Generally speaking, in the penalty shootout, the first and fifth players are very important.

The first player has to give a good start to the teammates who will take the penalty next. If he can kick the football in, he can also release the psychological pressure from everyone behind him. If the first person does not shoot the ball in, the teammates behind him will naturally become nervous instantly and carry a heavy ideological burden.

The fifth man who took the penalty kick is equally important, because he is likely to decide his life and death with one goal.

Just like in this situation, the opponent's fifth player has shot. If the fifth player of the original side cannot make the game, the game will end here. But if he can score, he can continue the penalty shootout and enter the single-round elimination system.

Therefore, the head coach generally arranges players with strong psychological qualities and outstanding penalty kick skills to put the fifth team in the team, which can be regarded as the "finale" in a sense.

Those who can take on this great responsibility are not ordinary people.

So when I saw Gao Zheng walking to the penalty kick, many people were a little surprised and rarely saw Gao Zheng taking the penalty kick...

Many people even wonder whether Gao Zheng had ever scored a penalty kick or scored a penalty kick?

They can't remember it at all.

Arrange to take the fifth penalty penalty for such a person who has rarely even played a penalty?

Has Simeone's spoiled Gao Zheng reached this point?

Although Gao Zheng scored a lot of goals, it is not to say that he can score goals in normal games and take such a critical penalty.

Many forwards who scored goals were also very likely to miss penalty kicks.

At least when Manuel Blanco saw this scene, his brows furrowed into a mess.

He had no idea what Simeone's arrangement was for.

However, at this time, he had no choice but to continue to support Atletico Madrid.

So at this moment, he turned into Gao Zheng's fan and wanted to pray to God for Gao Zheng like a conditioned reflex.

But he suddenly remembered that Gao Zheng was a Chinese, and the Chinese were famous for not believing in God. Not only did they not believe in God, they might even blaspheme God. He was worried that praying to God for a Chinese would cause God to be angry, and instead would eliminate Atletico Madrid and affect his plan.

He could not pray to his Lord, but at the same time he didn't know what to do, so he had to look at the TV screen helplessly.

His eyes were staring at Gao Zheng.

You kid... don't let me down! For my plan, you must also kick this ball in!

※※※

Gao Zheng walked to the penalty spot under the gaze of countless people. He used his feet to reach the football directly and stepped in front of the penalty spot.

It is not like his previous teammates and opponents, who are very serious about the football. Some people must aim the valve core of the football at themselves, so that they can ensure that they can play to the hardest part of the football body and increase the speed of the football.

But Gao Zheng didn't do that.

He was very casual, as if he was doing penalty training in training.

Then he stepped back and turned to look at the referee.

This surprised the referee. He thought Gao Zheng would play football well, but he didn't expect that he would finish the preparations in just two seconds.

Eindhoven goalkeeper Zote, who was standing on the goal line at the same time, was also surprised. He performed well in both rounds and was selected as the best in the game in the last round.

But he hadn't saved any of the four previous penalty shots at Atletico Madrid.

He wanted to save Gao Zheng's ball on the fifth penalty and kill the game directly.

Unexpectedly, Gao Zheng's random performance after coming up made him hesitate.

Is this a psychological warfare?

Is Gao Zheng fearless or is he not having the experience of taking a penalty kick?

Before this game, Eindhoven's head coach Koku specially asked the team to practice penalty kicks and made very sufficient preparations. As a goalkeeper, he naturally studied all the main penalty kickers at Atletico Madrid and knew their playing direction and habits.

So although he didn't save a penalty, he was judged correctly, just a little bit short of it.

But when facing Gao Zheng, his mind was blank. Because there was no information about Gao Zheng before, he was good at kicking the penalty kick to the left or right? Is it above or below? He was good at kicking with his right foot or left foot? Do he volley hard or like spoon shots? Do he like to pursue angles or be safe?

None of these Zuote knew about them...

This led to him being able to guess when he saves the penalty kick in a while.

He felt a little confused.

There was no time for him to think about it again, and the referee had already blew the whistle.

The whole audience suddenly became quiet.

Gao Zheng started running up... No, or "helping" is more precise, because Gao Zheng didn't run at all, took one step forward and another step, and in total, it was only two steps, which was more like strode.

Then his right foot twitched to the football.

Everything happened suddenly and quickly.

