Chapter 388: The Battle

After the draw for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, Chelsea didn't have any games for a few days.

The first round of the remaining league games in April will not be played until the end of April, so Chelsea has been preparing for the Football Cup semi-finals these days.

Manchester United and Chelsea, these two teams are already very familiar with each other.

This was their fourth encounter this season, and Chelsea's third visit to Old Trafford, but as soon as the team's bus entered Manchester, they were surrounded by many fans. Although the players were prepared for this situation, they were still frightened by these crazy fans. The players' coaching staff quickly contacted the Manchester police to evacuate the road to let the team's bus pass.

Chelsea is the least popular team for Manchester United fans right now.

This is not only because Chelsea and they are competitors, but also because Chelsea have beaten Manchester United several times this season and also won the league championship at Old Trafford. This shame, which can even be recorded in the history books, is something that Manchester United fans cannot tolerate.

Despite this, Chelsea players still do not feel nervous at all. To be honest, it is Manchester United that should be nervous, because so far, they have not been able to beat Chelsea once, whether at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge.

Before the game, head coach Mourinho told the players to play more steadily. At present, the team is stronger than Manchester United and has more momentum. If Wang Li can play normally, the Portuguese thinks it will not be difficult to win the game. Without Wang Li, Mourinho would not dare to make these guarantees, but with Wang Li, he dares to say that Chelsea will definitely win the game.

After the game started, the Manchester United players seemed to be out of shape.

Originally, players like Van Nistelrooy had some psychological shadows towards Wang Li, and Rooney and others who knew Wang Li's strength also knew that there was a huge gap between their levels and Wang Li's. In addition, Manchester United had lost three times in a row this season, so they had little confidence in this game.

More importantly, Wang Li kicked a football to pieces in the last game against AC Milan.

This may only be a topic of conversation among fans after dinner, and they will share it when they have time, talking about how much effort it takes to kick the football and so on. However, for the players on the field, especially the Manchester United defenders who played against Chelsea, it is an invisible psychological pressure.

For a professional player, he or she will take care of himself or herself first and then consider the club. In a normal game, everyone will think about their own safety first and then consider the victory or defeat of the club or team.

Therefore, Manchester United's defenders, out of a somewhat cowardly mentality, were a little lax in their defense against Wang Li. Most players only defended symbolically, and if Wang Li wanted to break through or shoot, they would immediately dodge.

Seeing this scene on the sidelines, old Ferguson frowned, but there was nothing he could do.

The players always think about themselves, and even he will choose the players' health first between winning or losing a game and their physical condition. Before the game, when he saw Wang Li kicking the ball so hard in the match between Chelsea and AC Milan, he knew that it would be difficult to play next time, but the time interval between the two games was too short, and he really had no good way to adjust the players' mental state.

In this situation, Chelsea scored a goal just after the game started.

The goal was scored by Wang Li

On the left side of the penalty area, after receiving the pass from his teammate, he turned around and shot. Ferdinand could have used his body to block the shot, but he didn't do so. As a result, the football easily passed the Manchester United penalty area and flew directly into the blind corner of the goal.

When they saw Chelsea score a goal, the fans in the stands booed loudly.

They booed Chelsea players and Wang Li, but perhaps more fans booed Manchester United. Judging from the performance at the beginning, Manchester United players were really "out of form", but this lack of form was more the result of not playing hard, which is something that even veteran fans can see, so they are very dissatisfied with Manchester United's performance.

As loyal England fans, as long as their favorite team plays hard and performs to its full potential, even if the team fails, they can at least say they "tried their best". But obviously, the Manchester United team on the field cannot see this at all.

But in fact, the reason why Manchester United players performed like this was not entirely because of Chelsea or the influence of Wang Li.

Recently, the entire Manchester United club is in crisis. It is said that Americans are buying up Manchester United's shares in large quantities. The club chairman is facing the crisis of stepping down. Even whether Sir Alex Ferguson can keep his position as head coach is still under discussion, not to mention these players.

Now, the entire Manchester United team is thinking about their own future, so they don’t have the energy to fight to the death with Chelsea for a ticket to the meaningless cup final.

Since the opponent was not interested in fighting and was not in good shape, Chelsea's players seized the opportunity and began to attack.

After Wang Li scored, Joe Cole, who started the game, took advantage of a one-on-one opportunity and scored the second goal for Chelsea with a light lob. The score became 0:2, but it was not over yet.

Just 4 minutes later, Chelsea got a corner kick. After Robben kicked the ball, the football drew an arc in the air and went straight to the back post. Substitute midfielder Robert Huth got the chance. After squeezing out the defender next to him, he made a standard header and directly poured the ball into the Manchester United net. The score became 3:0.

