Chapter 389: The Battle of the Century, Final Opponents Revealed
The battle between Manchester City and Bayern at the Allianz Arena caused a huge sensation in the football world.
The two teams scored 11 goals together in one game, breaking the historical record of the Champions League in one fell swoop.
Since the Champions League was restructured, there has never been a situation where the number of goals in a single match exceeded 100 in the semi-finals. This match was the first time! After the match, the entire football world was talking about it, and major media outlets rushed to report on it. Some people even dubbed this match the "Battle of the Century".
You know, the title of "Battle of the Century" previously referred specifically to the Spanish national derby between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
However, the bloodiness and popularity of this fierce confrontation between Manchester City and Bayern are no less than that of the Spanish derby, and it is even crazier than the Spanish derby.
"These two teams are really crazy. I've been watching football for more than 20 years and I've never seen such a crazier game!"
"11 goals in a single game, if you don't know, you would think we are watching a low-level league!"
"Haha, even in our Chinese Super League, there has never been a score like this, right?"
"It may be a bit difficult for Evergrande to score 6 goals in the Chinese Super League, but it is not impossible. But which team can score 5 goals against Evergrande?"
"I remember when Real Madrid came to play a warm-up match a few years ago, they beat Evergrande 6:1?"
"Ahem, I'm talking about the Chinese Super League teams. Top clubs in the top five leagues like Real Madrid don't count. They're not even on the same level. There's no comparison!"
Neither Bayern nor Manchester City are teams with poor defense. They have conceded very few goals in the league and the Champions League respectively.
But in this game, both teams broke the record for goals conceded this season.
It has been a long time since a team has scored five goals against Bayern at the Allianz Arena, and the same is true for Manchester City.
After the Abu Dhabi consortium took over, they haven't conceded six goals in many years.
Such an intense and exciting game happened in the semi-finals, which made many fans feel regretful: "How could such a game not be the final? If it was the final, it might be comparable to the Istanbul Miracle and become one of the most exciting finals in history!"
"Haha, if this were the final, the two teams would definitely not play so wildly, and the number of goals would probably be less than one-third of this number!"
After watching this game, everyone not only recognized Manchester City's strength, but also had a little sympathy for Bayern: "It's a pity for Bayern. They fought hard to tie the score several times and even took the lead at one point, but they still fell short in the end."
"With Bayern's strength, they can definitely make it to the finals, but they were unlucky and met Manchester City with Lin Quan!"
"If Bayern hadn't faced Manchester City, I wonder what their chances would have been against Real Madrid and Barcelona?"
The four teams that made it to the semi-finals this year are all incredibly strong, including three of the top clubs in football and one of last season’s defending champions.
When these four teams meet, it is difficult to predict the final outcome between them before the end of the game.
Just like the situation in another game, although Real Madrid lost 0:3 away from home, no one dared to assert that they would definitely be eliminated.
Whether Real Madrid can advance to the final depends on how strong their fighting power is after returning to the Bernabeu.
The match between Manchester City and Bayern was one day earlier than the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, which allowed Manchester City to sit back and watch the fight.
Of course, the Champions League final is still more than half a month away, so a day earlier or later doesn’t really have much impact.
Before the Champions League final, the five major leagues have basically all ended. Both sides of the final have sufficient time to reserve physical strength and adjust their condition to meet the arrival of the final in the best condition.
Manchester City did not stay in Munich for long and flew back to Manchester that night.
The Champions League games are finally over, and they can concentrate on the league.
There are still ten days left until the end of the Premier League, and Manchester City still has two games to play in these ten days.
As long as they win the last two games, they will be able to beat Chelsea and defend the league title.
Manchester City lost the League Cup and FA Cup this year. If they fail to win the Premier League title, they will have nothing to gain in the league.
It is for this reason that Guardiola still attaches great importance to this championship.
"Take a day off. Rest well when you go back. Don't spend your time drinking and partying outside. I won't interfere with your private life. But if I see someone not in good shape on the court, I will replace him without hesitation. Do you understand?"
After getting off the plane, Guardiola disbanded the team and gave them a day off.
