Football: The butcher in the midfield at the start, the magic bird stunned

Two wins over Barcelona and a smooth promotion.

The next day, the main team had a holiday, because they will return to the league journey in two days, and they will face Aston Villa, who performed well at home and is currently ranked 7th in the league.

Being able to beat the chaotic Tottenham in the fiercely competitive Premier League and rank behind the remaining 6 big teams, Emery's coaching level has once again been unanimously praised.

Chen Xiaoliang still got up and turned on the system, and another victory allowed him to draw another star card of Barcelona star Sergio Busquets in [The Mission].

Chen Xiaoliang took a closer look at the two words in the middle, and was instantly amused, and couldn't help laughing out loud.

[Peak Acting Attribute Card of Busquets (1 minute)]

[Function: Temporarily add non-player attribute acting skills of 20. After making physical contact with the opponent's player, he will fall down with a very natural and extremely realistic movement, conquering all fans and referees with the actor-level performance, greatly increasing the probability of the opponent getting a card]

[Note: This skill cannot fool an emotionless camera]

He looked at the card pack again, and there were a total of eleven cards in it, including the Suarez bite card, Materazzi curse card, Gerrard slip card, Aguero 9320 lore card, etc., according to the system The rule is that ten cards can be exchanged for one point of the 19-20 attribute.

But the functions and functions of these cards are good, Chen Xiaoliang decided not to add them for the time being, and later get some more, leaving a few special essences, and then use them to improve attributes.

Tonight's highlight is watching Arsenal's second leg against Manchester City at home.

At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal's momentum is like a rainbow. Whether it is the level of players fighting on the field or Arteta's commanding strength on the sidelines, they have surpassed Manchester City on the side.

The performance of Rice, Erdegaard and Haverts on the court can completely compete with Rodri, De Bruyne and Bellingham.

And Saka and Mizukaoru did not lose to Glarish and seat B at all.

But the final victory or defeat depends on the head and the tail.

Whether it's Martinelli or Nketiah, compared with Harland, who turned upside down in Arsenal's penalty area, they are too weak.

Whether it's Gabriel, Ben White, or Zinchenko, at the last moment of desperately fighting for honor, they still feel a little unable to bear the pressure after all.

In this way, Arsenal took the lead twice at home and were equalized twice by Manchester City. Finally, in the first half of extra time, Foden, who came on as a substitute for De Bruyne, was shot twice by Rahm in the scuffle in front of the goal. When Steyer blocked it, he made a quick shot.

However, the female referee Stephanie Frappal from France, according to the prompt of the video referee team, penalized Harland for an early foul in the fight, so the subsequent goal was invalid.

Guardiola was furious, and he output frantically at the referee on the sidelines. When the fourth official failed to stop him, he was sent to the stands by the first woman who served as the referee in the Men's Football World Cup.

The replays after the event repeatedly proved that it seemed that Harland did push and push.

In the 120-minute battle, Arsenal actually drew with Manchester City for the fifth time in half a year, and the two teams entered a penalty shootout.

Arsenal made free throws first, Erdgaard, Haverts, and San Xun made the first four free throws, Rice's penalty was saved by Edson;
Manchester City made the last free throw, and Kovacic, Seat B, Rodri, and Alvarez all made free throws in the first four free throws.

In the end, all the pressure came to Saka, who was Arsenal's fifth player. He can continue the possibility only if he hits the ball.

However, everything seemed to be a continuation of the 2020 European Cup final, and Saka once again kicked the penalty away.

With a penalty shootout, Manchester City eliminated Arsenal and advanced to the semi-finals after a 4-4 tie in the two rounds.

Guardiola in the stands rarely put his index finger on his lips under the crazy insults of Arsenal fans, and made a gesture of shutting up to them.

下半区的两场比赛，纽卡主场1比0战胜本菲卡，两回合2比1淘汰对手，与客场1比1战平马竞的大巴黎会师半决赛。

Ever since, the semi-finals of the Champions League became the scene of the Premier League's three-English battle against Lu Bu, Manchester United against Manchester City, Newcastle against Paris.

It was only one day of restorative training (training value 34 → 38). At noon on March 3, Chen Xiaoliang led half of the rotation players to usher in Aston Villa at home.

Aston Villa, currently ranked 7th, has 42 points, and is 64 points behind Arsenal, which is ranked 6th with 22 points. It is impossible to break into the Europa League. Their goal is not to Let Tottenham and Brighton and other teams behind them surpass, hold the 7th place, and enter the European Cup next season.

