Midfielder

The tug-of-war between Porto and Celtic continued. In addition to the scenes of people falling and horses falling, the audience also felt the boredom of the game. They even lost interest when they were rolling in the seats.

After all, these fans came to watch the fierce game, not to watch the referee blowing the whistle. In the past 40 minutes of the first half, the three referees were almost the busiest people on the field. Most of the time, only the black judges could be seen on the big screen.

The harsh whistle always made the game lose continuity. It was not that the referee was addicted to blowing something, but the hot confrontation on the field forced him to use this method to calm the players of the two teams. He had already shown 4 yellow cards in the first 40 minutes.

But this did not ease the tense confrontation on the field. Even Deco, who was not used to arguing with the opponent, couldn't hold back his anger. After being violated by his opponent five or six times in a row, he also broke out. If his teammates hadn't pulled him away, Deco might have beaten that guy.

There were no wonderful shots, no fascinating cooperation and passing. The field was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder. Physical confrontation had replaced all the gorgeous technical moves, and constant fouls became the only main theme on the field.

The two goalkeepers, Baia and Douglas, were completely unemployed, because the football was rarely hit near the small penalty area to form an effective attack, which made the goalkeepers of both teams become decorations. Baia only made two saves in the first 40 minutes.

Not many people like to watch such a game, and even the commentary on the scene has lost its passion. They are just mechanically repeating what happened on the field, and there is no intention to tease both sides, not to mention the audience watching the game on TV.

But even at such a boring time, the head coaches of the two teams were tense at the same time. Mourinho and O'Neill could both smell the danger from such a fierce scene. Whoever can score a goal at this time will immediately break the balance on the field.

Although Mourinho was still signaling his players to try to control the ball at their feet at this time, it was difficult for Costinha to play a role in connecting the front and back fields without the back midfielder. It was not easy for Ricardo Costa to complete the defensive task.

After Porto lost a midfielder who could hold the ball, their frontcourt attack seemed very scattered. Only Deco could run back and forth in the frontcourt to organize. The actual role that Alenichev and Maniche could play had been reduced to the lowest point.

There was no continuity in the midfield attack. Porto could break through the blockade of Greek, Turkish and Italian clubs continuously, relying on the fierceness of the frontcourt to continuously put pressure on the opponent's defense line. If one attack didn't work, they would do it again immediately!

Porto relied on such an attack to break the Italian defense line, but now only Deco was organizing the attack on the field. This continuous oppression was gone. It was difficult to have a continuity after a wave of attacks, which made Porto's offense lack a sharp feeling.

But the Celtics' offense was not much better. Their two wingers were more likely to try to go down the wing, but Valente and Ferreira did not give them too many opportunities to shoot, and their 45-degree crosses did not provide any help to Larsson and Sutton.

The Celtics' offense was powerless. The impact of Hartson's absence was very obvious. Without this high-point strong impact, both Larsson and the Celtics midfielders who were used to inserting from the back row would feel that they lacked a three-dimensional effect when attacking.

Larsson was even forced to return to the front midfielder position to organize the offense, but Sutton, under the care of Carvalho and Jorge Costa, could not find any chance to shoot, and the two shots he made with great difficulty did not cause any threat.

Although Porto's offense seemed a bit scattered, Dallei and Kapshu could still rely on their footwork to create some trouble for the Celtics' defenders. Overall, Porto still had a slight advantage, although it was not obvious.

The two teams were deadlocked in this situation. Now Mourinho and O'Neill both hoped that someone could stand up and break the deadlock. However, the Celtics' midfield was a little too far behind due to defense and could not provide much help to the frontcourt offense.

Although O'Neill had already stood on the sidelines and loudly reminded his midfielders to try to launch sniper steals near the center circle and then quickly launch a counterattack on the spot, the pressure given by Porto made people like Lennon and Petrov dare not press forward easily.

However, the Celtics' defensive style always reveals some flaws at certain moments, especially when offensive players such as Dalley continue to interfere in front of them, even the tightest defense line will be continuously pulled to create a gap.

When O'Neill's loud shouting had not yet received a response from the players on the field, the front three-man combination of Porto suddenly started rapidly in an instant. Deco, who had been silent for half a day, received Dalley's knock back and forced his way into the penalty area along the right rib.

