Chapter 398: Reversal
Leading almost the entire game, Liverpool at this moment was extremely frustrated. The head coach Benitez could no longer maintain his calm demeanor but anxiously directed the team to attack with all their might, as one more goal would still make them the winners!
The away team players, disregarding mutual encouragement and consolation, now urged the referee to stop the endless celebration of Real Madrid and demanded a quick restart. Benitez felt somewhat absurd, but he still fulfilled the referee's duty.
Unfortunately, Benitez was destined to be disappointed. Shortly after the restart, in a flurry of panic and anxiety, the away team lost possession of the ball, which Sneijder slotted through to Wang Feng, who immediately launched a rapid counterattack across the midfield line.
Glancing ahead, Wang Feng noticed that Reina, perhaps due to self-blame, was positioned very high, gazing at the advancing teammates. So the Chinese superstar made a powerful stride forward.
A run-up, a shot! A powerful long-range lob shot soared straight towards Liverpool's goal, despite the Spanish goalkeeper's desperate retreat, he still couldn't catch up with the speed of the ball's descent. It grazed just beneath the crossbar and dropped into the net.
3-0! Real Madrid reversed the aggregate score to 4-3! Wang Feng staged a hat-trick! "Goooooooooooooooooooal! A super long-range world-class goal from Wang Feng, piercing through the away team's defense for the third time!"
"The Chinese superstar scored three goals within five minutes, completely breaking Liverpool, Reina is to blame for the last two goals, we can't help but wonder what happened to him!"
As predicted by the commentator, Liverpool had been thoroughly defeated and had no ability to fight back. Despite having three minutes of stoppage time, and another goal could push the game into extra time, clearly they didn't want to play anymore! When the final whistle was blown by the referee Yungbeli, Real Madrid's substitute players and coaching staff rushed onto the field, celebrating together this miraculous comeback victory, similar to last year's championship celebration.
A magical game, a miraculous victory! This thought echoed in everyone's mind. At the post-match press conference, the media eagerly raised their questions.
"Yes, this is a victory that can be recorded in history," joked Schuster. "Honestly, my surprise is no less than yours. Three goals in five minutes, my god, is there anything crazier than this?"
"At that time, I could only applaud Wang Feng from the coaching bench. He always brings endless surprises."
Wang Feng also attended the press conference. He said, "Everyone only sees my goals, but they didn't notice the constant pressing from my teammates to regain possession, they had to attack while ensuring no defensive mistakes. Every player on the team made an indelible contribution, victory belongs to everyone, belongs to Real Madrid!"
"Um? Yes, yes, the second goal was quite miraculous, even I didn't expect it to go so smoothly, I just wanted to put some pressure on the opponent goalkeeper."
"Perhaps in the final moments of the game, the God of fate finally decided to favor us." Wang Feng smiled and added, "You know, we had nearly twenty shots on target throughout the game, but didn't score a goal."
On the other hand, Liverpool's head coach Benitez attended the press conference alone. He answered the media's questions: "The high-intensity game inevitably caused fatigue for Reina, and just now, the team doctor's preliminary diagnosis indicated a slight muscle strain in his shoulder."
"Real Madrid performed better in the contest, they almost dominated us throughout the game, and even though we had some chances, the team couldn't capitalize on them."
"So losing is not the responsibility of any one person, I won't blame Reina, without him, the team would have definitely lost more miserably, so he remains the first-choice goalkeeper."
Once again blocked by Wang Feng's individual efforts from reaching the Champions League final, Benitez's mood was very poor. He even felt somewhat pessimistic, believing that as long as the Chinese superstar is still playing, Liverpool will never get their fifth championship.
According to the latest news, UEFA plans to abolish the permanent trophy system in 2009, which means Liverpool, this historically prestigious club, is about to lose their ticket to the top-tier elite clubs!
The Spanish coach couldn't help but sigh, will he come again next year? Although the game ended, discussions on domestic networks were still lively. Netizens enthusiastically talked about Wang Feng's miraculous performance and also discussed Reina's blunder.
"Wang Feng's first goal was a turning point in the game! Dribbling past four defenders in a small area upfront was already shocking enough, and the final shot was of such high quality."
"By the way, why didn't he use his dribbling skills from the beginning? Does it require a special period like Ultraman's special move?"
"I don't know what Ultraman is, but judging from your post, you must have just started watching football, in fact, Wang Feng was trying to penetrate the defense throughout the game, but in the early stages, Liverpool's defense was very strong both physically and mentally, making it difficult to achieve the effect of dribbling past multiple players, so he had to choose not to lose possession and pass."
"But this also indirectly reflects his strong physical fitness. Even in the final moments, when defenders were feeling tired, Wang Feng still exuded vitality."
Regarding the last two goals, "These two shots directly halved the value of the Spanish goalkeeper!" someone predicted, but more people believed he shouldn't be overly blamed.
"He has already performed well enough, if it wasn't for Reina's saves in the first half, Liverpool would have been broken much earlier."
"But history will not remember his merits, only his mistakes, soon everyone will only remember him flicking the ball to Wang Feng's feet and positioning himself too far forward, leading to the long-range lob goal."
"In that case, Wang Feng seems to be a heavily sinning player," someone commented, "Think about it, count carefully, how many well-known head coaches have fallen at his feet? Forgot about last summer when no one dared to take over Bar?a?"
As they chatted, they also discussed Liverpool's history of setbacks. Someone summarized the club's European competition history:
In the 2001 UEFA Cup final, encountering Wang Feng-led Genk, leading 3-0 but were chased to 5-3, tragically missed the championship.
In the 2002 Champions League quarter-finals, encountering Bundesliga's Leverkusen, leading 1-0 in the first leg but lost 2-4 in the second leg, tragically reversed.
In the 2005 Champions League final, encountering Chelsea from the same Premier League, dominating but conceded a last-minute goal.
In the 2006 Champions League round of 16, encountering Portuguese's Benfica, leading 1-0 in the first leg but lost 0-2 in the second leg, tragically reversed.
In the 2007 Champions League final, meeting the Galaxy battleship where Wang Feng was, leading 3-0 similarly, but were chased to 3-4, eventually lost the championship.
Then there was this year's 2008 Champions League semi-final, leading 3-1 in the first leg, but were chased to 3-4 in the second leg, eventually missed the final.
"Looking back, Liverpool's experience seems to be called the 'European Reversal Sauce', haha!"
At this time, there were not many fans of anime culture domestically, so most people were puzzled, "What does this mean? Is it a sauce that European competitions often get reversed?"
And veteran players would show a meaningful smile and echo, "Exactly, there's no problem explaining it like that."
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