Chapter 195 Peak Showdown, Manchester City VS Bayern Munich

On October 2, the second round of the Champions League group stage kicked off.

In another match that started in the same group, CSKA Moscow, playing at home, beat Plzen 3:2 thanks to an own goal from their opponent and got the precious three points.

Manchester City is also paying close attention to this game. If they cannot beat Bayern Munich, then CSKA Moscow will be their biggest competitor in the group.

"CSKA Moscow doesn't look very strong, does it?"

"That's right, if the opponent hadn't conceded an own goal, this game would have been hard to predict!"

"We can't be careless. Now is not the time for them to show off their strength at home."

"Yes, by the time we play against them, the temperature in Moscow will be much lower than it is now. By then, everything will be uncertain!"

Everyone nodded. With the long expedition and the weather debuff, it was indeed difficult to play away.

"Okay, don't think too much, just play our game well. As long as we can win, we don't have to worry about other people's faces. Instead, it will be other people's turn to worry about our faces!"

"Yes, if we beat Bayern, we will not only qualify, but we can even replace them and become the favorites to win the championship!"

"Haha, I don't even dare to think about winning the championship, just making it to the quarterfinals this year is enough!"

"Don't look down on yourself. With our strength, as long as we don't meet those top teams in the knockout stage, we still have a great chance of making it to the quarterfinals!"

In this round of the Champions League, several games have attracted much attention.

In the Group of Death, Arsenal's home match against Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain's match against Benfica in Group C, and Porto's match against Atletico Madrid in Group G were all matches that all parties believed before the games were relatively balanced in strength and the results of the games were difficult to predict.

Moreover, these games have a great impact on the qualifying situation of each group. Whoever can defeat their direct competitors in the strong confrontation will take the initiative to qualify.

However, compared with these games, the strong confrontation between Manchester City and Bayern Munich is obviously more attractive.

There are many highlights in this game. First of all, both teams have a large number of stars.

Someone calculated based on the data from the German transfer market and found that if the value of the players from both teams were added together, the total value would exceed 1 billion euros.

This number is very exaggerated, and it also reflects how luxurious the lineups of the two teams are.

Secondly, this is a showdown between the rich and the nouveau riche.

Bayern is a long-established giant in the Bundesliga, while Manchester City is a new upstart in the Premier League.

One has a strong foundation of decades, while the other has just risen and has a blank slate of honors.

These two types of teams can be seen as a collision between the new and old forces in today's football.

Will the traditional giants win by virtue of their deeper foundation, or will the new football rules overthrow the giants by virtue of their strong financial resources? This is a major highlight of the game! In addition, there is another highlight: this is the first duel between Guardiola and Lin Quan, the father and son, in an official game. People are very curious about who will have the last laugh between the two.

"It must be Guardiola, is there any doubt about that?"

"That is, what is the strength of Bayern and what is the strength of Manchester City? Can they be compared?"

"Bayern's main players this season have basically not changed, and they have also strengthened their team with players like Gotze and Thiago. With the addition of Guardiola, a famous football coach, their strength may be even stronger than last season. I don't know how they can lose."

In the online poll before the game, the majority of fans supported Bayern's victory.

Objectively speaking, Bayern is obviously stronger.

Moreover, Bayern has more experience in the Champions League.

Manchester City has only participated in the Champions League three times, and failed to even qualify for the group stage in the first two times. In terms of experience, they are far behind the Champions League champions.

However, Manchester City is not completely without support.

"I'm optimistic about Lin Huang. He was able to lead the team to defeat Bayern in Werder Bremen. There's no reason why he can't do it in Manchester City!"

"Yes, Bayern is very strong, but the ball is round, and a strong team may not necessarily win. In the Champions League group stage last season, Bayern lost to BATE Borisov!"

"And there is another very important point. After Guardiola took over as coach of Bayern, he adjusted Bayern's technical and tactical play, but the time was not enough and the team did not fully reach the state he wanted. This may be a weakening for Bayern, so Bayern may not be as strong as we thought!"

In general, although there are people who support Manchester City, the number of people who support Manchester City is still relatively small.

The bookmakers also opened the handicap before the game. The initial handicap they gave was that Manchester City would give half a goal at home. This handicap obviously favored Bayern to win away.

