Chapter 373: The explosive Manchester derby, Kante's debut shocked the audience!
"A hard-fought victory, the world champions are in decline!"
《Even though defeated, it is still an honor. The uncrowned king has a bright future! 》
…
On the plane back to Manchester, Lin Quan saw the media coverage of the warm-up match between Spain and the Netherlands.
Just seeing these titles, Lin Quan was already speechless.
So the winners are worse than the losers?
However, although the media headlines are exaggerated, the content is not completely without merit.
They believe that Spain's current lineup is indeed very strong, and even if veteran players such as Xavi, Alonso and Villa leave the team, it will not weaken Spain's fighting power.
But they are not optimistic about the Spanish team in a few years, especially the 2018 World Cup to be held in Russia three years later.
The replacement of the old with the new is a fate that no team can escape, and Spain is no exception.
So no matter how strong their fighting power is now, it does not mean that they can always be strong.
If these young players cannot effectively replace the old players, the countdown to Spain's decline can already begin.
There are many strong teams in Europe, including many teams with a large number of young talents. Teams like the Netherlands and France are among the best.
If the quality of Spain's young players is not as good as these national teams, even if they have a strong player like Lin Quan in the team, it will not be enough to lead four players! This has been repeatedly proved by Ronaldo and the future Haaland in their respective national teams. Football is really a team game.
Lin Quan remembers that the Spanish national team's performance in the World Cup a few years later was indeed not very good. Even in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, they failed to qualify for the group stage.
However, he can't help at all with the national team's lack of outstanding talents. After all, he can't conjure up a group of Mbappé and Haaland out of thin air for Bosque to use.
Therefore, Bosque still has to find a way to solve these problems himself.
…
On April 4, the 31st round of the Premier League kicked off.
Manchester City and Chelsea defeated their respective opponents, but the score gap between the two teams remained unchanged.
The most surprising match in this round was between Arsenal and Liverpool.
In this strong dialogue, Arsenal defeated Liverpool 4:1 at home.
Wenger's team finally showed some strength and won a long-awaited victory in a strong dialogue.
Not only that, after winning this game, Arsenal's points ranking moved up one place, overtaking Manchester United by 1 point and moving up to third place in the league.
Considering that their direct competitor for the top four, Liverpool, now has only 54 points, 9 points behind them.
For Arsenal, who are striving to maintain the fourth place, this victory basically means that they are safely ashore and have successfully maintained the fourth place!
"As expected of a top four defense maniac, Arsenal can always burst out with unimaginable fighting power at every critical moment of defending the top four!"
"Poor Liverpool, this season's league and Champions League have been terrible, and captain Gerrard is leaving too. Sigh, I really don't know when the Reds will be able to rise again!"
The Reds' fans are very worried as the team shows no signs of improvement.
After selling Suarez, Liverpool's offense has had big problems this season, and Rodgers' magic is no longer there.
They have become the most vulnerable among the traditional wealthy families.
Liverpool has lost 9 games so far this season.
On average, they lose one game out of every three. Such a record cannot be compared with other giants at all.
Next season, Rogers is likely to leave, and Gerrard will also leave the team. Where can Liverpool find such a loyal captain, and who can take over the team's coaching? Despair! In another country across the sea, Dortmund fans also feel extremely desperate.
In this round of the league home game against the Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich, Dortmund lost again.
The Hornets, who were able to beat Bayern to win the league title in previous seasons, have seen their performance completely collapse this season.
After losing this game, Dortmund is only one step away from the relegation zone.
No one would have thought that Dortmund would be unable to win a single game so far this season, and would be reduced to the point of having to fight for relegation.
The magic of legendary coach Klopp seems to have run out.
There are even more problems within Dortmund, with rumors that core players such as Hummels, Gundogan and Reus will leave the team after the end of this season.
After the departure of Gotze, Lewandowski and others, such rumors made the fans of the Hornets extremely worried.
They are really afraid that these rumors will become reality!
The team has fallen into such a state. If stars such as Reus choose to leave the team, where will Dortmund go next season?
