svetikya Chapter 45: The Championship Play-offs Kick Off! An away game against Crystal Palace, a battle betwe
Chapter 45: The Championship Play-offs Kick Off! An away game against Crystal Palace, a battle betwe
2011 5 Month 7 Day.
The final matches of the Championship season kicked off at 2:30 p.m.
Norwich, Carroll Road Stadium.
The Canaries fans watched the intense battle unfold with bated breath, while constantly refreshing their phones, anxiously searching for every peep from the other side of the field.
Leicester City are already leading Ipswich Town by a large margin.
Norwich, meanwhile, is still engaged in a final showdown with Coventry.
On the real-time leaderboard...
Leicester City overtook Norwich City's 80 points with 81 points to take second place!
The second and third are worlds apart, like heaven and earth.
The former is a direct path to the Premier League, while the latter leads to hell, requiring participation in the brutal promotion playoffs.
As a team that finishes in the top two of the league 97% of the time, Norwich certainly doesn't want to see this happen.
A sense of despair began to seep into the hearts of every Canary fans.
90+4 minutes.
Norwich are awarded a corner kick.
Grant Holt leaped high and, just as stoppage time was about to end, slammed the ball into the Coventry goal.
The enthusiastic shouts instantly filled the stadium, and in a flash, Carroll Stadium was as if it were boiling in a steamer.
Most fans were praying, shouting, and celebrating in each other's arms.
A small number of fans gloated and cursed Leicester City.
"Trying to get promoted by stepping on us? Dream on!"
"Second place is ours! You guys can stay in the Championship and keep rolling around, hahaha!"
Norwich fans didn't originally have that much animosity towards Leicester City.
Who told those damned Chinese boys to make them lose face on their home turf!
the other side.
Leicester City thrashed Ipswich Town 4-1.
Liu Yi's Championship goal tally has now reached 20.
He ranked fifth on the top scorers list.
but!
Foxes' number 39 only joined the team during the winter transfer window.
According to the theory that Sun Yue can score 2 points in 1 minute of playing time, he can score 72 points in 36 minutes of playing time.
If Liu Yi played the entire season, wouldn't he be able to score 40 goals?!
The performance was so good that it was no exaggeration to describe it as impeccable.
The only downside was that Leicester City, like Top Esports in 22, marched all the way north, overcoming numerous obstacles to climb from 12th place in mid-table to third in the league.
According to the rules...
In the play-off semi-final, Leicester City will play Crystal Palace, who are currently ranked sixth, away from home in the first leg!
Crystal Palace were also a dark horse that emerged in the second half of the season.
The team also has promising young stars.
Wilfred Zaha!
A product of Crystal Palace's youth academy, a London prince.
Both were born in 1992 and are considered top-tier prodigies with the ability to play in the English Premier League.
The question of who will perform better in the Championship play-offs between Liu Yi and Zaha has become the ultimate suspense that fans are eagerly anticipating.
As for Liu Yi himself, he was not interested in the so-called "new star showdown" hyped up by the media.
He still respects Zaha.
In a parallel universe, a white police officer in a prison camp knelt on a black man until he died.
This triggered a worldwide movement to protect Nigerians.
Zheng Zhi's correct approach has also swept through the Premier League.
The organizing committee hopes that all athletes will voluntarily (or reluctantly) kneel down before the black man before the start of the game.
The Tottenham vs. Crystal Palace match.
Son Heung-min was quick; he knelt down with a thud.
Now the Koreans aren't clamoring to have "A man's knees are worth gold" listed as an intangible cultural heritage.
Zaha remained unfazed, rejecting this formalism, and stood proudly on the field.
※※※
2011 5 Month 13 Day.
London, the capital of the United Kingdom.
The drums thundered at Selhurst Park stadium.
The giant TIFO slowly rose.
The general content of the image is: Insubordination.
It means that even as the sixth-ranked player, one can still overturn the third-ranked player.
Liu Yi dismissed it with disdain.
Is this some kind of imitation of ZMJJKK?!
"To all the fans of Sina Sports!"
Good evening, everyone!
"We are now broadcasting live the 2010/11 Championship promotion play-offs!"
"Crystal Palace host Leicester City!"
"Hey, why are there so many Leicester fans mixed in with the home team's stands?!"
The camera panned across the stands.
These unofficial "Leicester fans" were all wearing Liu Yi's jerseys.
Those distinctly Eastern faces undoubtedly revealed their true origins—they had not come for Blue Fox, but for Liu Yi.
With so many people leaving London and the Emperor's name being so prominent, the number of supporters naturally increased.
Pre-match press conference.
Crystal Palace manager Friedman also praised Liu Yi's performance.
"Liu is undoubtedly the key player for Leicester City!"
"We will keep a close watch on him and not give him any easy opportunity to make a move."
"By the time we reach the playoffs, the gap between third and sixth place isn't that huge. We need to play steadily and focus on our own game!"
Friedman showered Liu Yi with compliments.
Eriksson, not to be outdone, seized the opportunity to back down.
"Targeting Liu Yi won't be that easy!"