Affected by this, the outside world has become even more pessimistic about Manchester City.

After all, betting companies make a living from this, so they are definitely much more professional than ordinary fans.

…

An hour and a half before the game, Manchester City and Bayern's buses set off from the Carrington training base almost at the same time and headed for the Etihad Stadium.

The street leading to the stadium was almost packed with Manchester City fans wearing sky blue jerseys.

"Kick hard and make sure to take them down!"

"Lin, come on, let them know how powerful you are!"

"Aguero, score more goals and don't be polite to them!"

The fans shouted various slogans to cheer and encourage the players.

In fact, from the expressions on their faces, we can see that Manchester City fans are also very nervous.

Fans are well aware that this game may be the most important game of the season for Manchester City.

If they fail to win this home court, they will most likely follow in the footsteps of the previous two years and fall in the Champions League group stage again.

Therefore, countless fans came spontaneously to support the team, hoping to help the team win this victory.

The fans' enthusiasm and expectations made Manchester City players feel an invisible pressure.

A tense atmosphere began to spread within the team.

After arriving at the stadium, the players changed their clothes and equipment, and walked silently to the stadium to warm up before the game.

Fans were also entering the stadium one after another. The Etihad Stadium was dyed blue. Only a small red area could be seen on the away team's stand. Those were the 3,000 Bayern fans who had traveled with the team.

It's difficult for them, as British football hooligans are very famous.

When they watch a game away from home, they may accidentally get into a conflict with the home team's fans. If a fight breaks out between the two sides, Bayern's fans are too few in number and they are likely to suffer a great loss.

Of course, UEFA is also prepared for this. A large number of security personnel came to the scene of the game, and there were also police patrolling and guarding outside the stadium.

The existence of groups like football hooligans not only poses a threat to Manchester's public security, but also brings loss of face to the UK, so they have always cracked down on such behavior.

At 19:40, players from both teams, led by the referee and holding the caddies, entered the court.

Before the game started, Manchester City's team anthem, Blue Moon, was already playing at the Etihad Stadium.

The rhythm of this song is not exciting or passionate at all, but rather has a soothing and tender feeling.

But at this moment, accompanied by this gentle and soothing melody, the impetuousness and tension in the hearts of Manchester City players are being calmed down little by little.

They moved their lips and sang along softly.

The players held hands and formed a circle.

No high fives, no chants.

Only the singing is flowing slowly.

Beep! A loud long whistle sounded.

The game begins!

"The game officially begins. The players wearing blue jerseys attacking from left to right are the home team Manchester City; the players wearing red jerseys attacking from right to left are the visiting team Bayern."

In the studio of CCTV, He Wei perked up, as the long-awaited focus showdown finally began.

While looking through the starting rosters of the two teams, he introduced them:

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"Before this game, the two teams had the same points and goal difference, so this game is also a battle for the top spot in Group D."

"That's right, so this game is very important for both teams!"

Xu Yang quickly agreed.

"Let's take a look at the starting lineups of the two teams. Pellegrini arranged Richards to start in the back line, probably to limit the performance of Bayern's core Ribery."

"Ribery's performance in the Champions League last season was obvious to all. I think no matter who faces Bayern, they will not dare to take him lightly."

"That's right, it's the same for Bayern. Midfielder Martinez starts the game. Guardiola probably uses him to limit Lin Quan!"

"Haha, Heynckes has used this trick before, but it didn't work very well. I wonder if Guardiola has any hidden tricks."

"Manchester City's defense today was very cautious. They did not rush into attacking after the start of the game. Judging from their formation, they probably did not intend to compete with Bayern for ball possession, but instead focused on defense and counterattacks to seize the opponent's mistakes."

"As expected from Bayern, Guardiola's team played without a striker."

"This is also his consistent style of play during his time at Barcelona, ​​but Bayern is not Barcelona. Whether this tactic can succeed at Bayern remains to be seen."

"The outside world previously thought that Guardiola might play it safe in such a strong match and continue to use the mature tactics of the Heynckes era, but obviously, everyone guessed wrong. Guardiola did not adopt a conservative tactic because of the importance of this game."

"This is completely opposite to Mourinho!"

