Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Race
Like Ferguson's favorite racehorses, there will always be people left behind in the final pursuit.
Three days after Manchester City defeated Liverpool, Arsenal fell first in the 32nd round of the Premier League.
In the away game against Birmingham, Arsenal finally scored from Nasri after 80 minutes of stalemate, and just as the Arsenal fans were about to celebrate their next victory, a Manchester City player helped his old club in the second minute of stoppage time, scoring by Russ Bender, who had given Manchester City four consecutive draws.
Unlike Arsenal, this round, other strong teams have played a big victory, among which Chelsea's 7-1 home bloodshed Aston Villa game is the craziest, you know, Aston Villa even beat Chelsea in the first leg, while Manchester United swept Bolton Wanderers by four goals away, and even Liverpool, which just lost to Manchester City in Europe, also won Sunderland at home 3-0.
Manchester city? Lin Sen still chose to rotate, the score was not big, but it was enough, 2-0.
On April 8, Manchester City visited Anfield Stadium, and after 90 minutes of fierce battle, Manchester City finally drew 1-1 with Liverpool away from home, and advanced to the Europa League semi-finals with an aggregate score of 3-1.
After the game, Benitez blamed the team's elimination on the team's injuries, and he said that Liverpool have indeed been plagued by injuries this season, not to mention that the Italian midfielder Aquilani, who was introduced as Alonso's replacement so far, has only played 15 games on all fronts, not to mention key players Torres and Mascherano.
But the Liverpool fans, who chanted "You will never walk alone" for 90 minutes in the stands at Anfield, not only held up a sign in the stands telling Benitez to get out, but also made it clear in an interview with reporters outside the stadium after the game that the team's predicament this season was entirely caused by Benitez, and that letting Alonso go was a decision that was kicked in the head by a donkey.
Not everyone can be Alex Ferguson, even Ferguson, in his early days at Manchester United. has also been scolded by Manchester United fans as a waste and shouted out to get out, for fans, the manager has always had limited patience. You'll never walk alone? Benitez, who brought Liverpool a Champions League, thinks that this phrase also applies to him, then he is wrong, and he is very wrong.
Linson has some sympathy for Benitez, as he knows that after this game, Benitez's departure from Liverpool is a foregone conclusion.
Not to mention the sadness of the rabbit and the fox, Lin Sen, whose name has frequently appeared in the singing in the stands of the city stadium. The status in the minds of Manchester City fans is in the stage of rising tides, and it is obviously not appropriate to say that Benitez's today is his tomorrow at this time. But football is football, Benitez in the past, also had the treatment of Linsen now, the Liverpool fans in the stands made up the Benitez song for him, Benitez at that time, how high-spirited he was, he at that time. Can you think of today's ending?
Lin Sen didn't know if he had that day, but it was clear that he wouldn't wait for that day to come.
April 12, the 33rd round of the Premier League. There are still people left behind. This time, it's Manchester United. For Lin Sen, of course. That's not good news, because. Manchester United were beaten by Chelsea, who were closer to them.
In the pinnacle clash at Old Trafford, Malouda broke through on the left in the 19th minute. Joe Cole opened the scoring for Chelsea with a back-heel from goal, and the two sides went into scuffle until the 79th minute, when Didier Drogba fired home from less than 10 yards out on the right side of the penalty area. Although a minute later, Italian teenager Macheda, who came on as a substitute for less than 10 minutes and made a name for himself in a real-life version of Manchester United's one-goal reputation, helped United narrow the score to 1-2, but United were no longer able to recover.
However, the focus after the game was not on the score, but on the referee. Because of Drogba's goal in this game, the subsequent slow motion clearly shows that at the moment of Kalaw's pass, Drogba was obviously offside. After the game, Carlo Ancelotti said nothing about the goal, but an angry Ferguson pointed the finger at the referee of the game, believing that the referee's poor performance ruined the game. The old man had reason to be angry, given the first meeting of the season between the two teams, when John Terry scored the winner, it was Didier Drogba, who was also in an offside position at the time, who interfered with Van der Sar.
This one went straight to Chelsea with six points.
It's just anger to anger, and after this game, Ferguson also had to admit that although Manchester United still won't give up their efforts, the team's hope of defending the title is very slim. Because in another game, after eliminating Liverpool, there was no Linsen, who had no baggage for the time being, and led Manchester City to a 6-1 away victory over Burnley.
After this round, there are only five rounds left in the league.
