Chapter 121: The mortal enemy is here to disrupt the situation
This game against Manchester City is a game that Chelsea absolutely cannot lose.
Otherwise, Chelsea will not only be 7 points ahead of Manchester United, but may also be overtaken by Tottenham, who are one point behind them. Not only will they have no hope of competing for the top four, but they may also be squeezed out of the Big 6.
Neither Blues fans nor Chelsea executives will allow this situation to occur.
Therefore, there is no room for failure in this game for Conte.
They had already lost 1-2 to Manchester United in the last round. If they continue to lose to Manchester City this time, Conte will be pushed into a desperate situation.
His situation this season is completely different from last season. Continuous losses have made Chelsea's top management dissatisfied with him.
And the players in the locker room also had some criticisms of his tactics.
But unfortunately, Conte failed to do so in the end, and Manchester City defeated Chelsea 1-0.
Red Army fans also came here to take advantage of the excitement and then returned disappointed. They were very disappointed.
Now they can only count on Tottenham and Manchester United.
If these two teams still cannot beat Manchester City from behind, then they feel that the Premier League championship will probably fall to Manchester City.
As for Leeds United, which has just dropped from third to fourth, Red Army fans are not too optimistic.
Because in the final stage of the league, Leeds United has already begun to decline, and the players' physical fitness has obviously become a problem.
Leeds United's 4-1 loss to Brighton in the 28th round is the best proof, so it would be good for them to maintain fourth place.
The Red Army fans lamented, but Klopp became more confident after watching this game.
Because Klopp saw the fatigue of Manchester City players from this fierce battle.
Sometimes Klopp hated the Premier League's intensive schedule without a winter break, but now he feels a little lucky and likes this intensive schedule.
Without the drag of such a dense schedule, it can be said that Manchester City will definitely be the Premier League champion this season, without much suspense.
…
On March 7, the brutal second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals kicked off again.
Although Liverpool was playing at home and had five away goals, Klopp did not dare to underestimate the opponent.
For the double red match against Manchester United in the second leg of the league three days later on the 10th, Klopp made a half-rotation for this game.
Mo Yang, Salah, Henderson, Robertson, Arnold and others all sat on the bench.
Porto's Conceição was more straightforward, playing with almost a full substitute lineup. All famous players like Telles, Marega, and Brahimi did not play. His attitude was very clear. He gave up the hopeless Champions League and kept Portugal.
Top position.
Of course, a full substitute may not necessarily perform worse than the main lineup.
At least that's what this game looks like.
In this game, Porto's substitute players, who have rarely played in the Champions League, were in excellent condition. They frequently threatened Liverpool's goal through passing and controlling, kicking the ball from the wing, and penetrating the ribs.
As for Liverpool, Jota, Shaqiri and Ibrahimovic are also in excellent form.
But when it came to the last step, I felt a little bit worse.
In the first half, the two sides exchanged several shots, but they were either blocked by the goal post or slipped past.
This set the tone for the game to be a draw.
In the last 15 minutes of the second half, Moyang and the others were replaced by Klopp to get a feel for the game and could not let their form drop.
But there was still no goal. In this game, the goalpost was the best in the game. It not only rejected its own goal, but also refused to let Porto go.
In the end, the game ended 0-0. Liverpool eliminated Porto with a total score of 5-0 and successfully advanced to the Champions League quarter-finals.
After the game, many Red Army fans sang the Liverpool anthem in the stands and refused to leave for a long time.
Because this is the first time in nearly ten years that Liverpool has reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
In the next few days, the first batch of eight Champions League teams will decide the winner one after another.
Total score:
Juventus 4-3 Tottenham Hotspur
Basel 2-5 Manchester City
Liverpool 5-0 Porto
Real Madrid 5-2 Paris Saint-Germain
…
It's not surprising that Paris Saint-Germain once again fell at the feet of Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The most surprising thing is that Tottenham were eliminated by Juventus. These two teams are really a confrontation between spear and shield, which is extremely exciting.
