Soccer: I became Bruno Fernandes.

Chapter 289: Arsenal Pushed to the Brink

After the game resumed, Arsenal launched an even more ferocious attack on Udinese, more intense than before. Previously, Udinese had only threatened Arsenal's goal but hadn't scored. This time, they scored!

Arsenal wasn't counterattacking out of a sense of humiliation; they genuinely needed a goal to equalize. Di Natale and Immobile, who didn't like participating in defense, had to fall back and help. At that moment, there wasn't a single Udinese player outside their thirty-meter zone.

Özil had three long shots, one blocked by Badu, and two over the crossbar. Sanchez forcefully broke into the penalty area once, but his close-range shot was miraculously saved by Karnezis!

After blocking Sanchez's shot, Karnezis jumped up, clenched his fist, and roared. He was thrilled and seemed to be in good form for this match.

By halftime, Udinese's players successfully prevented Arsenal from scoring. They walked off the field with their heads held high, returning to the locker room. Arsenal's players, however, struggled to accept the score.

Looking at the statistics, Arsenal was far superior to Udinese in shots, entries into the thirty-meter area, possession, and passing accuracy. Except for having fewer fouls than Udinese, they led in every metric. So why were they trailing 0-1?

Some Arsenal players even thought about complaining to the referee, claiming Di Natale had fouled the goalkeeper before Immobile's goal. But the goalkeeper was outside the penalty area, making such a claim nonsensical. They were simply desperate.

In the locker room, Guidolin praised the Udinese players. He believed they performed well but also set new demands: "A 1-0 lead is not enough; we need more goals. Continue with defense and counterattacks. Leading is our greatest advantage, so be more patient than your opponents. Remember, the trailing side is more likely to lose patience. Understand when to take risks and when to be conservative."

Someone glanced at Bruno. Guidolin's words mirrored what Bruno had said during the game, with the same overall meaning.

Guidolin's football wasn't usually defensive and counterattacking. Most of the time, his football was attractive, as seen from Udinese's goals and conceded goals. A conservative team couldn't score 61 goals and concede 31 in 25 matches. Udinese's 61 goals led Serie A, eight more than the next highest, Napoli. Their 31 conceded goals were mid-table in Serie A, with Juventus having the least, only 18 in 25 matches, almost half of Udinese's.

But for some matches, Guidolin didn't mind playing ugly to achieve results.

In the Arsenal locker room, Wenger was furious. He was unhappy with the team's first-half performance, focusing on the conceded goal: "I didn't allow you two to go up and attack, so don't do it!" He scolded his two center-backs, Koscielny and Mertesacker. Pre-match, Wenger hadn't asked them to push up and attack, so the two stood silent under his rebuke.

"Stay back in the second half!" The two center-backs shrank back. The conceded goal was their fault; there was no arguing that.

Wenger then turned his anger to the attacking players: "You surrounded them for the entire half but didn't score! What are you doing? Be calm when facing opportunities!"

"And Aaron, you're a left attacking midfielder, not a central midfielder! Stop taking Özil's spot! You're pushing him to play as a defensive midfielder!" Ramsey looked uncomfortable. Though he could play both centrally and wide, he preferred the center when positioned as an attacking midfielder.

Ignoring Ramsey's displeased expression, Wenger turned to the others: "Be patient and find gaps in their defense! No team in the world has a flawless defense!"

After a few more scoldings, Wenger lacked the energy to continue. He waved his hand: "Think about it. Do you want to be eliminated in the round of 16 for the sixth consecutive year?"

Since being knocked out by Barcelona in the 2009-10 quarterfinals, Arsenal had been eliminated in the round of 16 for five consecutive seasons by Barcelona, AC Milan, Bayern Munich (twice), and Monaco, often due to away goals.

Wenger made no tactical adjustments, believing his strategy was sound. The conceded goal was an accident; if his center-backs had followed instructions, Udinese wouldn't have had a chance to score. So, the fault lay with the players, not his tactics.

In the second half, Wenger's anger seemed effective. Koscielny and Mertesacker stayed back, and Ramsey stopped drifting into the center. The match should have proceeded as Wenger envisioned: Arsenal equalizing, then pressing on to win decisively.

But soon after the half began, Udinese scored again! From a corner kick, Di Natale headed the ball into Arsenal's net.

Even the commentator sounded puzzled: "Oh my! Udinese leads Arsenal 2-0 away!?"

"Arsenal's marking error; they lost Di Natale! An unforgivable mistake!"

Matching the commentary was Wenger's furious, distorted face, swearing angrily. Next door, Guidolin and his staff celebrated, raising their arms in joy at leading by two goals.

Even Guidolin hadn't expected to lead by two goals away at Arsenal. This score gave Udinese a significant advantage in the two-legged tie.

Arsenal's players looked dumbfounded at the celebrating Udinese players. They couldn't believe they were trailing by two goals at home. What went wrong?

Are we not strong enough? Impossible!

Did we underestimate Udinese? How did we miss their captain?

Arsenal players felt confused, their minds in a mess. The TV commentator added salt to the wound: "Perhaps last weekend's win over the league leaders made Arsenal players overconfident. Despite dominating the game, Giroud and Sanchez didn't wear their scoring boots. Özil's control over the match weakened, failing to lead the team. Are the players so sure of winning? Look at the score now, what an irony!"

Bruno took the corner leading to the goal, contributing significantly to the play. Though it wasn't an ideal counterattack opportunity, his intuition told him to take the risk. When it resulted in a corner, he felt a bit disappointed for not scoring directly. But after the corner, they still got the goal.

After celebrating, Bruno returned to the field, hearing Udinese fans' cheers overpowering the home crowd for once. Arsenal fans were silent after the second goal, not knowing what to say, while Udinese fans joyfully shouted, "Victory belongs to Udinese!"

He raised his fist, responding to the fans' chants. Di Natale, next to him, did the same, acknowledging the fans.

Leading 2-0, the Arsenal fans booed every Udinese touch but couldn't change the reality of their team trailing.

"Attack! We need to attack!" Wenger yelled from the sidelines.

Losing 2-0 at home almost meant elimination from the two-legged tie. Another early exit in the Champions League would be a significant blow to Arsenal.

No!

Cornered, Arsenal finally unleashed their full power after being pushed to the brink, embodying the saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

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