Chapter 474 Guardiola: Manchester City cannot live without Lin!
Manchester City chose to report the incident to the local police and lodged a protest with UEFA.
With these two measures in place, the people of Kiev had to restrain themselves a little, and at least they did not make trouble again the next night.
However, this interference by them had a great impact on Manchester City's pre-match preparations.
On the day of the competition, the weather was not very good. The sky was gray and there was no sunshine at all. It looked like it was going to snow at any time.
"The temperature in Kiev has been quite low these days, and it might snow during the game!"
The assistant coach said to Guardiola worriedly.
"Well, what does the weather forecast say?"
Guardiola looked up at the sky and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
If it really snows during the game, it would be very disadvantageous for Manchester City.
"The weather forecast says there's a high chance of snow, over 70%!"
With a 70 percent probability, there will basically be a snowball fight.
According to UEFA regulations, matches can be postponed in case of extreme weather such as heavy rain or heavy snow.
But I’m worried that the snow won’t be heavy enough to meet the criteria for postponing the game.
In that case, Manchester City's condition will be affected by the snowy weather. Once snow accumulates on the field and becomes slippery, it will obviously be disadvantageous for Manchester City, which is better at ground attack.
Although the weather was not good, the game still attracted a large number of fans to watch the game.
There were only a small number of Manchester City fans who followed the visiting team, only about 1,000 or so, and the rest were all fans of the home team.
Dynamo Kyiv's home stadium is not big and can only accommodate 16,900 fans. Moreover, because it is not a professional football stadium, there is a runway between the stadium and the stands, so the fans' cheering voices do not have as much impact on the players on the stadium as in a professional football stadium.
However, when Manchester City players stepped onto the field, they were shocked.
Two completely different scenes appeared at the Lobanovsky Stadium: on one side was a group of burly men with their shirts stripped off and bare chests. The leader was beating the drums vigorously with sweat pouring down his face, while hundreds of people behind him formed a line, clapping and shouting rhythmically and holding up the home team's cheering scarves.
Although the number of people is small, they are particularly eye-catching.
On the other side, a group of fans found a large number of fireworks from somewhere and lit them in the stands.
The orange-red flames and the diffuse smoke made the stands on this side look as if they were on fire, which was particularly crazy.
Manchester City players seemed to have never seen such a scene, especially those shirtless fans who were not afraid of the wind and snow and cheered loudly.
Just one look at it makes me feel cold. I don’t know how these crazy people can persist! “Haha, those guys from Manchester City are scared by us. Brothers, try harder and let these cowards see the blood of us Ukrainians!”
Seeing Manchester City players frequently looking their way, these crazy fans became even more proud and beat the drums and cheered even harder.
"Are these the fans of Dynamo Kyiv? They are really crazy!"
Guardiola sat in the coaching seat and subconsciously wrapped his down jacket around himself.
The whistling cold wind blew on the body, even wearing a down jacket, it still felt a little cold, not to mention the players playing in shorts and shorts on the court? If they don't warm up their bodies thoroughly, once they play in the game, they are likely to get frostbite or get injured due to muscle stiffness.
The risk of injury is very high when playing football in such temperatures.
I don't know how the players in the Ukrainian and Russian Premier Leagues managed to hold on? ...
At 9:45 in the evening, the game officially began with the referee's whistle.
Despite having done a thorough warm-up, the players' bodies quickly cooled down during the time they returned to the locker room from the court.
So at the beginning of the game, Manchester City players were still cautious and did not dare to make big moves, so they played with some restraint.
Their opponents had obviously anticipated this, so after the kick-off, they decisively launched a massive attack on Manchester City, as if trying to take advantage of the fact that Manchester City's players had not yet fully entered the game and launch a wave of attacks in an effort to break through Manchester City's goal.
Dynamo Kyiv had a good idea and executed it resolutely.
However, Guardiola had anticipated this attempt by his opponent and had taken precautions in the tactics formulated before the game.
After discovering that the opponent had indeed begun to attack, Manchester City immediately contracted its formation and consolidated its defense.
