Midfielder

Every player of Porto tried to make their contribution on the field, but the reality did not reflect the effect of their efforts. The situation has become very bad. They have completely lost their sense of rhythm in the past. They are just running around randomly on the field without any clue.

Fans who have watched Porto's games this season will find that these Porto players running on the field give them a completely unfamiliar feeling. A group of players who are usually very familiar with each other are playing football that makes them unfamiliar. This is the view of those Porto fans now.

They all watched this game in confusion. The performance of Porto's offensive group may be so chaotic for the first time this season. They have no clear offensive route at all. Even if Deco can sometimes break through Bart's defense, he needs to stop and find a receiving point for the pass.

The only one who can contact him is Maniche, who has freedom on the wing, but under Manchester United's pursuit and interception, the narrow wing has become a dead end.

This kind of play in which players look for opportunities in pauses lacks continuity and a sense of fluency. Instead, the players of Porto compete with their opponents on the field, and they insist on winning opportunities by stealing the ball from the opponent's feet. There is no creativity at all.

Compared with the strong Englishmen, this is the kind of confrontation that Porto is least good at, and it is not surprising that they do not have an advantage on the field.

But in the first ten minutes, this confrontation was the only chance for Porto to break through the opponent's defense, which made people helpless, but there was no way.

Although it seemed that Porto was attacking with all its strength, while Manchester United was building defense in its own half, the actual situation was that the opponent's offense was more effective and more deadly. The counterattack launched directly on the spot after stealing the ball in the midfield was the most threatening.

Porto's offense kept hitting the wall, while Manchester United's offense could penetrate the defense set by Porto again and again, directly hitting the most dangerous area, creating dangerous shots again and again, and making the Porto fans watching the game on the spot exclaim.

It's not that Deco and his team didn't attack desperately. Look at McCarthy running non-stop in the frontcourt. Everyone is working hard, but the offensive effect is very poor. The sweat and running they put in are useless, just wasting their physical energy in vain.

Porto now has at least six offensive players wandering in Manchester United's half, but the danger they can create is very limited, or even almost nonexistent. Except for the one shooting opportunity created by Lin Yi who took on Keane, there was no move to threaten the goal.

Siege, a word that seems to have an absolute advantage, but the price of this siege is to watch the opponent rely on counterattacks to hit behind them.

That was the style of play that Porto had always insisted on when dealing with Real Madrid, but now they are truly feeling the threat brought to them by this attack. When Manchester United launched this attack, it was much more vicious and accurate than the original Porto team.

Manchester United's counterattack is very practical. Their passes have clear goals. They either pass the ball to the side or cut inside the middle, or directly to the middle. Anyway, the closer they are to the goal, the more concise their way of handling the ball is, but the effect is very sharp.

The two sides kept pulling Porto's defense. Manchester United's two sides were the most active in attacking. Saha and Giggs did not give Valente and Ferreira a chance to breathe. Their impact has been continuous and never stopped.

The side troubles that Mourinho was going to create for Manchester United have now become his own weakness. He can't attack or defend. This is the cruel reality. The most important thing is the disconnection between the front and back fields. Costinha can't connect them alone.

Although Van Nistelrooy was entangled by Carvalho and Costa, his header support ability in the penalty area can still cause trouble for Porto. This guy's keen sense of grabbing points and header skills are simply a headache for Carvalho.

The Dutch killer can not only choose to head the ball directly in the middle, but even if the chance of shooting is not good, he can also use his height advantage to compete for the header like a center forward standing still, and knock the ball back to his teammates near the penalty area. This protection of the second landing point has become a problem for Porto.

Even if facing two people's double-teaming defense, Van Nistelrooy can still find a way to attack. His strong physical fitness gives him too many such opportunities. He is used to fighting with those strong and brutal Premier League defenders, and this double-teaming has become commonplace.

There is no discomfort in dealing with it. No matter how much the opponent pulls him, Van Nistelrooy can deal with and resolve it very calmly.

Saha's two shots were thanks to Van Nistelrooy's header knockback, although Valente's desperate blocking did not allow the Frenchman to sneak attack.

But this clear-line offensive method still made Baia nervously roar at all the defenders. There is no way, this damn feeling is too depressing! Baia doesn't know how long he hasn't been so embarrassed. The feeling now is so fucking terrible!

Not only was Saha roaming around the penalty area looking for opportunities, the cunning Welsh dagger also tested Baia's skills with a tricky arc ball at the edge of the penalty area, and also used this method to warn the opponent not to think that only Van Nistelrooy can shoot in Manchester United.

Scholes, who was extremely fierce in the midfield, also took a long shot from about 20 meters away, but it might be too sudden. He didn't calibrate the aim of the shot well, and the ball slid out by the right post.

