Chapter 230 Another battle for the top spot, the Red Army Liverpool is coming!

"Lin, will you show mercy to your old teammates in the game against Werder Bremen?"

After the results of the draw came out, a large group of reporters came and surrounded Lin Quan, wanting to interview him.

Facing the reporter's question, Lin Quan smiled and replied: "My old teammates are very strong. They don't need me to show mercy. Instead, I think I should ask them to show mercy. After all, they know my playing habits very well. No one knows how to restrict me better than them!"

Lin Quan has a good relationship with the old players of Werder Bremen. In this kind of civilian team, the relationship between players is generally much closer than when they are in a wealthy club.

He misses and cherishes this friendship and will not destroy it easily.

So he wouldn't say anything like "show mercy" which would hurt the other person's self-esteem.

On the contrary, he praised his old teammates highly, asking reporters to pay more attention to them, which could help them increase their attention and fame!

After all, some of Werder Bremen's players are really good, all they lack is a suitable stage.

The reporters were not satisfied with Lin Quan's smooth answer, so they continued to ask:

"Lin, how do you feel about returning to the Weser Stadium again?"

"If you scored a goal at the Weser Stadium, would you celebrate?"

Lin Quan was silent for a while, as if he was thinking about how to answer this question.

“To be honest, I never thought I would return to the Weser Stadium as an opponent, it’s a strange feeling.

Last season, when I wore the green jersey of Werder Bremen, I always enjoyed the applause and cheers of the fans, but now, I am afraid to hear their boos.

It's not easy to score against Werder Bremen, but if I'm lucky enough to score, I don't think I'll celebrate, whether I'm away or at home."

Lin Quan's answers were very sincere, which deeply moved the Werder Bremen fans who saw the interviews.

They all rushed to Lin Quan's social media account and shouted in unison: "Lin, welcome home!"

Old captain Fritz tagged Lin Quan on social media and posted: "Lin, we all miss you very much, welcome home!"

Arnautovic said: "Hey man, to welcome you back to Bremen, we all prepared a surprise for you!"

Phil Kruger posted: "It was indeed a big surprise, I can testify to that!"

Lin Quan was very curious about what the surprise they were talking about was, but when he asked, the other party refused to tell him.

…

The Champions League is still a long way off, and after the draw ceremony, Manchester City quickly focused their attention on the league and cup competitions.

On December 18, the League Cup quarter-finals kicked off.

Lin Quan came on as a substitute in the 76th minute of the second half and scored his first goal in the League Cup.

Thanks to Navas's double and Lin Quan's goal, Manchester City easily defeated Leicester City 3-1 away, extending their unbeaten streak of the season to 25 games.

On December 21, in the 17th round of the Premier League, Manchester City challenged the farmers Fulham away.

The two teams met in the warm-up match before the start of the season, and Manchester City defeated the opponent 2:0.

Facing the powerful Manchester City, Fulham wisely did not choose to fight back against Manchester City, but instead parked the bus at home, trying to use defensive counterattack tactics to contain the opponent.

However, facing Manchester City's powerful offensive firepower, Fulham's plan was obviously miscalculated.

Before the end of the first half, Manchester City led the opponent 2:0 thanks to goals from Lin Quan and Yaya Toure.

After the start of the second half, Kompany scored a header to extend the score to 3:0. After securing victory, Manchester City began to make personnel adjustments.

In the next game they will face a direct confrontation with Liverpool, who are third in the league. In order to save energy for this game, Pellegrini chose to replace Lin Quan and other main players for rest.

However, after the substitution, some disturbances occurred on the field.

In the 70th minute of the game, Kompany made a mistake in clearing the ball with his head in his own penalty area and headed the ball into his own goal, giving the opponent an own goal.

Encouraged by this, Fulham launched a wave of attacks, and Richardson scored another goal in the 77th minute, changing the score to 2:3. Losing two goals in a row in just seven minutes made Manchester City fans nervous again.

In recent league games, Manchester City always has the habit of going wrong after taking the lead.

Fortunately, Navas and Milner, who came on as substitutes, stepped up and scored two goals in a row in the 82nd and 85th minutes, expanding the lead to 3 goals again.

In the end, Manchester City defeated Fulham 5:2 away from home, extending their unbeaten streak to 26 games and their league unbeaten streak to 17 games.

If Manchester City had not lost to Norwich in the last game of last season, their unbeaten streak across seasons would have exceeded 20 games.

However, as their undefeated record accumulated, the psychological pressure on the players became greater and greater.

They care more and more about winning or losing, and the psychological burden of wanting to win and being afraid of losing is becoming heavier.

