Chapter 332 UEFA Awards Ceremony, Meet Reus Again!

On August 16, the 2014-2015 Premier League season officially began.

Manchester United, who spent nearly 200 million euros in the summer, was scheduled to play in the opening game.

It can be seen from Manchester United's series of signings this summer that they have great ambitions.

This opening game is a great opportunity for them to show the outside world that they have returned as kings.

The Premier League is still very considerate of Manchester United and has arranged for them to face Swansea, which ranked 12th last season.

There is a huge gap in the value of the two teams. The total value of Manchester United's entire team is more than 600 million euros, while the total value of their opponents is less than 80 million euros.

Such a huge disparity in market value makes this game seem to have lost suspense.

The outside world is generally optimistic about Manchester United and believes that they can get off to a good start.

After all, Manchester United has never lost in its first game of the season at Old Trafford since 1972! And Manchester United's paper strength this season is unprecedentedly strong, with so many top stars, how could they lose to a team in the middle and lower reaches of the league?

Impossible, absolutely impossible! In order to witness this victory with their own eyes, countless Manchester United fans from all over the world flocked to Old Trafford Stadium, making the attendance rate of the Theatre of Dreams directly exploded.

The retired Sir Alex Ferguson also appeared in the stands. He was chewing gum and looked very relaxed. He seemed to be optimistic about Manchester United getting off to a good start.

However, after 90 minutes, the score on the field was fixed at 1:2!

The home team is in front and the visiting team is behind.

The highly favored Manchester United gave a black start to the Red Devils fans all over the world at home.

In this game, Manchester United continued with their problem in the International Champions Cup, that is, the team did not play like a whole, but rather like a pile of loose sand.

The players are fighting on their own and it is hard to see them cooperate well with each other.

After the game, the media criticized Van Gaal, saying that he was obsessed with the 352 formation, which had proven to be completely outdated in the World Cup.

This stubborn old man not only did not make any changes, but also brought this set of ideas to Manchester United.

It turns out that this style of play is not suitable for Manchester United at all.

Not only Van Gaal was criticized, but a number of big-name stars in Manchester United were also attacked.

They receive extremely high annual salaries but play so badly, are they worthy of the fans?

RNM, give me your money back! But there is one exception, that is Rooney.

His overhead kick helped Manchester United score a face-saving goal, giving Manchester United hope of winning.

It’s a pity that they failed to seize this opportunity.

"In the end, only Rooney is trustworthy, and he is one of the few players promoted by Sir Alex Ferguson in this Manchester United squad!"

"Manchester United is still enjoying the legacy left by Sir Alex Ferguson!"

…

Manchester United's failure in the opening game made other giants that followed a little nervous, fearing that they would follow in Manchester United's footsteps.

What you fear will come to you. Several top teams did not have a smooth performance in this round of games.

In the match between Tottenham and West Ham United, one player was sent off with a red card shortly after the start of the game.

But they did not collapse because of this. Instead, they gritted their teeth and persevered until the last moment, killing their opponents in injury time and winning a hard-fought victory.

Arsenal, who came on later, fell behind at the start but then scored two goals in a row, with the winning goal coming in injury time.

Compared with Tottenham and Arsenal, Liverpool took the lead at the start, but were equalized midway and almost reversed, only to rely on Sturridge's goal in the 80th minute to defeat the opponent.

Although these teams all won the games, the process of winning was so thrilling that their fans said their hearts could not bear it.

But when it was Manchester City's turn to play, the fans of the Blue Moon were all relieved.

Other teams have experienced more or less adjustments and changes in their lineups during the summer, but Manchester City has not.

Moreover, they still have Lin Quan, so Manchester City fans are not worried about the team's condition at all.

This was indeed the case. In the first half, Lin Quan scored early and assisted David Silva to score a goal, helping the team to win.

In the second half, Manchester City played more easily and completely curbed the opponent's counterattack.

In the 78th minute of the second half, Lin Quan assisted Aguero again and scored a goal, locking the score at 3:0. This score was also the final score of the game. Newcastle lost without any temper at all at their home court.

Technical statistics after the game showed that Manchester City had more than 80% of the ball possession and 18 shots, more than three times that of their opponents.

Throughout the game, Manchester City had firm control over the situation.

Don't give the opponent any chance!

