Football’s First Defender

Liverpool and Atletico Madrid, one is the defending champion of the Champions League, and the other is the upstart of the Champions League who has performed well in the European competition in recent years.

The two teams played against each other in this round of the series, showing people a kind of iron-blooded defense that does not conform to the trend of the times.

And when it comes time to decide the right to advance, and no one can break through the opponent's gate, the penalty shootout is still the way to decide the outcome. It can be said that the tension and excitement of this series has been extended to the end moment.

At this time, at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, under the cheers of tens of thousands of Atletico Madrid fans, the cruel penalty shootout is about to begin.

At this time, no one knows whether it is Liverpool, who are playing away, and will perform abnormally amidst the boos, or Atletico Madrid, who are playing at home, will want to win and are afraid of losing, and there is a psychological burden.

Everything, in the end, is to see the truth before the penalty spot. The player's goal performance and the goalkeeper's defensive performance may determine the final result of the game.

Before the penalty shootout started, Klopp had already formulated the order of penalty kicks.

The players only need to accept the arrangement, adjust their mood, and wait for the penalty shootout to play out.

Before the start of this away game, Klopp had already taken time to practice two penalty kick training sessions, which can be regarded as anticipating the occurrence of this situation and making preparations early.

The penalty list has also been arranged before. At this time, Klopp only needs to know if any player feels abnormal and decides to give up the penalty kick.

Fortunately, for the Liverpool players, they are all big-hearted. It’s just a penalty kick. It’s not the Champions League final. It’s a "mini-game" where you advance to the top 8. It’s far from that tense and exhausting. The degree to which dodge is required.

Before the start of the penalty shootout, the captains of both sides, Yang Feng and Gabi, under the auspices of the referee, completed the matter of guessing sides and choosing the order of penalty kicks.

After everything is done, the penalty shootout is just beginning.

Yang Feng lost the coin guess, and Liverpool was the first team to take the penalty kick.

In terms of probability and big data statistics, the team that takes the penalty later has a high probability of winning the game.

Perhaps, this is the team with the second penalty. The psychological pressure may be smaller, and it is better to adjust the mentality according to the situation on the court.

It was Milner who led Liverpool to the penalty spot.

Milner, a big-hearted player, is Liverpool's first under pressure.

Oblak first stood in the penalty area, holding the ball in his hand, walked to the penalty spot head-on, handed the ball to Milner, and then slowly retreated to the goal line.

The psychological confrontation between the goalkeeper and the penalty shooter is not just on the goal line, but on the court, every time, it is going on.

Oblak hoped that when he handed over the ball just now, he looked directly at Milner, and hoped that he could use small movements to interfere with Milner.

Oblak, who is 1.89 meters tall, is equipped with his own wingspan. When he stands in the center of the goal, for Milner, he feels that his defensive coverage is better than that of his teammate Mignolet during training. Much bigger.

This may be due to Oblak's extraordinary talent, and besides his excellent physical fitness, Oblak's reaction speed is not slow. Big test.

However, Milner's heart is big enough, regardless of the scope of Oblak's control, how big it can be, as long as he can hit the ball at the desired angle and score the ball, that's enough.

"Milner's run-up!"

"Hit the door!"

"Oblak judged the right direction, but still missed the ball. Milner gave Liverpool the lead."

Milner chose to push hard and hit the lower right corner of the goal.

This time, Oblak had judged the right direction, and fell to the ground quickly, stretching his arms as far as possible.

But Milner's shot was fast enough and the angle was tricky enough. It almost rubbed against the post in the lower right corner and rolled into the goal.

It's a pity that Oblak's palm is only a little away from touching the football.

It was Atletico Madrid's turn to take the penalty.

The first player Atletico sent was Griezmann.

Unlike the noisy sound when Liverpool made free throws before, when the home team was defending, the sound on the scene dropped significantly.

With the exception of the away area, where thousands of Liverpool fans live, everyone in the home area was silenced to give Griezmann a better environment to shoot.

Run-up, rhythm change, Griezmann's pause, but Mignolet, who had already flew to the right in advance, was already swayed, and Griezmann was taking a kick at this time, and it was not too much to complete the kick easily. With a strong push, he hit the left side and entered the goal.

After Griezmann's goal, Atletico Madrid burst into a lot of cheers in an instant to celebrate Griezmann's goal.

And then, naturally, there were boos everywhere, putting pressure on the players who played after Liverpool.

Coutinho hit a low shot to the left and still scored a goal.

Although Gabi's shot was too close to be thrown, but the angle was tricky and the force was sufficient, so that Mignolet's side attack also failed to stop the football with a stroke of palm.

Both sides hit two free throws.

Firmino's violent shot to the left and Cork's half-high shot to the center allowed the team to continue to score goals.

3 to 3.

In the crucial last two shots, Yang Feng appeared in the more important fourth penalty position, still hitting the lower right corner of the goal, quite following the direction his teammates were aiming at, and once again fooled Oblak's defense.

Got a goal.

The two sides made 7 of 7 free throws, and Liverpool's consecutive hits at this time put more pressure on the Atletico Madrid players who played later.

Saul hit the goal with a half-high ball, which was judged by Mignolet.

Soaring into the air is a side attack.

That is to say, Saul's choice of route for the ball was excellent. He hit the goal post on the right and bounced into the penalty area. Mignolet's save was still a little bit short, and he didn't touch it.

When the ball was shot, Atletico Madrid fans were taken aback.

Because this kind of half-high ball with no speed, no height, and no power is most suitable for the goalkeeper to play.

Fortunately, there was no danger, Saul did not become that criminal.

Henderson, who took Liverpool's last penalty, hit the goal with a strong kick, and did not give Oblak any chance to save.

As for Atletico Madrid's last shot, Torres was so bold that he chose to hit the middle of the shot and flew into the goal by rubbing the crossbar.

The two sides hit ten out of ten shots, and the penalty shootout went directly to a single-round tiebreaker, which was even more tense and exciting.

The free throw players of the two teams all hit, and the goalkeepers of both sides were not given a chance at all, and the players after that were actually players who were getting worse at penalty kicks.

Klein volleyed and scored again, successfully scoring his share of the penalty kick.

Jimenez also scored, making the two sides fight to a 6-6 tie.

In the seventh round, Moreno and Felipe scored at the same time, 7-7.

Neither team has missed a shot so far.

Skrtel is Liverpool's eighth man, run up, hit the goal!

The uncertainty of the central defender's footwork is shown.

"Lost! Skrtel's penalty kick at a critical moment flew away, and Atletico Madrid's chance to end the game."

In the 8th round, it may be the goal to end the game. Atletico Madrid sent veteran Juanfran.

Run up and hit the goal.

"The ball is in! The ball is in!"

"Juanfran! Penalty kills Liverpool!"

"The defending champion Liverpool played 8 rounds of penalty shootouts with Atletico Madrid, but in the end they lost 8-7. This is a victory for Atletico Madrid..."