Chapter 974 I am the strongest center in the world!
After the League Cup final, the Manchester City team returned to Manchester from London. They had no time to rest at all and immediately faced the 26th round of the Premier League.
This is because Manchester City played in the League Cup, which caused the team to miss the 26th round of the Premier League. The match was delayed to mid-week and the team welcomed Blackburn at home.
In this battle, all the core players including Su Dong and David Silva were rested.
But even so, Manchester City still defeated the visiting Blackburn 3-0 at home with goals from Douglas Costa, Aguero and Dzeko, and won the makeshift match.
…
Three days later, in the 27th round of the Premier League, Manchester City still played at home against Bolton.
Just like three days ago, Guardiola still kept core players such as Su Dong on the bench this time, and continued to use rotation and substitute lineups to play against Bolton. In the end, with Aguero's two goals, he defeated Bolton 2-0 at home.
Whether it was winning the League Cup or defeating opponents in two consecutive rounds with substitutes, Manchester City's performance attracted a lot of attention from the media, but it did not cause too much waves within the team, and everyone was more focused on preparing for the game.
For Manchester City, there is not much suspense about winning the Premier League. The remaining eleven games are more about maintaining the current lead and adjusting the team's condition. The real main battlefield is still in the Champions League.
And, of course, there’s the FA Cup.
Not to mention the special significance of the FA Cup to English football, local fans attach great importance to this cup competition. More importantly, the team has already won the League Cup, and there is basically no suspense about the Premier League championship. If they win the FA Cup again, then those three championships will be enough to stand out from the crowd.
We won the treble last season, and if we can win it again this season, we will have swept the English football world.
If they can qualify for the Champions League again, Manchester City will definitely use this season to establish itself among the top teams in Europe.
From now on, who dares to ignore Manchester City?
It is also because of this that Guardiola publicly stated at the post-match press conference after the game against Bolton that Manchester City is about to usher in the most important game of the season.
…
After the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, Manchester City first won the League Cup and then won two consecutive victories in the Premier League, while AC Milan also performed well in Serie A.
Allegri's team first drew 1-1 with Juventus at home in the 25th round of Serie A.
A week later, AC Milan defeated Palermo 4-0 away from home with Ibrahimovic's hat trick.
With the final battle approaching, the Rossoneri showed super fighting power, especially the Swedish center Ibrahimovic, who proved his peak form with a hat trick.
After the game, Ibrahimovic was interviewed by the media and talked about the upcoming game. He said that AC Milan will definitely defeat Manchester City to advance to the quarterfinals.
"Remember one rule, man, a team with Zlatan is always stronger!"
A hat trick made Ibrahimovic proud, especially the outside world's criticism that he did not do much in the first round of the Champions League, which made Ibrahimovic even more annoyed.
Ibrahimovic also took the initiative to talk about Su Dong. He believed that Su Dong was just being arrogant in other leagues.
"In fact, if it weren't for other reasons, what he did in La Liga, I could do, but what I did in Serie A, he couldn't do, because in Serie A, the defense will be tighter, so he couldn't score in the first leg.
"On the contrary, if I went to play in England or Germany, I would blow it up, just like I did in Serie A."
"That's what I want to say, I will help AC Milan advance in Manchester and prove that I am the best center forward in the world!"
When Ibrahimovic's remarks after the game were reported to England, Su Dong did not give a direct response when interviewed by the media. He said he was not interested in comparing with anyone.
"I can't stop others from using me as their goal in life. That's their business, but I am very sure that I have only one opponent in front of me, and that's myself!"
Regarding Ibrahimovic, Su Dong said that he knew he was very strong, but...
"How many goals did he score in the Champions League knockout rounds? Is it a fraction of mine?" Su Dong smiled and spread his hands.
Everyone knows that Ibrahimovic performs poorly in high-intensity games and is better at bullying weak opponents.
Just like in the past two rounds of Serie A, it was Nocerino who scored for AC Milan against Juventus, while Ibrahimovic scored a hat trick in the game against Palermo.
That's the characteristic of the Swedish center.
The Swedish center is also a very emotional person.
Su Dong has always known this. As early as when he played for Juventus, he had regarded Su Dong as an opponent and had often taken the initiative to provoke him.
Over the years, the two had met several times in public, but they had no personal relationship. However, Su Dong was relatively familiar with him, so he deliberately fought back before the game, just to provoke him and make him angry.
