Chapter 772

September 20, 2009, 13:30 p.m.

Old Trafford stadium, Manchester.

Wearing a yellow shirt, Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster stood in front of the goal line, looked up at the sky with great piety, stretched out his hand on his forehead and chest, and prayed.

He is twenty-five years old.

He started his career with Stoke City, but he never played for Stoke City for even a minute. In those three years, he was loaned to five teams and wandered almost every six months. Until 2005, he was loaned to rexham in Wales.

In Rexam, he met a man who completely changed his life.

His teammate, Darren Ferguson, the son of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

He will never forget that night four years ago at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

It was one of Ben Foster's few games for Rexam. In that game, he was in a very good condition and made many wonderful saves, which helped Rexam win the championship by beating his opponent 2-0.

After the game, Ferguson went to the dressing room to visit his son Darren, but also met Ben Foster.

Three months later, Manchester United bought Ben Foster from Stoke City for two million pounds.

But it's not easy to get a foothold in the Red Devils. Ben Foster was loaned to Watford just after he joined.

But for two years at Manchester United, it was lonely.

Edwin van der Sar, an old and strong goalkeeper, firmly controls the position of Manchester United's main goalkeeper. The fierce competition makes Ben Foster have few opportunities. In two years, he has only got three league matches, which is undoubtedly a very painful thing for a goalkeeper who is in urgent need of competition experience.

But the most terrible thing is not this, but the lack of competition for a long time makes him lose that kind of keen reaction, long-term away from the game, so that he can not skillfully adjust his situation.

Many people simply can't understand that as a goalkeeper, especially Manchester United's goalkeeper, he stands alone in front of the goal most of the time in the game. Especially in the cold season, his whole body seems to be stiff, but when the opponent enters the half court, he has to react in the first time.

These two extreme states are a great test for any goalkeeper. Only experienced goalkeepers can know how to adjust themselves in the game, keep themselves at their best whenever and wherever possible, and cope with the sudden blow of their opponents.

Ben Foster played well in the Carling Cup at the beginning of March and saved a penalty from Tottenham Hotspur in the final penalty shoot out to help Manchester United win the Carling Cup.

After the game, Ferguson personally led the renewal of Ben Foster's contract, raised his weekly salary to 25000 pounds, and appointed him as van der Sar's successor, promising him a ten-year future.

At the beginning of August, Manchester United was invited to participate in the Audi Cup, but in the final, Bayern Munich midfield Vidal's powerful volley bruised van der Sar's left hand, resulting in a fracture of his left finger, which had to be operated on and suspended for at least two months.

This is great news for Ben Foster. It can be said that it is a good opportunity.

You know, Edwin van der Sar is 38 years old. Although he is in good condition, as long as Ben Foster can show his ability to replace the Dutch goalkeeper in the past two months, it will be a natural thing to replace Edwin van der Sar and secure the title of Manchester United's main goalkeeper.

I don't know if it's because of this, but he added some pressure to himself.

During Edwin van der Sar's injury, Fortis was the main goalkeeper of Manchester United. He played five league matches and lost three goals this season. The data is not bad. However, foster has made three fatal mistakes, which has led him to be questioned by the outside world since this season. Many people think that his strength can not meet the requirements of Manchester United.

You know, it's Edwin van der Sar!

That is a legendary figure in European football!

Foster feels that this kind of comparison is unfair to him, but he still tries to prove himself. He wants to show everyone that he, Ben Foster, is worthy of Manchester United's main goalkeeper position.

Before playing against Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, he has done well. I hope he can continue this good momentum against Manchester City.

…………

…………

"Well, the game is on!"

Giggs, wearing the armband of the captain on the field, clapped his hands and called on his teammates.

In the absence of team captain Gary Neville due to injury, vice captain Giggs takes the post of team captain on the field and is responsible for directing team-mates on the field to play.

"Be careful, they're coming up."

With the whistle of the match, Manchester City, who fought away from home, came back and pressed down on a large scale, showing the momentum of suppressing Manchester United from the beginning, and also making the whole United midfield and backcourt as if facing a big enemy.

But the game just started, Manchester City's first attack just after half-time, Manchester United will break the ball, back to the back line, Ferdinand is responsible for the ball.

Manchester City's trident in the front court was very tight. They rushed towards Manchester United's defence, especially Benzema. They went straight to Ferdinand with the ball. The speed was still very fast.

Ferdinand felt the threat, turned to protect the ball and passed it back to goalkeeper foster.

