Chapter 1029 The atmosphere is warm
De Gea was able to save this close header, and Mane also held his head in his hands, his eyes wide open, as if he had seen a ghost.
But at least he earned Liverpool a corner kick.
Robertson's corner kick flew directly to the back of the goal. This time it was Koulibaly who jumped up to head the ball, but his header was slightly higher than the crossbar.
De Gea was unable to make a save this time. He just turned his head and watched the ball fly out of the baseline.
"Oh--!!" A sound of gasps was heard from the stands.
Liverpool fans are very excited. After being suppressed by Manchester United for more than 20 minutes, Liverpool is finally going to fight back!
"Manchester United has been attacking continuously but failed to score a goal. I think this may have planted a time bomb for this game... There is a saying that goes, wasting opportunities will be punished..." Lineker said with some concern.
In the following game, Manchester United was no longer in the upper hand. Instead, both sides attacked and defended each other, and the game officially entered the offensive stage.
The fans of both teams in the stands kept cheering or booing as their respective teams attacked and defended.
The atmosphere at the Stade de France was very lively.
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In the 28th minute, Manchester United launched a quick attack. Bruno's long pass was like a scalpel, penetrating Liverpool's two lines of defense and falling into the empty space on the right.
In order to stop Manchester United's quick attack, Konate had to pull down Greenwood who was running to receive the ball. As a result, he received a yellow card for this tactical foul.
"Less than half an hour into the game, and center-back Konate received a yellow card. This is not good news for Liverpool... But in that situation, Konate had no better option than to commit a foul. Manchester United's quick attack just now was very sudden and successful..."
Konate stopped Manchester United's quick attack at the cost of a yellow card, and the free kick Manchester United got did not pose any threat to the goal guarded by Alisson.
It was Liverpool's turn to attack next.
They first passed the ball continuously on the left side, but the Manchester United players were unable to intercept the ball when they tried to grab it, which disrupted their defensive formation.
After Mane turned around to avoid Gundogan's tackle, he accelerated towards Kante, who was already lying on the ground and tackling the ball.
The Senegalese striker's speed and explosiveness were fully demonstrated at this moment. Although he seemed to be farther away from the football than Kante, he got the ball first and kicked it diagonally forward!
The football passed between Manchester United's two central defenders and rolled directly to the huge open area on the right.
There was almost no Manchester United defender there, only Liverpool's right winger Salah!
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“Salah!!”
Amidst Zhan Jun's excited shouts, Salah easily received the ball and had a one-on-one opportunity.
The Egyptian dribbled the ball towards Manchester United's penalty area, and De Gea also left the goal to attack!
The decibel level at the Stade de France reached its highest point since the start of the game, with Liverpool fans cheering desperately and Manchester United fans screaming and booing.
The two men soon met in the restricted area, and everyone's heart was in their throat.
Salah shot the ball with great power and at a very fast speed.
Faced with such a fast speed, De Gea could hardly react.
In fact, De Gea did not make any saving action, but the ball shot by Salah was a bit straight and hit De Gea's chest directly, and then bounced out of the baseline.
"Salah! Ah--!" Zhan Jun screamed, "He actually missed this one-on-one shot!"
The Liverpool fans in the stands sighed, but Salah did not hold his head in his hands with a look of regret. Instead, he ran directly to the baseline, picked up the flying football, and ran towards the corner flag area with it, preparing to take a corner kick.
On the Internet, jokes about Salah also began.
"Salah is really going to Manchester United!"
"It's such a big goal, but he actually aimed at De Gea's body!"
"Important things should be said three times: Undercover! Undercover!! Undercover!!!"
"Everyone, take a closer look. Is Salah wearing a Liverpool jersey today?"
"Damn, Salah is such a wimp!"
"After all, Bruno is his true love!"
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In fact, this is Salah's second Champions League final and his fifth major tournament final.
In the previous Champions League final, Europa League final, and two African Cup finals, Salah failed in the finals and failed to win the championship.
In the 2018-2019 Champions League final against Manchester United, although Salah scored a goal to help Liverpool equalize the score for the second time, shortly after Manchester United took the lead for the third time, Salah got an excellent shooting opportunity. It was a great opportunity for Liverpool to equalize the score, but the ball shot by Salah was saved by De Gea.
After Salah missed a great opportunity, Liverpool, with a frustrated morale, turned around and allowed Manchester United to score two goals, losing the game 3:5, and their number of Champions League titles was also tied by Manchester United.
