Chapter 36: The Battle for the Championship

There is a short gap between the Champions League and the Premier League, and just two days after the first leg of the Champions League semi-final between Blackburn Rovers and Barcelona, Blackburn Rovers ushered in the 36th round of the Premier League against Manchester United, who are currently second in the table. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

This game will be the "final" that will determine the ownership of the Premier League title this season.

This is the 150th main match meeting between the two sides, and the 100th official match for Blackburn Rovers led by Lippi.

A win for Blackburn Rovers would theoretically secure the title, while a win for Manchester United would leave the league suspense in the final round.

The biggest bad news for Blackburn Rovers was that Frank Lampard missed out on the death of his mother, which forced Lippi to make a last-minute substitution.

In his pre-match speech in the dressing room, Lippi repeatedly stressed to his team-mates that this game is only a win, not a defeat.

It is worth mentioning that the head coach of the England national team, Fabio Capello, also attended the game.

Manchester United starting line-up:

Goalkeeper: Friedel

Defenders: Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Hargreaves, Silvestre

Midfielders: Carrick, Anderson, Fletcher

Forwards: Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Nani

Blackburn Rovers starting line-up:

Goalkeeper: Cech

Defenders: Baines, Cannavaro, Kompany, Ivanovic

Midfielders: Bale, Cambiasso, Makelele, Diarra, Bentley

Forward: Didier Drogba

Manchester United, like Blackburn, both played the first leg of the Champions League semi-final just two days ago, but compared to Blackburn's completely different line-up other than goalkeeper Petr Cech, the Red Devils also rotated their starting line-up, but their strength was inevitably greatly reduced.

That's the terrible thing about Blackburn's squad depth, although they don't have as many first-team players as Manchester United, but compared to the Red Devils' huge gap between the quality of the substitutes and the main players, the Blue Devils' main force and the substitutes are not too obvious.

With the referee's whistle, the Blackburn vs Manchester United match officially began, and Manchester United kicked off first.

Blake themselves wore the traditional half-blue, half-white shirt for this game, while Manchester United continued to wear the red home team shirt.

Blackburn Rovers took the lead, taking advantage of their speed and soon had a chance down the right, with Branislav Ivanovic linking up with Bentley to burst into United's front pitch.

Ivanovic swept his eyes and saw Drogba and others quickly outflanking, and soon sent the ball into the penalty area.

However, this ball Ivanovic was too hard, Drogba struggled forward, but Ferdinand behind him was stuck on Drogba's waist, not letting him exert his strength, the football flew over his head by a millimeter, and Cambiaso, who was not tall behind him, did not get it, and the football flew directly over the front point.

But is that the end of it?

Manchester United fans, who were originally at ease, suddenly saw a half-blue and half-white figure pounce on the football like a tiger, shook off Brown, and saw that Fridel had not completely turned around, without any adjustment, and directly volleyed.

"Oh! Dangerous! ”

But in the next moment, the United commentator went from worry to excitement: "It was Friedel, he saved the team, he blocked Bale's must-have goal!" ”

Manchester United's commentator shouted excitedly, the Red Devils fans escaped with their lives, and a huge applause was given to Friedel, who fell on the goal line, and Bale's volley was directly blocked by Friedel.

United launched a decisive counter-attack, the tempo of the two sides was very fast, and the physical confrontation of Manchester United's midfield was evenly matched by Blackburn, and even Drogba did not have a clear physical advantage.

The game went on very quickly, Blackburn was not able to dominate in the midfield, after all, Makelle and Diarra are good at defensive interception, but organizing attacks is not what they are good at, Bentley has changed from a right midfielder to a forward midfielder, and frequently organizes with the ball in the middle.

Drogba and Bale are two people rushing forward, using their speed and body to find opportunities, but unfortunately Bale is not good at playing the ball during this time under the rude defensive action, and he did not form an effective cooperation with Drogba, and Blackburn fell into an offensive predicament for a while.

Lippi frowned, if Lampard had not taken a leave of absence, Ballack and Alonso would have been more fit, and Blake could have been more relaxed on the pitch.

Lippi saw that the football was once again destroyed by Ferdinand, and immediately gestured to Drogba to take it back and strengthen the connection with the midfield.

After Drogba realized that he was playing too impatiently, he immediately changed his running position, more of a breakthrough with the ball, and actively cooperated with Bale and others near the penalty area.

Drogba's individual movement changes quickly paid off, Blackburn's attack suddenly improved, and Drogba and Bale's breakthroughs and quick downballs quickly messed up United's backline.

