Ronaldo was very alert. He immediately noticed Ballack's tackle. Without any hesitation, he immediately jumped up to avoid Ballack's tackle.

Ballack is not a good person either. How could he allow Ronaldo to avoid his tackle and continue attacking? If Ronaldo was allowed to pass, this guy would have entered the penalty area.

Seeing Ronaldo jump into the air, Ballack immediately lifted his legs slightly, tripping Ronaldo to the ground.

"All!"

The referee's whistle sounded immediately, and he rushed over and showed Ballack a yellow card, and then awarded Crystal Palace a direct free kick.

Ronaldo, who fell to the ground, glanced at the penalty area line near Chi Chi and curled his lips helplessly. What a pity.

The position of this free kick is just outside the penalty area line. It is too close to the goal and is actually not easy to kick.

Modric was not on the court, and Ronaldo picked up the ball without hesitation. Ribery glanced at the location of the free kick and walked away. This time, there was no farce of guessing the free kick.

On the bench of Crystal Palace, Chen Ran silently turned on the system and used a "Free Kick Master Card" for Ronaldo.

Although Ronaldo usually practices free kicks in training, and his ability to take free kicks has improved a lot now, Chen Ran still feels uneasy about giving him an extra insurance policy.

After placing the ball, Ronaldo measured his steps and stepped back.

He stood still, glanced at Chelsea's goal, and took a deep breath.

Run up, swing your legs.

"Bang!"

The ball drew a huge low arc, first bypassing the player on the outside of the Chelsea wall, and then turning to the lower right corner of the Chelsea goal along the turf.

On the goalkeeper's side, Cudicini did not expect the powerful shot, but suddenly found that the ball was close to the turf and came from the side.

Cudicini quickly moved his steps and went to the ground to save, but unfortunately he was still a step too late. By the time he pounced, the ball had already flown from his hand into the net.

“GOAL!

!

!”

With Cristiano Ronaldo's wonderful free kick, Crystal Palace led Chelsea 1:0 at home.

On the sidelines, Ancelotti's face turned livid when he saw Cristiano Ronaldo's goal. He knew very well how difficult it was to break through Crystal Palace's goal. Now that Crystal Palace had scored first, he had no way out.

Just as the Crystal Palace players were celebrating Ronaldo's goal, Ancelotti called Joe Cole from the bench.

After the warm-up, he replaced Deco with Joe Cole, and then changed Chelsea's formation from a parallel position of 442 to a diamond midfield of 442.

Joe Cole served as the attacking midfielder, Ballack dropped back to serve as the defensive midfielder, Malouda on the left and Lampard on the right.

"Boss, Ancelotti is going to work hard. Should we strengthen our defense?"

Seeing Chelsea's substitution adjustments, Southgate immediately came to Chen Ran's side.

"Don't worry, wait a little longer. Let's continue to play against Chelsea first, so that they don't dare to attack with all their strength. When their physical fitness drops and they can't attack anymore, we will make adjustments."

"I understand, boss."

As Chen Ran judged, with Ronaldo, Messi and others constantly threatening Chelsea's goal, Chelsea's midfielders and backfield players had to spend most of their energy on defense.

Without the assists from the midfielders and backcourt players, the strength of the frontcourt players such as Drogba, Anelka and Joe Cole would not be able to break through the solid defense of Crystal Palace.

At this time, Ancelotti had used up all the substitutions, but the situation on the field was still restricted by Crystal Palace. This left him helpless and could only hope that the players on the field could perform exceptionally.

When the game reached eighty minutes, the score on the field was still Crystal Palace leading Chelsea 1:0.

Seeing that Chelsea players were also showing signs of fatigue, Chen Ran began to mobilize his troops and replace them with substitute players to strengthen defense.

What Chen Ran didn't expect was that after the game entered stoppage time, Drogba used his last strength to dribble the ball down the left wing and pass the ball down.

Presumably due to deformed movements due to reduced physical fitness, Drogba's cross was not passed to Anelka who was waiting in the penalty area to grab the point, but flew directly towards the Crystal Palace goal.

