Three days after the EFL Cup match, on September 22, FIFA announced the final three candidates for the 2017 FIFA World Player of the Year, Alan Willard, Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo... Messi became a candidate to enter the final three-man squad.
Of course, everyone knows that this is just a procedure. Velarde's performance in the past season was amazing.
Not only did he lead Liverpool to win the honor of being the first of the five major leagues to win four crowns in a single season, but he also scored 89 goals in a single season in the Premier League, 17 goals in a single season in the EFL Cup, 15 goals in a single season in the FA Cup, and 25 goals in a single season in the Champions League. The performance of the ball all set a personal single-season scoring record for players in this event.
Such personal performance and championship honors, whether it is the World Footballer or the later "France Football" Ballon d'Or, there is no suspense. There is not even much suspense about next year's Laureus World Sports Awards, because it is basically impossible for athletes in other sports to produce as many world record-level performances as Willard.
All you have to do is wait for the name of the final winner to be announced and to present the award to Willard.
The next day, September 23, in the 6th round of the Premier League, Liverpool challenged Leicester City away. This was also the 200th official game of Willard's career, so many Red Army fans who were traveling with the team on away games held banners in the stands to congratulate Willard on completing 200 career appearances.
Liverpool and Leicester City just played a game in the English League Cup, but it was a matchup between the substitute lineups. Most of the main players of both sides failed to play, or even made the squad.
This time the Premier League is the place where the main players from both sides will fight with all their strength.
In the 2015/2016 season, Leicester City defeated Liverpool to win the Premier League championship, performing a famous Blue Fox miracle.
In the 2016/2017 season, Liverpool won the championship with a record-breaking 105 points in the five major leagues. However, Leicester City focused their main energy on the Champions League, reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League and becoming the dark horse of the Champions League last season. But because of this, the Blue Foxes, as the defending Premier League champions, performed poorly in the league and ended up only ranking 12th in the Premier League. The meritorious coach Ranieri even dismissed get out of class before the season was over.
This season, although Liverpool lost one game to Manchester City, they still maintain a strong momentum to compete for the championship. As for Leicester City, their decline is even more disappointing. In the first five rounds, they only achieved a poor record of one win, one draw and three losses, ranking 15th in the Premier League. They are no longer on the same level as Liverpool.
But as the Blue Fox, who have won the Premier League championship and reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, today's game is their home court. They are proud and can't let go of their dignity to defend. Therefore, after the game started, everyone discovered that Lai Feng Manchester City sent out a 442 formation to fight against Liverpool's 433, and seemed to want to give Liverpool a try.
It turns out that this idea of Blue Fox is unrealistic.
Only 15 minutes into the game, Willard passed two people on the left side of the penalty area and then sent a wonderful pass, assisting Salah to score a goal in the penalty area, helping Liverpool take a 1-0 lead.
In the 23rd minute, Willard stole the ball and ran for a long distance. After passing three people, he took a long shot about 32 meters away from the goal. He hit a heavy artillery wave with a speed of over 100 per hour and sent the ball into the goal. The upper left corner of the city gate.
Goalkeeper Schmeichel was actually not slow to react this time. He immediately judged the path of the ball and made a flying save. Because the distance was far away, he was given a certain amount of time to save, and finally touched the ball with his fingertips.
However, the ball was too fast and too powerful. In the end, Schmeichel's save failed to save the goal. The ball only slightly changed its line when it hit his fingers, and finally flew firmly into the goal.
Liverpool leads 2-0 away from home, which can be said to be a guaranteed victory.
But it was only the first half, and Liverpool did not slow down their attack because of their two-goal lead. Instead, they used offense instead of defense and continued to bombard Leicester City's penalty area.
Without Kante in the midfield, Leicester City's defensive ability has declined sharply. How can it stop the impact of Velarde and his teammates? In many cases, Liverpool's offense can only be stopped by tactical fouls, which gives Willard the opportunity to take a free kick.
In the 38th minute, Blue Fox wing-back No. 11 Albrighton pulled down Willard on the right side of the penalty area. The referee showed him a yellow card and awarded a free kick.
The ball was a bit wide, and the distance was a bit far, but Willard still relied on his full shooting skills, 98 skills, and full shooting power to hit a full-moon scimitar with a huge arc. , scored this direct free kick.
The ball finally hit the far post and bounced into the goal. Schmeichel predicted that Willard would hit the near corner. As a result, the center of gravity shifted and the direction of the ball was inconsistent. He was unable to make a save in time and could only watch. The ball flew into the net.
Willard scored twice to help Liverpool 3-0 away from home, truly sealing the victory. With this score, it would be impossible for Leicester City to come back, especially when facing Liverpool, a reversal expert.
