Chapter 245: Advancing to the next round of the Champions League, the opponent in the quarterfinals is Barcelona!

Although the League Cup is less valuable than the League Championship and the FA Cup, Manchester City is very happy to win the team's first championship of the season.

At Wembley Stadium, they stepped onto the podium for the first time.

Since many rounds of the League Cup were played by substitute players, they made an indispensable contribution to winning this trophy.

So Lin Quan suggested that they come up and raise their glasses, and this proposal was supported by his teammates.

The substitute players were flattered and, surrounded by the main players, excitedly raised Manchester City’s first championship of the season!

…

After winning the League Cup, Manchester City did not delay in London and returned to Manchester without stopping.

They will have two home games next, one against Stoke City in the FA Cup and the other against Werder Bremen in the Champions League.

The two games were played close together, causing some differences of opinion within the Manchester City club.

Some people think that we should strategically give up the FA Cup and go all out to impact the league and the Champions League.

Compared with the FA Cup, the league championship and the Champions League are obviously more important.

And the FA Cup is not like the League Cup, which can end immediately.

Including the game two days later, they still have to play at least three more games to win the championship.

These three games happen to be interspersed between the league and the Champions League, which makes them very embarrassed.

But not everyone thinks that they should give up the FA Cup. After all, they have already made it to the quarterfinals and are only three games away from the championship.

If we give up at this time, won’t all our previous efforts be in vain? “Stoke City is not very strong. Even if we don’t send out a full lineup, we may not lose to them.”

"Yes, we have a huge lead in both the Champions League and the league, and we have a lot of room for error. If we can win the FA Cup, then we have hope of achieving the treble this season!"

This so-called small treble obviously also includes the League Cup.

Generally speaking, the treble of the five major leagues refers to the league, cup and Champions League. These three championships are of high quality and it is very difficult to win all three championships at the same time, so there are not many treble winners of the five major leagues.

Pellegrini thought seriously about the differences of opinion among the assistant coaches.

In the last round, they beat Werder Bremen 4:1 away from home, with three goals difference and four away goals.

Therefore, in the next game against Werder Bremen, as long as they don't lose by more than 4 goals, they will definitely advance to the next round.

So, should we consider the FA Cup first and play more conservatively in the match against Werder Bremen?

Pellegrini couldn't make up his mind, so he decided to publicly ask the players for their opinions during the training match the next day!

After all, the players themselves have the most say in whether the game is tiring or not.

Faced with the questions raised by Pellegrini, the substitute players were very determined to fight to the end.

Among the main players, players represented by veteran players such as Kompany and Yaya Toure all believe that the focus should be placed on the league.

They are a bit overwhelmed by the intensive schedule and are worried that injuries during the game will affect their participation in this year's World Cup.

Pellegrini had a general understanding of the players' opinions, so he looked at Lin Quan, who had not expressed his opinion:

"Lin, what do you think?"

Lin Quan does not have the same concerns as other veteran players. He is immune to injuries and does not need to worry about injuries.

As for physical energy consumption, he feels okay now. Although he is a little mentally tired due to continuous competitions, it is still within the tolerable range.

Just like what the substitute players said, if we give up now, wouldn’t all our previous efforts be in vain?

So he said, "I think we should compete for this championship!"

After seeing Lin Quan's statement, De Bruyne immediately stood up to support Lin Quan: "I support him too!"

Those in the Spanish gang naturally followed Lin Quanwei's lead, and they also expressed their support for the FA Cup championship.

Aguero has a good relationship with Lin Quan, and he also stood up to support Lin Quan at this time.

As for the young players of the team, after getting Lin Quan's support, they were all very excited. They gathered around Lin Quan as if he were their own elder brother, and they supported Lin Quan's decision very much.

Kroos silently observed the reactions of the Manchester City players and took it all in.

Lin’s voice and influence at Manchester City are greater than he expected.

After hearing Lin Quan's words, several veteran team members showed disappointment on their faces.

In competitions like cup competitions, it becomes more difficult as time goes on because the only teams left are strong ones.

Although there are only three games, they are all tough battles and it will be very hard to win them all.

If we fail halfway, we will lose both the wife and the army.

However, the majority of people supported Lin Quan, so it would be pointless for them to oppose, so they simply did not speak up.

“Although I support continuing to play in the FA Cup, I think the main players will consume too much energy. Before reaching the final, we should use substitutes as much as possible to participate in the competition!”

