From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 1030 Missed opportunity
Manchester United's attack threatened Liverpool's goal, and Liverpool quickly responded. Henderson fired a shot from outside the penalty area, sending the ball careening along the grass towards the bottom right corner of the goal.

De Gea seemed to be sliding on the grass, and only used his fingertips to push the ball out of the baseline.

In the subsequent corner kick, Koulibaly's header was slightly off the far post.

In the 41st minute, Manchester United launched an attack from the right. After Cancelo made a wall pass with Bruno on the wing, he rushed to the 30-meter area. Then he sent a straight pass to Greenwood who moved to the ribs.

Greenwood accelerated to chase the ball, and inside him, Fabinho was also chasing desperately, trying not to be completely left behind by Greenwood.

His efforts paid off. Since he did not completely shake off the defense, after catching up with the ball, Greenwood could only choose to force a shot at a small angle, and the ball eventually went wide of the side net.

Greenwood, who was sitting on the ground, shook his head at the result, while Mourinho on the sidelines clapped his hands hard to encourage his players.

Attacking the goal one after another without scoring can easily lead to a drop in morale.

The players are not fools. They know that they have missed so many opportunities and are worried that after the opponent gets a chance to catch his breath, they will threaten their goal and cause them to lose the ball.

………………

Such concerns are definitely not groundless.

When the first half of the game reached the 41st minute, Liverpool's central defender Koulibaly got the ball in the backcourt. He looked up at the front and did not choose to advance step by step with short passes, but directly made a long pass.

The football flew through the air across almost the entire stadium and all the way to the front of Manchester United's penalty area. Like a cruise missile, it accurately found Salah who was sprinting in the front!

Of course, Salah was not unmarked, as Van Dijk was retreating next to him.

But unlike Salah who was running in the direction of attack, Van Dijk was defending while retreating, which was his disadvantage, so when he jumped up to head the ball, he failed to head the ball!

He's cheated!

However, Salah failed to stop the ball because Van Dijk interfered with him and the ball hit his shoulder and bounced back.

The bouncing football accidentally hit the back of Van Dijk who had just landed, flew back again, and landed in front of Salah!
God-given opportunity!

Liverpool fans in the stands cheered.

Salah stopped abruptly, turned halfway, and kicked the ball. He didn't even notice what was happening in front of him, but if he had observed it at this moment, it would have been too late!
So he didn't see that De Gea had already pounced in front of him and was very close!

With such a close-range shot, even if De Gea reacted quickly, it would be difficult for him to make any save. At this time, his early attack to block the angle was effective.

It was so close that he didn't need to do anything at all. Just his body was enough to form a wall.

………………

The football hit De Gea's chest directly, bounced up, hit De Gea's chin, and bounced back again.

De Gea, who was hit by the football, fell on his back on the field as if he was hit by a huge hammer.

"Ah--!" Gary Lineker screamed again.

Lineker was also a professional player. He knows very well how uncomfortable it is for a player to be hit by a football at such a close distance.

The football bounced back downwards, hit the ground, and bounced up again, but it had not yet left the penalty area.

Salah reacted quickly enough and turned around to try to get the ball back.

At this time, Maguire, who had returned to defense, used his physical advantage to squeeze Salah behind him, then took the lead and kicked the ball directly out, which resolved the crisis in front of Manchester United's goal.

"Salah!" Zhan Jun sighed, "He has already missed two one-on-one opportunities in this game!"

While most commentators were lamenting Salah's missed chance, the cameras were focused on De Gea, the Manchester United goalkeeper still lying on the ground.

When the referee Thielpan saw this, he immediately stopped the game and went forward to check on De Gea.

Fortunately, De Gea was fine. He was just kicked hard and felt a little out of breath for a while. He recovered after lying on the ground for a while.

Salah's second missed one-on-one opportunity was the last threatening attack by either side in the first half.

The game then proceeded relatively uneventfully, with neither side creating many clear-cut chances until referee Tilpin blew the whistle for halftime. The score remained 0-0 at halftime.

