Chapter 995 Injury
When the captains of both teams completed the side selection procedure, the players of both teams were standing on the court. The TV broadcast turned the camera to the court, and the players of both teams were already standing in their respective positions.
Then Anthony Taylor, the referee of the game, blew the whistle to start the game!
After the game started, the commentators began to introduce the situation of both sides to the audience.
"The third Manchester United game of the season has begun!" said Andy Gray. "When the two teams met for the first time this season, Manchester United beat Liverpool 2:1 at home. Bruno's 1 shot and 1 assist helped Manchester United win nine consecutive victories at the start of the season. And in the League Cup final two months ago, it was Bruno's 2 shots and 1 assist that helped Manchester United win the final victory, beating Liverpool 3:2 and winning Manchester United's fourth championship trophy this season..."
"With the referee's whistle, the Premier League's 'national derby' has begun!" Zhan Jun said in a loud voice, "The suspense of this season's league championship will most likely end in this game. In the current Premier League standings, Manchester United is 8 points ahead of second-placed Liverpool. If the Red Devils beat the Reds away from home today, with only 6 rounds left in the league, it will be difficult for Liverpool, which is 11 points behind, to overtake Manchester United..."
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"In the current state of the two teams, Liverpool is actually in better shape. Since Liverpool lost unexpectedly to Leicester City away from home in the last game of 2021, the Reds have gone 11 games unbeaten in the league, with a record of 9 wins and 2 draws. The two draws were against Chelsea and Manchester City respectively. They are currently ranked third and fourth in the standings. Manchester United's record in 2022 is much worse, with only 6 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss, and they have 7 points less than Liverpool during the same period."
"In fact, based on their performance this season, it is fair and reasonable for whoever wins the championship in the end. But there is only one champion, and one side must be sad..."
"This is the third time Liverpool and Manchester United have met this season. They have met in the league and the League Cup. Liverpool has lost two games in a row... From the statistics, Manchester United has the upper hand this season... But don't forget, today's game is played at Liverpool's home ground, Anfield!"
"Anfield has always been a very famous devil's home ground in Europe, and Liverpool's performance at home this season is particularly good. They are currently unbeaten with 13 wins and 3 draws. The last time they lost points at home was in the 10th round of the league, when they were tied 2:2 by Brighton at home. Then they won consecutive home games."
"After entering 2022, Liverpool's performance compared to the first half of the season can be described as 'earth-shaking'." Andy Gray said, "At the end of 2021, Liverpool was still 17 points behind Manchester United in the standings and ranked only fourth. Then after the start of 2022, Liverpool went 11 league games unbeaten and slowly caught up in points..."
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After the game started, the two teams did not produce the exciting scenes that people expected, there were no quick transitions in offense and defense, and no fierce confrontations.
In comparison, the game was played very cautiously and there were no exciting scenes on the court.
This is normal. After all, it is a heavyweight competition that determines the ownership of the championship. In such a competition, no one wants to make a mistake first, so being conservative and cautious is a natural choice.
Moreover, when masters fight, whoever moves first will reveal a flaw, giving the opponent an opportunity to take advantage.
In this kind of back and forth, the game had already started for eight minutes and neither team had taken a shot. This showed how much each team valued and was cautious about the other.
No matter how excited everyone is in the locker room, once you get on the court and the whistle blows, you have to calm down and not let your passion get to your head.
It was not until the ninth minute that an exciting scene appeared on the field.
Bruno sent a straight pass in front of the penalty area and passed the ball to the right side of the penalty area. Greenwood received the ball on the wing and then used a change of direction to dribble into the penalty area.
"Greenwood! Manchester United's attack has reached Liverpool's penalty area!" Andy Gray exclaimed.
The Manchester United fans in the stands just cheered, but were drowned out by the boos from Liverpool fans.
Amid the boos, Harry Kane in the middle stretched out his hand, signaling Greenwood to pass the ball to him. But at this point, it was simply wishful thinking for Greenwood to pass the ball...
Greenwood dribbled sideways but did not choose to pass the ball. Instead, he tried to shoot the ball himself. As a result, Koulibaly blocked the ball with his foot.
"Oops!" Andy Gray shouted regretfully, "What a pity! Greenwood's breakthrough was beautiful, but the choice of the last shot... is still questionable..."
Zhan Jun exclaimed: "What a close call! Manchester United suddenly exerted force, and Liverpool seemed to be unprepared and exposed a flaw. Fortunately, Koulibaly made timely defense... But if Roger Greenwood chose to pass the ball instead of shooting, the result would be hard to predict, after all, there is also Harry Kane in the middle..."
