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Chapter 132: A Shocking Shot, Catching Ronaldo and Messi's Attention!
In the 36th minute, Pogba lost possession due to being too sticky, and a Spanish player successfully intercepted in the frontcourt.
Xavi sent a long pass that pierced through the French team's defense.
Upon seeing his teammate's successful interception, Lin Quan immediately sprinted into the penalty area.
He had just entered the penalty area when the ball flew over the heads of two defenders, appearing in front of him.
Goalkeeper Lloris reacted quickly, closing down Lin Quan immediately, not giving him much of a shooting angle.
With no time to adjust, Lin Quan dared not control the ball and chose to volley directly.
With a bang, the ball flew out.
Lloris reacted swiftly, quickly diving sideways, his body stretched out in the air, forming an impenetrable wall.
The angle for this shot was very tight. As long as he made a timely save, the opponent's shot would either be saved or go wide of the goal frame.
Just as he leaped into the air, he felt that the opponent's shot was of extremely high quality.
The football almost grazed Lloris's fingertips and flew towards the left side of the goal.
The hearts of both sets of fans in the stadium and in front of the TV tightened.
French fans prayed to God, hoping the ball wouldn't go in.
While Spanish fans felt the opposite.
When Lloris felt the ball graze his fingertips and fly out, his heart sank halfway.
This shot was so extreme that it could actually go in!
He looked back in despair and watched as the football banged against the inside of the goalpost and bounced into the net!
Lloris sighed deeply, feeling exhausted and frustrated.
If he had been a little more prepared, a little quicker in his reaction, would the result have been different?
If the ball had just been a little further outwards, it probably wouldn't have gone into the goal but bounced out!
Just that little bit!
The Spanish fans in the stadium and in front of the TV were also shocked. After seeing the ball go in, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Was it really necessary to be so thrilling?
Meanwhile, the French fans felt like they were being strangled again, each one silent like a bird.
Being one goal down still left hope for a comeback, but two goals down...
Even the most optimistic French fan couldn't be optimistic at this point.
The slow-motion replay on the big screen showed that the ball had actually been touched by Lloris's fingertips, but apparently, due to the lack of force, it didn't change the trajectory of the ball significantly.
If Lloris's fingers had been just one or two centimeters longer, he probably would have saved it.
Seeing the replay of this goal, while the Spanish fans praised Lin Quan, they also felt some fear towards the French team's goalkeeper.
This goalkeeper is not simple. He almost saved such a high-difficulty shot!
But this shooting skill is really amazing, to be able to volley with such quality?
Is he even human?
The goalkeeper blocked it to this extent. For an ordinary player, it would be difficult to even complete the shot.
The result was not only a completed shot but also a goal from such a narrow angle.
This is too terrifying!
After scoring this goal, Lin Quan was also very surprised. Seeing Lloris's save attempt, he thought it would be saved by the opponent.
Unexpectedly, it still went in, so he ran to the camera and made a celebratory gesture of bending the bow and shooting the eagle.
France's number ten, the designated scapegoat in Real Madrid, Benzema, stood with his hands on his hips, looking at Lin Quan with some envy.
If he could have Lin Quan's exquisite shooting skills, would he still have to endure so much criticism within Real Madrid?
Winning games is successful with Ronaldo leading the team, but losing is because I, Benzema, didn't perform well and dragged the team down.
Damn it!
...
On the field, the Spanish players all rushed over to celebrate with Lin Quan.
The goal was scored brilliantly. Even if they weren't teammates but just spectators, they couldn't help but want to applaud this goal.
If there weren't any other more spectacular goals in this round of matches, this goal might be chosen as the best goal of the week.
"Lin, how did you score that goal just now?" Xavi asked curiously as he rubbed Lin Quan's head.
Other teammates also perked up their ears, curious as well.
"Just like that, and then like that, and the ball went in, got it?" Lin Quan replied.
Teammates rolled their eyes: Got what?
Forget it, forget it. We can't understand the world of genius, nor can we learn it.
Lin Quan's goal further boosted the team's morale. In the following time, Spain's attacks surged one after another towards France's goal!
In the 39th minute, Alonso sent a through ball, but Iniesta's shot from the edge of the penalty area went slightly over.
Just a minute later, Lin Quan made a clever pass at the edge of the penalty area, but David Silva's shot was blocked by the goalkeeper's legs.
With Spain's possession gradually increasing, France's goal was under siege.
French goalkeeper Lloris became the busiest person on the field.
He continued his excellent performance from the last game, making saves left and right to keep the goal intact and prevent Spain from extending their lead.
But facing such an onslaught from the opponents made the French fans in the stadium feel nervous and anxious.
They couldn't continue to be passive like this; they had to go on the attack!
