Returning to Villarreal with three away goals, the Yellow Submarine had a hint of relief at the lack of 35, at least they don't think a 20-year-old home win over Manchester City is a difficult thing to do.

Once at the Love Song Stadium, they defeated the unbeatable Barcelona and Real Madrid, and Manchester City is still a drop in the bucket compared to the two Western Super League giants.

In preparation for the second leg of the Champions League against Manchester City, Escriva started a big rotation in the 23rd round of La Liga.

However, their opponent in this round is not a weak team, but a dark horse team, Real Sociedad.

Dai Zhiwei was already a bit out of force after 97 minutes of fierce battle with Manchester City, so Escriva kept him in Villarreal in this game and did not travel with the team to the away game.

In this game, Villarreal also played a difficult game, until the 94th minute, Costa crossed from the left, and Castillejo scored the only goal of the game with a volley in front of the small penalty area, helping the team to win all three points.

After the weekend's league game, the eyes of the world football are back on the knockout rounds of the Champions League, and the second leg between Villarreal and Manchester City unexpectedly became the focus of this week's Champions League due to the big score of the first leg.

Manchester City beat Villarreal 5-3 at home in the first leg and still have hope of a comeback back when they return to home thanks to three away goals in their hands.

However, for Manchester City, the hope of promotion is obviously greater, this game if Manchester City do not lose more than two goals to advance, given the openness of the first leg and Villarreal's current situation, the second leg may be another head-to-head battle, with both teams likely to qualify.

He has led Barcelona and Bayern Munich to the Champions League 18 finals seven times before, and Guardiola's team has passed all of them.

After returning to Spain, World Sports interviewed Pep Guardiola as soon as he got off the plane.

Pep Guardiola has led Barcelona to two Champions League titles and Bayern Munich to the semi-finals for three consecutive years, and it is clear that City will be hoping to achieve similar results under him.

Guardiola said: "We have to give it our all and if we just want to get the game over as soon as possible, it will be very dangerous. We can't expect to progress from the first leg. ”

"So far, Dai Zhiwei is the top scorer in Europe, he is like Messi in previous years, with excellent technique, proficient shooting skills and fast speed. When a team has a striker like that, it means that their goals are almost inevitable, so your best defense is to score goals, and pressing them with as many attacks and goals as possible is the only way to beat this kind of team. ”

Pep Guardiola said City had to focus: "The game is the most important thing and we know that if we lose 0-2, 1-3 or 2-4 we will be out. I want my team to show the desire to win from the first minute because in a game of this level anyone can beat you. ”

"But I don't want my team to guess that if you only think about defending because of 5:3, you're committing suicide, all we have to do is go and score. I'm sure tomorrow it's going to be another good game and I invite people to watch it and they're going to see a great game, there's no doubt about it. ”

Clearly, Pep Guardiola is confident of leading his side to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the eighth time in a row, but refuses to look any further: "I don't know if Manchester City will be able to reach the semi-finals, I would say yes, I am very comfortable at Manchester City and I will never forget how they took care of me and gave me all the support. But this is my eighth year in charge and I know how difficult it is to play in the Champions League and if you don't concentrate, it only takes five minutes and you're eliminated. ”

World Sports also pointed out that the second leg of the Champions League against Villarreal will be Guardiola's 100th Champions League game in charge, after losing only 15 of the previous 99 games, fewer than the other 28 members of the club in 100 Champions League games, including the world's top managers such as Ferguson, Mourinho, Capello and Carlo Ancelotti.

World Sports reported a full-page preview of the second leg between Villarreal and Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola on the Manchester City side and Dai Zhiwei on the Villarreal side.

Obviously, in this way, World Sports shows who is the most important person in both teams!

Dai Zhiwei said in an interview with World Sport: "I didn't expect Paris to be reversed by Barcelona, it's unimaginable, but he really happened, in the football world, nothing is impossible, in comparison, the difficulties we face are much smaller, we just need to score two goals, although it is still very difficult, but it is not impossible to do." ”

"It's true that our opponents are quite strong, but I think we should be tested. We're not going to talk about Barcelona as a role model, we're just going to use him as an example, an example to show that we still have a chance, even though we don't have that supergroup, but we have our strengths, I believe it's possible to turn Manchester City back and I'm going to give it my all and do everything I can to do that. ”

Villarreal have been balanced in attack and defence this season, but unfortunately Escriva was forced to make changes to the starting line-up after their stalwart captain Bruno missed the game due to suspension.

Compared with Manchester City's 5-3 win over Villarreal in the first leg, Manchester City's starting line-up also made two changes to Kolarov to replace Otamendi and John Stones to form a central defensive partnership, Klich replaced Yaya Toure, and Fernandinho returned to his familiar midfield position.

Manchester City's starting line-up:

Goalkeeper: Caballero

Defenders: Sagna, Stones, Kolarov, Klich

Defender: Fernandinho

Midfielders: Raheem Sterling, De Bruyne, Silva, Sane

Forward: Sergio Aguero

Villarreal starting line-up:

Goalkeeper: Asenjo

Defenders: Gaspar, Musacchio, Ruiz, Costa

Defenders: dos Santos, Alfred Ndiaye, Trigueros, Robert Soriano

Forwards: Baka, Dai Zhiwei

Attack!

That was the plan that Escriva had laid out after the opening of today's match against Villarreal.

Although Manchester City's defence is not at all impregnable, it is still difficult to score two goals against them.

Dai Zhiwei looked at Stones and Kolarov in the Manchester City central defender position, and couldn't help but be happy.

Although he scored a hat-trick in the last game, Fernandinho Otamendi actually limited him to a certain extent.

After all, for a "fast, smart, and skillful" striker like Dai Zhiwei, he still doesn't like the same type of defensive player.

