As soon as Southampton's bus entered the underground parking garage of the Etihad Stadium, they could already feel the atmosphere of the Blue Moon fans outside the stadium.
The Manchester City Club also attached great importance to this game, especially since Gu Ran came to participate in the competition. The Manchester City Club did not dare to neglect him at all and the reception standards were higher than those for ordinary teams.
The main point is to make guests feel at home.
At noon, after Southampton's players had their meal in the restaurant, they took a comfortable nap in the visiting team's locker room.
Manchester City used to be very poor, but since a wealthy man from the Middle East took over in 2008, Manchester City has suddenly become rich, and even the visiting team's locker room feels magnificent.
Not only are there game consoles, but they are also equipped with medical oxygen cylinders.
Etihad Stadium has 68 VVVIP boxes, 6 theme restaurants and a variety of services.
After lunch, Coach Adkins took the players to the Etihad Stadium for warm-up training.
After about two hours of training, the Southampton team returned to the locker room to rest and adjust themselves while improving the tactical details.
At 6 pm, fans began to enter the stadium.
For this game, Manchester City officials gave 9,000 tickets to the visiting team, which was considered very polite.
In less than half an hour, the loyal South Stand was filled with Blue Moon fans.
The west stand was filled with die-hard Saints fans wearing the red and white No. 8 jerseys.
The game hadn't even started yet, and the players hadn't even entered the field to warm up, but fans on both sides had already started singing their team songs.
This match is the quarter-finals of the English League Cup, and the winner will advance to the semi-finals of the English League Cup! At the same time, the other three quarter-finals of the English League Cup are also being held simultaneously, namely Manchester United vs. Birmingham, Tottenham vs. Liverpool, and Chelsea vs. Arsenal.
It can be said that except for Southampton, the dark horse, all other teams are Premier League giants.
From a certain perspective, Manchester City has drawn a very lucky draw.
Among all four EFL Cup quarter-final matches, the match between Manchester City and Southampton received the least amount of betting attention.
William Hill's pre-match odds for this game are 1.04 for home win, 10.0 for draw and 6.0 for loss.
Judging from the odds, bookmakers have already determined that Southampton will lose.
The main handicap promoted by the bookmaker is that Manchester City will win by two goals.
In terms of the strength of the two teams, Manchester City, which has world-class stars such as Tevez, David Silva and Balotelli, is indeed extremely capable of crushing the English League One team Southampton.
In the main stand of the Etihad Stadium, only Chelsea's Emenalo and Liverpool's Edwards sat together today.
Manchester City's scout and assistant coach David Platt will watch the game from the bench today.
Without Pratt, Emenalo and Edwards always felt that something was missing.
"Edwards, what do you think of this game?"
"What else can I do? Just sit and watch."
"Haha, that's true, but the odds are not in Southampton's favor."
"Manchester City is indeed strong, and this handicap is within my expectations, but... I am still optimistic about Southampton, which has Gu Ran. Southampton really has a chance to win all the way."
"Unfortunately, Pratt isn't here today, so we can't see his terrifying face up close!"
"Hahaha!"
Edwards and Emenalo burst into laughter.
6:30 pm.
The coaches of both teams attended the pre-match press conference together.
This pre-match press conference was obviously more grand than previous ones, and many reporters from well-known media came to interview.
It’s not because Coach Adkins is the coach of a League One team that he is inferior, but because Mancini is too legendary.
Mancini was world-famous when he was a player, and after becoming a coach, he is also worthy of being called a legendary coach.
If Manchester City had not used huge sums of money to impress Mancini, Mancini would probably have continued to coach Inter Milan.
As a player, Mancini made his debut in Bologna, reached his peak in Sampdoria, and played for a few years in Lazio following Eriksson in his later years.
Mancini wears the No. 10 jersey in the team. As a typical Italian No. 10, his style is closer to Roberto Baggio. He is excellent in passing, controlling and shooting techniques. Mancini is also known as "the Italian whose playing style is most Brazilian." Mancini was one of the leading figures in Italian football at his peak. You must know that the Italian league at that time was definitely the world's number one league.
When he was a player, Mancini had a more individualistic and impatient personality, and would occasionally have emotional outbursts, but he was also passionate.
His coaching career started with Fiorentina and Lazio in Serie A. When he took over Fiorentina, it was still struggling in the relegation zone, but in less than half a season, he led the Fiorentina to successfully avoid relegation and also won the Italian Cup championship, which was very prestigious at the time.
