As a goalkeeper, carry the team forward

Chapter 149
In the blink of an eye, a week passed.

On April 4, the 19th round of the Premier League continued.

Villa sit at home and face ninth-ranked Southampton.

This game created a record for this season.

Southampton kicked off first, but they had no intention of shooting at all.

In the whole game, Southampton's possession rate reached 68%, but they only contributed two shots, and only one shot hit the target.

Jose's clothes were still clean after the game.

Southampton had no shot chances and Villa were no better.

With only 32% ball possession rate, they only completed 3 shots in the whole game, and only one shot hit the target.

In the end, the two sides tied with a score of 0-0.

The number of Villa's 0 goals and 0 conceded games this season has increased to 12 games.

The fans complained one after another.

The Villa team really missed such a good goalkeeper as Jose.

After the game against Southampton, Villa ushered in the first leg against Benfica.

The Villa team first hosts and then away.

In terms of starting list.

Villa sent a 343 formation, the specific list is as follows.

Goalkeeper: Jose.

Defenders: Clark, Vlaar, Baker.

Midfielders: Bertrand, Delph, Westwood, Lorton.

Forwards: Weimann, Abanglaho, Albrighton.

Bacuna, Ahmadi and Benteke sat on the bench.

For Benfica, they sent a 433 formation. The specific list is as follows:
Goalkeeper: Oblak.

Defenders: Siqueira, Garay, Luizon, Maxi Pereira.

Midfielders: Gaitan, Enzo Perez, Amorim.

Forwards: Rodrygo, Lima, Markovic.

Just last weekend, Benfica won the Portuguese Super League championship ahead of schedule, conceding only 15 goals in nearly 2 official games.

Unlike Villa's weak front, Benfica's offensive power is extraordinary this season.

Before the start of this game, they had won 7 consecutive victories.

After the opening game, despite the away game, Benfica was still in full swing.

The first shot in the frontcourt was completed by Benfica player Rodrygo.

It just failed to threaten Jose at all.

The opponent's shot directly deviated from the direction of the goal.

The opponent's morale was high, and Jose did not choose a long pass to the midfield, but a short pass to Karak.

Clark drove the ball all the way to the center circle before passing it to Bertrand.

In addition to Clark's slow turning speed, being too sticky to the ball is also his major shortcoming.

Of course, Jose is more willing to cooperate with Clark than Nathan Baker.

In the end, Villa's offense failed to break into the opponent's penalty area.

In an instant, Benfica's attack hit again.

Pereira advanced from the side and reached the right side of Villa's penalty area.

Bertrand intercepts it.

It's a pity that he was still a little younger after all, and was knocked to the ground by Pereira's fake move.

Pereira broke into the right side of the penalty area and made a cross.

The ball went to Lima's feet.

From 15 yards in front of the goal, Lima volleyed with his left foot.

The ball flew towards the top left of the goal.

Fish jumping over the dragon's gate.

Jose flew directly to save.

Just before the ball flew to the goal, Jose had already blocked the left side of the goal.

Take it easily.

Don't give the opponent any chance to make a second shot.

"Press out." Jose gestured to his teammates.

This time, Jose directly kicked the goal kick.

Passed directly to Delph's feet.

Delph split the side and the ball reached Lowton's feet.

Unfortunately, in the end Abanglahuo's shot was directly confiscated by the opponent's goalkeeper because the angle was too straight.

In this way, both sides come and go.

In the first half, the two sides scored a goalless draw.

As the Europa League semi-finals, the two best defensive teams.

Goals are not easy to come by.

Intermission time.

"Why, I feel that in this game, the two sides have a high probability of a draw?"

"I also have the feeling that Benfica has slightly more chances, but with the presence of Jose, it is difficult for Benfica to score a goal."

"Villa's midfield is too stretched, and there are basically no chances."

...

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again.

It was actually Benfica who took the lead in completing the goal.

After Benfica won the ball, they advanced layer by layer, and Villa players could only defend passively.

"Close, don't let them get the ball easily," Paul Lambert yelled from the sidelines.

However, how could Benfica players let Villa players get close to them easily?
Amorim took the ball and Delph approached immediately.

Just when Delph was about to get close, Amorim passed the ball.

The ball landed at Gaitan's feet.

Unable to advance in the middle, Gaitan took the ball to the side.

In front of Gaitan was Rodrigo.

"You pass to the left side of the penalty area."

Gaitan shouted to Rodrygo in Portuguese, then passed the ball to the opponent, and started running into the penalty area.

"Pay attention to number 20." Jose shouted at his teammates.

The other party thought they could fool Jose by speaking in Portuguese.

As everyone knows, Jose is proficient in seven languages.

Even in Japanese, he can understand simple expressions such as "Ya buy disc".

Language is no longer a barrier to Jose.

After hearing Jose's reminder, Vlaar immediately noticed Gaitan who was about to break into the restricted area.

Even so, Gaitan still received a pass from Rodrigo, but his original plan of making a surprise shot fell through.

On the left side of the penalty area, Gaitan passed the ball to the other side under the pressure of Vlaar.