Could it be that this once-champion was about to be relegated to the German Bundesliga? However, at this critical moment, Reus stood up, publicly stated that he would stay with the team, and quickly arranged for his agent to negotiate a contract extension with the club.
Reus' agent Volker hopes he will think twice before leaving Dortmund, the leaky ship that is now, and join a better team.
However, Reus had made up his mind, and Walker's persuasion was in vain. He could only renew the contract with Dortmund on behalf of Reus.
Reus' contract renewal gave Dortmund fans a shot in the arm, allowing them to find a glimmer of light in the darkness.
However, just when the Hornets fans were excited, their head coach Klopp found the club chairman and submitted his resignation letter to the club.
"Jurgen, are you leaving Dortmund?"
Dortmund chairman Reinhard was very surprised when he saw the resignation letter handed in by Klopp.
Although Dortmund's record this season is not good, Klopp's contribution can never be erased.
Since he took over Dortmund in 2008, he has tailored the team's tactics to suit Dortmund's squad and created a championship team with a distinctive tactical style.
Under his leadership, this young guard won two Bundesliga titles, one German Cup, two German Super Cups, and led the team to the Champions League final in 2013.
During this period, Dortmund was able to compete with the Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, and even surpass them.
This is the most exciting and memorable time for countless Dortmund fans.
And most of these honors should be attributed to coach Klopp.
Now, he is actually going to resign.
"Yes, Mr. Chairman, this season's poor record and the team's sluggish state have exhausted me physically and mentally. I think I need a break and it is not suitable for me to continue coaching Dortmund for the time being."
Klopp said very frankly.
His frankness made Reinhard silent for a moment, and he couldn't even utter the words he had prepared to keep him.
"Well, we will seriously consider your resignation application. Let me ask you one more question. If you want to leave, will you stay in the Bundesliga?"
Dortmund was brought up by Klopp, and no one in the entire Bundesliga knows this team better than him.
If Klopp continues to stay in the Bundesliga, it will definitely not be a good thing for Dortmund.
As if he heard the other party's concerns, Klopp smiled and said:
"I plan to change my environment, recharge my batteries, and accept some more avant-garde and advanced tactical concepts in football."
Reinhard breathed a sigh of relief, as the other party meant that he would not stay in the Bundesliga.
“So, your next stop is La Liga?”
In recent seasons, La Liga teams have not only been strong, but also frequently innovated on the tactical level, and once led the trend in football.
However, to Reinhard's surprise, Klopp's next stop was not La Liga.
"Not La Liga, I plan to go to the Premier League!"
When talking about the Premier League, Klopp's dull eyes burst into light.
Guardiola and Mourinho, the two most popular coaches in football, are both in the Premier League. How could he miss this event?
…
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On April 12, the 32nd round of the Premier League kicked off.
In this round of games, Manchester City will go to Old Trafford to play a Manchester derby with their city rivals Manchester United.
In games of this nature, both teams always give their all and there is no possibility of letting up.
However, Manchester United does not have to be distracted by European wars, they can focus entirely on the league.
Manchester City will play a Champions League match against Juventus in Turin on April 15, which is bound to affect their lineup.
Guardiola hopes to defeat the opponent with fierce attacks in the first half and end the suspense of the game as soon as possible, so that he can replace the main players and let them get more adequate rest to prepare for the Champions League three days later.
However, the shrewd Van Gaal seemed to see through Guardiola's intentions.
In the Manchester derby at Old Trafford, he actually deployed a five-defender formation, setting up an iron bucket formation and vowing to defend to the end.
Compared with the chaos at the beginning of the season, after more than half a season of adjustments, Van Gaal's control over Manchester United has improved a lot.
Manchester United's defense was much more solid than at the beginning of the season. Throughout the first half, Manchester City tried their best but was unable to break through the opponent's goal.
In the second half, I thought Manchester United would defend as hard as they did in the first half.
If this is the case, then Manchester City may seek a draw to reduce physical energy consumption.
Although the gap between them and Chelsea will be widened to 3 points after a draw, Manchester City has the advantage in goal difference.
As long as Chelsea loses one of the subsequent games, they will be able to overtake their opponents with the advantage of goal difference.
However, Van Gaal's choice once again caught Manchester City by surprise.
