Willard's free kick kicked off the attack between the two sides.
Although there is a saying that the final is an unknown game, it also depends on the team. Neither Liverpool nor Manchester City are teams that focus on defense. They might as well use offense instead of defense to solve the problem.
Therefore, when the players slowly entered the state, the two sides began to attack.
In comparison, Liverpool, which has three forwards plus free agent Willard, is now stronger than Manchester City in attack power, has a slightly higher ball possession rate, and has slightly more attacks and dangerous attacks than Manchester City.
But Manchester City is not weak either. They have offensive players such as Aguero, Sterling, Yaya Toure, and David Silva, and they can still cause a lot of trouble for Liverpool.
Even if Willard rushes to cover the whole game, Manchester City sometimes can't stop him from passing and cutting to avoid him, threatening the Red Army's defense.
In the 24th minute, Manchester City broke through Liverpool's defense with a pass of more than ten feet, allowing Aguero to pass an inverted triangle pass to David Silva near the baseline, allowing David Silva to complete a kick. High-quality shooting threatened Liverpool's defense.
Fortunately, goalkeeper Mignolet performed well and made a world-class save to save David Silva's shot from the bottom line.
There was no threat in the subsequent corner kick, and center back Sakho directly pushed out of the penalty area to clear the ball.
A few minutes later, in the 29th minute, Liverpool responded with a series of passes and cuts by Velarde, Henderson, Coutinho, Sturridge, and Firmino, and then opened up Manchester City's lead. Line of defense.
Velarde and Firmino are Liverpool's most efficient players at the moment, so they are taken care of by Manchester City's defense. They are always closely guarded by one or two people around them, and they can only pass the ball with one kick, making it difficult to stop the ball and adjust.
However, it was this environment that forced Velarde and Firmino to play a dazzling series of coordination.
First, Coutinho broke through from the left and was intercepted by the Manchester City full-back. He cut in decisively and passed the ball to Velarde, who was outside the top of the penalty area and inserted in the back row.
Seeing that Willard was about to receive the ball, two Manchester City players Yaya Toure and Fernandinho immediately double-teamed over, preparing to intercept Willard's ball.
But Velarde did not stop the ball. Without stopping the ball, he directly kicked the ball and passed it to Firmino who came in from the right.
After completing the pass, Velarde bypassed Fernandinho in front of him and rushed into the penalty area.
Firmino, who received the ball, was also pressed by Fernando, another Manchester City midfielder, so he did not dare to stop the ball. He directly passed the ball and pushed the ball behind Fernandinho. In the direction of Ladd's movement.
This was a hit-and-miss fit.
Firmino's pass was successful and Velarde received the ball smoothly, but center back Kompany in the penalty area was already close. Once Willard stops the ball and adjusts, he may be forced to steal by Kompany. The probability of shooting directly without stopping the ball is not high, and the shooting route is blocked by Kompany and the goalkeeper.
Therefore, Velarde did not stop the ball, but continued to push the ball into the gap on the right side of the penalty area, and then passed it to Phil, who had just completed the pass and ran diagonally into the penalty area while bypassing Fernando. Mino.
After the additional pass, Velarde again bypassed Kompany and ran to the line of the small penalty area.
Firmino, who received a pass from Velarde on the right side of the penalty area, shot with a gesture that attracted full-back Clichy to fly to block the hole of the gun. Instead of shooting, he made another cross pass and passed the ball to the line of the small penalty area. .
Willard leaned on the last central defender Otamendi, received Firmino's cross and pushed the ball into the lower left corner easily.
"Oh, Goooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball is in!"
"pretty!"
"Villard and Firmino completed two consecutive collisions with the wall, tearing apart Manchester City's defense. Velarde received Firmino's cross pass on the line of the small penalty area and pushed the ball away. Scored the goal.”
"Goalkeeper Caballero was shaken by Firmino's false shot in the ribs and stood too close to the right side of the goal. He had no way to deal with Velarde's shot that went directly to the lower left corner and could only watch the ball helplessly. He hit the net and couldn't even make a save."
"Liverpool leads 1-0 and has the upper hand. It depends on whether Manchester City can equalize the score quickly."
After scoring the goal, Velarde rushed to Firmino on the right side of the penalty area, and ran to the sidelines to celebrate together with him on his shoulders. His teammates followed closely behind and surrounded the two of them, everyone with a smile on their face. Full of smiles.
Although this was only the first goal, it already gave Liverpool an advantage, which was a good start.
After the game restarted, Manchester City, which was lagging behind, naturally launched a fierce counterattack.
At this time, Villard stepped forward. Whether in the penalty area or outside the penalty area, on the left or right, Villard was everywhere in the backcourt.
In the 34th minute, the moment Sterling received a pass from Yaya Toure, he moved the ball toward the baseline, then tried to use his speed to catch up with the ball, and then passed down the bottom line.
However, Velarde, who followed Yaya Toure's pass from the center and moved laterally, anticipated Sterling's movements. Before he could reach Sterling, Sterling kept passing the ball and passed it out. At that moment, he suddenly changed his line and chased the ball diagonally towards Sterling.
Although Sterling chased the ball in a straight line, Willard chased it diagonally. But what everyone saw was that Verard and Sterling kept pace with each other and caught up with the ball together. Then Verard rushed to the ground before Sterling touched the ball and made a decisive tackle with his instep. The ball was blocked by hook.
When Sterling saw Willard hooking the ball, he did not jump from Willard's feet. Instead, he kicked the ball, trying to kick the ball away from Willard's feet.
As a result, Villard had enough physique and energy to keep the ball even if he was lying on the ground.
The kick between the two ended in Sterling's failure. The ball was almost motionless in front of Willard's feet, but Sterling, due to the inertia of his forward motion and the immobility of his opponent's feet, was unable to stop the car with his upper body, and fell from Willard's feet and fell to the ground.
Manchester City players raised their hands to signal to the referee that Willard had committed a foul when he tackled Sterling.
But the referee ignored it, and Velarde did not hesitate. Velarde, who won the side duel through tackles and opponents, immediately got up from the ground and did not pay attention to Sterling who fell on the ground. Instead, he passed the ball to teammate Henderson who came to respond before Yaya Toure got close.
Subsequently, Liverpool launched a quick counterattack, and finally Coutinho made a pass from the left. Sturridge fought in the middle to grab the first point and flicked his head towards the goal.
Unfortunately, the ball was headed too high and was saved by goalkeeper Caballero. Otherwise, Liverpool may expand the score and lead by two goals.
