Jagged Wings

Chapter 99 The penultimate home game!
This is the first time since the knockout rounds that Arsenal played hosts and away.From a psychological point of view, in fact, the most ideal rhythm of the game is first the guest and then the host.If you lose away, you have a better chance of winning at home.If the away game wins, basically the opponent has no chance of a comeback.If the away game is tied, it will be more advantageous to come to the home court.Because if the points are the same, it is a goal difference.If it is still the same, it will be compared with the number of away goals.So the away game must compete for the number of goals.

This home game is also of great significance to Highbury Stadium: this is the last Champions League home game held at Highbury Stadium.

An hour before the game, Highbury Stadium was already packed.Arsenal fans took photos or stopped at the countdown to the big "3" at Highbury Stadium. They used various forms to commemorate Highbury's last game.

In the context of such a closing performance, the more than 2000 Villarreal fans who came with the team were also silent.Villarreal is a small city with only 4.8 people. This is also the first time in the history of Villarreal that they have entered the semi-finals of the Champions League. They can make up [-] fans with the team. This is also the reason why the club has mobilized the whole city. result.

The giants have great ambitions, dark horses have dark horses, and Villarreal chairman Fernando Roig, who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time, is very satisfied with the team's performance.

"In May 1997, I purchased 5% of Villarreal's shares at a price of 5400 million euros and became the largest shareholder. This season, due to the team's excellent performance in the Champions League, the club will have a considerable surplus , I expect that this season we will earn about 30 million euros in the Champions League. This income will allow the club to maintain a balance of payments for the next five years, even if the team's performance is not good, we will not need to sell players."

As chairman of a small team, Fernando Roig is content with what the team has achieved.Compared with those illusory honors, the euro is the real thing!
"If we win the Champions League this season, all the prize money will be used for the construction of the club!" Arsenal Chairman Hill Wood said happily: "In addition, I will also promise a summer transfer fund of more than 5000 million euros, At that time, you will see one or two world-class stars join in!"

The different statements of the chairmen of the two teams also showed the gap between the giants and a football team.But no matter whether it is a wealthy family or a high-ranking silk, it is just some off-court tidbits of this battle of focus.

The final focus must be on the competition itself!
Arsenal has been receiving good news recently. In addition to the Champions League, both Campbell and Van Persie have recovered from their injuries and entered the match list.Robin van Persie replaced Bergkamp, ​​who played well in the middle of the week, as Henry's partner, and Cole was still injured in the defense.

As for the defensive midfielder, Gilberto, who is more defensive, started to partner with Xiaofa, and the two left and right forwards were still Reyes and Hleb.

After the opening, Arsenal relied on their home advantage to launch a fierce attack on Villarreal, while Villarreal, which is slightly less powerful, played a defensive counterattack tactic.

This season for Arsenal, "five midfielders" and "fast attack" have become their two key words.Arsenal's five midfielders allow them to gain a numerical advantage in the midfield, and the fast attack relies on a few speed players in the frontcourt.

Juventus are the victims of the speed style of play.

Villarreal's style of play is particularly slow because of the core Riquelme.

So it's a competition of fast and slow.

In the early days of the game, Riquelme used his skillful technique to pass Gilberto, before breaking into the penalty area, with a shot.

Fortunately, the distance was too far and was picked off by goalkeeper Lehman.

Lehmann then tossed the ball to Flamini, who passed the ball to Reyes.

"Arsenal is going to attack, Reyes has the ball!"

The roar of the Highbury Stadium showed Reyes' soaring popularity.

Reyes knows that Villarreal has the problem of being strong on the left and weak on the right, and that the right is their weakness.

When attacking, Villarreal's midfielder has two midfielders to escort Riquelme, and when defending, Josico, one of the midfielders, will defend to the right and become a right midfielder.And Villarreal's right back Harvey Venta is also an offensive player, so sometimes Villarreal's right is weaker in defense.

Reyes easily swayed past Hosico with a feint. Facing Venta's defense, Reyes wanted to sway his footsteps to make the opponent lose his center of gravity, but Venta obviously had an attack on Reyes, the Spaniard. Research, intercepting Reyes' ball.

Reyes, who was cut off the ball, spread his hands and didn't say anything.

Attacking is also a matter of probability, and it is impossible to succeed every time.

At this time, Reyes really misses Cole, who is still injured, and Cole cooperates with him on the wing, which is enough to tear any defense on the right.

