Chapter 123: Overseas Training Encounter with the Red Devils

On August 2006, 8, Ricardo was sitting on the bus, admiring the street view of Manchester outside the window; the team was on their way to the Theatre of Dreams - Old Trafford, to prepare for a friendly match that would start later.

Manchester is the world's first industrial city. More than two hundred years ago, the world's earliest modern cotton textile industry was born here, marking the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

Although Manchester has a population of only more than 50, this city, which started out as a cotton textile industry, has developed into a prosperous city that never sleeps, featuring finance, education, tourism, commerce, and manufacturing. It is also one of the eight core cities in England and is a major industrial center, commodity distribution center, and financial center city in England.

In Manchester in August, the setting sun shines through the clouds onto the streets and alleys of the city, covering this historic city with a golden coat; it has both the weight of history and the vitality and passion of modern times.

The summer breeze blows gently, bringing the moist breath of the Atlantic Ocean and taking away some of the summer heat; at this time in Manchester, the temperature is moderate, and the temperature difference between day and night is not obvious, allowing people to fully enjoy the comfort of summer.

Soon, the Sevilla bus carrying Ricardo and the entire team turned into the famous Dream Theater.

The Old Trafford Stadium, which is mainly white-framed, was built in 1908 and just completed its latest renovation and expansion two months ago on May 5. After the renovation, the number of seats at the home of the Red Devils Manchester United increased to , making it the second largest football stadium in England and one of the three UEFA five-star football stadiums in England.

Tonight's game is Manchester United's last pre-season warm-up match, and it is also a warm-up match before the new season after the renovation of Old Trafford and a commemorative match for the expansion of the stadium.

When both teams finished their game, Manchester City was already dark, and the lights were on. The neon lights and starlight of the entire city complemented each other, creating a romantic and mysterious atmosphere. No less than 4 spectators also poured into the Old Trafford stadium. Although it was just a friendly match, the enthusiasm of the Red Devils fans should not be underestimated.

The Red Devils have been in good overall form recently. After winning the Amsterdam Invitational Championship last week, they easily defeated Oxford United three days ago; so fans hope to see their favorite stars perform well in the last warm-up match before the season.

However, when he was walking on the field, Ricardo discovered that Cristiano Ronaldo was not there today. He didn't know if it was because of injury or because he was still depressed due to the red card in the World Cup... However, England's World Cup main players Ferdinand and Gary Neville also avoided the battle.

Despite this, Manchester United's starting lineup in this warm-up match still looked star-studded.

The goalkeeper is the Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, the defenders include Wes Brown, Sylvester and Heinze, and a second-team player, Bazley; the midfielders include the ginger-headed Scholes, O'Shea, Park Sanfei and Giggs; the forward line is composed of C Ronaldo and Saha.

Also sitting on the bench were baby-faced killer Solskjaer, Evra, Richardson and former Manchester United youth team captain David Jones.

Sevilla also fielded all its main players.

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Palop, the central defender combination is Navarro and Escudé, and the two full-backs are Alves and Adriano;

The midfield will be started by Marti and Renato in the middle, the right midfielder is Navas, and the left midfielder is new signing Duda;

Kanoute was the starting striker, and Fabiano, who had been absent due to ligament and ankle injuries, also returned to the starting lineup after recovering from injury;

New signings this summer, such as Hinkle, Paulson, and Li Qi, are all on standby on the bench.

In the first half, Li Qi watched the game from a special VIP substitute seat on the sidelines. He was very excited to see many of Li Qi's idols playing football. He was also thinking about who he should exchange jerseys with if he had the chance to play in the second half...

However, in the first half, both teams played very lively, but they were not in good form and missed many chances. On the Sevilla side, Fabiano, who had just returned from injury, missed a single shot in front of the goal, while Manchester United had more chances, but Heinze, Saha and Park Ji-sung also missed one after another...

Both sides also had players who performed very well, Alves and Renato on the Sevilla side, and Ronaldo and Giggs on the Manchester United side.

However, Manchester United took advantage of their home court and had a clear advantage. Of course, this was because Manchester United had already entered the final stage of pre-season preparations. Sevilla was still in the pre-season training period, with high-intensity physical training every day and a match every three days. As the last overseas training match, the Sevilla team, who had been away for a week, was eager to return home, and their physical fitness had actually reached a bottleneck.

The two teams shook hands and made peace with a score of 0-0 in the first half and entered the halftime break. At the beginning of the second half, both teams made personnel adjustments.

For Manchester United, former West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Kuszczak came on as a substitute; Sevilla made two substitutions in a row, with Maresca replacing Marty and Li Qi replacing Fabiano - the Italian duo came on the field.

When Sir Alex Ferguson saw the World Cup's best newcomer Li Qi come on the field, his eyes, who had been watching the game with little interest, suddenly lit up and he chewed the flavorless chewing gum in his mouth even more vigorously.