Just when everyone thought the matter had been settled, Lin Quan spoke again, attracting everyone's attention.

"Lin, according to what you mean, don't we still have to give up the FA Cup?"

When Kompany heard Lin Quan's words, he began to doubt his ears.

If we send out all substitutes, is it any different from giving up the FA Cup?

You can't really expect to win the championship with a group of substitutes, right?

"Haha, of course not, because I know how to take action!"

Lin Quan then expressed his plan. Before reaching the final, Manchester City will use a substitute lineup in the remaining two games of the FA Cup, but Lin Quan will start and provide a backup for the team.

In this way, their main players can get enough rest and will not be beaten to pieces by the opponents because of a group of substitutes.

If it really doesn't work, there are still a few main players on the bench. If the team really can't beat the opponent, they can be replaced in the second half.

In this way, Manchester City will be able to deal with most opponents.

"This method is feasible, but it will consume too much of your own physical energy. Are you sure you want to do this, Lin Ni?"

In fact, Pellegrini did not really agree with Lin Quan's plan, because he was worried that Lin Quan would get injured if he played on all fronts.

"No problem. If I really can't hold on any longer, I'll take the initiative to bring it up!"

Pellegrini nodded. Since Lin Quan said so, he had nothing more to say.

So, when arranging the starting lineup for the next day, Pellegrini put Lin Quan in.

The commentators all had strange expressions on their faces after seeing Manchester City's starting lineup.

"To be honest, I don't understand Manchester City's starting lineup!"

He Wei shook his head. Most of Manchester City's players were substitutes, and they put the absolute core Lin Quan on the field. What did this mean? Since they used all substitutes, it meant that they were going to give up the FA Cup.

But letting Lin Quan start doesn't feel like giving up.

This deployment of troops highlights a dilemma. Whether to give up or not, can't you just give a straightforward answer?

"Maybe Pellegrini has his own unique understanding. As for the effectiveness of Manchester City's deployment, we can only verify it after the game starts!"

Xu Yang also didn't understand Manchester City's intentions, but he chose to believe first and then question.

In fact, even with the substitute lineup, Manchester City is very strong.

In addition to Lin Quan, they can also play on the field Negredo, Jovetic, Nasri, Xavi Garcia, Demichelis, Milner and others.

If Fernandinho had not been suspended, there would be a Brazilian strong midfielder in the defensive midfielder position, and the lineup would be even stronger.

In this game, Lin Quan's partner on the front line was his Spanish teammate Negredo.

Negredo has always been Aguero's substitute, but he and Aguero are not the same style of center forward.

He is tall and has the ability to receive and pass the ball with his back to the goal. When Manchester City needs a fulcrum in the frontcourt, he is usually chosen.

However, in most cases, the forward duo is the small and fast combination of Lin Quan and Aguero.

The combination of Lin Quan and Negredo, one tall and one fast, rarely starts at the same time.

Although Negredo did not start many times, he played a lot.

Negredo has played 32 games for Manchester City this season, including 22 league games, 4 League Cup games, 3 FA Cup games and 3 Champions League games.

If he hadn't made so many appearances, he wouldn't have been selected for Bosque's Spanish national team.

Negredo seemed very excited to be able to partner with Lin Quan.

"Lin, just watch me. I will perfectly play the role of the frontcourt fulcrum and pass the ball to you!"

Negredo made a solemn statement before the game started.

However, after the start of the game, Negredo's first confrontation with the opposing defender ended in failure.

"Bah, bah, it doesn't count this time. I'm not ready!"

Lin Quan reached out and pulled up Negredo who was lying on the ground. The latter spat out the grass crumbs in his mouth and said unconvincedly.

Lin Quan glanced at the opponent's tall and strong black central defender, and then at Negredo.

He was pessimistic about Negredo's prospect of taking on the opponent's defender alone! As expected, Negredo was completely at a disadvantage in the confrontation with the opponent's strong central defender. Not only did he not play the role of a fulcrum, but he also became the opponent's breakthrough point.

Fortunately, the opponent's offensive tactics were very rough, and ground penetration could not penetrate Manchester City's midfield. It was not easy to defeat Manchester City with long pass tactics, and the game soon fell into a stalemate.

Seeing that the team was unable to perform effectively in the middle, Lin Quan decisively took the ball to the wing.

There are two excellent players, Milner and Nasri, on both sides of the wing. It is easier to achieve results if we cooperate with them.

