Ribery is right. If you lose this game, you will win the next game. It is no big deal to lose a game.

Back in France, Metz began to prepare for the second leg of the two sides, and the league was once again put aside. However, Metz, who played in the second team, defeated Sedang with a 3-2 score at home, ending a five-game losing streak.

In this game, Chu Zhongtian, Ribery and Menez, the three Metz musketeers, only played in the last ten minutes. In the 88th minute of the game, Chu Zhongtian passed the ball to Menez, and Menez passed the ball to Ribery again. After Ribery broke through on the side, he suddenly shot with a small angle. When the goalkeeper caught him off guard, the football got into the goal from his head.

With the cooperation of the Three Musketeers, Metz completed the overtake and maintained the advantage of this ball until the end of the game.

Because of this unexpected victory, Metz's ranking in the league also rose from the ninth to seventh, but they are still far from the European competition next season. If they want to continue to appear in the European arena next season, or explicitly want to continue to appear in the League Cup, there is only one way left. That is to work hard to win the League Cup championship this season and then participate in the League Cup next season as the defending champion.

The second leg between Metz and Espanyol was played on May 3.

After the game against Seedang, the media began to actively report on the game.

French media have been following up on the reports since the Spanish landed at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris.

Both Espanyol players and Metz players seemed very confident before the game.

Espanyol's midfielder De La Pena said in an interview with Spanish and French reporters: "...Mez is a very strong team, but we are not weak either. We win at home and have an advantage. We are not afraid of away games."

Espanyol captain Raul Tamudo also said: "We know Metz is a team that is very good at attacking, and we won't let them score easily in the game."

In response, Metz's star Ribery hit back: "Our tactics are very simple, there is nothing to keep in secret. We just want to use our best attack and defeat our opponents!"

Chu Zhongtian also expressed his belief in winning in an interview: "There is no other result except victory. If we want to go to the finals, we can only win. I can't think of any other choice..."

Menez's answer was much shorter. Facing the camera of the reporters, he only said, "Yes, we will win." Then he turned around and left in a dashing manner.

Compared with the players, the head coaches of both sides should be a little more cautious.

Espanyol's head coach Ernesto Valverde said in a low-key manner that the 2:1 score at home is not safe, and the game is full of variables: "I don't know who will be the final winner before the game is over. I can only say that we will do our best in ninety minutes or even longer."

Jean Fernandez was not as arrogant as his men. He did not discuss the result, but said that his team would take this game seriously. He did not mention that away goal to a very important position, and even did not mention it at all.

Fans of both sides are also very concerned about this game. Tickets at the Saint Mountain Forian Stadium, which can accommodate more than 20,000 people, have been sold out. There are more than 2,000 Espanyol fans coming to cheer for the team away, and the rest are all Metz fans.

This stadium has been packed almost every time this season, thanks to the team's outstanding performance. Metz's fans have never been as happy as this season.

Many fans only made slogans to enter Glasgow and were ready to show them in the game. Some fans also contacted like-minded partners online and agreed on how to cheer for the team during the game. They put the songs they wrote for the players online to make everyone familiar with the lyrics and tunes, and they could sing them together during the game to create amazing momentum. The most popular songs were written for Ribery and Chu Zhongtian.

In the far away China, many people are paying attention to this game. Many Chinese fans who like Chu Zhongtian or simply want to seek some comfort in Chu Zhongtian will watch the live broadcast through the Internet. In addition to ordinary fans, the heads of local TV stations are also paying attention to this game. If Mess can defeat Espanyol at home and get the right to the final, they will go to talk to UEFA and strive to buy the broadcast rights of mainland China in the League Cup final. Once successful, they will succeed.

, They will make a big profit from advertising revenue, because they are buying together, so the cost sharing is not very high. I believe that there will be no fewer Chinese fans who will watch that game in front of the TV. If we associate Chu Zhongtian's game with patriotism and glory for the country, it is estimated that more Chinese audiences who never watch football will stay in front of the TV. "The first Chinese player in history to appear in the finals of the European Cup", listen, how exciting!

In this way, on the evening of May 3, the most critical game for both teams and many others was whistle and kicking off at the Holy Mountain Forian Stadium.

※※※As predicted before the game, Metz launched a strong attack at his home court, playing offensive football, while Espanyol had to be much more conservative, and they defended and counterattacked.

This is a very normal choice. Metz needs to score goals and win, so naturally they have to attack. Espanyol already has a victory in hand, so of course they will choose a more stable defensive counterattack, and there is no need to fight against the opponent. Metz's attack power is already famous in Europe, and they rarely score one goal in their games.

In this game, Espanyol's starting lineup has some adjustments compared to the first round, mainly on the defense line. Main players such as Raul Tamudo, De La Pena, and Cameni have all appeared on the court, adding a central defender to the defense line and thickening the width of the defense line to prevent Metz from being penetrated as soon as he hits.

