Amid the crazy celebrations of the Liverpool players and fans, Yaya Toure, who chased back outside the penalty area and watched the ball go into the net without being able to do any action, felt quite depressed.
He was still regretting why he couldn't lift the ball a little higher just now, so that Sakho couldn't hit it and couldn't make a clearance.
But there is no regret medicine in the world, and what has happened cannot be repeated.
There wasn't much time left in the first half.
After the game restarted, Manchester City did not even have a complete attack. Before a shot could be formed, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half. The two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 2-0. The Red Army and Liverpool With goals from Willard and Coutinho, the team took a two-goal lead.
Entering the locker room with a two-goal lead, Klopp was still very happy and praised his players for their hard work and hard work in the first half.
But at the same time, he also knows that leading by two goals at halftime is not safe. Not to mention two balls, three balls are not safe.
Among other things, Liverpool itself once had its opponent lead by three goals in the first half, catch up in the second half, pull back three goals in the second half and force overtime, and finally win in a penalty shootout.
So it's good to be two goals ahead, but it's still far from time to celebrate. Klopp specifically reminded everyone of what the Red Army had experienced personally, so that everyone must concentrate and cheer up from the beginning of the second half to guard against Manchester City's surprise attack at the beginning of the second half.
In addition, Klopp also asked everyone to continue to use high-pressing tactics and not to shrink the defense.
Manchester City has many good players. If they are allowed too close to the penalty area, sometimes a small mistake may be taken by them and lead to a goal. Therefore, the best way is to press from a high position and interfere with the opponent from the middle and front court, so that the opponent cannot get too close to the penalty area.
In addition, if the high-position press is successful, it can also launch a counterattack on the spot in the frontcourt, and can also catch the opponent's defense and goalkeeper by surprise.
Of course, more importantly, since Velarde joined, Liverpool has fixed the 433 style of play during this period. Both Velarde himself and his teammates are used to this formation and Velarde's running around the field.
If you shrink your defense rashly, you may not be able to hold on. On the contrary, the current high-position pressing, on-the-spot counterattacks, and confrontations may prevent the opponent's midfielder from rashly jumping in to participate in the attack, and it can also reduce some pressure on the own defense.
After a 15-minute rest, the two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half.
Sure enough, Manchester City launched a fierce attack at the beginning of the second half, trying to take advantage of Liverpool's possible carelessness, and scored a goal at the beginning of the second half to narrow the score gap.
But no one at Liverpool was distracted. From the beginning of the second half, they were fully focused and devoted themselves to the game. They made strong interceptions or pressurizations against Manchester City's attacks from all directions, making it difficult for Manchester City to pass the ball. Send it to the restricted area.
Aguero is not a tall type, and headers are his weakness. Therefore, Manchester City basically can only rely on ground passes to get the ball to Aguero.
But Liverpool's full-court press was too fierce, and with Velard running around, Manchester City had almost no chance to pass the ball into the penalty area.
However, to be able to make a name for himself in Europe and the national team, Aguero is not a vegetarian.
After several attempts to catch the ball and shoot failed, Aguero also changed his strategy. He no longer pursued his own shot, but began to wander in the penalty area, looking for gaps for his teammates to pass the ball.
The defense in the middle was too intensive, and Aguero began to run towards the ribs on both sides.
He really got the chance.
In the 58th minute, Aguero ran into a good gap about 10 meters from the goal on the right side of the penalty area and received a pass from David Silva.
Aguero hit the goal with a gesture, causing the two Red Army defenders in front of him to fall to the ground and fly out to block the hole of the gun. Goalkeeper Mignolet was also attracted by his fake move to the near corner of the goal.
As a result, Aguero's foot did not shoot. Instead, he made an inverted triangle cross and passed it to the top of the penalty area.
Velarde had already returned to the penalty area, originally preparing to prevent Aguero from passing the ball across to Yaya Toure. As a result, Aguero did not pass the cross, but passed the ball in an inverted triangle and passed the ball outside the penalty area.
Defensive midfielder Fernandinho stepped in from the back row and faced Aguero's back pass from an inverted triangle in the penalty area. Without stopping the ball, he volleyed hard and kicked the ball hard towards the Liverpool goal. upper left corner.
Fernandinho played the ball so well that neither the Liverpool players in the penalty area, including Velarde, nor the goalkeeper Mignolet could stop this heavy shot from spreading around the world.
The ball flew into the upper left corner of the goal like a cannonball. Goalkeeper Mignolet flew and pounced, but was unable to reach it and could only sigh in despair.
In the 58th minute, Manchester City finally scored, leveling the score at 1-2, only one goal behind Liverpool.
The difference of one goal gave Manchester City players and fans hope. The difference of one goal could be equalized at any time.
Therefore, after scoring this goal, Manchester City's morale was greatly boosted and they attacked even more fiercely. Obviously, they all hope to keep up their efforts, score another goal, completely equalize, or even reverse the score.
After scoring this goal, Manchester City did attack very fiercely, and Liverpool was forced to retreat a little. Velarde, on the other hand, was so busy that he rushed around, checking for missed opportunities and filling in gaps, and commanding his teammates to assist in overall defense.
Fortunately, under the united defense of the Red Army's midfield and backcourt teammates, Manchester City failed to score another goal.
In the 67th minute, Aguero repeated his old tricks and tried to pass the ball in an inverted triangle to his teammates for a good goal.
But this time Velarde sensed his intention in advance. At the moment when Fernando, who had inserted in the back row, rushed up to prepare for a shot, Velarde rushed over from the side and made a flying tackle, scooping the ball away and destroying it.
Although Fernando was brought to the ground by Velarde, Velarde tackled the ball first. Fernando did not avoid it in time, so the referee did not call Velarde a foul.
It's a good shot.
When the time passed 70 minutes, Manchester City's offensive gradually weakened. After all, they are tired too.
At this time, Liverpool began to exert force.
A one-goal lead is not very safe. Therefore, if given the opportunity, the Reds would not mind scoring another goal and regaining their two-goal lead.
If we can really score another goal, at this point in time, the victory will be truly sealed.
Of course Manchester City also knows that they are still one goal behind. If we lose the ball again, it will be completely over. Therefore, facing Liverpool's attack, they also tried their best to fight, intercept and block.
At the same time, if they get the ball, they will still counterattack and try again to score.