In this state, they soon faced the peak battle with Liverpool.

Liverpool's record this season is very good. Not only has it changed its previous slump of lingering in the second group of the league, but it has also made it into the championship group.

After Suarez returned from suspension, they won four consecutive games, averaging 4.5 goals per game, and their offensive firepower is catching up with Manchester City at the top of the list.

In this round of the game, Arsenal was tied by Chelsea at home. In the past three rounds of games, they had 2 draws and 1 loss, and only got 2 points. Not only was the gap between them and Manchester City at the top of the list widened, but the score was also tied by Liverpool behind them.

The Reds even surpassed Arsenal in the standings because of their goal difference and moved up to second place in the league.

Therefore, this game is another battle for the top spot.

For the Reds, although they are now ranked second, they only have 36 points, while Manchester City has 47 points. The gap between the two teams is as high as 11 points.

If they can't beat Manchester City, it will be basically impossible for them to win the championship with such a big points gap entering the second half.

But if they can beat Manchester City, it will not only break Manchester City's unbeaten streak, but also narrow the gap between the two teams to 8 points, at least it will no longer be a double-digit gap.

Although Liverpool has been in strong momentum recently, the outside world is more optimistic about Manchester City.

The best start in Premier League history, with 26 games unbeaten on all fronts and all home wins.

Who can beat such a team?

If Manchester City were to visit Liverpool's Anfield Stadium in this round, they might be slightly more optimistic about Liverpool.

Unfortunately, Manchester City faced the challenge of the Red Army at home. Facing this most terrifying home stadium in the Premier League, no team in Europe can be sure to break through it! Not to mention defeating Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, it is difficult to even draw with them here!

This season, Manchester City played a total of 12 games at the Etihad Stadium. Not only did they win all of them, but they also set a terrifying record of 4.25 goals per game.

Here, losing three goals is considered a small number, and conceding six or even seven goals is normal.

Among the teams that were massacred at the Etihad Stadium were big clubs and strong teams such as Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham.

Even the powerful Bayern Munich was scored three goals in this stadium!

Manchester City may still try to challenge away from home, but at home, they are like gods and are simply invincible.

Liverpool is very strong and has been in good form recently, but given their strength, they still seem to be lacking in breaking through such a devilish home ground.

However, before the game, Liverpool coach Rogers said: "Manchester City is a very strong team. It will be difficult to challenge them away from home, but we have found a way to deal with them. We will break their unbeaten record at the Etihad Stadium."

The outside world is generally skeptical about Rogers' words, and the Reds' fans are convinced that they can defeat the invincible Manchester City away from home.

But Manchester City fans and most neutral fans are not optimistic about them. So many top teams have failed to achieve the goal, can Liverpool really achieve it?

However, surprisingly, Rogers was not bragging.

After the game started, Liverpool did not choose to defend, but instead prepared to attack Manchester City.

Few teams dare to play against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, and usually the teams that choose to do so do not end up with good results.

However, Liverpool seemed to have good luck today.

In the 24th minute of the first half, Liverpool completed a quick counterattack. After Suarez's shot was saved by the goalkeeper, Coutinho followed up and scored, helping the team lead the home team 1:0.

"Coutinho has made a great contribution. Liverpool is leading Manchester City away from home!"

Read the error-free version on 6Ⅹ9Ⅹ bookⅩ bar! 6Ⅹ9 book bar first publishes a novel.

The commentators did not react very strongly to this goal, because many of the teams that had previously visited the Etihad Stadium had scored the first goal, but in the end they all could not escape the fate of being reversed.

However, in the 39th minute, when Suarez scored Liverpool's second goal, the commentators could no longer remain calm.

"Suarez! An incredible goal, he showed what a top striker he is!"

"This is Suarez's 11th league goal since his comeback. The Uruguayan is charging towards the top of the scorer list. With his current goal efficiency, he may even threaten Lin Quan's Golden Boot status!"

On Sky Sports, Martin Taylor praised Suarez highly.

Although this player is very controversial, his unsportsmanlike behavior on the court has earned him a lot of infamy.

But in terms of hard power, this guy is indeed a top striker.

"This goal pushed Manchester City to the brink. So far this season, Manchester City has never fallen behind by two goals at home, but Liverpool did it!"

"Before the game, Rogers told the outside world that they had found a way to deal with Manchester City, but everyone was full of doubts about his words. But now, I think no one doubts his words anymore. Liverpool has really found a way to restrain Manchester City. They are very likely to break Manchester City's unbeaten record!"

