Chapter 858: Winning the Triple Crown
The outside world has some doubts about Manchester City's season strategy, which is not entirely unreasonable.
The Premier League certainly cannot be given up. The FA Cup is a traditional tournament in England, so it is normal to want to persist. However, the Europa League is really useless in the eyes of the teams in the four major leagues.
In previous media surveys, European football's impression of the Europa League was even lower than that of South America's Copa Libertadores.
You know, this is the continental competition second only to the Champions League in Europe, and the participating teams are all upper-middle ranked teams in major leagues and cup champions. No matter how you look at it, it should not have fallen to the point where it is worse than a second-rate league.
This season's Europa League quarter-finals, except for Manchester City and Villarreal, are all teams from outside the top five leagues, which is even more surprising.
Since its reform in 2000, the UEFA Cup has always been a traditional competition second only to the Champions League, and the strength of the five major leagues has never been as bad as it is now.
In nine of the past twelve seasons, teams from the top five leagues have taken six of the eight spots in six of the last eight seasons and four of the last eight three times, which means they have at least occupied half of the total.
But this season there are only two seats, including one for a newcomer like Manchester City, which is definitely unusual.
The media has also analyzed the decline of the Europa League and believes that the main reason is that there is no money to be made from playing this competition.
For example, Atletico Madrid.
Last season, the Colchoneros participated in the group stage of the Champions League, but they did not win a single game and were eliminated in disgrace. However, even so, they still received more than 15 million euros in Champions League bonuses.
Going further back, they participated in the Europa League and eventually won the championship, but after including the 3 million euro bonus for winning the championship, they only received a total income of more than 6 million euros, which is less than half of the Champions League group stage.
You know, in the Champions League, Atletico Madrid did not win a single game in the group stage, but in the Europa League, they eventually won the championship.
Even so, the revenue after winning the Europa League is less than half of what it would be if they failed to win a single game in the Champions League group stage.
This is simply unbelievable.
So this season, Atletico Madrid showed a lack of fighting spirit in the Europa League and was directly eliminated in the group stage. However, they earned more than 3 million euros in six group matches.
The Spanish media believes that the reason why Atletico Madrid is unwilling to play in the Europa League is to concentrate all its energy and try its best to play in the league, striving to return to the Champions League next season, which is the league with the most lucrative income for the club.
As for the Europa League? Whoever wants to play can play!
It is precisely because of the huge income gap that the Europa League is in its current predicament. Teams from the five major leagues are simply unwilling to play in such a useless event, which not only makes no money, but also wastes time and energy, and also consumes a lot of player resources.
For example, Manchester City played two away games in the knockout rounds, one in Greece and one in Kiev, Ukraine, both of which were long and tiring expeditions.
This is not cost-effective at all.
Even if they reach the quarterfinals of the Europa League, Spanish media speculate that Villarreal may give up at any time because their current fourth place in La Liga is under threat.
Under the current circumstances, they will also consider the Europa League and the top four of La Liga going hand in hand, but once the top four are threatened, Villarreal will not hesitate to give up the Europa League and do their best to ensure the league.
It is precisely based on this point that the British media finds it strange that Manchester City insists on fighting on three fronts.
Manchester City is not short of money, so why should they play in this meaningless competition, which is even less valuable than the Europa League? What if this affects Manchester City's performance in the Premier League? Su Dong came out to explain, revealing a meaning that the team insisted on fighting on three fronts not only for money and honor, but also as a test and challenge to themselves.
A strong team grows by constantly accepting challenges and withstanding pressure.
If you retreat when you encounter difficulties and avoid problems, how can you become stronger?
Even if it is a really strong team, it must be a fake strong team! Su Dong's remarks not only received support from the locker room, but also aroused widespread recognition among Manchester City fans.
Everyone also felt that the team should not give up, but continue to persevere.
Throughout Manchester City's history, the team has been too hungry for championship honors, especially European-level championship honors.
How could we give up the chance to compete for the Europa League?
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In the 31st round of the Premier League, Manchester City faced Sunderland at home.
In the ninth minute of the game, Su Dong passed the ball back in front of the right bottom line of the penalty area, Sanchez broke into the right side of the penalty area and scored with a low shot, opening the scoring for Manchester City.
In the 15th minute, Su Dong created a foul by the opponent in the frontcourt and calmly took the free kick, which directly hit the inside of the right post and went into Sunderland's goal, scoring another goal for Manchester City.
Just three minutes later, another cross came from the left by Leighton Baines. The unguarded Su Dong stopped the ball near the penalty spot and shot directly, scoring again for Manchester City, three to zero!
After scoring consecutive goals, Manchester City was unstoppable.
