champion light

Chapter 1007
"Manchester City's opponents in the quarter-finals: the defending champion!"

Rong Guang held the "Manchester Evening News" in his hand, which was exactly the headline on the newspaper.

Below the title is a photo from the scene last night.

The lottery winner held a note in his hand, and there was an enlarged picture next to it. The picture was a close-up of the note, and the word "Barcelona" was clearly displayed on it.

"The London media may have something to say again." Deborah said while touching the jam on the bread.

"Do whatever they want." Rong Guang didn't care.

Deborah handed the slices of bread with jam to Glory who was sitting by the side looking up at the bread.

Glory took a big bite and bit off half of it.

"But you still have to think about what to say to reporters."

Rong Guang scratched his head: "Tell them the league championship must be ours?"

"Of course you can't say that. Just say that Chelsea is very strong, Barcelona is also very strong, and Manchester City will go all out whether in the league or in the Champions League..." Deborah said.

"Isn't that the same as saying nothing?"

"This result is what public relations need. It sounds good, but it has no actual content. Don't expose your true inner thoughts to the public's eyes. It's very dangerous." Deborah guided Rongguang from a professional perspective.

Rong Guang nodded.

In this regard, he is very convinced of Deborah.

※※※

Sure enough, when Rong Guang drove to the Carrington training base, he was surrounded by reporters before he entered.

These people all wanted to ask him about the results of yesterday's lottery.

Rong Guang rolled down the car window to preemptively strike: "I know what you want to say. Barcelona is a very strong team. I am very happy to be able to play against a strong team. This is how I feel. Thank you. Please let me go."

But how could the reporters let him go so easily?
A reporter asked loudly: "Will the match against Barcelona affect the league?"

"We will go all out, whether it is in the Champions League or the league." Rong Guang answered the reporter's question according to what Deborah said.

But the reporters were still dissatisfied, and some reporters directly forwarded the London media's comments to Rongguang.

"...but they think the game between City and Barcelona will affect the domestic league, and although City are now four points ahead, they may also lose the top spot between the two quarter-finals..."

Rong Guang kept silent and didn't interrupt the reporter's question. After he finished speaking, Rong Guang nodded: "Okay, let's wait and see if we will lose the top spot in the league."

After speaking, Rong Guang let go of the brakes, and the car drove forward slowly.

When the reporters saw the car moving, they knew that Rong Guang was really leaving, so they had to get out of the way.

Rong Guang has a good temper with the reporters, and he even stopped the car to listen to what they said so much. If he wants to change to a bad-tempered star, he might not stop at all, and the windows will not be rolled down, just squeezed into the training base abruptly.At that time, these reporters have to give in if they don't want to—it's just an interview with a player, so there's no need to get under the wheel of the interview, right?

Although they didn't dig out any special information from Rong Guang's mouth, at least they knew Rong Guang's attitude.

That is that he is not afraid of Barcelona and is confident of keeping his place in the league.

It is normal for him to have such confidence, because he is the glory.

But whether the other teammates are still there is hard to say...

※※※

While Rong Guang was sweating profusely on the training ground, his teammates were in the locker room discussing last night's draw results.

It can be said that it is the worst result of all the draws when it meets Barcelona, ​​and it still plays home first and then away.

Although no one said it clearly, the atmosphere can be felt.

Many people were relatively silent after coming to the locker room today.

The atmosphere is far less lively than usual.

Seeing this situation, Dunn, the old captain of the team, couldn't sit still any longer. He stood up and slapped his hands.

"Let me say a few words, in fact... Before the start of the season, no, when I joined Manchester City, I never thought that I could play this role in the Champions League... At that time, I didn't even dare to think that I could participate in the Champions League..."

When Dunn slapped his hands at the beginning, not many people looked at him, but as he spoke, more and more people raised their heads and cast their gazes at him.

"At that time, my goal was very simple, to help Manchester City stand firm in the Super League. But unfortunately, after the end of that season, we were relegated."

Dunn joined Manchester City from Everton in the 2000-2001 season, and played here in Manchester City's first season.

But in the end, Manchester City ranked No.18 in the Premier League and fell into League One—it was still called League One at that time, but it is actually the current British Championship...

"After falling into the First Division, my goal became to help the team return to the Super League. After one season, we succeeded. When I returned to the Super League, I adjusted my goal again, this time to really help the team gain a foothold in the Super League. Thankfully, I did it. Since then, Manchester City has not been relegated, although sometimes our ranking is not good..."

In today's Manchester City team, the person who has played for the longest time is Dunn, so when he is the captain of Rongguang, he is directly signed as the captain of the team.

It has been almost ten seasons since the 2000-2001 season.

And he is 31 years old.

