As March arrives, the Premier League has officially entered its final 10 rounds of competition.
The situation is becoming clearer now, with Manchester United and Leeds United both leading the standings with 70 points after winning their respective matches over the weekend.
At this stage of the league, almost all the media in England believed that this year's champion would be one of these two teams.
In previous years, the battle for the top four in the Premier League was a good spectacle as the season progressed. But this year, there wasn't much to see. Liverpool, who had been in good form recently, were steadily closing the gap and were about to threaten fourth-placed Arsenal. Unfortunately, they ran into Manchester United, who were eager to win the title, and lost the game. Liverpool fell five points behind Arsenal.
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Seeing that there seemed to be no major turmoil in the domestic league, the media briefly reported on the matches and then turned their attention back to the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 midweek.
In the second leg, Leeds United and Chelsea became the first two teams among the four Premier League teams to play.
Although many people believed before the match that Barcelona could turn the tide away from home, or at the very least drag the game into a penalty shootout.
But once back on his own turf, Li Shiguang didn't give Rijkaard even the slightest chance.
From the moment the referee blew the whistle, Leeds United were determined to hold onto their lead.
Having tasted success last week, Li Shiguang went all out this week, deploying the aggressive duo of Mascherano and Toure in the defensive midfield position. Despite Xavi and Deco's best efforts, they gained little advantage against the fierce pressing of these two.
In the second half, Barcelona, unable to score, became increasingly anxious. Rijkaard, no longer concerned about Leeds United's sharp counter-attacks, stood on the sidelines waving repeatedly towards the Leeds United goal, signaling his players to press forward.
In this situation, in the 81st minute, Leeds United seized the opportunity of Barcelona's failed corner kick attack to launch a counterattack. When Ibrahimovic received Neuer's long pass in the center circle, Puyol was the only one left by him.
After getting past Puyol, Ibrahimovic made a long run forward and calmly slotted the ball past the onrushing Valdes into the Barcelona net!
This goal effectively sealed the victory. After a symbolic two minutes of added time, Leeds United advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2006-2007 UEFA Champions League, defeating the defending champions!
This outcome surprised everyone; no one expected Leeds United to defeat the formidable Barcelona twice in this series...
Today is destined to be a day of celebration for English football fans. Following Leeds United's successful advancement, good news soon followed from Stamford Bridge: Chelsea defeated Porto 2-1, securing their place in the quarterfinals!
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After the second leg against Barcelona, Leeds United's next match is on March 17th, which is in the middle of the dreaded international break. In addition to the players called up by their national teams, Li Shiguang also gave the other players who were not selected for the national teams two days off.
Because Shakira has been busy traveling the world for concerts lately, Li Shiguang didn't expend too much energy and comfortably lay at home for two days.
On Friday, Leeds United resumed training after their holiday break. As soon as Li Shiguang walked onto the training ground, Simeone approached him with a smile: "Boss, Wenger has been getting bombarded with criticism these past few days."
On the second day of the Champions League this week, Manchester United and Arsenal played. Manchester United, playing at home, easily defeated Lille and advanced to the quarterfinals. Just when fans thought that all four Premier League teams had a chance to reach the quarterfinals, Arsenal suffered a shock defeat!
Back at home, they were held to a 1-1 draw by PSV Eindhoven, ultimately losing 1-2 on aggregate and being eliminated.
To focus on the league and Champions League, Wenger deliberately skipped the FA Cup last month, and now the league title is out of reach, and they've been eliminated in the round of 16 of the Champions League. Theoretically, Arsenal only have the League Cup left to contend for this season.
As soon as the match ended, Arsenal's official website was bombarded with comments from countless Gunners fans, who relentlessly attacked Wenger and the entire Arsenal management. Coupled with the media's instigation, Wenger has certainly had a tough time these past few days.
Li Shiguang doesn't usually like reading gossip, so he hadn't paid attention to it. Today was the first time he'd heard about Wenger, so he nodded and casually replied, "Uh... in competitive sports, being bad is the original sin, so it's understandable to be criticized after losing a game."
"And I also heard some gossip, Allen told me yesterday, boss, do you want to hear it?" Simone seemed unsatisfied and chuckled sinisterly again, but this pause was a bit provocative.
Li Shiguang was truly exasperated with this gossip king. He rolled his eyes at Simone and kicked him in the butt: "Spit it out! Don't you need to train anymore?"
Simeone smiled and dodged Li Shiguang's attack before slowly saying, "Boss, you know about Wenger's policy of signing players over 30 years old on a one-year contract, right?"
"Um."
"I heard from Allen that Henry's recent contract renewal negotiations with Arsenal seem to have been put on hold because of this!"
Holy crap? Henry went to Barcelona this year?
Simone's words reminded Li Shiguang, and his already blurred memories gradually became clearer.
After realizing what was happening, Li Shiguang quickly instructed Simone, "Go call Allen and tell him to come over."
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About ten minutes after Simeone finished his call, Allen arrived at the training field. Seeing Li Shiguang leading the players in training, he didn't walk in directly, but instead called out to Li Shiguang from the sidelines, "Boss, you wanted to see me?"
Upon hearing Allen's voice, Li Shiguang handed the work to Simeone and then came over. After inviting Allen to sit down, he asked, "Allen, Diego just said that Henry didn't agree to Arsenal's contract extension terms?"
“Yes! Raiola told me.” Allen nodded affirmatively. “They have a small circle, and his agent Dani is in it too.”
"She brought it up herself?" Li Shiguang found it a bit hard to believe.
Allen nodded calmly: "Yes, Henry's contract only has one year left. If she can't reach an agreement with Arsenal this time, she has to find Henry a new club as soon as possible. And I also heard that Laporta has already contacted Dani privately."
"Hey, this is interesting..." Upon hearing the name Laporta, Li Shiguang stroked his chin and muttered softly.
Although he wasn't quite sure why his boss suddenly wanted to ask about Henry, Allen asked again just to be on the safe side.
"Boss, from what you're saying, you don't mean you want to buy Henry, do you?"
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