This time, Cech, who was already preparing to intercept the cross, was caught off guard.

Cech, who had already rushed out, hurried back and flew up to drag the ball over the crossbar.

It's a pity that he came back a step too late, and even though he tried his best, he couldn't reach the ball.

The ball finally passed Cech's fingertips and flew into the Crystal Palace net.

Crystal Palace was held to a 1:1 draw by Chelsea at home thanks to Drogba's mistaken goal.

Seeing the three-point score turned into one point, Chen Ran on the sidelines could only sigh helplessly.

This kind of lucky ball is impossible to guard against, and there is no other way except to admit that you are unlucky.

Among other matches in this round of the Premier League, there is also a powerful dialogue between established and wealthy clubs that attracts attention.

Manchester United defeated Arsenal 3:1 at Highbury Stadium, and Ferguson won again in a direct contest with Wenger.

Manchester City easily defeated Portsmouth 2-0 at home, while Liverpool also defeated Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at Anfield. Rijkaard has achieved an astonishing six consecutive victories since taking over the Liverpool Club.

After all the games in this round were over, as Crystal Palace was tied with Chelsea, the gap between the two teams remained at three points. However, teams such as Manchester United and Manchester City behind them took the opportunity to narrow the points gap.

After a week's rest, Crystal Palace will face a new devilish schedule.

On February 7, in the twenty-fifth round of the Premier League, Crystal Palace will face West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium;

On February 10th, in the twenty-sixth round of the Premier League, Crystal Palace will challenge Fulham away from home;

On February 13, in the fifth round of the English FA Cup, Crystal Palace will face West Bromwich Albion at home this time;

On February 17, the first round of the Champions League quarter-finals will be against Serie A team Fiorentina at the Emirates Stadium;

On February 20, in the twenty-seventh round of the Premier League, Crystal Palace will challenge Aston Villa away from home;

There are five games in thirteen days, with an average of less than one game in three days. Chen Ran is now accustomed to this schedule.

On February 7, Crystal Palace ushered in the twenty-fifth round of the Premier League against West Ham United.

In order to better cope with the subsequent games, Chen Ran sent a half-main and half-substitute lineup to Crystal Palace.

There was no suspense. With goals from Tony, Kompany and Alves, Crystal Palace easily defeated West Ham United 3:1 at home.

While getting three points, Chen Ran also got a "Level One Chicken Blood Card" from the system.

In other matches of this round of Premier League, there is another strong dialogue that is very interesting.

Chelsea, which had just played against Crystal Palace in the last round, met Arsenal again in this round.

But now Arsenal is obviously unable to pose a threat to Chelsea. At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea won Arsenal 2:0 without any blood and continued to closely follow Crystal Palace.

After Manchester United defeated their old rival Arsenal in the last round, they returned to Old Trafford this round and beat Portsmouth with a score of 5:0.

Manchester City lost an upset 1:2 to Hull City in the away game. Liverpool defeated Everton 1:0 in the Merseyside derby at Anfield, winning their seventh consecutive victory.

After two days of rest, on February 10th, Crystal Palace ushered in the twenty-sixth round of the Premier League. This time, they will challenge Fulham away from home.

The lineup is also half main force and half substitute, and there is no suspense. With the goals of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ribery and Beckham, Crystal Palace easily defeated Fulham 3:1 in the away game.

While scoring three points, Chen Ran also got a "Free Kick Master Card" from the system.

In other matches of this round of the Premier League, there is another strong dialogue that has aroused the interest of many people.

I don’t know if someone at Arsenal has offended the Football Association. After playing against Manchester United and Chelsea in succession, they have to play against Liverpool, which has won seven consecutive games.

To everyone's surprise, after losing to Manchester United and Chelsea in succession, Arsenal defeated Liverpool 1:0 in this game, which had won seven consecutive games, abruptly interrupting Rijkaard's debut in the Premier League.

winning streak.