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Although Greenwood did not score this goal, it gave the audience hope for an intense game.
The previous trial phase is over, and the game should now be on track. Liverpool took advantage of their home advantage and launched an attack on Manchester United's goal amid the cheers of the fans.
After Henderson passed the ball back and forth with his teammates in the midfield, he suddenly sent the ball to the wing cleverly, and Salah suddenly switched from the right to the left to receive the ball.
"Salah caught the ball!" Andy Gray said excitedly.
In this game, the grudges between Salah and the two teams, Liverpool and Manchester United, are also one of the commentators' favorite topics. Although he is a Liverpool player now, he may go to Manchester United next season. If he helps Liverpool beat Manchester United and win the league championship, how will he face his new teammates in the locker room when he goes to Manchester United next season?
After receiving the ball, Salah rushed into Manchester United's penalty area.
Cancelo came up to defend him, preventing him from entering the penalty area directly and forcing him to slow down.
Just as he slowed down, Mane appeared not far from him, ready to receive the ball.
It stands to reason that Salah should have quickly passed the ball to Mané, and then cut to get rid of Cancelo. But after Salah made a move to pass the ball to Mané, he did not really pass the ball, but just faked it and turned around to force a breakthrough through Cancelo.
He pushed the ball towards the bottom line with his left foot, turned around and accelerated to chase after the ball.
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At the beginning, Cancelo was indeed shaken by Salah's fake move to pass the ball to Mane, but his reaction was quick enough and he immediately turned around to chase Salah.
Salah didn't have much space to sprint with the ball, so his speed didn't increase, and he was quickly caught up by Cancelo.
Facing Cancelo's pursuit, Salah used the outside of his right foot to push the ball in the opposite direction, preparing to stop suddenly, accelerate and change direction.
After changing direction twice in a row, Salah finally succeeded in shaking off Cancelo. He kicked the ball into the penalty area with his right foot and accelerated into the penalty area. Facing Van Dijk who was rushing towards him, Salah kicked the ball and rubbed the ball into an arc with his right foot, heading straight for the back corner of the goal!
Amidst exclamations, Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea jumped into the air and lifted the ball out with one hand!
While many people were still regretting that Salah's shot did not score, Salah himself sat down on the grass, rubbing the muscles behind his right thigh where he shot, with a painful expression...
The camera quickly found Salah, and everyone noticed that there was something wrong with him.
"Uh, what happened?" Zhan Jun said in surprise, "Looking at him, it seems like he was injured when shooting?"
Referee Anthony Taylor stopped the game and signaled Liverpool's team doctor to come on the field.
Bruno also ran over and asked about Salah's situation: "What's wrong?"
"It seems like I pulled a muscle..." Salah frowned, looking very frustrated.
He clearly wanted to perform well in this game, but he got injured just as the game started. He felt that he would definitely not be able to hold on in this game.
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Bruno saw Salah's expression and felt the same way.
He has been seeing Salah's performance since the transfer incident. He has been working very hard. He did not just slack off in the team just because he might leave Liverpool next season. Instead, he worked harder and harder.
Obviously, Salah wanted to shut up some people with this performance.
And this game against Manchester United may be the one he values most.
Liverpool's team doctor came up, checked Salah and said, "I'm sorry, Mohammed, you can't play this game."
Upon hearing this, Salah covered his face with his hands and lowered his head.
At the same time, Liverpool's team doctor stood up and made a "substitution" gesture to Klopp on the sidelines.
"Damn it!" Klopp couldn't help but curse after seeing this gesture on the sidelines, but he still instructed the assistant coach to let Origi warm up.
"Liverpool's team doctor made a gesture for a substitution, which means Salah will not be able to continue the game... As the focus of the game, he had to be substituted after only ten minutes of playing. This was really unexpected..." Zhan Jun's tone was full of disappointment.
The topic of the game went down so quickly, just like a party without wine, which made it a lot more boring.
Of course, this may also have something to do with the fact that he is actually a die-hard Liverpool fan.
"Before the game, everyone was speculating on how Salah would perform in this match, whether he would perform exceptionally well and help Liverpool win, or whether he would sleepwalk..." said Andy Gray. "And now, all the speculation can come to an abrupt end. Salah was injured and was substituted off the field. When the competition between Manchester United and Liverpool was the most intense, he could only helplessly choose to be a spectator. This is really a loss for this game, which reduced its excitement..."