Manchester United almost changed their lineup:
Goalkeeper Livakovic continues to start;
Dalot, Maguire, Lindelof and Luke Thomas formed the defense;

Milinkovic and McTominay partnered as midfielders, and Chen Xiaoliang continued to start as a central midfielder;

Ganacho, Benzema, and Anthony are at the top of the striker from left to right.

As for Aston Villa, the biggest players are former Liverpool and Barcelona player Coutinho, and the best goalkeeper in the World Cup Damian Martinez.

Although there are many powerful players such as winger Ollie Watkins, Brazilian midfielder Douglas Ruiz, midfielder Jacob Ramsey and other powerful players, the gap in strength between the two teams is still too large.

And the biggest gap is not just the player's worth and ability, but each other's confidence in victory.

After a series of tough battles, even the old fans sitting in the ticket area began to feel that Manchester United now seems to have returned to the league before 2013. They are as stable as old dogs, and they can play well in any rotation position. A fresh team.

In the 57th minute of the second half, Ganacho received a pass from outside the arc of Chen Xiaoliang's penalty area. An anti-offside plug put the ball towards the goal with the outside instep of his right foot. It was blocked by Martin's side throw, but Benz, who made a prediction in advance The horse is in place and the ball is easily blocked into the empty goal.

With this goal, Manchester United won 1-0 and continued their unbeaten journey.

In the other highlight of the 31st round, Arsenal, who lost 120 minutes in the Champions League, suffered a serious injury. They lost 1 to 3 at the Emirates Stadium to Liverpool, who had finally "escaped" from France.

Manchester City, relying on the depth of the bench, beat Crystal Palace by 2 goals in the away game, and continued to lead by 2 points in 2 more games.

The hellish confrontation between these two teams this season has attracted the attention of the media around the world.

According to this process, there are still 7 rounds of the league and 9 rounds of the Manchester City duo. It is very likely that both will achieve unbeaten seasons and reach 100 points at the same time.

The last time the competition was so fierce was in the 2018-19 season, Manchester City won the championship with 98 points and Liverpool finished second with 97 points.

The current highest record is Manchester City's 2017-point championship in the 18-100 season.

但赛季不败，仍就只有2003-04赛季阿森纳，那个赛季他们26胜12平积90分。

Who will win the Premier League this season?For a while, it became a topic of hype among fans, spinach companies and the media.

There was even a gambling company that offered a show operation of 1 to 1.75 for both teams at the same time.

Fortunately, the answer will not last long. With the riots in France not over, the premise of the Champions League schedule makes Manchester United have to play three consecutive games with Manchester City.

They will sit at Old Trafford on April 4th for the second round of the Manchester City Derby in the league. At the same time, they will be at home on April 7th, and they will play against Manchester City in the first round of the Champions League semi-final.

Only 2 days off. On April 4th, Manchester United will be away at Stamford Bridge to challenge Chelsea. After the end, they will return to Manchester City. On April 14th, they will be away at the Etihad Stadium, the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, the third consecutive time in twelve days Fight Manchester City.

In addition to these tough battles, on April 4, before the three battles against Manchester City, there was also the semi-final of the FA Cup.

Manchester United against Brighton, Manchester City against Liverpool.

In other words, during the 4 days from April 7 to 18, the two teams will each have five games, which the media specifically listed:

Manchester United - Manchester City, Manchester City, Chelsea, Brighton, Manchester City;
Manchester City - Manchester United, Manchester United, West Ham, Liverpool, Manchester United.

This schedule, this time, and this script, except for the coaches and players of the two teams who are cursing, fans all over the world agree.

UEFA and the FA are not idle either. In order to cooperate with this drama, they not only encouraged the media to create topics, such as seducing the head coaches of both sides with provocative questions at the pre-match press conference, but also made news for the top cards of the two clubs. A special pre-match promotional video was released.

In addition, a large number of celebrities and celebrities were invited to watch the battle on the spot.

Ferguson, Beckham and members of Class [-], Kompany, Mark Hughes, Aguero, Robert Mancini, Pellegrini, these two teams will be present.

Ed Sheeran, the famous Manchester City fan and known as "Mr. Huang", will also sing a song.

In addition, Dong Fangzhuo and Sun Jihai, who have played for the two teams, will also appear in the VIP stands.

The preparations outside the stadium are in full swing, and the two teams are also preparing nervously at the preparation level.

