He saved it!"
"He saved it!"
James Jun's high-pitched voice instantly resonated in the ears of the vast number of Chinese fans.
"Pickford firmly pressed Ibrahimović's penalty kick onto the grass!"
"I have to say, Ibrahimović's penalty kick was actually of very high quality; it was very fast and went straight for the bottom right corner of the goal."
"But Pickford's reaction speed was even faster… No, from the slow-motion replay, he almost unhesitatingly dove towards the bottom right corner the moment Ibrahimović shot the penalty, this was a premonition!"
"And before this penalty, we all saw Zhao Zhao specifically run half the field to Pickford to give him instructions. Obviously, this was Coach Zhao telling Pickford to do it. It actually worked!"
"This is the first time I've seen a Coach do this! Zhao Zhao is awesome!"
"However, a Coach leaving the technical area is actually not allowed by the rules. Although the referee did not make a penalty, it's hard to say whether the Football Association will intervene and impose additional penalties after the match…"
"But what does that matter? The penalty was saved! Sunderland kept their hopes alive!"
At this moment, at Old Trafford, Manchester United fans fell silent, while Sunderland fans in the away stand cheered up again.
"sunderland 'til i die!"
"sunderland 'til i die!"
"sunderland 'til i die!"
Such soaring songs filled the sky above Old Trafford, and at the same time, made Ibrahimović, who missed the penalty, even more depressed.
Since joining Manchester United, his penalties had always been spot-on, and he never expected to be caught out by an unknown player like Pickford today!
In fact, he also understood that missing a penalty was not a rare occurrence, but to firmly hold such a fast and tricky penalty directly, as Pickford just did, was very rare.
How firm a premonition must it take to achieve that!
As for Pickford, the protagonist on the field at this moment, his mind was blank the moment he saved the ball.
Was it really in the bottom right corner?
Did I really save it?
Was what the Coach said really so effective?
He couldn't really know in advance where Ibrahimović would kick the ball, could he?
Could this Coach Zhao, who was only two years older than himself, really have received instructions from God?
It wasn't until Cattermole, the team captain who rushed over first, excitedly patted his shoulder, that Pickford jolted up from the ground, but he still held the ball tightly as if embracing a beautiful girl.
He first turned his head to look at the sideline, only to see Zhao Zhao standing by the technical area, giving him a thumbs up, and then, he pointed to Manchester United's half!
The singing of the Sunderland fans by his ears suddenly became clear, and Pickford quickly observed the situation on the field, then realized that this was indeed a good opportunity for a counterattack!
When Ibrahimović took the penalty, Manchester United only left goalkeeper De Gea and defender Blind to defend in the backfield, while everyone else was gathered around Sunderland's large penalty area.
In the eyes of the Manchester United players, if nothing unexpected happened, Ibrahimović would definitely score the penalty!
And what they were going to do next was to watch Ibrahimović score, then embrace and celebrate in Sunderland's penalty area, then restart the game at midfield, and then score the next goal…
Ultimately, they could also complete the task Mourinho gave them, which was to thrash Sunderland and make the opponents leave Old Trafford crying!
But this time, Ibrahimović missed.
Such an unexpected turn also made the Manchester United players collectively lose focus.
And at this moment, under Zhao Zhao's desperate waving on the sideline, Sunderland's players had all rushed forward!
Pickford quickly saw the veteran Defoe at the very front, and then directly threw a powerful hand pass to him!
It can be said that Pickford's ability to become England's national goalkeeper in the future was greatly helped by his hand pass skills.
Although Defoe was already near the halfway line, Pickford still accurately threw the ball to his feet over such a long distance!
"Good, another step completed." Zhao Zhao nodded on the sideline.
And Defoe, as soon as he got the ball on the field, quickly started moving!
Defoe was an old England international, having been selected for the national team 55 times and scoring 19 goals.
Although he was already 34 years old this year, his physical condition was still very good, and his speed was still very fast.
With a powerful dribble, he left all the Manchester United players behind, and now there was only one defender, Blind, in front of him!
Blind was a relatively comprehensive defender, but he was mainly known for his technique, and accurate long passes were his specialty.
At the 2014 World Cup, Van Persie's astonishing flying header against Spain came from Blind's long pass from the backfield.
But speed and confrontation were not Blind's strengths.
Therefore, when facing the speedy Defoe's charge, Blind could only first block his position, and then slowly retreat.
As long as he could force Defoe to slow down his dribble, he could wait for the support of his teammates, and then double-team him.
This way of handling it was definitely much safer than rashly extending his leg to intercept and being dribbled past!
But Defoe was also battle-hardened and had seen a lot.
He lowered his stride frequency, but his speed did not slow down much, and he quickly approached Blind in this manner.
Then, Defoe made a move to dribble to the left. When Blind hesitated slightly whether to follow, Defoe had already made a sudden acceleration to the right, directly sweeping past Blind!
This was Defoe's specialty that allowed him to secure a place in the star-studded England National Team: his ability to change direction and explode in short distances!
"Another step." Zhao Zhao smiled, "Only one last step left."
And when Blind was also left behind by Defoe, only the Spanish goalkeeper De Gea remained in front of Defoe.
For a long time, Manchester United fans had a saying: "The attack is beautiful, the defense is De Gea."
This was a complaint about Manchester United's backfield defense, and at the same time, a praise for De Gea's save ability.
Now seeing Defoe create a one-on-one situation, De Gea did not dare to be negligent and directly rushed out, trying to reduce Defoe's shooting angle as much as possible.
But Defoe shot incredibly quickly!
He did not intend to dribble past De Gea, but after the opponent had just moved forward two steps, he directly took a poke shot, and the ball actually went between De Gea's legs!
De Gea was caught off guard and quickly lowered his center of gravity, performing a "De Gea's lotus pose," trying to trap the ball between his legs.
But Defoe's poke shot was incredibly fast; the ball directly passed through De Gea's legs and then rolled into Manchester United's goal!
"Goal, goal, Sunderland scored!"
"With veteran Defoe's one-on-one goal, Sunderland equalized the score to 2:1, and they rekindled their hopes!"
"This is incredible! It was Manchester United's penalty just now, but after Ibrahimović missed, Sunderland immediately launched a quick counterattack and actually scored instead!"
"This is equivalent to going from 3:0 to 2:1, truly a two-goal difference in an instant!"
"Looking at it this way, Zhao Zhao's action of rushing onto the field to instruct on saving the penalty was even more awesome!"
After the referee blew the whistle for the goal, Old Trafford became even more silent.
All that could be heard was the almost insane roar of the Sunderland fans.
From defense to offense, from almost having the game killed to scoring and regaining hope, the ups and downs of life were truly too thrilling!
And at this moment, everyone was stunned by the scene before their eyes.
After Defoe scored, a guy in a suit on the sideline actually started running wildly.
He was none other than Sunderland's interim Coach, Zhao Zhao!
He ran all the way to the home team Manchester United's technical area and directly performed a passionate knee slide celebration!!!