Chapter 35: This is Fate!

With the European Championship qualifiers delayed by almost two weeks in the major leagues, Barcelona continued to move forward steadily and firmly in the three weeks leading up to their second meeting with Lyon. Under Grayson's adjustments, the team began to turn their attention to the Champions League, and their performance in the league was not so crazy.

On 2 March, Barcelona beat Osasuna 2-0 away, with Shaq scoring twice in the game.

On March 14, the players who played in the preliminary round of the European Championship returned to the team in average condition. Grayson began to deliberately let Gimenez and Acosta take turns to replace Rivero and Batista, giving his centre-back combination some rest, so Barcelona were held to a 0-0 draw away from Mallorca.

Although Barcelona dominated the entire 90 minutes of the game and completed 21 shots on goal, even Shaq, who had 10 shots, only hit the ball in the range of the goal twice. Grayson finally accepted the result with a wry smile, and even Shaq's state was affected, not to mention the others!?

Fortunately, Barca's stars are the best in their respective positions, otherwise they would not have been where they are today, everyone has their own way of adjusting their form, and just three days after the 0-0 draw at Mallorca, Barcelona silenced those who questioned whether the team was starting to get tired.

On 17 March, Barcelona hosted Girona in a game in which Barcelona re-demonstrated their formidable prowess with a 5-0 win at home, with Shaq netting another hat-trick in the game.

Next, in the second contest with Lyon, Simon? Grayson put his centre-back pair on the bench. Argentine centre-back Acosta and 20-year-old Gimenez, a La Masia academy graduate, got the chance to start and played the whole game, and the result was ...... Shaq's brace and a header from Gimenez gave Barcelona a three-time lead in the game, only to be levelled by Lyon in the 90th minute and tied 3-3.

After this game, Simon? Grayson has a very deep understanding of the team's two backup centre-backs. Acosta is good at handling the details, and Gimenez's strength is that he is more able to help the team's attack, but ...... These two young people are still a little younger, and Pedro, who is almost the same age as them? Compared with Batista, whether it is experience and awareness, it is not a star and a half, but in general, it has potential, and after honing it, it can still be used as an ideal substitute for Rivero and Batista.

In line with the purpose of continuing to hone young people, in the 28th round of La Liga, Simon? Grayson gave Jimenez another chance. He joined Batista at centre-back, and Barca paid the price for that...... Conceded a goal, but fortunately, the team defeated the opponent with a score of 3:1 away from home with a hat-trick of Shaq. Grayson can afford it.

Taking advantage of the European Championship qualifiers to start again, now in charge of Manchester City, former Barcelona legend Laudrup also came out to praise Shaq: "Obviously. Barcelona have gained a talented player, and Shaq's presence has become a symbol of Barca. The team will conquer one opponent after another under the leadership of Shaq, and they will have a chance to lift all the trophies. Of course, if Shaqken comes to Manchester City, we are willing to pay any price. ”

Twenty teams in the entire Premier League are still eager to have Shaq, and the facts have proven it. Whether it's Leeds United or Manchester United, they have started a dynasty on the basis of having Shaq, although it is not very long, but at the stage when they have Shaq, they are the kings of European football.

Manchester city. They also want to build a dynasty of their own and create a big Manchester era!

But apparently this is unlikely, at least after they invited Simon? It was unlikely, before Grayson coached.

UEFA took advantage of this opportunity to draw for the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and this time Barcelona met opponents, not only with strength, but also with countless highlights and gimmicks for these two games, because the opponent is ...... Young Guard, Leeds United!

The current Leeds United manager, Mihajlovic, is in Simon? After Grayson resigned as the head coach of the "Three Lions", because he won last season's Champions League title, Allan? Shearer was appointed England manager before being brought in by Bierhoff to Leeds United.

And after the Sevilla coach took charge of the Young Guard, he did not buy people to burn money, Leeds United has exhausted all the economic accumulation in the past few years, and there is no money to smash in the transfer market in the past two years, and the only big name he bought is the Argentine striker Eric who was poached from Liverpool? Lamela also spent only 33 million euros in total, but by selling Ben? Parker and Mark recovered 60 million euros.

Leeds United, which has weakened in strength, is now performing in the Premier League, currently only sixth in the league, and the top position is still Mourinho's Chelsea, they are 3 points more than Arsenal with two fewer games, Manchester City has also withdrawn from the title race, and the "Reds" have fallen to tenth place, and they have invited Gerrard to return to coach after retirement in the winter transfer period, but the "bun" is not omnipotent, he still needs to prove himself.