If they didn't even have a threatening counterattack, the Spanish would only become more reckless in attacking them.
The French players also knew this couldn't go on.
So, they took advantage of the opponent's siege and attempted a few counterattacks.
But the results were not ideal. With too many Spanish players in midfield, their passes were struggling to get through.
Apart from shining brightly when he first came on, Pogba's performance on the field during this time was very poor.
In less than forty minutes, he had already made three mistakes.
Facing Lin Quan, he was almost completely outplayed by the opponent.
Every defense was toyed with, he couldn't stop the opponent at all.
Not only that, he was also intercepted by Lin Quan once, and more embarrassingly, after losing the ball, he desperately tried to regain possession. In the process, his actions were too aggressive, resulting in a yellow card.
This disastrous performance made the French fans gradually lose patience with him.
They had thought he could become the new Zidane within the French team, but at this point, they had completely given up hope.
With this performance, he wasn't even worthy of Zidane's shoes!
Seeing that the Spanish midfield couldn't break through, the French team quickly changed their strategy.
In the 42nd minute, after winning the ball in their own half, the French team sent a long pass that bypassed the midfield.
The ball reached the flank, and Bayern winger Ribery rushed to it. After receiving the ball, he displayed his magical footwork, dribbling past Alba and forming a one-on-one opportunity.
But when facing Valdes, his shot to the far corner was saved by Valdes diving to the ground.
The French team missed their best chance of the first half.
After Valdes saved Ribery's shot, he clenched his fists and let out a roar.
Due to Casillas's injury in the King's Cup match, Valdes, who had been a substitute in the national team, finally found the opportunity to rise to the top.
In these few matches, whether facing Uruguay or Finland, or today's opponent France, Valdes has had a good performance.
This earned him the trust of the coaching staff. During Casillas's absence, he was Spain's undisputed goalkeeper.
However, when Casillas returns from injury, choosing who will be the first-choice goalkeeper between the two will be a headache for coach Bosque.
After missing this golden opportunity to score, there were no good chances for the rest of the first half for both teams.
During halftime, Deschamps comforted Pogba a few words.
He told him not to have too much psychological pressure, that Spain's midfield is very strong, losing to them is not embarrassing.
Even if they lose this game, it's not his responsibility, and it's not the end of the world.
At worst, they can play in the playoff. In the playoff, as long as they don't encounter top European teams, they still have a great chance of advancing.
After receiving Deschamps's comfort, Pogba breathed a sigh of relief and seemed to regain some confidence.
"Paul, in the second half, don't go marking Lin Quan anymore. He's too agile, you can't contain him!" Deschamps saw that Pogba seemed to have regained his fighting spirit, so he began to assign him tasks. "You mark Xavi in the second half. He's getting older, his running ability is declining, and his physical confrontation is not as good as yours. As long as you can limit Xavi, we still have a chance in this game!"
Deschamps believed, based on his observations in the first half, that Xavi was the engine of Spain's midfield.
If they could limit Xavi's passing, then Spain's attacking threat would be greatly reduced.
Pogba nodded heavily. Thinking that he had more confidence against Xavi than against Lin Quan, he was full of confidence.
If I can't stop Lin Quan, can't I stop you?
The second half quickly began, and both sides resumed the battle.
Spain started cautiously after kickoff, seemingly worried about France launching an attack at the beginning.
France did have such intentions; they wanted to seize the opportunity while Spain was still adjusting.
But seeing that the opponent was prepared, they tactfully didn't press forward.
Five minutes later, both sides gradually began to open up, and the pace of the game suddenly accelerated.
In the 51st minute, Cabaye passed from the baseline, but Benzema's shot went over the bar.
Seeing the ball go over the crossbar, Benzema waved his fist regretfully.
At the same time, he comforted himself in his heart: At least it's a bit better than the last shot, at least it's not a wild shot.
After adjusting his mindset, Benzema's threat in front of the goal also began to increase.
In the 57th minute, Valbuena crossed from the flank, and Benzema, wrestling with his club teammate Ramos, managed to get to the ball.
Unfortunately, his header grazed the post and went out of bounds.
This shot was an improvement over the previous one. If it hadn't been for Ramos's interference, it might have gone in.
"Good, keep playing like this. I feel like we're not far from scoring!" In the French TV commentary box, seeing the team's attack gradually improving, especially Benzema's performance getting better, the commentators saw hope and even predicted that the team would soon score.
Sure enough, just two minutes later, there was another goal on the field.
But unfortunately, it was scored by Spain, not France.
In the 59th minute, Monreal, the Spanish left-back signed by Arsenal for £8.3 million during the winter break, showed off his dribbling skills.
