Chapter 40: Defending League Champions, European Football is Surging!

"The battle of the century is over, Barcelona advances to the final! 》

"Missing the Big Ear Cup Again, Ancelotti is afraid of being fired! 》

"Barcelona VS Manchester City, who will win the Champions League? 》

Can Barcelona get revenge in the Champions League final? 》

"The decisive battle at the top of the Forbidden City, Lin Quan VS Messi's active first-person battle! 》

"Guardiola led the team to face the red and blue team for the first time after leaving Barcelona, and the founder of the Dream Three Dynasty may bury the Dream Three Dynasty with his own hands! 》

……

After Barcelona defeated Real Madrid and reached the final, major media reported on it.

For the outside world, this year's final can be described as full of highlights.

For BarΓ§a, it was a battle for revenge.

They were eliminated by Manchester City last year, and this year they are bound to take revenge on Manchester City in the Champions League final!

For Manchester City, this is their best chance to break the Champions League record and defend their Champions League title.

For Pep Guardiola, this is the first time he has faced Barcelona on the European stage since he left Barcelona.

For Lin Quan and Messi, this is an excellent stage for the two to compete and lay the foundation for who is the number one person in today's football.

With so many highlights, this game has been hyped up before it starts, and the tickets for the finals have been hyped up to the sky by scalpers, even if the ticket price is several times higher than the original price, it is still difficult to find a ticket.

Fans who support the two teams also started to play online and offline early:

"My big Barcelona is not afraid of everything, and I will definitely sweep Manchester City!"

"MSN is invincible in the world, just Manchester City, wash your neck and wait for death!"

"Master, I watch the sky at night, Barcelona will win this year's Champions League!"

"The guy surnamed Lin still dares to touch Messi, and the final battle will definitely make him recognize the huge gap between himself and Messi!"

The fans of Barcelona, who had just eliminated Real Madrid, were full of confidence and high spirits, and they all felt that their team was invincible.

Over the years, Barcelona have achieved very good results in the league and European competitions, and the team has a top superstar like Messi, which makes them have a large number of fans all over the world.

As for Manchester City, although their record has skyrocketed in recent years, the world has been eye-catching.

But after all, the time for their rise is too short, and their background is far less than those top giants, so in terms of the number of fans, they are far behind Barcelona.

This makes the voices of support for Barcelona overshadow the voices of support for Manchester City, both online and in reality.

But even so, there are still a large number of die-hard Manchester City fans who unswervingly stand on their side and speak for the team:

"Hehe, Barcelona fans really think their team is invincible? Have you forgotten who beat Barcelona home and away last year? ”

"The defeated generals dare to bark here, others are afraid of you Barcelona, but we are not afraid of Manchester City!"

"You have Messi, we also have Lin Huang, I admit that Messi is really powerful, but Lin Huang is definitely not worse than Messi or even stronger!"

"Manchester City not only has Lin Huang, but also Guardiola, the Dream Three Dynasty was laid by him, no one knows more about passing and controlling football than him, and no one knows Barcelona better than him, there is nothing secret at all with his little thing in Manchester City and Barcelona!"

Manchester City fans argued that Barcelona had just beaten Real Madrid and did show terrible strength.

But Manchester City is not muddy, the previous battle with Bayern, who can parry the Allianz Arena except Manchester City?

Fans of both teams were unable to convince each other, and the well-founded argument eventually turned into a war of scolding, depending on who had the most voices to win.

Manchester City's number of fans is not as good as Barcelona's, and there is no suspense that they are suppressed by their opponents.

Neutral fans have no interest in the exchange of insults between the two teams, but the final is still more than half a month away.

Anyway, idleness is idleness, and some experts who understand the ball have released various statistics of the two teams in the league and the Champions League in recent months.

Seeing the data listed by the emperors who understand the ball, the people who eat melons were shocked:

"Barcelona's attacking prowess this season is really terrifying, they have scored 107 goals in La Liga this season, an average of 2.97 goals per game, which is the top of La Liga!"

