"Newcastle club has undergone a major change, according to authoritative sources, a mysterious consortium from the United States has officially taken a stake in Newcastle, which bought 60% of the club's shares from Newcastle owner Ashley, which also means that the Magpies have changed owners de jure and de facto!"

According to the information inquired from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the consortium is affiliated with the Olson sisters, and Ashley Olsen owns 45 percent of the equity of the Yangfan consortium and is the largest shareholder of the consortium, and according to the registration information of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the existing capital of the consortium is $230 million.

BBC: According to estimates by professional institutions, the US consortium spent a total of 120 million US dollars to acquire 60% of Newcastle's shares, and according to the purchase agreement between the two parties, in the next three years, the 'Yangfan' consortium will need to invest at least 100 million US dollars in the remaining 40% of the club's shares, which also includes about tens of millions of euros of Newcastle club's debt.

The Times: The reason why Newcastle are so desperate in the game against Manchester United, maybe we have already found out, according to Newcastle insiders, before the game, the players already knew the news of the club's change of owners, and the new owners issued orders to the players, requiring the players to perform well in the game against Manchester United, for which the new owners threw 500,000 pounds heavily on the players.

ESPN: Newcastle have changed owners, the fat guy named Ashley is finally getting out, and the Magpies have welcomed another Ashley, the legendary American girl named Ashley Olsen will lead the traditional club, and we'll see where the traditional club goes.

Seeing the news in the newspaper, Yang Fan finally understood what Ashley Olsen said about the mysterious gift, and he was moved in his heart.

'Yangfan' consortium, Yang Fan.

Yang Fan muttered this name, and he was inevitably a little proud in his heart.

He called Ashley and thanked the girl, and the two of them made porridge on the phone for a while.

Yang Fan didn't ask Ashley why he bought Newcastle, he knew that if he asked, the girl wouldn't say it, Ashley Olsen is extremely assertive in business, of course, Yang Fan knows a little bit, the girl bought Newcastle, which must have its own factors.

This incident has also become a topic of ridicule for Yang Fan in the Manchester City team, Yang Fan and Ashley Olsen's previous scandal, but it was once rumored, this time Newcastle blocked Manchester United in the league, and it seems to have the plot style of a bloody drama.

"Manchester City Evening News" described this incident vividly, as if it was a story of a beautiful woman loving a hero.

A week later, in the 34th round of the Premier League, Manchester City won 1-0 away at Blackburn.

In this game, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini rotated, and Yang Fan sat on the bench to rest, which was to stay in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona in midweek.

However, Blackburn, who were aiming for relegation, caused a lot of trouble for Manchester City, and in the second half, Mancini had to send Yang Fan.

It was after Yang Fan came on the field that the Manchester City team's attack immediately improved, and finally Yang Fan assisted Ballack to score.

Manchester City narrowly beat Blackburn Rovers by a hard-fought goal.

In this round of the league, Manchester United beat Everton by a single goal, Chelsea also won away from home, but Arsenal lost away to Bolton.

In that way, in the league standings, Manchester City have 76 points, Manchester United have 75 points, Manchester City leads by one point, and Chelsea have surpassed Arsenal with 67 points and Arsenal 65 points.

Arsenal have been third in the league for the vast majority of the season, and even the Chelseaians once admitted that they could not compete with Arsenal for third place, only for fourth place, football is so wonderful, in the case of Chelsea people have given up on fighting for third place, Arsenal themselves have repeatedly made mistakes, and now, Arsenal has decisively returned to the old position of fourth place.

This immediately caused a wave of cynicism in the English press.

At the beginning of the year, Arsene Wenger said: "To finish in the top four [in the league] is to win a title." In the years that followed, this argument became the most hurtful gunpowder for the do-gooders to mock Wenger and Arsenal, and the number "four" also formed an indissoluble bond with Arsenal, and everyone ridiculed Wenger's arsenal for not wanting to make progress and not having the style of the world's giants.