As soon as Li Qi came on the pitch, it was obvious that the rhythm of Sevilla's counterattack in the frontcourt was different, and the attack seemed to be more sharp; and Li Qi effectively shared Renato's organizational burden, allowing Sevilla to control the ball in the frontcourt longer and make up for some of the disadvantages in the first half.

After observing the first half, Li Qi, as a forward, frequently moved to the side to cooperate with Navas or Duda.

When Manchester United was in defensive position, Li Qi mainly came to the defense area of ​​Manchester United's right-back Bardsley to receive the ball. He took advantage of the second-line player's eagerness to perform and the weakness of stealing the ball, and repeatedly broke through with light turns and one touch of the ball...forcing Park Ji-sung and O'Shea to keep moving right to assist in defense.

When Manchester United attacked, Li Qi pulled to the defense area of ​​Manchester United's left back Heinze to prepare for a counterattack; Heinze, who was beaten so badly by Li Qi in the counterattack that his taillights could not be seen, immediately became mature and prudent and did not dare to press forward as heavily as in the first half... So Li Qi was the only one on the field, continuously suppressing the assists from Manchester United's two flanks.

Moreover, in the 55th minute of the game, Li Qi helped Sevilla break the deadlock.

Li Qi once again pulled to the right side of Manchester United to get the ball and organize the attack; after Adriano made a run-in and got rid of Bazley's persistent pursuit, Li Qi imitated Ronaldinho's style a bit, cutting inside to attack from the ribs, first with a clever fake move to dodge Park Ji-sung's tackle, then after attracting the defense of Wes Brown and O'Shea, he passed the ball to Renato in the middle...

After receiving the ball, Renato did not immediately play a wall-to-wall pass with Li Qi, because Manchester United had heavy defense on Li Qi's side and the space was limited. It was indeed difficult to give the ball before the tacit understanding was established.

Renato faked a pass and shook off O'Shea who came to defend again, then he made room and shot from a distance...

After Li Qi passed the ball, he did not stop, but continued to rush to Manchester United's penalty area at high speed. He was originally a striker, so no matter whether the ball came or not, he had to run to the position and help the midfielder to lead the defender's defense...

When Renato dodged the defense and raised his foot to prepare for a long shot, Li Qi triggered the explosive moment: "Damn, it's not impossible to shoot from this position; but Renato, you stepped too far with your supporting leg, too close to the ball; I guess this ball will miss, and it will most likely roll towards the near post..."

So Li Qi did not hesitate, not only did he not stop, but he accelerated further and rushed into the penalty area, not caring whether he would be offside...

Then, as expected, Renato's long shot missed and lacked power, but the ball still went around Sylvester's legs and rolled towards the near corner of the goal.

In a flash, the soft shot was intercepted by Li Qi who rushed over, and the shot turned into a wonderful pass... Li Qi dribbled sideways to avoid the goalkeeper Kuszak who was trying to save the ball at the near corner, and then easily pushed the ball into the half-empty goal from the middle of the small penalty area.

Manchester United's defensive players immediately complained that Li Qi was suspected of being offside, but the linesman did not raise his flag, so the referee confirmed that the goal was valid.

This goal can be said to be a lucky goal, and Li Qi also bet right, the ball kicked by Renato just rolled in the direction of Li Qi's forward run. Li Qi actually felt that he was suspected of being offside, but he was running in from behind, in a split second, even if he was offside, it was probably less than half a body length, in 2006 when there was no VAR replay, and it was a friendly match, the referee must have turned a blind eye.

So Li Qi was lucky enough to help Sevilla score the first goal, and he and Renato, who shamelessly got an assist, celebrated on the sidelines, completely ignoring the crazy contempt of the home fans: "Shit luck! Bad kick! Offside..."

However, after Li Qi scored this goal, Ronaldo, who had been a little bored, suddenly became serious...

Just after Sevilla scored, Sir Alex Ferguson made further substitutions on the sidelines. Evra came on to replace Heinze, and Solskjaer came on to replace Bazley, obviously expressing his dissatisfaction with being suppressed by Li Qi on both flanks after the start of the second half.

After the substitution, Solskjaer took the top position, Ronaldo retreated to the right winger, Park Ji-sung switched to the middle, O'Shea replaced the right back, and Evra made a substitution to guard the left. Manchester United needs to further strengthen the attack and speed up!

However, Sir Alex's substitutions were effective immediately. The defenses on both sides began to pay attention to Li Qi and directly cut off the passing route, while Park Sam-fei mainly defended Li Qi. Manchester United pushed Sevilla back to the half court...

Soon, just 10 minutes after the substitution, Manchester United equalized the score.

C Ronaldo received a long pass from Scholes on the right side, used his body to lean against Duda to protect the ball, then he accelerated and directly shook off the defense and rushed directly to the corner of the penalty area...

Adriano hurried to make up for the defense, but he didn't expect that Ronaldo would change direction drastically, relying on his height and long legs, he overtook Adriano from the outside, and then swept a powerful low ball in front of the goal from the edge of the penalty area!

