Chapter 194: Overtime penalty shootout!

In the home team locker room, Mark Hughes was summarizing the team's situation in the first half.

"Pa pa pa... Very good! Really very good! We played very well, that's why we took the lead!"

Mark Hughes clapped his hands and signaled to the Stoke City players to applaud as well. Facing Chelsea, one of the BIG6 in the Premier League, leading 1:0 at halftime was already a very good record. Even as strict as Mark Hughes was, he couldn't help but praise the team in this situation.

"The first person I want to praise is you, Marco!"

Mark Hughes stretched out a hand and pointed at Arnautovic, who was a whole head taller than Mark Hughes and looked extremely fierce.

"It's the same in the second half. I need you to remember that if the number 7 cuts inside, you must block his position at the first possible moment. Remember, that Chinese kid has a strong left-footed shooting ability, and you must not let him shoot easily at the top of the penalty area. Of course, I will definitely not let you do too much. Leave the defense at the bottom to Muniesa, and you don't need to go back to assist in defense."

Mark Hughes was very thoughtful. Arnautovic is not a stamina striker. If he has to defend against both cutting inside and going down the flank, he will probably have to leave the field before long.

In today's game, Arnautovic is a crucial link in Stoke City's left defense. In this case, as long as he is not injured, Arnautovic must play the whole game.

As for substitutions, even Jiang Yuan was restricted, so what was the point of replacing Kennedy last time?
At this time, the team captain Walters suddenly raised his hand: "Mark, what about our right side? You said that Eden's form this season is not good, but even if Eden is not in good form, it will be very difficult for us to deal with him. He passes Glenn like crossing the road!"

Glenn Whelan, who was named, spread his hands but did not make any excuses.

It is a fact that Hazard has strong dribbling ability, just like Arnautovic. When running at high speed on the wing, it is easier for Jiang Yuan to dribble past him than crossing the road!
Mark Hughes looked around the locker room and stopped at full-back Bardsley. Then he said something meaningful: "Eden is only 1 meters tall and doesn't weigh much... If he wants to pass you, make your own choice!"

"In the first half, our formation played pretty well, so I won't be on the bench for the second half. Is there anyone among you who can't handle the stamina?"

Upon hearing this, Stoke City's 11 starting players shook their heads in unison.

Are you kidding? Now is a good opportunity to kill Chelsea. Everyone is excited. How could they be lacking in energy?

"That's good!"

Mark Hughes showed a satisfied smile on his face: "Now I need you to walk out of the locker room, walk out of the player tunnel, and then... win this game!"

"Chelsea out!"

……

"Okay, welcome back, dear audience friends, this is the second half of the League Cup quarter-final match between Stoke City and Chelsea."

"The fourth official raised the card. Mourinho replaced Diego Costa with Remy. Stoke City did not make any personnel adjustments. The game begins!"

"..."

Although there was a personnel adjustment, Mourinho did not seem to change the team's existing tactics. Chelsea had an advantage in ball possession in the second half, but the situation on the field gave people a hopeless look.

All ineffective ball control!

The good thing is that there are not many fans who can truly understand the game. Most of the Blues fans still hold out hope of equalizing the score when they see that their team has the upper hand in ball possession.

69th minute!

"Whelan knocked the ball to Adam, who swung his leg to press Hazard while transferring the ball to the weak side. Adam took the ball, looked ahead, and stuffed it directly into Arnautovic's mouth."

"Jiang Yuan chased back and fell to the ground to make a tackle! Hiss - what a pity, Jiang Yuan's tackle was very good, but Arnautovic passed the ball before Jiang Yuan stretched out his foot. Now it is Afellay who has the ball, and Walters is running inside. Terry has learned his lesson this time and follows Walters closely. Hey, wherever you go, I will go"

"Afellay had no choice but to pass the ball to Diouf on the left, who suddenly accelerated! Baba was not focused enough due to Diouf's quick start, and he failed to react immediately. Hiss, that's a bit bad."

"On the right, Arnautovic wants to run into the penalty area, but Jiang Yuan is very smart. He always stands in front of Arnautovic and doesn't give Arnautovic any chance to enter the penalty area. Terry and Walters in the middle are already stuck together. Who can Diouf pass to now?"

