Chapter 100
On March 14, the draw for this year's UEFA Champions League quarter-finals was completed.
The top four teams in the Premier League all defeated their opponents and successfully entered the quarterfinals, but after the draw, Arsenal and Liverpool fans all cried.
The English media also shed tears silently. Arsenal faced Liverpool, which was a Premier League derby they did not want to see at all: if this was the final, they would definitely be overjoyed, but this was the quarter-finals, how could they be happy?
Can’t the organizing committee show some spirit and let each of their top four Premier League teams play against the other four teams?
Organizing Committee: You are dreaming!
Not to mention the unlucky Arsenal and Liverpool, Manchester United will face Roma in the quarter-finals, and this is their third meeting in the past two seasons.
The luckiest team among the Premier League semi-finals is undoubtedly Chelsea. They met Fenerbahce, a team from Turkey. The moment the draw results were announced, coach Mourinho smiled so hard that his teeth were exposed.
The remaining teams grouped together are Schalke 04 and Barcelona. The media have said that this game is nothing to watch. Schalke 04, which has reached the quarterfinals for the first time, is obviously not considered to have a chance of defeating Barcelona. The bookmakers made their choice with their feet, and neither Schalke 04 nor Fenerbahce received odds support.
Barcelona fans were very angry after seeing the comments in the media: They were all playing against weak teams, Schalke 04 is stronger than Fenerbahce, why do people only say that their Barcelona game is nothing to watch? !
In response, the Meilingges sent "telegrams" one after another: What kind of fools are you? Is there any need to ask this kind of question? Of course it’s because Chelsea has Endrit!
Barcelona fans immediately fought back, hitting the heart of Real Madrid fans: What is a team that is not even in the quarterfinals barking about here? !
So far, before the start of the first round of the Champions League quarter-finals, Serie A has been very lively, with Barcelona and Real Madrid fans scolding each other every day. In the end, Barcelona fans, who had a clear advantage in the game, won the war, and the defeated Real Madrid fans turned around and criticized their own club, denouncing their extremely poor performance.
On April 2, local time in Turkey, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Chelsea challenged the Turkish team Fenerbahce away. The latter played a Christmas tree 4321 lineup, with goalkeeper Volkan, defenders Onder, Lugano, Edu and Wadeson, three midfielders Maldonado, Aurelio and Ugur, two wingers David and Alex, and striker Keri advancing.
In this lineup, the two wingers are the core of the team's offense. Fenerbahce captain Alex occupies this important position - he has the same name as Chelsea defender Alex. If they play in this game, the commentator will have to distinguish between the two names.
But today Chelsea's defender lineup did not include Alex, but Essien, John Terry, Carvalho and Ashley. Moving Essien, who was originally in the midfield, to the backcourt is not only because Essien is good at defense, but also because Essien can effectively cooperate with Lampard or Ballack in counterattacks on the left.
After all, it is the Champions League. Although the opponent is Fenerbahce, Mourinho still cooperated with the team, or further strengthened the defense of Endrit: when receiving the ball and counterattacking, he can directly pass the ball to Essien without any worries.
The midfield trio is still Ballack, Makelele and Lampard, while the forwards are Joe Cole, Anelka and Drogba.
After the opening, Fenerbahce, playing at home, did not play actively at all.
"Has Fenerbahce given up the game? Their physical strength and energy are in the best condition now, why not take advantage of this period to launch an attack on Chelsea?"
Fenerbahce was not active in the kick-off and the ball was locked in the backcourt. The fans who were originally very excited at the scene couldn't help but yawn during the boring back pass.
In the sixth minute after the opening, the ball was finally brought to the front court.
In the 11th minute, Lampard took a long shot from the left, but it was blocked by the Fenerbahce defender. Cole seized the opportunity to receive the ball, cut inside the penalty area and lobbed with his right foot.
The ball didn't go in and was caught by Fenerbahce goalkeeper Volkan.
The ball came back to Fenerbahce, and this time, they quickly pushed the ball forward, but they were intercepted by Chelsea even faster.
In the 13th minute, Anelka and Lampard made a two-pass cooperation and passed the ball to the middle from the left side of the penalty area. Fenerbahce winger David actively returned to defense, blocked the ball 8 meters away from the goal, and kicked the ball directly with his right foot. The ball flew in the opposite direction and plunged into the unsuspecting Fenerbahce goal.
Fenerbahce goalkeeper Volkan was stunned on the spot, his eyes kept scanning between the football and David, "What have you done!"
“Beep, beep…”
Danish referee Larsson quickly blew the whistle to indicate that the goal was valid. The Chelsea players stood on the field and looked at each other, not knowing whether to celebrate. They didn't score a goal, but they are now leading their opponents 1:0, so, should they celebrate?
Fenerbahce, who scored an own goal, was immediately wilted. In the 22nd minute, Fenerbahce finally made a breakthrough. Midfielder Aurelio received a pass from his teammate outside the Chelsea penalty area and turned around and shot low. The distance was not far, but the ball went directly wide. Endrit stretched out his hand and tried his best to catch it, but he didn't touch the ball at all.
