Chapter Ninety-Eight: Three-Minute Champion
What did Nani say to Descartes?
This question, which everyone wants to know the answer to, was finally answered with the help of lip experts, who finally deciphered the words Nani said after repeated study of the game video, in which "soft egg" and "girlfriend" became the key words, and now everyone understood that Nani used Descartes' recent peach scandal to provoke him during the game, and then the result was ......
Everybody saw it.
This incident immediately made Nani the laughing stock of the whole England, the so-called stealing chickens does not make rice, I am afraid that this is the case, no one can understand what kind of mentality Nani was at that time, but he successfully aroused the anger of Descartes, and did what Wenger could not do, so that Arsenal staged a shocking reversal in the second half, and it is indeed a good undercover agent for Arsenal.
As soon as the news came out, it was rumored that Lord Ferguson was in a big swing at the Carrington base, and Nani has been confirmed as "injured" and excluded from the squad for the last game, as Manchester United still have this last game left this season, so it is already certain that Nani will have to wait until next season if he wants to return.
While all of England was laughing at Nani as the hapless bastard, there were also some people who saw the problem, and now they knew how good a single-minded Descartes could be when he was provoked.
Among those who are very concerned about this is Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.
Pep Guardiola succeeded Rijkaard as Barcelona's new boss this season, although he is a rookie in the managerial position. But he is definitely an iron-fisted rookie, as soon as he took office, he kicked out the unshakable core of the "Dream II" period, Ronaldinho, and sold the aging and declining Deco to Chelsea, he corrected Messi and Xavi, reused Iniesta and Keita and others, and formed the main framework of the "Dream III" of the future megatron, as a result, this season, Barcelona won the league championship 3 rounds in advance, and also reached the final in the Spanish Copa del Rey and Super Cup. Plus the final battle of the European Champions Cup. They even have one more title than Arsenal to be a title to be hoped for.
"Triple Crown" vs "Quadruple Crown" has long been the biggest gimmick in the whole of Europe to promote this Champions League final, which is known as the strongest Champions League final of the century.
However, Pep Guardiola's honors are not obtained in a vacuum, and the team he relies on to achieve brilliant achievements is not the "dream two" left to him by Rijkaard. Although there are still veterans such as Xavi and Puyol in the team. But Guardiola introduced Alves. The promotion of Pedro, Busquets and others is the cornerstone of his real success, his success. Half of it is due to the style and tradition that Barça has maintained for decades, and the other half is due to his own vision and hard work.
It is said that Guardiola's diligence is well known at Camp Nou, and he was not the first to arrive at Gamble's training base for most of the time, as he had not returned at all the night before; He is also not the one who hoards the most data on his desk, because all his data is on his laptop and in his head, and he can study his opponent's data at any time, no matter where he is.
Many people attribute Pep Guardiola's success to the system and inertia, but in my opinion, the reason why he has achieved these achievements is really due to his own hard work and hard work.
Therefore, in the study of Arsenal, the opponent of the Champions League final, Guardiola can never ignore Descartes, the most important opponent.
Although the Champions League final only started on May 28, Guardiola's research on Arsenal began a few months ago, of course, he is not a god, it is impossible to count Barcelona's final opponent must be Arsenal, but in his laptop, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, the three Premier League teams in the Champions League semi-finals, add up to at least 14 G of capacity.
For now, Barcelona have a major advantage over Arsenal in that they have already won the league three rounds early and don't need to be distracted by the league, and the Spanish Copa del Rey has already been decided on May 15, Barcelona easily defeated Athletic Bilbao 4-1 and have already secured two titles this season, as for the Spanish Super Cup, the final will not be held until August 11, so Barcelona have plenty of time to prepare for this important Champions League final.
As for Arsenal, they still have the last glimmer of hope of winning the league title, so they will definitely fight Stoke City in the final round, and the last round of the Premier League will open on May 24; In addition to the league, Arsenal will need to discuss a result with Everton on 30 May for this season's FA Cup title, which is only 48 hours away from the Champions League final. This is obviously impossible.
In the face of the huge advantage in schedule and fitness, Guardiola will not take it lightly, he knows very well that if he puts himself in Wenger's position, the Champions League final will definitely be the most important of the three major finals, maybe Wenger will give up the league to protect the Champions League?
Therefore, for his opponent Arsenal, Guardiola will not miss every opportunity to study.
Descartes' recent state is the focus of his research.
