Chapter 736: Consolidating Advantages

Liverpool's 1 away draw with Chelsea can be said to have exploded a small upset, and there were predictions before the game that the two sides would draw, but more people think that Chelsea is likely to win Liverpool at home, even if it is a draw, it should not be a draw with goals, it is not that they underestimate Liverpool, but their trust in Chelsea's defensive ability.

However, Liverpool did shock them, and at Stamford Bridge, they showed not only a strong attack and a solid defence, but also showed the world their tenacity and resilience, which is essential for a team aiming to win the title.

Liverpool quickly became one of the favourites to win the title after the game, with their top three bookmakers in Europe already ranking behind Chelsea and AC Milan behind Manchester United, who beat Milan at home, and in the minds of the media and fans, Liverpool are even more likely to win the title than Manchester United.

For example, the "Liverpool Echo" believes that Manchester United does not have any advantage in this score, Milan will become very strong when he returns to San Siro, Manchester United wants to get a draw has a lot of difficulty, in Old Trafford, the referee's law enforcement scale is larger, in San Siro, the referee's law enforcement scale will definitely not be the same as the English, this is a big restriction for Manchester United, and Liverpool at home to get an OO score is definitely much easier than Manchester United, "Liverpool Echo" believes that it is likely to be Liverpool and Milan who reach the final.

"The Sun" has a bit of a conspiracy theory in its opinion, "At the end of the round, it is Liverpool and Manchester United who have the advantage, but from the process of the game, it is very difficult for Manchester United to win or draw at the San Siro, and UEFA may not want the Champions League to become a civil war, and the revenge battle between Liverpool and Milan is obviously more interesting, so Manchester United and Chelsea are destined to be eliminated, and it must be Liverpool and Milan who reach the final."

Of course, the English media still thinks that it will be the two English teams that will reach the final, and Manchester United and Liverpool are obviously the best choice, they are the best team at the moment, and they are also the best league title contenders, they also have the best stars in the world, and it is Manchester United and Liverpool who appear in Athens to attract the attention of the world.

Most of the Italian media are more optimistic about AC Milan reaching the final, and "Milan Sport" believes that Liverpool has at least a 70% probability of reaching the final, although Milan loses away, but they have a home advantage, and the probability of advancing is definitely more than 60%.

According to Roma Sport, AC Milan's Champions League experience and home advantage will be decisive, and Manchester United's failure to get a bigger lead at home could cause them problems, and on the road Manchester United will find themselves in a dilemma, once Milan score first, Manchester United basically have no room to turn around. For the battle between Liverpool and Chelsea, "Roma Sport" believes that although Liverpool is a little weaker than Chelsea in strength, but now Liverpool has taken the initiative, and considering Benitez's historical record against Mourinho in the cup, it is already difficult for Chelsea to reach the final at Anfield, and the final will be Milan vs. Liverpool.

Outside of England and Italy, the media has clearly not paid enough attention to the Champions League, but it is impossible to ignore such an important event, with famous newspapers such as Germany's Bild, Spain's Le Rivers and Marca, and France's Le Corps all covering the two Champions League semi-finals at great length, and they, like many bookmakers, are optimistic about Milan and Liverpool reaching the final, and downplaying Manchester United and Chelsea.

Liverpool are generally favored after the first game, but they also have their own problems, that is, they are fighting on two fronts, and neither side can relax, and Chelsea now have little hope of winning the league title, they have Manchester United and Liverpool in front of them, and with three games left, it will be difficult to expect both Manchester United and Liverpool to make mistakes, and they may hide their strength in midweek and concentrate on preparing for Liverpool's Champions League semi-finals.

Liverpool's opponent in the league is Portsmouth, which is a no-brainer opponent, they are in ninth place, there is no possibility of relegation, and it is difficult to have a chance to reach the European stage, but in the final moments of the league, anything can happen, Liverpool must not be careless, once Portsmouth is affected by some off-field factors, if Liverpool fights Liverpool, the result is unpredictable.

In fact, there are a lot of off-the-field factors, especially in the long-established league of England, where there are a lot of grievances between major clubs, and a certain faction has been formed over time, and in a faction, the boss provides shelter for the little brother to help him fight against relegation opponents. The younger brother provides the eldest with the score to win the championship, and acts as a sniper for the eldest brother when he can.