For Manchester United, De Gea has returned, but he missed nearly 4 months of games, which made his current state more worrying. Ten Hag asked him to participate in the reserve league to quickly regain his state.

And the biggest question before the players is, how to defend against Harland?

Manchester City's midfield is almost all dexterous and skilled players. Ten Hag has announced that Timber and Casemiro will partner in the midfielder, and Chen Xiaoliang will serve as the central midfielder.

The two defensive midfielders block the pass to the penalty area in front of the central defender, reducing Haaland's chances of getting the ball deep, while Chen Xiaoliang is the best candidate to sweep the penalty area in the middle and force Manchester City to play the ball to the two wings.

Then the remaining problem is, when Manchester City make a fuss from the two wings and use the advantage of numbers on the wing to enter the penalty area, how to reduce the number of times Harland attacks the goal?
For this reason, Ten Hag specially practiced the tactics of three central defenders in training.

On Manchester City's side, Guardiola's headache is even more painful.

In the absence of Gundogan and the overall midfield is one year older, not to mention dealing with Chen Xiaoliang, even against Arsenal, the result of five draws and no wins proves that De Bruyne, B The running interception ability of Xi and others is obviously declining.

When dealing with the running back and forth of Erdegao, Rice and Haverts, and the interspersed front and back of the wingers Sanjiao Kaoru and Saka, they have already shown that they are unable to do what they want.

Without the midfield interception, it is impossible to withstand Manchester United's offensive just relying on the defense of Rodri, Stones and Ruben Dias in the backcourt.

Compared with Harland, who is at the top and relatively weak in offensive ability with the ball, Chen Xiaoliang's strongest point is when he has the ball at his feet, whether it is a long pass, a through pass or a self-shot, almost anywhere in the half. He can suddenly create murderous intentions without anyone noticing.

The point is, no one can predict where he will appear in the next offense.

Letting Bellingham fail to defend alone, and the running ability of double-team defense can't keep up. Guardiola actually regretted it in the winter window. He didn't buy more players in the summer window. For individual targets , such as Gwadiol, also failed to win as soon as possible.

Compared with the outside world, especially the quarreling war of words between the fans of both sides, the head coaches of the two teams deliberately lowered the heat in the pre-match press conference. No matter how the reporters of the major media provoked the confrontation, neither of them Take the bait, just plainly say you're going to give it your all, and praise your opponent's incredible performance this season.

As for whose undefeated will be broken, the two did not respond at all, and the players of the two teams were also asked by their respective clubs to prohibit posting hateful words and pictures on personal social media before the game.

The reason is simple. Before the game even started, the extreme fans of the two teams had already started gang fights on the streets of Manchester. The British government worried that the riots in France would be replicated, so they quickly issued an order of the highest security standards. The Greater Manchester City Government and surrounding areas The government dispatched 10000 police officers to ensure that there will be no conflicts between the Etihad Stadium and squares, bar streets, and fan camps around Manchester City during the game period.

5 days of training, 20 points of training, plus 5 points of victory against Villa (38→63), at noon on April 4, two buses carrying players, coaches and staff drove in out of Old Trafford.

For the two teams with anxious points, once the winner is determined, one will go up and down, which is equivalent to a "6-point battle". If Manchester United wins, it will lead by 1 point in two games less, and the psychological advantage is huge. , and if Manchester City wins, although Manchester United still has two games less, the point difference will become 5 points behind, which means that the two games less must be won.

Not to mention the huge blow to the players after the undefeated golden body was broken.

Arsenal's plummeting form last season after their lead was eroded is the best example.

An hour before the game, the starting lineup that the media and celebrities had guessed for a week was finally announced.

Home team Manchester United 4-2-3-1:

Goalkeeper Livakovic and De Gea appeared on the bench;

Back four Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Maguire, Luke Shaw;

Double defensive midfielders Casemiro and Lima, central midfielder Chen Xiaoliang;

Left winger Keva, center Sesco, right winger Anthony.

Away team Manchester City 3-2-4-1:

goalkeeper Ederson;
Three central defenders Akanji, Ruben Dias, Ake

Double midfielders Stones and Rodri;

Double midfielders De Bruyne and Bellingham;
Right midfielder Kyle Walker, left midfielder B seat;
Center Harland.

The start of the two teams, just like Manchester United's performance against Barcelona, ​​once again amazed many fans and celebrities.