"Both teams have very good records in the league. Bayern has five wins and one draw and remains unbeaten, while Manchester City has won six games in a row. It can be said that both teams are in their best form."

"However, one thing is worth noting. In the eight matches between Manchester City coach Pellegrini and Guardiola, they have lost seven and tied one, without a single win. Of course, this is related to the strength of the teams they coached, but it also reflects that there may be a certain restraint between their coaching styles."

"Haha, this doesn't seem to be good news for Manchester City!"

On the sidelines, in the home team's coaching booth, Pellegrini looked a little nervous.

What the commentator said was not accurate. He had coached Real Madrid in the 2009-2010 season, and Real Madrid was defeated both at home and away by Guardiola's Barcelona.

Pellegrini has always been wary of this rising star in the coaching world.

This is also the main reason why he chose to play a defensive counterattack tactic at home.

With Manchester City's current defensive level, it's really a dead end to play against Guardiola's team! At the beginning, both sides were testing each other, and the offensive of each other was not great.

In the 5th minute, Aguero's long shot was saved by Neuer and Manchester City got a corner kick opportunity.

Lin Quan walked towards the corner area, took a few steps back and took a look at Bayern's penalty area.

Bayern's defenders are tall and strong, and it is difficult for Manchester City's forwards to get the ball.

So he did not choose to look for a striker, but instead kicked the ball back, preparing for captain Kompany to head the ball.

Lin Quan's corner kick accurately found Kompany, but the latter's header was directly confiscated by Bayern goalkeeper Neuer.

After getting the ball, Neuer did not delay. He ran out of the goal quickly and threw the ball to his teammate on the wing.

This ball was for Ribery. At that time, Manchester City's backcourt was very empty. Once Ribery received the ball, he could drive straight into the goal and pose a threat to Manchester City's goal.

Fortunately, Richards was focused, fought for the ball and headed it out of the sideline, thus defusing Bayern's counterattack.

Pellegrini applauded Richards for his clearance on the sidelines, although it seemed that Ribery was still a long way from Manchester City's goal and did not feel that dangerous.

But if Ribery really gets the ball, once he speeds up, this distance will not be worth mentioning at all.

After five minutes of probing, Bayern sounded the clarion call for a massive attack.

From this time on, Ribery, Robben, Muller and others began to become active.

In the 7th minute of the first half, after Bayern's continuous back-pass in the midfield and backcourt, their defender Rafinha suddenly sent a long pass from the right.

The ball was passed very accurately and went directly to Ribery in front.

After receiving the ball, Ribery waited for a moment, used a change in rhythm to get past the Manchester City player who was trying to steal the ball, and then quickly cut inside with the ball.

At the same time, Muller and Robben were both moving forward, and Bayern's three arrows were fired at the frontcourt at the same time. For a while, there was panic in Manchester City's penalty area.

Ribery glanced in the direction of his teammates, seemingly preparing to pass the ball, but suddenly shot.

Joe Hart didn't expect the opponent to shoot at the near corner, and he made a hasty save due to lack of preparation.

Although he touched the ball, Ribery's shot was so powerful that Joe Hart's fingertips couldn't poke the ball out and he could only watch the ball fly into the net.

Bayern 1-0 Manchester City!

Ribery used a cold shot to help the team take the lead away from home.

After scoring the goal, Ribery seemed particularly excited. He rushed to the stands where the visiting fans were and celebrated his goal with a slide.

As a core player in Bayern's Champions League victory, in the absence of major competitions such as the European Cup and the World Cup, it is rumored that he has a chance to win this year's Golden Ball.

There is no need to explain how attractive the Ballon d'Or is to players, and Ribery naturally also aspires to win this award.

After the Ballon d'Or was monopolized by the two superstars for five years, if he can win the Ballon d'Or, his fame will be greatly enhanced and he will truly become a top superstar on par with Messi and Ronaldo.

However, these are just rumors from the outside world now. Before the Golden Globe Awards, no one knows who will win the Golden Globe this year.

So for Ribery, he must try his best to perform better before the Golden Ball Award ceremony in order to impress the judges, increase his votes and defeat his competitors!

And leading the team to win the Champions League is obviously the best way! (End of this chapter)