After the second half, David Silva scored a goal with a single shot in the 63rd minute, further expanding Manchester City's lead to 4-0! Just four minutes later, Marcelo made another cross from the left, Su Dong made a feint in front of the goal, attracted the defense's attention, and Sanchez made a shovel shot from the back point and broke through Sunderland's goal to 5-0! In the 73rd minute, Sunderland's defense made a mistake, Di Maria intercepted the ball in the frontcourt, launched a counterattack, dribbled into the penalty area and scored a single shot to 6-0!
Then in the 93rd minute of the game, Dzeko, who came on as a substitute for Sudon, also scored against Sunderland, securing the victory for Manchester City.
In the end, Manchester City beat Sunderland 7-0 at home.
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Manchester City defeated Sunderland at home. This battle not only boosted their morale, but also calmed down the outside world's doubts.
Head coach Guardiola said Manchester City is strong enough to cope with any challenge.
Ferguson's Manchester United was equally impressive, beating West Ham United 4-0 away from home and continuing to put pressure on Manchester City.
The Red Devils coach has also repeatedly stressed that Manchester United will fight Manchester City to the end and will never give up!
The battle between the two Manchester giants has become increasingly fierce.
Everyone knows that Manchester City has the advantage and Manchester United's chances of a comeback are becoming increasingly slim.
But no matter how slim it is, there is still a chance, right? Even if it only exists in theory.
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In the middle of the week, the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals.
Manchester City travels south to Portugal to challenge Braga away.
This Portuguese Super League team has performed well this season and it is not difficult to see their strength as they were able to reach the quarterfinals of the Europa League.
But facing the powerful Manchester City, Braga did not last long.
This time Guardiola fielded a lineup that was more familiar with the Portuguese Super League, with players such as Sudon, Moutinho, David Silva, Pepe and David Luiz all starting.
Just six minutes into the game, Su Dong headed the ball into the goal from close range after a cross from Marcelo, scoring the first goal for Manchester City.
Then came a long shot from Moutinho, which caused a mistake by the opponent's defender and resulted in an own goal.
In just thirteen minutes, Manchester City scored two goals.
After that, in the 61st minute of the second half, Su Dong succeeded in getting offside and scored another goal for Manchester City, 3-0! In the end, Manchester City won 3-0 away against Braga.
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After returning to the Portuguese Super League, Su Dong once again put in an excellent performance.
Former Portuguese Super League players including Pepe, David Luiz and Moutinho also performed well in this game and won unanimous recognition.
Manchester City's strength is evident from their 3-0 win over Braga away from home, and their advancement to the semi-finals is basically a foregone conclusion with no suspense.
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After bringing back a victory away from home, Manchester City returned to the Premier League and ushered in the 32nd round of the game.
In this game, Manchester City will challenge Liverpool away.
The Reds have performed poorly this season, but during the winter break, the Reds' top management decisively changed coaches and brought back their former hero, King Dalglish.
After taking charge of Liverpool again, Dalglish quickly played a key role, leading Liverpool to rebound against the trend and rising in the rankings. He even recently threatened to re-enter the top four of the league and compete for the Champions League qualification.
This is undoubtedly unrealistic, but it also shows the strong morale of Liverpool.
After sending away Torres who was in poor form and welcoming local rookie Andy Carroll and Uruguayan striker Suarez, Liverpool's offensive power has not decreased but increased, especially Suarez, who has performed well since joining Liverpool and won unanimous recognition.
In this game against Manchester City, Liverpool is well rested.
The Reds currently only have one front to fight in the Premier League, so they got a week of good rest.
Manchester City was distracted by the Europa League in the middle of the week, and several main players, including Sudon and Pepe, were rotated and rested.
Guardiola's original plan for the away game against Liverpool was to secure a draw and seek victory.
Unexpectedly, Manchester City encountered a powerful attack from Liverpool away from home.
First Carroll scored with a volley, then Kuyt and Carroll scored successively, helping Liverpool lead by three goals in the first half.
This can be said to have pushed Manchester City into a dead end.
During the half-time break, Guardiola decisively replaced Su Dong and David Silva, but this hardly changed the overall situation, especially when the team was already doomed to lose, Su Dong's goal was unlikely to help the team turn the situation around.
Liverpool used aggressive attacks in the first half and tight defense in the second half, especially the close marking of Su Dong, to successfully defeat Manchester City 3-1 at their home court, bringing the Blue Moon another defeat this season.
After the game, the media unanimously blamed Manchester City.
The first thing to be affected is the team's multi-line operations and rotation mechanism.
Guardiola has been criticized for letting Su Dong play in the Europa League, saying that losing to Liverpool for a useless tournament is not worth it.
But this defeat did not affect Manchester City's top position. Although Manchester United defeated Fulham 2-0 at home, they are still behind Manchester City.
Guardiola still believes that there is no problem with Manchester City's strategy and the team will definitely be able to survive this difficult schedule.
"We have only one goal, and that is the treble!" Guardiola shouted in a loud voice.
This also once again demonstrated the determination of Manchester City.
Vow to win the Triple Crown!
(End of this chapter)
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