Dynamo Kyiv was not strong in positional warfare, and their offense did not create many good opportunities under Manchester City's all-out defense.
Seeing that Manchester City was well prepared, the coach of Dynamo Kyiv couldn't help but sigh.
After seeing that the players were unable to break through the opponent's defense and shot three or four times without posing a threat, he decisively gave the order to stop the offensive.
At this time, the game time has reached the fifteenth minute. After the first fifteen minutes of the game, Manchester City players' bodies have gradually become active.
Just at this time the opponent changed his style of play and no longer launched a mad dog-like attack as before.
So Manchester City began to gradually push back and tried to launch a counterattack against the opponent.
In the 17th minute, Manchester City launched a quick counterattack after intercepting the ball in the midfield. Son Heung-min dribbled the ball to the bottom and made a cross in front of the goal.
New signing Jesus, who started for Manchester City for the first time, was disturbed by the opponent's defender and was a little slow in his move in front of the goal. Although he stretched out his body and stretched his foot to complete a sliding shot, his foot did not touch the ball and the ball slipped past the goal.
Lin Quan at the back post also failed to touch the ball, and Manchester City missed this great opportunity to change the score.
Although the players missed the opportunity, Guardiola still applauded the players.
He had a hunch that as long as Manchester City continued in this form, scoring a goal was only a matter of time.
The coach of Dynamo Kyiv obviously felt something was wrong, so he immediately ordered his players to strengthen their defense and fight harder.
And their way to strengthen defense is simple and crude, that is - foul! In the 22nd minute of the game, Manchester City launched another attack, and Son Heung-min was tackled by the opponent's full-back when he was dribbling the ball on the wing.
It was not known whether the opponent's kick was intentional or accidental, but Son Heung-min's leg was knocked down. Son Heung-min rolled on the ground several times, holding his leg in pain.
When the Manchester City players nearby saw the miserable plight of their teammate, they immediately stepped forward and surrounded the player who had caused the accident, wanting to seek justice for their teammate.
Are they here to play football? They are clearly here to kick people! The opposing players were not to be outdone. Seeing their teammates being besieged, they immediately rushed over and confronted the Manchester City players.
Seeing that a melee was about to break out between the two sides, the referee quickly blew the whistle, gave the Kiev player who committed the foul a yellow card, and also used yellow cards to warn the players from both sides who had just pushed each other.
The referee's timely decision prevented a large-scale conflict from breaking out between the two sides.
But the anger between the players of the two teams could no longer be suppressed.
In the subsequent games, the players on both sides became more and more aggressive. If you tackle me, I will definitely retaliate.
However, such a melee was obviously beneficial to Dynamo Kyiv, as Manchester City's momentum, which was just about to gain momentum, was forcibly suppressed.
The chaotic situation made it difficult for Manchester City to organize its ground attack.
The opponent's fierce actions and concerns about injuries made Manchester City players hesitant when launching attacks.
In the stands, Dynamo Kyiv fans shouted loudly and laughed at Manchester City players.
"What a bullshit Champions League title, I think it's just this level!"
"Haha, we are sure to win this game. Manchester City's morale has been disrupted and they are playing without any rules!"
On the sidelines, Guardiola frowned.
Such a melee was very unfavorable to Manchester City, but the players' heads were already overwhelmed by anger at this time, and his shouting and adjustments did not have much effect.
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We can only hope that we can make adjustments during the half-time break. Before that, I just hope no one gets hurt.
According to Murphy's Law, the more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen.
Just as Guardiola was praying in his heart that no one would get injured, someone was injured on the field!
In the 31st minute, Dynamo Kyiv winger Gamash made a tackle during a fight with Lin Quan, and both of them fell to the ground.
Guardiola stood up from the coaching seat and looked at the field with a nervous face.
At this moment, he had no other thoughts in his mind.
He put aside the winning or losing of the game, and the advancement to the knockout stage.
At this moment, there was only one thing on his mind: How is Lin Quan?
No way? Lin wouldn't get injured at this critical moment, right?
