Chapter 55: The English Civil War

At noon on April 15, the draw for the semi-finals of the 2015-16 Champions League was held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Infoww?w?・ Blackburn Rovers will play Manchester City, while Bayern Munich will meet Atletico Madrid.

After two weeks of hard fighting, all the Champions League semi-finals this season have been produced. Bayern Munich beat Benfica 1-0 at home and drew 2-2 away to advance; Although Atletico Madrid lost 1:2 away to Barcelona, it defeated the opponent 2:0 at home to achieve a comeback; Real Madrid lost 0:3 in the first leg, and tried to achieve a big reversal at home, but they proved to be too naïve, Blackburn relied on Neymar's penalty kick away, shook hands with the Galaxy Battleship 1:1, and advanced with a score of 4:1 in the two legs; Manchester City drew 2-2 away to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg and beat their opponents 1-0 at home to reach the semi-finals for the first time.

The Premier League accounts for half of the top four, with Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City progressing to reflect the current strong landscape of the Premier League in European football. In addition, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich saved face in La Liga and Bundesliga respectively, while Serie A was wiped out early.

According to the Champions League draw rules, there will be no circumvention of the draw for this semi-final, and teams from the same league and teams from the same group may meet in a narrow way, which will also greatly increase the spectacle of the game.

The draw was co-chaired by UEFA Media Director Pinto and Head of Competition Marchetti, and the draw officially began after a speech by the Mayor of Milan, the host city of this season's Champions League final, Pisapia, and the guest of honor was Inter Milan legend Stankovic, the ambassador of this season's Champions League final.

The first team to be drawn is Manchester City, who are reaching the last four of the Champions League for the first time, while their opponents are drawn later, and Blackburn Rovers will face Manchester City in an English civil war. Next up is Atletico Madrid, and their opponents are naturally Bayern Munich.

In the subsequent additional draw, the winner of Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers will be the home team in the final.

According to the schedule, the two legs of this season's Champions League semi-finals will be played on 26 and 27 April and 3 and 4 May, while the final will be played on 28 May at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy.

However, Blackburn's Champions League semi-final draw did not attract the attention of team owner Arthur at all, because he was on the other side of the ocean in the United States, enjoying the excitement of basketball!

In the long history of the NBA, many giants were born, but this season's Warriors will undoubtedly become the most brilliant one, the reason is simple, the Warriors created a 73-win record myth, breaking the record set by the Bulls in the 1995-96 season, as history goes by, people will forget the process, but will not ignore the numbers, no matter how the times change, the Warriors' "73 wins" will become a new target for latecomers to catch up. w?w?w?・・

The Warriors were able to have a dream season thanks to a perfect start to a 24-game winning streak, an unprecedented statistic in which only one team in the four major North American professional leagues had a 20-game winning streak in the opening game, dating back to 1884, when MLB's St. Louis Banishes did just that, and the Warriors broke the 131-year-old record and got themselves off to a good start, thus sending a spark of hope for them chasing the Bulls' record.

In 82 games, the Warriors have enjoyed the best start in NBA history in 51 games, they have won 54 consecutive home games across the season, lost for the first time in 249 days in the regular season, and on the road, the Warriors have also maintained a strong dominance, they have won a total of 34 road games this season, also surpassing the former Bulls, setting a single-season road win record in NBA history.

The Warriors are also the only team in NBA history that hasn't lost a single season without losing twice to the same team, even the Bulls in 1995-96.

Curry is the Warriors' leading scorer with 30.1 points per game, while Thompson is averaging 22.1 points per game, the Splash Brothers are the best duo in the league with 52.2 points per game, and the Warriors have three players named to the All-Star team this season for the first time since 1976.

If Curry and Thompson are tasked with attacking the city, then Green is undoubtedly the lubricant, as he has 13 triple-doubles this season, setting a new Warriors record for a single season triple-double, while finishing second in the league this season, behind only Westbrook. With all three, combined with a deep roster, the Warriors are virtually unassailable.

In today's league small-ball trend, the Warriors have made the most of their characteristics, and they have made a total of 1,077 three-pointers this season, breaking the NBA team's single-season three-point shooting record set by the Rockets in 2014-15, and the first team in history to break the 1,000 three-point mark in a single season.

In addition, the Warriors shot 48.7% from the field, 41.6% from three-point range, averaged 28.9 assists per game, and won by 10.8 points per game, all of which are among the best in the league, which shows that the Warriors' efficiency and team basketball, the best staffing and efficient play, are the keys to the Warriors' success.