After the first round of the game, Manchester City directly topped the list with this big victory and a 3-goal advantage, and started leading the standings from the start!

This made the fans of other teams wail! Last season, Manchester City has never come down since it topped the standings, leading all the way to the final championship, leaving no chance for other teams.

Now seeing Manchester City top the league again, they seem to be seeing a repeat of last season.

…

A week later, the second round of the Premier League begins.

Chelsea took the lead and temporarily topped the table after defeating Leicester City 2:0.

Arsenal were almost completely defeated by Everton in the away game afterwards. Fortunately, Ramsey and Giroud stood up and scored two goals in the last 8 minutes of the game, helping Arsenal to draw with the opponent with difficulty.

Even Everton had a difficult game. While the Gunners fans were glad that they did not lose, they also began to become pessimistic about the performance in the new season.

This season's Premier League is full of strong teams that are difficult to deal with. Can Arsenal still complete the task of maintaining the top four?

Manchester United used practical actions to tell them: Yes! After losing to Swansea in the opening game, the outside world expected Manchester United to rebound and prove themselves with a hearty victory.

However, there was no big victory, and two consecutive defeats almost happened.

In the away game against Sunderland, Manchester United drew with their opponents with great difficulty.

Manchester United, who only got 1 point in two games, is ranked fourth from the bottom and is almost falling into the relegation zone!

The losing streak made Manchester United fans extremely angry. Van Gaal spent so much money and had such a luxurious lineup, but the result was such a poor result? This result was not as good as Moyes last season! There was endless criticism of Van Gaal from the outside world, and even some gambling companies opened bets on when Van Gaal would be fired! When the outside world's attention was attracted by Manchester United, Manchester City returned to their home court and welcomed the challenge of an old rival - Liverpool! This was the third time Manchester City encountered Liverpool in a month.

For Manchester City, they are very happy to meet this Liverpool team because they have already gained experience playing against Liverpool.

As for the Red Army fans, they really don't want to meet Manchester City at this time.

After Suarez left, Liverpool has not yet completely solved the team's offensive problems.

In this state, if we face Manchester City, our chance of winning is probably less than 10%. The previous two consecutive defeats have proved this.

They don't want to lose a third time!

But there's nothing we can do, the schedule is set this way.

Liverpool tried to apply for an extension but was rejected by Manchester City.

Manchester City has to fight on four fronts this season. If it is postponed at this time, it will only increase the burden of fighting on multiple fronts in the future.

So there is no way they would agree to this, and they even hope to play a few more rounds of the league before the Champions League starts.

After their application for an extension was rejected by their opponents, Liverpool arrived at the Etihad Stadium with a tragic look on their faces.

They no longer expect to take victory away from here, because it is simply impossible!

But they really didn't want to lose again, so Liverpool abandoned the dignity of a wealthy club and parked a bus at the Etihad Stadium! Seeing the opponent's bus, Manchester City fans were stunned.

It’s not that wealthy clubs can’t park their buses, it’s just that it’s rare.

Because this is a strategy that a weak team is forced to adopt when encountering a strong team.

Rich clubs have to have some dignity, so it is rare to see them showing weakness before the game even starts.

Unless the opponent is really too strong, just like the Barcelona team back then! When facing Barcelona at that time, even the major giants would park their buses.

It's not shameful to face Barcelona's bus parking, because if you don't park the bus, you will really die miserably! When the opponents park the bus at the Etihad Stadium, do they admit that they are not as good as Manchester City, or do they think Manchester City is as strong as Barcelona in the past?

Even though Liverpool parked the bus, Manchester City still had no intention of letting them go.

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

In the 41st minute of the first half, Lin Quan once again used a free kick to score against Liverpool.

This goal almost killed the game as Liverpool's hopes of holding on to a draw were dashed!

So, after the start of the second half, Liverpool really abandoned the passive strategy of parking the bus and went head-on to fight against Manchester City.

As it turned out, this decision was extremely irrational.

In the 55th minute, Lin Quan scored the second goal of the game.

In the 69th minute, Aguero also scored.

This is not over yet. In the 78th minute, De Bruyne received a pass from Lin Quan and scored the fourth goal of the game.

Manchester City 4:0 Liverpool! Manchester City used practical actions to tell Liverpool fans that if they don’t park the bus, they will really die, and die miserably!