After falling behind by two goals, Manchester City players generally looked very anxious.

They were eager to launch an attack to equalize the score, but Liverpool's defense today was very targeted.

The more anxious Manchester City is, the lower their offensive threat becomes.

Taking advantage of their eager attack, Liverpool launched a very threatening counterattack. If it weren't for Joe Hart's heroic save of Sterling's one-on-one shot, Manchester City might have fallen behind by three goals.

The first half of the game ended quickly. With a two-goal advantage, Liverpool players walked towards the visiting team's locker room talking and laughing.

On the home team side, Manchester City players were generally in a very low mood.

During the half-time break, Pellegrini made some adjustments to the team's tactics.

He replaced Milner, who has better defensive ability, with the intention of limiting the opponent's attack on the wing.

At the same time, Lin Quan's position was moved to the front line, and David Silva played as a central midfielder to provide ammunition for Lin Quan.

This substitution adjustment had a certain effect. After the start of the second half, David Silva assisted Lin Quan to score a goal.

Manchester City once saw hope of tying the score! But Rogers quickly made personnel adjustments. He replaced Coutinho, the hero of the goal, with No. 12 Moses, asking him to closely guard David Silva.

This move quickly worked. Under Moses's defense, David Silva's passes gradually lost their threat. Lin Quanding was unable to get the ball after standing in front, and the threat to Liverpool's goal was greatly reduced.

Pellegrini immediately made another personnel adjustment, replacing Fernandinho with Xabi Garcia.

Xavi Garcia has good passing ability and he had very good cooperation with Lin Quan when he played before.

The purpose of Pellegrini's substitution adjustment is very clear. He is still trying to supply ammunition to the players on the front line, especially Lin Quan, to equalize or even reverse the game with his strong offensive ability.

However, this substitution not only failed to achieve the expected effect, but because of Fernandinho's departure, it greatly weakened Manchester City's ability to control the midfield.

Under the crazy fighting of Liverpool players, Manchester City made frequent mistakes in the midfield. Javi Garcia lost the ball twice in less than five minutes after he came on the pitch. One of the times he was counterattacked by the opponent, which almost caused a tragedy.

Lacking support from the midfield, the players on the front line were left alone without support, and the threat to Liverpool's goal was infinitely reduced.

As time passed by, the end of the game was getting closer and closer, but Manchester City was still behind.

The Manchester City fans at the scene began to anxiously shout Lin Quan's name. After Lin Quan realized that he had no chance if he stayed on the front line, he no longer cared about Pellegrini's tactics and took the initiative to retreat to receive the ball.

He wanted to use his personal strength to equalize the score, just like the previous lore! In the 89th minute of the game, Lin Quan got the ball in his own backcourt.

When the football appeared at Lin Quan's feet again, all the Red Army fans, whether they were those who had traveled with the team on the expedition or those who were watching the game in front of the TV or in the pub, became nervous.

Lin Quan has had several buzzer beater records, and the Red Army fans are very afraid that he will change the score at the last moment.

In that case, the 3 points they got would become 1 point!

The game was approaching injury time at this time. As long as they could hold on for the last few minutes, they could take away a victory from the Etihad Stadium.

In order to stop Lin Quan's attack, Liverpool players adopted foul tactics against Lin Quan.

Moses and Suarez were both given yellow cards for tackling Lin Quan, but Lin Quan was like a superman who could not be kicked or knocked down. Every time he was knocked down by the opponent, he would immediately stand up, pass the ball to his teammates, and continue to rush towards Liverpool's goal! In order to stop him, Johnson, who already had a yellow card, had to choose to foul again and tackled him to the ground at the front of the penalty area.

The referee then blew the whistle for a foul and showed Johnson a yellow card without mercy. Two yellow cards turned into one red card and he was sent off.

Liverpool paid a heavy price to stop Lin Quan, but Lin Quan still came to the front of their penalty area.

At this time, the game time has reached 93 minutes and the injury time has expired.

This free kick was Manchester City’s last chance to attack.

No one has continued their undefeated streak at home, but they still have one chance to maintain their unbeaten record.

There were more than 50,000 fans at the scene, whether they were fans of the home team or the visiting team, they couldn't help but stand up collectively when Lin Quan stood at the serving point.

Lin, you must score! This is the cry and prayer in the hearts of Manchester City fans!

Don't let it go in, Mignolet, come on, you must block it! This is the voice of Liverpool fans.

At this moment, in addition to the fans of the two teams, the eyes of the entire Premier League are focused on the field, paying attention to the result of this free kick.

(End of this chapter)