Chapter 351: Mu Shuai's last battle in the Blues
Completing the double against Manchester City can be said to be of great significance.
At the end of the season, Chelsea won the Premier League title with 31 wins, 7 draws and 100 points, beating Manchester City.
Unfortunately, the Blues lost early to Manchester United in the FA Cup and Manchester City on penalties in the EFL Cup final, depriving Chelsea of any hope of winning the treble.
Originally, in the EFL Cup final, Mourinho planned to replace Kepa Arrizabalaga and let Jose go up to save the penalty, but Kepa refused the manager's arrangement.
Mourinho was so angry that he threw his notepad on his seat in anger.
After the game, the "Kepa Arrizabalaga incident" sparked a heated discussion among all parties.
As for whether Kepa Arrizabalaga will be hidden by Jose Mourinho? No one knows the answer anymore.
Jose Mourinho has announced that he will choose to leave his Chelsea position at the end of the season, but where will he go next? Most likely, it will be Real Madrid.
Therefore, the Champions League final on June 2 will be Mourinho's last game at Chelsea.
It stands to reason that Mourinho has no reason to leave with such good results at Chelsea over the years, but a madman is a madman, and he feels that there is no challenge at Chelsea.
Today's Chelsea, with a lot of defense at the back, can beat almost all opponents as long as they solve the attacking problem.
In the Champions League, if you can't beat Chelsea, it will mean Chelsea will definitely qualify.
In this year's Champions League, the traditional strong teams gave up early, including Real Madrid lost to Ajax in the 1/8 finals, Bayern lost to Liverpool, Barcelona lost to Lyon, Atletico Madrid lost to Juventus, and finally reached the final with Liverpool and Chelsea.
After many years, the Premier League civil war in the Champions League that fans have been waiting for has reappeared.
This is Liverpool's ninth Champions League final, the Reds are looking to win the title for the sixth, while Chelsea are looking to complete an unprecedented fourth consecutive Champions League title.
Liverpool owner Thierry Henry and his wife cheered on the scene, and Abu also appeared in the VIP seat at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium with his son.
Before the game, the rock band Menglong sang to the top of the world, igniting the atmosphere of the scene.
Former Spain international Reyes passed away in a car accident today, and the audience applauded him before the game.
In terms of the starting lists of both sides, both teams put on a 433 formation.
For Chelsea, Jose was in goal, David Luiz and Andreas Christensen partnered in central defence, Cesar Azpilicueta and Emerson split the two wing-backs, N'Golo Kante, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic formed a midfield triangle and Eden Hazard, Olivier Giroud and Pedro up front.
For Liverpool, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino will play in the trident, and they will attack Jose's goal.
Liverpool kick off first.
In the centre circle, Firmino played the ball back to Matip.
Matip paused slightly, then played a long pass to the left.
On the left side of midfield, the two sides battled for the top and eventually Henderson got the ball.
Henderson picks up a cross from inside the box.
On the left side of the box, Sadio Mane wins the ball.
Sadio Mane crosses for Kovacic to intercept.
Unexpectedly, the ball hit Kovacic.
The referee decisively awarded a penalty.
Just 22 seconds into the game, Chelsea conceded a penalty.
Even if it's Jose who guards the door, he can't be so presumptuous, right?
Mohamed Salah takes the penalty.
In order to shoot faster, he retreated to the edge of the arc island.
"Bang~" The ball made a pop, then turned into a white light and flew towards the lower right corner of the goal.
Salah is not slow to play, but unfortunately against Jose, it is still not enough.
Jose pounced on the side and saved his opponent's shot with no danger.
Fans weren't surprised at all.
Mohamed Salah tried to make a follow-up shot, but Cesar Azpilicueta arrived just in time to kick the ball out of the box.
Liverpool's golden chance was cleared.
Chelsea then launched a counter-attack.
Hazard broke through on the left side of the penalty area and could only cross with his feet.
Joel Matip barely cleared the ball and the ball was blocked out of the box.
From outside the box, N'Golo Kante volleyed in from yard range.
Unfortunately, it went high and the ball flew out of the top of the goal.
In the 9th minute, Kovacic made a mistake in the back pass.
Fabinho made a steal up front.
The ball went to Henderson's feet.
Henderson passes.
Alexander-Arnold shoots from 30 yards.
José glanced at the trajectory of the shot and made a save despite making sure it was missed.
In the end, José's judgment was correct.
The ball grazed the left post and flew out of the baseline.
Jose takes a goal kick.
Directly open the big foot to the middle circle position.
Jorginho's header crosses the ball to the left side of the pitch.
Eden Hazard had a near-one-on-one breakthrough.
Unfortunately, when Hazard was about to burst into the box, Alexander-Arnold decisively used a tactical foul.
Chelsea's free-kick was cleared away by Alisson.
A minute later, Liverpool had a quick counter-attack.
Salah combined with his team-mates to kick the wall and fired a shot from 25 yards.
This time, José had predicted it.
Salah's shot was directly confiscated by Jose.
The game that followed was a stalemate, with both teams failing to create scoring chances in a high-pitched confrontation.
The game scene is lethargic.
Until the 40th minute, there was an embarrassing scene on the field.
A female fan, half-naked, suddenly rushed into the stadium and then rushed towards José.
Frightened, Jose immediately fled his own restricted area.
Ran Ran came to the game scene today for a rare time, although she did not blame Jose for the behavior of female fans, but in order to make his wife absolutely at ease, Jose still had to make the right choice.
The female fan was eventually taken off the stadium by security guards.
Just before half-time, Robertson fired a powerful shot from the left side of the box.
The ball was fast, but Jose reacted in time because the shot was too far away.
At the end of the first half, the two sides played 0-0.
There were no personnel changes at halftime for either side.
It was still Liverpool who took the initiative to attack.
However, Fabinho and Mohamed Salah's shots were blocked by Chelsea players.
Robertson then crosses from the left.
Jose made a decisive move and confiscated the ball before Wijnaldum.
The scene was still very dreary.
Then Liverpool made substitutions, with Origi and Milner replacing Firmino and Wijnaldum respectively.
Liverpool came close to breaking the deadlock in the 69th minute.
Sadio Mane breaks through and passes.
Salah knocks back.
Milner fired a powerful left-footed shot from the edge of the box.
The ball flies straight into the bottom left corner of the goal.
At this time, Jose was on the right side of the goal.
There was no way, Jose had to use the first plug-in of the game.
There was no danger, Jose blocked the opponent's shot.
Eden Hazard then passed the ball.
Pedro shoots from the left side of the box.
The ball was not fast, the angle was average, and it was easily confiscated by Alisson.
A minute later, Cesar Azpilicueta crossed from the right.
Pedro missed another chance to open the scoring.
Liverpool had another chance in the 87th minute.
Kieran Trippier takes a corner.
Van Dijk had a shot on goal in the scuffle.
Jose flew to block it.
It was still Liverpool who had the ball.
Joel Matip passes.
From 12 yards on the left side of the box, Divock Origi fired low into the far corner.
Jose predicted in advance and blocked it in time.
Chelsea escaped.
(End of chapter)