Did not expect, Benzema speed does not reduce, directly from Ferdinand passing by, straight after the ball.

What's more, Ferdinand's strength of this pass was a little too small, which led to Foster's surprise. After that, he resolutely abandoned the door and broke out with a big foot first. However, Benzema still flew up and wanted to block Foster's ball path with his body.

With a bang, the ball hit Benzema firmly in the back and rebounded to the goal.

The whole Old Trafford stadium screamed, only to see Benzema quickly chasing the ball up, but foster was almost terrified. He quickly took a step faster, kicked the ball out of the boundary with a big foot, Manchester City's out of bounds ball.

After that, foster felt his back cool and his whole heart was about to jump out of his voice.

But there was a huge boo in the stands at Old Trafford, and many fans were booing foster.

This makes Ben Foster in the stadium feel very depressed. When he looks at Ferdinand again, the big man in the team's dressing room is still indifferent, as if the kick just had nothing to do with him.

But it is clear that his passing power is small, which leads to Foster's passivity. How can he become a goalkeeper problem?

"Concentrate, they're coming again!"

Manchester City quickly sent out the ball out of bounds. Sanchez ran to the right to receive the ball, and then picked up the penalty area. Benzema blocked Pepe with his body in the penalty area. He skillfully stopped the ball and turned to hit the goal directly.

Astounded, foster swoops down and hugs the ball.

Fortunately, Benzema was interfered by Pepe, the foot did not play on the strength, otherwise, foster simply could not get, which made the United goalkeeper secretly pinch a cold sweat.

After getting up from the ground, foster looked up and saw that Manchester City's players did not retreat. Instead, they were still pressing Manchester United. There was a big sign that they would take advantage of the opening game to eat Manchester United.

One minute, one shot, one out of bounds, the attack of Manchester City is more and more sharp.

Foster's powerful goal directly sent the ball to the half court of Manchester City. Harvey Martinez headed the ball to sabareta, who was ahead of Rooney and stabbed the ball to Harvey Alonso.

Manchester United began to exert pressure on city's midfield and back field. After Xabi Alonso got the ball, he sent it directly to the front field and landed on the left side of Manchester United's penalty area.

Benzema and Ferdinand started at the same time and chased the ball.

Ben Foster is also determined to abandon the goal, he is closer than others, the ball seems to have been in his control, so Ferdinand did not catch up, but slowed down, only Manchester City's Benzema continue to put pressure on the goalkeeper.

You can see that pressing the goalkeeper is one of the tasks assigned to him by the manager.

But when everyone thought foster would get the ball, they didn't expect Manchester United's goalkeeper to make a mistake.

He wanted to stand in the penalty area and wait for the ball to roll in, then he bent down to pick up the ball, but unexpectedly, the ball was left close to the white line of the penalty area, and did not enter the penalty area.

According to the rules, once the goalkeeper is out of the penalty area, he can no longer use his hand.

To Ben Foster's dismay, he quickly changed his mind and decided to use his feet.

But the moment he changed his mind, the ball came to him, but Benzema, who suddenly accelerated, also arrived.

The Old Trafford stadium screamed again, and everyone cried out in disbelief.

Ben Foster himself was also startled, quickly out of the foot to hook the ball, but Benzema's reaction is faster than he, continuous out of the foot to break the ball, before Forster kicked the ball, poke the ball away.

The sudden change surprised the whole Old Trafford stadium. Ferdinand rushed to Benzema for the first time, blocking between Benzema and the goal. However, the Frenchman threw away foster and caught up with the ball. Instead of choosing to play by himself, he passed the ball to the middle.

Just see Cristiano Ronaldo from the top of the arc like a lightning into the restricted area, easy to push the open door.

“GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL！！！！！！！”

"It was just two minutes in the opening, just two minutes, and Manchester City were the first to break United's goal!"

"Goal from Cristiano Ronaldo!"

"It's also his seventh goal of the season

"My God, Manchester City started off with a frenzied attack and Manchester United made two major mistakes in a row

"Goalkeeper foster and centre back Rio Ferdinand did not seem to be in good shape in this game. There was a return pass just now, which almost made Benzema a threat, but I didn't expect it to happen again now."

"It should be said that this is also a big disadvantage of Manchester United, especially the centre back and goalkeeper

"The absence of Edwin van der Sar really has a great impact on the Red Devils. It seems that Ben Foster, who has been ridiculed as a butter hand by fans, has no ability to guard the goal of Manchester United, and Ferdinand's state this season is also worrying."

"One to zero, Manchester City broke the deadlock!"