Chapter 1039 Who can be blamed?
In the dark universe, the stars are twinkling, and it seems extremely quiet.
As the classic Star Wars opening song suddenly sounded, a piece of text appeared.
"Sunday, February 28, 2016."
Where the title of Star Wars should have been, two lines of text appeared, modeled after the classic yellow font of Star Wars, with "Southampton" on top and "Manchester City" on the bottom.
This subtitle is so lifelike that at first glance, people who don’t know it might really think it is the title of Star Wars.
Just like the classic opening of Star Wars, two lines of subtitles slowly recede, gradually shrink, and finally disappear.
Then a line of text introduction slowly rises from the bottom of the screen.
"This is a League Cup title battle."
"The two teams facing each other are two teams that have emerged as the best teams in the Premier League in recent years."
"Southampton Saints are the undisputed leaders of the Premier League. They have set off a huge wave in the Premier League, leading the way and being invincible."
"Blue Moon Manchester City is determined to resist the Saints' domination of the Premier League. After falling behind in the Premier League, they launched a strong attack on the traditional League Cup, intending to shake the Saints' dynasty by competing for the League Cup."
"Taking advantage of the fact that Southampton was fighting on multiple fronts and could only arrange rotation and substitute lineups for the League Cup, Manchester City used all its main players in an attempt to seize the advantage of the game and defeat the Saints in one fell swoop."
"Although Southampton was unable to send out all their main players, their strength is still there."
"At London's Wembley Stadium, both sides are gearing up for a big fight..."
As the subtitles gradually recede and finally disappear, just like in the Star Wars movie, the picture pulls down and directly shows a bird's-eye view of Wembley Stadium in the night sky.
Then, the scene changed and showed Ancelotti being interviewed by the media.
"It will be a very intense game and Manchester City will be determined to win the cup, but I believe that our players will go all out. Regardless of the result of the game, I am proud of the performance of this group of young players."
Then Harry Kane appeared on the screen.
The local center forward, who has shined in the Premier League in the past two seasons, said in front of the camera, "The team worked very hard, one game after another, and finally made it to the final. Everyone hopes to win the championship."
"Although our opponent is Manchester City, we are determined to win this championship!"
The team's young player, the dark-skinned Martial, also appeared in the picture.
"We lost the League Cup last season, which was very sad for all of us. We came back this season and we performed better than last season. We firmly believe that the team can beat Manchester City."
Midfielder Kovacic also said, "The game will definitely be difficult. Manchester City has no hope of winning the championship this season. They definitely hope to gain something in the cup competition, but we will not let go easily. We are eager to win this championship!"
…
Yang Huan sat in the royal box of London's Wembley Stadium, watching the game trailer with Star Wars as the background played on his iPad. The trailer was specially made for the club by Southampton's official fans. He had a big smile on his face and was in a good mood.
The fans are indeed very dedicated, and the trailer is well produced. It imitates the opening of Star Wars perfectly and is very realistic, especially the text introduction, which is simply amazing and talented.
"Which fan would do this?" Yang Huan asked with a smile.
"Saint Harry!" laughed Prince William, who was sitting next to him.
"Saints Harry?" Yang Huan hummed and nodded repeatedly. He knew the fat man with rosacea. He was now the most prestigious person among Saints fans. He ran the Saints' largest official fan club with a large number of members.
There are all kinds of talented people in a large fan club like this, so it's no surprise that they can produce a trailer like this.
"This trailer is very creative and funny, and it has been widely circulated among fans."
After listening to it, Yang Huan nodded repeatedly. He also thought it was well made.
This game is between Saints and Manchester City, but the current situations of both sides are different.
Southampton has remained unbeaten in the Premier League this season and is far ahead so far. There is not much suspense about winning the league title, so the focus of the game has begun to shift to the Champions League.
On the contrary, Manchester City is currently ranked fifth in the league, behind Southampton, Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. This also surprised many people. No one expected that Manchester City would decline so quickly.
It should be said that the aging of Manchester City's player structure this season has become obvious, and the team's renewal has begun to be put on the agenda.
In Yang Huan's opinion, Manchester City is now somewhat declining before it becomes strong, which is a great tragedy.
This season, Manchester City will be lucky to get into the top four of the league, let alone win the championship.
In this case, Manchester City's focus is on cup competitions, especially domestic cup competitions.
The Champions League is too risky and Manchester City does not have any advantage at all, so the goal of Manchester City is very consistent, which is to win the domestic cup first, get a championship trophy to cushion the bottom, and then think about other things.
Southampton is different. The focus is on the league and the Champions League, so the League Cup has always been arranged with substitutes and young players.
Unexpectedly, in the League Cup, the team's substitutes and young players performed quite well, defeating Liverpool and other teams and making it to the final.
The final was scheduled between the league and Champions League games.
