The Champions League final is the grand finale of Europe's top five leagues every year. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

However, this year is a bit special, as it is both a European Championship and an Olympic year, and the concentration of both competitions in the summer has invisibly weakened the appeal and attention of the Champions League.

Of course, for Liverpool and Chelsea fans, the Champions League final is a more important event than the European Championship and the Olympics.

In fact, just after the Champions League semi-finals, fans of Liverpool and Manchester United began to book tickets to Moscow.

From the start of qualifying to the day of the final on May 21, there are only 13 working days for the full game, and Britons must apply for a visa in advance to enter Russia. Normally, it takes 10 working days to process a visa to Russia, but this Champions Cup final turned into an English civil war, which means that at least more than 40,000 people will flock to the Russian embassy for visas en masse, which means that according to normal procedures, so many applications must be processed in three days, which is an almost impossible task.

So just after the semi-finals, there was a long queue at the Russian embassy in England, which was worried that the bad visa would affect the fans who went to watch the game.

Tens of thousands of fans flocked to Moscow, they want to eat, drink and have fun, this is a big spending, if there are fans because of visas can not go, this is of course a loss for fans, but also a loss for Russia, so the mayor of Moscow suggested that the relevant departments can give visa-free treatment to fans with tickets, but the proposal of the mayor of Moscow was rejected by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

However, in two days, all direct flights from the UK to Moscow have been sold out, and flights from Finland and other places have also been sold out by detour and land entry, and many fans are even preparing to go to Moscow by land 10 days in advance.

As the league ended, the news about the Champions League gradually passed, and the news about the Champions League finally came in a week before the final, and the reports of the European Championship and the Olympics finally disappeared from the print and television media for a while.

In the 100-year history of Manchester United and Liverpool, Liverpool has reached 8 finals and won six Champions League titles, Manchester United has reached 4 Champions League finals, won two Champions League titles, and has reached a final in more than ten years and more than 20 years on average, and some players have not even played the Champions League final in their lifetime, which shows how difficult it is to reach the Champions League final.

The Champions League is the club's highest honor, and no one wants to win the title, so there will inevitably be a war of words before the game.

The cause of this war of words is that Benitez said in an interview with reporters that Xiao Xiaoluo likes to fake falls and often uses fake falls to benefit.

The Manchester United coach and other players were upset about Ronaldo, arguing that it was unethical for Rafa Rafa to criticize Ronaldo before such an important game, and that such criticism could ruin a future superstar with huge potential.

Ronaldo's fans and Manchester United players scolded Benitez, saying that Benitez was cold-blooded, vicious, and a despicable villain.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson treats Ronaldo as a son, and Rafa Rafa criticizes how he can accept it, and after a day of holding back, Ferguson directly criticized Liverpool's players at the press conference, even Gerrard.

The rest of Manchester United's players followed suit, and the guns were aimed at Benitez and Liverpool's players, and the Liverpool players were not polite, and the pre-match war of words turned into a war of scolding.

On the Internet, fans on both sides also broke out into a large-scale scolding war, and even began to make appointments in reality, and the war of words on the Internet quickly turned into a veritable "war".

In fact, whether it is the FA or the British media, or the club, they all like to coach the players to have a war of words, which can not only increase popularity, sales, but also improve the loyalty of fans to the team, but if it comes to the point of scolding and fighting, in addition to the media, the FA and the club are not willing to see, that is too embarrassing, the FA quickly came out to mediate, let Liverpool and Manchester United stop saliva, and concentrate on the game in Moscow.

Russia

The Moscow police have been on alert since May 18, and according to the immigration office, about 40,000 British fans have entered Moscow since that day.

Since that day, about 7,000 police officers have been patrolling several key areas of Moscow 24 hours a day to intensify the search for suspicious persons. The 7,000 police officers also include 100 experienced English officers, who mainly help the Moscow police keep a close eye on British fans in Meaux.

Although relations between Britain and Russia were once very tense due to the poisoning of former Russian agent Litvinenko, which caused a lot of uproar last year, the serious violent clashes that occurred after the League Cup final three days ago made the leaders of both countries feel the seriousness of the problem, and in order to ensure that the Champions League final can be held safely, the police of the two countries have also worked together to clear their previous suspicions.

On the morning of May 19, the English Premier League champion Liverpool team arrived in Moscow, the capital of Russia, by special plane, and after a short stop at the airport, the team took the bus prepared by the club to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

In the afternoon of the same day, Premier League runners-up Manchester United also took a connecting flight to Moscow, where they coincidentally stayed at the Kempinski Hotel, not far from the RitzCarlton Hotel.