After buying Suarez, Barcelona's offensive firepower increased suddenly.

MSN's offensive prowess has been proven countless times in La Liga.

However, Real Madrid's BBC is not weak, after 36 rounds, Real Madrid also scored 107 goals, and the two teams are evenly matched in offensive firepower.

However, in terms of the number of goals conceded, the difference between the two teams is huge.

So far, Barcelona have only conceded 19 goals, while Real Madrid have conceded 34.

It was this nearly doubling number of goals conceded that left Real Madrid four points behind Barcelona and had little hope of winning the league.

There is always talk of a dog tethered in Enrique's position, and BarΓ§a, with the MSN combination, can win any title.

This sentence is a bit arbitrary, if it is really a peg dog, Barcelona will not concede so many goals.

Just as everyone was amazed by Barcelona's terrifying offensive firepower, Manchester City's stats were also updated.

"Damn, I thought Barcelona's 107 goals were terrifying enough, but I didn't expect anyone to surpass them."

When everyone looked closely, they found that Manchester City's goal tally in the league had quietly reached 112 goals!

Converted to an average of 3.11 goals per game, this data is not only higher than Barcelona, but also the highest in the whole of Europe.

No wonder Pep Guardiola dared to play against Bayern at the Allianz Arena, is Manchester City's offensive firepower so strong?

However, in terms of the number of goals conceded, Manchester City are not as good as Barcelona.

So far this season, Manchester City have conceded 32 goals, which is still far worse than Barcelona's 19 goals.

"Manchester City have conceded more goals, but given the intensity of the Premier League, it's not a surprise!"

"Indeed, there are only two or three strong teams in La Liga, and Barcelona will face Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in a difficult game, and when facing other teams, as long as they don't make mistakes, they can basically win!

However, Manchester City has to face the challenge of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and other giants in the Premier League, and plays 8 games a year against top teams, which is twice as many games as Barcelona.

Moreover, the Premier League has not yet had a winter break, and the Christmas season is going to be fast, so it is understandable that there are many goals conceded! ”

Of course, the situation of the two leagues is different, and this kind of analysis must not be absolutely objective and fair.

"Judging from the data, the two teams can only be said to be half a catty!"

"In terms of lineup, the top stars on Manchester City's side are still a little worse than Barcelona!"

"It's true that Barcelona have a stronger squad.

Lin Huang and Messi are of the same grade, and De Bruyne is obviously not as good as Xiaobai.

Suarez and Aguero are in between, but Aguero has been injured more in the past season, and his performance on the field is obviously not as good as Suya.

As for Neymar, to be honest, although David Silva is very strong, the gap between him and Neymar is quite obvious, and the horse should be half a grade stronger than him. ”

"In such a comparison, Barcelona is a lot better than Manchester City in the frontcourt!"

"Yes, after all, Barcelona's front court should be the strongest combination in football at the moment!"

"What about the midfield?"

'In the midfield position, Kroos should be better than Xavi now, but Kante and Fernandinho are not as good as Sergio Busquets and Rakitic.

"I have objections, don't look at Kante from the lower leagues, and his value is not high, but I think this kid's strength is more than that, and he will definitely grow into a top superstar in time!"

"Pep Guardiola doesn't like to use Yaya Toure, otherwise, the position of the midfielder can barely be tied!"

"The backline and the goalkeeper, the two teams are evenly matched, Van Dijk has performed very well this season, and he may be able to grow into a top defender in the future!"

In this way, the strength of the two teams is not much different, on the whole, Barcelona has a small advantage in the front, but if it radiates to the whole team, the advantage is not obvious.

Moreover, some people pointed out that because Lin Quan and Messi are both supergiants, it is a bit too arbitrary to rudely equate the two.

But no one paid attention to his statement, which was quickly drowned out by the flood of rhetoric.

After all, talking about data on paper is just talking on paper.