Wenger, however, was unmoved. At the Arsenal shareholders' meeting, the French coach reiterated this point and extended it: "For me, there are five titles to fight for every season, the first is the Premier League, the second is the Champions League, the third is to qualify for the Champions League in the top four, the fourth is the FA Cup and finally the League Cup. ”

In fact, if analyzed from a purely financial point of view, Wenger's words are not at fault. In recent years, the Champions League has been awarded more than 600 million euros per season, and every participant in the Champions League has a huge financial benefit, regardless of the final result. The Champions League is the highest level and most prestigious club competition in the world, and it is the pinnacle of a player's club career.

According to the latest figures released by UEFA, the 2009/2011 Champions League bonus paid a staggering 880 million euros, of which 75% was distributed to participating clubs, and the remaining 25% was used by UEFA for daily expenses such as administration, competition promotion and tournament coordination.

Even the Europa League, known as the "poor man's version of the Champions League", was "funded" with a €30 million Champions League prize pool last season. At the same time, each club that is knocked out of the Champions League or Europa League in the qualifying stage will also receive a consolation prize of 3 million euros. Not only that, but each league winner who is eliminated in the Champions League group stage will also receive around 200,000 euros in compensation.

It should be pointed out that the distribution of Champions League bonuses is mainly composed of two parts, one is a fixed bonus, and the other is a floating bonus that changes according to the market profit of the current quarter. The fixed prize money is a fixed amount of money that the club receives based on the results of the competition, and will receive 8.6 million euros for qualifying for the Champions League group stage, another 1 million euros for a win in the group stage, and 500,000 euros for a draw.

If the team reaches the knockout stages of the Champions League, they will receive 3 million euros in prize money in the round of 16, an additional 3.5 million euros in the last eight, and at least 4.5 million euros in the semi-finals. Once in the final, the winner will receive a place prize of 9.5 million euros, and the runner-up will also receive 6 million euros.

Fixed bonuses are relatively simple, while floating bonuses are much more complex, as they are linked to the price of broadcast rights in each league and the maturity of the market, which also leads to higher floating bonuses for Champions League participating clubs in some leagues. Take the Premier League as an example, it is the most commercially valuable league in the world, and the broadcast revenue is also the highest in the world, so last season, the four participating teams in the Premier League shared a whopping 53.2 million euros in floating bonuses.

There is also a question of how the floating prize money is distributed among the clubs. The prize money is generally divided into two equal parts, the first part is determined by the league standings, in the case of La Liga, Premier League and Bundesliga with four Champions League places, the league winner will receive 40%, the runner-up 30%, the third place 20%, and the fourth place only 10%.

The topic returns to Arsenal, Champions League qualification is a sure win for Arsenal's financial benefits. Barcelona was eliminated in the first round of this year's Champions League knockout round, but Arsenal received a dividend of 6.9 million euros just for the Champions League main match, 4 wins and 1 draw in the group stage to earn 4 million euros, a knockout prize of 3 million euros, plus a floating bonus of 11.4 million euros, and finally earned a total of nearly 30 million euros.

Therefore, Arsene Wenger and Arsenal are happy with their finish in the top four.

This is the article of the Guardian, well, the newspaper said so much, and after introducing the benefits of fourth place in the league, it finally stabbed the knife decisively: if you could have won the third place in the league, or even better, why do you have to go to the fourth place of no return?!

The Guardian even used the ironic name 'Race for Four' given to Arsenal by some fans to mock Arsenal.

It is said that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was very angry when he saw this newspaper, and the whole Arsenal club was also indignant and messy.

Arsenal should be thankful for Manchester City, who have been put to rest by the talk of a 'race for four' because of the arrival of a match, the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, when Manchester City host Barcelona.