Leader Manchester City 33 rounds of 78 points is still at the top of the table, Chelsea with this round of victory continues to bite Manchester City, the gap between the two sides is still only two points, compared to Chelsea, the last two rounds of a fall of Arsenal and Manchester United has fallen significantly behind, Arsenal behind Manchester City five points, and Manchester United is even more behind by as many as nine points.
The championship drama is still full of suspense.
City will face Birmingham, Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Stoke City in the next five rounds, while Chelsea will face Bolton, Tottenham, Stoke City, Liverpool and Wigan Athletic. The fixtures of these two teams are also the objective reasons why Ferguson said that there is little hope but still does not give up hope, because theoretically, whether it is Manchester City or Chelsea, there is still the possibility of falling behind.
Not the next round, but the next round.
Manchester United will host Manchester City at home, while Chelsea will travel to face city rivals Tottenham Hotspur away.
Manchester City's Europa League semi-final opponent will be Standard Liege.
This was not decided by the draw just now, but as early as the draw to decide the opponents in the quarter-finals, because at that time there were divisions for four matches, Manchester City and Liverpool, Standard Liege and Marseille, in the top half, and Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Wolfsburg, in the bottom half, and the final will be the final winner of these two halves.
This rule will be changed by UEFA in three years' time, when the semi-finals will have to be drawn again, but not now.
Right now. Lin Sen was satisfied.
The eventual winners in the bottom half of the zone are Atletico Madrid and Hamburg, not that Linson is afraid of these two opponents, but they are undoubtedly more difficult to play against than Standard Liege. And according to the schedule, the first leg of the semi-finals will be sandwiched between two difficult league games, against Manchester United and against Arsenal.
For Atletico Madrid, Linson's feeling now is that the cut is still messy. Originating from Atletico Madrid, he thought that if he left Spain, he would have nothing to do with this team. But in fact, just when he was about to forget about this team, football always made some connections between the two, for example, in the winter, he snatched Reus from the opponent's hand, and now, Linson is also likely to meet in the final.
As for the burgers, don't forget. The venue for this year's Europa League final is Hamburg, Germany.
The venue for the finals is right on your doorstep, and there will always be more or less benefits. For example, they don't need to worry about the enthusiasm of the home fans, like. UEFA takes care of it. This season's Champions League final was held at the Bernabeu Stadium, and Real Madrid fans were very keen to see Real Madrid lift the trophy on their doorstep, and UEFA was also "intended" to do so, with Lyon facing Lyon in the quarter-finals. However, Real Madrid itself is not angry.
When it comes to the Champions League, Manchester City are now the only Premier League seed in Europe. Because in the past Champions League quarterfinals, Arsenal was eliminated by Barcelona without any suspense. Manchester United, although they won at home, were unfortunately eliminated by European rivals Bayern Munich because of a lack of away goals.
Champions League semifinals, Inter vs. Barcelona, Bayern vs. Lyon.
Just like the Champions League in Linsen's memory.
What came to Linson's mind, he thought, if Mourinho doesn't leave Inter next year, if Manchester City can win the final Europa League, then, perhaps, next season, he and Mourinho may face each other on the pitch. Of course, this qiē is only possible now, and it is very likely that it will not be-
April 15, the 34th round of the league. Falling out continues, and it's when both teams fall at the same time.
Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, the pair of old enemies, chose to share the hardships when they were most fatal. Manchester United were held to a 0-0 draw away at Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal lost a game that disappointed their fans, not just because the defeat almost wiped out their title hopes, but also because they lost to their local rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The two teams playing away lost while the two teams playing at home winned.
Chelsea beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0 at home, while Manchester City continued their goalscoring streak with a 5-1 home sweep of Birmingham, and in the last two games, Linson's side have scored eleven goals, in the words of the English media, which is called a champion, of course, in the words of some ill-intentioned fans, it is called a loser.
Whether it is a title or a loser, Manchester City's lead is still two points, but the team that competes with them for the title, excluding the theoretical possibility, is actually only Chelsea.
After this round of fixtures, the Premier League's official website announced the results of the March Manager of the Month award, and after leading the team to win all four games in March, Linson won the award for the second time this season. This season's Coach of the Month award is the same as the rotation, changing one after another, and only Carlo Ancelotti has won it twice before, but no coach has been able to win it so far.
It is worth mentioning that as the league comes to an end, there is also some discussion about the selection of the best coach of the season, and now, Linson and Ancelotti, who have each won the best of the month twice, have undoubtedly become the strongest contenders, of course, this does not mean that the best coach of the season is the coach who has won the most monthly best times, but in the end, it depends on who wins the final championship. (To be continued......)
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