There are many other factors that affect a team's effectiveness, such as injuries, fitness, and the condition of the players.

The best way to really get a sense of the current strength of both teams is to buy a ticket and go to the stadium.

Barcelona and Manchester City did it.

Both La Liga and the Premier League have reached the 37th round of the league, and the next round of matches is about to begin, so it is only natural that both teams will not miss such a great opportunity to gather information and intelligence.

So, after learning who the opponent of the final was, Guardiola and Enrique both immediately sent scouts to the other side to collect intelligence.

"Compared to La Liga, the Premier League is doing a mess in terms of fair play!"

The league is also entering the final title race, and in order to ensure fairness, all 10 matches in this round of La Liga are scheduled to be played at the same time on the same day.

In order to pursue ratings and maximize broadcast revenue, the Premier League actually divided the game into 4 days and 6 time slots, so that the TV station can broadcast different games in several days, which makes people have to admire their business acumen.

Sure enough, the Premier League is fundamentally different from other leagues.

Other leagues are going for the championship, but the Premier League is going for money.

'Chelsea and Manchester City are both looking to win the league title now, and in this case, the two teams are not scheduled to play at the same time, which is probably only possible in the Premier League!

'Manchester City have a game ahead of them, so if they win, won't there be a lot of pressure on Chelsea in the last game?'

"Then if Manchester City loses, the Chelsea players will die laughing!"

Manchester City's match was scheduled for 17 May, while Chelsea's match was scheduled for 18 May, with a day in between.

Such an arrangement has brought a lot of pressure to both teams.

Especially Manchester City, who took the lead.

"Our opponents are just mid-table teams who have no desire and in the final stages of the league they are not difficult to play against, play well and try to win them and lock up the title!"

Manchester City are now two points ahead of Chelsea, and if they can win Swansea, they will win the title with a draw in the final round, because their goal difference is dozens of points ahead of Chelsea, and it is basically impossible to be overtaken.

But only if they win this game.

For such an important game, the outside world thought that Guardiola would arrange the strongest team to play.

However, to everyone's shock, in the game against Swansea, Pep Guardiola used a large number of substitutes and rotations.

Yaya Toure, James Milner, Keylor Navas, Frank Lampard, Jovetic, Demichelis and others all got their chance to start.

Yaya Toure, in particular, has rarely been in the starting line-up since Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City, partly because Yaya Toure returned home to play in the Africa Cup of Nations, which was delayed for a long time.

Another part of the reason is that Yaya Toure does not belong to the type of player that Guardiola likes, when he was in Barcelona, in order to support Busquets to take the position, Guardiola purged Yaya Toure.

Now that he has come to Manchester City, he still does not choose to reuse Toure, which makes the latter feel very unhappy.

He has already made it clear that if Pep Guardiola does not guarantee his starting position, then he will not renew his contract with Manchester City and seek to leave in the summer transfer window.

In this regard, Guardiola did not make a reservation.

Yaya Toure has been left behind by Frank Lampard as a 36-year-old veteran and he would be happy to be on the bench because his fitness and form do not support him in the starting line-up.

But to have Yaya Toure as a substitute is a bit too embarrassing for the other side.

Yaya Toure is only 32 years old this year, he is still in his prime, and he can play for at least another two or three years.

If he is willing to retire at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola will not mind keeping him.

But if he doesn't want to, then let him go, and let him get a big contract while he is still in his prime and can negotiate terms with his next family, which is a good thing for both parties.

After the showdown, Yaya Toure thought he would be put on the cold bench for the season, but he didn't expect Pep Guardiola to put him back in the starting line-up.

This made Yaya Toure's heart extremely excited, and he was suffocated, and he wanted to seize this opportunity to show his strength on the court, so as to impress the new club in the future and make them realize their value.

It's not that I'm not strong, it's that Guardiola can't use this guy!

