Chapter 387: The British-German War

Chelsea eliminated AC Milan, and no one knows how to evaluate this result.

In theory, AC Milan is the stronger of the two teams. From the comprehensive evaluation of the players and the fame of the big stars, AC Milan obviously has a certain advantage. Although Chelsea's stars are also well-known, Lampard, Makelele, Terry, Drogba and others are also considered stars, but compared with Shevchenko, Stam, Crespo and other stars who have won enough honors in the world football, there is still some gap.

AC Milan is a top-tier giant team, while Chelsea is just a quasi-giant team that has emerged this season.

From this point of view, this game seems to be called an "upset".

But obviously, this word is not appropriate.

Even before the first leg, the odds offered by major bookmakers for Chelsea to win were lower than those for AC Milan, which means that more people were still optimistic that Chelsea could beat AC Milan.

This seems a little unbelievable, but it makes sense when you think about it.

Chelsea's performance this season is so outstanding that it has not only been highly praised by the mainstream media and fans, but also made its reputation grow rapidly. According to statistics, if fans in Asia are included, Chelsea has gained at least 20 million fans this season, which is even about to threaten the number of Manchester United fans around the world.

Of course, this data is not regular, but it can also show from another perspective that Chelsea has developed rapidly this season.

There must be a reason for such rapid development. Chelsea's record is brilliant. Excluding the game where they tied with Manchester City using all substitutes, they have almost won all the games. With such results, how could the fans not be optimistic about Chelsea?

In short, apart from the Italian media who cried out that it was a pity, other European media felt that the result of this match was natural. When two super teams compete, one of them is bound to be eliminated, and there is nothing that can be done about it under the rules of football.

But for the media of the ancient Eastern country, they don't have to consider so much in their reports. Whether it is major sports TV stations or various magazines and newspapers, they just need to promote it.

Any movement in the ancient Eastern country would be known to these sensitive journalists almost immediately. The Imperial TV station reported Wang Li extensively a while ago, and did not forget to promote Wang Li when commenting on the game, which puzzled many colleagues, but it did not prevent them from doing it in a similar way. If the Imperial TV station praised him, they would also praise him, which would not be wrong.

So, the day after the competition, Wang Li was almost praised to the sky by the media.

"Wang Li challenges the entire AC Milan backfield alone"

"Classic goal, Wang Li's explosive football in the European Cup quarter-finals"

"At that moment, Wang Li, the inheritor of Chinese football, was like a god descending from heaven."

…

In short, within one day, Wang Li was directly deified.

The reports of the ancient oriental media were not all conducted domestically. Some of them were also sent abroad or used as references by some European media. Almost all the reports throughout the day were praising Wang Li. The exaggerated words made the Europeans dumbfounded. They only now realized that there were so many ways to praise people.

However, the English media is obviously very capable of learning and they will absorb good things. As a result, in the report on the third day, the English media also praised Wang Li to the sky, almost uniquely in England, but without Wang Li it would be like a world disaster. In short, after the match with AC Milan, in an inexplicable atmosphere, Wang Li's reputation rose rapidly, and even UEFA is considering whether there is an opportunity to make Wang Li a figure like Maradona and Pele.

These two world-class football kings are both in South America, which has always made UEFA feel unhappy. They also feel that it is necessary to train a "football king" for Europe, and Wang Li obviously meets this requirement, with excellent football skills, handsome looks and extraordinary origins (mixed-race).

Of course, this is not something they can completely decide. Unless the England team can win the World Cup, it will be extremely difficult for Wang Li to surpass Maradona and Pele in terms of global influence.

The atmosphere within Chelsea has been weird these days.

The outside media reports were so enthusiastic that not only Wang Li, but the entire Chelsea team was almost praised by them. Almost every player in the team could appear in the newspapers continuously, which made everyone a star. Although compared with Wang Li, the others were much worse, but this did not prevent them from having a strange feeling in their hearts.

Even though Chelsea had been hyped up by the media all season, the massive coverage this time still made them feel a little overwhelmed.

However, head coach Jose Mourinho soon discovered this from the unusual atmosphere within the team. For a team, the atmosphere of arrogance must be absolutely killed. He knew that the unscrupulous reports of the outside media had affected the team, which was by no means good news.

Therefore, the Portuguese introduced a countermeasure of "closed training": before the end of this season, except for vacation time, players must live in the club during all team training time.

This countermeasure was very effective. After hearing the news, the arrogant atmosphere within the team was immediately dissipated, and instead became full of complaints.

However, Wang Li did not feel any emotion, and the reports from the outside world did not affect his mood at all.

