Wenger, who was in charge of the technical area as coach of the visiting team, smiled and hugged his two assistants, then returned to the coaching bench with his legs crossed.

On the other hand, Mourinho, the coach of the home team directing the technical area, looked sad.

It's possible to come back after falling behind by one goal.

As the score expanded to two goals, it also meant that the possibility of an equalizer was slim.

It has been proven in many games in the past.

No team was able to get Arsenal back from a two-goal lead.

The Manchester United players on the court looked at each other at this time, feeling a little confused about the team's two-goal deficit.

The leading Arsenal players hugged each other and celebrated the goal.

Mourinho, with a heavy face, seemed determined to go all the way to the end.

Since we have chosen to strengthen our offense to try to narrow the score, we must continue to play.

It's not that his philosophy has changed, but that he wants his players to know how different he is from Arsenal.

A lot of times, it’s about getting into position.

Don't become awesome just because you are a Manchester United player.

What was really awesome was during Ferguson's coaching period.

Sanchez, who joined Manchester United from Arsenal, has a spirit of refusing to admit defeat. He encouraged his teammates with what he considered to be a provocative tone: "Brothers, as long as the game is not over, we still have a chance! Come on! We are the best. of!"

If it were at Arsenal, the players would definitely be motivated to encourage each other.

But except for a few players in this Manchester United who have high fighting spirit, most players turn a blind eye.

They think...it's just a job, that's all you need is energy.

……

Real Madrid coach Zidane, who was watching the game in the audience, let out a long sigh, feeling that the Champions League final six days later was becoming increasingly hopeless.

Not long after, the game restarted, and Manchester United, which was two goals behind, had no choice but to continue to strengthen its attack.

In order to be safe, Mourinho assigned some tasks to Matic and Herrera respectively to avoid conceding the ball when switching from offense to defense.

In the 21st minute of the game, the unique roar of a helicopter suddenly sounded over the new Wembley Stadium, and most fans couldn't help but look up.

The on-site director keenly switched shots.

Fans sitting in front of the TV could clearly see a helicopter flying over the stadium with a banner.

The main idea of ​​the banner is: Thank you Mr. Arsena for your hard work at Arsenal, we will always love you.

"papapappapaaaaa——"

Arsenal fans, the vast majority of Manchester United fans and neutral fans applauded instinctively at this moment, applauding Wenger, who has coached Arsenal for more than 21 years.

Wenger, who was sitting in the visiting team coach's technical area, stood up at the reminder of his assistant Bould, took two steps forward, waved and looked around to thank all the fans for their support.

When the helicopter passed over the new Wembley Stadium, everyone's attention returned to the game itself.

Manchester United, which fell behind by two goals, consciously continued to strengthen its offense in the subsequent games, but it did not threaten Cech's goalkeeping.

Affected by Mourinho's supplementary tactics, Arsenal did not expand the score with a quick counterattack from defense to offense.

Arsenal's two-goal lead remained until the end of the first half.

After a 15-minute intermission, the game changed sides again in the second half.

Arsenal, who were leading by two goals, suddenly changed their tactics and tested Manchester United's defensive system through a mercury-like offense.

In the 53rd minute, Martin switched to the right, received a forward pass from Alves, passed Ashley Young, and accurately found Phil Poor Four in front of him. Cavani leaped high in front of him.

The Uruguayan striker seized the rare opportunity and scored with a header, extending the score to three goals.

The game has reached the current situation, and the Manchester United players, who were lagging behind by a big score, realized that there was no way to make a comeback.

Although Mourinho is a little reluctant, the football is ultimately played on the court.

Arsenal, who were leading by a big score, did not continue to attack, thereby avoiding revealing too many tactics to their future opponents in the Champions League final.

Until the end of the game, the scoreboard still showed 0:3.

Manchester United is in front, Arsenal is behind.

"Beep~Beep~Bi~~"

Two short and one long whistles sounded at the end of the game. Arsenal fans who had been impatient for a long time subconsciously raised their hands in the air, expressing their passion for the team to create a record of winning the FA Cup for five consecutive years.

The on-site director did not show Martin the first time, but Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger.

This game was his last record in the British arena.

Ending the British season with five consecutive FA Cup titles was also a perfect curtain call.

The Arsenal players on the field also consciously walked towards the elegant coach Wenger in front of the coaching bench.

Celebrate this incredible victory.

"aoaooaoaooooo——"

There were also huge chants at the new Wembley Stadium.

Immediately, the on-site director switched the camera and showed an old man with a red nose and Mourinho walking side by side.

That's right!

The one on the left side of the sponge is Sir Alex Ferguson, the meritorious head coach of Manchester United!

Before the curtain call in the British game, Ferguson, as an old rival, must give Wenger a hug.

This scene has also become a classic for later generations.

(End of this chapter)