Chapter 568: Wenger announces retirement, Barcelona embarks on a path of no return

A draw is also difficult for Manchester City to accept. After Liverpool's victory, the Reds' points have surpassed Manchester City.

This means that Manchester City's Champions League spot is a bit less secure.

Arsenal on the other side is their direct competitor for a place in the Champions League.

Therefore, in this game, as long as there is a chance, we must win it!

After realizing that the opponent's midfielder's interception focus was on the person who took the ball and advanced when Manchester City switched from defense to offense, Lin Quan took the initiative to take over this responsibility.

Seeing Lin Quan reaching for the ball, Gundogan quickly passed the ball to him.

In fact, Arsenal's defense not only targets Manchester City's ball-carriers, but also their passers-by in the midfield and backcourt.

Gundogan was obviously receiving special attention from the opponent, so for him, the football was like a hot potato. The sooner he passed it, the more relaxed he would feel.

Seeing Lin Quan got the ball, Xhaka rushed over without thinking.

Seeing that the opponent was rushing very fast, Lin Quan pushed the ball to the left, avoiding Xhaka in front of him, and rushed to the side in an instant.

Xhaka has no way to deal with Lin Quan. Lin Quan has already escaped his defense and now can only rely on his teammates.

"Beautiful! Lin's handling of the situation was quite clever. There was a clear space in front of him, so he could pass the ball!"

In the commentary booth, the two guest commentators couldn't help but praise Lin Quan when they saw him successfully escape the opponent's interception.

Speed ​​is crucial when switching from defense to offense. Oftentimes, the speed of the counterattack cannot be increased because it is impossible to get past the opponent's interception in the midfield.

As long as you can pass the ball smoothly or dribble the ball out yourself, the opponent's defensive players will not have time to get into position.

In this way, the offense is not facing a complete defensive line, and it is much easier to score.

At this time, Lin Quan had already advanced the ball to a position close to the top of the penalty area. The Arsenal fans in the stands were so nervous that they couldn't breathe.

The two Arsenal defenders who had just retreated to the penalty area were now almost all standing in the middle of the penalty area, blocking Lin Quan's breakthrough route.

Seeing the opponent's defender's position, Lin Quan passed the ball without hesitation.

David Silva followed up from the right and volleyed the ball directly into the goal.

Manchester City once again took the lead, the score became 2:3, and Arsenal was only one step away from falling into the abyss.

There is still some time left in the game and Arsenal must seize this last chance to equalize the score.

This idea is good, but unfortunately it is destined to be impossible to realize.

After David Silva scored, Manchester City began to make substitutions.

Fernandinho comes on to replace striker Aguero.

Obviously, Guardiola wants to strengthen defense and not give Arsenal any chances.

Although Manchester City seems to have replaced a striker, its offensive power has been weakened a lot.

But after Fernandinho came on, Manchester City's double defensive midfielders were extremely solid, which greatly liberated Gundogan and allowed him to devote all his energy to the offense.

In the 72nd minute, Manchester City launched a quick attack. Gundogan made a wonderful pass and broke through Arsenal's defense. Unfortunately, the opponent's goalkeeper acted in time and destroyed the ball before Manchester City players could make an encirclement.

In the 77th minute, Lin Quan used his personal strength to complete a breakthrough near the top of the arc. Mustafi had to commit a tactical foul and pulled him to the ground, giving Manchester City a good free kick opportunity. He himself received a yellow card.

Seeing Lin Quan standing in front of the ball preparing to take a free kick, everyone at Arsenal became extremely nervous.

This position is too dangerous. It is easy for a free kick expert to score a goal, and Lin Quan is such an expert.

Arsenal's goalkeeper directed his teammates to form a wall to block the right side of the goal, while he himself stood slightly closer to the left side.

In fact, you can roughly judge where the penalty taker will shoot from their position. After all, if they stand on the left side of the ball, they will most likely use their right foot to take the penalty, and if they stand on the right side, they will naturally use their left foot.

For players who have a clear dominant foot, this doesn't even need to be guessed, but Lin Quan doesn't have a weak foot and can shoot with both hands, so he has to judge by his positioning.

Lin Quan was standing on the left side of the ball at this time, so he had to use his right foot to kick the ball to the left.

