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

Chapter 1031: Retribution?
On Manchester United's side, Mourinho did not criticize the team's wanton squandering of opportunities in the first half, but he did suggest that the attack should be more efficient in the second half, because he also knew that wasting opportunities would be punished.

Mourinho praised Bruno's performance. Manchester United had so many offensive opportunities in the first half, and Bruno played a very important and key role in it.

Although he was under Liverpool's close defense, he still made frequent passes, threatening Liverpool's goal again and again.

If it weren't for Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson's superb performance today, and if Manchester United's strikers hadn't failed to seize the opportunity today, Manchester United might have secured the victory in the first half.

But in any case, Mourinho believes that as long as Bruno can maintain this state, it is only a matter of time before Manchester United scores a goal.

Of course, this also requires Manchester United's strikers to improve the quality of their shooting.

………………

The fifteen-minute halftime break passed quickly, and players from both teams reappeared on the field with the same personnel configuration as in the first half. No one was substituted, and there were no tactical adjustments. The second half was still an offensive confrontation.

Liverpool's head coach Klopp is a very strong-willed head coach, so it is not surprising that he would make such an arrangement.

For Klopp, his seven seasons as Liverpool manager are equivalent to his seven seasons as Manchester United entangled with him.

In these seven seasons, in order to beat Manchester United, he tried every possible way and experimented with many things tactically.

After trying so many tactics, no one tactic can be considered effective.

Therefore, before the Champions League final, it is almost impossible to come up with any unexpected tactics to catch the opponent off guard.

If that’s the case, why bother with tactical adjustments?

Just go head-to-head with Manchester United, put aside all the conspiracies and tricks, and see whose offensive firepower is sharper and more fierce.

This approach also suits the Liverpool players' appetite very well: we, the mighty Liverpool, must face our sworn enemy Manchester United head-on. Only by winning can we convince the other side!
As an opponent, Mourinho also knew that he couldn't let Liverpool attack recklessly. Facing Liverpool's crazy attack, in addition to being doubly cautious on the defensive end, he also had to put enough pressure on Liverpool's defense on the offensive end, otherwise Manchester United would be in danger.

The first half was lively, with the defense frequently giving alarm, but Klopp ignored it and continued to ask his players to step up their attack in the second half, constantly putting pressure on Manchester United.

He told his players to believe in themselves, that they would never lose to Manchester United in terms of offensive firepower, and that they would even be stronger than Manchester United!

These words greatly boosted the morale and confidence of the entire Liverpool team. So at the beginning of the second half, Liverpool used their powerful offensive firepower to gradually gain the upper hand.

………………

In the 55th minute, Liverpool got a corner kick opportunity.

After Henderson kicked out the corner kick, Fabinho headed the ball in front and Mane followed up with a header at the back.

But perhaps Mane did not expect Fabinho's header to hit the back of the net. The ball had no power and was easily caught by De Gea.

Manchester United launched an attack, but was disrupted by the opponent in the 30-meter area of ​​Liverpool. The ball fell into the center circle and was received by Salah.

"Little Pharaoh" dribbled the ball forward, but Manchester United players were very afraid of Salah's speed and did not dare to rush forward, for fear that Salah would dribble past them.

So even though Manchester United had five people on the back line, no one dared to come up and grab the ball from Salah. They could only retreat and retreat, hoping to compress Salah's sprint space.

When there was no space behind them for Salah to take advantage of his speed, the threat of this attack was reduced to a minimum.

But Salah is not stupid, he can't just keep dribbling the ball all the way to the end. Although he did play like this most of the time, this is the Champions League final where he wants to redeem himself, so there must be some changes.

As soon as he entered Manchester United's 30-meter area, he passed the ball to Mane who was supporting him on the wing.

………………

After Mane got the ball, he immediately became the focus of Manchester United's defense. He did not pass the ball out immediately, but took the ball to the bottom line, apparently intending to break through directly to the wing.

This action certainly attracted the attention of Manchester United's defenders. Cancelo guarded the inside line and prevented Mane from breaking through.

After Mane pretended to go down the line, he suddenly stopped and changed direction, then rushed sideways towards the middle!
This action completely attracted the attention of Manchester United's defense, and immediately all the Manchester United defenders rushed towards Mane.

Cancelo, Maguire and Van Dijk all rushed up and blocked Mane!
At this time, everyone's eyes were on Mane, completely ignoring everyone else.

