Chapter 211: Fighting against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium? This is courting death!
"Sure enough, once the Ballon d'Or list was announced, the performances of the stars were completely different from before!"
"That's right, Lin Huang scored four goals, Benzema, Ronaldo and Bale scored twice in the same game. It's crazy, everyone is going crazy!"
In another La Liga match that ended at the same time, Real Madrid slaughtered the visiting Sevilla 7:2 at home.
Sevilla is not weak and has always been a regular in European competitions, but in front of the powerful Real Madrid, it was still beaten without any chance of fighting back.
In this game, Real Madrid's BBC combination was in great form, showing the world how terrifying the BBC combination is after running in! "C Ronaldo has scored 10 goals in the league, right? Almost one goal per game. CR7's performance this year seems to be better than last year!"
"Well, the key is that he is now very strong both in the league and in the Champions League. If he continues like this, he might actually win the Ballon d'Or this year!"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible. Ribery at least has a Champions League, while Ronaldo has no honors. How can he compete with him?"
"I want to know, is the Ballon d'Or really that attractive? Why do the stars care so much about it?"
"The Ballon d'Or is the highest honor for individual players in football besides the title of Football King. It is difficult to become Football King, but it is relatively easy to win the Ballon d'Or. It can also more directly reflect a player's overall performance in a certain season, so almost no top football player has no idea about it!"
"That's right. And there's another point. This is a combination of the World Footballer of the Year and the Ballon d'Or. It's much more valuable than a single award. Winning one trophy is equivalent to winning two trophies. Naturally, everyone will fight over it!"
"Haha, during this period, those small and medium-sized teams in the five major leagues are going to be in trouble!"
"Norwich was slaughtered 7:0, Real Madrid beat Sevilla 7:2 at home, Barcelona beat Celta 3:0 away, Paris Saint-Germain beat Lorient 4:0 at home, and there was not a single game with less than three goals!"
"Fortunately, we are not in the relegation stage now, otherwise these small teams would be in trouble!"
"We're already unlucky. We lost so many goals in one go. How can we catch up?"
…
For the fans, this is a good thing.
In order to compete for the Golden Ball, top superstars will give their all in the game and frequently score various wonderful goals, allowing them to enjoy more exciting games.
However, this is from the perspective of neutral fans. For fans of a certain player, the closer the Ballon d'Or ceremony gets, the more nervous they become.
Until the final answer is revealed, no one knows who will win this year's Golden Globe Award.
However, a player named Lin was very calm about this.
After the game, he declined the interview from reporters on the scene, rushed back to the locker room, took a shower as quickly as possible, changed his clothes, and left in a hurry.
"What happened to Lin today? Why did you leave in such a hurry?"
Aguero had just come in from outside and hadn't even started running the water for the shower when Lin Quan had already slipped away.
"It seems that Lin's girlfriend is here. He probably went on a date with his girlfriend!"
Negredo is close to Lin Quan and knows some inside information.
"No wonder this guy is in such good shape, it turns out his girlfriend is here!"
Aguero complained, he was actually a little envious in his heart.
He is already an old man who has been divorced once, and love is getting further and further away from him.
Now after the game, he likes to stay at home and live stream his games on Twitch.
For otakus, games are their true love! …
Lily Collins' outfit today is full of girlishness, with a beige cartoon short-sleeved shirt, soft brown curly hair that falls naturally in waves, and bright big eyes that seem to be able to speak.
Just standing there, people can't take their eyes off her, and the rate of turning heads to look at her is off the charts.
The fans passing by couldn't help but take a look, but no one came forward to talk to him.
They obviously knew who the girl was waiting for! Ten minutes later, Lin Quan appeared in the girl's sight.
"here!"
The girl's eyes lit up, she stood on tiptoe and waved her arms hard, trying to attract the other person's attention.
Lin Quan quickly spotted her in the crowd. There was nothing he could do about it. Her beauty stood out from the crowd and it was hard not to see her.
