Chapter 154: The Conquest of the Etihad

On August 25, in the second leg of the Champions League play-offs, Manchester City hosted the Bucharest Star.

Manchester City were all substitutes, with Yaya Toure and Joe Hart both starting.

In the end, relying on Delph's goal, Manchester City defeated the stars 1:0 at home, eliminated the opponent with a score of 6:0 over two legs, and successfully advanced to the Champions League main stage.

In this season's Champions League play-offs, two teams from the top five leagues have been eliminated.

Roma, who is third in Serie A, lost 1:4 to Porto, who is third in the Portuguese Super League, lost 1:4 in two legs, and Villarreal, who is fourth in La Liga, lost 1:3 to Monaco, who are third in Ligue 1, in two legs.

From the 10/11 season to the present, in seven consecutive seasons of Champions League qualification, only AC Milan managed to pass the 13/14 season, and the other six seasons were all eliminated.

Udinese twice, Napoli, Sampdoria, Lazio and Roma once.

This is truly disastrous.

Monaco was a bit of a surprise when they eliminated fourth place in La Liga.

La Liga has been able to occupy the first place in European points for a long time, which is unique.

In the Champions League qualifiers, La Liga teams have always had a high probability of qualifying.

So Monaco's elimination of Villarreal this time is a small upset.

Soon after the Champions League qualifying round, the draw for the group stage will begin.

Among the four teams in the Premier League, the Foxes have the best signing, drawing a group with Porto, Brugge and Copenhagen, and there is basically no suspense in qualifying.

After all, it is a Premier League champion, and you can directly become a first-tier team and try to avoid other strong teams.

In addition, Arsenal drew a group with Paris, Basel, and Ludogorets, which is also a simple group, depending on whether the Gunners win the group first or the group second.

Tottenham drew a group with CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco.

This is a messy group of death, the strength of the four teams is relatively average, and everyone has a chance to advance.

But whoever advances, it's hard to make a difference in the knockout rounds.

At least that's what the European media generally think.

The English media also said that Tottenham were undoubtedly the strongest in the group.

Even if there were some twists and turns, he was able to make the cut in the end.

Manchester City were drawn in Group C as a team in Pot 2.

Pot 1 is Barcelona, Pot 3 is Borussia Mönchengladbach and Pot 4 is Celtic.

Undoubtedly, the biggest attraction of this group is Pep Guardiola's return visit to Barcelona.

In terms of overall strength, Manchester City should not have much problem advancing from this group.

However, it is also necessary to pay attention to Borussia Mönchen, which is also a team in the top five leagues, and if Manchester City is accidentally eliminated, it will be a big shame.

And Manchester City will have to try to hold Barcelona down and advance to the top of the group.

After all, the first in the group can have a big advantage in the draw for the round of 16.

Last season, Manchester City set a record in the Champions League by winning the group and then picking up a blank opponent Dynamo Kiev in the round of 16.

By the way, Zhang Chaoqiang's old club Leon was drawn to a group with Juventus, Sevilla, and Dinamo Zagreb.

In the summer transfer window, Lyon sold Umtiti to Barcelona in addition to selling Zhang Chaoqiang.

The offensive and defensive cores have been sold, which has led to a very obvious decline in Lyon's overall strength.

At the beginning of the season, they were beaten badly, losing 1:5 to Grand Paris.

Now in this Champions League group, they may not necessarily win against Sevilla.

It can be said that the current situation of the old club is a bit less than ideal.

After the Champions League group is decided, it is natural to discuss the favorites to win the championship.

According to mainstream opinion, for the time being, Barcelona are the first favorite, Bayern is the second favorite, and Real Madrid is the third favorite.

Huang Saren is still very stable.

This is followed by Juventus in fourth, with Manchester City in a joint fifth place with last season's Champions League runners-up Atletico Madrid.

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On August 28, in the third round of the English Premier League, Manchester City hosted West Ham United.

'The rest of the league has come to an end, with Manchester United and Chelsea both winning games to complete a three-game winning streak in the Premier League.

"Manchester City only need to win at home to the Hammers, and they can join the three-game winning streak......

With only three rounds of the new Premier League season, there are only three teams left without dropping points.