But Mane didn't. After dribbling sideways, he suddenly pushed the ball out with his right foot, not to the middle, but to the penalty area, behind Manchester United's defense line, where there was still a gap!
Salah surged into the penalty area like a red lightning bolt and received the ball! Cancelo turned around and saw Salah receive the ball, raising his arm to indicate that the Egyptian was offside. But referee Tilpan ignored him, because he clearly saw that Salah was not offside!

"This is a great goal! Liverpool's chance!!"

………………

Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea decisively left the goal before Salah even received the ball.

De Gea knew there was still room for recovery. Salah was facing the goal sideways, so he couldn't shoot directly. He would definitely need to adjust, and he could take advantage of his adjustment opportunity to push him towards the baseline, making him lose the angle for shooting.

As long as Salah can't shoot, the defense will be considered a success.

In fact, De Gea's defensive strategy almost succeeded. After receiving the ball, Salah really couldn't shoot directly. De Gea was already close to him. If he forced a shot now, it would most likely hit De Gea's body for the third time, and then waste another excellent one-on-one opportunity.

So Salah didn't shoot, but instead kicked the ball diagonally towards the bottom line.

De Gea followed closely and continued to block his shooting angles.

Seeing that Salah chose to dribble the ball to the bottom line, Zhan Jun said disappointedly: "No shot!
Lineker also felt that Salah's choice was questionable: "Bring it? Too many!"

Just as Salah was about to kick the ball out of the baseline, De Gea felt that he had won the game. Then he saw Salah take a step forward, and before the ball went out of the baseline, he half turned around and kicked the ball towards the goal with his left foot!

Not a shot, but a cross!

Seeing that Salah was actually passing the ball, De Gea quickly stretched out his legs to try to block it. However, he failed, and the ball passed him by and rolled towards the open space in front of the goal!

………………

Kante, who returned to the front of the goal, watched the football flying towards him. He braked hard while retreating, then stretched out his foot, trying to kick the football out. However, his backward body prevented him from touching the football. He could only watch the football pass in front of his feet and fly straight to the back of the goal!

There, is Liverpool's left winger Luis Dias coming up!
To be honest, the Colombian winger's position was not very good. He was too close to the football and had almost no space and distance to shoot.

But Diaz knew that he didn't need to exert any strength at this time, he just had to kick the football!

He moved sideways, then swept his left foot sideways!
He swept the football, which flew in a parabola and into Manchester United's goal.

Manchester United, who had the advantage in the first half, was scored by Liverpool first!
Seeing this scene, many people thought of this sentence: Wasting opportunities will indeed bring retribution!
"Ah-ah! Ah..." Lineker was in a complicated mood and didn't know what to say. He didn't want Liverpool to take the lead.

As a Liverpool fan, Zhan Jun doesn't have so many thoughts. Although he likes Bruno very much, he hopes to see the team he supports score goals or even win the championship.

Although he had been commentating the game as neutrally as possible, when he saw the ball fly into the goal and Liverpool took the lead, he jumped up from the commentary booth excitedly and shouted: "Luis Dias!!! He helped Liverpool take the lead! In the 59th minute, the deadlock was broken!"

………………

The entire Stade de France was filled with cheers from Liverpool fans.

After scoring the goal, Luis Diaz ran to the billboard behind the goal, put his hands behind his ears and made a listening celebration gesture.

Because the two sides changed sides in the second half, Liverpool attacked towards the stands where their own fans were. Behind Manchester United's goal was the stands where Liverpool fans gathered, and he could directly hear the cheers of Liverpool fans from here.

When he ran to the advertisement to make money, he excitedly pulled up the Liverpool team logo on his chest and patted his chest hard.

The Colombian striker joined Liverpool from Portuguese giants Porto in the winter window for a high price of 4500 million euros. However, he quickly established himself in Liverpool with his outstanding performance and even squeezed Firmino to the bench.

In today's Champions League final, Klopp started Dias instead of Firmino, which shows his status in Klopp's mind.

This also makes Diaz the first Colombian player to start in the Champions League final since the Champions League was reformed.

Diaz did not disappoint Klopp's trust. When the team was in a very passive situation, his goal helped Liverpool take the lead and also saw the hope of winning the team's sixth Champions League trophy in history.

Other excited Liverpool players rushed up and celebrated the goal with him and the Liverpool fans in the stands.

(End of this chapter)