Now Pep Guardiola has replaced Stones and Kolarov, a pair of tall defenders who are both over 187 tall, especially Kolarov, who has stronger attacking attributes, which is definitely a good thing for Dai Zhiwei.

However, Pep Guardiola also has his own considerations, that is, Manchester City suffered a lot of losses from Villarreal in the last game in defending high balls and set-pieces, and he thinks that he has arranged for Fernandinho to defend Dai Zhiwei full-time enough.

"Do you think this will stop me?" Dai Zhiwei sneered, it seems that he still did not teach Manchester City a lesson in the last leg.

In the final analysis, Dai Zhiwei's time to become famous in European football is too short, and the number one person in European football really knows such a person until he joined Villarreal in the second half of last season, and it will only be a year after he has played a full game.

Even if he just scored a hat-trick in the last round, Guardiola and other managers believe that there is an element of chance, and they do not use the importance of looking at Ronaldo and Messi to arrange a targeted strategy to target him.

In the first minute of the game, De Bruyne volleyed vigorously at the edge of the penalty area, and Asenjo held up the bottom line steadily, without giving Manchester City a second chance to attack

Just a minute later, Dai Zhiwei also played a 45-degree diagonal tune into the penalty area from the right corner of the penalty area of Alfred Ndiaye, who replaced the suspended Bruno, and Dai Zhiwei's header after jumping up was full of momentum, and the football flew out of the bottom line with a tight grub against the crossbar.

In just two minutes, both sides each had a good chance to break the goal, how could the commentator in the live broadcast room calm down?

The two sides went back and forth to play a rare offensive game in the knockout rounds in recent years.

In the knockout rounds, the vast majority of managers tend to be pragmatic and emphasise the importance of defence, even if the excitement of the game is greatly reduced.

Villarreal continued to be the same tactic in this game, but the defensive gate in front of the back line changed from Bruno to Alfred Ndiaye.

Alfred Ndiaye is 190 tall and weighs nearly 90 kilograms, the standard black and hard waist, although he can't fully take the responsibility of Bruno, but so far, his rampage to disrupt Manchester City's several attacks in the past few minutes has been good.

Manchester City, on the other hand, adopted a high-pressure pressing strategy in the midfield for Villarreal, trying to cut off Villarreal's attack in the midfield, and then suppressed Villarreal's siege all the time.

But they didn't expect that Villarreal, who returned to the Love Song Stadium, was not false at all, and they didn't want to say that they suppressed Villarreal like in the last game, it would be good not to be suppressed by the other party.

Because of Guardiola's arrangement, Fernandinho has been pestering Dai Zhiwei in defense, which is really extremely annoying.

Dai Zhiwei has never been afraid of defenders who are tall and tall, but for some defenders who are about the same height and sensitivity as himself, it really feels like a piece of chewing gum.

However, Fernandinho failed to perform too well in the last meeting or in this game against Dai Zhiwei, although it was annoying for Dai Zhiwei, it was not too tricky.

"Are you going to run back and forth with me today?" Dai Zhiwei walked to Fernandinho's side with a smile and spoke, but his eyes did not look at him, but stared at Kolarov and Stones not far away.

"My defence is not determined by where you run, but by the overall movement of our team, and for most of the season, Manchester City are not in control of a little minion like you. This game will only have our rhythm, you? Hehe, stop trying to drag down our defenses! Fernandinho did not argue with Dai Zhiwei with a blank face, but said lightly.

"Rub? So arrogant? Dai Zhiwei didn't know what kind of face the guy who could be said to have been blown up by himself in the last game had the face to say this in front of him.

"Then we'll see." After saying that, Dai Zhiwei slowly ran back to his own half, ready to attack at any time.

"Manchester City's momentum today is not bad, I think Escriva must have some headaches now, right? Villarreal are still two goals behind on aggregate and must step up their attack, otherwise it will be no play. Martin Taylor, who was on the Sky Sports broadcaster, excitedly analysed the situation on the pitch.

Martin Taylor is England's commentator and naturally leans towards Manchester City, but it is relatively fair, and the two sides have launched a fierce attack from the beginning of the game, making him call it the most exciting Champions League knockout game in recent years.

In contrast to Martin Taylor, his old partner Motensen has only focused on the performances of individual stars: "Today maybe Pep Guardiola should try to get Gabriel Jesus to play more, he has been outstanding since joining Manchester City in January, squeezing Nolito and Iheanacho on the bench. ”

"I don't think there's anything wrong with Pep Guardiola's line-up." Martin Taylor retorted, "After all, compared to Aguero and Dai Zhiwei, Jesus is still too tender. ”

"Yes, I really didn't expect Huaxia to produce such a good player." Mortensen, who has some knowledge of Chinese football, continued: "Poor Kolarov and Stones, although their center-back combination can still cope with the middle and lower players in the Premier League, but the two of them are now facing Dai Zhiwei, who is currently the top scorer in the Champions League and La Liga, and his impact is not top even in the Premier League, the key point of this game is how long Kolarov and Stones can resist Dai Zhiwei!" ”

Just as Martin Taylor and Mortenson were chatting, the game time had come to the 16th minute, and at this moment, the stadium suddenly erupted in deafening cheers

"It's Dai Zhiwei! He broke through Fernandinho's defence, oh, he's dribbling the ball fast and almost to the box, he doesn't mean to split the ball yet, does he want to break into the Manchester City box alone? Martin Taylor explained in machine-gun-like voice.

"Beautiful! Dai Zhiwei dodged Stones again and got the opportunity to kick the goal! ”

"Kolarov made up for it, he was about to stretch his leg to block Dai Zhiwei's long-range shot, and the ball flew out between Kolarov's legs!"