Lima didn't know when, he had already run to the right side of the penalty area.

Right side of goal.

The edge of the small restricted area.

Lima received Gaitan's pass and shot directly from the near corner.

The shot was close.

It is difficult for the general goalkeeper to react in time.

Jose reacted.

It's just that he went to the left side of the goal just now to block Gaitan.

Moving from the left side of the goal to the right side, the flying ball is definitely faster.

Seeing that Lima's shot was about to cross the goal line.

Jose flew to him.

There is no time to catch the ball, unless Jose uses time and space to pause.

Therefore, he can only choose to stretch out his left foot and stand on the goal line, just stepping on the path of the ball.

Very cleverly, Jose blocked Lima's shot.

Seeing Jose block his shot, Lima was visibly taken aback.

When he realized that he was going to make a supplementary shot, it was already too late.

Clark took the lead and kicked the ball out of the penalty area.

The Villa team survived this crisis smoothly.

The competition in the midfield was extremely fierce.

It's a pity that Villa's offense failed to threaten the opponent's goal.

Weiman's shot was slightly higher and flew out of the baseline from above the goal.

Benfica goalkeeper takes a goal kick.

Counter quickly.

In a blink of an eye, it hit Villa's penalty area.

Rodrygo's shot.

Straight to the upper right corner of the goal.

Jose didn't dare to be careless, and chose to block it out of the bottom line with one hand.

Give the opponent a corner kick.

The corner kick is taken.

Drive directly into the restricted area.

In the chaos, Jose grabbed the first spot.

In the crowd, Jose, who was wearing a yellow jersey, leaped high and took off the high-speed flying ball with both hands.

The moment Jose landed, an accident happened.

In the confusion, Rodrigo pushed Jose intentionally or unintentionally.

Pushed by the opponent, Jose suddenly lost his center of gravity, fell to the ground on the spot, and almost dropped the ball in his hand.

However, things are not over yet.

After seeing Jose fell to the ground, the ball almost dropped, Rodrigo actually tried to kick the ball away from Jose.

"Fuck, are you looking for trouble?" Jose was violent on the spot, regardless of controlling the ball, and directly knocked Rodrigo away with his body after getting up.

Although Jose's stature is thin, his impact is not weak at all.

Rodrigo was hit on the spot and took a few steps back.

After being knocked back by Jose, Rodrigo, who was already holding back his stomach, directly pushed Jose back.

"Try pushing me again?" Jose was very sensible and didn't fight back, but he didn't show any weakness in his momentum.

The players on both sides saw that Rodrigo had collided with Jose, and they didn't care about fighting for the ball, and surrounded them one after another.

Seeing that a group fight was about to happen, the referee blew his whistle.

Hearing the referee's whistle, sensible players from both sides grabbed their teammates.

"After the corner kick was taken just now, he pushed me first," Jose immediately complained to the referee.

"I know, I'm watching." The referee nodded.

Rodrigo thought his actions were very secretive, but in fact the referee was at the edge of the penalty area, and he could see everything that happened in the penalty area clearly.

In the end, Rodrygo was awarded a yellow card.

This is also the first yellow card of the game.

At this time, the game has just passed 55 minute.

"Good jod." Jose gave the referee a thumbs up.

Jose doesn't need the referee to defend himself, he just hopes that the referee can see clearly.

The game continues.

After this incident, the anger of the players on both sides rose, and the movements of their feet became a lot louder unconsciously.

In the 61st minute, Delph dribbled the ball in the middle.

Behind him, Enzo - Perez hot pursuit.

Seeing that Delph was about to get rid of himself, Enzo Perez did it.

He directly pushed Delph to the ground.

"Beep, beep~"

Enzo Perez is shown the yellow card by the referee.

Three minutes later, Delph used the same method to deal with Amorim, and also got the topaz card.

Free kick for Benfica.

About 25 yards from the goal.

Gaitan takes charge of the free kick.

Jose immediately organized a wall of people.

You can hit the door directly.

However, Gaitan did not choose to do so.

He chose to pass directly into the penalty area.

The landing point is between the defender and Jose, only 5 yards away from the goal.

Very smart approach.

At this point, the average goalkeeper's attack speed is definitely not as fast as the opponent's offensive player.

And Villa's defensive players are not easy to deal with. If they are a little careless, they are likely to kick the ball into their own goal.

"Let me do it." Jose shouted, but he still chose to attack by himself.

Jose has enough confidence that his speed will never be slower than those offensive players.

In fact, in terms of pure starting speed, Jose is the fastest in the team, much faster than the No.2 Abanglaho.

Jose's 5*25 turnaround running performance has been No.1 in the team since his physical evolution was completed.

Except for the players in the Villa team, outsiders don't know this.

From the perspective of God, Jose can judge the exact landing point of the ball with just one glance.

Pushing hard with both feet, Jose struck out quickly.

While Jose was attacking, Lima and Rodrigo were also calculating the landing point.

The center 5 yards in front of the goal has become a battleground for players from both sides.

(End of this chapter)