Chapter 84 10-man Porto’s battle axe from Jiang Yuan!
[Fuck, when I saw the substitutes cheering, I thought Porto was going to kill Arouca in this game, but you show me this? ]

[Stupid Fabiano, I bought it for 5000!!!]

[It's ok bro, at least you didn't buy all of them, if you did you'd be screwed]

[Haha, is this a good show? The second to last player got a red card.]

【666】

【? ? ? ? ? Porto, what are you kicking?】

[Fabiano is also a talent. He can make such attacking mistakes. I thought I was watching the Chinese Super League! ]

[Don't be so mean, there is no such low-level goalkeeper in the Chinese Super League]

[They are all idiots, all big idiots]

[Stop cursing, stop cursing. If you keep on cursing, everyone will know that you are a gambler.]

……

After the referee showed Fabiano the red card, the Porto players immediately surrounded him, but this did not have any effect. Fabiano's foul was too obvious and he did not even touch the ball during the whole process.

In the end, Fabiano left the field in disgrace. The only good news for Porto was that the foul was committed outside the penalty area, avoiding the red card.

On the bench, Jiang Yuan looked at head coach Lopetegui with embarrassment.

This red card is said to be related to Jiang Yuan, but Jiang Yuan was not on the field at all.

But to say that Jiang Yuan had nothing to do with the red card, it seemed like Fabiano was drinking fake wine because of the shouting from the bench.

The cheers from the bench originated from Jiang Yuan...

Jiang Yuan was fidgeting in his seat, and Neves next to him also lowered his head. It was obvious that he also knew that he would have to take the blame.

Lopetegui made a substitution adjustment, with substitute goalkeeper Eltun replacing Ricardo Pereira. Porto chose to reduce a defender to fill the goalkeeper position, which is the best solution at the moment.

After the substitution, Fabiano turned around and gave Jiang Yuan a thumbs up.

"Forehead……"

Jiang Yuan scratched his head. He had ten thousand words of explanation in his mind but he couldn't say a single word.

"Hey man, did you choose to tackle because of our cheers?"

Jiang Yuan stopped Fabiano who was about to return to the locker room. According to the rules, players who received a red card could not stay on the bench and could only go to the stands to watch the game or return to the locker room. Fabiano chose the latter.

Hearing Jiang Yuan's words, Fabiano was stunned at first, and then said: "Well... I feel a little affected. I was so excited to hear my teammates cheering..."

"All right……"

Jiang Yuan licked his lips and watched Fabiano walk into the player tunnel.

……

"Come on, let's get back to the game. Porto, who played at home, received a red card in the 12th minute of the first half. This was an absolutely unacceptable fact for Porto fans. Head coach Lopetegui made some adjustments and replaced the team's substitute goalkeeper Elton. Porto's on-field formation changed to 423."

"We can see that Jiang Yuan had some interactions with Lopetegui and Fabiano who was sent off on the bench. Why does Jiang Yuan make me feel like he feels very guilty even though he was not on the court? This is really weird, guys!"

"Here it comes, a long pass from Porto midfielder Herrera, Tello took the ball a few steps and passed it to captain Martinez, Martinez made a long shot, and Goicoechea saved the ball."

"It seems that Porto, who is one man down, is not inferior to their opponents at all. Is this the difference between a championship contending team and a relegation team? I feel that Jiang Yuan can start in Arouca. What do you think, brothers?"

Contrary to most fans' expectations, Porto, who were one man short, and Arouca, who were fully staffed, were able to fight back and forth. Lopetegui replaced Casemiro with a position closer to the center back. The Brazilian midfielder performed quite well when playing as a center back, and he made two wonderful clearances in the penalty area in just 8 minutes.

In the end, the two sides shook hands with a score of 0:0. Porto players returned to the locker room in a depressed mood. Everyone sat in the chairs in silence. Only Abubakar, who had calf muscle discomfort in the first half, was swinging on the therapy bed and receiving massage from the physiotherapist.

This cannot be blamed on the players' poor ability to control their emotions. Rather, before the game, everyone thought that this match would be a big win by at least 3 goals. As a result, the goalkeeper was sent off after 12 minutes and the score in the first half was still 0:0.

"Assholes, you are all assholes. The cleaning lady at the base, Melissa, is a better player than you. I can't understand it. Oh my God, are you really professional players?"