After the start of the second half, Manchester United frequently launched attacks on Manchester City, playing not only not conservatively but extremely aggressively.
This made Guardiola on the sidelines feel a little surprised. He didn't expect Manchester United to rush out and fight against Manchester City!
Teams that go head-to-head with Manchester City usually suffer a miserable death.
Since the other party is looking for death, Manchester City will naturally not show mercy.
So, Guardiola waved his hand, and Manchester City immediately started to attack the opponent.
Inside the Old Trafford stadium, the first half of the game almost made the fans drowsy.
However, when they saw that the two sides suddenly changed their style of play in the second half and started to attack each other, they became excited, and the cheers and cheers gradually became louder.
Under the fiery derby atmosphere at the scene, the offensive rhythm of both sides was very fast and both sides were blood-thirsty.
In the 51st minute of the second half, Lin Quan received a pass from his teammate and scored the first goal, changing the score to 1:0. This was his fourth goal at Old Trafford. The last time he visited Old Trafford, Lin Quan also completed a hat trick here and left a world-famous painting of him patrolling the stadium with his collar upright.
Lin Quan's goal reminded Manchester United fans of the painful memories of last year!
However, this time, Manchester United did not surrender so quickly.
In the 59th minute, Ashley Young scored to help Manchester United equalize the score.
The two sides returned to the same starting line, but both teams were dissatisfied with the result and the attack continued.
In the 67th minute, Manchester City took the lead again. Aguero scored with a lob shot after receiving a through ball from Kroos, and the score became 2:1. However, this time, Manchester United equalized the score faster.
Only one minute later, Fellaini scored a long-range shot against Manchester City and the score became 2:2!
The continuous scoring of goals in a short period of time on the field made the fans who came to the scene hold their chests, the excitement was a little unbearable.
The emotions of the fans of both teams were like riding a roller coaster, soaring to the top and then falling to the bottom...
However, the attacks of both teams have not yet ended!
In the 73rd minute, Smalling scored another goal to help Manchester United take the lead for the first time.
In the 79th minute, Mata's goal changed the score to 4:2!
Old Trafford was completely boiling with excitement as the Red Devils fans hugged each other excitedly.
With more than ten minutes left in the game, they were leading by two goals, and they had basically secured victory! They had finally defeated the damn Manchester City, and they could finally avenge last year's defeat!
Not only ordinary Red Devils fans felt extremely excited, even former Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson, who came to watch the game, stood up excitedly and clapped his hands hard after seeing Mata's goal, applauding Mata and the Manchester United fans who tried their best in this game.
However, sometimes being happy too early is not a good thing! Manchester City was not defeated. They wanted to play this game conservatively and did not want to consume too much energy.
But the game has come to this point, even if I don’t want to waste my energy, it has already been consumed.
In this case, the result of losing is absolutely unacceptable! Guardiola was also very courageous. He started to make substitutions, replacing Kroos with the young player Kante to strengthen the midfield interception! This substitution had a miraculous effect in the subsequent game. This black young player who was not valued by Manchester United, after coming on the court, together with his teammates, built an insurmountable wall of sighs in the midfield.
He used one steal after another to bring Manchester United's attack to an abrupt halt.
On the other hand, thanks to the continuous steals in the backcourt, Manchester City's number of attacks increased a lot.
This provided a steady stream of ammunition for their strikers! In the 85th minute, Kante intercepted and passed the ball to De Bruyne, who made a 45-degree diagonal pass and accurately sent the ball to Aguero's feet.
The latter made a powerful shot, changing the score to 4:3, with Manchester City trailing by only one goal.
In the 89th minute, it was Kante again. After completing another steal, he dribbled up and passed the ball to Lin Quan.
Lin Quan received the ball, dribbled past the defender, broke into the penalty area and challenged the goalkeeper one-on-one, and scored the ball. Manchester City equalized the score before the end of the game!
Although the goals were scored by Aguero and Lin Quan, both attacks had a lot to do with Kante.
Manchester United fans at Old Trafford had a thousand llamas running through their hearts:
Who the hell is this evildoer? How can he be so good at stealing? (End of this chapter)