For ten seasons, he followed Manchester City from relegation to promotion. He once struggled in the Premier League, and he just became proud and natural for being able to win a League Cup.

Of course, now, he is running towards the goal of the league championship, and at the same time he has reached the quarterfinals in the Champions League.

"I don't want to put too much pressure on you all. I think our performance in the Champions League is very good, so no matter what opponent we meet, no matter when we are eliminated, this will not change. We can reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League, which has already created Manchester City's record and history. My contract expires this season. I have no intention of continuing Liu in this team. I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to work with so many excellent players in my career. In any case, this season will be the best in my career. a season."

After Dunn finished speaking, there was a moment of silence in the locker room.

No one said anything, some were looking at Dunn, and some lowered their heads.

At this moment, the door of the locker room was pushed open.

Rong Guang, covered in sweat, walked in.

But this time he didn't go straight to the shower room to meet everyone's gaze, he stood at the door without moving, looking at everyone.

Under the gaze of everyone, he raised his index finger and middle finger: "I can assure you of two things. First, we are definitely not the ones eliminated from the Champions League quarter-finals. Second, we must be the league champions."

※※※

"Do you feel a change, Mauricio," Benitez asked his assistant coach Mauricio Pellegrino during a break between sessions.

"Change? What change?" Assistant coach Pellegrino was at a loss.

"The team, the change of the whole team."

Pellegrino carefully stared at the players resting on the sidelines of the training ground, thought for a long time, then shook his head: "No."

Benitez took a deep breath: "I feel it. The concentration of sweat in the air is higher than before - they practiced more seriously."

Pellegrino sniffed too. He smelled nothing.

"After the result of the draw against Barcelona came out, I was still worried that the team would lose their fighting spirit. Now it seems... I was overthinking." Benitez continued, with a relaxed tone. "Now I have the confidence to play two games against Barcelona."

※※※

After the draw results came out, Manchester City received more attention.

It can be said that it has received the most attention among the eight teams.

Because they drew the defending champion.

Barcelona, ​​where Guardiola is teaching, is in full swing.

They have swept world football by storm in the past year, winning all six titles - La Liga, Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and, late last year, the Club World Cup.

Before them, no team has completed this Grand Slam achievement.

Guardiola's "Dream Team Three" seems to have a posture of "no one before, no one to come".

They are writing a history that no one before them could write.

As soon as this team appears, it will automatically become the focus of the world's attention, and their strength has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people through the six championships in the past year.

Manchester City really drew a lottery this time.

Even if Manchester City can beat Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the group stage, they will qualify as the first in the group.

But can the group stage be the same as the knockout stage?

Of course not!

The same team's performance in the group stage is completely different from that in the knockout stage.

The most typical example is Inter Milan led by Mourinho.

His Inter Milan did not play well in the group stage, and was tied by Barcelona at home in the first group stage.Then in the second group match, they had a 1-1 tie against a team like Ruby Kazan in the away game. At that time, many people said that Inter Milan should not make it out of the group stage, that would be too shameful.

In the third group match, Inter Milan still did not play well. They drew with Dynamo Kiev 2:2 at home. It seemed that they really wanted to be eliminated in the group stage...

When playing Barcelona away, Inter Milan lost 0:2, cleanly.

If it weren't for the victory of the two games, Inter Milan would have to play in the UEFA Cup.

In the end, they ranked second in the group with nine points and successfully qualified.

After qualifying in the group stage, Inter Milan's performance had a fundamental reversal.

In the round of [-], they faced Chelsea.

In the end, Inter Milan stubbornly eliminated Chelsea 2:1 at home and 1:0 away, and advanced to the quarterfinals.

From the example of Inter Milan, we can see what kind of mentality the team will have when facing the knockout round and the group stage.

European giants tend to pay more attention to the knockout stage and ignore the group stage.

This will certainly make them suffer in the group stage, but if they can pass the group stage, entering the knockout stage will complete a gorgeous transformation.

And it is often those teams that do not participate in the Champions League very much, and finally participated in the Champions League once, and performed well in the group stage, because they did their best in the group stage.When they break into the knockout rounds, they will be eliminated soon.

For example, Sevilla, the No. [-] team in Group G, broke into the top [-] and was eliminated by CSKA Moscow, which is not very strong but can often play in the Champions League...

Therefore, Manchester City, which performed well in the group stage, may not be able to continue their excellent state, especially when facing Barcelona.

※※※

PS, I'm sorry, I wrote the Champions League quarter-finals wrong in yesterday's update, and I forgot that Bayern Munich has been eliminated, and now it has been revised...

Also please forgive me!

　PS, I'm sorry, I wrote the Champions League quarter-finals wrong in yesterday's update, and I forgot that Bayern Munich has been eliminated, and now it has been revised...

　　Also please forgive me!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)