Fox in the Penalty Area

"Be careful! Be careful! Be careful!!"

Valente gasped in the stands as Laski snapped the football back to his right foot.

It wasn't just him, the Alvara fans in their stands were screaming.

Because they are high above, they have already seen the huge loopholes in their team's defense.

Just as Pinto turned to defend Laski, left-back Nathan Shea, who had scrambled back to defend, was pinned down by Leeds City right-back Josh Lawler who went forward.

So there was a space between Pinto and Xie, whether it was big or small.

And Holly is there!

Anyone who watches football sees it, and any football fan who knows a little about penalties knows what that means.

But helplessly, when the Alvara players on the field were highly nervous, their vision narrowed, and they were all attracted by Lasky, completely ignoring the connection between the center and the side...

Sure enough, amidst the exclamation, Laski pushed the football sideways and kicked it straight!

The next thing will be a matter of course, it will be a matter of course...

After seeing Hou Lai shoot the football into the goal, all the Alvara fans made a movement at the same time - put their hands on their heads and shouted:

"Oh no—!"

Xia Xiaoyu also put his hands on his head, but he did it to hide his inner joy—Brother Hu finally scored a goal! I knew he could!

Then he put his hands on the back of his head and watched the familiar figure in front of Alvara's door turn and run towards the corner flag area.

He knew it was time to come again!

Seeing it now from high school, Xia Xiaoyu still thinks this action is really cool, no matter how many times I watch it, I won’t get tired of it...

He even made up his own brain, and the thunderous "HUUUUU!!!" exploded in his mind.

Then he came up with the same thought as Valente: I really... really want to be able to play in this kind of arena!

Even if it's at the opponent's home court, even if it's being booed by the opponent's fans...

※※※

"Go to hell!" Alvara's coach, Ricardo Moya, cursed off the court.

But the swear word was nothing more than his anger at the conceded goal, not to blame a certain player.

He knew very well that he couldn't simply blame Pinto for letting go of Hu Lai for the loss just now, nor could he blame Shay for not following the defense back to the penalty area in time.

It can only be said that the speed of Leeds City's transition from defense to offense was too fast, so fast that Alvara's players didn't even react. In the face of continuous passes and transfers, their defense has been completely disrupted by Leeds City. If there is a loophole in one position, people in other positions need to fill it up, so there are loopholes in other positions.

Just such a loophole produces more loopholes, and eventually turns into an irreparable tragedy.

"Although it is very uncomfortable... But it must be admitted that Leeds City's offense is indeed as sharp as the legend." The assistant coach said beside him.

Moya nodded. As a head coach, such judgment and calmness are necessary.

Then he said: "But it doesn't matter, their offense is strong, but their defense is weak. This is our home field, and we cannot be suppressed by them all the time."

After finishing speaking, he walked to the sidelines and yelled to the frustrated players in the stadium: "It's okay, relax! After withstood their offensive, we will attack again!! This is our home field! Our home field!!!"

He kept reminding his players to have confidence and not to be afraid in the face of Leeds' offensive.

However, this kind of verbal adjustment and encouragement did not have any effect.

Moya guessed that Leeds City would continue to attack after taking the lead, but he still slightly underestimated the strength of Leeds City's continued attack.

Alvara shrunk his defense after losing the ball, waited for Leeds City's offensive to pass, and then counterattacked, breaking through Leeds City's unstable defense.

But before they could penetrate Leeds City's defense, the moment when their own defense was penetrated for the second time...

※※※

"Hey, it's dangerous!" The Portuguese TV commentator suddenly exclaimed.

In his exclamation, Hu Lai ran into an empty space and was raising his hands for the ball.

Fortunately, central defender Bruno Pinto stepped over to defend in time.

But his move left a gap between himself and another centre-back, Matthew Kefir.

And Pete Williams, who got the ball, immediately passed the football through the space!

Pass behind Alvara's back line!

"Kamala!"

The French winger, who had been inward since just now, inserted behind Alvara's defenders and received a pass from Williams.

It was too late for Kefir to turn around and return to defense, and he could only watch Kamara take a shot!

Although Alvara goalkeeper Ferreira made a save, he was not able to seal it out completely.

The football deflected slightly and flew into Alvara's goal!

Although Alvara's players signaled to the referee and the linesman that Kamara was offside, both referees made the same decision-the referee pointed to the center circle and the linesman ran directly to the center line.

"Good goal! The goal is effective! Kamara expanded the lead for Leeds City! Who would have thought that Leeds City, who are playing away, would lead by two goals before the end of the first half!" He Feng said happily.

