Chapter 1 Looks Like Cassillas' Save Greatly Boosted Real Madrid Players' Morale
But the reality was not so.

Casillas' save did not boost Real Madrid's morale, it only temporarily calmed the unsettled hearts of the Real Madrid players.

Otherwise, they would all have been doomed!

So during the halftime break, when they faced the head coach Mourinho's angry scolding, everyone obediently lowered their heads, daring not to retort, nor daring to show the slightest dissatisfaction.

They had almost ruined everything for the team.

The penalty shootout strategy was a decision Mourinho made with everything on the line. He absolutely would not allow any mistakes.

Before, when Real Madrid launched a large-scale offensive and then allowed Liverpool to counterattack, it really scared him.

Although Casillas finally saved him and the team, this did not alleviate his anger after he came back to his senses—what if Casillas hadn't made that save? What if Casillas hadn't stopped it? The consequences were simply unimaginable!

That's why he was so angry.

My life was almost gone, and now you are all still alive, you should thank God!

"Patience! Patience! Patience! Besides patience, it's still patience! That's what I told you before the game, but how many of you remember? You've all forgotten! Look at your clumsy performance at the end of the first half! You almost screwed it up for me!"

Mourinho cursed, berating his players.

"A little bit of booing from the stands, and you were scared like this? Are you rookies who are participating in a professional game for the first time? You can't be unaware of what kind of team Liverpool is! But how dare you launch a large-scale offensive? Now, you know the consequences of doing so, right? In the second half, play defensive counterattacks obediently for me! Don't care what others think! Remember you are playing for yourselves, for the championship, for honor! Not for the feelings of those bystanders! I guarantee that if you don't win the championship, no matter how beautiful you play, it's useless!"

"Only the champion is eternal! Think about the ten Champions League trophies in the team's trophy room, think about it, the earliest one was won in 1956, and it's still here, without fading at all! This is the charm of the champion! So you guys remember, in the second half, don't care about the boring boos from the fans, they don't understand anything!"

The players were scolded by Mourinho.

But they had to admit that Mourinho was right.

If it weren't for Casillas' brilliant performance, they would have been behind. And after falling behind, the game would be even more difficult to play.

They had once again seen the quality of Liverpool's counterattacks from this offensive and defensive exchange.

It was impossible to always rely on Casillas' godlike performance and ethereal luck...

※※※

The missed goal during the last attack also became the focus of Liverpool's discussion during the halftime break.

However, unlike Mourinho, Martin O'Neill did not loudly reprimand Chen Hero for wasting the opportunity.

On the contrary, he was praising Chen Hero, praising Pepe, and praising everyone who participated in this offensive and defensive exchange.

He knew that the missed goal would have a negative impact on the team's morale, so what needed to be done at this time was to encourage them and let them quickly forget about the goal.

This way, the team would cheer up in a short time.

Praise was the best means.

"The initiative of the game is still in our hands. Stay calm in the second half. If this opportunity is gone, we will always have the next one. Real Madrid, on the other hand, will definitely show flaws. Did you hear the boos from their own fans in the stands?"

Everyone laughed, laughing exaggeratedly happily and unscrupulously.

Real Madrid players' worries were still justified. They became the laughing stock of the football world because of this matter before the game even ended.

"I think if they continue to be so unenterprising in the second half, the boos from Real Madrid fans will only get louder. I believe Real Madrid will not be able to withstand this kind of pressure in the second half. They will definitely plan to attack again. At that time, just like before, we will intercept their ball again and launch a counterattack!"

Martin O'Neill's analysis was very reasonable, but if he knew that Mourinho had been thinking about dragging the game into a penalty shootout from the beginning, he probably wouldn't have said that...

In a penalty shootout, he didn't have a sure chance of winning, the odds weren't even fifty-fifty, but rather forty-sixty, Liverpool forty, Real Madrid sixty. Because Liverpool didn't prepare for penalty practice at all. They only had less than half an hour of penalty practice on the last training session the day before coming to Milan.

※※※

The fifteen-minute halftime break passed in an instant. The second half of the game began.

Because of the crazy offensive momentum at the end of the first half, everyone was looking forward to the second half.

They believed that the dull atmosphere between the two sides had been broken by that series of lightning-fast offensive exchanges, and Real Madrid would definitely strengthen their offensive in the second half, creating greater pressure on Liverpool.

And Liverpool would also show their true skills under the pressure of Real Madrid.

