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Seeing Gao Xiaodong steal the ball, Rooney immediately started running towards the penalty area.

Rooney believes that as long as he can run in place, Gao Xiaodong will definitely pass the ball.

Gao Xiaodong turned around after stealing the ball and found that Rooney had started, but the others did not move.

Rooney's position is not good either, he has not got rid of Benfica's two central defenders.

Gao Xiaodong chose to believe Rooney. He pushed with the arch of his foot and passed the ball through the gap between the two central defenders.

Rooney kept turning his head and looking behind him when he was running. When he saw Gao Xiaodong passing the ball, Rooney immediately accelerated and ran wildly, trying to get rid of Benfica's two central defenders.

Louison started a little slower than Rooney, but he was experienced and when he saw Rooney trying to speed up, he reached out and gave Rooney a tug.

Louison loosens his grip as soon as he pulls it, making it difficult for referees to detect, and even if they do, they tend to ignore it.

But this had a great impact on Rooney. Rooney was accelerating with all his strength, but was pulled a little slower by Louison.

Originally, Rooney could just grab Gao Xiaodong's pass, but because the acceleration was a little slow, Rooney didn't catch the ball until he reached the baseline.

When Rooney got the ball, Louison and Pereira both arrived, and they completely blocked Rooney's path to shoot and cross the penalty area.

Rooney is in a very dangerous situation. If he doesn't pass the ball in time, he can easily be double-teamed and intercepted.

Suddenly, Rooney saw a red figure appearing on the left side of the court. It was Giggs.

Rooney was overjoyed and made a diagonal pass to veteran Ryan Giggs who intervened in time.

Having an old man in the family is like having a treasure. The veteran may not be physically strong enough to run all over the field, but they know exactly how to run and where they pose the greatest threat.

Giggs took advantage of his opponent's neglect and once again ran to the most threatening position.

Benfica's center back went to double-team Rooney, but before the full-back could move in, there was a large empty space between Giggs and the goal.

If it were a young Giggs, he would have definitely rushed into the penalty area, but now, Giggs has no explosive power and can only shoot directly.

Giggs raised his left foot and whipped the ball towards the lower right corner of the goal.

This is a good shooting opportunity. Benfica goalkeeper Arthur is still in the middle and has to make a flying dive to protect the near corner. As long as the angle is tricky enough and the speed is fast enough, he will definitely be able to score.

Giggs' shot was from a tricky angle, but not fast enough. Arthur simply poked the ball out of the baseline with his fingertips.

Manchester United won a corner kick.

Giggs took the corner kick personally, while Gao Xiaodong was preparing to fight for a header at the front of the penalty area.

Manchester United's two central defenders, Evans and Smalling, were inexperienced in defense, causing the ball to be conceded. Now they hope to make up for their mistakes with offense. The two are very active in the penalty area, using their hands and feet to compete with their opponents for position.

Smalling's efforts were rewarded. Giggs' pass was grabbed by him, but he was eager to exert force and the ball was pushed over the crossbar.

Manchester United got consecutive shooting opportunities, but could not score. Seeing that thirty minutes had passed, the Manchester United players were very anxious, and the Manchester United fans were even more anxious. They kept shouting: Score one! Get one in! Cheer for Manchester United.

Ferguson saw the problem with Manchester United. The offense was too impatient. Anyone who saw an opportunity would take a kick. As a result, many shooting opportunities were wasted. If he passed one or two more passes and let Gao Xiaodong Rooney shoot, the hope of scoring would be greater. big.

Ferguson took advantage of the dead ball opportunity to tell Giggs what he meant, asking the players to play more patiently.

Fogg has absolute authority at Manchester United, and no one dares to disobey his orders.

Next, Manchester United's offense became more patient than before, trying to create shooting opportunities for Rooney and Gao Xiaodong.

In the 38th minute of the game, Gao Xiaodong dribbled the ball from the backcourt to Benfica's 30-meter area. When Benfica players gathered around to grab it, Gao Xiaodong promptly distributed the ball to Valencia on the wing, and Valencia followed up. The pass was passed to Phil Jones who came in from the side and ripped open Benfica's defense.

Phil Jones was unguarded. After he cut into the penalty area, he faced a mostly empty goal. However, when Phil Jones saw Gao Xiaodong advancing, he actually chose to pass the ball across.

The execution of this tactic was too mechanical. Benfica was extremely tight on Gao Xiaodong, and Phil Jones' pass was shoveled out of the baseline by Garcia.

Seeing Phil Jones passing the ball, Ferguson was so angry that he called Phil Jones a fool and didn't know how to adapt.

After being given consecutive shooting opportunities by Manchester United, Benfica became vigilant, reduced its investment in offense, strengthened its defense, and hoped to maintain its 1:0 lead in the first half.

Benfica stayed very deep as a whole, the players ran actively, and the forwards also retreated to harass Gao Xiaodong, preventing Gao Xiaodong from playing the ball calmly.

Under Benfica's tight defense, Manchester United's offense was hindered, and the previous continuous offensive turned into sporadic offensive.

If Manchester United cannot exert sustained pressure on Benfica's defense, it will be difficult to force Benfica to make mistakes and get a chance to shoot.

Seeing that the end of the first half was coming, the Manchester United players were very anxious and launched the fiercest attack on Benfica.

Valencia made a long pass directly to the penalty area from the right, and the ball was easily pushed out by the Benfica defender.

The ball fell to Carrick's feet. Cardoso pressed quickly. Carrick passed the ball to Evans. Evans then passed the ball to Evra. Evra passed it across to Gao Xiaodong in the middle. Gao Xiaodong Stopping the ball and turning around, Aimar kicked Gao Xiaodong down from behind.

Aimar committed a deliberate foul, but the referee ignored it and seemed not to see it.

The ball was grabbed by Fletcher, who then passed it to veteran Giggs.

Giggs raised his hand to direct his teammates to go into the penalty area, and he dribbled the ball towards the baseline.

Gao Xiaodong, Rooney, and Carrick all quickly penetrated into the penalty area.

Giggs was not dribbling the ball very fast. When he reached the line of the penalty area, Giggs suddenly gave up his footing, dunked the ball, and cut across to the front of the penalty area.

Benfica full-back Emerson, who was retreating closely behind Giggs, was caught off guard and staggered by Giggs.

Seeing Giggs crossing, Gao Xiaodong and Rooney quickly ran towards the two ribs quickly, taking away the defensive players in the middle, leaving room for Giggs to shoot or break through.

No one dared to let Rooney and Gao Xiaodong go, and almost all defensive players were taken away by them.

Giggs used the rhythm to pass Witsel, cut across to the top of the penalty area and fired with his left foot. The ball went straight to the upper right corner of the goal.

This shot was both fast and accurate. It hit the angle between the crossbar and the goal post almost like a precise guidance. Benfica goalkeeper Arthur had no choice but to take such a shot. He jumped up and tried his best to miss it. The ball can only be watched as it flies into the net.

1:1

The 38-year-old Giggs equalized the score for Manchester United.

This is the veteran's 160th goal for Manchester United. His goal also set a new record for the oldest player to score in the Champions League.