There are only two days left in the penultimate round of the Premier League, and taking one day off is already the limit.
The players knew the schedule and had not hoped for a holiday, but they did not expect Guardiola to be so understanding. This made them all very excited and they all promised that they would have a good rest and not go out and waste time.
Guardiola was skeptical about what everyone said. When he was at Barcelona, he witnessed how Ronaldinho fell.
Players who become famous and wealthy at a young age find it most difficult to resist the temptation of the glamorous world.
Fortunately, he did not see such undisciplined behavior in Lin Quan, which made Guardiola quite satisfied.
…
Although it's vacation, how could a workaholic like Guardiola stay idle?
Early the next morning, he prepared to drive to the airport, intending to take the nearest flight to Madrid to watch the game between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Lin Quan had the same idea as him, so Guardiola decided to change his flight ticket and travel with Lin Quan.
After arriving in Madrid, the two men immediately felt the passionate atmosphere of the battle of the century as soon as they got off the plane.
The streets of Madrid are filled with Champions League match posters and personal portraits of Real Madrid players.
In addition, the streets are filled with a large number of fans wearing Real Madrid jerseys, and occasionally a small number of fans wearing Barcelona jerseys can be seen.
However, Barcelona fans are not welcome in Madrid. Once they appear, they will immediately be besieged by Real Madrid fans.
The grudge between the two teams has accumulated for a long time and can be described as a feud.
Coupled with the growing influence of Catalan separatism in recent years, the match between the two teams has been given more political significance.
This led to worse relations between the fans of both sides, and groups of Real Madrid fans could often be seen beating up Barcelona fans on the streets.
This made the Madrid police very busy! "How could these guys beat people up?"
Seeing Barcelona fans being beaten, Guardiola couldn't help but frown.
Although he has left Barcelona long ago, he played for Barcelona for 20 years after all, and Guardiola still has deep feelings for Barcelona.
Lin Quan took a casual glance and vaguely heard Barcelona fans mocking Real Madrid fans for their team being shut out. Some even brought up the 5:0 game and slapped Real Madrid fans in the face, mocking them.
Seeing this scene, Lin Quan's mouth twitched slightly, and he secretly said: If you don't commit suicide, you won't die! Wearing Barcelona's jersey so blatantly to Real Madrid's territory, and taunting the large number of Real Madrid fans, let alone the fans of the arch-rival Real Madrid, if it was the fans of other teams, they might beat him up.
"You know how deep the feud between the two teams is. It's normal for fans of the two teams to fight outside the stadium. Haven't you seen it on the streets of Barcelona?"
Lin Quan grew up in Barcelona. He had the impression that every time Real Madrid visited Camp Nou, there were often fights between fans of both teams outside the stadium.
And it's not just like this in Spain. In other parts of the world, the relationship between the fans of the two teams is also bad.
Lin Quan still remembers a news report he read in 2013. In a war-torn country in the Middle East, a Barcelona fan clashed with his Real Madrid fan friend and hacked the other to death with a knife, even chopping off his head in public, which caused a huge sensation.
Guardiola wanted to help, so he used his connections to call on his friends at the Spanish Football Association and asked them to protect Barcelona fans.
But that was all he could do.
…
May 14, 2015, Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Another century-long battle between Real Madrid and Barcelona has officially begun.
The last time the two teams met in the Champions League was in the semi-finals of the 2010-2011 season.
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That time, Real Madrid lost 0:2 to Barcelona at home, handed over the final spot to the opponent, and watched the opponent lift the Champions League again.
That defeat made Real Madrid fans very disappointed. If they could advance to the final, with Real Madrid's strength at the time, the probability of defeating Manchester United was not low. Maybe they would have realized their dream of lifting the tenth Champions League trophy.
Unfortunately, there is no if!
Now, four years later, the two sides meet again in the Champions League semi-finals.
This time, Real Madrid's situation is still very unfavorable.
The clean 0:3 loss in the first round put them under tremendous offensive pressure.
In this game, Real Madrid must score at least 3 goals and ensure that the opponent does not score any goals.