Sure enough, when Su Dong met Ibrahimovic at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, the Swedish center looked at him with malicious provocation, as if he wanted to eat him alive.
…
"Hello, Zlatan."
Su Dong walked up to him with a smile and stretched out his hand to Ibrahimovic from a distance.
Don't hit someone who smiles at you.
If Su Dong had given him a bad look, Ibrahimovic would have thought it was nothing, but now Su Dong suddenly greeted him with a smile, which made him feel very awkward. He knew clearly that this guy was hypocritical and artificial, even disgusting, but he had no choice but to shake hands with him coolly.
"Your smile looks so fake." Ibrahimovic said as he got closer.
"I think so too." Su Dong said with a smile, "But there is nothing we can do. With so many people watching, we can't just quarrel, right? Besides, you are a guest here, so I have to give in to you."
"I don't need you to give in!" Ibrahimovic heard the hidden meaning of Su Dong, "I will definitely defeat you!"
"Many people have said this over the years, but..." Su Dong paused, smiled and shook his head, "No one has ever achieved it, and the same goes for you!"
"Just wait and see!"
Ibrahimovic turned around and left angrily.
Su Dong looked at his back with a smile on his face. He felt that Ibrahimovic was angry.
That's good.
…
There is a very obvious difference from the first leg, that is, AC Milan's head coach Allegri does not intend to continue to adopt a defensive tactic, but wants to attack more actively.
Allegri adopted a three-forward tactic in his starting lineup this time, including El Shaarawy, Ibrahimovic and Robinho. How the three players will position themselves depends on the timing of the game.
In midfield, the combination of Ambrosini, Van Bommel and Nocerino continued the three defensive midfielder tactics in the first round, and the defense line remained basically unchanged. Obviously Allegri still hoped that the team could continue the stable performance in the first round.
Judging from the starting lineup, Allegri's goal is very clear. He wants to attack and counter attack and score a goal as soon as possible.
The purpose of doing this is very clear, which is to force Manchester City to attack more actively after scoring an away goal, and then let the game completely enter the rhythm of defensive counterattack that AC Milan is most familiar with.
Taking Boateng off and replacing him with Salah is a very obvious signal.
The plan sounds great, but it is hard to say whether it will work.
Manchester City's starting lineup remained basically unchanged, and they still fielded their strongest attacking lineup and still adopted the 3-4-3 tactics, with Pepe, Javi Martinez and David Luiz falling back, Busquets in the midfield, Marcelo and Toni Kroos on the two wings, David Silva as the attacking midfielder, and Di Maria, Sudon and Sanchez forming a trident.
This style of play is exactly the same as the tactics in the first round. Marcelo can still attack forward and defend backward. He is very mobile and flexible, depending on the trend of the game.
After seeing AC Milan's starting lineup, Guardiola played a game that let Busquets get more ball.
El Shaarawy has potential, but he is young and lacks experience. Robinho and Ibrahimovic are both strong, but these two players have one thing in common, that is, they are not active in defense, do not run much, and are a bit sticky to the ball.
In midfield, AC Milan has three defensive players, all of whom are relatively far back.
In the first leg, Kevin Boateng's forward attack and wide-ranging running caused a lot of trouble for Manchester City, especially the suppression of Busquets. To some extent, Boateng was the key to AC Milan's defense in the first leg.
But in this game, Allegri took him off and replaced him with El Shaarawy, hoping to strengthen the attack.
From a tactical point of view, there is nothing wrong with Allegri's idea. After scoring an away goal, AC Milan took the initiative in the game. As long as they can defend against Manchester City's attack, they will be able to score sooner or later.
The 0-0 result in the first round was a mixed blessing for both teams. It was understandable that there were risks in arranging the starting tactics for the second round.
In comparison, Manchester City was more unified, with basically no suspense, and played a passing and controlling style of play.
AC Milan changed its conservative approach in the first round and obviously wanted to catch Manchester City off guard.
Whether it will be effective or not depends on how much manpower they can deploy in the game, as well as Manchester City's response.
Guardiola has never been timid when facing such a team that takes the initiative.
Therefore, in the locker room before the game, after getting AC Milan's starting lineup and analyzing the opponent's tactics with the coaching staff, Guardiola told Manchester City's players very clearly that facing AC Milan's proactive attack, Manchester City had only one choice.
That is: press forward and attack!
(End of this chapter)
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