Chapter 464: The battle for the top spot begins, Schmeichel's amazing save!
Due to long-term involvement in low-level leagues, Leicester City's home stadium is not large and can only accommodate more than 30,000 fans.
For such an important match, the more than 30,000 tickets at the King Power Stadium had naturally been sold out long ago, and there were even a large number of fans who were unable to buy tickets.
The city where Leicester City is located is not small, with a population of about 300,000.
Although this scale is roughly equivalent to that of a small county town in China, it is definitely a big city in the UK, which has a population of only over 60 million. It is not a problem to support a top league club.
In comparison, Manchester, which is not far from Leicester, has a population of only 500,000, but is home to two giants, Manchester City and Manchester United.
Given the British people's enthusiasm for football, as long as Leicester City stays in the Premier League for a few more years to consolidate and expand their fan base, they will be able to save enough money to renovate their stadium.
Of course, this also depends on whether the financial backers behind Leicester City are willing to spend money.
If you meet a vampire like the Arsenal owner who is not only unwilling to invest money but also treats the team as a tool to make money, then there is no hope.
Whenever Lin Quan arrives at a stadium, he always habitually looks around the entire stadium first.
As the career gets longer and more competitions are accumulated.
He has visited many famous stadiums in European football, such as the Bernabeu, Camp Nou, Allianz Stadium, and Old Trafford.
Among them, there are several stadiums that left a deep impression on him, such as the Allianz Stadium and the Bernabeu Stadium.
I've been to Camp Nou so many times that I don't feel anything like it.
Manchester United’s home stadium is actually very beautiful. As a city rival, Lin Quan also likes Old Trafford very much. After all, this is his blessed land.
Although the commercialization of the Premier League is very successful, when it comes to the level of enthusiasm for football, the British may not be able to compare with the Germans.
This can be seen from the size of the home stadiums of the football clubs of the two countries. The stadiums in the Bundesliga are usually larger and have higher attendance rates.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that Bundesliga tickets are relatively cheap. After all, most Bundesliga teams are membership clubs. The ownership of the team does not belong to an individual, and making money is not the top priority. Therefore, it is natural to consider them from the perspective of ordinary fans.
When Lin Quan was looking at Leicester City's home stadium, the fans at Leicester City's home stadium were also looking at him.
Perhaps because they knew that this man would be the biggest threat their team faced today, the Fox City fans began booing Lin Quan after seeing Lin Quan enter the field.
Some people also shouted at him and even made some 'friendly' gestures in an attempt to intimidate him.
Lin Quan had seen this scene too many times, so he simply ignored these people.
After all, if he gave the other party a middle finger in response, he would definitely be investigated or even punished by the FA after the game, which would not be worth it.
After he went on the field to warm up, he picked up a football and called Joe Hart over. They started training shooting and saving shots, one with a ball and one goalkeeper.
This one-on-one training is a test for both goalkeepers and shooters.
Shots outside the penalty area are not difficult to save if the goalkeeper is concentrating, so it requires great skill to score.
For example, try to choose tricky and difficult-to-block angles, or increase the power to make the ball faster and shorten the goalkeeper's reaction time.
Or you could add some changes to the football, making it rotate at some angles when flying in the air, affecting the goalkeeper's judgment and causing them to make mistakes.
Joe Hart was very focused, making high tackles and successfully saving three of Lin Quan's first ten shots.
Seeing such a low save success rate, Leicester City fans all changed their expressions.
Coincidentally, their top scorer Vardy was also doing the same training in the opposite half. However, Vardy only scored 4 of his 10 shots and 6 were saved.
Although Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is quite strong, Joe Hart on the opposite side is not mediocre either. He has been selected for the British national team.
Although his main position has been replaced by Navas in the past two seasons, it does not mean that Joe Hart is useless.
Therefore, such a result can only prove one thing: there is a gap in the strength of the shooters of the two teams, and it is a very huge gap!
Vardy, who was in the other half, saw this and said to his teammates angrily:
"Hey, Schmeichel, can't you just relax? Can't you see that our home fans are waiting to see my wonderful performance?"