"Have you been waiting for a long time?"
"That's not bad, you took a shower faster than I thought!"
Lily Collins covered her mouth and giggled. She thought she would have to wait for half an hour, but she didn't expect the other party to come out in less than 20 minutes.
"Let's go eat? I know a great restaurant!"
There were many fans leaving the stadium, and Lin Quan didn't want to stand here and chat with Lily Collins.
"OK!"
Lily Collins nodded obediently, looking like she was willing to follow Lin Quan's arrangements.
Lin Quan had just finished a game and was very tired. He was already hungry at this time.
After the waiter brought the dishes, they began to eat with relish.
Compared to his quick eat, Lily Collins eats very politely, but not slowly at all.
She finished all the food in front of her quickly and efficiently with an elegant gesture.
Lin Quan couldn't help but think of a foodie named Ruan in a novel he had read before. What's more, the two had quite similar backgrounds.
"So, what's the surprise? Is it this feast?"
After finishing her meal, Lily Collins blinked curiously, waiting for the other party to reveal the answer.
This question has been bothering her for a long time. If she could talk while eating, she would have asked it long ago.
“Have you ever shot a commercial?”
Lin Quan asked.
Lily Collins nodded. She had shot a few commercials before. But why did Lin Quan mention this? Did he want to ask her to shoot a commercial? "Can you play the piano?"
"Yes, I can play piano, violin, cello, guitar, etc. What's wrong?"
Lily Collins said something extraordinary in a calm tone.
What a talented girl she is. She can play so many musical instruments. It must be a shame if she doesn’t pursue music.
But this is not surprising, Lily Collins' father is a famous musician, and she herself has received musical training since childhood.
According to her father's arrangement, she was supposed to pursue a career in music when she grew up.
But she was more interested in acting and somewhat resistant to her parents' arrangements.
If she was really willing to change her mind and go back to inherit her father's business, her father would definitely be very happy.
Since she can play the piano, that's no problem.
Lin Quan then introduced a story about someone wanting to shoot a music commercial and he just happened to have an idea.
"Did you write this song?"
After listening to the music score and demo given by Lin Quan, Lily Collins widened her eyes and looked at Lin Quan in disbelief, as if she had met him for the first time.
“I wrote the music and lyrics, and the demo was produced by a music studio.”
“That’s amazing!”
After hearing this, Lily Collins put her hands together under her chin and clapped softly.
"How about it, do you like this song?"
"Yeah, I like it!"
The song "Dream Come True" not only has a nice title, but the lyrics and the story of a musical girl chasing her dreams described by Lin Quan are also very touching.
After listening to it, Lily Collins couldn't help but think of herself. Could it be that this was a song he wrote specifically for her?
Once this idea arises, it takes root in my heart, and the more I think about it, the more I feel that it is true.
In this story, isn’t the dilemma faced by the musical girl the same dilemma you are facing now?
I finally got a chance to play the leading role, but the box office of the movie was not as good as expected.
Her acting career crashed before it even took off.
During this period, Lily Collins hesitated whether to continue on this path.
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But at this moment, after hearing the song written for her by Lin Quan, Lily Collins' fighting spirit was rekindled.
"Thank you, I like this gift very much!"
"Just like it. Even though it's just an ad, I have a feeling it will be a big hit!"
"Then I'll borrow your good words. If you really become famous, I'll treat you to a meal!"
"Okay, but this time I want to eat the meal you made yourself!"
"Hey, my cooking skills are not that good. You have to be prepared to eat dark cuisine!"
…
Shortly after the end of the tenth round of the Premier League, the Champions League group stage battle resumed.
In the fourth round of the group stage, Manchester City faced CSKA Moscow at home.
Before this game, Manchester City had won all three games and was first in the group with 9 points.
CSKA Moscow has one win and two losses, and is three points behind second-placed Bayern.
Considering that Bayern's opponent in this game is Viktoria Plzen, the weakest team in the group, the outside world has already assumed that they have got the three points.