Due to the recent intensive schedule, everyone had to conserve their physical fitness and prevent injuries, so Liverpool slowed down their attack during the rest of the first half, and Leicester City took this opportunity to launch several waves of counterattacks.
But in front of the Red Army's defense led by Willard and Van Dijk, all Leicester City's attacks failed to pose much of a threat, let alone score.
The addition of Van Dijk has objectively strengthened Liverpool's defensive capabilities, liberated Velarde, and given him more offensive options, making Liverpool more comfortable offensively.
At the end of the first half, the two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 0-3. Liverpool, playing away, temporarily led by three goals.
During the halftime break, Klopp took Firmino and Salah out to rest. Liverpool's offensive also slowed down a lot. When they got the ball, they began to increase the practice of kicking in the backcourt to delay time. .
But people are not machines, and it is impossible for them to make no mistakes. Even Velarde sometimes makes passing mistakes. Although the frequency is very rare and the probability is extremely low, it always happens.
In the 69th minute, Henderson was passing the ball backwards and was about to pass to central defender Matip when he was pressed by Shinji Okazaki. There was a passing error and the ball was passed crookedly. Vardy beat Matip. intercepted the ball before.
At the same time, the moment Vardy intercepted the ball, he passed the ball from the left side of Matip who was counterattacking, and then went around from Matip's right side: the ball passed.
The moment Vardy stole the ball, he used the ball to break through Matip, and then formed a semi-single chance.
Although Van Dijk rushed over from the side to intercept, Vardy still caught Van Dijk before he could get close to him and hit a powerful long-range shot from outside the penalty area more than 20 meters away from the goal.
The ball was played very well and went straight to the far corner of the goal. It was powerful, fast and had a tricky angle. Although goalkeeper Mignolet tried his best to save it, he still failed to touch the ball and could only watch in despair. The ball hits the net.
Leicester City regained a point with star Vardy's frontcourt goal, rewriting the score to 1-3.
This goal gave the Blue Fox fans at the King Power Stadium a glimmer of hope for a comeback. After giving Vardy a warm applause, they sang the team song and cheered for the players. They hoped that Vardy and his teammates could continue to work hard and score goals again. equalize or even overtake the score.
But it turns out that a comeback from a three-goal deficit is extremely difficult, especially when facing Liverpool led by Willard.
Leicester City's continued strong attack not only failed to score again, but in the 73rd minute, Liverpool intercepted the ball and launched a quick counterattack.
Seeing Villard pass midfielder Ndidi, and then use his bicycle to knock down defender Maguire, and when he was about to raise his foot to shoot, Mahrez, who was returning to defense, had no choice but to push Velard down from behind.
Willard lost his center of gravity and fell to the ground. Mahrez was shown a yellow card by the referee and awarded Liverpool a well-positioned free kick again.
Willard seized this opportunity again and sent the ball directly into the near corner of the goal with a perfect arcing free kick.
This helped Liverpool rewrite the score to 4-1 and regain a three-goal lead, and Willard also scored a hat-trick. In addition, this is his second free kick goal in this game. He scored twice from free kicks in the same game, which is also a very shocking performance.
Such a free kick scoring rate is almost equivalent to kicking a free kick as a penalty kick. This is not only a matter of adding a goal for Liverpool and expanding the score, but also for the opponent, and even for any future opponents. A great deterrent: before committing a foul, think carefully whether Willard will score a free kick.
This is not only an important means of scoring, but also a deterrent to protect yourself and your teammates from being fouled by your opponents as much as possible.
Leading by three goals in more than 70 minutes, the game has lost any suspense. Therefore, Klopp immediately replaced Henderson with Milner, using up the last substitution place, and let Henderson also go off to rest.
Although Leicester City counterattacked fiercely in the last twenty minutes, they still failed to achieve any results.
After three minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game. Liverpool defeated Leicester City 4-1 away from home and won the sixth round of the league.
Velarde scored three goals and one assist, and was undoubtedly the man of the match. To be able to complete a hat trick in the 200th career milestone game, score two free kicks, and lead the team to a victory over the opponent is a very satisfying game.
It is a pity that Manchester City and Manchester United still won this round, and Manchester City still won a 5-0 victory.
The Blue Moon Legion under Guardiola is indeed getting better and has a strong momentum in the league.
Of course, Manchester United's performance is not bad either. This has been played for 6 rounds, and like Manchester City, they remain undefeated and are ranked second with the same points and a goal difference that is only a few goals lower, pushing the defending champion into third place. A very good performance of course.
However, the league is a 38-round competition, and the performance in the first 6 rounds must be maintained in the later stages. If anyone falls off the team midway, it is entirely possible that they will withdraw from the championship competition. The league is all about who can persevere to the end and who can fight for the long term.