But this kind of shot that allows the opponent to fire at will, no one can guarantee when it will knock on the door guarded by Baia. No wonder this guy yelled at others. It's true that not everyone's heart can withstand being frightened by such a shot.

In less than 20 minutes, Porto's defense allowed the opponent to get seven shooting opportunities, all of which were threatening to score. This could not help but make Baia roar nervously. Even when facing Real Madrid, Porto had never been so embarrassed.

Like Baia, the diehard fans of Porto who watched the game at the Dragon Stadium were no longer in a good mood to sing loudly like they did at the beginning of the game.

"Dragon, dragon, take off!!!" Such cheers were gradually weakening. Everyone was watching the game nervously and forgot to shout.

The impatience began to spread among the crowd, including the on-site commentator, who no longer had the usual teasing mood. He also seemed very worried during the commentary.

"This is not the Porto team we are familiar with. It seems so chaotic in the offense, and it has completely lost the usual clarity. It has been making mistakes in defense, allowing the opponent to get too many shooting opportunities. If it continues like this, the final result may be very bad."

This kind of rebuttal did not attract much attention from others. The fans were nervously watching everything happening in the field at this moment.

Maybe many fans are praying to God at this moment, hoping that the tragedy that happened seven years ago will not happen again this night. It was an unbearable defeat. The current Porto team carries too much hope for them, and no one wants their expectations to be shattered at this moment.

Although Mourinho did not roar like Baia on the sidelines, he even stood there motionless, but his frowning brows showed his inner anxiety. This damn game cannot be played like this, otherwise it will definitely lose to the opponent.

"I want to eat up the opponent in one bite. These guys have lost their usual calm feeling. Such a chaotic scene is not the style of Porto's usual play. This is what Manchester United expects, and this is what the old man likes to see the most."

After watching the game for more than ten minutes, Mourinho could clearly identify the problems of his team. Porto seemed too anxious in the attack.

This is the Dragon Stadium, and the opponent is a team that has created a miracle in the Champions League. When Porto was unanimously criticized by the outside world, they wanted to prove their value to others, especially in their home court. They didn't want to be defeated by Manchester United. They wanted to be the winner.

And from the beginning, they wanted to control the situation and suppress Manchester United as they did in the league. Although I told these guys before the game that as long as they didn't lose this game, it would be an acceptable result, but everyone forgot this.

They wanted to win too much. The sweep in the league gave them this courage, so from the beginning, these guys chose to attack crazily.

This crazy attack was very fierce, even a little reckless, just wanting to swallow the opponent in one bite, leaving no way out.

And Ferguson seemed to have calculated this long ago. He used most of his players to build a solid defense in the midfield and backcourt, and the interception line was very close to the center circle arc, and then he left four players with the strongest breakthrough ability in the frontcourt of Manchester United to harass the opponent constantly.

This tactical arrangement completely sucked the hot-headed guys of the Porto team into the Manchester United team's half and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight.

Even Deco, who usually behaves very calmly, would dive into the opponent's pocket formation. It can be imagined that this idea has spread to the minds of many players. Manchester United's retreat after the opening made them seem to see the hope of defeating the opponent, so everything was in chaos.

The only person who still knew how to retreat and organize the ball was Lin Yi, but the chaotic frontcourt organization was really laborious for him to complete alone.

Moreover, he needed to divide most of his energy to fight the Irishman head-on. This crazy attack made Lin Yi seem a little stubborn. Otherwise, he would not have repeatedly challenged Keane's defense, and he could not organize the attack as calmly as usual.

The three most organized people in the Porto team were entangled. Mourinho's carefully crafted double front midfielder tactics seemed to have completely lost their due effect in front of Ferguson. The Porto team was also like a pile of loose sand, spread in front of the Manchester United team.

Looking at the old man who had been sitting in the visiting team's coaching booth, Mourinho didn't know what the other party was thinking, but from the old man's comfortable expression, he seemed to be ready to welcome his 100th Champions League game as coach with a victory.

Mourinho didn't want to face another defeat at his home stadium, so he needed Porto to change. He needed to make the team normal. At least he had to lose in a decent way. His Porto team would not fall to the opponent's feet in such a muddle, absolutely not!

But just when Mourinho was about to remind Lin Yi loudly on the sidelines to retreat as far as possible to organize the team's attack, the scene he least wanted to see happened on the field. Manchester United scored in the 21st minute of the first half!

It was another attack launched from the left side. The damn side once again became the nightmare of Porto's defense. Giggs, who received a pass from Fortune in the backcourt, took the ball on the sideline. He used his flexible feet to dribble the ball and tested Ferreira again and again with fake moves in the rapid advancement.

At the moment when Ferreira lost his patience and went straight to grab the ball, the cunning Welshman quickly changed direction and pulled the ball past him, and chose to cut inside directly.