Blocking, Agathe, who had been closely guarding Deco, pulled the opponent with his hands and tried to block Deco's cutting position with his body, but Deco did not leave him this opportunity. He directly dribbled past the opponent and dodged Agathe's claws that had already stretched out.

Deco did not wait for the ball to land, but directly volleyed it in the air. The ball whistled towards the bottom corner of the goal with the sound of the wind. Douglas, who was highly focused, became the savior of the Celtics again. His side dive blocked this threatening shot out of the bottom line.

But this attack did not end. When Douglas yelled at his defenders, Porto's attack was coming again!

Deco quickly took a tactical corner kick while the Celtics were still concentrating in the penalty area. Alenichev's low cross once again caused chaos in the opponent's penalty area. If Miyalbi had not been alert enough, Kapshu at the front post might have seized a good opportunity.

Unfortunately, the football that was kicked out with great difficulty did not fall into the feet of the Celtics players, but was intercepted in advance by Maniche who was wandering in the midfield, and then he quickly passed it to Deco in the frontcourt. The continuous combination punches that Porto had disappeared for half a day reappeared!

Porto's sudden and continuous attack disrupted the Celtics' defense. Their third attack was even more fierce. Even Carvalho in the backcourt suddenly rushed to the hinterland of the Scots. He received Alenichev's cross and headed the ball fiercely directly into the goal.

If Douglas had not reacted quickly in front of the goal, perhaps this header would have directly hit the net, but his one-handed block failed to kick the ball out of the dangerous area, and the Celtics' defenders were also a little panicked at this time, and Balde's long-foot clearance failed to kick far.

This mistaken clearance was directly intercepted by Deco at the top of the penalty area, and he pulled the bow! Deco's legs seemed to be ready for a shot from outside the penalty area, which made Agathe and Lambert rush to Deco at the same time, trying to block the shot with their bodies.

But Deco deceived the two poor guys. He did not choose to volley, but used the arch of his foot to cleverly rub the ball in mid-air to the left side of the goal. Alenichev, who had been left empty by the defender, found a chance to shoot, and his left foot volley shot fiercely.

Douglas, who was alert, flew to the side again and barely blocked the ball, but this time he did not let the god of luck continue to accompany him. The Celtics' defense line, which was fully attracted by Deco's actions on the periphery, had a serious situation of missing people.

Porto's most dangerous killer, Brazilian Dallei, grabbed the first landing point of the blocked football. He met the ball with a sliding shovel shot at the edge of the small penalty area, and Dallei was almost facing most of the empty goal at the moment of shooting. He would not miss such a good scoring opportunity.

The shaking net made Douglas, who had been making continuous saves, lie desperately on the goal line, while Dallei climbed up from the grass and ran wildly along the bottom line. He waved his hands vigorously at the stands, calling on the Porto fans to celebrate with him.

But Dallei's hands had not been waved for more than a second before he was pressed down by his teammates who swarmed behind him. Even the guys on the bench did not miss such an opportunity. Lin Yi, like everyone else, pressed down the poor Brazilian.

"Crush this guy to death. Last time I scored a goal, this guy almost broke my ribs." Lin Yi continued to call more people to press forward, while feeling the passion after the goal from the crazy shouts at the scene, which made him eager to play in this game.

At the moment when Dallei knocked on the opponent's door, Mourinho also stood up from the coaching seat, clenched his fists and roared in a low voice.

This goal not only allowed Porto to successfully lead the opponent before the end of the first half, but also made Mourinho's heart finally fall to the ground. The bad feeling of losing a midfielder in the first final has gradually dissipated from him.

Entering the locker room with a score of 1:0, this is the best result for Porto, but Mourinho and his players did not notice that the guy wearing the No. 7 uniform of the Celtics team always looked at their backs with cold eyes.

Under the illumination of the lights around the Olympic Stadium, the shiny head of the guy wearing the No. 7 uniform at this moment is more like a sharp blade out of the sheath, flickering with murderous intent.

(Well, the subscription seems to be a bit of a failure... I hope that friends who read this book can subscribe as much as possible... My requirements are not high, I will try to update more in the few days before the end of the month... I hope that friends who have monthly tickets can also vote, it should not disappoint you.)