The feud between Liverpool and Manchester goes back a hundred years, when Liverpool was one of the most famous ports in the UK, and its early prosperity was based on port trade.

By the time the Industrial Revolution came, Liverpool had already begun to decline.

Manchester, as an industrial city in the north-west, was initially very dependent on Liverpool's port for transshipment, but when the Manchester Grand Canal was opened at the end of the 19th century, most ships could already bypass Liverpool and go directly to Manchester, which undoubtedly exacerbated Liverpool's decline, so Manchester and his Grand Canal have been one of the objects of envy of Liverpudlians since then.

After the Industrial Revolution, both Liverpool and Manchester declined, but the hatred between the two cities remained.

The people of Manchester hate Liverpool, and the people of Liverpudlian hate Manchester, and the hostile relationship between the two cities has become integrated into every aspect of life, and football has become a real battlefield.

In the past, Manchester could only be represented by Manchester United, who rose to prominence in the 90th century and knocked Liverpool off the throne of English football, turning them from a real giant to a 'declining aristocracy'.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson famously said, "My greatest achievement is to kick Liverpool off the fucking throne", and he can always remember the joy of leading Manchester United over Liverpool, "Every Manchester is proud to win Liverpool." Because they are the most successful club in England like us. We couldn't stand the other side's victory, as if we were trampled underfoot. ”

In short, it was Manchester United who played against Manchester and Liverpool before, but now it is different, Manchester City has better results than Manchester United, so challenging Manchester United's 'dominance of Manchester' has become a top priority.

In fact, Manchester City have a fan base in this regard.

in the city of Manchester. There are more Manchester City fans than Manchester United fans, because many fans believe that Manchester United is an 'international team', their influence is international, and the owners are Americans, and they can't represent Manchester at all.

Manchester City, on the other hand, are fully rooted Manchester teams.

Because of this, when Wan Sheng said in front of the media, 'Only we can represent Manchester', it caused all kinds of buzz.

The media supporting Manchester City are excited. They are certainly happy to see Manchester City rise to the occasion and come to replace Manchester United; The neutral media is also interested in this matter, and the rivalry between Manchester City and Manchester United is originally a unique scenery of English football; Only the pure Manchester United media will stand up and make all kinds of attacks on Wan Sheng and ridicule his incompetence.

Regarding these, Wansheng did not refute anything.

In fact, he just came up with a slogan to cheer up the City fans, which didn't mean much, but he said it for a purpose.

Since coming to Manchester City FC, he has taken the reins of Manchester City. He has to face a problem, and that is his sworn enemies, Manchester United.

Even if he doesn't do anything, as long as Manchester City's results are good, he will always be against Manchester United. And the relationship will become more and more hostile, every Manchester United fan will regard him as a mortal enemy, and all those who support Manchester United will hate him.

It's inevitable unless he leaves Manchester City.

Wansheng is not afraid of this. He came to Manchester City ready to fight Manchester United to the end, so now when he leads the team to the top of the league, there is no need for him to keep a low profile. He took the initiative to gain the 'first-move' advantage, and the headache would be Manchester United.

Now the game with Liverpool is an opportunity, so Wan Sheng said it, and his words were also reported by many media and were regarded as a provocation to Manchester United.

A lot of the media talked about it, and it soon came back to the root of the matter – the results of Manchester United and Manchester City.

In the first game at the beginning of the season, Manchester City beat Manchester United, and the next meeting between the two teams is worth looking forward to, but the most important thing is the results of the two teams in the league, Manchester City is currently ranked first, Manchester United is behind Chelsea and Wigan Athletic, ranking fourth in the league, this kind of result is still a little too difficult to catch up.

After beating West Ham 2-1 away in the previous round, United won three consecutive league games and moved up to fourth in the table, 13 points behind Manchester City with a game in hand, but Ferguson's three-game winning streak gave Ferguson hope of fighting for the title.

After learning of Wan Sheng's remarks, Ferguson immediately sarcastically said, "That Chinese doesn't know what to do with some achievements, he wants to represent Manchester unless he wins as many titles as Manchester United first." ”

Then he moved on to the league.

"In football, things change very quickly and the battle for the title is far from over. City's results have been going up, but they've come to the top and I'm sure they're starting to slip. Chelsea have had a couple of pauses and I think their luck will dry up a bit. ”

Ferguson's pause was a reference to the Old Trafford game, where United continued their winning streak with a 1-0 thrashing of Chelsea, but Chelsea did not stop and the Blues have already won twice since leaving Old Trafford.

What he said was clearly not to give up on this season's competition.

There are many more people who have to do with Ferguson's time at Manchester United, he is 64 years old, and Ferguson still sees a long time on this, and when asked how long he will be at Manchester United, he said that there are at least two or three more years left.

