Chapter 303: Rivalry with good friends again! (5K chapter)

In the last ten minutes, he was called upon to come on as a substitute and turn the tide!

This is easy to say, but anyone who has really played football knows that it is too difficult. It is very likely that the game is over before you have even warmed up your body or even touched the ball a few times...

Although Li Qi has scored goals or assisted as a substitute in both Barcelona and Sevilla, the most memorable one is of course the winning goal he scored as a substitute in the 05/06 Champions League final;

However, Li Qi also has self-knowledge. In this game, he does not think that he can change the situation as soon as he comes on the court. After all, Manchester United has the advantage of ball possession and is besieging Tottenham, but they just can't break the home team's dense defense.

Breaking through dense defense is a world-class problem, especially since Li Qigang's warm-up preparation and tactical observation off the court were not sufficient...

However, with Li Qi who just came on as a substitute, the Four Little Gooses, Hi-Pah, and the Magic Quartet are all there; plus Carrick and Anderson, the Red Devils definitely have a super young frontcourt combination that is full of impact.

Of course, Tottenham are no pushovers. They are battle-hardened, experienced, and have a very mature and stable formation. When they are ahead and have little time left, the main force shrinks tightly in the defensive third zone;

Even after Li Qi came on as a substitute, Tottenham replaced him with O'Hara, who had performed well in the previous game, to defend Li Qi, and then replaced him with Defoe to counterattack, and withdrew the original starting two forwards.

After coming on the pitch, Li Qi, who naturally replaced Giggs' left midfielder position, knew that it would be difficult to end the game peacefully today when he saw the opponent's dense formation: Well, don't make it complicated, just use the basic method of breaking the dense defense!

As a world-renowned topic, breaking dense defenses has naturally been disassembled and analyzed by countless people. Although there are many different ways to deal with it, the most basic ones are only four: wing, lob, long shot and set piece.

Of course, long shots are not Li Qi's choice. After all, Tottenham's focus is on the middle, so he will break through the flanks and create set-piece opportunities, and then keep kicking the ball inside!

The rest is up to fate...

However, although Li Qi's choice was simple, it was intuitive and effective, and the rest of the teammates understood it immediately;

So Carrick kept passing the ball to Li Qi, Ronaldo, Evra or Anderson who kept breaking through from the wing. The four of them were like carrying explosive packs and rushing into the opponent's crowd;

The purpose is very simple. You can prevent me from passing, but at least give me a corner kick or a set piece!

Among them, Li Qi and Anderson were the freshmen and had the best effect, creating set pieces in good positions and multiple consecutive corner kicks.

However, Ronaldo's two consecutive direct set-piece shots were off target, and several corner kicks towards the center were blocked by Tottenham's new defensive combination.

The game time is about to enter injury time. Although there are still 5 minutes of extra time, it will pass in the blink of an eye.

Ronaldo no longer took the free kick, and joined hands with Ferdinand and Vidic to rush into Tottenham's penalty area, acting as a high point bridgehead in front, middle and back;

Rooney and Tevez were lying in wait on both sides of the penalty area, looking for a second landing point. Carrick, Anderson, Li Qi and others were on the periphery.

At the same time, except for Defoe, almost all Tottenham players returned to the penalty area. Huddlestone, Woodgate and Dawson also man-marked Manchester United's high points.

Originally, Li Qi, who is about 1 meters tall, was taller, so he should have stayed in the penalty area. But there were too many people in the penalty area, so there was no place to stand, let alone make moves.

So Li Qi chose to stay on the periphery to kick the ball and take free kicks. After all, he also needed a reliable way to deliver the ball into the penalty area.

So Carrick held the middle, Evra kicked the ball from the left, and Ronaldo, who rushed into the penalty area, gave the right to Li Qi...

Then Li Qi performed well and sent several threatening crosses from the right, but this also attracted the attention of Tottenham's defense.

