4.044 Battle before the two

Leeds have one more game ahead of the Champions League final, which is the Premier League's final home game against Bournemouth. Considering that Manchester City's last game is against Brighton, who have been relegated one round earlier, a win is almost a certainty, and Leeds United has only one way to win, whether it is a draw or a loss, they will lose the chance to win the title.

However, Bournemouth, who have no desire, clearly do not have that much motivation to snipe Leeds United, and the relationship between the two teams is also good, both in terms of players and management, and now Bournemouth has these players in the squad who have transferred from Leeds United and have been on loan.

Bournemouth didn't play at full strength in this game, and Leeds United slowed down the tempo after establishing an early two-goal advantage, replacing the absolute mainstays of Mohamed Salah and Mbappe to prevent them from being injured and missing the Champions League final.

Successfully won Bournemouth, Leeds United came to 98 points and won the Premier League title this season, while Manchester City with 96 points became the runner-up with the highest points in the history of the Premier League, and the third place was Liverpool with 92 points.

With three teams reaching more than 90 points in a single season, the competition in the Premier League has never been greater. You know, in the past, a team with more than 90 points in a season was basically the Premier League champion that season, but now, Liverpool with 92 points is only third. Moreover, Liverpool and Leeds United also reached the final of the Champions League, and the final of the Europa League was also Chelsea and Arsenal.

This fully shows that football is a game of money, and the Premier League with the best commercial development is the best league in the world. In other leagues, only commercial development can keep up with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus. As for Atletico Madrid and Grand Paris, please forgive Li Chengfeng's contempt, one is about to disintegrate, and the other is located in the uncompetitive Ligue 1, no matter how well it does, it is destined to only act as a spoiler.

Finally won the Premier League title, and now Li Chengfeng can devote himself to preparing for the Champions League final. Liverpool, who were opponents in the final, were not easy teams to play against, as evidenced by their ability to beat Barcelona 4-0 at home.

Li Chengfeng would rather face Barcelona who was previously considered the strongest this season, even if they have Messi, the most vocal Ballon d'Or in their team this year, they can't hide Barcelona's own flaws.

Barcelona are so old, and they haven't succeeded in renewing them. Perhaps it was because Pep Guardiola's Barcelona era was so glorious that the Barcelonans always wanted to be able to recreate the rule of that era, but did not perceive the change of time.

In fact, Barcelona's vaunted passing has always been flawed, and it has always been difficult to face defensive teams that have given up possession, but the appearance of Messi has made up for their shortcomings.

But Messi's premature aging changed everything, although he is only 31 years old, 3 years younger than Ronaldo, but his physical fitness has declined much faster than Ronaldo. He's still a superplayer, but he's not the all-powerful player who can break down the opposition's dense defense on his own.

Li Chengfeng is also very strange at this point, it stands to reason that a self-disciplined and diligent player like Messi should not decline so quickly at this age. But the reality is that Messi's body has declined significantly since a few years ago, and it doesn't seem to be due to injury.

Thinking of some previous reports about Messi, such as growing taller because of development problems and vomiting on the sidelines due to development problems, Li Chengfeng wondered if his body had unknown hidden dangers now, which caused his body to begin to decline at the age when he should have been at his peak.

That's why Messi will run less, and this is also to prolong his career. However, the more critical effect of the decline in fitness is the decline in his ability to break through, and it is already difficult for him to break through the opponent's dense defense alone.

Previously, Barcelona had Xiaobai's breakthrough and Xavi's organization to help him, but since the two got older, there was nothing they could do. Therefore, Barcelona will introduce breakthrough player Dembele in order to make up for this problem, hoping to reduce the pressure on Messi, but he did not expect Dembele's growth rate to be less than expected, and there are more injuries, and Messi still lacks helpers. When Dembele grows up, Messi doesn't know if he can still be in his current state.

Of course, Barcelona is not out of the question. One is to buy a mature super attacker, such as Neymar, but although Neymar regrets coming to Paris, he may not be willing to go to Barcelona as Messi's deputy, for him, Real Madrid or Manchester City is a better choice.

Another way is to change the team's style of play, push Messi to the front, no longer score goals and organize a grasp, just concentrate on scoring, which can make up for Messi's physical decline to the greatest extent, and can also amplify his offensive threat. Moreover, Barcelona have introduced good midfielders this season and can meet the new tactical requirements. Is it just that the traditions of Barcelona will allow them to make such a change? The Barcelona team has always been traditional and stubborn, even if Guardiola has made many changes over the years and abandoned some traditions of La Masia, Li Chengfeng has not found any changes in Barcelona. It's always been about things that are easier said than hard to achieve.

