"Lin, will you show mercy to your old teammates in the game against Werder Bremen?"

After the results of the draw came out, a large group of reporters came to the door and surrounded Lin Quan to interview him.

Facing the reporter's question, Lin Quan replied with a smile:

"My old teammates are very strong, they don't need my men to show mercy, but I think I should ask them to be merciful, after all, they know my playing habits very well, and no one knows how to limit me better than them!"

Lin Quan has a good relationship with the veteran players of Werder Bremen, and in this kind of civilian team, the relationship between the players is generally much closer than when they were in the giants.

He misses and cherishes this friendship and will not destroy it easily.

So he won't say anything like 'mercy' that hurts the other party's self-esteem.

On the contrary, he also praised his old teammates fiercely, so that reporters could pay more attention to them, which can be regarded as helping them improve their attention and fame!

After all, Werder Bremen has some players who are really good, and all they lack is a suitable stage.

The reporters were not very satisfied with Lin Quan's smooth answer, so they continued to ask:

"Lin, how do you feel about returning to Weser Stadium again?"

"If you scored a goal at Weser Stadium, would you choose to celebrate?"

Lin Quan was silent for a while, as if he was thinking about how to answer this question.

"To be honest, I didn't expect to come back to Weser as an opponent, it's a delicate feeling.

Last season, when I wore the green shirt of Werder Bremen, I always enjoyed the applause and cheers of the fans, but now I am afraid to hear their boos.

It's not easy to score against Werder Bremen, but if I'm lucky enough to score, I don't think I would have celebrated, either away or at home. ”

Lin Quan's answer was very sincere, which made the fans of Werder Bremen who saw these interviews very touched.

They ran to Lin Quan's social media accounts one after another and made a uniform call:

"Lin, welcome home!"

The veteran captain Fritz took Lin Quan on social media and posted:

"Lin, we all miss you so much, welcome home!"

Arnautovic said: "Hey man, we all have a surprise for you to welcome you back to Bremen! ”

Phil Krueger posted: "It is indeed a big surprise, I can testify! ”

Lin Quan was curious about what the surprise they were talking about, but when he opened his mouth to ask, the other party refused to tell him.

……

The Champions League is still far away, and after the draw ceremony, City quickly focused on league and cup competitions.

On December 18, the quarter-finals of the League Cup began.

Lin Quan came off the bench in the 76th minute of the second half to score his first goal in the Carabao Cup.

With a brace from Keylor Navas and a goal from Linquan, Manchester City eased their unbeaten run of the season to 25 games with a comfortable 3-1 win away at Leicester City.

On December 21, in the 17th round of the English Premier League, Manchester City challenged the farmer Fulham away.

The two teams met in the warm-up stages before the start of the season, when Manchester City won 2-0.

Facing the mighty Manchester City, Fulham wisely did not choose to play against Manchester City, but set up a bus at home, wanting to use defensive counter-attacking tactics to contain the opponent.

However, in the face of Manchester City's strong attacking firepower, Fulham's calculation was clearly miscalculated.

Before the end of the first half, Manchester City led 2-0 thanks to goals from Lin Quan and Yaya Toure.

At the start of the second half, Kompany scored a header to extend the score to 3:0.

With the win in hand, Manchester City began to make personnel changes.

In the next game, they will face Liverpool, who is third in the league, and in order to save strength for this game, Pellegrini chose to replace Lin Quan and other main players to rest.

However, after the substitution, there were some waves on the field.

In the 70th minute of the game, Kompany made a mistake in clearing the header in his own penalty area, put the ball into his own goal, and gave the opponent an own goal.

Encouraged by this, Fulham launched a wave of attack, and in the 77th minute, Richardson scored another goal to rewrite the score to 2:3.

Conceding two goals in a row in just seven minutes has made Manchester City fans start to worry again.

In the last few league games, Manchester City have been in the habit of taking the lead and then stumbling aside.

Fortunately, substitutes Keylor Navas and James Milner stepped up and scored two goals in quick succession in the 82nd and 85th minutes to extend the lead back to three.

In the end, Manchester City beat Fulham 5-2 away to extend their unbeaten run to 26 games and their unbeaten run in the league to 17.

Had it not been for the defeat to Norwich in the last game of last season, City would now be unbeaten in more than 20 games across the season.

It's just that with the accumulation of their unbeaten record, the psychological pressure on the players has become more and more great.

They are more and more concerned about winning and losing, and the psychological burden of wanting to win and being afraid of losing is getting heavier and heavier.