In an interview with the German newspaper Kicker, a reporter asked: "You are very successful. You have gained such fame and skills before you are 19 years old. If you look back at the history of football, I am afraid that no player is stronger than you at the same age. Do you have anything to say about this?"

"I never thought about these things. What I want now is to get more wins and more championships."

"So, where is Chelsea's goal now? Where is your goal?"

Wang Li answered without hesitation: "Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul (the venue for this season's Champions League final)"

Champions League final

If you ask Wang Li about his current goal, he will answer without hesitation. Although this is only his first time participating in the European Champions League, it does not prevent him from being determined to win the championship. The same is true for Chelsea now. The goal of winning four championships is by no means a delusion, it can be pursued.

The media were not surprised by Wang Li's words. Chelsea's goal this season is to win the championship, which everyone knows. But what surprised the media was that almost all Chelsea players said confidently that they wanted to win the championship. This kind of atmosphere of unity among the team is absolutely rare.

In fact, this was influenced by Wang Li's interview. His simple words reminded his teammates: This season is not over yet, and we have not won the quadruple championship yet.

…………

The day after the match between Chelsea and AC Milan ended, the second legs of the other quarter-finals also ended.

First up was the match between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. Originally, everyone had high expectations for this match. Both teams are world-class and there was a lot of suspense about who would win or lose. However, the result was unexpected. In the first round, Inter Milan lost to Bayern Munich 0:2 at home.

The day after AC Milan was eliminated, Inter Milan challenged Bayern away. The Italian media were all looking forward to the Milan team going to Germany to complete a big reversal, but disappointingly, Inter Milan lost again 3:0. As a result, Bayern Munich easily advanced with a score of 5:0 in two rounds. Both Milan giants were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

The match between Liverpool and Juventus was uneventful. Liverpool won 1:0 at Anfield. This situation was not good. For the visiting team Juventus, returning to their home stadium still had a good chance. Unfortunately, Juventus still did not make progress at home. The two teams played 0:0 in the 90-minute match.

As a result, Liverpool, a traditional aristocratic team ridiculed by many European media as a "rough" team, unexpectedly advanced to the semi-finals.

Together with Chelsea's advancement, both English teams advanced to the semi-finals. This result made the English media excited. In their view, the spring of English football is coming.

There are only four teams in the Champions League semi-finals. Now that there are two teams from England, the final is likely to become a civil war among the Premier League teams. This situation gives the always arrogant English people something to brag about and the capital to be arrogant.

Of course, this is a tragedy for Italian football.

AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus, three Italian teams reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League, but all three teams were eliminated. This situation made everyone else feel sad.

But this is the result, where there is joy there is sorrow, at least in this year's Champions League, there is no place for Italian teams.

However, another match produced a not-so-small upset. The Dutch Eredivisie powerhouse PSV Eindhoven drew 2:2 with the French Ligue 1 giants Lyon in two rounds. In the subsequent penalty shootout, they eliminated Lyon 4:2. This result was really beyond everyone's expectations.

In the round of 16 knockout match, Lyon scored 10 goals in two rounds against Werder Bremen. This terrifying offensive ability made people feel that their victory over Eindhoven was natural, but they were eliminated.

This also makes people sigh that anything can happen on the football field——

For example, last time Wang Li kicked the football to pieces...

In this way, the top four teams of the Champions League have all been announced, including two teams from the Premier League, a German hereditary giant, and a strong team from the Eredivisie.

This result is surprising. Fans in Europe believe that La Liga and Serie A should be the big winners because their strength is there. The strength of several giants is the best in the world. Although all La Liga teams were eliminated in the round of 16, Serie A is still favored by everyone. After all, they have three teams. Even in terms of probability, at least one of the three teams will survive. Moreover, if we talk about strength, it will not be surprising if these three teams all advance.

Unfortunately, the result is that the Premier League dominates, which makes fans sigh at the rapid development of English football and the decline of Serie A's "Little World Cup".

…………

After the top four teams were announced, UEFA quickly held the draw ceremony for the semi-finals.

All the media in Germany, England and the Netherlands are very concerned about this ceremony. The main reason is that Chelsea and Bayern Munich are obviously the strongest teams among the four teams. The top four teams are clearly divided into strong and weak teams, and each side hopes to meet a weak team.

The Dutch media believe that PSV Eindhoven would be better off facing Liverpool, as they would be able to advance to the final. Regardless of whether they win the championship, this result would be a surprise. If they face Bayern Munich, it would be very difficult for them to advance to the final. The strength of this Bundesliga giant is beyond doubt, and it is unlikely that they will continue to advance unexpectedly.

Of course, they still have a fighting chance.

If they meet Chelsea, they will almost certainly be eliminated.