"The match between Manchester City and Barcelona, there is no doubt that it is a game that everyone is looking forward to, for the fans, the meeting of these two teams, it will be a blessing for the fans, and for the fans of the whole world, on this night, all you have to do is enjoy the game. ”

"Yang Fan or Messi, who is better? Perhaps, this game can illustrate some problems. ”

As this match draws closer, the focus of media coverage has completely revolved around this match.

'Man City are in good form, they are leading the league and congratulations to them, Man City are doing a great job and this is a tough opponent to play against. ”

Two days before the game, the entire Barcelona squad arrived at Manchester City.

At Manchester City's Manchester International Airport, reporters interviewed Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.

Barcelona have clearly expressed their concern about City's recent good form. Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola was cautious when talking about the game: "Manchester City have been very good this season, they have shown everyone that they are strong, Yang Fan is an opponent who must be taken seriously, he is as good as ever, this is a terrible goalscorer, against Manchester City, he will be the focus of our attention. ”

After these formulaic remarks, Guardiola is reluctant to reveal anything else. He behaved cautiously, he was reluctant to say too much.

"Yang Fan! We must kill Barcelona! We will be able to meet us in the final!" Cristiano Ronaldo called Yang Fan and was very concerned about this game. Of course, his pretense is to care about his friends.

Yang Fan rolled his eyes. Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi seem to be inherently repulsive, I don't know what Messi's perception of Cristiano Ronaldo is, but anyway, Cristiano Ronaldo does not have love for Messi. As for the relationship between Cristiano Ronaldo and Yang Fan, although the relationship between the two is not very good, they used to be teammates, and the two are not only competitors, but also ordinary friends.

"If you don't say I'm going to win, I'm going to win too. Not only to win against Barcelona, but also to win against you. Speaking of this, Yang Fan sighed, "By the way, you better pass the Manchester United level first." ”

"Maybe it's going to be a bit tougher, but it's okay to win them. Cristiano Ronaldo still had some feelings when it came to his semi-final opponent, Manchester United, but he still expressed his confidence in winning the game.

"The old lord won't let you succeed easily. Yang Fan sneered, emotionally speaking, he still hoped that Manchester United, which he once played for, could kill Real Madrid.

Hearing Yang Fan talk about the old man, Cristiano Ronaldo's face also changed slightly, whether it was for Cristiano Ronaldo or for Yang Fan, the old man meant too much earnest teaching and kindness.

"How so. There's me. We're not afraid of Manchester United, haha. Cristiano Ronaldo laughed dryly and said, "See you in the final." I hung up the phone.

These days, the whole British Peninsula, all over Europe, is talking about this game.

Outside the hotel where the Barcelona team stayed, there have been reporters waiting at the point, hoping to dig out some fierce information, I don't know if it was before coming to Manchester City, the team had received a notice of sealing, or for some other reason, Barcelona's players rarely accept interviews in public, even if they are surrounded by reporters, they just say a few words very formulaic.

On Manchester City's side, some reporters originally planned to pry Yang Fan and say something out of his mouth, but unexpectedly, Yang Fan also shut up, and the entire Manchester City team seemed much quieter.

In short, when the big war came, everything seemed so quiet, and the silence was a little unaccustomed.

April 27, 2011. 2010/2011 Champions League semi-finals first leg, matchday.

Seventeen:30 p.m.

Manchester City are preparing to leave their hotel and head to the stadium, their home stadium, Manchester City Stadium.

When they saw the blue Manchester City bus appear in front of the hotel, the reporters gathered around them were excited, they knew that the Manchester City team was about to leave.

The flash kept coming on, and Dzeko appeared at the gate first, without greeting the fans around him, and without showing a smile in front of the countless cameras, he walked past the reporters with a serious expression, and then got into the car first. Dzeko could have started today, after Tevez was injured, Dzeko's appearance was high, however, in the pre-match routine check, Dzeko's old knee injury had a little problem, so, for the sake of insurance, Mancini still excluded Dzeko from the starting lineup, which is more uncomfortable for the eager Dzeko.

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