And in this state, they soon ushered in the pinnacle battle with Liverpool.

Liverpool's record this season is very good, not only changing the previous decline that has been hovering in the second group of the league, but also strong enough to enter the championship group.

After Suarez's return from the ban, they won four in a row, scoring an average of 4.5 goals per game, and their attacking firepower caught up with Manchester City at the top of the table.

In this round of games, Arsenal was forced to draw by Chelsea at home, with 2 draws and 1 loss in the last three rounds, and only 2 points were obtained, not only by Manchester City at the top of the table, but also by Liverpool behind the score.

The Reds even overtook Arsenal in the standings and came to second place in the league because of goal difference.

So, this game is another battle for the top spot.

For the Reds, they are now second in the table but only have 36 points, while Manchester City have 47 points, and the gap between the two teams is a whopping 11 points.

If they can't beat Manchester City, it will be almost impossible for them to win the title with such a big margin going into the second half of the fixture.

But if they can beat Manchester City, it will not only break City's unbeaten streak, but also close the gap between the two teams to eight points, at least no longer a double-digit gap.

Although Liverpool have been on a strong momentum recently, the outside world is more optimistic about Manchester City.

The best start in Premier League history, unbeaten in 26 games on all fronts, and winning all at home.

Who can beat such a team?

If Manchester City are a trip to Liverpool's Anfield Stadium this round, they may be a little more optimistic about Liverpool.

But it's a pity that Manchester City is sitting at home to face the challenge of the Reds, and in the face of the most terrifying home stadium in the Premier League, no team in Europe can say with certainty that it will be able to beat it!

Not to mention beating Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, it's hard to even draw them here!

This season, Manchester City have played a total of 12 games at the Etihad Stadium, and they have not only won them all, but also set a terrifying record of 4.25 goals per game.

Here, losing three goals is considered a minority, and it is normal to score six or even seven goals.

Among the teams slaughtered by the Etihad Stadium by a large score, there is no shortage of giants and powerhouses such as Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Even the mighty Bayern have scored three goals in this stadium!

Manchester City may be able to try to challenge them on the road, but at home, they are like gods and simply cannot be beaten.

Liverpool are very strong and have a good momentum of late, but with their quality, it seems that there is still a lack of to break such a devil's home field.

However, before the game, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said:

'Manchester City are a very strong team and it will be difficult to challenge them away from home, but we have found a way to deal with them and we will break their unbeaten run at the Etihad Stadium.

Rodgers' words were largely skeptical, with Reds fans confident they would be able to upset Manchester City on the road.

But Manchester City fans and most neutral fans are not optimistic about them, so many top teams have not been able to accomplish the goal, Liverpool can really do it?

Surprisingly, however, Rogers wasn't really bragging.

After the start of the game, Liverpool did not choose to defend, but put on a posture to play against Manchester City.

Very few teams dare to play Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, and the teams that usually choose this way do not end up with very good results.

However, Liverpool seemed to have had some luck today.

In the 24th minute of the first half, Liverpool completed a quick counter-attack, and after Suarez's shot was saved by the goalkeeper, the follow-up Coutinho scored to give the team a 1-0 lead over the home team.

"Coutinho has made a difference, Liverpool have the lead over Manchester City on the road!"

The commentators didn't react violently to the goal, as many of the previous Etihad teams had scored first, but in the end they were all reversed.

However, in the 39th minute, when Suarez scored Liverpool's second goal, the commentators were not calm.

"Suarez! An incredible goal, he showed what he is capable of as a top goalscorer! ”

"This is Suarez's 11th league goal since his comeback, and the Uruguayan is charging for the top of the scorer charts, and with his current scoring efficiency, he could even threaten Lin Quan's Golden Boot status!"

Sky Sports, Martin Taylor praised Suarez fiercely.

Although there is a lot of controversy about this player, his unsportsmanlike behavior on the field has caused him a lot of infamy.

But in terms of hard power, this guy is really a top striker.

'It was a goal that pushed City to the brink, and so far this season City have never been two goals down at home, but Liverpool did!'

"Before the game, Rodgers said to the outside world that they had found a way to deal with Manchester City, but everyone was full of doubts about his words, but now, I don't think anyone doubts his words anymore, Liverpool have really found a way to restrain Manchester City, and they are very likely to break Manchester City's unbeaten golden body!"

After falling behind by two goals, City's players generally looked very anxious.

