Chapter 20: Collapse of Valencia

"Valencia has absolutely no way to deal with Arsenal's attack. This game is Arsenal's show!"

Paul Merson's evaluation is very intuitive. After all, Arsenal had the ball for most of the game.

Even if Valencia held the ball to launch a counterattack, they would lose the ball in almost 2-3 passes, and they had very few opportunities to pass forward.

Many times, in a hurry to advance forward, Valencia would choose to directly kick the ball high and look for offensive players in the frontcourt.

But this rough pass was completely locked by Arsenal.

Hummels and Jimenez are not decorations. Even though Kante is not good at competing for the top, their attacks and choices of landing points are top-notch.

For this reason, they can always destroy it first.

This also led to the failure of Valencia's few remaining offensive opportunities.

Valencia's head coach Marcelino was sweating profusely on the sidelines.

Yes!

Although the weather was not particularly hot, he was still sweating profusely.

Looking at the situation on the field, his heart was cold.

There was no counterattack point at all, let alone the opportunity to score.

As Paul Merson said, this is Arsenal's show.

Since the start of the game, Valencia has been in a too passive situation.

On the other side, Arsenal's bench was full of laughter.

The main players on the field performed well, and they were able to win the championship for the second season, which made them feel very happy.

Although he failed to start the game, it does not mean that there is no chance.

Buffon stared at the court in a daze. Although he also played for Juventus, a giant in Serie A, and also partnered with a large number of stars, no game was played so dominant.

Yes, in Buffon's view, Arsenal has controlled the entire game, and their handling of any detail amazed him.

Every pass path of Arsenal, the running position of each player, and even the observation of looking up and the tacit cooperation made him feel a lot.

Last season, he played for Paris Saint-Germain.

With stars like Neymar and Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain should have a strong ability to win the Champions League.

But on the contrary, when the game started, Paris Saint-Germain was often a bit messy.

Let alone Arsenal's tacit teamwork, Paris Saint-Germain's advancement was simply based on the personal abilities of Neymar and Mbappe.

Especially in the Champions League, the role of these two people is even more prominent.

Once these two people are restricted, Paris Saint-Germain's offense will be directly over.

On the other hand, even if Eriksen is restricted, Luka can stand up.

And Luka is restricted. This situation is impossible.

It's not that Luka can't be restricted, but as long as Luka retreats, based on his long-range long-pass ability and excellent forward players, Arsenal's offense is still very threatening.

Buffon clenched his fist slightly. This season is the closest he has ever been to the Champions League.

At the age of 41, he is still striving for the Champions League, which is also a challenge for his Grand Slam.

This is also the reason why he came to Arsenal, even as a substitute.

Bang!

At this time, Martinez threw the ball and launched a counterattack directly.

The ball was thrown accurately to the feet of Lucky, and Lucky did not stop the ball, but directly headed the ball to Eriksson, and he turned around and immediately started running forward.

Other Arsenal players also quickly moved forward, and a six-man counterattack situation was formed in an instant.

Arsenal rushed forward in a mighty manner, and the Valencia players were terrified.

They hoped that someone could interrupt Arsenal's counterattack rhythm, or directly intercept or steal the ball.

But none of these happened. When Cochran approached Eriksson, Eriksson had already passed the ball to Mane on the wing.

Mane made a direct cross pass, and the ball came to Giroud's feet.

Giroud passed the ball to Aubameyang in sheep's clothing, but after attracting the opponent's attention, he dunked his feet.

The ball immediately passed through the crotch of Valencia center back Garay, while Giroud pushed forward violently.

The ball was in front of Giroud, and Giroud was about to catch up and shoot.

But the next second, he felt a huge pull from behind.

And he also fell backwards under this pull.

Beep!

——

The whistle was sharp.

The harsh whistle also made the Valencia players feel cold.

In an instant, a group of Valencia players were about to surround the referee.

But the referee signaled them to step back and pointed directly to the penalty spot.

A malicious foul by Valencia resulted in a penalty.

Garay was even given a yellow card.

It can be said that although Valencia retained a glimmer of hope, it paid a painful price.

The ball was thrown to Lekai, who held the ball and came to the penalty spot without hesitation.

After gently putting the ball down and twisting it, Lekai wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve, and then looked up at the goal.

The goalkeeper of Valencia also looked at Lekai nervously.

He found that Lekai's eyes were wandering around the left and right sides, and it was impossible to judge where he would kick.

A penalty kick is a psychological game.

The whole world knows that Lekai will kick to the lower left corner more often, but as a goalkeeper, he is really not so sure.

Especially when facing players like Lekai, the goalkeeper is under great pressure.

The referee has already left the penalty area, and Lekai has also measured the distance of the run-up.

Now, just wait for the whistle to blow.

"Kai's penalty is very difficult to judge. The data in the lower left corner has already cost many goalkeepers. In fact, Kai's penalty will choose the lower left corner more often in the early days, but now he is good at almost every point!"

"In this case, how to judge becomes a problem. We look forward to Valencia's goalkeeper"

Before he finished speaking, the whistle sounded.

"The whistle sounded, Kai ran up, this shot"

After completing the run-up, Lekai immediately kicked and shot.

This shot was a push shot to the right.

The ball was not fast, but he completely deceived the goalkeeper.

With the goalkeeper diving to the left, this shot was almost easily completed.

"Kai!

A very calm penalty kick, in the lower right corner, although the speed of the ball was not fast, he completely fooled the goalkeeper."

"Arsenal scored another goal in the 39th minute to expand the score to 2:0!"

"This goal also brings Arsenal closer to the European Super Cup!"

Paul Mossen said with emotion; "If we win this game, Arsenal will win two championships in a row at the beginning of the season, and at the same time remain unbeaten. I think we can already feel Arsenal's dominance over European football."

In the first half, they led by two goals and had a huge advantage in the situation.

These two goals made Valencia's spirit disappear.

This made Arsenal basically win the championship.

At the same time, the substitutes off the field were eager to move.

They looked at Mourinho eagerly. It has come to this point. It's time for the substitutes to go on the field to feel the atmosphere, right?

Mourinho was applauding. In fact, he also had this idea.

But not now.

Here, he still has to finish the first half, and after a certain period of time in the second half, he will consider substitutions after stabilizing the situation.

He has to ensure a smooth transition to absolute advantage.

On the other hand, Valencia on the other side is completely helpless.

Even the head coach has begun to consider the issue of training.

Champion?

They didn't think about this issue before the game, after all, the opponent is Arsenal!

But they can still think about a little performance or scoring a goal.

However, the idea is beautiful, but the reality is very skinny.

Arsenal did not give them this opportunity at all, controlling the game from beginning to end and taking a two-goal lead.

The head coach of Valencia shook his head helplessly, and immediately asked some substitutes to start warming up.

In the current situation, he is no longer thinking about scoring, let alone winning.

It's a good opportunity to let the substitutes train more, and let these guys experience the deterrence of the top team.

After returning to La Liga, they will not be soft before the game when facing the two giants in La Liga.

In this atmosphere, the game transitioned to the second half.