What pleased Li Shiguang even more than the resounding victory in this round was the upset of his two other direct competitors.
Arsenal lost 2-3 to West Ham United at home, while Liverpool drew 1-1 with Birmingham at home. As a result, Leeds United finally extended their lead over the two teams to 4 points, at least improving their margin for error.
February has arrived.
While the major European leagues are in full swing, the Champions League Round of 16 will also kick off at the end of the month.
Upon seeing this month's schedule, Li Shiguang swore that this was the first time he had ever thanked the FA for its scheduling arrangements.
Leeds United have a very easy schedule in February, with only one League Cup second leg match against Arsenal and three Premier League games.
Moreover, the most important match against Liverpool was scheduled three days before Liverpool's Champions League game, which made Li Shiguang extremely happy. He knew that Benitez would have to make a choice; if he went all out against Leeds United, the away game in Portugal three days later would likely be much more difficult...
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On the first weekend of February, Leeds United traveled to the Macron Stadium to face Bolton, their opponent in the 25th round of the Premier League.
Because the two teams had faced each other in the League Cup last month, and Bolton suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Alonso in that match, Allardyce emphasized defense in the middle of the pitch for this game. As it turned out, they seemed to have found some solutions, and Leeds United's attack was largely ineffective throughout the first half.
Since they couldn't break the deadlock, Li Shiguang made adjustments in the locker room, replacing Rivaldo and Camoranesi with Ribery and the recently recovered Falcao, allowing Leeds United to focus their attacks on the flanks in the second half.
After the two sides switched sides, Li Shiguang's tactics immediately took effect. By focusing on attacking down the flanks, Leeds United's attack became much smoother. Ribery and Bale frequently used their speed to create dangerous opportunities on both sides of Bolton's penalty area. It seemed that a goal was within reach, but in the 57th minute, Pique, who started the game, was sent off with a straight red card by the referee for a tackle from behind, which caused Leeds United's great situation to slip away.
With about half an hour left in the game, Li Shiguang was not so arrogant as to think that Kompany, a center-back, could handle the current situation. Helpless, he had no choice but to replace Berbatov with Silva.
In an instant, the situation on the field shifted dramatically. Bolton used their numerical advantage to launch a siege on Leeds United's goal, but unfortunately, their forwards were simply too inept at seizing opportunities. Several close-range shots were saved by Schmeichel because they were too straight. This situation of all bark and no bite made Allardyce on the sidelines so frustrated that he cursed loudly.
As the saying goes, those who do many evil deeds will surely perish; Bolton, who wasted too many opportunities, has finally been punished.
In the final moments of the match, after Bolton's corner kick was caught in the air by Schmeichel, he immediately launched a counter-attack with a throw-in. Bale received the ball and sprinted all the way before calmly slotting it past the goalkeeper to score.
In the end, Leeds United emerged victorious in this match.
In another match that ended a few minutes later, Arsenal also defeated Birmingham away from home, continuing to pose a threat to Leeds United in the standings.
However, in this round of matches, everyone's attention is not on Leeds United or Arsenal, but on Stamford Bridge, where league leaders Chelsea will face Liverpool's challenge!
The outcome of the match was exactly as everyone expected. Liverpool ultimately failed to upset the powerful Chelsea away from home. Drogba tore apart Liverpool's defense, and Chelsea were already two goals ahead in less than 70 minutes.
In the 83rd minute, something even more upsetting for Benitez than the loss came: Deisler received his second yellow card of the match for pulling down Lampard, resulting in a red card and his expulsion from the game. This meant he would miss the next match against Leeds United, and Benitez's face darkened further at the thought.
With this loss, Liverpool have been overtaken by Blackburn Rovers, and the gap with Leeds United has widened to 7 points. In everyone's eyes, they have already fallen further and further behind in the battle for the top four.
Moreover, with the upcoming Champions League match looming behind, Benitez knew very well that he had to make a decision...
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Three days later, Leeds United visited Highbury Stadium and saw Arsenal's starting lineup, which relieved Li Shiguang.
Just like in the previous match, Wenger fielded a completely reserve lineup, clearly indicating his intention to forfeit the League Cup.
He was under even more pressure than Benitez because their Champions League Round of 16 opponent was the much stronger Real Madrid.
Seeing Wenger's loyalty, Li Shiguang also gave him face. After taking the lead in the first half, he made substitutions at halftime, replacing all three midfielders. The score remained 0-1 until the end of the game, and Leeds United advanced to the League Cup final with a 2-0 aggregate score.
Their opponents are Manchester United, who had earlier defeated Blackburn.
After returning to Leeds and resting for three days, Benitez led his Liverpool team to Elland Road. Deisler did not travel to Leeds with the team because he received a red card in the previous match. In order to conserve strength for the Champions League match three days later, Benitez did not field his full starting lineup. This caused Chiellini, who had already established himself in Liverpool, to miss his first match against his former club after the transfer.
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot. Li Shiguang had no intention of supporting his fellow league teams in the Champions League to win glory for the country. So, as soon as the match started, Leeds United, under his command, launched a siege on Liverpool, taking advantage of their home ground.
In the 14th minute, Toure received the ball in the attacking third and used his body to hold off Carragher, who was marking him closely. He then passed the ball to Alonso, who was making a high-speed run. Alonso then unleashed a powerful shot that found the back of the net, showing Benitez another way to score. Of course, after scoring, facing his mentor and former club who brought him to the Premier League, Alonso did not choose to celebrate. He simply ran back to his own half.
Subsequently, Liverpool, trailing by one goal, began to organize an attack and attempt a counterattack. Gerrard also had two powerful shots that gave Schmeichel a scare, but in the end, they were too straight and were both saved by Schmeichel and went out of bounds.
Near the end of the first half, Liverpool's attack was cleared by Silva in the penalty area. The quick-thinking Alonso launched a long ball forward before Kuyt could reach it. Falcao, having positioned himself in advance, gained the upper hand in the aerial duel with Hyypia. After gaining possession, he didn't greedily pass the ball directly to Camoranesi, who was making a high-speed run down the right flank.
Then it was Camoranesi's turn to shine. Facing the onrushing goalkeeper Dudek, he scored his first goal since joining Leeds United with a skillful chip shot.
In the second half, Liverpool gave up the fight early on. After seeing that they still couldn't score a goal around the 70th minute, Benitez substituted several key players, including Gerrard, to save some energy for the Champions League three days later.
The score remained 2-0 until the end of the match.
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