Anyway, it would be an exciting and good-looking offensive drama, just like the one or two minutes before the end of the first half.

But Real Madrid and Liverpool once again disappointed everyone.

After the second half of the game started, there was no offensive exchange that everyone dreamed of, not even a sign of an offensive exchange.

Liverpool did use the opportunity to kick off to launch an attack on Real Madrid's goal.

But it was stopped in front of the penalty area.

Then Liverpool retreated very decisively.

Real Madrid, who had the ball, was not very interested in attacking either. Not many people went up, so naturally there were not many ways.

A group of people looked at each other in dismay. What was the difference between this and the first half?

The commentator was dissatisfied again: "The second half of the game between Liverpool and Real Madrid has not improved in the slightest. They are still two teams lacking initiative. Neither is willing to take the initiative to press forward and attack. Because that means giving their backs to the enemy first..."

"UEFA should introduce regulations prohibiting passive play in the finals of various competitions! Any team that is standing still will be directly judged to lose by three goals!"

"Mourinho and Martin O'Neill are simply the tumors of European football!"

※※※

Not only did the commentators start complaining again, but the Real Madrid fans in the stands also became unhappy again.

Their boos reappeared in the stands of the Meazza San Siro Stadium.

At first, there were only sporadic boos, but later they became connected, getting louder and louder.

Of course, there must be no shortage of helpful Liverpool fans among them.

But this time, no matter how fierce the boos were, the Real Madrid players on the field remained unmoved.

They acted as if they couldn't hear anything, without any reaction. They wouldn't rush up and fight with Liverpool desperately because they felt embarrassed and knew their shame like they did in the first half.

They still followed the head coach's instructions, slowly and methodically dealing with Liverpool.

If Liverpool didn't come up, they would be very happy. Because they could easily get through another minute.

The TV broadcast gave a close-up of both head coaches.

Amidst the boos from the fans in the stadium, Mourinho had a relaxed expression. And Martin O'Neill was also very calm.

Both of them were happy with the current situation.

※※※

Real Madrid even did it more thoroughly than Liverpool.

Their attack completely relied on Cristiano Ronaldo alone to fight alone in the front.

The effect of this kind of attack was equivalent to Ronaldo's personal ability plus luck.

There was nothing to say about Ronaldo's personal ability, but this luck... was very average.

Liverpool's offense was relatively more organized. Gotze's role in the offense was still very significant.

In fact, Liverpool's was a normal defensive counterattack.

And Real Madrid was getting closer and closer to their goal, which was to completely not consider offense and only consider defense.

Twenty minutes had passed in the second half, the score was still 0:0, and Mourinho was too lazy to continue acting with Liverpool. There was less and less time left in the game, so it was even more important not to lose the ball at this time, so the emphasis on defense was even greater.

In this situation, their offense naturally had no threat.

At first, Martin O'Neill thought that Real Madrid's performance was pretty good, which meant that his defense was safe.

But soon he felt something was wrong.

Real Madrid's performance didn't look like they wanted to win the game at all!

No matter what, to win the game, you have to rely on scoring goals. How can you win without scoring?

But Real Madrid now looked like they were giving up on offense.

How could they do this?

If they didn't win the game, what were they doing in the final?

Even if they kept a 0:0 draw, what was the point?

Thinking of this, a thought suddenly flashed through O'Neill's mind.

Penalty!

The meaning of keeping a 0:0 draw was to drag the game into a penalty shootout!

And why did Mourinho painstakingly want to drag the game into a penalty shootout?

Martin O'Neill quickly understood.

Because only in a penalty shootout could Real Madrid have the qualifications to have a fair dialogue with Liverpool. Otherwise, relying on the strength of Chen Hero, a freak, Real Madrid would be doomed with a little carelessness.

And in a penalty shootout, no matter how great Chen Hero is, his goal count only counts as one, and cannot be multiplied by two, or multiplied by three...

In this case, it depends on the performance of other players.

And penalties are very dependent on luck, and if you are not well prepared...

O'Neill shuddered at this thought.

Because he really didn't prepare for the penalty shootout carefully!

He only had thirty minutes of training the day before setting off.

He believed that with the strength of Chen Hero and his team, it would be enough to solve Real Madrid in ninety minutes. Even if something unexpected happened, one hundred and twenty minutes would be enough. He never thought there would be a penalty shootout!

Damn it!

Martin O'Neill's back was instantly soaked with sweat as he realized that his team was in a huge crisis.