The two sides drew 2-2 in the first leg. Everyone thought that Tottenham, who had the home advantage, could win Juventus in the second round when they returned to the new White Hart Lane stadium.
The result was not the case. Juventus relied on strong defensive counterattacks to win the second round 2-1 and eliminated Tottenham with a total score of 4-3.
…
On March 10, the entire city of Liverpool went to Old Trafford, the Theater of Dreams, with the joy of qualifying for the Champions League, to usher in the second-leg double red match against their arch-rival Manchester United.
Compared with Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea, Manchester United is under much less pressure this season.
Although they also have the Europa League to play, the intensity is still smaller than the Champions League.
Manchester United also reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League this season. At present, their first-leg contest with AC Milan in Serie A has ended. Manchester United took away its first victory with a score of 2-0 in the away game.
In the Premier League, Manchester United is currently ranked third, with 59 points, a full 19 points behind Liverpool. They have no hope of competing for the championship, and it is hard to say whether they can maintain their third position.
Because Leeds United, which is ranked fourth, is only one point behind them and can pull them down at any time.
In addition, Manchester United once again staged an annual interception drama in the winter transfer window in January.
But this time the victim was Manchester City. On the eve of Manchester City's signing of Sanchez, they suddenly made a strong move to raise the price, and finally succeeded in using Mkhitaryan to bring Sanchez from Arsenal to Old Trafford.
Regarding this double red meeting, all Red Army fans thought that it would not be easy to win, but it should be no problem to win, because they had won the previous five times, and gradually they have become accustomed to beating Manchester United.
However, this was not the case. The game did not go according to the script they prepared.
In the 12th minute of the game, De Gea kicked the ball out with a big kick in front of the goal and accurately found Lukaku in the frontcourt.
Lukaku landed the ball in Liverpool's right half, stuck Lovren behind him as he stepped forward to fight for the top, then jumped directly and headed the ball backwards.
Originally the ball was devoid of any threat, but Van Dijk, who has always been trusted and loved by fans, made a mistake this time and fell behind the defense.
As a result, Rashford, who was right next to Arnold, was not in an offside position at all when he started to move forward to chase the ball, trapping Arnold.
After Rashford entered the penalty area, he looked extremely calm. He smashed the ball diagonally forward with the inside of his right foot and got rid of Arnold in front of him. Then he quickly followed up with the ball and calmly kicked the ball into the far corner with his right foot.
Karius in front of the goal was helpless in the face of such a close shot.
The team was the first to concede the goal, but the Red Army fans gave Van Dijk encouraging applause, saying that they could understand that after all, even the best players would make mistakes, and the game had just begun.
But only a few minutes later, Manchester United's second goal came again.
In the 17th minute of the game, Manchester United and Liverpool won after a battle in the midfield. Right back Valencia passed the ball back to goalkeeper De Gea.
As a result, De Gea stood in the penalty area and observed the frontcourt, and actually once again took the ball in the penalty area and passed the ball forward. The frontcourt he found seemed to be Lukaku, the king of pestles in Liverpool's defense.
In Lukaku's second confrontation with Lovren, he won again and directly pushed over Lovren behind him.
Then he got the ball that was rubbed to the ground, stuck Henderson behind him as he rushed back, and protected the ball in front of him.
After Mata got forward, he made a subtle through ball.
Although Mata received the ball, he could not escape the mountain of Van Dijk, and his shot was blocked by Van Dijk with his foot.
As a result, the ball rolled to Rashford once again on the left side of the penalty area.
Arnold turned to guard, but it was too late.
With a goal, Rashford was full of confidence. He ran into the penalty area and kicked the ball directly, scoring twice.
This goal immediately stunned everyone including Klopp.
Two goals, almost exactly the same way, what the hell.
On the court, Mo Yang was also surprised by these two extremely similar goals. He really didn't expect such a strange scene to happen.