At only 23 years old, his total career goals have exceeded the 200-goal mark, and his average goal rate is more than 1 per game. After the game, Velarde was widely reported by media around the world, in front of fans from all over the world. I brushed my face again.
With a brilliant record of 4-0 victory over Porto in the away game, Liverpool, who returned home, ushered in the EFL Cup championship battle with their arch-rival Manchester United.
On February 24, 2017, with the whistle of referee Andre Marriner, the 2016/2017 English League Cup final between Manchester United and Liverpool officially started at the famous Wembley Stadium.
In the previous contest between the two sides, Manchester United played against Liverpool and lost in the end, proving that playing against Liverpool is not feasible. Therefore, the lineup Mourinho sent for the Red Devils in this game was his best defensive counterattack formation: 4231.
Ibrahimovic serves as a single arrow, with Martial, Lingard, and Mata in the midfield. Pogba and Herrera partner as a double midfielder, which not only ensures the defensive thickness of the midfield, but also ensures the defense during counterattacks. The offense can be initiated by Pogba and the offense and defense are balanced.
Liverpool's side is naturally playing with all the main players. The three forwards composed of Coutinho, Firmino and Mane, and the organizational support of Alan Willard behind him, no team dares to underestimate.
After the game started, neither side started attacking rashly, because this was a final that determined the outcome. Once the ball was carelessly lost, it would be passive.
After the two sides played tentatively for more than ten minutes, seeing that Manchester United had been holding on to the backcourt and not taking the initiative to attack, Klopp could only wave his hand to signal his disciples to press forward and start taking the initiative to attack.
Although he knew that Mourinho wanted to counterattack, Klopp also had confidence in Velarde, Firmino and others.
It’s really not certain who will score first!
As Liverpool's formation pressed forward, the two sides began to fight more and the game finally started to look good.
In the 18th minute, Liverpool took the lead in completing a threatening shot that hit the door frame, a long shot from outside the penalty area from Willard.
He saw that the opponent's goalkeeper De Gea was standing a little to the right, so he suddenly took a long shot from the right side of the front court, almost 40 meters away from the goal, and kicked the ball towards the upper left corner of the goal.
However, De Gea reacted quickly and retreated as soon as he spotted Willard's shot. Finally, he almost jumped up and stretched out his hand, and Willard's shot that went straight to the blind corner was lifted over the crossbar.
Willard's long-range sneak attack failed to score.
Now all teams, as long as they play against Liverpool, the goalkeepers will be very cautious in their positioning to avoid being attacked by Willard's shots at any time. Because his shooting accuracy is so good, as long as the goalkeeper has a slight problem with his position, he may be sneaked into the goal by Willard, no matter how far away it is.
This is also the reason why Willard was able to score 7 goals in one game just after he added his "shot" to the full value, but now it is difficult.
In the ensuing corner kick attack, Liverpool failed to grab the first point and was pushed out of the penalty area by Manchester United defender Smalling to clear the ball. The Red Devils also took this opportunity to launch a quick counterattack. Unfortunately, before the ball passed the midfield, they made a mistake under Velarde's pressure and lost the pass, failing to successfully counterattack.
The game continues.
Willard is of course Manchester United's most important target, whether it is Lingard, Mata, Martial in the frontcourt, or Pogba, Herrera, Bailly, Smalling and others in the backcourt. Pay attention to Willard's movements at all times and avoid being shot by him.
However, Willard's various skills are too powerful, and sometimes they can't stop him even if there are many people.
In the 23rd minute, Velarde worked with his teammates in the backcourt to steal the ball from Ibrahimovic's feet, and then drove the ball long distance towards Manchester United's half.
Along the way, Mata, Lingard and Herrera stepped forward to intercept, but Willard broke through one by one. When Willard dribbled the ball to the top of Manchester United's penalty area, he was already surrounded by four players from the front, left and right.
Just when everyone thought that Velarde, who was surrounded, could not break through again and had to pass the ball to his teammates, Velarde poked the ball between the legs of center defender Bailly, and then passed the ball to Bailly himself. He squeezed through the gap between Leigh and Pogba and rushed into the penalty area.
Pogba couldn't even reach out to catch Velarde. He could only watch in despair as Velarde rushed into the penalty area, caught up with the ball that he poked through Bailly's crotch, shot with a gesture, and knocked down the last one. Center defender Smalling then moved the ball to the left, then pushed and kicked the ball to the lower left corner.
The ball rolled into the goal without any suspense, and Liverpool finally broke the deadlock. Willard took the ball long distance and penetrated Manchester United's defense and sent the ball into the gate guarded by De Gea.
Liverpool leads Manchester United 1-0.
The Manchester United fans at the scene and in front of the TV were silent, leaving only the Red Army fans cheering and celebrating.
Velarde's ball was too powerful. There were so many Manchester United players double-teaming, attacking, and intercepting him along the way. Even Pogba tried his best to foul and stretched out his hand to pull Velarde down, but he was finally beaten by Velarde. Long broke into the penalty area and scored.
Willard is completely unpreventable like this.
More importantly, Manchester United is now behind and they must equalize the score as soon as possible. Otherwise, this is the final, if you lose, you lose, but there will be no second round to make up for your mistakes.
However, when attacking, Manchester United was worried about Velarde's counterattack. Pogba and Herrera did not dare to advance too far. They only relied on the offense of Martial, Lingard and Ibrahimovic. It was difficult to break down Liverpool's defense.
Until more than 30 minutes, Manchester United failed to produce any threatening offense.
But football is so weird sometimes. When you think you can't score, a sudden burst of a star may make it possible.
In the 37th minute, Ibrahimovic took the ball and hit the wall with Martial to break through Velarde's interception. Then he dribbled the ball left and right, rushed left and right, and continuously shook off Henderson, Steals by Wijnaldum and Lovren.
Ibrahimovic almost penetrated Liverpool's defense by himself.
Just when Velard was back on defense and ready to stretch his foot to steal the ball, Ibrahimovic seemed to have predicted Velard's movements in advance and decisively passed the ball to Mata who was receiving from the wing, and then bypassed Velarde himself. Ladd rushed into the penalty area.
Although Velarde reacted quickly, he immediately turned around to follow. However, the defensive side was passive after all. Velarde moved a little slower and watched Mata pass the ball back to Ibrahimovic's running route. Ibrahimovic, who entered the penalty area, grabbed the ball before Willard and volleyed the ball directly into Liverpool's goal without stopping the ball.
Goalkeeper Mignolet had no choice but to helplessly send the ball into the net.
With Ibrahimovic's sudden burst, Manchester United finally scored and tied the score 1-1.