Head coach Lopetegui has gone crazy in the locker room. Porto is now in the championship period of the season and cannot lose any game easily. Otherwise, let alone surpassing Benfica, who is in the first place in the points, they may even be overtaken by Sporting CP, who is in the third place.

You know, Porto, who is now second in the Portuguese Super League, has only 2 points more than Sporting CP, who is third. As long as Porto loses this game against Arouca and Sporting CP wins the next game, Porto will have to roll to third place.

Then, say goodbye to next season's Champions League.

At this time, Fabiano took the lead and took the blame: "Mr. Hu Lun, I am very sorry. It was my impulsiveness that caused the team to lose the advantage on the field."

Lopetegui rolled his eyes at Babiano and said: "It's no use talking about this now. All we have to do is play better in the second half. Now I will tell you about the substitutions and tactical changes planned for the second half."

As he spoke, Lopetegui took out a pen and started drawing on the tactical board. This was originally the job of an assistant coach, but today Lopetegui did it himself. You can see how nervous he is now.

Jiang Yuan listened very seriously. In Lopetegui's opinion, Arouca, who played away from home, had the task of relegation this season, so when they saw that Porto was one man short, they would definitely launch a massive attack in the second half and were determined to get three points from the second place in the Portuguese Super League.

Lopetegui also made some specific responses to this. Although Porto's players had a better average level, they were one man short after all, so Lopetegui decided to focus on defense in the second half and look for opportunities to attack.

This is the so-called defensive counterattack.

Counterattack is not a tradition of Porto, but the good thing is that this tactic requires a defensive line to retreat, which is not difficult to execute, and the advantages of this style of play are obvious. Under normal circumstances, the physical strength consumed by the defender will be slightly lower than that of the attacker, so the counterattack is also called a "lazy style of play."

The most fatal thing is that with this style of play, either there is no offense, or once there is an opportunity, it is likely to be a one-on-one shot!
"call--"

After listening to Lopetegui's tactical arrangements, Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Ruben Neves was scheduled to appear in 50-55 minutes, and Quaresma would also appear after 70 minutes, but there was no news about himself.

The team's current situation is not good, so Lopetegui has little intention of using Jiang Yuan.

All Jiang Yuan can do now is hope that the team can have a better performance in the second half, otherwise his chances of playing today will be slim!

……

Sure enough, as Lopetegui expected, Arouca made a striker substitution at the beginning of the second half, with Vuletic replacing Portuguese striker Claro. After the substitution, Arouca played very aggressively and threatened Porto's goal more than once from the second half to the 70th minute.

Fortunately, goalkeeper Elton, who came on as a substitute, performed well, otherwise Porto would be the one in embarrassment now.

In the 74th minute, Jiang Yuan came on as a substitute, along with the team's right winger. Lopetegui also switched the two sides of the team at the same time. His intention was obvious. Although he was one man short, Lopetegui wanted to take all three points!
"Wuhu, we can see Jiang Yuan coming on as a substitute, and standing next to him is Quaresma. Jiang Yuan came on a little later today than before, probably because the head coach took the situation on the field into consideration. Both Porto and Arouca are very anxious, and neither side is willing to accept the current 0:0 score."

"Hey, after the substitution, Casemiro returned to the defensive midfielder position. Now Porto is in 3123. Is Lopetegui a little hasty? I feel that Aroca may take advantage of the reduction of Porto's defensive central defenders to make more crosses from the wing."

"Here it comes! Roberto, the right winger of Arouca, went down the bottom line, Marcano blocked his body, Robert chose to pass the ball back to Medeiros, and crossed it! It was a 45-degree cross from Medeiros, fortunately, goalkeeper Elton held the ball tightly!"

"It was a close call. If the ball had gone in, I'm sure many viewers would have logged out of their accounts. However, the performance of Porto's substitute goalkeeper was really good. I'll give a thumbs up to Eltun first!"

Elton ran to the edge of the penalty area with the ball, then threw the ball to Herrera. Herrera carried the ball forward. Driving with the ball has always been the strong point of this Mexican. Now he is using his ability to force Arouca's frontcourt players to return to defense.

"Hector, here!"

Jiang Yuan pointed his hands in front of him and asked Herrera for the ball. Herrera observed for a moment and passed the ball to Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan stopped running after getting the ball. In front of him was Ximang who was responsible for defending him. Jiang Yuan first did a simple two-stroke bicycle move.