This is not to say that in the minds of the Dutch media, Chelsea is much stronger than Bayern, but now the Blues are almost the nemesis of weak teams. The record of this season has proved everything. As long as the opponent's No. 21 player is on the court and the opponent cannot limit his performance, the result will definitely be a big loss. This has been proven by countless games.

Can PSV's defenders defend against Wang Li? Almost all media outlets are not optimistic.

The English media and the Dutch media have similar thoughts. They hope that Chelsea will meet Bayern Munich and Liverpool will meet PSV Eindhoven. In this way, the strong will face the strong and the weak will face the weak. Both Premier League teams will have a chance to advance to the final. The Champions League final is likely to turn into a civil war between Premier League teams.

This result is the most satisfactory.

The German media, however, did not have so many thoughts. They just wanted Bayern to face a weak opponent and advance to the final easily. As for whether the opponent was Liverpool or Eindhoven, the two teams were similar and they did not care at all.

As everyone was looking forward to it, the draw results finally came out, and both the English and Dutch media were satisfied.

Chelsea vs Bayern Munich, Liverpool vs PSV Eindhoven.

Seeing this result, the Dutch media and fans were excited because their team met the weakest of the other three teams, so they had a good chance to move on and enter the Ataturk Stadium.

The English feel that both of their teams have a good chance of winning, and they are likely to see a showdown between two English teams in the final, which greatly satisfies the English vanity in football. Yes, they have always lacked confidence in football because the English team has not performed well in world competitions.

If we put aside all the little tricks in our minds, strong teams versus strong teams, weak teams versus weak teams, is what the fans originally wanted to see. I'm afraid UEFA also intended this result. No one knows if there is any trick involved, but it is undeniable that everyone is satisfied with the result.

For Liverpool, they met the weakest Eindhoven. When Benítez learned the result, he even laughed out loud.

In fact, as the head coach of Liverpool, no one knows the strength of the team better than Benítez. If they meet Bayern Munich or Chelsea, it will be too difficult for them to advance. Therefore, before the draw, Benítez kept praying to God in his heart that the team could meet Eindhoven.

Maybe God heard his prayers and his wish came true.

At this time, the Liverpool media immediately brought out the "historical record" to prove that this was a good draw.

PSV Eindhoven has played against English teams 23 times, with a record of 8 wins, 6 draws and 9 losses. This result is mediocre and does not show anything special. However, in recent years, Liverpool has played against Dutch teams 9 times, with a record of 7 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. From this point of view, it is indeed very difficult for PSV Eindhoven to defeat Liverpool.

The Dutch media used another data to refute this: PSV Eindhoven played against English teams three times in the 87/88 season and finally won the European Cup. If the group stage is included in this season, PSV Eindhoven has also played against English teams three times, so they will definitely reach the final.

This reason is a bit far-fetched, but the weakness of the Dutch Eredivisie in recent years has prevented the country's teams from achieving any good results in European competitions. They can only use this strange reason from the 1980s to refute the English media.

In fact, only the relevant media and fans will pay attention to the confrontation between Liverpool and Eindhoven. For most people, the focus is of course the England-Germany battle between Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

For English football this season, Chelsea is the strongest team in the Premier League, which even Manchester United cannot deny, so it is reasonable for Chelsea to represent English football. In Germany, Bayern Munich can be said to be the only dominant team, so it is natural for them to represent German football, so this semi-final was completely hyped by the media as a "German-England War".

"This will surely be a classic European football feast"

"In the clash between the old and new nobles, who will have the last laugh?"

"Pele: I am optimistic about Chelsea, their players are real warriors on the field."

…

Related reports from various media outlets have been released, and the war of words between the British and German media has intensified.

The prediction of Pele made the German media ecstatic, while the English media kept cursing the Brazilian for having no reason to be optimistic about Chelsea. Even if he was optimistic, he should not express it in public.

At this time, Pele's big mouth has been proven by many facts: any team he "favors" will basically not have any good results...

So, reporters immediately gathered at Chelsea to interview them about their feelings about Bailey's "optimism".

"I think it's nothing. We will definitely be the winners. It means the same thing when he says it as when an ordinary fan says it. Not only is he optimistic about Chelsea, we are also confident of winning. Every Blues fan is optimistic about Chelsea, right? It doesn't mean anything. I never believe in the so-called 'prophecy'. Only strength is the most important."

At a press conference, facing a large number of media, Wang Li stood next to Mourinho and said these words easily.

In fact, amid the media's extensive coverage of the Champions League, Chelsea's mind was not there, because they were about to face a civil war in England - the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United.

Although many media do not care about this cup semi-final, it is an extremely important game for Chelsea who want to win the "quadruple crown". They can only win and not lose.