Manchester City's goal-scoring show was not over yet. In the 83rd minute, their defender Zabaleta also scored a goal.

Unfortunately, the ball was headed into his own goal.

Navas was a bit helpless. The team's record was so good, and he had planned to keep a few more clean sheets, but who could have expected that his teammates would become traitors?

In the end, Manchester City defeated Liverpool 4:1 at home, winning two consecutive victories while also overtaking Chelsea in the standings and continuing to lead the standings.

After three crushing defeats at the hands of Manchester City in just one month, Liverpool fans are said to have developed a disease called 'Manchester City phobia'...

After finishing this round of games, Pellecrini and Lin Quan flew to Monaco together to attend the group stage draw ceremony of the 2014-2015 European Champions League.

Lin Quan had participated in this event twice before, but the attention he received in the previous two times was far less than this time.

When he arrived at the ceremony in a special car, the venue inside and outside was filled with guns and cannons.

More than 300 reporters had been waiting here for a long time. The moment they saw him, they rushed in one after another, blocking his entrance.

"Lin, what are your expectations for Manchester City's performance this season?"

"Lin, is your goal this season to defend the Champions League?"

"Lin, are you confident that you can win the Golden Globe?"

…

Various questions came to him, and Lin Quan had no time to listen clearly, nor did he have time to answer them one by one.

He had only one feeling in his heart: Is this the treatment for a top star? Lin Quan briefly answered a few irrelevant questions, then made an apologetic gesture to the reporters, indicating that he was going to enter the venue to participate in the award ceremony and draw.

The security personnel at the scene came over and escorted Lin Quan out of the crowd.

The reporters were separated by security personnel and finally had no way to continue harassing Lin Quan.

"Haha, how does it feel to be a superstar?"

As soon as he stepped into the venue, Lin Quan saw a guy whose smile made him look like he deserved a beating - Mario Reus.

"Is your foot okay?"

Lin Quan glanced at the other person's left foot which had been injured not long ago and asked.

"Ahem, let's not talk about this, we are still good friends!"

Reus accidentally injured his left ankle in a warm-up match for the German team just before the World Cup began.

This injury was very fatal for Reus because it happened too close to the start of the World Cup, causing him to miss the 2014 World Cup in Germany.

It just so happened that the German team lost to Spain in the final and unfortunately missed the championship.

This result made the German fans extremely painful!

If Reus was still there, a player like him who can break through and dribble and has strong explosive power would be of great help in improving the offensive strength of the German team.

Moreover, Reus is the type of player who never stops running. Not only can he make great contributions on the offensive end, but he is also very active on defense.

Compared to Gotze who lacks physical fitness, Ozil who is weak in physical confrontation, and Schurrle who can only shoot violently, Reus is undoubtedly a better choice!

But he was injured! When watching the German team lose to Spain at home, Reus was also in pain and blamed himself.

He blamed himself for getting injured when he shouldn't have and for not being able to contribute to the team.

"How do you feel? If your ankle is injured, it can easily become a recurring injury. I suggest you take a few more months off and try to reduce the number and time of appearances during this period. Don't go to the national team's games!"

Lin Quan remembers that Reus was very unlucky in 2014. Not only did he miss the World Cup due to an injury just before the tournament began, but he was also injured again in a European Cup qualifier after the tournament. The injury was in the same part of his left ankle ligament! These two injuries had a huge impact on Reus!

Moreover, Reus' injury has a huge impact on Dortmund's performance in the league and the Champions League this season!

This season is the year when Dortmund's record collapsed. After players such as Gotze and Lewandowski left the team one after another, Dortmund's strength declined very quickly.

In addition, the Bundesliga teams have gradually adapted to their style of play and even developed targeted countermeasures, making it very difficult for them to play in the league.

In this situation, a workaholic like Reus will definitely push himself further.

And this will only cause him to suffer more injuries...

It's a vicious cycle! It's better to recover from injuries early in the season than to get injured repeatedly in subsequent games.

Dortmund is doomed to fail this season. This is not a problem that Reus can solve alone, but a systemic problem.

It's a pity that it doesn't seem easy to convince Royce.

Sure enough, after hearing Lin Quan's persuasion, Royce smiled and said:

"That won't do. The team is still waiting for me. I can't be a deserter!"

(End of this chapter)