Due to Rafa Benítez's iron-fisted discipline, Benayoun did not give Rafa Benítez any further reminders this time.
And the fact that he only got two appearances this season seemed to be a warning from Rafa Benítez.
In a flash, 30 minutes of the first half had passed, but Liverpool still hadn't found a way to open Cambridge United's goal, and the score on the field remained 0:1.
At this moment, Liverpool got a free kick opportunity on the left side of Cambridge United's penalty area. Gerrard stood in front of the ball, waiting for the referee's signal.
When the referee Taylor blew his whistle, Gerrard did not choose to lob the ball into the penalty area, but instead pushed the ball to Leiwa outside the box!
Facing Vardy's block, Leiwa cleverly passed the ball back to Gerrard with his heel.
Gerrard dribbled towards the byline, and facing the blocks from Mahrez and Sun Jihai, he passed the ball back to Leiwa in the middle!
This time, Leiwa didn't say a word, dribbled forward, and unleashed a low shot, a powerful blast at the goal!
Oblak quickly landed, first blocking with his hand, and then immediately holding the ball down, not giving Liverpool any chance for a follow-up shot!
Sighs echoed around Anfield, but soon they gave applause to this 16-year-old young man.
The atmosphere on Liverpool's bench was a bit heavy, as there were only 5 minutes left until the end of the first half.
Although their team's possession rate had reached 61%, Cambridge United was still leading.
And Cambridge United's defensive intensity did not seem to decrease as the end approached. After all, without using full-court press, Cambridge United players' stamina was no longer the team's weakness.
The Liverpool players on the field were also not feeling well at this moment. As the time they were trailing grew longer, they also became a bit impatient.
Leiwa's pass just now was clearly a bit too strong, and before Johnson could run over, the ball had already rolled out of bounds.
Mahrez picked up the ball and threw it directly to Lewandowski in the front field.
Lewandowski passed to Ayu in the middle, and after receiving the ball, Ayu immediately sent a through pass to the front field!
Carragher immediately retreated quickly, gaining the upper hand in a scramble with Tadić!
Carragher, who successfully intercepted the ball, immediately passed it back to the goalkeeper. Reina made a big kick, and the ball once again crossed midfield, entering Cambridge United's territory!
Although Van Dijk got to the first point, the headed ball was still obtained by Rodríguez.
After getting the ball, Rodríguez quickly advanced along the middle. Cambridge United quickly organized their defense to intercept!
Rodríguez calmly dribbled past Kante and directly passed the ball to Mascherano who was surging up from behind!
Mascherano glanced at Kuyt, who was unmarked on the left, and immediately passed the ball over!
Kuyt's cross from the byline was done in one go!
Liverpool's Mascherano, Torres, Rodríguez, and Gerrard were like four sharp knives, all penetrating Cambridge United's penalty area!
At this time, only Lovren, Sun Jihai, and Van Dijk had returned to defend for Cambridge United! The numerical disadvantage instantly put Cambridge United at a disadvantage!
As Sun Jihai chose to rush towards Rodríguez, Gerrard jumped high and steadily sent the ball into the goal guarded by Oblak!
1:1!
Liverpool finally scored, equalizing the score before the end of the first half!
Rafa Benítez walked into the locker room with a gloomy face. The score of the first half obviously could not satisfy him.
"The pressure you put on your opponents is far from enough!"
Rafa Benítez made no secret of his disappointment.
"Who are you? You are Liverpool! And your opponent is just a small team that has been defeated by you twice!"
"But what did I see in the first half?! I saw this small team actually leading us for 40 minutes!"
Rafa Benítez heavily knocked on the tactics board beside him, trying to stimulate the players and awaken their motivation for the game.
"I can accept conceding a goal in the first half, but I absolutely don't want to see it a second time!"
After a series of instructions, Rafa Benítez left this sentence and walked directly out of the locker room, leaving the Liverpool players looking at each other.
Torres kicked the ball to Gerrard behind him, and the second half of the match began.
Cambridge United surprisingly made a substitution in midfield, and what surprised Rafa Benítez even more was that Huang Hao actually replaced the defensive midfielder Golonas with Gotze!
Who gave you the courage to replace a defensive midfielder with an attacking midfielder at Anfield?!
Rafa Benítez secretly clenched his fists, vowing to teach this ignorant kid a lesson today! But just as Gerrard passed the ball to Torres again, Vardy made a beautiful slide tackle, directly shoveling the ball to Gotze!
Rafa Benítez's eyebrows were furrowed! This was only Liverpool's second pass and it was intercepted!
Fortunately, Leiwa quickly tackled the ball from Tadić's feet out of bounds, which saved some face.
In the 48th minute of the second half, Liverpool's attack was blocked again, and Cambridge United launched a quick counterattack.
After Lewandowski got the ball in the center circle, Liverpool immediately launched a counter-press. For a moment, there were three Liverpool players around Lewandowski!
Lewandowski calmly turned and shielded the ball, trying to wait for his teammates to come forward.
Fábio Aurélio slowly approached Lewandowski from behind, without him noticing.
Just as Lewandowski was about to pass the ball to the wing, Fábio Aurélio lightly poked it, and the ball rolled to Gerrard's feet!
