Chapter 43: Soaring Popularity, Breaking Five Million Followers (Transition Chapter)
In the end, with Lin Quan's shocking barb shot in injury time, the two teams drew 2:2.
Manchester City retreated from Chelsea's home turf.
Although the winning streak was interrupted, they remained undefeated.
With such a result in a disjointed squad, Manchester City fans are already very satisfied.
At the post-match press conference, Pellegrini spent a minute praising Lin Quan's performance, praising him as the best of all the players he has bred, and there is no one!
"As a manager, I'm very happy that my team has a player like Lin Quan, he is the kind of existence that can bring you infinite surprises, just like Messi in Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo in Real Madrid, I think Lin is obviously a player of this level!"
The annual Ballon d'Or is about to be drawn, and Pellegrini is building momentum for him in advance.
Although Lin Quan's historical record and honor are much worse than those of several big hits, the momentum that should be created must still be made, and the topic of hype must also be fried.
Regarding Pellegrini's words, netizens have discussed one after another.
"There's nothing wrong with the engineer's words, Emperor Lin does have the taste of peerless pride now!"
"Low-key and low-key, you can't recruit black for Lin Huang, he has to win at least a Champions League trophy and a Golden Ball Award before he can be compared with the peerless double pride, before that, Lin Huang is still too far behind in terms of honor!"
"Hehe, I think Emperor Lin can take a shortcut, for example, to win a Hercules Cup in next year's World Cup, in this case, wouldn't he directly surpass Melo?"
"This can be had, the gold content of the Hercules Cup is higher than that of the Big Ear Cup, but it is very difficult to get the Hercules Cup!"
"There are a lot of strong teams in next year's World Cup, not to mention the host Brazil, Argentina in South America, and France, England, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany, which are traditional European powerhouses.
It's very difficult to fight your way out of so many strong teams! ”
"The upstairs is missing, the strength of the European Red Devils Belgium should not be underestimated, and the strength of Modric and Mandzukic in Croatia is also good, and there are indeed many strong teams in Europe!"
"Indeed, there are many teams in Europe that have been classified into the second or even third gear, maybe there will be a super death group in the group stage, if you are unlucky, draw the death group, with the characteristics of Spain's slow heat, you will be eliminated in the group stage!"
"It can't be, can it? Spain is also the defending champion, and now it is still the world No. 1 ranked by FIFA, so it is impossible to fail to qualify for the group stage, right? ”
"Theoretically, there is a possibility that you will not be able to qualify, but the probability is not very high."
After the game, the video of Lin Quan's upside-down golden hook in this game spread at a rapid speed on the Internet.
He also managed to reach the top of Twitter's trend list with this god-like shot.
Affected by this, Lin Quan's fame and influence have once again risen to a higher level.
The number of followers on Twitter also soared, surpassing 5 million, surpassing a large group of active stars.
……
Some people are proud and some are disappointed, and after Pellegrini's interview, the Chelsea manager has not yet arrived.
This made the reporters whisper below:
"Mourinho shouldn't be a deserter and dare not come, right?"
"Hehe, it's possible!"
"He bragged before the game that he would win Manchester City at home, but he was held to a draw by Manchester City, who had a broken squad, and now everyone is waiting to see his jokes, I don't think he has the courage to show up!"
There is no shortage of news where Mourinho is around, and the madman's personality can easily clash with journalists.
And every conflict can be used as material by the media to report on it.
After waiting for a while, Mourinho was late, and his face was pale, as if he had just had an argument with someone.
"I bet Mourinho must have lost his temper in the dressing room!"
"Hehe, maybe I had a friendly exchange with Abu?"
Reporters speculated.
The group didn't deliberately keep their voices down, so they heard Mourinho clearly in the discussion below.
He snorted coldly, sat down behind the interviewee's desk, and then spoke:
"I know what you're asking, but my team ended their opponent's eight-game winning streak, and I think that's an acceptable result!"
He anticipated the reporters' questions and wanted to be the first to open his mouth to gag the reporters' mouths.
However, how could the reporters of Fleet Street let him go so easily?
"But Manchester City is missing a lot of main players, at best it is just a remnant, and if even Manchester City can't win like this, then by the time you visit the Etihad Stadium in the 24th round of the league, will Chelsea still have a chance of winning?"
Mourinho glanced at the reporter who asked the question and found that the other party was a reporter from The Times, so he saved a little face for the other party and did not spray directly:
"My team is the best, we can beat any opponent!"