Metz also made adjustments. In addition to Proman returning from injury, returning to the main position, Mathieu Valbuena also started unexpectedly. Before that, he had always been the team's substitute, ranking behind Obraniac and Felicio in the choice of left-hand forward. However, in this game, Fernandez did not choose to start Obraniac and Felicio, but chose Valbuena.

This also surprised Espanyol head coach Valverde, because Valbuena has few chances to play this season and plays in the reserve team most of the time, so Valverde has no information on this person at hand, and he knows nothing about Valbuena.

The key to the game lies precisely in Valbuena.

Matthew Valbuena, who played in the League Cup for the first time in this game, was snatched from Marseille last summer. Valbuena, who played for the C-level team Libone, was almost signed with the French football giant Marseille, but let Fernandez's personal charm play a key role. So he chose to come to Metz. This season he represented Metz's first team in the league and domestic cup games, with most of them appearing on the bench. Most of them played silently in the reserve team unknown, and improved his level according to the training plan formulated by the coaching staff.

If you just look at the data, it will make people feel that it is wrong for him to transfer to Metz.

But in fact, he was really giving Fernandez's men a careful training. Occasionally, Fernandez would ask him to play on behalf of the first team to see his usual training results. Sometimes he performed well, sometimes he performed poorly, but no matter whether he performed well or badly, Fernandez did not comment, neither praise nor criticize, and deal with it coldly.

This creates a relatively relaxed environment for Matthew Valbuena, where he can grow freely and make mistakes as much as he wants. It doesn’t matter. Even if young people make mistakes, they will definitely make mistakes. Young people who don’t make mistakes are abnormal, or young people who don’t make mistakes will lose their room for growth. Young people who make mistakes are good young people.

Fernandez held this view and asked Matthew Valbuena to make mistakes in the reserve team, while patiently waiting for his growth. Just like when he was waiting for the growth of Ribery, Chu Zhongtian, Menez, Ibisevic and others.

In this game, Fernandez felt it was time to put more pressure on Valbuena to see how he performed in such a critical game. So before the game, he told the whole team and Valbuena that his side road would become a key wing road for the team to use, and the famous Ribery would be a feint point. When the Spaniard's defensive attention was attracted by Ribery, Chu Zhongtian would transfer the football to Valbuena's feet on the other side.

In the first ten minutes of the game, Valbuena was still adapting to the game, and the ball was quickly passed again, and he did not try to be able to make his breakthrough.

It seems that Ribery is still Mess' main attacking direction. After he got the ball, he made three breakthroughs, once, and twice failed.

In fact, Chu Zhongtian was closely monitoring the situation on Valbuena. Once he felt that Valbuena had found the rhythm of the game, he would pass the football without hesitation.

In the 22nd minute, Ribery attracted two defensive players from Espanyol on the right and passed the ball out of the crack. After Chu Zhongtian received the ball, he did not hesitate and directly transferred the ball to the other side. Matthew Valbuena received the ball!

Valbuena, who is only 1.63 meters tall, is not strong, but he is fast, very flexible and has excellent skills.

Valbuena, who received the ball, did not pass the ball this time, but chose to drive the ball to break through.

Espanyol's right-back Armando_sa knew nothing about Valbuena and could not see anything from the previous twenty minutes of the game, so he was caught off guard by Valbuena!

Valbuena, who broke through Sa, did not make a cross, but continued to break into the penalty area.

As soon as he entered the penalty area, the opponent's midfielder Ito rushed up, and he touched his body from the side, and Ito stretched out his foot to intercept the ball.

But he bumped into Valbuena. I mentioned earlier that Valbuena was very thin. He fell down by Ito when he hit him... A roar suddenly sounded in the stands of the Forian Stadium in Saint Mountain: "Penalties!!"

Ibisevic and Menez also raised their hands and signaled to the referee that the Espanyol player was fouled.

The referee indeed blew his whistle and pointed his hand at the penalty spot!

"Ohhhh! Espanyol's player fouled...it was Ito, who bumped into Metz's Matthew Valbuena! He was sentenced to death!"

"How could this be a foul?" Ito himself felt very unfair. He did not deliberately hit someone. The power he used when leaning towards Valbuena was a very normal and reasonable collision. He rushed towards the referee to defend himself, hoping that the referee could change the penalty.

"I didn't hit him...I just touched him. Is this little physical contact a foul?"

Other Espanyol players also surrounded the referee and made a fierce defense.

Outside the Espanyol player, Metz player hugged him. After Ibiszevic pulled Valbuena up, he gave him a bear hug.

"Beautiful job, Matthew!" Everyone congratulated Valbuena, who played in the League Cup for the first time.