The Warriors' 73 wins broke the 1995-96 Bulls' record of 72 wins, and the only teams that can be compared to the Warriors from start to finish this season are the 76ers (68 wins) in 1966-67, the Lakers (69 wins) in 1971-72 and the Bulls (72 wins) in 1995-96, all of which went on to win championships.

There will be motivation to pursue, legends will always be copied inadvertently, but in the process of replication, the Warriors are also creating their own myths, the Warriors in the regular season of the 2015-16 season are really perfect, and the Warriors in the playoffs, can they continue to replicate such perfection?

Arthur knew that the Warriors who won 73 in the previous life fell short in the Finals, but in this life, under Arthur's intervention, this Warriors team is stronger and more united than them in the previous life, and he has reason to believe that his Warriors can complete the great cause of defending the title!

In addition to making minor adjustments to the team's roster this season, Arthur also intervened in asking the NBA to advance the Warriors' final game day by a day to miss Kobe's final game.

It is precisely because of Arthur's adjustment that he can see the Warriors win an unprecedented 73 wins in the Oracle Center Coliseum the day before, and the next day he can bid farewell to Kobe Bryant, who scored 60 points, at Stamps.

The Warriors won 73 games, Kobe Bryant finally battled, and no one stole anyone's limelight, and the two pushed the NBA to a new height!

After watching Kobe Bryant's retirement game, Arthur got on a private jet converted from a Boeing 777 for the first time and returned to England, because in the 34th round of the Premier League one day later, regardless of the record of the chasers behind him, as long as Blackburn does not lose, then they will win the Premier League championship this season 4 rounds in advance!

After the 33rd round, Leicester City finished second in the table with 71 points, which would have been enough to be a title contender in any previous season, but this season can only be a footnote to Blackburn's title.

By the end of the 33rd round of the Premier League, Blackburn Rovers are at the top of the Premier League standings with a terrifying 27 wins, 5 draws and 1 loss, accumulating 86 points, and even have a chance to hit the highest score in the history of the Premier League.

Blackburn's 34th-round opponents were last season's defending champions Chelsea, and things have improved since the sacking of Jose Mourinho and the hiring of fantastic coach Guus Hiddink at the helm, although the current 12th-place finish still looks rather comical.

In the face of Blackburn, Chelsea is naturally the main force, but for the next Champions League semi-final with Manchester City, Klopp is hiding some of the main forces and expelling a strange formation.

Blackburn Rovers line-up (4-3-3):

Goalkeeper: Trapp

Defenders: Cesar Azpilicueta, Raphael Varane, John Stones, Bellerin

Midfielders: N'Golo Kante, Pogba, Payet

Forwards: Antoine Griezmann, Anthony Martial, Raheem Sterling

Chelsea line-up (4-2-3-1):

Goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois

Defenders: Baines, Cahill, Terry, Baba Rahman

Defenders: Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas

Avant-garde: Willian, Oscar, Hazard

Forward: Diego Costa

The reason why Blackburn's line-up is strange is that six of the Roses' starting 11 are French internationals, more like French clubs than many Ligue 1 teams.

The referee blew the whistle on time for the start of the game and the visitors Chelsea kicked off first!

Diego Costa, who has been in an inconsistent form this season, knocked the ball back to Oscar, who received the ball and played a long pass into the right side of the Blackburn Rovers penalty area near the centre circle, where Chelsea winger Eden Hazard had already stepped forward.

Hazard gently unloaded the ball with his toes, feinted to shake it off and forced Kante, then cut in laterally and hit the goal with his feet!

It was a powerful shot that Trapp was clearly not in the groove yet, but Kante was able to catch up in time and hit the tip of Hazard's shot after a tackle on the ground, and the ball bounced off the outside of the woodwork in the Blackburn Rovers' fearful mindset.

In less than 30 seconds of the opening period, Chelsea almost stormed the Rose Theatre with the simplest of combinations!

Many Blackburn Rovers in the stands had not yet warmed up their seats under their butts before the Blues had already won a corner!

It was only at this point that Sky Sports' commentator in charge of the match began to explain the names of both teams to the fans in front of the TV: "Good evening, friends! You're tuning in to watch the live stream of Chelsea's trip to Blackburn Rovers in the 34th round of the Premier League in 201516 season, and I'm ...... Oh! Danger, Hazard got up and shot! …… The football hit the goal frame and didn't score, it looks like a corner! At the start of the game, the Blues took the lead and won a corner! Wow, in slow motion, Blackburn's defenders are clearly not focused, and against a team like Chelsea, any mistake is fatal......" (To be continued. )