The Independent reporter asked:
"After this game, Manchester City is still seven points ahead of Chelsea, and Arsenal is three points ahead of you, is Chelsea's goal this season still to win the title?"
Mourinho said dismissively:
"Of course, the goal of me and the team is always to win the championship, the league has just started, and there are 29 rounds left, which is enough for my team to chase points!"
The Guardian reporter was not satisfied with Mourinho's answer, retorting with data:
'But in those nine games, Chelsea have lost one and drawn three, and the team's forward problems remain unsolved, and among the traditional giants of the Premier League, Chelsea are currently only scoring more goals than the volatile Manchester United, behind the other three teams and even further behind Manchester City!'
Mourinho sneered: "Arsene Wenger's Arsenal is fierce at the beginning of every season, giving people the feeling that they are about to win the title, but what Arsenal looks like in the second half of the season, you haven't seen it!" ”
"I'll admit that Man City have a good record at the moment, but they are inexperienced and they make mistakes very quickly on multiple fronts, and my team won't!"
The reporters present couldn't help but roll their eyes, why is this person's face so thick?
Who lost to Basel in the first Champions League game?
Manchester City now has won all of their Champions League titles, and the situation of qualifying from the group is bright.
You Chelsea still have to compete with Werder Bremen for the top spot in the group, whether you can win the group or even qualify is not certain!
That's it, and I'm embarrassed to say that my team can't make mistakes.
I see you Mourinho is a dead duck with a hard mouth!
Seeing Mourinho boasting like this, the reporter of the Sun said:
"Coach Mourinho, you said before the game that you would beat Manchester City at home, but you failed, what do you think of the Haikou you boasted about before the game?"
This is a direct slap in the face!
Mourinho could be a little more polite to reporters from The Times and other mainstream newspapers, but to a tabloid like The Sun.
Then he won't be polite at all!
'I can be from Stamford Bridge and you can just hide in a dark corner and speak badly.
The reason Chelsea asked me to be their manager was because I was better than you, better than everyone in this room, otherwise why wouldn't they ask you? ”
After finishing speaking, he brushed his sleeves and went straight to the end of the press conference.
……
As the highlight of this round of Premier League matches, the news media throughout Fleet Street covered the game after the game.
And Lin Quan's goal was undoubtedly selected as the best goal in this round of the Premier League.
In the history of Manchester City, the only goal that can be compared to Lin Quan's goal is probably only when facing Queens Park Rangers in the last round of the 2011-2012 season, Aguero's whistle before the half-time whistle blows!
Of course, in terms of excitement, Lin Quan's goal is obviously a complete victory.
But when it comes to the level of thrills, and the importance of the team.
Then Aguero's shot was obviously more important, after all, it was a shot that bought a trophy.
After the game, Sergio Aguero, who was suspended due to illness, praised Lin Quan's performance on social media.
"It's incredible, Lin has done what every striker wants to do, but can't, I think when I return to the team, I have to learn from him how to shoot with a barb!"
A certain striker of Real Madrid, who did not want to be named, secretly gave Aguero a thumbs up, Lin Quan's shooting skills are really useful after learning, who knows who uses them!
After seeing Aguero's tweet, Lin Quan also tweeted:
"It's easy to shoot with a barb? All you have to do is jump up, put your feet up, and aim at the ball and kick it hard! ”
Sergio Aguero: "??? It's really that simple, I don't read much, don't lie to me! ”
Royce: "This guy is a liar, when he shoots with his right foot, he lifts more than his height, and if you want to shoot like that, you have to be able to jump that high!" ”
Is it OK to jump high?
One of Real Madrid's 100 million wingers was eager to try it on the pitch.
There is a world-class problem player in Serie A below the head, and he wants to try it after learning the news.
So, in AC Milan's away game against Parma, he really tried to replicate Lin Quan's goal on the field.
And then......
Balotelli received a yellow card for not kicking the ball but kicking the opposition defender square......
……
As the losing side, Chelsea fans are in a bitter mood.
However, it is not without good news, Torres, who has scored in two consecutive games, has obviously improved his form.
This is a bit of comfort for Chelsea fans, and if Fernando Torres can continue his form, Chelsea may not be able to come back from the table to win the title.
The draw for the group stage of the World Cup is just around the corner, and before that, a number of journalists approached Torres to ask what he thinks of the club and the national team.
"I feel like I'm getting back in form and I'm confident I can help the team continue to win!"