Now we can only wait for another opportunity!
In the 12th minute, Arsenal intercepted the ball in the backcourt, and Reyes immediately went forward with all his strength. Sure enough, Fafa's pass arrived at his feet just right.

At this time, Hosico did not return in the middle, and Reyes faced Venta directly.Facing Reyes, Venta stepped back in small steps to prevent Reyes from breaking through with speed.

"Are you afraid of me?" Reyes teased, protecting the ball at his feet.

Venta said nothing.

"Why don't you talk? Belittle me?" Reyes seemed to be irritated by Wenta's silence, and said angrily: "Let's fight one-on-one! One-on-one! Those who don't dare are fools!"

Venta remained unmoved by Reyes' provocation.

"Ignore me, you have to pay the price!"

Reyes seemed unable to stand Venta's ignorance, and leaned forward, trying to break through.

Venta backed away.

Reyes saw the moment when the distance between the two widened, and suddenly sent a direct pass!
"Henry got the ball!"

Henry passed Alvarez, who was defending him, with just one acceleration, and then pushed from 14 yards on the left rib, and the football slipped into the goal from the crotch of Villarreal's substitute goalkeeper Barbosa.

"1:0!"

"gooooo... Huh? Is this offside?"

In the camera, on the sideline parallel to Henry's position, the linesman raised the flag in his hand.

Henry spread his hands, a little helpless.

The Austrian referee Protz ran over. He looked at the flag in the hands of the line referee, and then at Henry.After a moment of hesitation, he pointed to the scene of the incident: Henry offside, Villarreal's free kick!

The Arsenal players were a little unconvinced. They ran to the referee and asked for an explanation.

The home commentator also called up the replay of the game. In the camera, at the moment Henry scored, Villarreal had a defensive player behind him, and he was not offside.Ljungberg was in an offside position at the far end, but he was walking back and was not involved in the attack.

"This is an absolute misjudgment!" The commentator yelled, "Ljungberg was offside, but he did not participate in the offense!"

At the moment when the offensive team passes the ball, if the offensive player is closer to the defensive team's goal than the last defensive player, it will be judged as offside. Do not participate in the offense, do not interfere with defensive players, and cannot be judged offside without receiving the ball.

Ljungberg did not interfere with the game, this goal should be effective.

The fans at the scene booed unwillingly and gave it to the Austrian coaching staff.

The Arsenal players surrounded him and asked the referee for an explanation. Reyes was so excited that he almost spit on Protz's face.

"Keep your eyes open! The ball is not offside, you have to make your own judgment!"

"I swear, Henry was never offside!"

But the referee just shook his head without saying anything.He may not be very firm in his judgment, so his attitude is not bad, but he just persuaded everyone in Arsenal to go back to the game.

After arguing for a while, everyone knew that the referee would not change the penalty, so they had no choice but to go back and prepare for a rematch.

In the next game, the referee became the protagonist on the field, and some of his penalties made Arsenal very dissatisfied.

And the Villarreal players, who had figured out the referee's penalty scale, started their wonderful "performance".

There is a qualitative gap between them and Arsenal players in terms of strength. When they found that they could not be saved through normal games, Villarreal chose another way.

They began to fall to the ground frequently, a little physical contact would cause them to fall to the ground covering their faces, and the greater movements of the Arsenal players would cause them to fall directly to the ground.

Reyes made a surprise attack from the side, and Venta jumped in and followed, and couldn't catch up. Taking advantage of the moment when Reyes subconsciously waved his hand while advancing, he suddenly jumped forward and threw himself on Reyes, and then With a scream, he covered his face and fell to the ground.

Reyes, who was advancing at high speed, suddenly felt a strong attack from behind, and then lost his balance and fell to the ground.

He turned his head and saw Wenta writhing on the ground in pain covering his face, like a loach landed on the shore.

Seeing Wenta's exaggerated performance, Reyes became angry: "Who the hell do you think you are? Graduated from La Masia Film and Television Academy?"

Wenta answered him with the last two rolls. It seems that Wenta must have practiced before, otherwise it is absolutely impossible to do five or six rolls and still be in the field.

The Villarreal players rushed to the referee, then pointed to the pocket behind the referee's ass with their fingers, and then pointed to Reyes, with bitter hatred on their faces.

They want the referee to show a red card.

The referee felt that Wenta's performance was a bit exaggerated, and anyone with a normal IQ could see this.

If he really suffered such a serious injury, he would definitely fall to the ground, how could he have the strength to roll around?

The referee felt that this was discriminating against his IQ.

So he motioned for Venta to get up, and then gave him some warnings.

(End of this chapter)