In addition, in the Europa League final of the 2017-2018 season, and the African Cup finals in 2017 and 2021, Salah had excellent scoring opportunities, but he failed to score, which ultimately made Salah miss the championship three times.
As a world-class star, Salah's current championship honors, except for a Swiss Super League championship he won in Switzerland early on, all the rest were won with Bruno during his time at Udinese.
In the year after Bruno left Udinese and moved to Manchester United, Salah, as Udinese's top star, failed to help the team win any championships.
Even after moving to Liverpool in 2017, Salah has not helped the team win a championship trophy.
This Champions League final, as Liverpool coach Klopp said, is a journey of redemption, not only for the entire Liverpool team, but also for Salah himself.
He wants to use a championship to prove that he is definitely not an "undercover" or a "coward"!
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Although Salah's one-on-one opportunity did not score, it greatly boosted Liverpool's morale. Liverpool then became more active in the attack, hoping to take the lead.
But as the undisputed overlord of European football in the past five years, Manchester United is naturally not easy to mess with.
In the 37th minute, Liverpool wanted to organize an attack from the backcourt. Robertson dribbled the ball forward from the backcourt. When he was approaching the center line, he was blocked by Manchester United player Greenwood.
Robertson and Dias on the wing made a wall pass, intending to break through Greenwood's defense. However, the ball Dias passed back to him was a little too strong, and Robertson failed to stop the ball, and it stopped several meters in front of him, which happened to be where Greenwood was.
Robertson rushed towards Greenwood in shock, trying to poke the ball away first, but Greenwood was faster than him and poke the ball directly forward, leaving Robertson empty-handed.
The person who received the pass from Greenwood was Bruno in the frontcourt.
Bruno let the ball pass, turned around, dribbled forward and launched a counterattack against Liverpool.
Although Manchester United has fewer players in the frontcourt than Liverpool, Bruno is very calm. He did not rush to pass the ball, but dribbled the ball while waiting for opportunities.
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Sure enough, because of his sudden attack with the ball, four Liverpool players were attracted to his side, and the only one left behind was Liverpool's central defender Koulibaly.
Harry Kane made a diagonal run and ran in front of Koulibaly. Bruno seized the opportunity and immediately sent the ball out. The ball broke out of the encirclement and rolled into the space in the penalty area.
Harry Kane accelerated to bypass Koulibaly, received the ball, and then took advantage of the situation to push Koulibaly behind him.
"Harry Kane's one-on-one shot!"
But Harry Kane's step was a bit too big. When he chased the ball, Alisson decisively left the goal and slid out sideways.
Although this method of attack abandons the center of gravity, it maximizes the defensive area.
By the time Harry Kane caught up with the ball, it was already difficult for him to make any other shots. He could only take a quick kick and then pin all his hopes of scoring on the opportunity to find space under Alisson when he attacked, allowing the ball to slip through that space...
But there was no space. After being kicked by Harry Kane, the ball hit the body of Alisson who was attacking, then bounced back and landed at the feet of Robertson, the full-back who was returning to defense.
Robertson quickly turned around and passed the ball forward, then he breathed a sigh of relief.
It was a close call just now. It was his personal mistake. If it had led to a goal, he would have been the culprit. Fortunately, Alisson was as reassuring as ever.
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"Alisson again!"
"Alisson made a timely move to keep the goal safe!"
"Bruno has created several chances for his teammates, but they just can't break through the goal guarded by Alisson!"
Harry Kane spread his hands, looking helpless.
Bruno also shook his head slightly.
After the start of the game, Manchester United clearly had the upper hand. There were so many excellent opportunities that if their teammates could seize even one, they would have taken the lead. However, they failed to score a single goal.
But is it because his teammates didn't perform well enough? Bruno doesn't think so.
I can only say that Alisson is in really good shape today!
This was Bruno's biggest fear: his side had the upper hand, but the opposing goalkeeper was like a jack of all trades, always managing to defuse any crisis, no matter how hard he tried. Then, with his team's morale slowly wearing down with each fruitless attack, they ultimately let a sneak attack snatch victory...
The goalkeeper cheating is the most unsolvable thing, even Bruno himself can't solve this problem.
He is now very worried that Manchester United's fierce attack will bring out Alisson's best form, which would be disastrous.
But it is obviously impossible not to shoot because of this.