Manchester City can't lack him no matter who they are lacking now!
Manchester City, which is already full of injured players, can't imagine what will happen if Lin Quan is missing? Seeing that the opponent's core player is suspected to be injured, the fans of Dynamo Kyiv are like celebrating the New Year, and they are so happy that they all sing songs! "Haha, great, we killed the opponent's core player, we will definitely win this game!"
"Haha, I don't know how badly that kid is injured. If he's seriously injured and can't make it to the next game, hehe, maybe we can beat Manchester City away from home in the next round!"
"To beat Manchester City both home and away is a task that top clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have failed to accomplish. I never thought that one day we would have a chance to accomplish it!"
Of course they have reasons to be happy. Everyone knows how important Lin Quan is to Manchester City. Without him, the strength of Manchester City will be at least halved.
In that case, Dynamo Kyiv has a much higher chance of beating their opponent at home! Thinking that they have a chance to eliminate the defending champion and enter the quarterfinals, Dynamo Kyiv fans are so happy that they want to set off firecrackers to celebrate!
Compared with the jubilant Kiev fans, Manchester City fans were already nervous.
Lin Quan must not be in any trouble, Manchester City can't live without him now! Many Manchester City fans have even started praying for Lin Quan, hoping that he is okay!
After players from both teams fell to the ground, the team doctors of both teams immediately came on the field.
Unexpectedly, on the Manchester City side, after being examined by the team doctor, Lin Quan was found to be fine and soon limped to his feet with the help of his teammates.
Seeing this scene, Manchester City fans all breathed a sigh of relief, while the fans of Dynamo Kyiv were disappointed.
"That guy Gamash, didn't he eat? Why didn't you destroy this guy!"
"He's useless. He can't even handle such a small matter. I don't think Gamash needs to stay in the team anymore!"
However, they did not seem to notice that Gamash, whom they had scolded, was lying on the ground and unable to get up!
To be on the safe side, Guardiola asked Lin Quan to undergo further detailed examination on the sidelines and did not let him return to the court to continue the game immediately.
He was just feeling lucky that Lin Quan was not injured. If he was really injured, he really didn't know what to do! Thinking of this, Guardiola thought, why not just replace Lin Quan?
It doesn’t matter if we lose this game, we still have our home court.
Lin Quan’s health is more important than anything else!
Just as Guardiola was thinking about this, on the field, the Dynamo Kyiv team doctor made a substitution gesture.
After examination by the team doctor, they believed that Gamache could no longer continue and had to leave the field to receive treatment.
This was the first player to be injured in the game, and it was one of our own, which dampened the arrogance of the Dynamo Kyiv fans in the stadium.
This script is wrong, why is it our guy who got hurt? It was Gamash who tackled the other guy, why was he the one who got hurt in the end?
"I understand. It must be that Gamash committed a big foul just now. He felt that he couldn't escape the referee's punishment, so he used this trick to try to get away with it?"
"Well, it's very likely. The foul just now did look a bit bad. He didn't tackle the ball, but he kicked the opponent's ankle firmly. For such a foul, being shown a yellow card is considered a light punishment. He might be given a red card and sent off. If UEFA investigates it after the game, he may even be banned from the game!"
If Gamache could hear the discussion among his fans, he would probably cry.
He wasn't pretending, he was really hurt.
As for why he committed the foul and was the one who got hurt instead of the opponent, even he himself didn't understand.
He felt that the kick he had just made did not hit a human leg, but a piece of iron plate. The force of the recoil made him feel that his bones were about to break! Although Gamash was injured and left the field, the referee did not intend to let him go.
The referee showed a yellow card to him as he was being helped away. It was just a yellow card, which was considered a show of mercy.
If he was fine after the tackle and Lin Quan was injured and left the field, the referee would most likely show him a red card.
But even if there was no direct red card, it would be very disadvantageous for Dynamo Kyiv to have one player injured so early.
However, at this moment, snowflakes began to float in the sky.
The snow predicted in the weather forecast has finally arrived!
(End of this chapter)