Stoke City players were very wary of Lin Quan. Among the 11 Manchester City players on the field, his threat was far greater than that of the others.

So for Stoke City, defending Lin Quan is basically half the battle.

In the 23rd minute, Manchester City completed cooperation on the left. Lin Quan received a pass from Nasri and cut inside but was brought down by the defender.

Lin Quan was very happy that the opponent was willing to give him a free kick opportunity.

However, the position was not very good. The free kick he took was not controlled and was slightly higher than the crossbar.

But even so, Stoke City's goalkeeper was still frightened. The football's flying trajectory, which sometimes moved left and right, almost made him surrender.

"Pay attention to the foul position and don't give the opponent too good a free kick opportunity!"

Stoke City players felt very embarrassed when they heard the goalkeeper's shouting.

It is difficult to defend Lin Quan, and it is even more difficult not to foul.

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But they also know the consequences. If they continue to give him free kick opportunities, they might really lose the ball.

Therefore, they specially sent a defensive midfielder to keep an eye on Lin Quan, restricting his passing and receiving the ball and not giving him space to start.

Lin Quan has been targeted by his opponents more than once or twice, and he has long been accustomed to it.

Since the opponent sent someone to specifically target him, he would take the initiative to retreat, bring out the opponent's midfielder, open up the opponent's formation space, and create opportunities for his teammates.

Seeing Lin Quan leave the front line and run to the midfield to become Manchester City's midfield commander, Stoke City's midfielder looked at his head coach a little embarrassed: Coach, should we continue to follow in this situation? Stoke City's coach gritted his teeth and made up his mind: Follow!

Don't even mention him playing in the midfield. Even if he plays as a goalkeeper, you have to stand in front of him and keep a close eye on him! Seeing that the opponent's defensive midfielder was still following him, Lin Quan was a little amused.

He passed the ball to Garcia and pretended to run forward.

Here it comes, this guy retreating to the midfield is really a lie! Stoke City's defensive midfielder became alert, and he retreated as Lin Quan retreated, controlling the distance between him and Lin Quan, and at the same time preparing to disrupt his receiving the ball.

However, Lin Quan's running forward was just a pretense. He ran two steps and then suddenly retreated.

At the same time, Garcia's pass also came to his feet.

Taking advantage of the opportunity before the opponent came close, Lin Quan made a straight pass.

The ball was not passed to striker Negredo, but to attacking midfielder Jovetic.

Jovetic was in an open position at this time. After receiving the pass from Lin Quan, he took a long shot directly.

The ball was of high quality, but unfortunately it was a little too high and hit the crossbar and went out of the bottom line.

Stoke City escaped a disaster! "Pay attention to the man, don't miss anyone!"

Stoke City's head coach was very dissatisfied with this goal. He believed that the players' lack of concentration gave Jovetic the opportunity to attack.

Moreover, the defensive midfielder McEachran did not mark Lin Quan properly, giving the opponent the opportunity to pass the ball.

In short, this defense exposed a lot of problems. If these mistakes cannot be corrected in time, Manchester City’s ability to seize opportunities will sooner or later lead to disaster.

But it is easier said than done.

McEachran further closed the distance between himself and Lin Quan, almost sticking close to him!

However, getting too close may not be a good thing, especially for a dribbling king like Lin Quan.

In the 42nd minute of the first half, Lin Quan took the initiative to retreat and received a pass from Demichelis.

The moment the ball came to his feet, he did a Cruyff turn, easily passed McEachran who was too close, and strode towards Stoke City's half with the ball.

After losing a defensive midfielder, Stoke City's central defense had loopholes, giving Manchester City an opportunity.

After Lin Quan and Jovetic completed a two-pass wall pass, they dribbled into the penalty area and sent the ball into the goal with a light lob.

Manchester City scored the first goal and temporarily led Stoke City 1:0.

After the goal was scored, Manchester City's substitutes immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

They all puffed out their chests with pride: We are really good, even the substitutes can beat the opponent's main players! They played more and more relaxed, and their performance was getting better and better.

On the contrary, Stoke City was eager to equalize the score and launched a frantic attack, but ended up exposing a bigger flaw and was hit by Manchester City several times in a row.

In the 55th minute of the second half, Milner's goal sealed the victory for Manchester City.

In the end, Manchester City eliminated Stoke City 2-0 at home and entered the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

However, their luck seemed to be bad, as Manchester City drew Arsenal as their opponent in the semi-finals.