In the 26th minute after the start of the game, the Fenerbahce defender hurriedly shot from the left. The ball flew to the backcourt, but it was similar to the shot of his teammate Aurelio: the ball went directly out of the goal, and Endrit couldn't touch the ball even if he wanted to catch it.
From this point on, until the end of the first half, Fenerbahce did not bring the ball to the backcourt again. However, Chelsea players who frequently attacked Fenerbahce's goal failed to score.
"Drogba, in the 31st minute, during the quick counterattack in the frontcourt, you did not choose to pass the ball to your teammates on the two wings when facing the double-team of the opponent. I can understand that. But I hope that if you encounter such a situation again in the second half, you can pass the ball to your teammates. Fenerbahce players are clearly targeting you, so don't be stubborn."
In the locker room, Mourinho called out the players who performed poorly in the first half one by one, "Anelka, Cole, when you two were passing the ball, you just stopped where you were and didn't make any more runs? If you had made some runs, you would have had a chance to score a goal!"
"Own goals are something you can only expect. You don't want to pin your hopes on your opponent making mistakes. In the second half, I want to see you score a goal. That will represent the true strength of our team."
After the half-time break, five minutes into the second half, Fenerbahce's captain, winger Alex received a pass from his teammate Önder in the penalty area and headed the ball, but the ball hit the crossbar and flew out of the goal.
Endrit looked back at the ball and sighed, feeling very sorry that he didn't catch it.
In the 53rd minute, Fenerbahce head coach Zico made the first substitution. He replaced midfielder Ugur with striker Kazim from London, England, trying to defeat Chelsea with a new type of metaphysics.
Two minutes later, Fenerbahce captain Alex took a corner kick from the left, the ball bounced off the ground and flew directly to Kezman, who received the ball and made a back-hook shot at a small angle, and the ball went straight to the lower left corner of the penalty area.
Endrit flew over and after holding the ball, he threw it towards Essien with his hand without getting up.
“Wine!”
After receiving the ball, Essien did not hesitate and passed the ball to Makelele while shouting Ballack's code name. After receiving the ball, Makelele rushed forward with the ball. At the same time, the three forwards and the other two midfielders also rushed into the Fenerbahce penalty area.
Makelele passed the ball to Anelka in the penalty area. Anelka received the ball and faked a shot, which made the Fenerbahce goalkeeper rush to the right, but the ball moved sideways to the left, and Ballack volleyed the ball into the goal.
Chelsea 2:0!
This time, Chelsea's players celebrated without any hesitation in the opponent's home court. Chelsea fans in the stands also stood up excitedly and cheered for the team's goal.
Referee Larson estimated the time, picked up the whistle and blew it to start the game.
In the 64th minute, Fenerbahce winger Alex chose to take a direct low shot from 20 meters away from the goal. Endrit squatted down and confiscated the ball directly, then stood up and threw the ball to John Terry, and shouted Lampard's code name "bake": this attack is left to Lampard.
The full code name should be baked potato, but this was obviously too long, so Endrit simply read only the first two syllables. As for why it was baked potatoes, Lampard answered: He likes baked potatoes at Christmas dinner the most.
John Terry dribbled forward with the ball and passed it directly to Cole. Cole dribbled forward for a while and passed it directly to Lampard outside the penalty area. Lampard received the ball and shot it directly at the goal.
Fenerbahce goalkeeper Volkan made a direct attack and slapped the ball out of the goal.
The ball did not go in, but the Chelsea fans in the stands were not upset because before that, Chelsea's many attacks were blocked by the Fenerbahce goalkeeper.
The players from both sides on the field did not have any special feelings about this failed attack, but at this moment, Mourinho, who was standing on the sidelines, frowned tightly. After the game resumed, he even reached out and knocked his head with his fist, and he could not stop the sadness in his heart.
On the other side, Fenerbahce head coach Zico is even more worried than Mourinho: they are playing at home! Now that they are two goals behind, do they still have a chance to win? Do you want to change someone else?
Zico turned his head and looked at the substitute players in the stands, and found that no player could perform better than the players currently on the field, and it would be of no use even if they were substituted in.
In the 65th minute, Lampard shot with his left foot from 13 meters in front of Fenerbahce's goal, but the ball was barely kicked out of the goal by Volkan.
Fenerbahce head coach Zico took a deep breath and replaced striker Kežman with Semih.
In the 81st minute, Fenerbahce took the last shot of the game. Winger David lobbed the ball with his right foot from 32 meters in front of the goal. The ball went straight to the upper left corner of the goal. Endrit jumped high and hit the ball directly out with his palm.
John Terry did not hear Endrit's voice after receiving the ball, which meant that the attack would be handed over to the frontcourt players. John Terry made a long diagonal pass and Anelka headed the ball outside the penalty area, but the ball was confiscated by Fenerbahce goalkeeper Volkan.
Fenerbahce 0:2 Chelsea, regrettably lost at home.
Before the post-match press conference, Fenerbahce head coach Zico met Mourinho unexpectedly in the corridor. The former greeted Mourinho with a smile, and Mourinho nodded with a serious face.
Zico's smile froze for a moment: No, didn't you Chelsea win? Why are you still not happy?
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