When he coached Lazio, Lazio was in a financial crisis and the team was demoralized. However, since his arrival, whenever a goal was scored, Lazio players would automatically gather together to perform the classic rowing celebration.
It can be said that Mancini is a legendary figure with great personal charm and cohesion.
However, Mancini cannot be considered a true tactical master. After his success in Florence and Lazio, he was poached by Inter Milan, the strongest club at the time. Inter Milan at the time had the strongest club lineup in Serie A or even the world, but Mancini found it difficult to control this galaxy battleship. His tactical designs were too idealistic. He focused too much on assisting offense and neglected defense. He also relied too much on the individual performance of his stars. When the situation was obviously unfavorable, he had a strong gambler mentality of going all out.
Therefore, his results in his first season as Inter Milan were very poor.
However, in the second season, the famous Calciopoli scandal occurred in Serie A, and the biggest competitors Juventus and AC Milan were eliminated. Inter Milan had no competitive pressure at all, and Mancini easily won three consecutive championships.
This is a great honor, but Mancini has not made any substantial progress other than increasing his qualifications for a pay raise.
When the team was behind in crucial matches, Mancini would keep substituting forwards, and even wanted to rush onto the field to play as a forward himself to save the team.
But no matter what, Mancini is indeed a head coach with a strong personality, and his personal charm has a great influence on the team.
After the pre-match press conference began, during the press interview session, Mancini first congratulated coach Adkins for his amazing achievement of bringing a League One team to the quarterfinals of the EFL Cup.
Then, Mancini said that in fact, the quality of the Carabao Cup is not very high, at least far lower than the Italian Cup. In the last era, the Italian Cup could even be called a mini World Cup.
Mancini said that in order to ensure the condition of the main players, he did not plan to send all the main players in this game. His main goal with Manchester City this year is to win the league title. Of course, the draw for this game was lucky, so they still have to win this game and advance to the semi-finals. If there is a chance, they will also go all out to compete for the League Cup.
Coach Adkins humbly said that it was a great honor to play against the star-studded Manchester City team. Southampton also came here today for the purpose of learning and gaining experience. As for the outcome, only God knows - but we at Southampton have our own God.
When asked whether Manchester City wants to buy Gu Ran, Mancini said bluntly: "Yes, we are all looking forward to Gu Ran's arrival in Manchester City. Gu Ran is very young and very capable. He is also capable of bringing fresh experience to our Manchester City. I have also seen his video highlights. We think he will be an important piece of the puzzle for our Manchester City's rise. Of course, I also know that Southampton Club relies on Gu Ran very much, but this is not something we consider. Even if we Manchester City don't dig him, other clubs will dig him like crazy, so we are not targeting Southampton. We just don't want to be defeated by other giants."
"As for how much money is needed to recruit Gu Ran, that is not something I should consider. In short, as long as Gu Ran is willing, we have no problem spending any amount of money. If Gu Ran is not willing, then we will use money to make him willing."
When asked what strategy Manchester City will adopt to defend Gu Ran today, Mancini smiled and said: "Although Gu Ran is very strong, he is just one person after all. All the players in Manchester City are stars. The luxury of our attacking line is definitely among the top three in the Premier League. I know Gu Ran will score goals, and he will even score wonderful goals, but we will score more goals. This game belongs to us, Manchester City."
Coach Adkins said that he respected Coach Mancini very much, but he really could not agree with what Coach Mancini said.
Coach Adkins stressed that Gu Ran is not for sale at the club.
The pre-match press conference ended in a less friendly atmosphere.
At 7 o'clock in the evening, the referee team entered the venue to inspect the competition venue.
After the field inspection was completed, the away team Southampton was the first to enter the field for pre-match warm-up training.
As soon as the Southampton players entered the field, the Saints fans cheered wildly.
Manchester City's Blue Moon fans booed wildly - after all, this is their home ground, and if the away fans' cheers louder than theirs, the die-hard Blue Moon fans would definitely not be able to accept it.
Soon, Manchester City players also began to warm up on the field, and the entire Etihad Stadium suddenly erupted in thunderous cheers.
Just comparing the shouts of the fans from both sides, the Blue Moons, playing at home, won a complete victory.
However, the outcome of a football match is not determined by the cheers of the fans. If that were the case, China would have won the World Cup championship back-to-back.
...(End of this chapter)