Chapter 799: Chapter 53: What Is Authority! (Part 2)
"Real Madrid’s offensive."
"Chen Zhong has control of the ball, and passes it to C. Ronaldo!"
"Sandro!"
"Another foul!"
"The referee has called a foul, but Van der Vaart seems dissatisfied!"
"Stop talking, stop talking!"
"Ah! Just as expected!"
"Van der Vaart receives a yellow card!"
Tottenham’s tactical strategy has changed now. They’re not focused on leveling the score, but are putting more effort into defense, even resorting to injurious tactics.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been consistently knocked down.
Clearly, the German referee’s standards are a bit different from those of the Premier League.
Van der Vaart loudly complains to the referee, successfully earning himself a yellow card.
In the first half, Tottenham displayed great unity in front of the goal. Marcelo often delivered the ball to his teammates from the flank, but they never managed to score.
Chen Zhong also tried a powerful shot to break through Tottenham’s defense.
But the players gathered in front of the goal always used their bodies to block the shooting angles.
However, Tottenham didn’t lack counterattacks; Gareth Bale had a very impressive performance, especially on the flank, repeatedly breaking away from Ramos, achieving breakthroughs and charging into the penalty area.
If not for Pepe’s quick reactions, which disrupted Bale’s shots multiple times, even with one direct slide tackle,
Tottenham might have had a chance to even the score.
The two teams ended the first half with a score of 1-0 at halftime.
In the second half, Tottenham seemed to reignite their ambitions due to their performance in the first half.
Right at the start of the second half, they used Defoe to replace Van der Vaart, whose mentality seemed off and who carried a yellow card, while their formation became more aggressive.
"Tottenham used their first substitution of the match."
"Defoe replaced Van der Vaart."
"Before the game, many wanted to see Van der Vaart’s performance."
Tottenham’s ambition didn’t last long; in the 49th minute, Real Madrid had an almost goal-scoring attack that forced them to temporarily face reality.
It was Chen Zhong holding the ball in midfield, receiving a pass from a teammate, executing a Marseille Turn to get past an opponent, then facing Modric’s pressure, delivered a lob to Cristiano Ronaldo who was cutting in from the side into Tottenham’s defensive gap.
In that instant, Real Madrid revealed so much.
Like Chen Zhong’s vision, his big-picture awareness, his passing precision, and the Portuguese player’s positional sense and enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot was too rushed, the ball scraped the side post and flew out, otherwise Real Madrid could have scored again.
This attack also sounded the horn for Real Madrid’s offense, as they continued to siege Tottenham’s goal in the following minutes, except for occasional counterattacks from Bale, Tottenham posed almost no threat to Real Madrid.
"Real Madrid’s offense."
"Still going down the flank."
"Marcelo takes the ball on the wing!"
"Crosses from the edge of the box!"
"Chen Zhong moves in from the back."
"Diving header."
In the 66th minute of the game, Real Madrid continued to launch attacks on the flank, Marcelo and Ramos gave Real Madrid strong offensive capabilities on both sides.
After Marcelo took the ball, he drove towards the penalty area, suddenly crossing to the center.
Adebayor attracted the attention of a defender, then Chen Zhong charged in from the back, diving header, the ball ricocheted towards the goal.
The goalkeeper was too late to react.
2-0
Real Madrid scored again, Chen Zhong scored twice.
On the sidelines, Mourinho’s smile couldn’t be concealed, and the Real Madrid fans in the stands raised their arms to cheer for Chen Zhong.
"Two goals!"
"Chen Zhong completed two goals!"
"Another goal!"
"2-0"
"Already securing a two-goal lead in the first leg."
"Real Madrid seems to have one foot into the semifinals!"
After scoring, Chen Zhong ran to the corner flag, sliding to celebrate, while on the sidelines Mourinho gestured, signaling the team to attack more, aiming to score several goals in the first leg to end any suspense.
Marcelo and Ramos began sending cross-field passes from both flanks towards the center.
Tottenham returned to their turtle-like defensive stance from the first half.
Adebayor, Chen Zhong, Kaka, and Cristiano Ronaldo all had shooting opportunities, but their shots were blocked.
"Tottenham’s offense."
"Bale takes the ball."
"Directly tackled to the ground."
"Looks like he’s injured."
"The referee didn’t blow the whistle."
"Real Madrid’s chance."
"Counterattack!"
Kaka took the ball and sprinted, then stopped abruptly to shake off a defender, before passing the ball to the center.
Adebayor didn’t take the ball, opting to let it through.
Chen Zhong had no intention of stopping, aiming at the far corner of the goal and unleashed a powerful shot.
"Boom!"
The ball shot up from the ground, at that moment, its speed even surpassed 200 km/h.
The goalkeeper had no reaction at all.
After being scored on, he could only foolishly turn to look at the ball inside the net.
3-0
"The ball is in!!!!"
"Superb long-range shot!"
"3-0"
"Hat-trick, Chen Zhong has completed the hat-trick!"
"Real Madrid secured the victory and the qualification!"
The Real Madrid fans in the stands cheered with excitement, and Mourinho on the sidelines couldn’t stop smiling. A few minutes later, Mourinho made three consecutive substitutions.
He chose to replace Adebayor with Higuain, Di Maria replaced Kaka, and Granero replaced Chen Zhong.
Clearly, in Mourinho’s view, there was no suspense left for this match; the remaining time was garbage time.
For this scene, Cristiano Ronaldo was happy, because it meant he could do as he pleased, almost becoming the boss-level player in the front.
In the remaining time, the Portuguese player continued to pursue and desire goals.
In the 80th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo took a powerful shot from 30 yards out, a shot resembling Chen Zhong’s style, feeling that he too made a great strike, but Gomez barely managed to deflect it.
Cristiano Ronaldo sighed deeply, clearly a bit dissatisfied with the result.
In the 81st minute, Granero made a pass, Cristiano Ronaldo burst into the right side of the penalty area and fell under Bassong’s defense.
In that moment, the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium was drowned in boos, Cristiano Ronaldo raised his hands, asking for a penalty, but the referee ignored him.
In the 88th minute, Real Madrid launched another attack, Di Maria crossed from the left side of the box, Cristiano Ronaldo struck a shot from 10 yards on the right side of the box, and Gomez deflected the ball into the near corner.
4-0.
Finally, the Portuguese player achieved his goal.
His face finally showed a smile.
"C. Ronaldo scored for the team!"
"This is an icing on the cake goal."
"C. Ronaldo’s scoring efficiency this season is remarkable."
"This is his 39th goal of the season."
"Among them, he scored 5 goals in 9 Champions League matches."
The final score was fixed at 4-0
Real Madrid won a big victory on home ground as expected.
For many fans, Tottenham’s Champions League journey seemed over, especially considering the second leg back at White Hart Lane, where historically Tottenham faced Spanish teams 4 times at home with only 2 draws and 2 losses, never tasting victory.
Also, the Champions League history shows no team has ever overturned a 4-goal deficit from the first leg.
Multiple injuries cast a shadow over Tottenham’s future prospects.
Especially Bale’s injury.
In this match, Bale was arguably Tottenham’s most threatening player.
If in the second leg, he cannot play due to his injury, Tottenham’s Champions League journey could be directly declared over.
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