The League Cup is a non-divisional competition between all 92 professional football clubs in England. It was established in 1960 by the English Professional Football League.
Premier League teams start participating in the second round, but teams participating in European competitions only start joining in the third round.
In the 0405 season, in the third round of the League Cup, Liverpool is about to challenge the British Championship team Millwall away.
Millwall's home stadium is located in the Isle of Dogs, London, and is called the Neil Stadium, which is also quite famous.
On the way to the Neil Stadium, Li Tiancheng really felt the "hooligan atmosphere" of Millwall fans.
Along the way, the Liverpool bus was surrounded by a circle of motorcycles. The riders wore flowered headscarves, and everyone showed their hair on their chests. They were all unscrupulous, swearing and giving the middle finger.
"This level of hooliganism is quite acceptable."
Li Tiancheng sat by the window and watched these people's performances intently. They were drifting or speeding. Just swearing was not brave enough!
Since chatting with Brother Hai that day, Li Tiancheng has received several reminders, overtly or covertly, all reminding him to pay attention to safety.
Although I didn't feel scared, I was still a little nervous.
It's feeling much better now.
Benitez's starting lineup for this game has a new look, which is completely different from the past.
Among them, Henkoz, Whitbread, Porter and Mellor, etc., all of them officially played in the game for the first time this season.
Henkoz is the most pitiable, the others are all newcomers, but this guy was Liverpool's main center back in the past few seasons, and this season he will be sitting on the bench.
Only Dudek and Josemi are considered the main players in the starting lineup.
Carragher, Alonso, Hyypia and other absolute main players have been arranged to rest.
Carragher publicly expressed his concerns, saying that sending such a lineup to the Isle of Dogs would be a "sheep entering the tiger's mouth". He asked to go with the team, but Benitez refused.
Millwall doesn't just have fans who are hooligans. People say that people take their own form, fans are hooligans, and the team has always been rude.
Head coach Wise is a famous villain in British football, nicknamed "Roaring Rat". This guy once won the FA Cup from Liverpool with his violent play. At that time, he was playing for Wimbledon.
Although he is now a coach, he has not changed at all and has continued the style of play for Millwall.
These situations have been introduced many times in the pre-game preparation meeting, and everyone is mentally prepared. There will probably be many people jumping on their feet in this game.
Before the game started, in memory of the Liverpool fan who had just died in Peru, the famous radio host Pierre played one of his favorite songs at the Neil Stadium.
This move made Li Tiancheng feel that Sun Chenghai was right, Millwall was still a serious club.
This impression did not last long.
It disappeared the moment you stepped onto the court.
More than 10,000 Millwall fans in the stands were making "ouch" sounds, making gestures like eating bananas, and making gestures over and over again, stretching their fingers from the inner corners of their eyes to the outer corners of their eyes.
The corners of Li Tiancheng's mouth twitched and he glanced at the stands expressionlessly.
After staying abroad for a long time, Li Tiancheng certainly understands the meaning of these actions.
Jose Mira grabbed Li Tiancheng's arm: "Calm down, Li, calm down..."
Spanish blurted out. At this moment, Josemi didn't care about the ban. He had already forgotten how to say it in English: "They are just trying to stimulate you, they are just a bunch of scum..."
"Of course I know," Li Tiancheng didn't turn his head, still staring at the stands, trying to keep everything in front of him firmly in his heart.
Li Tiancheng suddenly remembered a scene. It was the scene when former Barcelona captain Figo returned to Camp Nou for the first time as a Real Madrid player. It was a scene of 100,000 people waving white handkerchiefs and shouting in unison.
As a ball boy at that time, I felt the crazy atmosphere at that time, and I began to admire Figo's strong heart. In that game, Figo was the best Real Madrid player!
Now it's my turn.
The Neal Stadium is far worse than Camp Nou. Of course, the bunch of shit in front of you cannot be compared with the Barcelona fans. The garbage they created is nothing compared to the pressure that Figo faced back then!
Li Tiancheng twitched the corner of his mouth, let's start now...
Such a scene made Liverpool fans go berserk and they started throwing debris from the second-tier stands.
Neil Stadium has two floors in total. The visiting team's stands are on the second floor, and the exit is directly to the subway station. After the game, visiting team fans can leave the Isle of Dogs as quickly as possible.
Now this design makes it easier for Liverpool fans to vent their anger unilaterally.
But Li Tiancheng chose to keep pressing his arms down to signal them to calm down!
I didn't even complain at all.
If the referee cancels the game because of violent conflicts between fans from both sides, or because these bullshit goes too far, he will not be able to take revenge on the spot, and that will be a big loss!
The game begins in this chaotic dance of demons.
As soon as the referee's whistle blew, Li Tiancheng took the initiative to press. Thanks to these scum, Li Tiancheng was not excited at all, and the only thing left was to start the game quickly!
It was his first start in his career, and it turned out like this!
In this game, Pangler started as the forward, with Li Tiancheng behind him, Warnock and Porter on the left and right of Li Tiancheng, Diaw and Biscayne as the defensive midfielders, Traore and Henchoz as the central defender, and Wittebre
De and Josemi are the defenders on the left and right, and Dudek is of course guarding the goal.
Audi, who was actively fighting for the ball, quickly grabbed the football and stepped forward.
Porter's header was passed to Li Tiancheng, and Li Tiancheng directly stuffed the ball behind him in the face of his opponent who was rushing towards him fiercely.
Pangler was in position to outflank him, and just as he was about to continue his breakthrough, he was knocked to the ground by a sweeping kick.
Millwall's centre-back captain, Australian Muscat, is notorious. A long list of famous Premier League players have fallen at his feet: Bellamy, Dugarry, Lazaridis and many more.
Muscat bent down and looked at Pangler who was about to lie down: "The Neil Stadium is not a place for people to run wild. You young brats had better be smarter."
After saying that, he bared his teeth at Pangler.
Li Tiancheng ran to Pangler: "What did this guy say?"
"It's nothing, you just want to scare me!"
Li Tiancheng nodded and ignored it. If he was intimidated by such childish tricks, Pangler would not be able to stand in the professional arena.
"Get ready to grab some follow-up shots."
"Should we shoot directly from this distance? It's a little further, it's more than 30 meters." Pangler was a little confused. It would be better if he could move forward 5 meters instead of 2 or 3 meters.
"That's why you have to be prepared, I will definitely hit within the goal frame." Li Tiancheng stared at the goal with a calm tone.
Pangler glanced at Li Tiancheng, nodded, and ran into the penalty area.
Li Tiancheng placed the ball, took a few steps back, and observed the opponent's goalkeeper's position, the arrangement of the wall, and the position of his teammates.
The penalty kick was to the left of center, the opponent's goalkeeper was standing in the near corner, and the wall was blocking the far corner.
"It's better to be safe..."
Li Tiancheng adjusted his breathing, regained his composure amidst the roaring of the whole field, took a few steps, hit the middle of the football with the inside of his right foot, and deliberately added a rubbing action.
The football ran straight to the corner, crossed the far end of the wall, made a sharp turn, and headed towards the goal!
Millwall goalkeeper Dole Knig found that the football disappeared from his field of vision. He breathed a sigh of relief and moved to the left. Although it seemed that the ball was going straight out of bounds, he still pretended...