Defending champions Leicester City look unable to replicate the magic of last season, so the real ownership of the Premier League title has to come back to the traditional powerhouses.

Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, these three teams are more champions.

In fact, the ranking of the odds of winning the Premier League given by Spinach is Manchester City first, Manchester United second, and Chelsea third.

At the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City fans were already waiting in the stands.

The last round was an away game, so this game is Zhang Chaoqiang's official debut at the Etihad Stadium.

Zhang Chaoqiang led the caddie out of the field, and a huge shout immediately sounded in the stands.

"Super Zhang!! Super Zhang!! ”

With a hat-trick, Zhang Chaoqiang has officially won the recognition of Manchester City fans.

There were a large number of fans wearing No. 25 jerseys at the scene, and they all came to support Zhang Chaoqiang.

When Zhang Chaoqiang transferred, the key numbers in the Manchester City team were occupied in advance, Aguero wore the number 10, and Sterling wore the number 7.

The number 9 is still empty, but it is the number of the center.

After careful consideration, Zhang Chaoqiang still chose the same number as Lyon - No. 25.

In fact, many important players in the Manchester City team wear miscellaneous shirts, De Bruyne wears the number 17 and David Silva wears the number 21.

So Zhang Chaoqiang wears a No. 25, which is not a big deal.

The game officially began, and Manchester City quickly launched an attacking wave.

The Hammers relied on the performance of Payet and Moses to finish seventh in the Premier League last season and qualify for the Europa League.

However, during the transfer period, Payet returned to Marseille in Ligue 1 and Moses joined Chelsea, so the strength of the team has declined.

Therefore, in this season's Europa League qualifiers, the Hammers were eliminated by Romanian team GirdjuAstra and missed the main competition.

In the face of such a team, Manchester City naturally does not need to be polite, just win the game steadily.

In the 10th minute of the game, West Ham United grabbed the ball but failed to attack, David Silva took the ball in front of his own penalty area and quickly launched an attack.

Zhang Chaoqiang received a pass in the middle circle, decisively accelerated forward, and instantly broke through the encirclement that the three defenders of the Hammers tried to encircle.

"Well done, super Zhang!!" In the Etihad stands, Manchester City fans cheered and witnessed Zhang Chaoqiang's performance.

The Chinese fans present were even more excited, and kept waving the five-star red flag in their hands.

Zhang Chaoqiang dribbled straight to the Hammers, England midfielder Noble tried to intercept, but he pulled his left foot and flashed straight to the opponent.

Italian defender Ogbonna rushed to block, Zhang Chaoqiang knocked his right heel and knocked the football to the left side of his body, immediately bent his bow and arrow, stepped on the line of the big penalty area and volleyed with his left foot.

The ball sped like a cannonball against the turf and headed straight for the West Ham goal.

West Ham goalkeeper Adrian continued to bend down to catch the ball, but the ball flew past his feet and crashed headlong into the net.

“Gooooooooooal——————————”

"Super Zhang!! Nice long-distance run to break the goal!! ”

"It was a quick and violent half-court run, and Super Zhang broke through the Hammers defense alone and poured the ball directly into the opponent's goal!!"

"In the last round debut, Daniel Zhang scored a hat-trick, but he didn't feel it was enough, and he quickly delivered a half-time run in this game."

"In just two games, Zhang has become the new favorite of the Etihad Stadium and quickly became the No.1 in the hearts of Manchester City fans!!"

Zhang Chaoqiang rushed to the sidelines to celebrate, and the Manchester City fans in the stands cheered excitedly.

A large number of fans took advantage of the broadcast camera to show the number 25 on the back of their jerseys.

At this time, the domestic commentator also said excitedly: "It seems that it only took two games, and Zhang Chaoqiang has conquered the Etihad Stadium." ”

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After Zhang Chaoqiang ran to score, the next game became very simple.

In the 27th minute, Raheem Sterling scored with a through ball from Kevin De Bruyne.

In the 48th minute, Fernandinho hit another beautiful long-range shot to extend the score.

The Hammers pulled a goal back in the 62nd minute, but it didn't matter.

On the contrary, in stoppage time, Raheem Sterling scored a brace from another point.

In this way, Manchester City defeated West Ham United 4-1 at home and won three consecutive victories in the opening game.