Such an easy first half surprised Mourinho, but thinking of the recent news about Manchester United, he still looked at old Ferguson on the other side with some sympathy.

As a head coach, he knows that when a club encounters a crisis, the impact on the team is extremely serious, which can make all the players lose interest in the game and lose their form. It is very important to coach in a stable club, so he chose Chelsea. The Blues is Abramovich's private club, and there will be no crisis of stock acquisition. With Abramovich's assets, the team will not face any economic crisis. Here, he can coach with peace of mind, and even buy players without considering the transfer fee. In short, the Portuguese feels that he is much better than Ferguson, and Chelsea is the paradise for head coaches.

There were no changes in the second half of the game.

During the half-time break, Mourinho did not make any tactical adjustments. Now the team is leading 3:0. Judging from the opponent's current state, he feels that even if he randomly sends out a full substitute lineup to play the game, the team will not lose.

He was right, Manchester United's form remained the same, and it seemed that Ferguson did not make any adjustments during the half-time break.

The first and second half of the game were almost the same. Both Chelsea and Manchester United adopted a balanced offensive and defensive style of play. In the second half, the two head coaches seemed to have reached a tacit understanding and spontaneously let the players play freely on the field. For the first time, the game on the field showed an offensive trend, which seemed incredible to the fans in the audience.

You know, it's Manchester United and Chelsea on the field, not Barcelona and Arsenal

However, the game continued as usual. In the 71st minute, Manchester United's Dutch center forward Van Nistelrooy scored a goal for the team. After that, Wang Li scored another goal for Chelsea.

Before the end of the game, when Manchester United was taking a corner kick, Rooney was pushed down in the penalty area. The referee immediately awarded Manchester United a penalty kick, but even Mourinho on the sidelines did not say anything about this penalty. Everyone knew that this was just a final consolation for Manchester United.

The final score was 2:4. At Old Trafford, Chelsea easily defeated Manchester United and advanced to the FA Cup final.

In another match at the same time, Arsenal defeated Blackburn Rovers with an extreme score of 6:1, leaving them with no chance of fighting back.

Henry scored three goals in the 45-minute game and was replaced by Wenger. After that, Bergkamp, ​​Campbell and Fabregas scored goals one after another. Arsenal's three fronts blossomed, making head coach Wenger smile.

At the press conference after the game, Ferguson left without saying much. The old Sir has been entangled in club affairs recently and has no time to "chat" with reporters. Mourinho, who won the game, is more focused on the next Champions League game and doesn't want to deal with these media.

As a result, all the reporters who came to the press conference went home disappointed.

…………

Before the start of the European semi-finals, the reports from the English and German media were relatively calm. Although the preparations for the two sides could be seen in the daily newspapers, overall, the tension between the two teams was not strong, which was far from the previous Premier League and Serie A battle between AC Milan and Chelsea.

It can be said that everyone's life is very peaceful.

For Chelsea, they still have two more league games to play before the semi-final away to Bayern Munich: home against Birmingham on April 21 and home against Arsenal on April 24.

In the two home league games, the opponents are the strong team Birmingham and the giants Arsenal, but Chelsea is under no pressure because the league championship trophy is already firmly in the team's trophy room.

Perhaps Mourinho was still somewhat interested in the home game against Arsenal, because in May, Chelsea and Arsenal will compete in the FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium. But unfortunately, he was banned by the FA until the end of the league, and he could only watch the game with the fans in the audience.

However, Mourinho obviously has no interest in this. He does not have the patience to get close to the fans. He feels that doing so will only bring him trouble.

Therefore, in the matches against the two teams, he only prepared an 18-man roster before the game, and left everything else to assistant coach Clark. He had no interest in knowing the results of the games.

As a result, on the 21st, Chelsea used a half-substitute lineup and beat Birmingham 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. Wang Li did not play in this game, but Lampard scored two goals, which made the fans shine.

In the match against Arsenal, Wang Li performed very well.

He scored three goals in the game, helping the team beat Arsenal 3:2.

"This was another one-man show for Allen. I could only see Allen throughout the game. This was his game." After the game, the BBC commentator commented: "The performances of all the players combined were not as bright as Allen. His performance was comparable to that of Arsenal's entire offensive line. Although the FA Cup final between the two teams has not yet started, after watching this game, I feel that if Chelsea fights with all their strength, Arsenal will not have much chance of winning. I am optimistic about Chelsea and Allen."

If the BBC commentator's evaluation was reasonable, Sky TV commentator Graham completely deified Wang Li. When he saw Wang Li score the third goal, he excitedly shouted: "There is only one Allen in the world, Saint Allen Wang. On Stamford Bridge, his figure is intoxicating. With him, Chelsea is invincible."