Zuo Te rushed out before Gao Zheng hit the football. He guessed the direction to the left of his body and guessed that Gao Zheng would hit the foot, so he pounced decisively.

But Gao Zheng kicked the ball to the right of his body, and it was in the upper corner!

The football flew into the goal from the angle between the post and the crossbar!

"Gao Zheng!!! Beautiful! Dead corners!" He Ping, who was so nervous that he couldn't speak before, could finally roar.

He was also worried that Gao Zheng, who had never played a penalty kick, would kick the ball away... Now, the worst result is that Atletico Madrid was eliminated, but at least it would not be Gao Zheng's responsibility.

"Gao, who rarely takes penalty kicks, seems very relaxed and freehand on this ball, just like training, without any pressure!" Jose Maria also highly praised Gao Zheng. "It seems that Simeone is correct to let him come out and take the penalty. Although we outsiders don't know how Gao's penalties are, the head coach who is with him day and night is obviously very clear and confident in him. The facts also prove this. In a tense atmosphere, Gao from walking out to scoring a penalty kick seems incompatible with this tense atmosphere..."

※※※

Manuel Blanco saw Gao Zheng’s careless appearance in his heart, and kept cursing Gao Zheng in his heart. He scolded him for being careless because if he cursed, he would be afraid that his wife would be kicked out of the house again...

However, after seeing Gao Zheng scored, he couldn't help but jump up and cheer.

This made the wife poke her head curiously: "Aren't you a Barcelona fan? What kind of fuel is added to Atletico Madrid?"

Blanco was too lazy to explain his trick to his wife, so he could only wave his hand impatiently: "What do you know?"

"What did you say!" My wife's voice rose octave.

Blanco quickly smiled and said, "I hope they can advance to the quarterfinals, and then get deeper and deeper in the two-line battles. In the end, both the league and the Champions League are empty..."

He quickly explained his thoughts to his wife.

Then he turned to watch TV. Eindhoven had already finished the sixth round of penalty kick and scored again.

Koku said before the game that they prepared a penalty kick. It seemed that it was not nonsense, but it was really prepared, and it was very accurate...

But Blanco was a little anxious.

Koku has also played for Barcelona before... Could it be that he insisted on eliminating Atletico Madrid from the Champions League to avenge Barcelona?

But what's the use of defeating them in the Champions League? If you have the ability, you come to La Liga to block them!

It's a big deal here!

Fortunately, Atletico Madrid's sixth player Jimenez also kicked the penalty into the goal, which made Blanco feel relieved.

※※※

"I really didn't expect that the penalty kick was played until the eighth round..." Jose Maria sighed.

There were fewer and fewer shouts at the scene. Most of the fans were so nervous that they could not make any sound. Some people didn't even dare to look at it. They turned their backs to the stadium and only judged whether the ball was entered from the reactions of the people around them.

After the draw results of the quarterfinals of 16 came out, Atletico Madrid fans still felt that the draw of Eindhoven was a top draw.

Unexpectedly, Eindhoven was so tenacious, tied Atletico Madrid in two rounds and dragged the penalty kick to the eighth round...

The eighth player who represented Eindhoven was Luciano Narsinger. He was replaced in the 118th minute of this game. He just played for two minutes and the game ended and entered the penalty kick.

Of course, this was not what Koku replaced him for the penalty shootout, otherwise he would not be ranked eighth in the field. This order means that anyone can play, because this is not considered at all...

The head coach arranges the penalty kick list and focuses on the top five. The one behind basically looks like the order, and the penalty kick ability becomes worse the further.

Narsinger, who ranked eighth, has a penalty kick level... The penalty kick record is similar to Gao Zheng, and he has never played much.

Sure enough, after he went up, he kicked the ball out of the bottom line!

"Narsingh!! He missed the shot!!" He Ping raised his arms and shouted as if cheering for victory.

The stone that pressed on everyone's hearts was loose.

Atletico Madrid's eighth appearance was Juan Fran.

He kicked the football into the goal like his seven previous teammates!

Even if Zuo Te judged the right direction again, he still couldn't meet it!

"The game ends!!! Atletico Madrid eliminated Eindhoven with 8:7 in the cruel penalty shootout and advanced to the quarterfinals!!"

In the TV screen, all Atletico Madrid players flocked to Juan Fran to celebrate this hard-earned promotion.

In front of the TV, Blanco also raised his arms and celebrated silently.
Chapter completed!