After breaking through the opponent's interception on the left, he dribbled to the baseline and passed the ball to Iniesta, who poked it into the net again, breaking through Lloris's hands!
0-3!
The French team is trailing by three goals at their home ground!
This sudden concession of goals caught the French team completely off guard.
They had been attacking well and gradually finding their rhythm.
They were on the verge of scoring.
But now, this momentum has been abruptly interrupted by Spain's goal!
At this point in time, they should have been the ones celebrating a goal, but instead, it's the opponents celebrating.
This severely dampened the morale of the French team. Being three goals behind is completely different from being one or two goals behind!
They can't accept a draw; being three goals down means they have to score at least four goals to win the game.
But to score four goals against Spain?
That's too far-fetched!
As long as the Spanish are determined to defend properly, let alone conceding four goals, even conceding one would be difficult!
In the 2010 World Cup, Spain only conceded two goals and won the championship without conceding a goal in the knockout stages.
In the 2012 European Championship, they only conceded one goal and won the championship without conceding a goal in the knockout stages.
It's too difficult to score four goals against them!
With a comfortable lead, Spain made substitutions.
Villa came on, replacing David Silva.
Since Lin Quan secured his starting position, these forwards for Spain have had a hard time.
Players like Torres and Villa have found it difficult to get playing time, which seems unfair to these veteran players who have made outstanding contributions to the team.
So, Bosque tried to give them some playing time after taking the lead, allowing them to find their form and not let their skills rust, so they'll be ready for major tournaments.
Villa performed actively after coming on, and Lin Quan also seized the opportunity to give him some clever passes.
However, Villa seemed to have spent too long on the bench, and his shooting form didn't seem to be good. He wasted two good opportunities in a row.
"Lin, sorry for wasting your clever passes. Next time, you don't have to take care of me, just shoot when you have the chance!" Villa apologized to Lin Quan embarrassedly.
"It's okay. We have high ball possession and plenty of shooting opportunities. It's okay to waste one or two chances!" Lin Quan didn't take it to heart; he knew the shooting abilities of his teammates very well.
Spain wasted many opportunities in this game, so Lin Quan was used to his teammates wasting chances like this.
Trailing by a large margin, the French team did not give up; instead, they completely let go of their burdens and went all out.
In the 62nd minute, Cabaye's long shot went over the crossbar.
Spain immediately responded; Xavi's long shot from outside the penalty area also went over the crossbar.
In the 65th minute, the French team had a good opportunity. After Ribery dribbled past defenders, he passed to the penalty area.
Although Benzema, who was following up, failed to touch the ball, Matuidi on the side received it.
Unfortunately, when facing Valdes, Matuidi rushed his shot and directly shot it into Valdes's arms, which was easily saved.
This was the second excellent opportunity wasted by the French team in this match, and both shots were saved by Valdes.
The performance of the Barcelona goalkeeper in this game was truly amazing.
The French fans were completely speechless after seeing this; given the chance, you're useless!
If they had seized just one opportunity, the French team wouldn't be in such a passive situation!
On the sidelines, Bosque applauded Valdes while also considering giving Valdes more playing time after Casillas returns from injury.
As time was running out, the French team became more and more anxious.
In the 68th minute, Pogba fouled Xavi and received a verbal warning from the referee.
Two minutes later, Xavi was fouled by Matuidi from behind, and this time the referee showed a yellow card to Matuidi.
The French team's continuous fouls on Xavi seemed to limit Spain's attack, but their own attack still didn't improve.
In the 74th minute, the French team got their best chance so far.
There was a communication error in the Spanish defense, and Valdes and Ramos failed to coordinate. Valdes's mistake in coming out allowed Varane to get the ball from under Valdes's feet.
With Valdes out of position, Varane was facing an almost empty goal.
But unbelievably, under Monreal's interference, Varane failed to score even facing the empty goal.
The French team missed their third excellent opportunity of the match.
The French fans were completely disappointed after seeing this goal, and some even started to curse.
"What kind of crap are you playing, even dogs play better than you!"
"Give us back our ticket money!"
"RNM, refund!"
Because there were too many black players on the team, they weren't very popular with the fans in their own country, especially with the support of white fans.
They finally sparked some patriotic enthusiasm and ran to the stadium to watch the game, but they played like this!
We came to watch you win, not to watch you get beaten by others!
Seeing the fans turn against them, the morale of the French team plummeted even further.
Seeing the opponents' morale at a low, unable to turn the tide.
Spain continued to make substitutions. Bosque brought on Fabregas for Iniesta.
And he also had Martinez warming up on the sidelines, ready to replace the targeted Xavi.
But before Martinez could come on and replace Xavi, there was suddenly a huge change on the field!
(End of this chapter)
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