"Back pass! Wow, Diouf's vision is very wide, he directly finds Afellay at the top of the arc, Afellay stops the ball and shoots! No, it's a straight pass, the ball passes from Terry's left side to Walters' feet, and Walters shoots!"

“GOOOOOOO—AAAAAAAAA—LLLLLLL!!!”

"Wait!"

As soon as the goal was scored, Jiang Yuan rushed to the referee Hu Bo and said, "offside! offside!"

Jiang Yuan could see the position very clearly. The moment Afellay passed the ball, at least half of Walters' body ran out of the offside line. In addition, Terry had intentionally retreated just now, so it was impossible for the ball to be offside!

"Beep!"

Sure enough, Huber pointed at the yellow flag raised by the linesman and blew the whistle at the same time, indicating that Walters' goal was invalid.

"Fuck!"

"Fuck you!"

"asshole!"

"..."

The home fans were very unhappy with Hooper because he disallowed Stoke City's goal.

Fans all over the world are the same. As long as the referee does something that is detrimental to their home team, they will just curse him regardless of whether he is right or wrong.

What's more, not many people noticed Walters' offside just now, which made many people who were kept in the dark feel unfair for the home team. Every time this happened, the mother of the chairman of the English Football Association would be questioned.

There are two things that the British hate the most: oysters and the FA!
"so close……"

Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the score on the sidelines change from 2:0 to 1:0.

I didn’t expect that Stoke City is more difficult to beat than Arsenal!
I have to say that Mark Hughes is a really smart guy. Everyone thought that Stoke City would fight in the air, but they ended up shooting long shots directly from the top of the arc.

Especially Afellay's kick in the first half, Begovic didn't react at all and he would shoot directly!

"Chelsea escaped a disaster. Begovic kicked the ball out, and Arnautovic got the first point and headed it to Whelan. Stoke City's height advantage is very obvious. Chelsea is obviously at a disadvantage in the aerial duel."

"Hazard is pressing! Whelan, Whelan passes the ball before Hazard gets close. It's a straight pass, Diouf takes the ball and moves forward quickly! Hiss, Chelsea's situation seems a little bad"

"Diouf ran very fast and entered Chelsea's half in two steps. Then it was Afellay. Afellay and Walters created two passing points in the middle for Diouf, but Diouf was not in a hurry and did not give the ball out at the first time."

"He broke through with the ball alone, Mikel was chasing him on the side, but Diouf had an obvious height advantage and ran much faster than Mikel. Walters reached out and asked for the ball. Let's see what Diouf would do."

"After a sudden stop, he made a direct cross! Wait, wow! A steal! It was an interception from Hazard. Hazard blocked Diouf's passing route and easily intercepted the ball. Diouf took it for granted. He did not expect Hazard to appear in this position."

Seeing this scene, Mourinho on the sidelines smiled. During the halftime break, he placed extra emphasis on the defense on the left. Unexpectedly, Hazard really listened to him and his sudden acceleration helped Chelsea regain the ball.

“Here!”

Oscar pointed with both hands in front of his body, signaling Hazard to pass the ball. The latter handled the situation very calmly, wrapping the ball with the inside of his foot, adjusting his position and then passing the ball to Oscar's feet.

Oscar, who got the ball, was pressed by Afellay immediately, so Oscar chose to pass the ball back to Cahill. The Englishman made a long pass and accurately found Jiang Yuan near the right sideline.

"ta!"

It was as if there were two magnets hanging on Jiang Yuan's chest, which directly "sucked" the ball. As expected, Jiang Yuan was then snatched away by Arnautovic.

In a static 1-on-1, Jiang Yuan cannot beat Arnautovic, but now there is a wide space in the middle, which is Jiang Yuan’s home court!

Jiang Yuan was seen looking at the right sideline, but kicking the ball to the left, and at the same time Jiang Yuan started to the right.

no look pass!

Jiang Yuan stepped on the sideline, made a semicircle, and grabbed the ball before Arnautovic.