'I'm still able to make long-term plans,' said Ferguson, 'and I'll be here next season and I'm sure the club will support me next summer.' Of course, I can't be here for another 10 years, maybe not for four years, but I can make plans for next season. ”

One of Ferguson's plans was to find new players for Manchester United, and after announcing that he had no interest in Ballack, he revealed some clues, saying that his number one target will come next summer, "In January, we will probably only bring in a few people, just to ensure that there are enough personnel, and the one we really want to sign can only be brought in next summer." ”

'This man can't represent us in this season's Champions League and his club won't sell him before next summer. But I'm confident that the club will support me in the summer and that United will get the players they need. ”

The media then interviewed Ferguson about who he really liked, and the two clues he revealed were also interesting, first of all, the player must have appeared on the Champions Cup stage this season, so even if he moved. He will not be able to play for Manchester United in the remaining stages, and secondly, he is important to the team, and his old club will not let him go easily until a replacement is found.

Ballack has been ruled out, with speculation in the British media focusing on two men, with AC Milan's Gattuso and Lyon's Marouda in the spotlight.

But until next summer, who exactly this man is remains a mystery, and only Ferguson himself really knows the answer.

……

At the same time, Liverpool, as one of the focuses of attention, has no time to care about Manchester's 'civil war'.

As the reigning champions of the UEFA Champions League. There have been many problems in their team, and perhaps the biggest headache for coach Benitez is the team's forward problem.

Wednesday night is the Champions League group stage, Liverpool's opponent is Real Betis from Spain, compared to Liverpool, Real Betis is just a rookie in European competitions, and the strength of the two teams is also quite different, but when they left Anfield, the mood of the vast majority of Reds fans was full of conflict.

On the one hand. The team's hard-won four-game winning streak came to an abrupt end on this day, but on the other hand, this is the fifth consecutive game in which the team has maintained a "clean sheet"; Although the club's history of never beating a Spanish side at home (three draws, one defeat) has not been rewritten, Liverpool's unbeaten run in the Champions League has extended to 13 games.

This is since the opening of the Premier League. Liverpool's fifth clean sheet in 19 games in all competitions, and 0-0 was enough for Liverpool to secure a place in the knockout stages of the round of 16.

In two weeks' time, the Champions League derby at Stamford Bridge could see Chelsea top of the group. That didn't change the fact that the two teams qualified together, and even last season, when Liverpool won the European title, they had to get through the final group game thanks to captain Steven Gerrard's last-gasp strike.

(This season Liverpool relied on the 'reigning Champions League champions' to secure a place.) but in a group with Chelsea)

However, embarrassment and frustration were also accompanied by a festive atmosphere, as it was a game that the home team deserved to win comfortably from any point of view.

In this game, Liverpool had a whopping 25 shots on goal (eight of which were within the woodwork) in 90 minutes, far more than the six of their opponents Real Betis (only two on target). On the pitch, Real Betis had a 54 per cent advantage in possession, but only a handful of times they entered the home team's 30-metre zone, let alone an actual threat to Liverpool's goal.

What's even more suffocating is that Crouch, a senior striker who has made his 16th appearance for Liverpool this season, also deserved his first goal since joining Anfield.

In just four minutes of the first half, Crouch had three great chances in a row, and his second-half left-footed volley was denied by the arm of visiting defender Rivas.

In UEFA's post-match technical statistics, Crouch alone had 10 shots on goal!

But...... Not a single goal was scored.

What a huge irony!

Crouch's nervousness and weakness in the face of the door seemed to be contagious to his team-mates, with Reese squandering a beautiful volley in the second half, while Steven Gerrard, who had expressed his desire to become a second Emlyn Hughes (the only captain in Liverpool history to lift the trophy twice), received a clever pass from Colwill as the game was about to enter stoppage time, only to watch as his powerful shot was successfully blocked by the visiting goalkeeper Dobras, so much so that he shook his head repeatedly when he was substituted.

"If Crouch can keep up with the way he played today, then I'll be very satisfied," said no surprise, despite the fact that Crouch had been 21 hours and eight minutes away from his last goal, head coach Benitis offered his support again, "In my opinion, he is the best in the game and he has been really good in the last few games." Anyway, we've qualified, which is a huge improvement from last season. ”

I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse, another inactive appearance still hasn't broken Crouch's self-confidence.

'It was another embarrassing night, but the important thing was that the team got the result we wanted', Crouch, who was replaced by Colwill in the 84th minute, said in his post-match interview, "as long as I can score the first goal, I'm sure more goals will follow." ”

But whatever the 'tacit' coaches and players say, Liverpool's forward line has become a huge problem.

The media commented, "Against Manchester City, how Liverpool will score will be a crucial issue. ”

At present, Manchester City has conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League, and it is not easy to break down the Manchester City goal, and Benitez's Liverpool forward line itself has problems, and the Manchester City media have made a mockery of "we can at least have a point".

Originally, the game between the two teams could go smoothly like this, after all, even if Wan Sheng said 'we can represent Manchester in the future', but that was later, not now, this is not the game between Manchester United and Liverpool, but a news before the game suddenly made the tension between the two teams suddenly become more tense - Benitez found Robbie Fowler in private, and the two had some conversations, Robbie Fowler is likely to return to Anfield in the winter! (To be continued......)