………………

Zhan Jun sighed in the commentary booth and said, "This first half was truly intense. This might be the most thrilling and intense first half of a Champions League final I've ever witnessed. Both sides completely refused to hold back and went all out in attack. It was truly thrilling to watch, but also quite nerve-wracking..."

Gary Lineker also praised the performance of both teams. He said: "Both teams are very familiar with each other. After all, they have been entangled in the league for a long time. It is this familiarity that allows them to enter this extremely fast attack and defense transition from the first minute of the game without any trial. In any case, thank you to both teams for giving us such a wonderful first half of the final!"

There has always been a saying that "there has never been a famous game in the finals since ancient times", which means that in such an important game as the final, few games can become classics. On the contrary, most finals can hardly be called exciting and can be called the epitome of "dull" and "tedious".

Because in such an important game as the final, both sides will make making fewer mistakes as their first priority. Trying not to make mistakes and waiting for the opponent to make mistakes is the guiding principle for many teams in the final.

Under the guidance of such thinking, many teams will choose defensive tactics, playing cautiously and conservatively, and no one dares to attack rashly.

In such a situation, how can there be a good game?

Having a defensive counterattack would be enough to satisfy the audience, let alone such a high-profile offensive battle.

This is why many finals often end up in penalty shootouts.

Although penalty shootouts are exciting and full of endless unknowns and uncertainties, the audience has to endure 120 minutes of dull and boring competition before the penalty shootout, which is not a good experience.

………………

For example, in the 1994 World Cup final, Brazil and Italy played an extremely boring game under the scorching afternoon sun in the United States.

At that time, Brazil was considered the ugliest team in the world, with no trace of Samba football and only defensive counterattacks. Italy was even more synonymous with defensive football.

It's a wonder if these two teams can put on a good-looking game when they get together.

The 1994 World Cup final is a microcosm of all major tournament finals. Very few finals are offensive battles.

Today's Champions League final was a thrilling battle from the first minute of the game, which made the audience excited and the commentators exclaim in surprise.

In fact, the final with Bruno is different from the ordinary final. He is a person who likes to attack, and whether in the club or in the national team, he plays the role of the team's offensive organizer, which makes his team very active in attack.

Even in the finals, there is no thought of winning the championship by defending to the death.

In these finals, the score was basically never 0:0 and the championship was decided by overtime or even penalty shootouts, and big scores often occurred.

For example, in the 2017-2018 Champions League final, Manchester United faced Real Madrid, which was at its peak and was determined to win the Champions League for three consecutive years. The two sides fought hard and played a thrilling 4:3 game, which is worthy of being the most spectacular game in the history of the Champions League finals.

又比如2018-2019赛季，曼联和利物浦那一场惊世骇俗的5:3，两支球队在比赛里同样是疯狂对拼，是欧冠历史上单场比赛进球并列第二多的比赛，仅次于1959-1960赛季7:3击败法兰克福的比赛。

………………

During the halftime review, the guests all thought the first half was exciting.

Overall, Manchester United had the advantage again. They had more threatening shots than Liverpool. It was a pity that they failed to score a goal in the end.

The guests were also worried that if Manchester United did not take the lead in the first half, the fifteen minutes of halftime would be a chance for Liverpool to catch their breath.

Once Liverpool recovers, they will definitely be a big threat to Manchester United.

By then Manchester United will definitely regret not being able to score a goal in the first half.

In the locker rooms of both teams, coaches from both sides praised their teams' performance in the first half.

Even Salah, who missed two one-on-one opportunities, was not criticized by Klopp. On the contrary, the slag uncle specifically praised and encouraged him: "I told you yesterday, Mohammed, you will be the key figure in this game. Your performance in the first half did not disappoint me. You see, I was right. So please keep playing like this in the second half! They can't keep up with your speed at all!"

Salah, who had missed two one-on-one opportunities in the first half, was still feeling regretful and painful about it. But when he heard what Klopp said, he couldn't help but feel a warm feeling in his heart.

As players, the trust of their head coach is what they value most. As the saying goes, "A man will die for his friend." Although Salah, an Egyptian, doesn't recognize this Chinese idiom, the meaning is the same. He is very grateful to Klopp for his support and trust.

(End of this chapter)