Mourinho, who was standing near the sideline, only felt a gust of hot wind blowing past him. Although his cutting inside was restricted, this could not conceal the fact that Jiang Yuan was fast!

"Wow!"

The fans of the visiting team screamed, Jiang Yuan made a no-look pass and passed the ball, using his speed to force his way past Arnautovic. This was much more exciting than a blast!
After passing Arnautovic, Jiang Yuan dribbled the ball into Stoke City's half, while frantically signaling his teammates to move with his hands.

"Go up, go up quickly, keep an eye on this Chinese boy!"

Mark Hughes kept giving instructions, and Adam ran over from the middle, forming a 1-on-1 situation with Jiang Yuan.

Seeing this scene, Chelsea fans all held their breath. How could they not understand this scene?

Arnautovic and Adam are going to switch positions again!

On the court, because Adam blocked the way, Arnautovic successfully caught up with him, and the two were ready to exchange positions in front of Jiang Yuan.

At this moment, Jiang Yuan's eyes lit up.

The substitution is made right in front of him, so there is no question that the person marking him will be out of position.

But in this case...what about the defensive midfielder position? It is impossible for Arnautovic to flash to Adam's position, right?

Jiang Yuan pulled the ball with his left foot and went to the bottom line like before, with Adam following closely behind.

At this moment, Jiang Yuan suddenly stopped and turned around, knocked the ball from his right foot to his left foot, and kicked an incredibly fast pass with his left foot, accurately delivering it to William's feet.

"No!"

Looking at the ball flying past him, Arnautovic's face turned pale and he ran forward desperately, but it was too late.

"go!"

William pointed diagonally forward, and Hazard broke into the penalty area before Bardsley and Shawcross. At the same time, William's straight pass accurately passed Shawcross, rolled in a fan-shaped arc behind him, and came to Hazard's feet. The latter pushed Shawcross away and shot the ball!
"boom!"

The ball hit the dead corner of the goal. Bartram jumped on the spot, but Hazard was too close to the goal. When he reached out, the ball had already flown past his left side.

"GGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLL"

“Eden Harzardddddddd!!!!!!!!”

"Brilliant pass! brilliant shot! and an... unbelievable goal!"

In the 74th minute of the game, Chelsea, who were one goal behind away from home, equalized the score with Hazard's powerful shot in front of the goal!
Hazard slid to his knees as he ran forward, with his arms stretched out, one high and one low.

Now there is only one song that can serve as background music for this scene.

The fragrance of pear blossoms lingers on the corners of clothes as they pass by the crowd...

And quietly entered the deep tent behind the red curtain!
"Wuhu!"

Jiang Yuan ran from the right to the left corner flagpole, and during the run he did not forget to send Arnautovic an affectionate flying kiss: "Bro, you still need to practice!"

Remy and William moved quickly and wrapped up Hazard in no time.

"3...2...1!"

Zouma, Terry, Oscar and Jiang Yuan jumped up at the same time and pressed on Hazard's back. Everyone shouted together: "OUR GOAL!" They controlled the ball for the entire game and finally scored in the 74th minute. The Chelsea players were undoubtedly very excited.

As for the home team Stoke City, they complained to the referee about offside, but Huber ignored them.

When William made a straight pass, Walscheid was dragging behind, so there was no possibility that Chelsea would be offside!

The camera turned to Mourinho. The Portuguese coach was tactically alert. He had actually discovered as early as halfway through the first half that when Arnautovic and Adam switched positions there would be a large defensive gap in the middle. It was just that Jiang Yuan was heavily marked, and he didn't find a chance to pass the ball until almost 80 minutes.

From beginning to end, Stoke City has never been tactically ahead of Chelsea!
From beginning to end, Mark Hughes has never been better than Mourinho!

Chelsea players ended their celebration at the referee's urging and the game continued!
84 minutes.

"Keep going to the right, Jiang Yuan got rid of Arnautovic. It was very easy. We can see that Arnautovic posed no defensive threat to Jiang Yuan on the wing. Mark Hughes wanted Adam to come up to defend Jiang Yuan, but he was afraid that the same gap as before would appear, so Adam didn't dare to come out!"