This season, Arsenal is getting closer and closer to the end of the season, and has become more and more of a "one-man team" temperament, as Cesc Fabregas retreats to the back of the waist line after recovering from injury, his performance is gradually flattening, Arsenal is now almost with Descartes as a barometer, when Descartes performs well, they are unstoppable, when Descartes is low, the whole team also plays in a disorderly manner, Descartes is even more important to the current Arsenal than Henry two years ago, when Arsenal needed only Henry's goals, But now Arsenal also needs Descartes' playmaking and tandem up front.
All this has led Guardiola to see Descartes as the most important one in the opponent's team, and how to defend Descartes is not only a topic that the other 19 clubs in the Premier League have been studying, but also the focus of Guardiola.
He watched three important battles between Manchester United and Arsenal over and over again, with the tactics used by Alex Ferguson in the second Champions League game. It looked like the closest thing to success, but Descartes' ball intelligence was even higher than they thought, as he spotted United's biggest flaw and then dealt the decisive blow towards the end of the game.
This assist made Guardiola feel frightened, but also secretly a little happy, Guardiola was also a player known for his high ball quotient when he was a player, Van Gaal's "No. 4" tactic was specially set for him, he and Redondo were the two most famous elegant midfielders in La Liga at that time. Its history of confrontation is not far behind that of Keane and Vieira in the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola saw the talent of Descartes in this assist. Secretly vigilant, I can't help but bring a little fantasy if this player can appear in the Barcelona team next season......
Of course, that's all about next season, and now it's all about how to stop Descartes from making waves up front. In the final of this Champions Cup, they beat Arsenal to win the championship.
Originally, Pep Guardiola watched the first half of the final Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal. There are still some unexpected surprises in my heart. Descartes looked to have been affected by the scandal and the whole first half was a bit of a mess if he were to go to the Champions League final in this form. Guardiola will definitely laugh so hard that he can't sleep from ear to ear, but he didn't expect the sudden change in the second half, Nani successfully provoked the anger of Descartes and dragged Manchester United into the abyss.
If United lose the league title in the final round this season, Nani's provocation will definitely be one of the main reasons for their defeat, which cannot be argued.
But what Guardiola saw from this half was not only Descartes' anger, but also his calmness and cunning at crucial moments.
United's first goal came from Descartes' sudden attack on the right flank, which was originally a mistake by Theo Walcott, but Descartes appeared in that position like a ghost, not only getting the ball out of Walcott, but also passing Nani and then Vidic, and few players can handle the ball so calmly at such a moment, especially when provoked.
And the second goal, although it seems to have a bit of luck, Guardiola would never have thought that it was a fluke that Descartes was able to poke the ball in the right place at the right time when there was a number twelve or thirteen standing in the box, and his sense of smell and reaction was breathtaking.
As for the third goal, it doesn't seem to have much to do with Descartes, but it was Descartes' previous two goals that boosted Arsenal's morale, and they were able to stubbornly overtake the score, and Descartes' two goals contributed to it.
It's just that Guardiola also understands that a player like Descartes will not be very effective in using man-to-man defense, and his ball quotient ensures that he is enough to make the best choice in any difficult situation, Ferguson sent Evra, Guardiola believes that even if he can't send a better defensive player than Evra, but this still can't prevent him from passing a wonderful assist, this is a player who really plays with his brain, and close defense or something is ineffective for him.
A better way to stop him had to be found.
Just as Pep Guardiola racked his brains about how to defend against Descartes and Arsenal, the final round of the Premier League came as scheduled with the attention of all England.
Arsenal's opponent is "Potter" Stoke City, this team has another title, they are nicknamed "Space Team" by Premier League fans, because their average height has always been the first in the Premier League, and what they are best at is high-altitude bombing, so many media and fans have given them this nickname comparable to Barcelona's "Space Team".
Stoke City's home stadium is Britannia, on the banks of the River Trent in England, and the club was founded quite early and is considered the second oldest football league club in the world after Notts County.
However, the club's history has not produced any impressive results or many notable stars, and their earliest members were just a group of railway workers, who did not appear in the top flight until 1984-1985 and were promoted from the Championship to the Premier League until the 2008-2009 season, which is the season.
Their coach this season is Toney. Pallis, who is also a lesser-known manager, has in fact helped Stoke City to promotion to the Premier League. They were soon sacked for merit reasons, and later their manager was the famous villain Mark of the Premier League. Hughes.
Just think about Mark. With the name Hughes, you should know what style of team Stoke City is, and their nickname "Space Team" is really worthy of the name.