Schmeichel rolled his eyes: "I also have to work hard to maintain my form and find my touch, otherwise when the game starts, how can I face Manchester City's fierce attack?"
Schmeichel didn't want to affect his condition by letting the ball go. He had a premonition that the goal he was guarding would face an extremely severe test in this game.
Manchester City's configuration in the midfield and frontcourt is simply invincible in the Premier League. Each of these players has the ability to score goals, especially Lin Quan, Aguero and Son Heung-min.
The reason why Schmeichel Jr. attaches so much importance to this game is not only because it is a battle for the top spot and is related to the ownership of the league championship, but also because he was once a Manchester City player.
In the football world, many players will give their best when facing their old club in order to prove their strength.
However, when Schmeichel was at Manchester City, Manchester City had not yet received investment from the Abu Dhabi consortium and was just an ordinary mid-to-lower Premier League team.
The fact that he couldn't gain a foothold in this ordinary Manchester City team only proves that Schmeichel's strength was indeed not enough at that time.
As for his later growth into an excellent goalkeeper after training, it was all due to his own efforts.
It has been seven or eight years since he left Manchester City. If it weren't for Manchester City's strong rise, he would probably have forgotten about Manchester City, let alone thought of taking revenge on Manchester City.
Spot shooting was not challenging for Lin Quan, so he called Kroos and De Bruyne over and asked them to pass the ball to him from the left and right sides at different angles and strengths, simulating an actual combat scenario as much as possible.
We saw Lin Quan shooting left and right, using his toes, arches, insteps and even heels, using different shooting techniques such as push shot, lob shot, shovel shot and loop shot, and scoring goals in succession from different positions.
The Leicester City fans at the scene were so stunned that they even forgot to boo.
"This guy, his shooting skills are too comprehensive, right?"
"No wonder he can become the Premier League Golden Boot winner, he is really strong!"
"Can our defense withstand the opponent's attack?"
Leicester City fans began to worry about their own defense. Leicester City's defense is not particularly good. In the first 18 games, they conceded a total of 25 goals, an average of 1.39 goals per game, ranking 6th from the bottom in the league.
Leicester City's victory was achieved through offense, and many times it was a narrow win by one goal.
On the other hand, Manchester City has conceded very few goals this season, only 9 goals, and is currently the best defensive team in the Premier League.
In terms of offense, Manchester City's firepower is also terrifying. They have scored a total of 49 goals this season, 12 goals ahead of Leicester City, and are at the top of the list.
Facing such a team with strong offense and strong defense, Leicester City will face huge tests on both offense and defense.
Guardiola was chatting with his assistants on the sidelines when he saw Lin Quan playing with great success.
His feet suddenly felt itchy, so he simply took off his suit, ran to the court, and joined the team feeding the ball to Lin Quan.
I don’t know if it’s because he has retired for a long time, or because wearing leather shoes affects his performance, but the quality of his passing is far worse than that of the other two.
This made it much more difficult for Lin Quan to handle the ball, but it also served as a form of training in disguise.
Guardiola was in high spirits and was ready to play some more, but when he was handling the ball, his foot slipped and he fell on his back on the court, drawing laughter from Leicester City fans.
The players nearby quickly went up to pull their coach up. Guardiola pretended to be calm, shook off the grass debris on his sweater, said hello to the players, and then limped to the coaching seat.
As he walked, he rubbed his back, grimacing in pain.
This funny scene made the fans at the scene burst into laughter, and this time even Manchester City fans joined in.
They have received professional training and generally do not laugh unless they can't help it.
Gua Tu offered sacrifices to the heavens and his magical powers were boundless.
Maybe Guardiola's pre-match deployment worked, or maybe his metaphysics of sacrificing himself worked.
After the opening, Manchester City was in high spirits and launched a fierce attack on Leicester City at Leicester City's home ground.
Although before the game, Leicester City's head coach had repeatedly emphasized to his players the strength of Manchester City.
But there is still a big difference between what you hear with your ears and what you actually feel.
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At this moment, they only felt a deep sense of powerlessness and suffocation on the court.