Chelsea struggled to defeat Everton 2:1 away from home, Manchester United also narrowly defeated Aston Villa 2:1 away from home, and Manchester City easily defeated Bolton Wanderers 2:0 at home.

After all the games in this round, the rankings at the top of the standings have not changed. Chelsea is still closely behind Crystal Palace with a three-point difference, putting a lot of pressure on Crystal Palace.

Just two days apart, on February 13, the fifth round of the English FA Cup will start again. This time, Crystal Palace will face West Bromwich Albion at home.

As usual, Chen Ran still sent out the entire substitute lineup and handed over the command of the game to Southgate.

Facing a super strong team like Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion are also very sensible and they also sent out a substitute lineup to play.

In this way, there will naturally be no suspense about the outcome of the game.

With goals from Suarez and Cavani, as well as Dzeko's brace, Crystal Palace beat West Bromwich Albion 4-0 at the Emirates Stadium.

While advancing to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup, Chen Ran also received an "Eagle Eye Guardian Card" from the system.

Three days later, on February 17, Crystal Palace ushered in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. This time, they will face Serie A team Fiorentina at home.

During this period, the "Purple Lily" Fiorentina, although they were never able to win the Serie A championship trophy, they still had many well-known stars in their team.

Fiorentina, which was almost relegated due to the "Italy Calciopoli" incident, has recovered under the careful training of head coach Prandelli.

This time they met Crystal Palace, the defending champions in the Champions League for several consecutive years, and everyone in Florence knew that they were in danger.

However, Prandelli still sent out the entire main lineup of Florence, preparing to compete with Crystal Palace to see how big the gap is between himself and the strongest team in today's football.

Forward Mutu,Forward Gilardino

Attacking midfielder Vidic

Central midfielder Kuzmanovic, central midfielder Montelivo, central midfielder Marchionne

Left back Vargas, center back Dainelli, center back Gamberini, right back Comoto

goalkeeper Frey

On the Crystal Palace side, after the FA Cup rotation, the main players got a relatively adequate rest, and Chen Ran was able to field the strongest lineup.

Forward Cristiano Ronaldo, Forward Toni

Left midfielder Franck Ribery, central midfielder Yaya Toure, central midfielder Modric, right midfielder Messi

Left back Chiellini, center back Thiago Silva, center back Vidic, right back Maicon

Cech

Perhaps because he knew that his team had little hope of promotion, Prandelli's formation today was not conservative.

How Fiorentina usually plays in Serie A, they will still play today.

This suits Chen Ran's taste. He is now afraid that his opponents will take advantage of him. After all, tough battles consume too much physical energy of the players.

When the game progressed to the 28th minute, Toni received a cross from the left from Franck Ribery and smashed the ball into the Fiorentina goal. Crystal Palace led Fiorentina 1:0 at home.

At the end of the first half, Chiellini also received a corner kick from Modric and once again scored the Fiorentina goal guarded by Frei with a header. Crystal Palace led Fiorentina 2:0.

At halftime, Crystal Palace, which had already led by two goals, was in a good situation. Chen Ran did not make any substitutions except encouraging the players as usual.

On the Fiorentina side, Prandelli did not lose his temper because the team was lagging behind. After all, this situation had been expected by him.

He just replaced Gamberini with Claude Drup, replaced Kuzmanovic with Donadale, and made adjustments to Florence's defensive lineup.

At the beginning of the second half, Chen Ran felt more relieved when he saw Prandelli's substitutions.

Prandelli used two substitutions to adjust the defense, so his room for adjustment in attack is quite limited.

As Chen Ran expected, the initiative in the second half of the game was still firmly in the hands of Crystal Palace. Although Florence also launched some offensives, they did not achieve any results against the solid defense of Crystal Palace.

In the end, with the headers of two Italians, Toni and Chiellini, Crystal Palace easily defeated the Italian team Fiorentina 2:0 at home.

While getting the initiative to advance to the top eight, Chen Ran also got a "Level One Chicken Blood Card" from the system.
Chapter completed!