They were eager to launch an attacking equaliser, but Liverpool defended very well today.

The more anxious Manchester City are, the lower their attacking threat becomes.

Taking advantage of their rush to attack, Liverpool also played a very threatening counterattack, if it wasn't for Joe Hart's brave save from Sterling's one-on-one goal, maybe Manchester City would have fallen behind by three goals.

The first half ended quickly, and with a two-goal advantage, Liverpool's players walked to the visitors' dressing room with a smile and a smile.

On the home side, Manchester City's players are generally in a very low mood.

At half-time, Manuel Pellegrini made some changes to his team's tactics.

He brought on the defensively more defensive James Milner in an attempt to limit the opposition's attacks on the flanks.

At the same time, he also asked Lin Quan's position to be brought to the front line, and let David Silva play the front midfielder to deliver cannonballs for Lin Quan.

The substitution had an effect, and after the start of the second half, David Silva set up Lin Quan to score a goal.

Manchester City once saw hope of equalising!

However, Rodgers quickly made a personnel change, replacing goal-scorer Philippe Coutinho with No.12 Moses to keep an eye on David Silva.

This move quickly worked, under the marking of Moses, David Silva's pass gradually lost its threat, Lin Quanding could not get the ball after the front, and the threat to the Liverpool goal was greatly reduced.

Manuel Pellegrini immediately made another change, replacing Fernandinho with Xavi Garcia.

Xavi Garcia's passing ability is good, and when he was on the court before, he had a very good cooperation with Lin Quan.

The purpose of Pellegrini's substitution is obvious, he is still trying to feed the players in the front line, especially Lin Quan, to equalize or even reverse the game with his strong attacking ability.

However, this substitution not only did not achieve the desired effect, but because of the departure of Fernandinho, it greatly weakened Manchester City's ability to control the midfield.

Under the frantic scramble of Liverpool's players, Manchester City made frequent mistakes in midfield, and Xavi Garcia conceded two goals in less than five minutes after coming on the pitch, one of which was counter-attacked by the opponent on the spot, almost causing tragedy.

Lacking the support of the midfield, the players in the forward line are alone and unsupported, and the threat to the Liverpool goal is infinitely reduced.

As the clock ticked by, the end of the game was getting closer and closer, and Manchester City were still behind.

The Manchester City fans at the scene anxiously began to shout Lin Quan's name, and after Lin Quan realized that he had no chance to stay on the front line, he no longer cared about Pellegrini's tactics and took the initiative to retreat to receive the ball.

He wants to use his individual strength to equalize, just like the previous few kills!

In the 89th minute of the game, Lin Quan got the ball in his own backfield.

When the football appeared at Lin Quan's feet again, whether it was the Red Army fans who accompanied the team on the expedition, or the Red Army fans who sat in front of the TV and watched the game in the tavern, they all became nervous.

Lin Quan had a record of several shut-out kills, and the Reds fans were terrified that he would change the score in the final moments.

In that case, the 3 points they get will become 1 point!

By this time, the game was close to injury time, and holding on to those final minutes would have given them a win from the Etihad Stadium.

In order to stop Lin Quan's attack, Liverpool's players used foul tactics against Lin Quan.

Moses and Suarez received yellow cards for tackling Lin Quan one after another, but Lin Quan was like a superman who couldn't kick or shovel, and every time he was put down by the opponent, he immediately stood up, and after sending it to his teammates, he continued to kill towards Liverpool's goal!

In order to stop him, Johnson, who already had a yellow card on his back, had to choose to foul him again and tackle him to the ground at the edge of the box.

The referee then blew the whistle for a foul and showed Johnson a yellow card mercilessly, turning two yellows into one red and sending him off.

Liverpool paid a heavy price to stop Lin Quan, but Lin Quan still came to the front of their penalty area.

By this time, the game had reached 93 minutes and the time for injury time had run out.

This free-kick was City's last chance to attack.

They have no one to continue their home winning streak, but they have one more chance to keep their unbeaten run alive.

The more than 50,000 fans at the scene, whether they were fans of the home team or the away team, couldn't help but stand up collectively when Lin Quan stood at the service point.

Lin, you must score!

This is the cry and prayer in the hearts of Manchester City fans!

Don't enter, Mignolet, come on, you must guard against it!

That's what Liverpool fans are saying.

At this moment, in addition to the fans of both teams, the eyes of the entire Premier League are focused on the field, focusing on the result of this free kick.

(End of chapter)