Well, the topic is a bit far away, Li Chengfeng should care about Liverpool, the opponent in the final. With 20 days to go to the final against Liverpool, such a long preparation period is not friendly enough for Leeds United, and the advantage of Leeds United's depth of squad has largely disappeared. Liverpool, on the other hand, can have plenty of time to recover from the intense attrition of the two-legged battle with Barcelona, which is a good thing for Liverpool, who use mad dog tactics and have a thin squad.

Now the two teams can only fight hard, which makes Li Chengfeng, who wants to pick up cheap, a little regretful. However, Li Chengfeng will not be afraid of Liverpool, this season the two teams in the league meeting, Leeds United won one and drew one, although both games were difficult, but after all, Leeds United still had a slight advantage.

However, the mental strength of the Liverpool team is really terrifying, and they are often able to burst out of combat power beyond their own ability in such games, and they have to be guarded against.

But Li Chengfeng will definitely not give up, not only to add a championship to his honor room, but also for the pound. If he can win the Champions League again, plus the Premier League, Mbappe is likely to win a second Ballon d'Or, so that Leeds United's existing sponsorship contract can be increased by at least another 20 million pounds, not counting the possible new sponsorship contracts. Moreover, the possibility of the Ballon d'Or award will also help the team to keep Mbappe, the new king of the planet. In an era when Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are aging and Neymar is sinking into Ligue 1, having a quasi-ball king who looks the most likely to replace the duo is crucial for Leeds United's commercial development.

Plans for a new stadium are now progressing substantially, and construction is expected to begin next season, which will take three years or more. Li Chengfeng has prepared a budget of 800 million pounds for the new stadium, but without Li Chengfeng using a penny of team construction funds, some banks are willing to provide low-interest loans for up to 20 years, and the repayment will start after the new stadium is put into use, and the annual repayment will be 60 million pounds.

60 million pounds seems like a lot, but in fact, Li Chengfeng has calculated that after the new stadium is put into use, the increase in matchday income alone can basically cover this part of the expenditure. The new stadium will have a capacity of 60,000 people, which can be expanded to 8-100,000 if necessary. There is also a commercial area with an area of more than 10,000 square meters, which greatly improves the team's commercial income. Coupled with the income from the naming rights of the new stadium, Li Chengfeng is not worried that the construction of the new stadium will be a burden at all.

Perhaps in a few years, Leeds United will be able to replace Manchester United in terms of income and become a giant that can compete with Real Madrid and Barcelona in terms of commercial income. So Li Chengfeng must win this Champions League title, as for Liverpool's life or death, he doesn't care.

Li Chengfeng organized the players to watch the video of Liverpool's 4-0 home win over Barcelona, as well as the famous Istanbul miracle, so that the players were mentally prepared. This is the most resilient team Li Chengfeng has ever seen, the more desperate Liverpool is, the more careful they must be, they will never admit defeat, even if they die, they have to bite the opponent. Once they had lost that spirit, but now, they have found it.

Liverpool are strong, but they are not without their weaknesses, and that is that their centre-backs are not solid. Maguire was slow to turn around, while the other candidates were unstable. However, Jurgen Klopp may be able to recycle the formation he chose after the last meeting between the two sides to compensate for the weaknesses in the defence. Of course, it is also possible that the madman may choose to fight hard with Leeds United, Li Chengfeng is not sure.

In addition, there are injuries, and while a few weeks of rest can restore the players' form, the long season has prevented some players from making it to the final. Compared with Leeds United, which has a deep squad, although Ali and Gomez have been injured, Sane's form is not good, but there are still a lot of candidates available. Liverpool, Keita and Roberto Firmino have been stretched thin by injuries, and although they can still put out a good main line-up, the substitutions are a problem, and if a little accident happens in the game, their situation is very bad.

This is where Leeds can take advantage of the fact that Lee can speed up the pace of the game, make the competition a little more fierce and leave the opposition unavailable. However, this is only Li Chengfeng's plan, the actual situation of the game is changing rapidly, and he cannot guarantee that everything can be controlled, so he can only increase the team's chances of winning as much as possible.