Chapter 244: Shooter Is Confident and Scores with a Long Shot

Before Karius kicked the goal kick, Liverpool coach Klopp roared at the players on the field. If Griezmann had not seized the opportunity, the team would have fallen behind.

Neither Wijnaldum nor Henderson are pure defensive players. Being good at attacking and defending can certainly serve as the team's new offensive point, but the problem is that the team does not need extra offensive points now. The offensive quartet composed of Mane, Firmino, Salah and Li Qing can completely deal a fatal blow to the opponent.

So Klopp is thinking whether to bring in a pure defensive midfielder in the winter transfer window, preferably a type like Kante. This player does not need to have offensive ability, but only needs to have sufficient physical strength and excellent defensive prediction.

In this way, the team's offensive and defensive transfers will be more efficient, thereby maximizing Li Qing's ability.

Li Qing has realized that the team's offense should be more threatening, otherwise Atletico Madrid is likely to quickly open up the situation from defense to offense in the next step, and then it will be troublesome.

Karius kicked the goal kick, and the football was headed to the center circle by Godin. Li Qing and Thomas ran to the landing point at the same time.

Thomas sneered in his heart. He wanted to teach Li Qing a lesson!

One was dark and hard, and the other had no disadvantages except being tall and handsome. Thomas took the initiative to seek physical confrontation. He pressed his arms against his torso and used his right shoulder to hit Li Qing's left shoulder!

"What?"

Thomas, who had used almost all his strength, felt a huge reaction force. He was shocked and his body swayed, and his feet staggered.

Although Li Qing also staggered, he did not fall to the ground as Thomas imagined. On the contrary, he used the huge reaction force to get closer to the football, stretched out his left foot, and kicked the ball back. Koke, who wanted to grab the ball, missed.

Koke continued to move forward due to inertia. Li Qing used his forehead to push the football towards the Atletico defense half circle arc. Thomas, who reacted, rushed towards Li Qing with a fierce look in his eyes.

Before the game, head coach Simeone emphasized this.

Never let Li Qing face the attack direction comfortably.

Li Qing had a wide field of vision and noticed that Thomas rushed up from the left diagonal rear. Thinking that Thomas had deliberately sought physical confrontation just now, he was ready to teach the other party a lesson!

Li Qing did not slow down his dribbling speed, as if he was waiting for something on purpose.

Mane, Firmino and Salah moved forward, giving the impression that they were waiting for their teammates to advance. Thomas' eyes lit up and he changed his strategy, thinking of stealing the ball from the left and back!

Li Qing's mouth curled up slightly, raising a beautiful arc, calculating the timing of Thomas' alternating feet, pulling the ball back with the sole of his left foot, and then suddenly sending it forward, using the difference in rhythm to send the ball from Thomas' crotch, who was trying to steal the ball with his right foot.

Thomas felt a great shame, but Li Qing was quite smart. He moved sideways on the spot, distanced himself from each other, and then chased after the football, which meant that Thomas could not touch anyone even if he wanted to foul.

Saul and Koke rushed to Li Qing, who was about to regain control of the ball, from the left and right according to the situation on the field. However, Li Qing, who had super explosive power, took two steps to regain the football.

Facing Koke who was closer, Li Qing first made a fake move of sinking his left shoulder, giving Koke the illusion of breaking through from the left, and then poked the ball forward with the tip of his right foot.

Of course, it was not a person-ball separation, but a handover to Firmino who suddenly stopped to seek cooperation.

After giving the ball, Li Qing braked on the spot, took a step to the right sideways, and ran to the right front. Firmino did not catch the ball, and he sent the ball horizontally with the arch of his right foot, and the football rolled along the ground to the space behind Koke.

Koke braked on the spot and stretched his left foot backwards at the same time, trying to trip Li Qing who was running forward, but Li Qing had strong explosive power and fast starting speed. Koke stretched his legs half a beat slower and only kicked a ball of air.

"Oops!"

Simeone, who was in front of the home team coach's command area, suddenly realized something.

Li Qing broke through Thomas and Koke, which meant that the barriers in front of the central defenders were all invalid at this moment. Saul was too far away from Li Qing and could not play any role at all.

The two central defenders Godin and Lucas Hernandez looked at each other, and the latter attacked decisively to interfere with Li Qing's forward movement.

Godin quickly stuck to Firmino who turned and advanced to prevent Li Qing from passing the ball to Firmino, and the left back Felipe moved inward to fill the gap behind Lucas Hernandez.

Li Qing lowered his right shoulder while running, and the inside of his left foot instep made a move to dunk the football. Lucas Hernandez thought Li Qing was going to break through from the right rib of the attack, so he had a prediction and moved his body half a step to the left in advance. It was this half step that completely made him lose the opportunity to defend.

Li Qing jumped forward with his right foot, used the reaction force to complete the emergency stop on the spot, retracted his left foot, and pushed the football to the left with the outside of his foot, changing direction from the right rib of the attack to the middle.

Lucas Hernandez took a step to the right, which was equivalent to returning to the original position. At the same time, he pushed the ground with the front of his left foot, using the reaction force transmitted from the ground to reduce the distance with Li Qing, and stretched his right foot to complete the gambling defense.

Even if he couldn't complete the interception, he had to keep Li Qing in place.

Many times, the idea is very good, but the problem is that it can't be implemented.

Li Qing started quickly and had strong explosive power. Lucas Hernandez's leg foul only kicked a ball of air!

"wowoowowooo——"

The Atletico fans at the Calderon Stadium subconsciously burst into exclamations.

Suddenly, Atletico's stable defense system became full of loopholes at this moment.

Li Qing, who was dribbling forward, did not pass the ball because there was no defensive player in front of him, and continuing to dribble the ball would maximize the benefits.

Mane, Firmino and Salah kept running forward, trying to attract the attention of Atletico's defense as much as possible.

Seeing that Li Qing was about to reach the top of the penalty area with the ball, Godin realized that he could not let Li Qing move forward. He noticed Felipe and Juanfrané in his peripheral vision, and he faced Li Qing while blocking Li Qing and Firmino's passing route.

To be precise, he was going to foul!

However, at this moment, Li Qing swung his left foot.

Godin knew that Li Qing was taking a long shot, and subconsciously put his hands behind his back, trying to block Li Qing's long shot with his flesh and blood.

Li Qing, who swung his left foot to pretend to shoot a long shot, did not shoot. He quickly retracted his left foot, pushed the ball to the left front with the outside of his foot, opened up the angle, stood on the left circle of the penalty area with his right foot, and raised his left foot again.

Goalkeeper Oblak didn't know whether Li Qing was faking or shooting from a distance, because Mane, Firmino and Salah all had a lot of space to receive the ball, and in terms of goal scoring rate, the three of them had a higher chance.

This time, because there was no one blocking the front, Li Qing really kicked the ball in the lower middle part.

"Boom~"

The ball rose up like a cannonball and flew towards the upper left corner of the goal at high speed.

Goalkeeper Oblak dove sideways in the expectant eyes of Atletico Madrid fans, but his outstretched right fingertips failed to touch the ball, and the ball took the lead and hit the snow-white net along the inner edge of the left goal post!