The opponent's powerful suppression made them feel a little breathless.
On the sidelines of the court, the tinker Ranieri clenched his fists nervously.
He prepared a lot for this game, but when the game started, he still felt despair.
Manchester City is too strong, so strong that it's breathtaking!
"Huh?"
On the other hand, Guardiola, who returned to the coaching seat, felt a little surprised after the game started.
Leicester City players quickly rushed towards Manchester City's half after the start of the game. And it was not just one player who did this, but many players rushed forward together. Was this an attempt to seize the opening and catch them off guard?
Isn’t this a coincidence?
That's what he planned too!
So, Leicester City, which was preparing to attack, was blocked by Manchester City, which was also preparing to attack.
Moreover, because a large number of manpower was invested in the attack, Leicester City's defense line became empty to a certain extent. When Manchester City quickly intercepted the ball and transferred it to the frontcourt, their defense line immediately sounded the alarm.
"Manchester City's attack, Kroos makes a large-scale transfer!"
"Lin Quan got the ball and passed it to Son Heung-min!"
"Son Heung-min made a cross from the bottom and hit the goal!"
"Aguero shoots, dangerous!"
"Schmeichel did a great job, he blocked Aguero's shot with his body!"
Just one minute into the game, Manchester City created a very threatening shot, which made the hearts of Leicester City fans who came to the scene hang in the balance.
Is this the strength of the Champions League champion? It is indeed so terrifying!
Although the outside world has been hyping them up as the dark horse of the Premier League, some people even have high hopes for them and believe that they have the potential to stabilize the Premier League.
But some sober Leicester City fans know that this is very difficult, or even impossible.
Unless Manchester City continues to perform poorly in the second half like Arsenal, otherwise, they will never be able to replace Manchester City and win the championship! This game further strengthened their view that Manchester City is much stronger than Leicester City and they are not opponents at all.
…
After Aguero missed the opportunity, he raised his hand apologetically to Son Heung-min and took the responsibility.
Son Heung-min did not blame him. Instead, he gave him a thumbs up and praised him for his beautiful shot.
In a game, there are many crosses made by wingers, but only a few of them result in shots and goals.
The first attack was unsuccessful, but it did not affect Manchester City's morale at all.
They quickly intercepted the ball in the frontcourt again and launched a counterattack that was more threatening than the previous one.
This time, Lin Quan broke through along the wing and cut inside. He glanced at Aguero's position and pretended to pass the ball to him, but he created space for himself and suddenly shot a cold arrow.
With Aguero's cover, Lin Quan's shot was very sudden and the angle was tricky enough.
But Schmeichel seemed to see through Lin Quan's intention before he completed the shot, and he moved in advance and flew to save the ball.
"Little Schmeichel! He stood up and made a god-level save!"
Schmeichel's wonderful performance shocked the fans and commentators at the scene.
Through slow-motion replay, it can be seen that Lin Quan's shot was of extremely high quality, and was aimed at the blind corner of the goal.
However, a stretched figure appeared in front of the goal, transformed into a roc with spread wings, and shot the ball down.
What a pity, if this ball could have gone in, it would have most likely become the best goal of this game or even this round of the Premier League.
After completing a great save, Schmeichel jumped up from the ground and roared with excitement.
This kind of save is very morale-boosting for the goalkeeper and teammates.
The morale of the Leicester City team was also greatly boosted by Schmeichel's two saves in the early stages of the game.
Manchester City is strong, but we have a goalkeeper who can protect our goal, so what is there to fear? In this game, there was a special spectator at the King Power Stadium - old Schmeichel.
When the live broadcast camera captured him, Schmeichel Sr. was applauding Schmeichel Jr.'s wonderful save with the fans around him.
Seeing himself appear on the big screen, he was stunned for a moment and waved at the camera.
Schmeichel Sr. is a Manchester United legend and one of the best goalkeepers of that era.
Seeing Schmeichel's outstanding performance, many people linked the two together.
I wonder if Schmeichel Jr. can reach the level of his father?
(End of this chapter)