But Manchester United really had no time left. It was the 93rd minute. After Li Qi received the ball on the right, he didn't think about anything else. Facing the double defense of two people, relying on his almost full stamina bar and his height and long legs, he volleyed and went to the outside line to the bottom!

Corner kick! Li Qi's final cross was blocked by O'Hara, who also came on as a substitute, and hit the bottom line...

Li Qi quickly took a corner kick from the right side, and once again turned to the middle of the small penalty area, but was once again cleared by Tottenham's central defender.

Keep going with the corner kick!

However, this time, Li Qi looked at the dense crowd fighting near the small penalty area again, and decided to change his mind and do something different, so he gave a little goose a hand gesture that only the little goose could understand...

This time, Li Qi kicked the ball low and directly to the edge of Tottenham's penalty area!

With the help of Ronaldo's screen and pick-and-roll, Rooney got rid of the close defense and turned to the edge of the penalty area. He half turned around, twisted his waist and volleyed the ball!

Unfortunately, the ball was blocked by Woodgate again and bounced out of the baseline again, or a corner kick...

But the game has entered the last minute of injury time, and this may very well be Manchester United's last corner kick.

Li Qi placed the ball again and observed the situation in the penalty area. He thought that the same trick might not work this time, but should he move it to the small penalty area again?

It seems that you have to take risks to get rich and noble. I hope that the little geese, the magic quartet and the magic sound quartet can have tacit understanding and understand me!

Li Qi once again made the same gesture as the corner kick. Seeing this gesture, the three little geese were also stunned: Still trying? Hasn't this tactic been exposed? The soonest we can try again is in the next game...

Although they hesitated for a while, the three little geese still chose to trust their partners and firmly began to run the tactics. Of course, they vaguely felt in their hearts that it should not be that simple. Li Qi, this insidious bad guy with pus oozing from his feet, must have a backup plan!

Sure enough, when the entire Tottenham team thought that Manchester United had used the same old trick, Tevez first helped Ronaldo to screen, and the latter helped Rooney to screen, and then Rooney got rid of the defense and pulled out to the outside to shoot a long shot;

Although Li Qi still made a powerful low free throw, he did not play by the rules. This time he looked for Tevez who came up with the first pick-and-roll!

After the Argentine striker completed the pick-and-roll for Ronaldo, he naturally moved to the front point to ambush and wait for the second point. At the same time, he was also left open by Tottenham's defense;

After all, he is not a high point, and he does not seem to be the terminator of the tactical setting. After all, it was Rooney who was responsible for the end in the previous round, and even if he focuses on the high point, Ronaldo may be more effective than following Tevez.

So due to the inertia of thinking, Tevez had an opportunity to hide in the dark!

And Li Qi's corner kick arrived in an instant...

Tevez was originally looking back to see if Ronaldo's pick-and-roll was successful, but when he turned back, the ball shot by Li Qi was about to reach him!

Fortunately, Tevez was very focused and had a certain tacit understanding. He knew that Li Qi might not play by the rules this time. Although he did not expect him to look for him, now was not the time to think too much...

The Argentine beast also demonstrated the world-class adjustment and technical ability of a top striker. Facing the high-speed corner kick from Li Qi, he turned half way and shot the ball!

The ball whizzed past the dense jungle of human legs and accurately flew into the net along the near corner post!

In an instant, the originally noisy stadium seemed to have been muted...

Until one second later, the stands of away fans who gathered with the team broke into deafening cheers!

Tevez looked back at the referee, and after the referee indicated that the goal was valid, he also started the undressing celebration that got him a card...

After all, the referee also blew the whistle to end the game at the same time. With the assist from substitute Li Qi's corner kick and Tevez's last seconds, Manchester United tied Tottenham 1-1 away from home!

This was Tevez's 14th goal of the season, including his 11th in the league! Manchester United's 4-game winning streak in the league was ended, and Tottenham's 4-game winning streak at home in the league also came to an end.