Torres didn't look too affected by the game, at least judging by the confidence he showed to be much better than he had been in the previous months.
But the reporters were clearly not satisfied with this answer.
Journalists want great news.
"Fernando, we know that you are the absolute mainstay of Spain at the World Cup in South Africa and Euro 12, but after Lin Quan came to the team, you lost that position.
But you've been in such good form lately and if you can continue that good form in the league and Champions League, do you think Bosque will put you back in the starting line-up? ”
The reporter obviously didn't have a good heart, and he wanted to provoke the relationship between Lin Quan and Torres.
As a star of fame, Torres can't possibly have no complaints about losing his starting position.
As long as he has any grievances during the interview, the reporters can make a big story and exaggerate it into a huge contradiction within the Spanish national team.
As the defending champion and currently the number one national team in the FIFA rankings, the Spanish national team has a lot of traffic.
News about them has a lot of audiences, and if they can make a little bit of buzzing news, their newspapers will definitely sell out!
On top of that, the Englishman wants to take the opportunity to destabilize and unite the Spanish national team's dressing room and add a bit of uncertainty to the defending champions' World Cup journey next year.
Of the countries participating in the World Cup, I am afraid that no one wants them to successfully defend their title, except for the fans of Spain.
The British, of course, are no exception!
Torres is no newcomer, having played in the Premier League for several years and knows all too well the flamboyant bowels of Fleet Street's undisciplined journalists.
So, he considered his words and replied cautiously:
"I'm confident that I can continue this form and I know how hard it has come about."
Torres's goal drought lasted not for a day or two, but for a year or two, and since he came to Chelsea, he couldn't find the kind of scoring form he had when he was at Liverpool, so Torres cherished the recovery of form this time.
"As for the starting position in the national team, it should be determined according to the coach's own employment and tactical play, and I will try my best to impress the coach and let the coach see my strength."
This answer was actually quite careful, but Torres still overestimated the discipline of the Fleet Street reporters.
"The Holy Child is dissatisfied with Lin Quan - he stole my starter! 》
Seeing the report of the unscrupulous reporter, Torres was dumbfounded: these reporters are really undisciplined and offline!
His answer did not express such a meaning at all, this group of guys deliberately distorted the facts!
But after this news report came out, it immediately caused a sensation in the football world.
The media of various countries have reprinted or followed up on the report, and everyone who hyped up this news is well known.
After all, the Spanish national team is the number one team in the world, and after winning multiple championship trophies in a row, their popularity and traffic far exceed that of other competitors.
This has led to a lot of interest in the forward battle for the Spanish national team, and many Torres fans are starting to fight for him.
"Strongly urge Bosque to put Torres in the starting line-up, Tony deserves a starting spot!"
"At Torres' level, it's no problem to say that the best striker in Spain is fine, right? If you can't get into the starter like this, it's outrageous! ”
"Not to mention Torres, Villa is also sitting on the cold bench, since Lin Quan joined the team, the chances of these players to appear have indeed been greatly reduced."
"Alas, it's a bit chilling that these veteran players have contributed so much to the Spanish national team, and now they have been kicked out!"
"The approach of the Spanish coaching staff is really debatable, I think they should give the old players more opportunities, instead of Lin Huang like now, Lin Huang is an iron man, and he can't stand it as a starter!"
Doubts began to appear on the Internet about the Spanish coaching staff, because the strength of the Spanish national team is too strong, and there has always been a voice from the outside world that the bolted dog can win the game in Bosque's position.
In this case, the work of the Spanish coaching staff can easily be overlooked.
After all, the tactical style of play is based on Barcelona, and most of the players are also from Barcelona.
It's not so much the Spanish national team as the Barcelona team.
Seeing that things are getting bigger, Torres has realized that he has done something wrong, regardless of whether the unscrupulous reporters have distorted the facts.
At this time, he must stand up to refute the rumors, clarify the facts as soon as possible, and not let the wrong rumors continue to ferment.
However, Torres's public clarification was not believed, and many felt that he was under pressure from the Spanish national team, and was forced to make public rumors.
Seeing that the situation was about to spiral out of control, Bosque stepped up:
'Fernando Torres and Lin are both very good players and I wouldn't compare who is better or worse between them.
As for the starting line-up, I'll try to use the 442 formation in the next games and give them a chance to start! ”
This is a chance for the two to compete fairly, under the two-striker tactic, who has the ability to score goals, after a few games, it will naturally be clear at a glance!
(End of chapter)