As it turns out, Liverpool's fighting power is indeed overrated.

After losing to Burnley in the second round, Liverpool was drawn by Tottenham in the third round, and after three rounds, Liverpool only won one win, one draw and one loss, accumulating 4 points and ranking 11th in the league.

This start is even worse than last year.

The two-game winless run has led to a growing criticism of Liverpool, especially against Liverpool's weak backline.

Experts from all walks of life are surprisingly unanimous in their view that if Liverpool don't strengthen their backline, it may be difficult for them to improve their record this season.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp certainly understands this, so he further increased his offer for Van Dijk, raising the price to £75 million!

Honestly, it's incredible to spend so much money on a defender, but is Van Dijk really worth £75 million, despite being good?

However, what is even more shocking is that in the face of such a staggering figure, Manchester City was indifferent and once again rejected Liverpool's offer.

The fans were overwhelmed by these actions of the two clubs, the world is probably sick, otherwise why would it be so strange?

In contrast to Liverpool's slump, Chelsea's performance has been nothing short of impressive.

In this round of matches, Chelsea sat at home and cleanly knocked out Burnley, who beat Liverpool in the previous leg, 3-0.

There is no harm without contrast, and with Burnley as a reference, it is clear which of the Blues and the Reds is stronger.

Last season's dark horse, Leicester City, who were winless in two rounds, finally opened this round.

They secured their first win of the new season with a thrilling 2-1 win at their home stadium.

Arsenal, who were also winless in two rounds, beat Watford 3-1 cleanly away and got their first win.

Manchester United also won, and they continued their winning streak on the road thanks to Marcus Rashford's stoppage-time goal.

Manchester City, who were the last to play, comfortably beat West Ham United 3-1 at home, with Lin Quan scoring a goal in each half and substitute Fernandinho also netting a goal.

After the third round, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United still lead the Premier League standings.

Chelsea overtook Manchester United on goal difference to move to the top of the table, followed by Manchester City in second place, and the previous leader Manchester United slipped to third.

However, the first three clubs have the same number of points, and the difference is not huge.

……

After the third round of matches, the draw for the 2016-2017 Champions League group stage was also announced.

Manchester City were lucky enough to be drawn into Group C, with two weaker teams in the same group who will not be able to challenge City, so they are in a good position to qualify.

But in addition to these two weak teams, there is also a strong old enemy in the group, that is, Lin Quan and Pep Guardiola's former club Barcelona.

It's not that they don't get together, Manchester City and Barcelona have played each other in the Champions League several times!

In addition to last season, the two teams did not meet, in the 2013-2014 season and the 2014-2015 season, both teams met.

One of them was met in the final, and it can be said that Manchester City stepped on their throne on the corpse of Barcelona!

Therefore, seeing the results of this draw, it can be expected that the two teams will definitely be a battle in the group stage, and neither side will show mercy.

None of the four Premier League teams have bad signings, and maybe Tottenham are a little worse in their group.

Tottenham are in Group E and don't have a strong giant, but there are no weak teams in this group.

Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco and CSKA Moscow are all strong teams in their respective leagues and are not so easy to deal with.

Tottenham, on the other hand, have not played in the Champions League for five or six years, have little experience in the Champions League, and face fierce competition in the Premier League, and there is a big question mark over how far they can go in a two-front situation.

After all, Tottenham's current squad is really not deep enough.

Tottenham were unlucky, but their local rivals Arsenal were happy.

Arsenal's signing luck this year is very good, except for Grand Paris, the remaining two teams in the group are cannon fodder, unable to pose a threat to them, it is easy to qualify, and even if the home game is good, it may not be impossible to snatch the first place in the group from Grand Paris.

Champions League newcomers Leicester City are also very lucky, and the only team in the group may be better than them is the Portuguese Super League giants Porto, and the other two teams from the Belgian League and the Danish Premier League are not strong, and they have great hopes of qualifying.

All in all, the four Premier League teams have good luck this year, and they all have hope of qualifying.

But on the other hand, two of those four teams are newcomers, especially Leicester City.

Given their sluggish start to the season, one has to worry about their Champions League journey.

After the third round of matches, the FIFA matchday arrived.

As the World Cup qualifiers are imminent, Bosque has also made an appointment for a friendly match with the European Red Devils Belgium in addition to the team's training camp.

Belgium did not have a good record at the European Championships, but their international rankings jumped up to fifth, behind Spain, Argentina, France and Germany.

Belgium is famous, and Spain is the world hegemon, and the two teams have not played each other in the European Cup, so the two sides hit it off and took this opportunity to see each other's strength.

This can be regarded as the highest intensity training that both sides can carry out before the start of the World Preliminary Tournament!

Having learned the lessons of the European Championships, Bosque called Costa into the team this time and decisively put him in the starting line-up, forming a double arrow with Morata to solve the stubborn problem of lack of strikers.

It worked well, with the first half of the game working together so well that they put a lot of pressure on the opposition defence, and also managed to play a cross that led to a goal from Diego Costa.

In the second half, Bosque replaced Morata, switched to a single striker, and put the power point on the wing, which also achieved good results, David Silva and Lin Quan scored one after another, and the score was rewritten to 3:0.

Belgium was beaten in disgrace, and the team had a lot of confusion under heavy pressure, and finally relied on Hazard's breakthrough to force a goal and save face.

Belgium lost this game very badly, not only in terms of scores, but also in various statistics.

They had just 37 per cent possession, a pitiful three shots on goal and 448 passes, compared to Spain's 828, almost double theirs.

Anyone who watched this game probably had the feeling that these two teams were not at the same level at all.