Before the League Cup final, the Saints had just defeated Chelsea led by Hiddink 3-0 at home, and then defeated Ajax 2-0 away from home. The opponents in both games were very strong.
In addition, the previous cup competitions have always been the stage for substitutes and young players, so in this League Cup final, the Saints still fielded a lineup of substitutes and young players.
The goalkeeper is Neuer, the defense is Luke Shaw, Laporte, Stones and Chambers, the three midfielders are Kovacic, Tielemans and Oscar, and the front trident is Martial, Harry Kane and Sturridge.
The Saints' current lineup is full of talents. Although they are played by substitutes and young players, in terms of strength, even Manchester City dare not underestimate them.
At least, strong teams such as Liverpool and Everton have fallen to the Saints' group of substitute players before.
Compared with the Saints, Manchester City is determined to win, so naturally they will send out all their main players.
Both sides have now lined up on the field, waiting for the referee's whistle.
Yang Huan sat in the stands, looking at the stadium with a smile, and felt a bit of the tense atmosphere.
He doesn't value the League Cup. He only cares about the Champions League and the Premier League, which are the championships that can truly enhance the team's influence.
But who would complain about having too many championship trophies?
However, before the game started, Master Huan bypassed Prince William and greeted Manchester City chairman Mubarak, who was two or three seats away.
"Hey, Old Mu, you better watch out, we have all substitutes, we are giving you enough time, if you still can't win, you might as well find a piece of tofu and hit yourself to death."
Master Huan's words immediately made Prince William and others burst out laughing.
Look at what he said, how impressive it is.
What Master Huan meant was that we don't take the League Cup seriously. Since you want it, we'll give you a chance. You know you can't win if we put our main players on the field, so I'll put you on the bench now. If you still can't win, then I'll be really helpless.
Mubarak smiled bitterly with depression. He could tell that Young Master Huan was joking. What could he have done?
The problem of the team’s aging is not new. How old is Yaya Toure?
Some things are really hard to say. Even if Southampton used a full substitute lineup, Manchester City might not be able to win.
How to say it?
Judging from the current football lineup, Southampton, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are on par with each other, and even the Saints are slightly better than the other two competitors in terms of overall strength.
Take Harry Kane, Martial and Sturridge for example. Although they are not top-tier superstars, they are still the main players in any Premier League team.
There is no need to mention Kovacic. Tielemans has also been playing well in the defensive midfielder position this season. With the addition of an all-round Oscar, the Saints' midfield depth is also not bad.
Moreover, there was a Beckham II named Prowse sitting on the bench.
Before we knew it, the Saints' entire lineup had already left other Premier League teams behind.
The Saints have been in a very good lead this season, which is indeed a reflection of their strong overall strength. Other teams have to admit defeat.
But in addition to strength, what is more important is that every member of this team, since some time ago, has a sense of momentum when playing football.
Just like now.
As soon as the game started, the referee blew the whistle. You might say that the Saints only fielded some young players and substitutes. Facing Manchester City, which sent out all its main players and stars, you should at least be more restrained, right?
But they don’t!
After the whistle sounded, the team pressed forward in three lines from front to back.
Goalkeeper Neuer kept shouting in the backcourt, directing the team and signaling them to press forward.
Damn, does this look like a starting lineup made up of substitutes and young players?
Even if teams like Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and others meet Manchester City, they would not dare to come up so domineeringly, right?
But the Saints players have the courage.
They not only have courage, but also confidence.
They firmly believe that they can suppress their opponents through aggressive running and pressing.
There is no doubt about this, the Saints players are famous for their ability to run.
It is not uncommon for a player to run twelve kilometers in a single game, but if a team's players run an average distance of more than twelve kilometers per game, it is quite terrifying.
Saints are such horrible monsters!
With excellent running and the players' skilled off-ball running cooperation, the Saints naturally suppressed Manchester City's formation easily, and the ball changed hands in less than a minute.
This made all the fans in the stands and even sitting in front of the TV couldn't help but exclaim in their hearts.
Is this still a second team composed of substitutes and young players?
Which team's second team can beat a strong team like Manchester City?
But Southampton did it, and they not only wanted to suppress Manchester City, but also tried to score goals.
This made Mubarak, who was sitting not far from Yang Huan in the stands, almost cry.
Damn, everyone says that Southampton’s first team are not human!
In my opinion, even the substitutes and the youth team are not human beings!
Looking at Young Master Huan again, he was watching excitedly and shouting for a goal.
Mubarak suddenly looked resentful. We agreed to win a championship trophy to cover up our shame. Why are you like this?
However, he didn't dare to ask this question because he knew that asking would only bring shame on himself.
Young Master Huan will definitely reply in a pretentious manner, "Tsk, we have all sent out the substitutes and the second team, and you still can't beat us, who can you blame?"