Saha in the middle moved smartly, got ahead of Navarro, and shot from 13 yards in front of the goal. The ball hit the near corner like a cannonball! Palop could only sigh at the ball, the speed of the ball was too fast, and the angle was too tricky, so he had no time to save it.

Manchester United equalized the score, and when Ronaldo was celebrating with his arms around Saha, he glanced at Li Qi intentionally or unintentionally, the provocation was self-evident.

After the score was equalized, Sevilla's head coach Juan Ramos did not think about making substitutions or adjusting the formation, as if he just wanted to test whether this lineup could compete with Manchester United away from home.

It is indeed a rare opportunity to test the team's training results. After all, it is not easy to meet a top European team like Manchester United. The team's physical condition and state are not very good, but this is also a test...

So the game continued. I don't know whether it was Ronaldo's seriousness or the new players who came on as substitutes that led to the overall explosion of Manchester United's form. For a while, Sevilla was overwhelmed and the ball had almost no chance to pass through the half court. Li Qi was also submerged in the Red Devils' defensive encirclement.

Li Qi observed near the midfield and found that Park Sam-fei was really sticking to him. Although he and his Sevilla teammates had begun to establish a certain connection, it was still a long way to go before they could cooperate tacitly. So was there any simple and direct way to break the deadlock?

"Fuck, Park Sam-fei is marking me, so I'll take you to mark Ginger and Giggs! If they steal the ball, I'll pass it directly to counterattack!"

So Li Qi retreated to the midfield on a large scale, and began to constantly press and harass Manchester United's two organizational cores... Although with Manchester United's skillful cooperation, Li Qi did not grab the ball even after triggering several explosive moments, but Li Qi's wonderful prediction, coquettish running, and fighting at all costs still effectively delayed Manchester United's organizational advancement, and also made Manchester United's midfield pass begin to be blocked. Ronaldo didn't touch the ball for a while.

When the game reached the 75th minute, Sir Alex Ferguson saw that the two veterans, Scholes and Giggs, were being chased by Li Qi and their physical fitness had declined. He frowned slightly and made personnel adjustments again. After all, it was just a friendly match and there was no need to let the main players fight with all their strength.

Richardson and David Jones were substituted and the two veteran players went off to rest. In addition, Saha, who had just scored a goal, was replaced by substitute striker Miller, so that the main players could save their energy for the subsequent Community Shield match.

Sir Alex's substitution immediately gave Li Qi an opportunity! Li Qi secretly exchanged glances with Maresca and Navas, and as soon as the ball started, he began to scramble for Richardson and David Jones, who had just come on the court and had not yet adapted to the rhythm...

Li Qi and Maresca surrounded David Jones and blocked his way back and through the middle on the wing, forcing him to charge towards Navas with the ball. However, David Jones was clearly not prepared, so Navas determined the ball's path during his acceleration and change of direction. Navas made a tackle and kept the ball, and David Jones flew out...

Li Qi accepted the pass from Gass who was lying on the ground, and without stopping the ball, he made a wall-to-wall cooperation with Maresca, and immediately shook off Park Sam-fei who had been defending on his side. However, Park Ji-sung pounced too fiercely, and all the space behind him was exposed.

Li Qi turned around with the ball and rushed directly to Manchester United's defense; Evra, who was closest, quickly filled the position of defensive midfielder and intercepted Li Qi's sprint. Li Qi didn't stick to the ball, and when Evra pressed forward, Li Qi sent the ball directly behind him...

There was an open space on Manchester United's left side, and left midfielder David Jones had just gotten up... Navas rushed up like a rocket, caught the ball before it went out of the sideline, and then sprinted directly towards Manchester United's baseline!

Manchester United's defense line retreated rapidly, Evra quickly returned to the middle, and Silvester switched to the wing to intercept Navas. Navas was also decisive. This was an opportunity to counterattack. The key was to be fast. When Silvester came over, he just reached the corner of the penalty area and passed the ball to the middle...

Maresca was in position at the side of Manchester United's penalty area, but he missed the ball and continued to move forward... This made Evra, who had just switched to the middle, stagger.

Li Qi received the ball behind Maresca and kicked it directly, not giving Manchester United's defense time to react. He passed it diagonally behind Evra, which was exactly the route Maresca would take. Sevilla's counterattack was a classic leaky ball and reverse cut in the middle; Manchester United's defense was completely down for a while...

Maresca, who had reached the corner of the small penalty area, received a direct pass from Li Qi and without further ado, shot the ball directly into the near corner of the goal; Kuszczak, who was attacking, stretched his body completely but was unable to block the ball that slipped past his feet and went into the net.

Sevilla took advantage of Manchester United's distraction after the substitution and launched an efficient and quick counterattack, once again increasing the score to 2-1!

Juan Ramos on the sidelines couldn't help but applaud this wonderful counterattack, while Ferguson on the coaching bench on the other side shook his head slightly, then observed Li Qi who was celebrating with interest, and then turned his head and said something to the assistant coach beside him.

And watching Sevilla celebrating the goal, Ronaldo's eyes became even more fierce...