Manchester United's Ten Hag made Lima, who had never played a midfielder since leaving Ajax, appear in the midfielder position, and Maguire was chosen as the central defender to start. This is not difficult to guess. In the defense, Lima was placed in the central defender position, forming a configuration of three central defenders. In the middle, Maguire, who was strong in confrontation and contending for the top, was allowed to toughen Harland, and Varane and Lima harassed on both sides.

And Chen Xiaoliang probably wants to settle in the midfielder position to fill the gap left by Lima's retreat.

For Manchester City, judging from the positions of Kyle Walker and Stones, the media speculated that Guardiola also used a five-back formation. In defense, Kyle Walker retreated to the right back position, and Stones retreated. In the central defender position, central midfielder Bellingham retreated to fill Stones' position as a defensive midfielder, also forming a configuration of five defenders and double defensive midfielders.

Some people even swear that this is Ten Hag's tactical style of stealing from Guardiola when he was the head coach of the second team at Bayern.

But just after the game started, they realized that they still underestimated Guardiola's ability to revive.

And what Guardiola said before the game, "Manchester City can no longer face up to a powerful opponent like Manchester United", is also not flattering at all.

In the 2nd minute, Manchester United broke the ball from the foot of Manchester City who kicked off first, and Manchester City returned to the defense and quickly put on a defensive formation.

The back line, except for Akanji, Ruben Dias, Stones, and Ake lined up in the penalty area line, Kyle Walker and Bellingham pulled to the two sides and became the sides of the two sides. The wingbacks, seat B and De Bruyne retreated to Rodri's left back and became the midfielder at the same time, leaving only Harland in front.

这哪是设想中4-2-3-1的防守布置，这简直就是4-5-1的深度回防阵容。

Sitting in the live broadcast room, the former Manchester City captain Kompany, who has been definitely relegated from Burnley, said excitedly and helplessly: "This is the most conservative pose I have ever seen by Pep (Guardiola). The most pragmatic defensive formation, he gave up the high press, gave up the midfield double-team, oh, is this still the Pep I know?"

Ferdinand said with some pride: "Because he may have realized that with these few people in the midfield, they cannot fully cope with Arsenal's bombardment tactics, and it is even more difficult to defend Manchester United's counterattack like the wind."

Henry: "But I still want to say, even so, don't underestimate Guardiola and his Manchester City, please remember that they are unbeaten this season, they broke into the Champions League semi-finals, although their league odds have dropped to No. 2, but the Champions League odds are still No. 1. In terms of performance, they are not worse than the opposite Manchester United."

While a few people were talking, Kewa wanted to stop and pass after receiving a long pass from Chen Xiaoliang on the left. Just as he opened half of his body space in front of Akanji, he was cut off by Kyle Walker who returned to defend.

Manchester City did not rush to counterattack, but played forward slowly, and the formation changed back to 3-2-4-1.

De Bruyne delays to catch the ball, deliberately stays away from Chen Xiaoliang's defensive range, and sends the ball to Rodri, who is on the left, who pushes to Bellingham, and Bellingham passes forward and retreats to outside the penalty area to respond Harland.

After catching the ball, Harland carried Lima, who was obviously a circle smaller than him, on his back for a while, and then when Chen Xiaoliang approached, he pushed to the side and gave it to De Bruyne who bypassed Chen Xiaoliang and advanced forward.

De Bruyne went straight to the left, and the B seat who followed him penetrated directly into the left side of the penalty area from Varane and Wan Bissaka, and passed a cross pass to Ha, who turned back from outside the penalty area and returned to the penalty area after taking the ball just now. Rand.

Harland made a shot with his left foot, and Livakovic rushed to the lower right side!
But he failed to touch the ball, and the ball was blocked by Maguire, who followed Harland, out of the baseline!

"Low test..."

The Red Country cheering group, which specially organized a group to watch the game, was composed of overseas students and personnel stationed abroad, and they didn't care about watching the game in a civilized way, and they all uttered their local accents in unison...

The Manchester City fans who came to the away game hugged their heads and beat their chests.

Chen Xiaoliang turned around and gave Maguire a thumbs up, then pointed at Wan Bissaka and Varane, and pointed at seat B.

He said in the locker room before the game:
"What color is the sky in Manchester? Who will have the final say in English football from now on? It's all in these three games."

"Please be sure to play up the spirit of [-] points. Remember, if we lose these three games, our efforts for a season will become worthless!"

"Does that sound stressful?"

"It's okay to have pressure. Only cowards don't have pressure."

"But there is one thing, please remember!"

"That means the opponent is more stressed than us!"

"Today, what we have to do is the same as our predecessors, to bring down the man sitting on the throne!"