It's just that at this time, Stoke City has not yet been replaced by Mark. Hughes transformed into a villain's division and they were Tony Brown this season. The results under Pallis are not as bad as the club said when they sacked Pallis, and as a promoted team, they are 11th after 38 league games. Ability to stay away from the relegation zone. Paris's merits cannot be erased, but it's a pity that the club seems to be a little suspicious, and they still want to go further, so they are not interested in the little-known Paris. He was ousted as soon as the season ended. Then he found someone else to replace him.
There is no hope for such an enterprising force. A team that is worried about relegation should not pose much of a threat to Arsenal in theory, and this is also true. Just 13 minutes into the game, Arsenal took a one-goal lead.
Bendtner smashed Nasri's cross into the Stoke City goal, which was really dramatic, but the bamboo-like Bendtner scored a goal with his head on the home of the "Space Team", which really embarrassed the "masters" of Stoke City, but after this goal, everyone cared not about the reaction of the Stoke people, but the match between Manchester United and "Tiger" Hull City on another field.
So far, Manchester United have not scored, the score is 0-0, so Arsenal have now overtaken Manchester United!
This result boosted the morale of Arsenal's players, and before the end of the first half, they scored another goal, this time by the iron-clad Walcott, as Arsenal's main right midfielder this season, Walcott did not start until the last round of the league, which is indeed quite embarrassing.
But a good meal is not afraid of being late, Walcott's goal allowed Arsenal to basically lock up the win of this game, and at the same time gave Wenger more room for maneuver in the lineup, so after the start of the second half, everyone found that Arsenal's absolute core Descartes did not play as expected, he was still sitting on the team's bench, it seems that Wenger has been saving for the Champions League final in 4 days.
Until the 70th minutes of the second half, there was still no news of a goal from Manchester United's side, although Hull City was playing away, but their performance was very tenacious, and after the last game and Arsenal, several of Manchester United's veterans seemed to have lost their form, neither Scholes nor Ryan Giggs could help Manchester United seal the victory and the title as soon as possible.
At this time, the hearts of the Arsenal players and fans were full of fear, they were afraid that at some point they would suddenly hear the news of Manchester United's goal, because they did not believe that Hull City could win against Manchester United, and they could only turn this apprehension into a prayer that Hull City would be tenacious enough in this game to keep the score 0-0 until halfway.
At this time, Stoke City caused a lot of shock to the Arsenal players, and they pulled a goal back in the 74th minute to make the score 1-2.
Such a score is absolutely unsafe, the last game Manchester United is gradually collapsed after 1:2, Arsenal scored two goals and finally lost, although Stoke City is not Arsenal, but Wenger will not allow this state of fear to last too long, so he did not hesitate to replace Descartes, and strive to ensure his victory before getting news from Manchester United.
Descartes' arrival was immediate, as he rewrote his stats for the season to 16 assists and 27 league goals in just five minutes after he came on the pitch, which made him exceed 20 assists and goals in all games this season, which even Messi, the hottest player in the world at the moment, has not been able to do.
The 3:1 score quieted down the Arsenal players, and then they began to gradually control the situation on the field through possession, and Stoke City is precisely the team that is not good at possession in the Premier League, and they don't seem to have much to fight in the face of Arsenal's monkey-like passing, anyway, this ball can no longer affect their record this season, so they don't really care whether they win or lose.
The only thing that could hold the breath of the audience was the news from Manchester United.
In Wenger's cranky thoughts, the referee suddenly blew the whistle for the end of the game, and the score on the field was 3:1. Arsenal won the eventual victory.
At this time, in the standings, Arsenal has surpassed Manchester United and is called the new leader of the Premier League.
The only thing that upset Wenger was that the referee gave less than a minute of stoppage time due to the smooth game against Stoke City, but on the Manchester United side, the referee gave almost four minutes of stoppage time.
"It's not fair!" Wenger was almost so nervous that his heart was beating out of his chest, and he wanted to appeal to the Football Association right away, accusing the referee that the stoppage time had been too long. Because every minute and every second that has passed now has made Wenger feel suffocated. The score on Manchester United's side is still 0-0, but Arsene Wenger has always felt that all this is too dreamy, and the final round won the championship by the scoreline, how many times has the Premier League in the past 100 years (including the English top flight before the establishment of the Premier League)? Two or three times?
Is Arsenal going to be the team that makes history?
The Arsenal players did not go back to the dressing room at this time. They stayed on the pitch all the time. Listen to the news about Manchester United on the radio in the stadium. Nearly three minutes into stoppage time, United still failed to find the back of the net for Hull City.
It also means that it starts with the end of the game against Stoke City. Arsenal have been sitting in the championship position for three minutes.
There is still one last minute, no, maybe less than 60 seconds, and if United can't score yet, Arsenal will put on a comeback in the final round to win another Premier League title since 03-04!