"He's the smartest striker I've ever seen; as long as he's on the field, the possibilities are endless!"
Back in the locker room.
Eriksson also signaled to his assistant coach to immediately hand Liu Yi a small note with the opposing defenders' habits written on it.
Liu Yi took the note.
The content inside is getting more and more extensive.
densely packed.
It's like making cheat sheets for a college final exam, where you want to cram the entire book's contents onto a single sticky note.
Liu Yi could only pick out the key points and memorize them firmly.
Once you're in the exam room, you'll still need to be able to adapt to different situations.
The match time is up.
The starting players from both sides filed out under the guidance of the referee.
The DJ announces the starting lineups for both teams.
Crystal Palace fans indiscriminately booed the visiting Leicester City players.
Liu Yi's name received the most boos and the most cheers.
In theory, the away team has an advantage in a football match, playing the first leg away from home.
Barcelona fans have something to say about this.
Fifteen years later, they often suffered major comebacks when playing at home first and then away.
But later, the away goals rule was abolished.
However, in the current timeline, the away goals rule still applies.
Game start.
Crystal Palace launched a major offensive.
They want to seize an early lead and overwhelm Leicester City with momentum.
Leicester City fielded three defensive midfielders in this match.
Pogba is in the center, with Andy King and Oakley on either side.
no way.
The French prodigy is getting better and better, and has become the team's midfield maestro.
Zaha is very fast.
Defender Sol Bamba, not daring to dribble too much, quickly passed the ball back to goalkeeper Shu.
Schmeichel launched a long ball directly.
The football flies towards the center circle.
Crystal Palace's three lines quickly moved back to defend.
Liu Yi's forward partner, Steve Howard, won the first ball.
"Pass the ball back!"
"Liu Yi, start dribbling!"
"Yi Di's dribbling skills have improved by leaps and bounds in the past six months!"
"I rarely dribbled the ball before, but now I can dribble it a bit!"
Liu Yi followed closely, not daring to suddenly increase his speed.
His touch is not yet refined enough to achieve the level of effortless mastery.
Crystal Palace center-back Gardner quickly closed in.
Back then, the news of Campbell's transfer to their arch-rivals caused quite a stir. Gardner, as the replacement for the "Black Tower," joined Tottenham and remained a key rotation player for a full eight years.
Bringing Premier League experience down to the Championship can be seen as a form of technical assistance.
Gardner's playing style is also typical of a target man, an old black center-back.
Positioning, anticipating, and then using a large model to make a steal.
As Liu Yi led the way, he observed the changes in Gardner's center of gravity.
We're getting closer and closer to the restricted area!
Liu Yi flicked his foot with the outside of his foot, making a feint to swerve outwards.
Too slow to fool Gardner.
Long, thick legs, as thick as tree roots, blocked Liu Yi's path to break through.
Liu Yi did not dodge.
Instead, he took a step forward and charged towards the former Tottenham center-back's thigh.
Gardner broke out in a cold sweat.
An ominous premonition came over me.
Is he trying to fake a fall to get a free kick?!
He quickly pulled his leg back, preparing to readjust his defensive position.
Unexpectedly, Liu Yi shouted loudly.
"Oh no! I took too big a step!"
Gardner: ...
Fortunately, his years of accumulated defensive experience allowed him to quickly take remedial measures.
Standing at 1.96 meters tall, he weighed nearly 190 pounds.
They wanted to thwart Liu Yi's breakthrough through direct confrontation.
boom!
A muffled thud!
"Liu Yi withstood this attack!"
Eriksson clapped his hands and laughed.
This season, Liu Yi has been spending a lot of time in the gym.
He also instructed his protégé to pay attention to the combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise, and not to overtrain muscles to the point of becoming muscular.
The results of it?
Who says dead muscle is bad...?
These muscles need to be worked out!
It hurts...
The collision just now made Liu Yi wince in pain.
He thought to himself that if his fighting ability hadn't improved, he probably would have been sent flying upon contact.
In football, you can't be too physically weak!
However, if he were to be hit a second time, he wouldn't be able to withstand it given his current fighting ability.
but……
Liu Yi will not give Gardner a second chance for close contact!
Accelerate and leave Gardner behind.
Adjust the step points.
The body is tilted.
Shot into the far corner!
Bah!
The football traced a beautiful arc.
Crystal Palace goalkeeper Speroni stretches his arm lightly.
The posture is very graceful.
Unfortunately, I didn't encounter anything.
"Beautiful! Beautiful!"
"Goal!"
"Leicester City, take the initiative away from home!"
"Liu Yi used a change of pace to get past Gardner and unleashed a beautiful curling shot!"
Comments section under the goal report:
[Liu Yi's performance was impressive! He held his own against the big black guy!]
Those two walkways looked like they'd been tricked into becoming lame; they were staggering and looked like they were about to fall at any moment.
[Is it possible that Emperor Yi deliberately put on an act to mislead his opponents?]
"You know what, I don't believe it about others, but Emperor Yi... it's possible that all of this is part of his plan!"
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