champion light

Chapter 1182 The City Derby in the Semifinals

When Manchester City's starting list for Blackburn came out, it didn't actually arouse the "blind" thinking of the media.

Because everyone has seen that the names of Rong Guang and Ibrahimovic are on this starting list.

With Blackburn's strength, Manchester City's presence of these two is enough to ensure victory.

If you switch to another strong team, it would be a bit dangerous for Manchester City to do so.

But Blackburn... After 33 league rounds this season, Blackburn has nine wins, eight draws and sixteen losses, with 35 points, ranking No.16, fifth from the bottom, and only two points away from the relegation zone.

Blackburn now needs relegation. It is true that the relegation team is difficult to play, but it also depends on who the opponent of the relegation team is.

If Rong Guang and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are not on the table, Manchester City may really lose to Blackburn away with this lineup.

But Rong Guang and Ibrahimovic started at the same time, which is tantamount to double insurance for Manchester City's victory in this game.

No doubt.

Everyone now just needs to wait for Manchester City to further extend their unbeaten streak.

Sure enough, in the game against Blackburn, Rongguang scored two goals alone, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic also completed a hat-trick.

In the end, Manchester City beat Blackburn 5-0 at home.

This game turned into a competition between Rongguang and Ibrahimovic again, although it seems that Rongguang only scored two goals, while Ibrahimovic scored three, so it seems that Ibrahimovic won.But Ibrahimovic didn't feel like he had won at all.

Because he couldn't win the next Champions League, he could only vent his anger on Blackburn, and Rongguang obviously reserved his strength for the game against Manchester United in the middle of next week...

So Ibrahimovic didn't feel that he had defeated Rongguang at all. Besides, what's the joy in defeating a Rongguang who didn't go all out?
※※※

After defeating Blackburn, Manchester City's league unbeaten record was increased to 51 games.

At this time, the English media realized that if Manchester City really wanted to keep the league unbeaten until the end of the season, as Leighton Barnes revealed, then their unbeaten league record would increase to 55 games!

This number is only three games away from the consecutive unbeaten record of the five major European leagues created by AC Milan.

After the league starts next season, as long as Manchester City remain unbeaten in the first three rounds of the league, they can tie with AC Milan.And if they can be unbeaten in the first four rounds of the league, then they will create a new record belonging to them, just like they surpassed Arsenal.

This is really something worthy of everyone's attention.

Of course, there are more important things to focus on right now.

That is the Champions League semi-final.

Manchester City and Manchester United have been drawn together in the semi-final draw, which will be a cross-city derby in the Champions League.

Although Manchester City and Manchester United will meet at least twice a season, the same city derby will also come at least twice.

But the same-city derby in the Champions League is still different.

The media also showed great interest.

In the league, there are still four rounds left, and Manchester United is still eight points behind Manchester City.

Although in theory, Manchester United still has a chance to comeback-as long as Manchester City loses three games in the next four league rounds, while Manchester United wins all four games.

But such a thing can only exist in "theory"...

Everyone knows very well, including Ferguson himself, that it is impossible for Manchester United to reverse Manchester City and win the league championship.

In the League Cup and FA Cup, Manchester United failed to reach the final.

If the league is gone, Manchester United will actually have only one Champions League left to compete for.

Under such circumstances, the Champions League is very important to Manchester United and will never give up easily.

And UEFA just brought Manchester United and Manchester City together.After being dropped by Manchester City by eight points in the league and hopeless of winning the championship, the semi-finals of the Champions League became Manchester United's best revenge stage.

They can eliminate Manchester City in the Champions League, allowing them to stop in the semi-finals for two consecutive years and vent their anger.

Therefore, the two games between Manchester United and Manchester City are destined to be two fierce games like sparks hitting the earth.

Before the game, players from both sides had already started spitting at each other.

Manchester United's core player Wayne Rooney said in an interview that he was very happy to be drawn with Manchester City.

"I'm not worried that we will be knocked out, on the contrary, I would like to play with Manchester City. Because this will give us a great opportunity for revenge! We will beat Manchester City and then go to Wembley!"

Regarding Rooney's words, on Manchester City's side, Rong Guang did not respond. Although many reporters ran to ask him, he did not answer the reporters' questions.

It was Gareth Barry who mentioned Rooney's words.

"Only losers talk about revenge. So obviously they lost to us in terms of pre-match mentality!"