At this moment, when Camara ran to the camera to dance his weird robot dance, the noise in the stands of the Lisbon Arena was much quieter.

Many Alvara fans held their heads in their hands and looked at the stadium quietly, their eyes were out of focus and their minds were empty.

"In the 40th minute of the first half, Leeds City led by two goals! The only pity is that UEFA has canceled the away goal rule three seasons ago, otherwise Leeds City would have almost killed the suspense of the two rounds ahead of time !” Matthew Cox said regretfully.

UEFA has removed the away goals rule for all European competitions in the 2023-2024 season.

The previous away goals rule stipulated that in a two-leg home and away Champions League knockout match, if the two teams were tied on aggregate, the side with the most away goals would advance.

Now that this rule is cancelled, if the total score of the two participating teams is tied in the two rounds, there will be a 30-minute overtime match between the first half and the second half.

Still tied in overtime, it went to a penalty shootout.

In this process, the number of so-called away goals is not considered.

That's why Cox has regrets.

Otherwise, with these two away goals now, Leeds City is almost invincible.

If Alvara wants to erase the advantage of Leeds City's two away goals, he has to score two away goals when he goes to Leeds City's home court in the second leg-but it is difficult.

Even if Alvara achieved a shocking reversal in this game, he turned the defeat into victory with a score of 3:2. In the second round, Leeds City only needs to win 1-0 when they return to the home court to advance to the top 16 of the Europa League.

This greatly reduces the pressure on Leeds to advance.

The away goal rule has been implemented in UEFA competitions for half a century, and has achieved countless classic games. It has long been a part of the football game, and even many fans think that the away goal advantage of the home and away knockout system is a matter of course.

When UEFA decided to remove this rule, it caused a lot of controversy.

Almost all fans are scolding UEFA and clearly oppose the abolition of the away goal rule.

They consider the away-goals rule a "great invention" without which the game of football would not even be complete.

But whether the fans are willing or not, UEFA's decision will not be changed once it is made, and the fans can't control the life and death of this rule.

After all, even if UEFA cancels the away goal rule, it is impossible for them to stop watching the European war.

Moreover, after the cancellation of this rule, some people also benefited-the current Leeds City is regarded as the loser of the cancellation of the away goal rule, and Alvara is the beneficiary.

Alvara fans are now overjoyed that the away-goals rule in European competitions has been abolished.

In this way, they don't have to go to the away game under tremendous pressure.

Assuming that they can tie this game to a 2:2 tie, then they can still eliminate Leeds City by winning only one goal when they go to the away game.

This is a good thing for them.

It is precisely because of this that although they are silent and painful, they remain in the stands.

After all, there are still fifty minutes before the end of the game, and Alvara still has a chance.

If it was the past, during the halftime break, the Lisbon Arena would leave a lot of people.

※※※

Joao Valente put his head in his hands, his eyes widened and he couldn't believe what he saw.

In front of him, on the big screen in the opposite stand, Alvara's score of 0:2 Leeds City was very dazzling, bloody stimulating his heart.

"how so……"

he murmured.

Xia Xiaoyu didn't say anything beside him.

He wasn't very surprised, on the one hand because he believed in Brother Hu, on the other hand... To put it bluntly, he thought that the head coach of the first team, Mr. Ricardo Moya, was a bit "adventurous".

Mr. Moya must have thought that this was Alvara's home court, and Leeds City was good at attacking and weak in defense, so he just took advantage of the momentum of the home court to overwhelm Leeds City.

Who would have thought that his offensive against Leeds City would be so fierce that he did not expect it, and there was a misjudgment...

He thought that Alvara's home field advantage could be like a rope, binding Leeds City's hands and feet, making them play with hands tied.

But judging from the actual effect, the advantage of the Lisbon Arena is not as great as everyone thinks.

Not only was Leeds City unaffected, but they were also in excellent form.

Facing Alvara, who also chose to attack, Leeds City is like a duck to water.

In fact, on the basis of fully understanding Leeds City, Xia Xiaoyu felt that Alvara should choose a more secure and pragmatic tactic.

That is to play steadily and steadily at your own home court, first deal with Leeds City patiently, and kill the opponent's fighting spirit and momentum.

Then it was to use the home court advantage to suppress Leeds City.

According to this strategy, even if the goal is not so smooth, it will not concede two goals in the first half...

He felt that Mr. Moya's way of coping was simply to give away the head.

Because there is no away goal rule anymore, so if Alvara can reverse the game and win, that's okay.

Once you can't win, maybe Mr. Moya will be under a lot of pressure...