However, Jiang Yuan's purpose of cycling was not to pass Simao, but to wait for the full-back Marcano to come on.

It's now!

Jiang Yuan seized the opportunity, took a step forward and passed the ball horizontally, and the ball came to Marcano's feet.

It’s another one-on-one cooperation between Jiang Yuan and Marcano on the wing!

Afterwards, Marcano got the ball and prepared to go down the line. Unfortunately, the Spanish central defender was not good at speed. Facing Baliu's defense, Marcano chose to cut inside.

"Aqui! (Here)"

Jiang Yuan reached out for the ball again. Although Marcano was Spanish, he played in the Portuguese Super League and his Portuguese was as good as the locals.

Marcano knew that shooting was not his strong point, so he passed the ball back to Jiang Yuan without thinking too much.

After Jiang Yuan got the ball, he rushed all the way, and when the time was right, he raised his foot to shoot. Goalkeeper Goikoechea stared at Jiang Yuan's swinging legs with his eyes, and he was ready to save the shot.

At this critical moment, Moreira rushed up and knocked Jiang Yuan down with one kick.

"Fuck!"

Jiang Yuan felt a sharp pain in the front of his calf and was thrown to the ground by Moreira's body.

"Ah, hiss——"

Jiang Yuan rolled back and forth on the ground in great pain.

The players from both sides immediately clashed. Quaresma rushed over first and pushed Moreira away. The 1-meter-tall Quaresma really doesn't fear anyone when he fights!

"Are you trying to cripple him with that tackle?"

Quaresma broke free from his teammates' obstruction and looked face to face with Moreira.

Moreira spat on the ground and said, "What do you want?"

"asshole!"

Moreira's words made Quaresma completely angry, and Casemiro and Neves had to work together to barely control the Portuguese.

Referee Santos ran over and gave Moreira and Quaresma a yellow card each.

"Do you need treatment?"

Santos half squatted down and asked, Jiang Yuan's current condition looked a little bad.

Jiang Yuan nodded, and Santos immediately waved to Porto's bench. The team doctor hurried over with a medical box.

"Ricardo, you are too impulsive"

Casemiro took a bottle of water from the medical kit, gulped down a big gulp and spit it out.

Quaresma glanced at Moreira out of the corner of his eye and said, "That bastard, you saw it clearly, right? He was going right for Jiang's calf!"

Casemiro nodded: "That's right, fortunately with the shin guards, Jiang won't have any big problems."

Porto's team doctor Ramonto pulled Jiang Yuan's socks to his ankles and then took off his black shin guards.

There were three spots of blood on the inside of the shin guard, and Jiang Yuan's tibialis anterior was also a little red and swollen. There was no doubt that this was because the three front studs of Moreira's football shoes hit the front of Jiang Yuan's calf.

So Santos pressed Jiang Yuan's shin with his fingers and asked, "Does it hurt?"

Jiang Yuan shook his head, and then Santos gave Lopetegui a thumbs up, indicating that Jiang Yuan could continue the game.

"I'll give you pain relief first"

After saying that, Santos took out a bottle of ethyl chloride from the first aid kit and sprayed it all over Jiang Yuan's injured parts.

Ethyl chloride is a commonly used cold analgesic spray that can lower the temperature of the athlete's injured area, paralyze the nerves, and thus cause the pain to disappear.

There was nothing wrong with Jiang Yuan's bones, so he just needed some simple treatment.

"It looks like Jiang Yuan should be fine and can continue playing. This is a direct free kick opportunity outside the Porto penalty area. Friends who have watched the previous Porto games should know that this is a position that Ruben Neves likes very much. This direct free kick will probably be taken by him."

"Hey, wait? Jiang Yuan came back directly from the sidelines. What's going on? No way, the free kick at this position should be given to Jiang Yuan. And Neves doesn't seem to be resisting. This seems to have been arranged in the team training long ago?"

"Let's start. Kick the ball and shoot! Damn it..."

After Jiang Yuan touched the ball, he pressed his upper body downwards, and the ball had almost no choice but to pass over the wall of people.

Then, he chopped towards the blind corner of the goal like an axe.

Jiang Yuan's elevator ball scored!

……

(End of this chapter)