Amidst the curses of the Cardiff City fans, the Liverpool players walked into the stadium with a solemn expression.
This match had a total of 30,000 spectators, making it a bit crowded.
The people of Cardiff City were incredibly hopeful that they could get some points from Liverpool to secure their place in the league and, at the same time, cause trouble for the title-contending Liverpool.
However, facing a Liverpool team whose market value was ten times their own, Cardiff City had decided to sit deep from the start of the match.
They had set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation.
At this time, 20 minutes had already passed since the start of the match.
On the big screen on the field, the score was still 0:0!
[It's been too long, a goal is coming!]
[Liverpool, stop acting! Hurry up and score!]
[Your market value is ten times theirs, and you're playing so hard?]
[Breaking the bus is really a challenge of the century!]
Liverpool was not in a hurry, but some of the "Happy Beans" players were.
For this match, the betting company had opened a handicap of 2.5 goals in favor of Liverpool.
Thanks to Liverpool's continuous victories during this period, many gamblers had placed heavy bets on Liverpool.
The impact of this was directly reflected on the field.
In the 25th minute of the match, Tendou got past three players in the center and charged towards the Cardiff City penalty area. However, the opponent did not give him a chance to do anything else, savagely bringing him down just outside the box.
Even in the Premier League, this was a very brutal foul. A professional referee would definitely have given a yellow card.
But the referee turned a blind eye, not even giving Liverpool a free-kick.
Bad calls in football are a perennial issue, and even at the highest levels of the game, there are bad calls.
Cardiff City was using this "advantage" to repeatedly destroy Liverpool's attacks.
Tendou, Salah, Mané, and Firmino had all been brought down countless times.
But what was disgusting about this referee was that he only went blind when Liverpool entered a dangerous area, turning a blind eye to the brutality of the Cardiff City players.
But if the foul happened in a safe area, he would unhesitatingly penalize the Cardiff City player.
This kind of penalization, which clearly showed that he did not want to see them score, infuriated many of the Liverpool fans and even the Liverpool captain.
"Gaffer, if this continues, it will be very troublesome."
Krawietz was not blind. With the referee so obviously biased towards Cardiff City, he naturally saw it.
It was no longer a question of whether they could win. He was now worried that the players would get injured, which would affect their subsequent matches.
Klopp frowned tightly. He had no idea how many times he had complained to the fourth official, but the referee remained unmoved.
This match was too fragmented.
They couldn't deploy any of their tactics.
It would be useless even if a group of world-famous managers like Ferguson, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Wenger, and Guardiola came together.
He was also anxious, watching as his players were brought down time and time again without receiving the proper compensation.
A parked bus + a referee controlling the game.
It had to be said that this was a combination that could make one almost despair.
In the 34th minute of the match, Tendou advanced with the ball through the center.
Just like before, whenever he received the ball, at least three Cardiff City players would swarm him.
If they could block him, that was best. If they couldn't, they would immediately resort to brutal methods.
Seeing that the three of them were about to completely seal him off, Tendou quickly tapped the ball to Henderson.
Henderson was an excellent defender, but asking him to organize the offense was a bit difficult.
Otherwise, Klopp would not have waited a year for Keïta, and still bought Fabinho for the squad this year.
After several failed attempts to link up with Tendou, Henderson had no choice but to pass the ball back to his own half to reorganize.
And then, it was a continuation of the previous attack.
Keïta strode forward, and the opponent immediately passed the ball to the wing.
Salah on the right sprinted with all his might and then crossed.
Firmino's header went high over the bar.
Time passed, minute by minute.
After several failed attacks and with the opponent's brutality, the Liverpool players also started to get anxious.
They were all too clear about what losing a match, or even drawing one, meant.
There was a high probability that a whole season of hard work would be for naught.
Just yesterday, Manchester City had won a precious 3 points against Manchester United at home.
They had temporarily overtaken Liverpool by two points.
If this match ended in a draw, Liverpool would be tied with Manchester City in terms of points.
In that case, if both sides won all their subsequent matches, it would come down to goal difference.
And Liverpool had no advantage in goal difference.
In the 39th minute of the match, Mané received a diagonal pass from Tendou on the left and planned to once again charge down Cardiff City's left flank.
But before he could even accelerate, the Cardiff City captain, Morrison, hooked him from the side and sent him tumbling out of bounds.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
Even the usually good-tempered Mané couldn't take it and got up to complain.
However, even though he had obviously committed a foul, Morrison spread his hands and looked innocent when the referee came over.
This only angered Mané more.
Fortunately, Tendou, who was nearby, held him back. Henderson, as the captain, went up to talk to the referee, who then gave Morrison a nonchalant warning.
Just like that, the two sides were tangled for about ten minutes, and the first half ended with a two-to-three whistle.
...
In the locker room, the Liverpool players were all silent, their faces ashen.
The referee's tacit approval had made them suffer for the entire first half.
Klopp frowned, deep in thought.
In the end, there was nothing he could do. He could only try to get free-kick opportunities.
After simply laying out his tactics, Klopp began to motivate the entire team.
In a match like this, they had to remain calm.
Being too anxious would only play into the opponent's hands!
Tendou closed his eyes to adjust his state, seizing the moment to recover his stamina.
The 15-minute halftime break ended quickly.
After the two teams re-entered the stadium, the match started again.
"Cry if you want to cry, you bastard who's old before your time!"
The insult, "old before your time," was, of course, aimed at Tendou.
Who else had white hair at such a young age?
"What 'toughest man in Liverpool?' Pah! A dog from Cardiff City is tougher than you!"
The fans were shouting insults. But Tendou was unmoved.
In the away team stands, the several thousand Liverpool fans were, as usual, singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" to support the team.
Amidst the faint singing, Tendou, who had taken the ball, charged into Cardiff City's half for what felt like the hundredth time.
The first person to challenge him was Camarasa.
Without any pressure, Tendou used a quick drag-back to change direction, easily beating the opponent.
But after getting past one person, Gunnarsson and another came at him, and the two wing-backs were on standby to prevent his horizontal pass.
There was nothing he could do.
Tendou could only grit his teeth and push forward.
"Release!"
A quick touch of the ball that reached the limits of human speed created a half-second illusion.
Tendou single-handedly broke through the pincer and got past three players.
In terms of individual ability, Cardiff City was indeed inferior to Liverpool's overall strength.
But they had the referee covering for them.
The referee's long-standing protection made the Cardiff City players' moves more and more aggressive.
Camarasa even made a dangerous tackle from behind.
Tendou went down immediately.
The referee blew his whistle. He looked at the position, which was about 40 meters from the goal, still a relatively safe distance.
Thinking of this, he finally took out a yellow card from his pocket.
Liverpool had finally gotten a free-kick opportunity.
...
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