Spain is the number one in the world, but the question is, how can Belgium be ranked in the top five in the world?

Are the FIFA guys blind?

Of course, considering that this is only a friendly match, not a main match.

The result of the friendly match is not very insignificant, so it is not so arbitrary to deny the strength of Belgium.

At least there are still a lot of strong stars in their lineup, but the head coach's ability is not good, and he has not been able to pinch the team into a shape and let these stars play to their full strength.

……

On September 6, Spain sat at home to Liechtenstein, the first opponent of the World Cup qualifiers.

It's a very, very, very weak team, there are no professional players in the whole team, almost all of them are amateurs.

Encountering such an opponent is almost a point for Spain.

The same was true of the result, with Spain, who were half main and half substitutes, scoring five goals in the first half.

The opponent is too vegetable, even the basic defense is not good, and the Spanish side only needs to score in the 30-meter area, and it is very likely to score.

Although the players have been as merciful as possible at the request of the head coach, they are helpless, even if they release the water, the other party can't stop it.

The Spanish fans in the stands began to turn against each other at this time, and they joined a dozen Liechtenstein fans who had come from afar to cheer on the team that was at the bottom of the FIFA rankings.

At halftime, Bosque further released the water and directly used up three substitutions, replacing the few main players on the field.

Now Spain is almost all substitutes, don't say I don't give a chance, I gave the opportunity, it's up to you whether you can seize it or not!

However, even if they are all substitutes, the difference in strength between the two sides is still staggering.

And after these substitutes came on the field, they scored 4 goals and rewrote the score to 9:0.

It was so cruel that Bosque didn't have the face to look at it, so he quickly stopped the attack, let the players control the pace of the game, and don't score again.

You are the number one in the world, is it an honor to play for a team like the bottom of the table and score 10 goals?

No, it's a shame!

Playing a team like this, the more goals you score, the more you feel like you're humiliating yourself.

Liechtenstein's players are desperate, they don't expect to win the game, but they want to score a goal.

If they can score a goal against the world champions, it will be a topic of conversation and even pride for them for a long time to come.

But it's a pity that the Spanish players don't want to be a backdrop, and it's a shame to be beaten by such a team.

At the end of the game, Spain won 9-0, and Liechtenstein had only one shot on goal in the whole game, and the shot was also missed.

Spain had 16 shots on goal and scored nine goals, with an astonishing scoring efficiency.

After the game, Morata was beaming, this kid completed the first big four in his career in this game, and he couldn't close his mouth happily!

Lin Quan saw Morata's proud appearance, and couldn't wait to walk around, without him, he couldn't afford to lose this person.

After the game, the Liechtenstein players turned into fans, and they came to exchange jerseys with the Spanish players, and even asked for autographs and group photos.

The Spanish players won too many against each other, so it was not easy to excuse themselves, and the two sides exchanged jerseys and took photos with enthusiasm as soon as possible.

If it were another team, if it was played with such a big point difference, I am afraid that I would die of shame.

However, Liechtenstein is used to being abused and abused, and almost every game is a big defeat, so I have been prepared before the game, and I don't think there is anything.

With so many strong teams not beating Spain, can they still expect a group of amateur players to beat Spain?

What an international joke!

After the end of the World Preliminaries, the Spanish national team also announced its disbandment, and the players went back to their respective homes and found their mothers.

On September 10, the fourth round of the Premier League began.

The highlight of this league game is the Manchester derby between Manchester City and Manchester United, and it is also a battle for the top spot.

It's a game worth six points, and whoever wins will be able to dominate the title race.

What's more, this also involves the same city derby, so what I didn't say, both teams attached great importance to it, tried their best to fight to the death!

Manchester United was in a formation of 4231 in this game, while Manchester City were in a formation of 433.

Although playing away from home, Guardiola has put on a posture of attacking aggressively.

At Old Trafford, Manchester City dominated the opposition and launched an onslaught at Manchester United in the opening period.

In the 15th minute of the first half, Kevin De Bruyne fired a long-range shot from outside the box to beat David De Gea and give his side the lead.

20 minutes later, Lin Quan received an assist from De Bruyne and scored another goal after entering the penalty area to extend the score to 2:0.

There was a dead silence at Old Trafford, and the Red Devils fans fell silent.

Why is it that every time, damn Manchester City can make waves on our home turf?

This is Old Trafford, we are Manchester United, how can we tolerate such presumptuousness?

The fans shouted and sang angrily, pushing the atmosphere of the home stadium to a climax.

The encouraged Red Devils players, one by one, were red-eyed and, under the roar of manager Jose Mourinho, launched an onslaught on Manchester City.

Wayne Rooney, Ibrahimovic, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial, Pogba and others took turns to attack Manchester City's penalty area.

Finally, in the 42nd minute of the first half, Ibrahimovic seized the opportunity in the chaotic battle, and scored a goal with a scorpion that shocked the four with a kick, rewriting the score to 2:1.

Ibrahimovic's goal was beautiful and crucial, and it blew up the entire Old Trafford stadium at once.

Countless Red Devils fans chanted his name, cheered for him and applauded him.

"Zlatan!"

"Zlatan!"

"Zlatan!"

Ibrahimovic was also very proud, smiling and waving to the fans in the stands.

He hasn't been with Manchester United for long, but he's already earned the affection and support of the Red Devils fans.

The scorpion tail swing is his famous stunt, and no one else can perform it except him.

To score such a wonderful goal in such an important game as the Manchester derby, Ibrahimovic couldn't be more happy!

The next thing to do is to chase after the victory and defeat Manchester City in one go!

Ibu's gaze passed through the crowd and fell on Lin Quan's body, full of battle!

(End of chapter)