After seeing Lin Quan's position, Arsenal's goalkeeper was full of confidence and was ready to make the save.

However, after seeing the goalkeeper's position, Lin Quan made a move that no one expected.

He did take the penalty kick with his right foot, but he did not touch the ball with the inside of his foot. Instead, he volleyed it with the outside of his foot!

Arsenal’s goalkeeper really didn’t expect Lin Quan to have such a skill, but it doesn’t matter, he still has teammates!

Arsenal's wall was on the right side, and when Lin Quan shot, they all jumped high, trying to block the football coming from the air.

However, the angle of Lin Quan's kick was so tricky that the ball almost brushed past the ear of the outermost player (refer to Afif's goal in the Asian Cup final).

Arsenal's human wall blocked the ball in vain! However, the ball had already passed the human wall, so wouldn't it be too high or too far?

However, when Arsenal fans saw the arc that the football made in the air, their faces suddenly changed.

Oh no, this ball is dangerous! Swish! Almost as soon as they had this thought, they heard a swish and the ball went into the net.

The score became 2:4!

If there was still a glimmer of hope when the score was 2:3, the gap has now widened further and Arsenal fans are in a really bad mood.

But Manchester City seemed to be playing crazy and couldn't stop scoring goals.

In the 85th minute, Manchester City won a corner kick.

After the corner kick, there was a melee in the penalty area. The ball was headed out by the opponent in the chaos and ended up falling right at Kante's feet.

Kante raised his foot and shot, and the ball hit the opponent's player and refracted.

Arsenal's goalkeeper was taken aback and rushed to save the ball, barely managing to get it out.

But the crisis was not over. The flying ball hit the Arsenal defender and fell into the small penalty area.

Just when the Arsenal defender was about to kick the ball away, someone was one step faster than him and kicked the ball into the goal.

The score became 2:5, Arsenal was slaughtered by Manchester City at home!

…

When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the Arsenal players on the field looked like they had lost their souls.

Some people even knelt on the ground, covering their faces and crying.

Not only the players, but also the Arsenal fans in the stands were really sad.

This game was really sad for them. At such a critical moment and in such an important game, Arsenal collapsed.

After losing this game, they are 3 points behind Liverpool.

Is it true that Arsenal can no longer maintain their top four position this season?

Although people may not share the same joys and sorrows, Lin Quan still felt a little sad when he saw the Arsenal players so depressed and Wenger so lonely on the sidelines.

If history does not change, Wenger will announce his retirement around this time next year.

It is hard to say whether his retirement was because Arsenal failed to continue the tradition and successfully maintain the top four.

After all, after years of being without a trophy, Arsenal's continued and stable entry into the Champions League has become their last resort to maintain their status as a top club.

But now, even this last bottom line has been broken. For an old man who is nearly 70 years old, it is so desperate and cruel.

In fact, Wenger was really thinking about retirement at this time.

There is no greater sorrow than despair. The team's performance has been declining year by year and there is no hope of improvement.

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The landscape of the Premier League is undergoing drastic changes, becoming more cruel and intense, making it difficult for this old guy to understand and keep up.

In this case, don't be stubborn anymore and take the initiative to choose to leave! This may be a good thing for both yourself and the team, and it can also make both sides decent.

So, at the post-match press conference, Wenger publicly announced that he would step down as Arsenal head coach after the end of this season.

The reporters at the scene were stunned as if struck by lightning.

Wenger is a veteran figure in the Premier League and the only remaining football manager. His retirement means the old era will come to an end!

Not surprisingly, after the game, the news spread across the entire British and even European football world at lightning speed.

Together with Barcelona, ​​which almost created a miracle at home a few days ago but ultimately lost, it has become a hot topic in the football world in recent days.

Lin Quan learned the news on the bus back to Manchester. He was somewhat surprised to learn that Wenger had chosen to retire this season.

This time point was advanced by a whole year, and it is hard to say that it was not affected by his butterfly.

As for Barcelona's regretful defeat and elimination by Paris Saint-Germain, Lin Quan had heard about it before.

Barcelona, ​​who was slaughtered 4-0 by Paris Saint-Germain away from home, almost created a miracle after returning to their home court.