Yaya Toure's hard work quickly paid off, and in the 21st minute of the first half, Yaya Toure took the lead with this long-range shot to rewrite the score to 1:0.

Ten minutes later, Milner took advantage of a quick counter-attack to score again.

Frank Lampard sealed the win early in the second half with a third goal.

Pep Guardiola then made a substitution, giving some of his youngsters a chance to play.

The opponent took advantage of this opportunity to recover 2 goals, which once made the game full of suspense.

At the critical moment, Yaya Toure stepped up and scored another goal to freeze the score at 4:2.

In the end, Manchester City won the game without danger, kept their top spot, and temporarily stretched the gap to five points.

Now, the pressure is on Chelsea's side!

The next day, Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion got underway.

Perhaps it was Manchester City's win the day before that put a lot of pressure on the Chelsea players, leaving them out of shape and making mistakes in the game.

Just nine minutes into the opening game, West Bromwich Albion, who were playing at home, scored first.

After the score was down, the Chelsea players were very impatient, with the likes of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas frequently committing fouls, and the latter was sent off in the 29th minute after receiving a red card.

Well, Chelsea, who were already behind the scoreline, were sent off by one man, and their situation suddenly became even worse.

West Bromwich Albion also took the opportunity to attack aggressively, scoring two more goals in the 47th and 60th minutes to set the score at 3:0.

In the end, Chelsea, who were playing away, lost 0:3 to West Bromwich Albion and completely missed the Premier League title.

Affected by this, Manchester City won the championship one round ahead of schedule and successfully defended the league title.

It's a pity that their games have already been played, and there is no way to win the cup in advance.

However, the final round of matches is played at Manchester City's home stadium, and it seems like a matter of seconds to lift the trophy on their own home turf.

After this game, Abu, who couldn't bear Mourinho, directly announced the dismissal of the Portuguese.

Jose Mourinho's second phase of the Blues was far less successful than he had imagined.

At the end of each year, there is always a large number of coaches who lose their jobs.

Jose Mourinho is not the first to be sacked, before him, Carlo Ancelotti, who coached Real Madrid, had already been sacked by Florentino.

In addition to these two top coaches in football, Borussia Dortmund's manager Jurgen Klopp has also confirmed his departure.

Including Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal, who is considered by the outside world to be ironclad, at least four managers will be temporarily out of work this summer.

This is a great opportunity for teams that are eager to bring in a high-level coach.

For a while, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Manchester United and other teams that suffered from the lack of good coaches began to take action, and began to contact these famous coaches first, wanting to invite them to coach their own teams.

And Chelsea, Real Madrid and other giants that have fired their head coaches also need a new manager to take charge of the team.

Real Madrid chose to trust Zinedine Zidane, the coach of their second team, and promoted him from the second team to temporarily act as the coach of the first team.

Florentilo is going to see how Zinedine Zidane performs in his last two games, if he performs well.

And if they can't find a better coach this summer, then Real Madrid's manager next season is likely to be Zinedine Zidane.

As for Chelsea, they don't look down on Carlo Ancelotti, who was fired, and even less on Louis van Gaal.

Like Liverpool, they also have their eyes on Jurgen Klopp, who left Borussia Dortmund.

Jurgen Klopp's youth storm is a huge draw for both teams in need of a rebuild, and he can rise with Borussia Dortmund as a non-big club.

When it comes to giants like Liverpool and the Blues, why don't you take off directly?

As for Manchester United, they have their eye on Jose Mourinho, who was sacked by Chelsea.

Chelsea's record hasn't been bad this season, and Jose Mourinho has already proven himself in the top five leagues and the Champions League.

What's more, Mourinho was endorsed by Alex Ferguson.

Manchester United, who was eager to improve their own performance, did not dare to bet on the potential of a young coach like Klopp, so they chose the more stable Mourinho.

The drastic change in the managerial position of the team will inevitably lead to a large number of transactions in the transfer market.

This summer, football is not destined to be calm.

(End of chapter)