The midfield commander Gerrard quickly passed the ball to Rodríguez on the left.
Rodríguez dribbled all the way to Cambridge United's penalty area. Facing Oblak, who was blocking the near post, Rodríguez directly curled the ball towards the far corner!
However, Rodríguez's shot did not go into Cambridge United's goal as desired. The ball, like a meteor in front of Cambridge United's goal, flashed by and rolled directly out of bounds past the far post.
Oblak, breaking out in a cold sweat, kicked the ball directly to midfield.
Agger jumped high and headed the ball kicked by Oblak to Leiwa.
Before Leiwa could receive the ball, Ayu, like a flash of lightning from the side, directly intercepted the ball midway and passed it straight to the edge of Liverpool's penalty area!
Fábio Aurélio, who was originally preparing to rush forward, turned his head and chased the ball behind him! Also accelerating was Cambridge United's Lewandowski!
Clearly, in this speed competition between defender and striker, Fábio Aurélio lost!
In a desperate situation, Fábio Aurélio directly made a slide tackle from behind, trying to stop Lewandowski's breakthrough!
However, just as Fábio Aurélio fell to the ground, Lewandowski had already moved beyond his tackling range and was gone!
Lewandowski, who had entered the penalty area, chose a low shot!
Reina made a diving save, directly blocking his shot! However, the ball rolled back to Lewandowski's feet again!
Lewandowski immediately took a touch to his right front, directly dribbling past the fallen Reina!
As a group of Liverpool players rushed towards the goal, Lewandowski had already easily sent the ball into Liverpool's net!
1:2!
Just 5 minutes into the second half, Cambridge United was leading again!
Rafa Benítez's harsh words, "I absolutely don't want to see it a second time," were still echoing in the Liverpool players' ears, and the goal guarded by Reina was once again breached by Cambridge United.
Anfield became unusually quiet at this moment. Only The U's army led by Mikel from Stand 7 was dancing and enjoying the joy of football.
The Liverpool players seemed a bit stunned by Cambridge United's sudden goal. After conceding, they did not press Cambridge United into their own half with a storm of attacks.
In the 58th minute, Liverpool got a corner kick on the left side of the front field.
Rodríguez's corner kick did not pose any threat and was headed out directly by Sun Jihai at the near post. Ayu got the ball headed out by Sun Jihai before Gerrard and carried the ball to midfield like a gust of wind!
At this time, only Fábio Aurélio was left in Liverpool's backfield!
Ayu aimed at Lewandowski's position and kicked the ball over!
Just as Fábio Aurélio and Carragher were chasing Lewandowski, Lewandowski used the instep of his foot to kick the ball to Gotze behind them!
Gotze dribbled directly towards the byline. After attracting the attention of two players, he passed the ball back to Lewandowski in front of the penalty area!
Lewandowski, near the goal's near post, gathered all his strength into his left foot and unleashed a powerful shot!
The ball slammed heavily into Liverpool's net! Reina was helpless!
1:3!
Cambridge United extended their lead to two goals!!!
Rafa Benítez stood on the sidelines. This time, he even forgot to get angry, just staring blankly at the celebrating Cambridge United players, his face filled with disbelief.
If the first goal of the second half made the Liverpool players a bit stunned.
Then Cambridge United's second goal instantly enraged this sleeping beast.
We've conquered all of Europe
We're never going to stop
From Paris Down To Turkey......
We are loyal supporters
are we come from Liverpool
Allez, Allez, Allez!
Listening to the familiar "Allez, Allez, Allez" floating from the KOP stand, the Liverpool players awoke as if from a dream!
This is Anfield, how can others run wild here!
After the restart, Liverpool made several passes and quickly brought the battle to Cambridge United's city gates!
Unfortunately, Kuyt was half a beat slow and missed the through pass from Torres.
1 minute later, Gerrard got the ball in midfield and once again charged into Cambridge United's penalty area.
Ayu chased from the side-rear all the way to the edge of the penalty area. With Sun Jihai's defensive assistance, Ayu decisively made a slide tackle, taking the ball away from Gerrard's feet!
However, Rodríguez on the wing quickly caught up to the ball and continued to penetrate the penalty area!
At this time, Torres and Kuyt in the penalty area were surrounded by Cambridge United players. Seeing this, Rodríguez directly passed the ball back to Fábio Aurélio who was surging up on the wing.
Tadić, who was defending Fábio Aurélio, decisively kicked the ball out of bounds.
Fábio Aurélio directly threw the ball in to Gerrard. Gerrard, with his back to the goal, steadily protected the ball.
In his haste, Ayu behind him directly kicked Gerrard's ankle!
Although Taylor did not show a yellow card, Liverpool still got a very good free kick in the byline area.
Kuyt directly lobbed the ball to the far post!
Even with Gotze and Van Dijk marking him, Carragher still jumped successfully and headed the ball towards Cambridge United's goal!
The flying ball almost hit the angle between the left post and the crossbar, landing in the goal!
Even though Oblak crashed his entire body into the post, he could not stop Carragher's goal!
2:3!
In the 62nd minute of the second half, Liverpool successfully pulled one goal back!