If Barcelona scores one goal, Real Madrid will basically be eliminated.
In order to score a goal as soon as possible, Real Madrid started attacking aggressively at the beginning of the game.
Big-name stars such as Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema, Isco, Rodriguez and others were all sent into the field by Ancelotti.
Barcelona were not afraid at all and they sent out the strongest lineup they could.
Messi, Neymar and Suarez also started.
However, in midfield, Rakitic replaced Xavi's starting position.
Perhaps drawing on the experience of the game at Allianz Arena the day before, Real Madrid focused their attack today on the flanks, especially Bale's side.
Bale did not disappoint, using his speed to attack the opponent's defense again and again.
In the 13th minute of the game, Real Madrid seized the opportunity to launch a quick counterattack. Bale broke through and passed the ball to Benzema, who passed it back to Ronaldo.
Real Madrid's star player shot the ball and changed the score to 1:0 in one fell swoop!
After scoring the goal, Ronaldo seemed very excited and ran to the sidelines to do a SIU celebration.
The fans at the scene gave the team warm applause and cheers.
However, while Ronaldo was busy celebrating, Real Madrid's veteran and main goalkeeper Casillas did not celebrate with them. Instead, he rushed towards the Barcelona goal, scooped up the ball, put it back to the kick-off point, and then urged his teammates one by one to prepare for the kick-off.
They only caught up with one goal and were still two goals behind. Time was precious and they had no right to waste time before they equalized or even overtook the opponent!
The quick goal in the opening stage gave Real Madrid fans hope of victory.
The difference of 3 goals and the difference of 2 goals give people completely different feelings.
If they can keep up the good work and score another goal in the first half to narrow the gap between the two teams to 1 goal, then it may not be impossible for them to reverse Barcelona at home.
However, just as Real Madrid was preparing to do the same and continue to use offense to pry open Barcelona's door, Barcelona's counterattack came.
Although this is the Bernabeu, the home ground of Real Madrid, Barcelona has been a guest here so many times that they are no longer afraid of the opponent's home advantage.
Real Madrid has strong offensive firepower, does that mean Barcelona is weak?
The defensive ability of the Barcelona team under Enrique is not actually outstanding. What is truly outstanding is the terrifying offensive ability in the frontcourt.
In the 2014-2015 season, it is no exaggeration to say that the MSN combination in the frontcourt of Barcelona was the most terrifying forward combination in the entire football world that season.
When they started to exert their strength, even a strong team like Real Madrid couldn't stop them.
In the 19th minute, Messi won a chance to score with his signature personal breakthrough.
The Argentine passed the ball to his teammates without hesitation. Suarez showed the qualities of a top shooter. After receiving the ball, he adjusted half a step and steadily sent the ball into the goal.
1:1, Barcelona tied the score in just 6 minutes! This was the result that Real Madrid least wanted to see, because the opponent's goal not only wiped out their previous goal, but also further widened the gap between the two teams.
This was an away goal for Barcelona, which means that Real Madrid must score at least four more goals in the next game to advance to the final.
Is it really possible to score 5 goals against Barcelona in one game? The huge deficit made the Real Madrid players anxious, and they were eager to score goals to narrow the gap.
However, this eager mentality allowed Barcelona to seize the opportunity.
In the 29th minute, Barcelona did the same thing, with Messi again initiating the attack and assisting Neymar to score another goal.
The score became 1:2, Barcelona reversed Real Madrid and changed the total score to 5:1!
If Real Madrid wants to win, they must score 5 goals in the next 60 minutes! This is almost impossible, even a strong team like Real Madrid can't do it.
Although Ancelotti made timely adjustments, Ronaldo and Bale both exploded and scored a goal each in the second half.
But Real Madrid still failed to perform a miracle. When the final whistle sounded, the score on the field was fixed at 3:2. Real Madrid eventually lost to Barcelona with a total score of 5:3 and failed to advance to the final.
At this point, the two teams for the 2014-2015 UEFA Champions League final have been decided.
On June 7, this season's Champions League final will be played between Manchester City and Barcelona at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin!
(End of this chapter)