The trophy of the championship has been carried by the FA officials in the stands looming, the Arsenal players are all smiling, they are full of longing eyes staring at the silver in the stands, at this time, they have begun to look forward to the moment of the arrival of the championship, they hold the trophy, on the aisle sprinkled with flowers, receiving blessings from the fans and the award from the FA officials, their hearts are full of joy and pride of victory, all this will come in just 60 seconds.
Even Arsene Wenger, who was on the sidelines, felt a little loose in his chest at this time, there are still dozens of seconds left in the game, Manchester United can't be so lucky, right?
Are we already champions?
The smile on Wenger's face gradually emerged, and even the deep wrinkles on his brow were concealed, at this time he had already begun to sort out the tie on his chest, and he was about to go to receive the award, so he had to tidy up his appearance, right?
But just as Wenger straightened his waist and was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the voice of the commentator on the radio suddenly began to become urgent: "Giggs, Giggs broke through with the ball, passed, Rooney, Rooney received the ball, Rooney shot, oops, was blocked, Scholes, Scholes got the ball, Scholes shot ......"
"The ball is in! goallllllllllllllllllllllll,goal,goallllllllllllllllllllllll! Scholes, Scholes! He saved Manchester United, 1-0, Manchester United took the lead...... We are the champions! ”
The rapid and excited shouts of the Manchester United commentators struck Wenger like a lightning strike, his right hand, which was still tending his tie, suddenly froze, and then he cast his eyes on the loudspeaker on the sidelines in disbelief, is this a joke?
Suddenly stunned not only Wenger, but also all the Arsenal players on the scene, because the game has ended first, at this time in addition to the Arsenal players in the stadium, there are only some scattered fans who are still interested in another game, but I didn't expect the world to be so unpredictable, and so twists and turns, just when Arsenal thought that they had won the league championship in a dream less than three minutes, Manchester United actually scored!
This time, Manchester United overtook Arsenal again and regained their league title.
And predictably, with no more than ten seconds left in the game at most, Hull City has absolutely no chance of equalising again.
Arsenal only won three minutes.
It was all so dramatic that the Stoke City fans who stayed in the stadium couldn't help but laugh, but the Arsenal players who were still slumped on the pitch couldn't laugh at all.
I don't know who started, tears slowly appeared on the faces of all the Arsenal players, from Almunia, to Walcott, Fabregas, Descartes, Van Persie, one by one Arsenal players gradually blurred their eyes with tears, all this joy and sorrow came too quickly and suddenly, they simply couldn't bear it.
"I'm going to Nima's Manchester United, I'm going to Nima's Scholes!" Walcott was the first to stand up and kicked the lawn hard to vent his anger, but while scolding, his tears involuntarily dripped down.
"I'm going to Nima's Football Association, and I have to make up four minutes of stoppage time!" Van Persie also stood up, he didn't kick the turf, but his words were also full of unwillingness, and as he angrily looked up at the stands and shouted, two crystalline halos also flickered in his eyes.
Descartes sat weakly on the lawn at this time, buried his head deep between his legs, worked hard for a season, but collapsed at the last second, his heart was no less unwilling than Van Persie, this is not the first time he has lost the championship, he also lost the Italian League Cup when he left Pavia, but this heartache he really doesn't want to try again, this pain, even more painful than the loss of Angelie, after all, they are only ten seconds away from the championship.
The Arsenal players around them were all mourning, they were sitting or lying, their eyes were full of sadness, and at this time, the silver in the stands had gradually faded, Manchester United won the championship, and the officials of the Football Association naturally did not need to take out the championship trophy here.
The disappearance of this silver color made the sadness in the hearts of the Arsenal players go to a higher level, but just when their hearts were dying, Wenger suddenly walked in outside the field, his eyes were also red, but his spine was straight, and he shouted loudly as he walked: "What are you crying about, we have not failed, we still have two championships to fight for, cheer me up, we still have the Champions Cup and the FA Cup, don't let those who support you down!" ”
Arsene Wenger's words were like a booster, which made the Arsenal players suddenly wake up, yes, lost the league title, but we still have the Champions Cup and FA Cup, this season is not over, we still have a chance!
So the Arsenal players stood up one by one with each other, and their eyes regained some sparkle, losing a league title is not the end of the world, as long as they can make a breakthrough in the Champions League, they are still the biggest winners of the Premier League this season.
The Arsenal players, who had only won the Premier League for three minutes, seemed to have suddenly found a new purpose in life, and their eyes had passed through the silver trophy and landed further away. (To be continued.) )