Suarez first scored a goal quickly, igniting the passion of Barcelona players.

Then the opponent made a mistake in a hurry and gave them an own goal, allowing Barcelona to change the total score to 2:4, and they were still two goals behind.

In the second half, Barcelona scored another quick goal, narrowing the total score to 3:4, only one goal behind.

However, just when Barcelona saw hope of equalizing or even reversing the game, Paris Saint-Germain striker Cavani also scored a goal.

The total score became 3:5, and the opponent had an away goal. Barcelona had to score 3 more goals to win, which was almost an impossible task.

Barcelona, ​​whose momentum was dampened, had difficulty scoring in the following period, until the 88th minute, when Iniesta's goal rekindled the almost extinguished hope.

A minute later, Suarez dived in the penalty area, having already received a yellow card for a poor diving performance in the first half.

So the referee hesitated for a moment and made a decision that was incredible to everyone - a penalty kick, and gave Marquinhos a yellow card.

This penalty was extremely outrageous, because there were many balls on both sides that deserved penalties but he didn't award them. As a result, at such a critical moment, he gave a yellow card for a dive that was not considered a foul.

After the penalty kick was scored, the score became 5:5, the scores of both sides were tied, and Barcelona was still one away goal behind.

As long as they scored one more goal, they would win the game! Barcelona, ​​who were playing like crazy, scored a goal very quickly.

Robert, who came on as a substitute, scored the goal in injury time to overtake the score, which made the entire Camp Nou boil.

A miracle really happened! However, just as the Barcelona players were rejoicing, Neymar, who was watching his former teammates cheering and celebrating, gradually became determined.

In the last stage of injury time, Neymar suddenly appeared, received the pass from Di Maria, dribbled past his former teammate who was very familiar to him, broke into the penalty area and calmly shot the ball into the goal, changing the score to 6:2, and the total score also became 6:6. Neymar's goal directly kicked away the miracle created by the Barcelona people and turned this night into a sad night for all Barcelona people.

The game was full of ups and downs and thrilling scenes, and there were also scenes of internal strife and betrayal against the former team.

Therefore, the topic became extremely popular, and after the game, it was praised by countless fans as the most exciting Champions League match they had seen this season.

Many people even felt sorry for Barcelona as they were just a little bit away from setting a record.

Unfortunately, he failed at the last step! If Neymar had not left, but stayed in the team and fought side by side with his teammates, would Barcelona have a better chance of winning?

In fact, this game had a huge impact on Barcelona. In addition to losing the game and being eliminated in the round of 16, their head coach Enrique announced after the game that he would resign as Barcelona head coach after the end of this season.

There are rumors that Enrique's departure is closely related to Messi.

According to Catalan tabloid media, Messi has set a hard condition for contract renewal: Enrique must leave!

Although this kind of gossip may not be reliable, the conflict between Enrique and Messi is obvious.

So when Enrique announced his resignation, some voices criticizing Messi appeared in the outside world.

Some people think that he is too closely tied to Barcelona, ​​or that Barcelona is too dependent on Messi.

If Enrique really leaves in this way, the new coach will probably have to act according to Messi's mood.

In this case, who dares to come to Barcelona to coach? But given Messi's status in Barcelona, ​​Barcelona has no better solution.

Between Enrique and Messi, they can only choose Messi.

In order to appease Messi, Barcelona will even give him a substantial salary increase in the new contract to renew his contract, so that Messi's annual salary will be comparable to that of Manchester City's Lin Quan.

This is in line with his position in the team! However, Barcelona is now facing a serious problem of aging lineup, and they need to spend money and time to introduce and train new players.

But once Messi is given a substantial salary increase, it will inevitably compress the salary space in other positions within the team, which will not be conducive to their introduction of big-name players, and will be even more detrimental to the financial health of the team!

Therefore, Barcelona's current behavior is clearly in violation of market rules.

When Messi gets old or leaves, Barcelona will inevitably be in a mess.

Moreover, in this state, Barcelona may still be able to compete in the league in the next few seasons, but in the Champions League, their competitiveness will definitely become weaker and weaker.

It is probably a long time before we can recreate the glory of the Universe Team.

(End of this chapter)