Although they were in a competitive relationship, after the game, Ashley Cole, who had a good relationship with Wang Li, brought Fabregas to congratulate him and jokingly said, "Don't let me down in the Champions League." In fact, he just wanted him to have a better performance in the next game.

Feeling the care from his friends, Wang Li felt a warm feeling in his heart. Now, he was looking forward to the semi-finals even more.

…………

As the game draws closer, the big revelations between Bayern Munich and Chelsea media are digging deeper and deeper.

On the 24th, Germany's "Football News" revealed that Bayern is planning to adjust the team recently. The most credible rumor is that Bayern is preparing to use Santa Cruz to exchange for Chelsea's German defender Robert Huth. Moreover, on Tuesday, Bayern Munich club chairman Rummenigge said that they are very interested in signing Chelsea's German central defender Huth. This statement makes people doubt the true purpose of the Bundesliga giants.

Although Robert Huth rarely gets a chance to start for Chelsea, he has recently appeared frequently in the German national team's international friendly matches as a rising star. His excellent performance has attracted many German clubs. Therefore, it is understandable that Bayern wants to get Huth, but the transfer news being reported at this time cannot help but make people think deeply.

However, in the afternoon of the same day, Paraguayan striker Santa Cruz expressed to the media that he was willing to stay in Bayern, and Robert Huth said in an interview: "The game with Bayern will be very intense, but the final result will definitely be Chelsea's elimination. Although Bayern Munich is the best team in Europe, they were able to eliminate Arsenal, but I still think Chelsea will eventually advance because Chelsea is stronger than Bayern. Even at their home ground, it is not easy for them to win."

Regarding Bayern Munich's interest in him, Huth explained: "I am very happy that Bayern Munich is interested in me, but now these rumors should end. I just want to play well for Chelsea. I also want to meet Bayern players, but on the court."

Before the Champions League match, Bayern Munich was rumored to have a transfer, and the purpose was probably not just to poach players. On the one hand, Huth rejected the rumors, and on the other hand, Bayern kept pestering them. This tactic was quite similar to the Galacticos of Real Madrid. Whenever they encountered a strong opponent, the Spanish media would report in advance that the White Army would poach a player from the opponent.

However, although Bayern Munich seems very "arrogant", in fact, they have not solved their own troubles. The team's midfielder Ze Robert's contract will expire this summer, after which he will become a free man. Bayern certainly hopes that he can stay, but they are dissatisfied with his performance this season.

"We have offered Ze Roberto a one-year contract extension because we hope he will have a great season before the World Cup," Bayern manager Hoeness said. "But at the moment he is not scoring enough goals and not making many threatening passes."

Soon, these transfer rumors reached Mourinho's ears, which made the Portuguese unhappy.

Since the beginning of this season, Chelsea has been the one to poach players almost every time. When did other teams poach Chelsea? So Mourinho, who is very good at making small moves, directly reached out to Bayern Munich midfielder Ballack.

The next day, The Sun revealed that Chelsea had reached an agreement with Ballack's agent. If the German midfielder could join Chelsea in the summer, the team would prepare a super contract for him with an annual salary of 5.5 million pounds. This salary even surpassed Lampard's annual salary of 5 million pounds and was on par with the team's coach Mourinho.

This report is so true that even Ballack's agent Hall did not deny it in an interview. In fact, Hall has always been dissatisfied with Ballack's treatment in Bayern Munich. Ballack is on par with goalkeeper Oliver Kahn in the team, but his salary is only two-thirds of Kahn's. This is indeed a bit unreasonable. Chelsea is the most straightforward. When they received the call yesterday, their CEO Peter Kenyon offered an annual salary of 5.5 million pounds, which directly increased Ballack's salary by 2.5 times. How can this not make people excited?

Hall also believes that this is not all a smokescreen played by the opponent before the big game. With Ballack's strength, even if he goes to Chelsea, a star-studded team, he will become an indispensable member of the team. Chelsea cannot help but be attracted to such a player.

This is indeed the case. Mourinho also wants to turn this smoke screen into a real transfer, so he doesn't have to worry about shaping the team's midfield in the summer transfer.

Chelsea and Hall coincided with each other, which made this obviously smokescreen revelation more and more real, and more media joined the discussion about Ballack's transfer.

Amid the bombardment of transfer rumors, Bayern Munich has really suffered. They only wanted to poach Robert Huth, a fringe star from Chelsea, but the opponent is about to poach the team's general Ballack. This is disproportionate no matter how you look at it.

As a result, Bayern's media immediately stopped reporting.

Compared to money, Bayern is really no match, and they also know how attractive Chelsea's pound is. They have only now realized that when playing against opponents like Chelsea, it is best to go directly to the football field and use strength to speak, which is the wisest.

…………