"Jiang Yuan faces the middle and dribbles the ball with his left foot! It's a familiar explosive move. Jiang Yuan uses his speed to eat up Arnautovic. In front of him is Muniesa. Should he consider passing Muniesa?"

"Change direction, Jiang Yuan starts to cut inside, lifts his left foot and shoots! Fake shot, then switches to his right foot and passes to Hazard"

"Good position, Hazard is about to enter the penalty area! Hey, Bardsley tripped Hazard!"

"This is an undisputed yellow card action, but Bardsley had already received a yellow card in the first half. If he had already received a yellow card, the referee might have been more lenient in his penalty..."

The moment Hazard fell to the ground, Remy, William, Jiang Yuan, and Baba immediately rushed to the referee Huber and put pressure on the referee at the same time.

"Beep!"

Hu Bo reached into his shirt pocket with his right hand, took out a yellow card, put the yellow card back, and took out a red card.

"Oh my god! Red card for bardsley!"

"it is bad, terribly bad!"

Amid Huber's urging and the boos from the fans in the stands, Bardsley left the field regretfully.

Bardsley was sent off with a red card in the 86th minute, leaving Stoke City with one man less. The only good news for the home team was that the red card came late. If they could hold on for 30 minutes, they could have dragged the game into a penalty shootout.

Chelsea has a direct free kick opportunity on the left side, taken by Jiang Yuan!
"boom!"

The ball went over Walters' head and fell rapidly.

"Snapped!"

Bartram stretched out his left arm and slapped the ball away.

Pooh!
Jiang Yuan spat and then quickly returned to defense.

"With Bardsley leaving the field, Chelsea's advantage on the field became more and more obvious, with a possession rate of an astonishing 71%. Unfortunately, the extremely high possession rate did not bring Chelsea any new goals, and the situation between the two sides was a bit tense."

"The fourth official outside the field has raised his sign, 4 minutes of injury time!"

"..."

"The referee blew the whistle, the regular time is over, and after a 5-minute break, both teams will enter overtime."

Even with one man less, the home team Stoke City eventually tied the score at 1:1, and there was still 30 minutes of extra time to go.

On the field, players from both teams surrounded their coaches on the sidelines. Mourinho and Mark Hughes were explaining the precautions for overtime to the players. Considering the players' physical strength, Mourinho replaced the goal scorer Hazard with Falcao, leaving the remaining substitution spot to prevent the game from going into a penalty shootout.

30 minutes of extra time, with Chelsea's full-strength attack and Stoke City's 10-man defense!

[I give up. It's so hard to beat Stoke City. Chelsea is really awesome. The problem is that the opponent has already taken a penalty and you still can't score? ]

[I am most afraid that the opponent will not take the usual approach. I guess Mourinho himself didn’t expect the match against Stoke City to turn out like this. All I can do is pray for Xiao Jiang and Chelsea]

[I'm so happy to see you. Can we have a penalty shootout? If there is a penalty shootout, it will be worth staying up late tonight.]

[Forget about the penalty shootout. It’s too damn dangerous. If we’re not careful, Chelsea will be eliminated. This is a knockout round.]

[Forget it, it’s just the EFL Cup, just get out of it as soon as possible, there’s no need to get so entangled]

[This is a championship after all, they have played to this point. And look at the lineup Mourinho arranged, Hazard, Costa, Terry, and Xiao Jiang, all in the starting lineup, this must be to win]

[Damn it, Chelsea, can you please be a little more powerful, a little more powerful! ]

[It's started, brothers. Extra time has begun. Come on, Chelsea! Come on! ]

[Falcao replaces Hazard? Is Hazard unable to run anymore? Sure enough, Jiang Yuan is the one who really plays endurance. The Chinese never rest]

[Oh my god, why don't you shoot? Why does this Falcao give me a stupid feeling? Oh my god, can't you replace Zaball King and play for another 30 minutes? ]

[Hiss, it’s already the 104th minute, and the score is still 1:1. Stoke City’s five-defender lineup is really durable. Chelsea still hasn’t found any chances. I don’t think Jiang Yuan can run for much longer.]

