Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

You see, Peach can kill like crazy in the top lane, but he always inexplicably collapses when he joins team fights in the mid-game.

In many games like League of Legends and Arena of Valor, players who can consistently snowball their success are always more valuable than those who only have occasional flashes of brilliance.

But Juventus is Juventus after all.

In the 27th minute, Zambrotta, in combination with Nedved, delivered a 45-degree cross.

Trezeguet pounced on the loose ball and scored the first goal of the match.

However, the linesman raised his flag, indicating that Trezeguet was offside and the goal was disallowed.

This is also a weakness of Guardiola and Duncan, two interception-type midfielders: they lack the ability to make tough tackles and have difficulty making an impact on players like Zambrotta who are both fast and technically gifted.

Thirty-first minute.

Deng Kai dropped back and asked Vidic for the ball.

Vidic passed the ball, and Nedved tried to intercept it from behind Duncan.

Deng Kai, without turning, flicked the ball to the left, passing it to Ronaldinho in his blind spot to the left rear, rendering Nedved's attack futile.

At the same time, he yelled at Ronaldinho, "Give it to Chris!"

boom!

With a quick dribble, Xiao Luo didn't even need to look up to observe, relying on Deng Kai's direction to pass the ball to the left flank of the attacking third.

Cristiano Ronaldo successfully broke the offside trap on the left flank and charged towards the ball.

Thuram is very good at defending against Ronaldo, but once Ronaldo gets past him, he can't keep up for a short time. He can only choose to move inside early and give the wing to Ronaldo.

Sure enough, after receiving the ball and dribbling into the attacking third, Ronaldo began to attempt to cut inside.

Before he could even take two steps, he was face to face with Thuram.

As expected, Cristiano Ronaldo unleashed his signature move, the zombie dribble.

In a flash, Ronaldo dribbled the ball down the wing, abandoning his attempt to directly challenge Thuram.

In the last time the two sides met, Ronaldo was completely contained by Thuram for the rest of the game, except for one one-on-one opportunity.

He is not yet a match for this top defender.

The main problem is that my body is suffering too much.

Thuram's primary focus is on preventing Ronaldo from cutting inside. When Ronaldo runs along the edge of the penalty area, Thuram's follow-up is naturally slower.

However, it can also cover the route of Ronaldo's inverted triangle pass.

As for lateral passes... Ronaldo is almost right at the byline, is he going to pass the ball to Buffon?

The area one meter in front of the goal is the goalkeeper's own territory. Under normal circumstances, a lateral pass should be at least one and a half to two meters away from the goal line to be considered a good pass.

boom!

Cristiano Ronaldo caught up with the ball, but didn't use his left foot to cross or cut it back.

His passing isn't great, and his left-footed passing is even worse.

Moreover...

Why send it?

Thuram leaped forward and stretched out his leg, almost grazing Ronaldo's right instep.

But Ronaldo still managed to get a right-footed shot close to the byline.

Buffon was certain that Ronaldo would pass the ball across the box. The reason he took a little time to change from handling the ball with his left foot to his right foot was probably to pass a half-high ball to avoid Thuram's block.

and so……

Buffon took a step outward with his right foot.

Then the ball landed where his right foot had just been standing, and slipped into the goal through a gap of less than 25 centimeters between Buffon's right foot and the right post.

Buffon tried to turn around, but lost his balance and fell to his knees.

"Goal! Goal! This goal is absolutely correct!"

Cristiano Ronaldo!

"That was a beautiful goal! It was a shot from an incredibly tight angle!"

"Cristiano Ronaldo's shooting angle is no more than ten degrees! When he shoots, the ball has no possible path into the goal!"

"But he anticipated Buffon's step, or rather Buffon misjudged Ronaldo's technique. Buffon didn't expect Ronaldo to shoot; he thought Ronaldo was going to pass across."

"There is only one path for the football to pass through. This space is no more than 25 centimeters, while the diameter of the football is 22.1 centimeters."

"Eight goals! Cristiano Ronaldo has equaled Thierry Henry's goal tally, tying him for first place in the Champions League top scorer list! Statistically, he has surpassed Ruud van Nistelrooy, whom the English media considers superior!"

After scoring, Ronaldo began a joyful celebration.

This is Sporting Lisbon's home ground, and the advantage of playing at home is that when you celebrate, the fans will join in and create a lively atmosphere.

It can be incredibly frustrating if you're celebrating and no one around you reacts.

During the celebration, Deng Kai noticed Buffon's unpleasant expression.

Born in 1978, Buffon is only 23 or 24 years old at this moment, which is a very young age for a goalkeeper, roughly equivalent to a 17 or 18-year-old striker.

Players at this stage performed extremely inconsistently, heavily influenced by their mentality and emotions.

Buffon should theoretically be able to take the conceded goal in stride.

Without a goalkeeper, you can avoid conceding goals.

Buffon wouldn't be upset about a goal that's truly divine.

Buffon might be annoyed by particularly stupid mistakes, but he won't take them to heart.

But Ronaldo's goal was spectacular, but not particularly difficult; the probability of saving it was far greater than the probability of scoring. This kind of goal conceded really made Buffon quite angry.

Even if that kind of goal came ten thousand times, Buffon was confident he could block it ten thousand times.

But...just...how could it be...even though it was...

Buffon was internally confused.

Deng Kai immediately told his teammates in the attacking third that they should shoot whenever they had the chance, as the opposing goalkeeper was not in good form today.

This greatly motivated their own attacking players.

In their last encounter, Buffon delivered a performance that was arguably the best of the match, leaving the entire Sporting Lisbon team questioning their existence.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!

He twice denied one-on-one chances, made four successful saves, and averted crises multiple times, making him seem like a ten-year-younger Kahn.

In the 35th minute, Ronaldinho took a long-range shot.

Buffon was clearly out of sync and made no save attempt.

Unfortunately, the kick wasn't controlled properly, and the ball went well over the crossbar.

In the 37th minute, Deng Kai received a pass from Maicon and then passed it across to Ronaldinho before retreating.

Maicon continued to push forward.

Ronaldinho passed the ball back to Deng Kai.

Deng Kai played a through ball over the top to the right wing without stopping the ball.

With no clear defender around him, Maicon sprinted forward and successfully received the ball.

After dribbling the ball down the wing, he was completely unmarked, giving him plenty of time and space to adjust the ball's position.

boom!

During the adjustment, Maicon, watching his teammates make runs in the penalty area, delivered a cross.

The football is extremely fast and has a very large arc.

You can't judge the landing point of this kind of pass just by looking at the trajectory of the ball.

But if you look into the penalty area, you'll know that no matter how Drogba runs inside the box, the ball will always be aimed at Drogba, and it will always find him.

The brilliance of this cross lies in the fact that it's very close to the goalkeeper, yet makes the goalkeeper hesitant to come out and catch the ball.

Not only are the ball speed and trajectory easy for goalkeepers to misjudge, but distance is also an extremely frustrating factor.

Buffon could only stand in front of the goal line and concentrate.

boom!

Drogba was somewhat hampered by Montero's interference and slowed down a bit.

But it doesn't matter, because Maicon's passes are really good, and the landing point is never too far from Drogba.

If Drogba is smart enough, he'll always find a way to get to the ball.

I like playing football on the ground: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him.