Although it was worth celebrating to escape death, Sir Alex Ferguson was still unhappy. After all, although he managed to secure one point by equalizing, he lost two points and was recaptured the top spot in the league by Arsenal, who beat Manchester City 3-1 away from home in this round.

Damn Blue Moon, can't you guys stand up for yourself?

The Africa Cup is almost at the semi-finals, and Arsenal will be able to recover soon...

In addition, the Sir was unhappy for another reason, which was that Li Qi escaped once again. Damn it, he didn't get the chance to criticize him harshly...

Forget it, let’s wait for next time!

After all, the next round of the league after the national team match day is the Manchester derby. Rooney and Ronaldo are both suspended, and we have to rely on that brat to hold the scene...

No matter how bad the performance is, it’s double-edged and we have to deal with it together!

@

After the game, Ricardo also had a cordial chat with his former head coach, current Tottenham coach Juan Ramos.

Juan Ramos only took over Spurs midway through last November, so he missed the first leg against Manchester United; and in last week's FA Cup, Li Qi greeted his former boss before the game;

However, due to the big away loss, Ramos was in a bad mood and left angrily after the game.

Although he was stabbed in the back by his former disciple in this game, it was a draw after all, and it was played at home, so he still had to be graceful.

So after a polite handshake with Sir Alex Ferguson, Ricardo waited for Defoe to exchange jerseys and chatted with him for a few words:

"Why? Why didn't Alex let you start?

Oh! That’s right, you played really badly in the last game. I watched the video…

Are you unhappy at Manchester United? Would you consider coming to Tottenham?

Can't afford it? Just do some work on your side and get Manchester United to let you go. I will definitely persuade the club to sell everything they have to get you.

If you were on my side in this game, we could have defeated Manchester United in the first half and taught them a lesson in the second half!

Okay, okay, got it.

Okay, if you want to change teams next time, let me know as soon as possible.

Well, my family and I are doing fine...

Oh, yes, forgot to thank you for the Christmas presents for the kids.

OK, see you next time."

Hugging and bidding farewell to Juan Ramos, who was quite nice to him, Ricardo couldn't help but shake his head privately: Although Ramos should be able to bring a long-awaited League Cup to Tottenham this season; but, Tottenham? Forget it, I really can't lead him.

@

At the post-match press conference, the media's focus was not on the game that had just ended...

Although both coaches were a little disappointed, Ramos was just a few seconds away from a rare victory, while Sir Alex Ferguson was a pity to temporarily lose his leading position;

However, the coaches of both teams were quite satisfied with the course of the game. Ramos tied the league leader who was in great form and was leading for more than 70 minutes. Naturally, there was nothing to complain about. He was just a bit unlucky.

Sir Alex Ferguson also understood that he could not judge the current Tottenham by his past perspective. He was thankful that he could draw with Tottenham at the last moment: "This game was very impressive. We did not give up and we put our heart and soul into the game... We fought back after falling behind at halftime. One point is very good for us."

The questioning session by the media reporters afterwards had basically nothing to do with this game, because the Premier League entered an intermission after this round of games. It was a national team match day, and it was a national team match day after the end of the European Cup qualifiers.

Although the England team miraculously failed to enter the finals of the 08 European Cup, this was also the first national team debut for Italian coach Capello after he took office.

The media are all paying close attention to the launch of the new England national team, including the new main force framework, new tactical style, new captain, new national team discipline, etc.

Especially in Manchester United and Tottenham, there are many England national team players.

In addition, the media is particularly concerned about the national team friendly match in four days, which will see Manchester United facing off against each other.

Because on the evening of February 2, the 6 European Cup runner-up Portugal and the 04 World Cup champion Italy will join hands in Zurich, Switzerland to stage a wonderful technical warm-up match.

The two teams with the same odds of winning the European Cup will also embark on the road of preparation for the 08 European Championship after this game.