Given Arsenal's desire for the championship, this game will probably be difficult to play.

However, the substitute players are already very happy to be able to enter the semi-finals.

Regardless of whether they can get past Arsenal, they have proved themselves this season.

Even if he can't stay in Manchester City next season, he should be able to find a good place to go.

After the game, Pellegrini gave the team a day off.

Three days later, they continued to face the challenge of Werder Bremen at home.

Lin Quan was placed on the bench in this game.

Although he assured Pellegrini that his condition was fine, Pellegrini felt that Manchester City had a big advantage in this match and there was no need for Lin Quan to play unless it was absolutely necessary.

The other party's considerations made sense, so Lin Quan no longer insisted and sat on the bench to watch the game peacefully. Although the team's promotion hopes were slim, Werder Bremen did not play conservatively at all after coming to the away game.

In this game, they chose to play against Manchester City, and Manchester City naturally agreed with this choice.

So, after the game started, both teams played very wildly and the number of goals was exaggerated.

In the 13th minute, Kompany scored with a header to help Manchester City lead 1:0.

In the 20th minute, Werder Bremen scored a goal in a counterattack by Peterson, and the score became 1:1. Just two minutes later, Manchester City scored another goal, and De Bruyne scored with a free kick.

Like Lin Quan, De Bruyne put his hands down after scoring the goal and chose not to celebrate, even though this was Manchester City's home ground.

The two teams' attacks in the first half had not yet ended. In the 38th minute, Manchester City committed a foul in the penalty area and gave Werder Bremen a penalty kick.

Captain Fritz took the lead himself and changed the score to 2:2 in one fell swoop. At this time, the total score of the two teams was 6:3, and Manchester City still held a three-goal lead.

Judging from the current state of the two teams, it is obviously difficult for Werder Bremen to turn the tables.

However, the Parrots did not give up and chose to continue attacking! In the 67th minute, Werder Bremen scored another goal. Arnautovic used his powerful jumping ability to overpower Kompany and headed the ball into Manchester City's goal.

However, before that, Manchester City had scored two goals in the 48th and 55th minutes respectively.

At this time, the score on the field had become 4:3, and Manchester City had one more goal difference.

After that, the offensive firepower of the two teams gradually died down. The Parrot Army, which had tried its best, even suffered cramps in some players when the game was near the end.

In the face of a huge gap in strength, the Parrots relied on their tenacious fighting spirit and indomitable spirit to score three goals away from home, almost equaling Manchester City, which won them the respect of Manchester City fans.

After the game, Manchester City fans stood up and applauded to express their respect to their opponents.

Although they failed to complete the miracle of reversal, they proved the strength of the Parrot Army with their actual actions!

This is a respectable team!

After defeating Werder Bremen, Manchester City broke the team's record and entered the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

In other matches, Bayern drew 1:1 with Chelsea away, and eliminated Chelsea 4:1 in two rounds to advance into the quarterfinals.

Manchester United beat Galatasaray 1-0 at home and advanced to the quarterfinals with a total score of 2-1.

Arsenal lost 0:3 to Barcelona away from home, suffered a double defeat at home and away, and missed the quarterfinals.

Atletico Madrid swept AC Milan 4:1, also defeating their opponents both at home and away, and advanced to the quarterfinals.

Real Madrid defeated Olympiacos 3-0 at home and easily advanced to the quarterfinals.

Dortmund unexpectedly lost to their opponent 1:2 at home and advanced to the quarterfinals with a total score of 5:4.

Paris Saint-Germain defeated Leverkusen 2:1 and got the last ticket to the quarterfinals.

At this point, the list of the quarterfinals has been released, namely Manchester City, Manchester United, Bayern, Dortmund, Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

La Liga stands out from the crowd with three teams, making it worthy of being the number one league.

The Bundesliga and the Premier League both retained two places, which is considered average.

Serie A was completely destroyed, but Ligue 1 still retained a spark.

After the list of the top eight teams was released, the draw ceremony for the Champions League quarter-finals was soon held at the UEFA headquarters.

The first team to be drawn was Real Madrid, and their opponent was Paris Saint-Germain.

The second team drawn is Manchester United, and their opponent is Bayern Munich.

The third team drawn is Atletico Madrid, and their opponent is Dortmund.

Finally, there are two teams left, and we know the result without even having to draw.

Manchester City will face Barcelona in the quarterfinals! (End of this chapter)