Portsmouth and Chelsea have a close relationship, and many fans believe that they and Manchester City are Chelsea's little brothers, and at such a critical moment, Portsmouth will certainly not let Liverpool pass easily.

Compared with Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United are relatively relaxed, Manchester United's opponent is Everton, Everton is Liverpool's rival in the same city, so it has become Manchester United's most loyal little brother, although Everton is going to enter the European arena in this game, but he and Reading still have a three-point advantage, and the water is not much affected by Manchester United.

Chelsea's opponent is his younger brother Bolton, although Bolton also has the possibility of entering the European competition, but the League Cup is a chicken rib for small and medium-sized teams, and now Chelsea are in dire need of help, and it makes sense for them to help the boss.

Benitez has been in England for three years, and he is well aware of the complex relationship between England, and he did not dare to rest his main players in the game, but tried to win three points on the road.

Benitez was quick to congratulate himself on his lack of carelessness, as Portsmouth showed a strong fighting spirit at the start of the game and did not let Liverpool go because they didn't need results.

Although Liverpool is all the main players, but the players' minds are worried about the Champions League semi-finals in midweek next week, and the players still hope to win this game at the minimum cost, so they do not fight hard enough in the game and play resolutely enough. Although Portsmouth is not as strong as Liverpool, it is not a notch off, and the hard work of the Portsmouth players completely made up the gap, and after the game started, they actually had the upper hand.

The fighting spirit is not something that can be lifted overnight, and even if the Liverpool players know that their opponents will not let them go, they still think they don't need to put in a lot of effort to beat Portsmouth.

Liverpool's thoughts were shattered in the first minute, when the early start of the Chelsea game was over, and they comfortably beat Bolton Wanderers, with a game in hand past Liverpool and Manchester United. Portsmouth, on the other hand, seemed to hear the news of the big win, and they fought hard to push Liverpool into a desperate situation in the first minute when striker Ruarua smashed a shot past Reina.

Now Liverpool is not able to fight, the Champions League can be promoted is not easy to say, whether the promotion can win the championship is also unknown, at this time if they can not beat Portsmouth, they will directly lose the league title, for Liverpool, the importance of the league championship and the Champions League is the same, they have the lead in the league, they must not hand over their fate to others again.

After conceding the goal, Liverpool gave up a distraction and launched a fierce comeback against Portsmouth.

At this time, Chen Yu and Gerrard played the role of a needle, less than five minutes after conceding the goal, Gerrard shot 25 meters from the goal, and his powerful volley went straight into the goal, hitting Portsmouth goalkeeper James without any reaction.

Gerrard's goal equalized the score, stabilized the player's feelings, and then the morale-boosting Liverpool team completely controlled the shape of the game, Portsmouth is not as strong as Liverpool, once Liverpool also let go and fight with them, their last bit of capital to compete with Liverpool will be gone, they can only be passively beaten, hoping to keep the result of a draw, this result can also help Chelsea tie Liverpool.

Liverpool went from strength to strength to Portsmouth, but they were unable to reverse the score, and after the first half, Liverpool switched from 44 to 43 for a three-striker and continued to attack.

In the 55th minute of the game, Chen Yu relieved Liverpool fans, and he helped Liverpool reverse the score with a point-grabbing shot in the penalty area.

Portsmouth was not willing to lose, and they immediately began to counterattack, hoping to get at least a draw, but after Liverpool slightly shrunk the defensive line, the attack and defense were more balanced, and in the first minute of the game, Chen Yu successfully countered offside and went straight to the penalty area, after he deceived James, he pushed the ball into the empty goal, helping Liverpool seal the win.

Benitez saw that he had a two-goal lead, so he replaced Chen Yu, Gerrard, and Alonso with 6 replacements, and continued to play the next game with substitutes.

Although Portsmouth is Chelsea's younger brother, they can't fight for Chelsea like relegation, and seeing that the defeat is irretrievable, they gave up the struggle, and in the end Liverpool beat Portsmouth 1 to continue to lead the table by two points.

Manchester United, who are playing at the same time as Liverpool, also beat Everton, but they are still two points clear of Liverpool and for them to win the title will have to wait for Liverpool to make a mistake.

With two rounds left in the league, Liverpool are two points ahead, and as long as they don't make fatal mistakes in the final two rounds, winning the league title is a high probability event, and now for Liverpool, the most important task has shifted to the Champions League, and the double has become the most realistic goal for the Reds.

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