As a result, CSKA Moscow is at least 6 points behind the second place.
With only three rounds of the Champions League group stage left, it will be extremely difficult to close the gap.
Therefore, this game can be said to be a life-and-death battle for CSKA Moscow. If they lose this game, their qualification will only be a theoretical possibility.
"My team and I will come here to win. We will not wait for death to come. We will take our destiny firmly into our own hands!"
At the pre-match press conference, CSKA Moscow head coach Slutsky spoke in a firm tone and expressed his determination to fight Manchester City to the end at the Etihad Stadium.
However, his bold words did not seem to be recognized by the reporters on the scene, except for the Russian reporters who came from afar and gave Slutsky applause.
British journalists reacted indifferently, as Manchester City's home record this season has been horrific.
So far, they still maintain a perfect record at home.
In this situation, when a Russian Premier League team threatened to capture the Etihad Stadium, the British media naturally scoffed.
If the Etihad Stadium had been so easy to conquer, defending champions Bayern Munich would not have returned empty-handed.
Compared with the match between CSKA Moscow and Manchester City, reporters are more concerned about whether the Premier League upstart Manchester City can qualify as the first in the group.
The first and second place teams in the group will face completely different opponents in the knockout stage.
Manchester City lacks experience in the Champions League and has never made it to the knockout stage before.
Therefore, if they don’t want to be eliminated in the round of 16, they must find a way to grab first place in the group.
In this way, most of the top giants can be avoided when drawing lots.
Although there are no weak teams in the Champions League, the second place in each group also has considerable strength.
But at least they are slightly better than the group leader. If Manchester City can play well at home, they have a chance to see the opponent eliminated and advance to the quarterfinals.
However, the current first place in the group is still in suspense. Although Manchester City is currently ranked first in the group, its lead is not large, only three points.
This means that even if Manchester City beat CSKA Moscow, they will not be able to secure first place in the group.
In the last round of the group stage, they need to go away to face their biggest rival Bayern Munich.
If Manchester City can capture the Allianz Arena, they will be able to secure first place in the group.
But if they lose, with the same win-loss record, the two teams will have to compare who has more goals.
Therefore, for Manchester City who want to compete for the first place in the group, they not only need to defeat CSKA Moscow, but also score as many goals as possible.
In this way, even if they lose at the Allianz Arena, they can still secure first place in the group with the advantage of goal difference.
In the first three group stage games, Manchester City defeated their opponents with scores of 3:0/3:2/4:1 respectively, and their current goal difference is 7.
This goal difference is actually a lot. Among the 32 teams in the Champions League group stage, only Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid have a higher goal difference than Manchester City.
However, Manchester City's rival is Bayern.
Although Bayern lost to Manchester City, they won 5:0 against Plzen in the third round.
So the current goal difference between the two teams is the same!
In this match, Bayern will meet Plzen again, and they will definitely score a lot of goals.
Three, four or even five goals are possible.
This meant that Manchester City needed to score at least four goals in this game to ensure that they would not be left behind by Bayern.
If we consider the worst case scenario, they lost to Bayern in the last round when they visited the Allianz Arena.
So their current goal difference is actually at least 2 goals behind Bayern!
Therefore, based on Bayern's goal, Manchester City must score at least two more goals!
In this context, the harsh words of the CSKA Moscow coach naturally seem like a joke.
If they had played more conservatively and parked the bus at the Etihad Stadium, they might not have died so miserably.
But if they really dare to fight against Manchester City, then they really don’t know how to write the word death!
Pellegrini initially thought that CSKA Moscow was throwing a smokescreen and deliberately said this before the game in order to deceive them and then quietly change tactics.
But when the game started, seeing the opponent's offensive posture, Pellegrini couldn't help but admire in his heart: "How brave! They actually dared to play against us at the Etihad Stadium!"
Slutsky, I respect you as a man.
But I'm sorry, this is Etihad! (End of this chapter)