A high-speed dribbling with great explosive power, Ferreira had no reaction at all, and was completely stunned when he was dribbled past.

Although Giggs dribbled the ball a little too far when dribbling past the opponent, it did not change the reality that he was approaching the penalty area. Jorge Costa, who was responsible for the central defense, and Costinha, who was withdrawing from the defensive midfielder position, could only rush out and prepare to join forces to annihilate this sharp knife on the front line.

With one flick and one dribble, Giggs did not stop his performance at all. His continuous feints completely stunned Jorge Costa. He made several feints in a row without reducing his own speed. In the flexible movement, he passed the captain of Porto.

In order to stop Giggs from cutting into the penalty area, Costa, after losing his defensive position, knocked the opponent to the ground with a fierce tackle. The referee also gave a free kick without hesitation, and took out a yellow card from his pocket, warning Jorge Costa in a stern tone.

A free kick opportunity that is always available 20 meters away from the goal is a test for Baia. In the Manchester United team without Beckham, free kicks are usually taken by Scholes and Giggs. At this distance of about 20 meters, either of them can take it.

Giggs first stood in front of the ball, and his eyes seemed to be carefully looking for a gap that could be used in the Porto team's wall. This guy seemed to have made up his mind to shoot directly, and Baia was also loudly reminding his players to try to block the opponent's shooting angle.

Giggs's arc shot just now left a deep impression on him. He didn't want to make a mistake at this time. Porto also used six people to build a human wall, trying to cover most of the defensive area of ​​the goal and minimize Giggs' free kick threat.

Run-up, acceleration, seeing that Giggs's foot was about to hit the football, Porto's human wall collectively jumped up, trying to block the opponent's shooting angle.

But the Welshman did not shoot with force as these people thought, but changed from shooting to stepping at the moment his foot touched the football.

He didn't use any strength at all. He didn't plan to really shoot at the beginning. Everyone was deceived. Giggs just made a feint in front of people.

And the man who jumped out behind him! Scholes, with a head full of yellow hair, was the terminator of this free kick. In the astonished eyes of everyone, he gathered all his strength and slammed the football with his right foot.

Only 20 meters away from the goal, a fierce volley, and it was shot straight along the grass, without any obstruction. The consequences were absolutely disastrous. Even those Porto players who jumped up could vaguely hear the sound of the wind when the football scraped against the grass.

The six-man wall became Manchester United's accomplices at this moment. The jumping crowd completely blocked Baia's eyes. He didn't see the opponent's shooting route at all, and he didn't even know who shot the goal. He could only react very blankly by instinct.

Scholes's shot didn't choose any tricky angles, but he just used all his strength to shoot a straight line. When the whistling football rushed out from under the wall of people, Baia almost subconsciously lay on his side and blocked the ball from the goal line with his two legs.

But God can only save Baia once. When his legs blocked the football, at least three of the people in the back row were Manchester United players.

Among the Porto defenders, only Carvalho and Valente realized the danger. They tried desperately to get ahead of the opponent to kick and destroy, and Carvalho tried to use a shovel to clear the siege in a hurry, but the Manchester United players were faster than them.

Van Nistelrooy, known as the "small penalty area killer", caught the football in front of Carvalho, but under Carvalho's desperate shovel and the collision of his body, the Dutch killer only touched the bounced football with his toes and failed to make this shot powerful.

The ball was even slightly off the goal line, but this strange touch caused the ball to roll to Fortune's feet.

One-on-one, with only Baia who had not yet gotten up in front of the goal, and no defensive players around him, facing such an opportunity, even an idiot would know what to do. Fortune swung his left foot and volleyed the ball from only four or five meters away from the goal, and the ball went into the net.

1:0, when Fortune rushed to the bench of Manchester United, the whole Dragon Stadium fell into silence, because no one could have expected the game to start like this. Their favorite Porto team was actually behind in the score, and this was only halfway through the first half.

Surprise? Helplessness? Or self-blame? All kinds of emotions were written on the faces of the Porto players. Lin Yi stood near the center circle, but his fists were clenched.

The fact that the ball was lost first could not be changed. Mourinho took advantage of this gap and pulled Lin Yi over, and said to him word by word.

"Boy, remember, only when you retract your fist can you hit it more fiercely and pull these English people out of the half-court defense!"

If you want to beat your opponent, you must retract your hand first, and then it will be a fatal blow!

(I worked two night shifts in three days, and even my walking was drifting... I was worried. But before I got off work this morning, I was shocked to hear that the National Olympic Team beat Malaysia 3:0. I was stunned for a moment, and even suspected that I was hallucinating. Later, a colleague said that the other team had eight people. I suddenly realized that this was the case, 11-8=3. The referee on duty used this method to teach us how to calculate this simple arithmetic problem. I have to say, you are really talented!)