Fox in the Penalty Area

Chapter 171 Begins

In addition to Hulay's amazing goal in the game, there is still a lot of discussion in the media about the Madrid Pirates' 3:2 home win over Catalonia United.

The main focus is on what this game means for both teams.

On the surface, it looks like the Madrid Pirates have won. However, many experts and journalists believed that Catalan United actually won.

First of all, judging from the score of this game, Madrid Pirates only defeated Catalonia United by one goal.

Secondly, judging from the game process, the victory of Madrid Pirates can only be called a "narrow victory".

It is obvious that the Madrid Pirates are no longer as dominant as last season when facing Catalonia United.

In the first two seasons, except for that 0:0 game, the scores in the remaining three matches were 4:1, 4:1 and 5:3.

Not to mention the process, just looking at these scores can make people know how easy it is for Madrid Pirates to beat Catalonia United.

In fact, this is indeed the case.

So even though the Madrid Pirates still won this game, many people felt that what Catalonia United showed in this game was a very positive signal.

It shows that Catalonia United, which has changed its head coach this season, has indeed made significant progress compared to before.

What Riley Vicente said after the game was definitely not a bluff, or something he couldn't afford to lose.

A well-organized Catalan United team can indeed threaten the Madrid Pirates.

There are also the Madrid Kings and Melly Banega who are currently in good form. The competition for the La Liga title this season will definitely be more intense than the previous two seasons.

But the league is not too important now. After all, the league is a long marathon, and the results of one or two games may not determine the final result. It’s too early to say who can win the league championship and who can’t.

The most important game now facing the three Western Premier League giants is the Champions League.

Who is more important, the league champion or the Champions League champion, let them say for themselves, then both are definitely important.

But in the minds of many people, the Champions League championship is still more valuable than the league championship.

Because the Champions League championship comes from competition with the top giants in Europe, and the league championship... after fighting back and forth, they are actually fighting against those two old rivals, which is really a bit tired.

It is definitely easier for the Western Premier League giants to win the league championship than to win the Champions League.

Therefore, it is self-evident which championship is more important.

After the third round of the league,

The new season of the Champions League group stage has officially begun.

Sevilla Navigators, Madrid Pirates and Catalonia United, who are in the top half of the Champions League group, will be the first to appear.

Sevilla Navigators, as the Europa League champions last season, became the seeded team in the Champions League group stage this season.

They will face Turkish giants Mehidiya at home in the first round of the group stage.

There is also a game in the same group that Chinese fans are paying close attention to, and that is the home game between Sporting Amsterdam and Borg Sporting, the fourth-tier team in this group.

But what makes Chinese fans a little bit confused is that this game conflicts with the match time of Madrid Pirates - the match time of Madrid Pirates' away game against Lyon Lions is the same as the game time of Atlético Amsterdam.

The kick-off time is 2:45 a.m. on Wednesday, September 19th, China domestic time.

The domestic broadcasting agency CCTV's countermeasure is that the away game of Madrid Pirates against Lyon Lions is arranged to be broadcast live on the free sports channel, while the home game between Sporting Amsterdam and Borg is broadcast on the Fengyun Football Channel, which requires a fee.

It is clear at a glance which game attracts more attention and is more important in the minds of Chinese fans.

※※※

In this season's Champions League group stage, the group in which the Madrid Pirates are located is called the "Group of Death." Except for the Madrid Pirates themselves, the remaining three teams in this group are all strong players in their respective leagues.

Not to mention Insubre, he fought to the last minute with the Turin Bulls last season and ended up finishing second.

The Lyon Lions were also runners-up in Ligue 1 last season.

That is to say, Vesseldorf is slightly worse, but it is still a strong team in the Bundesliga.

As the defending champion, Madrid Pirates cannot easily qualify from this group.

If they are too proud and underestimate the enemy, they may fall over in this group, and the chance is not small.

Many things in the football world are difficult to explain by simple "strength comparison".

Last season, a team had gods come down to earth. If gods blocked, they would kill gods. If Buddha blocked, they would kill Buddha. No one could stop them. After winning all the championships that can be won, it is very likely that it will suddenly wither in the next new season.

After all, a team is composed of twenty or thirty people, and there are as many as eleven people playing in the game. If you include substitutes, the number will be even more.

And people are the most unstable factor in the world.

As long as football matches are played by humans, they will be full of surprises that are difficult to explain scientifically.

This is exactly the charm of football.

Uncertainty and suspense are the most important reasons why so many teams strive to pursue the championship.

Otherwise, just look at paper strength and past data performance, then just award the championship trophy to the strongest team.

In reality, the defending champion often performs worse than last season.

In both the Champions League and the World Cup, there are often examples of defending champions failing, and this is not uncommon.

Let’s not talk about the World Cup. For a while, “the defending champion will not qualify for the group stage” has become a curse...

After the restructuring of the Champions League, no team has successfully defended the title after so many years.