After arriving at the hotel, the players took a shower and rested, and then had lunch, after lunch, Benitez held a meeting for the players, mainly talking about the training arrangements and precautions for the first two days of the game, because the relationship between Western European countries and Russia is not good, some time ago in the League Cup final in Manchester, Russia's Saint Zenit and Rangers had a violent conflict, a Russian fan was stabbed to death, Benitez was worried about the safety of the players, strictly forbidden players to go out at night, and to apply to the coach when going out during the day, Make sure there are any surprises in the front of the final.

Benitez is also nervous for a reason, after the Champions League restructuring, only Fiorentina one team successfully defended the title, the difficulty of defending the title is very great, and Manchester United is a very good team, they and Liverpool know the roots, there is no secret at all, the competition between the two sides is actually the play on the spot, because Liverpool played an FA Cup game before, in terms of physical fitness is slightly inferior to Manchester United, so Benitez does not want the team to be affected by any accidents.

Liverpool's players are not children anymore, they all understand the importance of this game, they have won the FA Cup and the league, and now they are only one Champions League title away, winning this title, they can make history and become the best team in Liverpool's history, at this time, they don't want any accidents, after coming to Moscow, except for going out with the team for a walk, none of the players have clubbed and nightclubs.

Two days later

Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, which has a capacity of 84,745 fans, is full.

On the field, two teams, one red and one black, are in a fierce competition, they are both from the Premier League, wearing the red shirt is Liverpool, and the black away shirt is Manchester United.

Of course, this is not a Premier League move to Moscow, nor is it a friendly match, it is the finale of this season's big five European leagues - the Champions League final.

The Luzhniki Stadium is home to Spartak Moscow, and they were the first Eastern European venue to host the Champions League final, which was the first 'Premier League civil war' in history.

It's also an important game that the owners of Liverpool and Manchester United can't afford to miss, even if they have something important, they have to be there today.

Manchester United's boss Glazer and Liverpool's two owners, Gillette and Hicks, were sitting in the VIP box chatting and laughing, but their topics were all political and economic, and neither mentioned the game in progress.

In another box, Moscow's mayor Luzhkov also came to the scene, and sitting with him Manchester United legend Sir Charlton and UEFA president Michel Platini, the three of them were talking about the game.

The game has just begun, and in the commentary box, Chinese commentator Duan Xuan is broadcasting to fans the rosters of both sides of today's game: ...... Liverpool played today with a 451 lineup: goalkeeper No. 25 Reina; Rear four: No. 3 Finnen, No. 23 Carragher, No. 4 Hyypia, No. 6 Reese; Five midfielders: No. 19 Babel, No. 20 Mascherano, No. 14 Alonso, No. 8 Gerrard; No. 18 Kuyt, forward No. 9 Chen Yu, this is a more conservative formation, in the two full-backs, Benitez chose Finnan and Reese, who have experienced the Champions League final, rather than Arbeloa and Aurelio, who are in better form and age; The injuries to Ague and Skrtel have left Benitez to start Hyypia and set up five players in midfield to illustrate Benitez's concern for his centre-backs. There is only Chen Yu on the front line, which is not only the absolute trust in Chen Yu, but also the determination to make up his mind to ensure that he will not concede the ball first, and then seek victory......"

"Manchester United is a balanced 442 formation: No. 1 goalkeeper Van der Sar, four defenders: No. 6 Brown, No. 5 Ferdinand, No. 15 Vidic, No. 3 Evra, four midfielders: No. 4 Hargreaves, No. 16 Carrick, No. 18 veteran Scholes, No. 7 C-Ronaldo; Two strikers: No. 10 Rooney, No. 32 Tevez...... Manchester United's central defenders are very strong, but Manchester United's midfield is not as good as Liverpool, Scholes can start, probably considering Scholes's earth-shattering long-range shot that eliminated Barcelona in the semifinals, but in fact, how long Scholes can withstand the strong confrontation and fast pace of the Champions League, it's hard to say......"

The first kick-off was Manchester United, who were snatched away from the league title by Liverpool, and the fighting spirit of the game was even stronger, with Paul Scholes launching a long ball in the opening period, but Rooney and Hargreaves were unable to get their hands on the ball under the interference of Liverpool's defenders.

Then Reina's long pass was grabbed by Manchester United, but Manchester United's pass was wrong, and the ball was again tackled by Liverpool, who tried to attack from the wing, but Babbel kicked the ball out of the line.

After the opening, Manchester United played more aggressively, and they have been trying to face Liverpool's central defender Hyypia directly, but Liverpool has five players in the midfield, and the protection of the back line is very thoughtful, and Manchester United's attack has never been able to reach Liverpool's penalty area.

Five minutes later, United abandoned their long-passing, attacking style of play and began a combination of wings and centres, trying to lure Liverpool's central players to the flanks and then raid the middle.

Liverpool, on the other hand, were not fooled, they played steadily, let the wing-backs retreat, patiently entangled with Manchester United, and the game entered the midfield entanglement stage.