In the national team call-ups for both teams announced a week ago, two of Manchester United's hottest youngsters this season, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Richarlich, were in the two teams' camps respectively;

So there are even some media outlets that believe that this Italy-Portugal championship battle can be compared to the love-hate battle between Rooney and Ronaldo in the 06 World Cup between England and Portugal, and can be called the "international version of the battle between Manchester United's new two heroes"!

Sir Alex's opinion on this is...

"I am not the head coach of the national team! I have no opinion!

Wait a minute! It’s not like I don’t have any opinions at all!

I hope that Manchester United players will not get injured in the national team, and it would be best if Li Qi does not play the whole game, after all, it is just a warm-up match; however, three days after the national team match day, we will usher in the Manchester derby! ”

……

@

After Manchester United broke up in London, Ricardo stayed in London for one more night and spent some time with Sarafina. The next morning, after passing through security, he met Liana in a hidden place at Heathrow Airport.

As for whether it was in the restroom of the VIP room... that cannot be revealed! After all, we cannot let the omnipresent paparazzi find any clues!

On the afternoon of February 2, after returning to Milan, Italy, Ricardo reported to the national team directly. However, Ricardo still had two and a half days to spend with his family, celebrate the Chinese New Year in advance, deal with commercial endorsements and personal affairs, and have a tryst with Liana...

On the evening of February 2, the Azzurri, having completed the three-day training course, will collectively take a flight to Zurich, Switzerland to prepare for the Italy-Portugal battle on the Chinese New Year's Eve.

This is the first match between the two teams since they reached the 2008 European Cup finals.

The day before the game was Ronaldo’s 23rd birthday.

At the pre-match preparation meeting, the coaching staff of the Portuguese national team specially prepared a birthday gift for Ronaldo. They enlarged and framed the photo of him wearing the national team captain's armband for the first time. Nani and other compatriots also congratulated him.

However, the Manchester United genius felt that this was not enough. Ronaldo thought that the best birthday gift would be to beat Italy:

"I would have liked to celebrate my birthday with my family, but the national team is like my second home, so beating Italy would be a wonderful birthday present, especially since Portugal haven't beaten Italy in 31 years!"

Yes, in the last 10 encounters, Italy has had an absolute advantage, with 9 wins, 1 draw and only conceding 3 goals to Portugal.

Portugal coach Scolari also agreed with the statement of his favorite player Cristiano Ronaldo, and hoped that this shameful record would not be expanded: "We all hope to beat Italy. I know Portugal's previous record was very bad, and we must change it!"

The media also unanimously believe that Ronaldo is the player with the most goals and the hottest form this season. Even if Italy has a steel defense, it will face severe challenges!

So naturally one would ask what Ricardo Richie, who has become a rocket this season and is in just as hot form as Ronaldo, and is also a good friend of Ronaldo, thinks?

This is obviously a case of watching the fun, sowing discord, fanning the flames, and adding fuel to the fire, fearing that the two will not fight on the field, just like the story of Rooney and Ronaldo in the 06 World Cup, a red card will get one of them, no, it would be best if both of them were sent off together...

Ricardo, who was brought to the press conference by coach Donadoni, actually shared the same opinion as Sir Alex Ferguson - no opinion;

After all, although Ricardo has become a main player of the national team, there are many big bosses above him. The ones who should be worried are Cannavaro, Buffon and Pirlo, and even brothers Toni and Ambrosini should think more about how to look at it.

However, Ricardo has always maintained a well-behaved and sensible persona in front of others, so he first wished everyone a happy new year: "Wish everyone good fortune and prosperity in the new year!

Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo and I are good friends. I gave him his birthday present when I was in London.

But I would also like to wish him a happy birthday and a happy new year. It can be said that he has double happiness!

As far as I know, in Chinese culture, eggs are eaten on birthdays and during the Spring Festival, which has a beautiful meaning...

Therefore, in tomorrow's game, I think our team will give him and the Portuguese team a double egg as a blessing! "

……