If there are four years between each World Cup, the team lineup has changed during this period, and it is difficult for the players' status to remain consistent over four years.

What about the Champions League?

The Champions League happens every season.

Shouldn't it be a matter of continuing the excellent form of last season, going all out in the new season, making persistent efforts, and successfully defending the title?

But the fact is that no matter how well the team that won last season performed and how amazing their results were, they just couldn't successfully defend their title.

The most recent example is the Madrid Kings last season.

They defeated Stan Park Rangers last season and won the Champions League.

They also performed very well last season and reached the Champions League final.

But they met Hu Lai, who was in full form, in the final, and were almost defeated by Hu Lai alone.

In hindsight, the failure of this game is really a bit "metaphysical".

After all, who would have thought that after the Madrid Kings led their rivals in the city 3:2, Hulay would be able to take advantage of the kick-off opportunity and shoot directly from the center circle to equalize the score?

In the dark, it seems as if there is a pair of invisible hands preventing every team from trying to reach the top of Europe for two consecutive seasons.

Although the Madrid Pirates are the defending champions, when the new season of the Champions League begins, all the glory they won last season has disappeared. In everyone's eyes, they are not even as good as other competitors.

Because everyone knows that defending the championship often means "failed to defend the title."

This time he was assigned to a "death group" again, making it even more difficult to defend his title.

Under such circumstances, the entire Madrid Pirates team arrived in Lyon, France two days before the game to challenge the Lyon Lions, last season's French Ligue 1 runner-up.

For the first game of the new Champions League season, the host Lyon Lions are naturally well prepared.

Their head coach Benoit Rapponi said at the pre-match press conference:

"I know that Hu is a player who is very good at scoring goals, but our entire team has carefully studied his game and found ways to contain his goals. We will definitely not let Hu score in this game!"

At that time, a reporter asked him if he could briefly reveal how he stopped Hu Lai from scoring.

Benoit Raponi smiled mysteriously: "Don't try to trick me into tricking our tactical secrets!"

※※※

"The Lions of Lyon did keep a very strict eye on Hulay. No matter where Hulay was, there would be a Lyon Lions player next to him..."

He Feng said this after observing the game for nearly 20 minutes. It sounded like he admitted that the Lyon Lions' defense against Hulay was effective.

But then he changed the subject:

"But there doesn't seem to be anything special about this kind of defense? It's no different from the defensive tactics and strategies used by other teams to face Hu Lai..."

After speaking, he looked at Yan Kang.

Yan Kang affirmed his judgment: "That's indeed the case."

He Feng hesitated for a moment, then said it: "So what exactly is Raponi's so-called 'method to contain Hu Lai's goals'?"

Yan Kang said half-jokingly: "At least so far, the game has been played for almost 20 minutes, and Hu Lai has not scored yet."

He Feng laughed and said: "You are right!"

The two people were joking easily because the competition was not too intense.

It can even be said to be a little dull.

The Lyon Lions really tried their best to contain Hulay's goal, so even though they were at home, they took the initiative to shrink their defense after the game started.

At the same time, foul tactics were used to prevent the Madrid Pirates' offense from running smoothly.

As a result, the game process is naturally not exciting, but relatively boring.

This is also the main reason why the two commentators still have time to chat - precisely because there are not so many exciting scenes in the game, they do not need to commentate on the game frequently, so they have time to chat.

But while they were chatting, Hu Lai, who was still in the penalty area, suddenly ran back and left the penalty area!

Of course, this is not surprising, because Hu Lai will always have similar moves now.

He won't always be at the forefront, and when he is marked by the opponent's defender, he won't be able to stay in the penalty area.

Only this time, while he was running backwards, Kamara, who was holding the ball in the ribs, also followed suit and passed the football over in a tacit understanding.

Because the timing of passing and running was so tacit, when the football came to Hulay, there was no Lyon Lions player next to him!

In other words, the Lyon Lions players didn't have time to pounce.

Of course this is not a big problem.

Because someone is already doing it.

There were two Lyon Lions players running towards Hulay. Their reaction was quite quick and they did not completely miss the target.

As long as Hu Lai stops the ball and makes a slight adjustment, they will stick up and completely restrict Hu Lai's next move...

But Hu Lai didn't stop the ball!

He directly raised his right leg to meet the ball from Kamara!

Non-stop half-volley!

The football was like a cannonball, flying directly towards the goal from the penalty area line!

The Lyon Lions goalkeeper jumped into the air and made a save.

But it was still out of reach and failed to touch the ball!

The football hits the net!

"Hu Lai - so beautiful!" Yan Kang shouted. "The goal is scored! Hulay opened the scoring for the Madrid Pirates. Now the Pirates lead the Lyon Lions 1:0 in the away game!"

He Feng laughed and said: "So there is no 'method to contain Hulay's goals' for the Lyon Lions!"