But anyway, as the reigning Champions League champions, having Jonny? Howson, Ashley? Hood, Phil? Jones, Eric? Lamela, Pivkovski, Oliveira, Wijnaldum, prunes? Vrsariko, Kjaer, Hamsik, Chris? Leeds United, with stars such as Farley, is still very strong, and their performance in the Champions League has proved this.

In the group stage, Leeds United won the right to qualify as the group leader with a record of 6 games, 5 wins and 1 loss in Group H, and met the Serie A team Roma in the first round of knockout rounds, and the Young Guards won 1:0 away, 2:0 at home, and 3:0 in the two legs.

Plus Leeds United vs. Simon? Grayson, Shaq, Ben? The origins of Parker, Mark and others, even Simon? Grayson also can't guarantee that Barcelona will beat their opponents 100 per cent, after all, his "solar system tactics" were also familiar to Leeds' players, and Shaq was in Jonny? There is no secret at all in front of Haosen and others, so ...... If there is any team in European football today that the "brutal Simon" does not dare to guarantee that it will win, it is only Leeds United, because the "Red Devils" were almost completely sufficient last summer, and now he is left with only Mata and Subotic in Manchester United, but Leeds United still has several of his former disciples!

Although this is not the first time that he has faced his old club, Simon? Grayson still feels a little mixed feelings, he was conscientious at Leeds United at the beginning, and even because of the chairman Ken? Bates sold the team to Bierhoff and caused the position to be unstable, he had mixed feelings when he recalled the bits and pieces at the beginning, presumably no one could have thought that today's world-famous "Brutal Simon" still has such an embarrassment, and now Simon? If Grayson wants to coach any team, he is afraid that if he releases a word, the news of the dismissal of the opposing head coach will immediately come out.

Before the encounter with Leeds United, Simon? Grayson also had to lead the team to play two La Liga games with peace of mind, against Deportivo La Coruna and Huesca, and he also put aside the worries in his heart for the time being, and carefully adjusted the form of his team.

In the 29th round of La Liga on April 3, Barcelona defeated the visiting Deportivo team 5-0 at home with five goals from Shaq. Grayson was furious, because in the 62nd minute of the game, Cesc Fabregas had to miss four weeks due to a ferocious scramble by his opponent, not only did he miss the two-legged match with Leeds United, but he even missed the Copa del Rey final against Valencia.

Fortunately, there are still a lot of midfielders in the Barcelona team today, Busquets, Krissettig can replace Fabregas's absence, and even Simon? Grayson could also play in Ganso at the back, withdraw Vasquez from the left flank to midfield before bringing on Rinaldi.

And Simon? Grayson...... That's exactly what it is!

In the away game against Huesca, Simon? Grayson arranged Ganso to play in the back, withdrew Vasquiz to the midfield, and let the Italian left winger Rinaldi go to the left side, in fact, after the Italian winger transferred in the winter, although he was not as starry as Vasquiz in the limited number of appearances, he played 6 games for Barcelona and performed very well, although there was only 1 goal, but contributed 6 assists to the team, and the future can still be expected.

Jean Simon? Grayson is pleased that although Vasquith is a little unaccustomed to returning to the central midfield, and the number of threatening passes sent forward to Shaq is not much, he gives more balls to the two wings, which gives Rinaldi on the left and Salomon on the right have more room to play, and in the first 45 minutes of the first half, Shaq received crosses from the left and right respectively, and in the 28th and 32nd minutes, he grabbed the goal twice in front of the small penalty area to help the team lead 2:0.

At the beginning of the second half, Barcelona launched another attack on the right, Salomon returned the pass near the bottom line on the right side, creating a cross opportunity for the follow-up Rafael, and Shaq completed the hat trick with a header, and the score became 3:0, which also became the final result of the game.

As we move into the late stages of the season, the team has been able to tap into more and more tactical plays, which of course makes Simon? Grayson was even happier, losing a Cesc Fabregas, but allowing the team to play a sharper wide cross, which is also a loss of the East!?

It's just that all of Barcelona's offenses are still not out of the "solar system tactics", everything revolves around Shaq, whether it can defeat more and more powerful opponents, the key is to see Shaq's play. (To be continued......)