Then Ferguson also expressed his confidence when he participated in the pre-match press conference.

"...the league and the Champions League are two completely different competitions. Our performance in the league cannot be used as a reference for the Champions League."

A reporter asked him if he had used tactics against Rongguang. Ferguson refused to answer the question, blocking the reporter's question with "this is a secret".

Later, when Benitez appeared at the press conference, the reporters asked him whether he insisted on ending the season unbeaten when the league title was almost in his hands, whether this would have a negative impact on the Champions League.

"Adverse impact? No no. There is no adverse impact... This is not my arrangement, but I support the boys' approach. It is a good thing to have goals. The league belongs to the league, and the Champions League is the Champions League. Our actions in the league will not interfere with the Champions League. This season, we hope that we will no longer stop at the top four."

What Benitez said is already obvious.

His ambition this season is to lead the team to the final.

What about after reaching the finals?

Of course the champion!

Who is happy that the runner-up went home after reaching the final?

Therefore, Manchester City not only want to win the league title this season, but also the Champions League. They want to win the double crown!

If it was last season, even if Manchester City eliminated Barcelona, ​​Benitez would have been ridiculed by many people if he said this before the semi-finals, making fun of them for being self-defeating, but they just eliminated the defending champion and they thought they could win the championship...

But now, when Benitez said such words, no one felt ridiculous or incredible.

Looking at the current state of Manchester City, such a team really has the possibility of hitting the Champions League!
Ibrahimovic's suspension ended after the first round of the semi-finals. He can play in the second round. When the time comes to play Manchester United away, his return will give Manchester City more confidence at Old Trafford.

Now in the first round of the game, Manchester City's offensive firepower will mainly rely on glory.

※※※

"To be honest, I think it will be difficult for Manchester United to beat Manchester City away..." On the day before the game, England's TV stations were discussing tomorrow's Champions League semi-final.

The guests were divided into two camps. Those who supported Manchester United believed that Manchester City must remain unbeaten in the league, which would affect the performance of the players in the Champions League. In addition, Ibrahimovic was suspended again in this game. It will also affect the strength and morale of Manchester City, so Manchester United is not without opportunities.

Those who support Manchester City think that it doesn't matter if Ibrahimovic stops the game, as long as Manchester City has glory.Glory on the pitch, Manchester City can win.If Glory is suspended, then Manchester United really has an opportunity to take advantage of it.

It's a pity that Rongguang was very civilized when he played football, and he rarely went to the referee to apply for a yellow card, so he was very rarely suspended for a red card.Ever since receiving a yellow card for expressing dissatisfaction at Bayern Munich, he was suspended due to accumulative yellow cards and missed the most crucial Champions League game, resulting in the team being eliminated and lagging behind. Rongguang is now very careful about this, and now he has blocked this only loophole.

"Manchester City has glory! What do you people who are optimistic that Manchester United can win away games think? Can you come up with a way to deal with Rong? If you can, then I think what you say makes sense, otherwise you are talking nonsense!"

"We can't, but it doesn't mean Ferguson can't!"

"There's nothing wrong with it. I have it. It depends on whether Manchester United is willing to use it - won't it be over if Rong is injured at the beginning of the game?"

"You are unsportsmanlike!"

"If it's really about winning, what's the point of sportsmanship?"

……

The dispute between the two parties was so intense that the host had to intervene in the end.

"Killing tactics are not acceptable! I think whoever commits a malicious foul against Rong is committing a crime against football! I even think that FIFA or UEFA should introduce measures specifically against Rong, and any malicious foul against Rong should be severely punished!"

The host accidentally reveals his tendencies - he's clearly a fan of Glory...

However, his words can really represent the aspirations of many fans, especially Manchester City fans.Everyone knows that Manchester City relies entirely on Rongguang. If Rongguang is injured, Manchester City will be finished.

But at the same time, there are many people who are opposed to the killing tactics against Rongguang, because Rongguang's outstanding performance makes many neutral fans willing to cheer for him.Watching him play is simply a pleasure.

Anyone who dares to hurt Rong Guang is the enemy of world football.

For example, Rorik Cana, who had shoveled Rongguang before and caused serious injuries, could only play in the Turkish league because of a foul on Rongguang. He was exiled by mainstream European football...

On the one hand, Rong Guang is a threat to other teams. On the other hand, even fans of other teams probably don't want to see such a genius leave football forever due to injuries.

(End of this chapter)