This penalty is really time. As long as you score, the team will equalize the overall score.

Moreover, the lagging Espanyol will have to come out to attack them. For Metz, they will have more offensive opportunities and more goals.

The protests of Espanyol players are ineffective, because once the referee makes a penalty, it will be difficult to change, especially if the penalty involves goals, they are even more cautious.

The final result was that the referee insisted on the penalty, and Metz got a penalty at home.

The person who took the penalty was Ribery. He shot hard and kicked the ball into the goal guarded by Cameni. Espanyol's goalkeeper Cameni made a wrong judgment and completely saved the wrong direction.

After leading with one goal, Espanyol began to try more offenses, because although the total score was a draw, Metz had another away goal advantage. If the game ended with this score, Metz would advance to the final.

The more Espanyol invests in the offense, the easier it will be for Metz to play.

Before the end of the first half, full-back Ibrahimovic and Kabo dribbled the ball and broke through the wing, then made a cross. After Ibisevic leaned against the opponent, he stopped the ball and turned around and shot. The football hit the inside of the post and bounced into the goal, 2:0!

"Ibis! Ibissevic! He scored again! He scored again! Metz led 2:0 at home, with a total score of 3:2 ahead of Espanyol! They are getting closer and closer to the final!"

The first time the Holy Mountain Forian Stadium was shouted, "Glasgow! Glasgow!", and the cheers of Metz fans continued until the halftime break.

After the second half of the game began, Espanyol Metz launched a crazy counterattack in the half, hoping to score an away goal. As long as they can score, the total score will be tied to 3:3, and both sides have an away goal, so the game will be dragged into overtime and even a penalty kick.

Metz is hoping that Espanyol will play like this because it will give them more room for counterattack. Ribery and Valbuena are both fast players and are very suitable for defensive counterattacks.

In the 64th minute, Chu Zhongtian seized the opponent and pushed him up. The opportunity of the empty backcourt suddenly took a long pass. The football passed through most of the court and directly passed to Ribery's front. Frank Ribery had a nickname called "Farrari Berry", which shows how fast he was.

The ball that Chu Zhongtian passed was very good. It did not land directly at Ribery's feet, but was more than ten meters away in front of Ribery, giving him plenty of room for sprint. Ribery ran forward at full speed, and then rushed to Hark, who was rushing back to defend, and used his speed to shake off Hark. Then he looked up at the situation in front.

Goalkeeper Kameni has already attacked and has reached the edge of the penalty area.

Cameni is not afraid of Ribery's passing, because Ribery is already the most advanced player in Metz, just like the tip of a bayonet.

After Ribery saw Cameni's position, he slowed down slightly, controlled the ball, and then shot with a foot!

The football jumped high and crossed Cameni's head. Although the 23-year-old Cameroon national goal jumped hard, it was just in vain. He could not reach the football in the air at all, and could only watch the football fall to the goal behind him, and prayed in his heart that the ball was raised or tilted.

Unfortunately, God did not hear his prayers.

The football crashed into the empty door against the post.

"Oh - beautiful sling! Spoon! Frank Ribery secured the victory for the team, and this goal ensured that Metz could advance to the finals! Although there are still twenty-six minutes before the end of the game, we can announce that the first final team to go to Hampton Park Stadium in Glasgow has decided!"

"This goal was too easy, there was no suspense! Metz's powerful attack firepower scored three more goals in this game! Faced with such a team, it is not safe to win only one goal!"

"Riberilyiberilyiberiberilyiberiberiberiberiberiberiberiberiberiberiberiberiberiberiberi - Riberi!!!"

"0:3! Espanyol is finished. If they want to advance to the final, they must score two goals from Metz... At the same time, they cannot expect Metz to continue to score. But see how Metz seized the empty goal after they pushed the ball over? If they can score like this, they can score more goals like this..."

When he saw Ribery sling the ball into the Espanyol goal with a spoon, the Holy Mountain Forian Stadium was thunderous. All Metz fans now had only one idea in their minds - we are twenty-six minutes away from Glasgow!

The Metz player was also very excited. After scoring the goal, Ribery rushed to the bottom of the stands and kept waving his arms to make the fans in the stands scream louder. His teammates rushed from all directions and surrounded him.

"Final! Final! Let's go to the final! We're going to the final!"

Although in the final injury time, Espanyol used a casual clearance on Metz's defense line to score a point, it was no longer helpful. No one in Metz's team cared about the conceding goal.

Because they have confirmed to advance to the finals!

"The match - end! The team to compete in the final at Hampton Park Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland is - Mets!!!"

When the live broadcast of the Holy Mountain Forian Stadium announced the result loudly in this passionate voice, the answer was that 20,000 Metz fans shouted in unison:

"Go forward-Mess!!"

"Long live - Metz!!"
Chapter completed!