[Hit, hit, hit! Oh my god, this ball would have gone in even if I had been there, what’s wrong with Remi? Can’t a center forward shoot? ]

[It's been over 100 minutes, the players are all out of shape. In the last 3 minutes, let's see if Chelsea can perform a miracle...]

In the 27th minute of extra time, the bet365 stadium was bustling with activity.

80 pounds to watch a group of football stars worth tens of millions of euros perform for 2 hours, and there is even overtime!
Regardless of who will win, anyone who comes to watch this game will definitely make a profit!
In the 118th minute, Mourinho replaced Zouma with Kennedy, and he was already preparing for overtime!
“Beep, beep, beep—!!!”

As Jiang Yuan's shot hit the plane, Hu Bo blew the whistle to end the overtime.

The penalty shootout...begins!

Chelsea's 11 starting players formed a circle, with Mourinho standing in the middle with a serious expression: "Who's the first one to take the penalty?"

Terry raised his hand first. The team's first penalty taker Hazard was replaced at the beginning of overtime. As the captain, Terry had to stand up, even though his physical strength was almost exhausted.

"Okay, what about the second one?"

Mourinho's gaze swept over the remaining 10 people one by one, finally stopping on Jiang Yuan.

Apart from Hazard, Jiang Yuan is the player with the best penalty kick ability in Chelsea.

"hiss--"

Jiang Yuan took a deep breath: "Then let me do it!"

Soon, the penalty order within Chelsea was announced.

Terry, Jiang Yuan, Remy, Falcao, Oscar!

The penalty shootout officially began, and the Blues players stood in a row on the center circle, shoulder to shoulder, encouraging each other.

Chelsea took the first penalty kick, Terry stood on the penalty spot with the ball in his arms and shot into the goal, but goalkeeper Butland guessed the wrong direction. However, the bad news was that Begovic also failed to save Walters' penalty kick, and Chelsea, who had been leading, was back on par with Stoke City.

Next, Jiang Yuan!

"come on!"

"Jiang, kill them!"

Encouraged by his teammates, Jiang Yuan walked towards the penalty spot.

In front of him was Barland, and the home team's fans booed him on the field. The pressure was undoubtedly very great, but as a professional player, Jiang Yuan had to face all this pressure.

"call……"

"boom!"

“goal!!!”

Jiang Yuan made a powerful shot, and Bartram guessed the direction correctly but still failed to save the ball.

"Nice!"

Jiang Yuan raised one arm, encouraging himself and cheering for his teammates. When playing away, the fans' cheers could not be counted on, so teammates could only encourage each other.

Stoke City's second penalty taker was midfielder Glenn Whelan, who is good at passing and generally has good shots. As expected, Whelan also scored.

"Wow, even though there were only 2 goals in regular time, the penalty kicks from both sides' frontcourt players were very good. All 4 penalties were from blind spots, and Jiang Yuan's volley was from blind spots, with very high accuracy."

"Penalties 2:2, Chelsea's next player is... Remy!"

"Hey! Remy's penalty was saved! But Stoke City has changed qualitatively, Afellay's penalty went into the net accurately, and Chelsea, who conceded the first goal, fell behind."

I don’t know why, but Chelsea seemed to be abandoned by God today. After Remy missed the penalty, Falcao also kicked a plane kick.

After two consecutive goal kicks, the forum was in an uproar, with many domestic fans saying, "I could score a goal if I played on the field."

On the other hand, Stoke City scored all of their first three penalties. The fourth penalty kick was taken by central defender Volschelde. Volschelde has very good intercepting ability, but what many people don’t know is that his penalty kicks are also very strong!

"Beep!"

"Beep!!"

The entire stadium was filled with false whistles. Volscheid took a deep breath, ran up, and then...

Hit the door!

"duang!"

The ball hit the right post and bounced into the net.

“GGGGG—OOOOOOOOO—AAAAAAAAA—LLLLLLLL!!!”

"STOKE CITYYYYYY"

"THE WINNER!!!"

Jiang Yuan half-crouched on the grass field, his face full of frustration. Human joys and sorrows are always different. The players from the Stoke City bench rushed past Jiang Yuan, their expressions revealing the joy of victory.

Fuck, no!

……

(End of this chapter)