After reconnecting with Bale, Didier Drogba won a corner for Blackburn, but Bentley's corner was not found by a team-mate and was cleared by the Manchester United player.

In the twelfth minute of the game, after Bentley got Ivanovic's side plug, he immediately formed a cooperation with Cambiaso outside the right penalty area, cut a few steps inside, and quickly sent the football to the feet of Cambiaso at high speed.

Cambiaso shook off Anderson and went straight into the penalty area, saw Hargreaves coming to block, quickly dribbled the ball outside, and suddenly the football pulled, without any hesitation, directly on the outside of the instep, rubbed out a small arc, and knocked the football from Hargreaves' side to the middle, where Drogba and Bale had quickly outflanked it.

"Chance!" Drogba seemed to have met a light in the darkness, and after seeing Cambiaso's entry into the penalty area and taking it out, his mind would be involved with Ferdinand, and then his body rushed forward, directly rushing out in front of him.

However, under Ferdinand's pull, even if Drogba can receive the ball, his shot angle will be blocked by Brown, who is one step ahead, and the chance to score is likely to be lost.

Drogba was pulled by Ferdinandra, his heart was in a hurry, and he did not hesitate at all, and his body quickly went directly behind Ferdinand, and quickly killed between the two central defenders.

After Drogba got the ball, he didn't adjust in the slightest, and before he could quickly attack Friedel, he deftly pushed the arch of his left foot, and quickly jumped under the armpit of the fallen Friedel and into the far end of the goal.

“gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal! Brilliant passing, beautiful outflanking, in the 16th minute of the game, Didier Drogba scored for us and we were ahead! The triumphant voice of the Blackburn commentator was suddenly drowned out by the boos at Old Trafford.

Drogba raised his hands high and triumphantly greeted the Blackburn fans, and although Torres' arrival took half of his chances to play, Drogba proved that he was still the Blues' first striker in his limited playing time.

"Well done, Didier!" Cambiaso leapt high onto Drogba and joined his team-mates in celebrating on their home turf.

Lippi's wrinkled face finally smiled, waving his arms, while Ferguson leaned back in annoyance.

The Red Devils' Premier League title race is on the precipice, and a loss in this game would leave Manchester United with a bid farewell to this season's Premier League title.

Thinking of this, Ferguson immediately got up and shouted at the players on the sidelines: "Attack, we have to score." 'His only thought at the moment was to break down the Blackburn Rovers.

After Manchester United were beaten by Blackburn Rovers, the blood rushed to the heart, and the Red Devils launched an onslaught to the cheers of the United fans throughout the stadium.

"Bang", another Manchester United attack, Anderson's powerful blast from outside the box bombarded the billboard again.

Lippi saw that United had created no less than six threatening attacks in just seven or eight minutes, and he realised that a goal was not safe, and that this precarious backline did not know when to make mistakes.

Although this Blackburn Rovers backline is starry, it can't compare to the iron-blooded defense built by the madmen.

In the 21st minute, Anderson's cross was denied by Vincent Kompany and United won a corner.

Manchester United's quick corner kick, the football fell directly into the penalty area, Rooney and Cannavaro pulled and fought for the football outside the small penalty area, and Cannavaro, who was already half a head shorter, was blocked by the opposing player when he jumped, Rooney quickly jumped up at the back point, completed the first level of the head, and the football flew directly to the far corner.

Cech saw the ball and was in excellent form and flew to save Wayne Rooney's must-win header.

United's team-mates were naturally disappointed to see the shot go in, but they didn't have time to complain as Blackburn had already used the opportunity to create a chance to score.

With the Reds pressing and not many players at the back, Bentley got a save from Cech from the right and without pause, sent a long ball straight to Drogba in front.

Drogba and Bale saw the football out of the penalty area, and immediately realized that there was an opportunity for a fast break, and rushed forward, and sure enough, Bentley saw the two of them running and directly kicked the ball.

When the Manchester United players saw Drogba and Drogba in the front, they immediately realized that something was wrong and hurriedly chased back, but it was too late.

Drogba leaned his back against Ferdinand 5 meters from the penalty line, did not give the England defender, who had refused the call of the Blue Devils, any chance, steadily unloaded the football, and then picked it up, using his body, squeezed him alive, and directly broke through his defense.

After Drogba got past Rio Ferdinand, he quickly cut inside the box and soon did not continue to dribble the ball, because there was already a man in front of him who was cutting in at high speed, and the United player was already quickly returning to the defense.

Manchester United, dangerous again. (To be continued.) )