The Glory of the Godfather

The quarter-finals of the 2012/2013 UEFA Champions League are all over.

Aston Villa, Barcelona, ​​Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich have entered the semi-finals of this season's Champions League.

In the bottom half, Aston Villa will face Dortmund.

In the top half, Barcelona will face the challenge of Bayern Munich.

The media also exclaimed the outstanding performance of the Bundesliga in the UEFA Champions League this season.

As the financially healthiest league in football, the Bundesliga has always been known for its rational investment and good finances.

Such a Bundesliga team, facing local tyrants and major giants waving checkbooks, can occupy two seats in the semi-finals of the Champions League, which is indeed quite remarkable.

UEFA also wrote a special article to praise the Bundesliga, praising the Bundesliga for showing people the sustainable development of football.

Some German media are also looking forward to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund eliminating their respective opponents and staged a glorious scene of the Bundesliga civil war in the Champions League final.

However, there are still some more rational German media who believe that neither Dortmund nor Bayern Munich's promotion prospects are optimistic.

Needless to say, Dortmund, how difficult it is for the Hornets to kill Aston Villa.

It is not easy for Bayern Munich to get rid of the Barcelona Dream Team over there.

Therefore, in the eyes of many media, there is a high probability that the Champions League final this season will be the peak match between Aston Villa and Barcelona:

This is also the second time the two teams met in the Champions League final after meeting in the Champions League final two years ago.

...

Fang Jue didn't like the voice in the media that was overwhelmingly optimistic about Aston Villa's elimination of Dortmund.

He always believed that when everyone said something, it would not be a good thing.

Therefore, on the training ground, Fang Jue suddenly became more and more severe.

He also repeatedly reminded and warned the players not to be fooled by the media's praise and optimistic remarks.

Don't look at them all praising us now, saying that we will definitely enter the final.

However, if we are really addicted to it and think that everything will go well, then we stumble, and the first ones to jump out and call us stupid are the people who praised us today.

Two days later, Aston Villa ushered in the FA Cup semi-final match at the weekend.

Because of the FA Cup semi-final match, their current and 33rd Premier League match was postponed to May 7.

This is also the second time this season that Aston Villa have postponed a league match due to the FA Cup.

Unlike Serie A and La Liga, which only have a league and a cup, the Premier League also has the FA Cup and the League Cup in addition to the league. There is an extra cup out of thin air, which makes the schedule of the Premier League teams very dense.

Especially in the sprint stage at the end of the season, teams like Aston Villa that are still surviving in the FA Cup will become more crowded.

The head coach of a Premier League team once proposed that the FA Cup games be played in the middle of the week instead of the traditional weekend.

The FA flatly rejected the proposal.

In the FA Cup matches on weekends, there will be a considerable increase in commercial income and broadcast income compared with midweek, which is a very direct economic account.

In the end, in this FA Cup semi-final match, Aston Villa defeated Wigan Athletic 2-1 and reached the FA Cup final of this season.

In this game, Fang Jue rotated the team to a certain extent.

Wigan Athletic has created some problems for Aston Villa.

However, at the critical moment, Shinji Kagawa and De Bruyne scored two goals in a row within ten minutes, helping the team win the game.

...

Aston Villa have already won the English League Cup.

In the Premier League, Aston Villa has 79 points, 2 points ahead of Manchester United, which is ranked second with 77 points.

However, Aston Villa missed two games and Manchester United lost one game. Under such circumstances, the media is relatively optimistic about Aston Villa's defending Premier League title.

Now, in the FA Cup, Aston Villa are also in the final.

In the Champions League, Aston Villa also reached the semi-finals.

Some media began to discuss whether it is really possible for Aston Villa to win the fourth line and create the history of the quadruple crown?

A day later, the results of another FA Cup semi-final came out. Manchester City beat the Blues Chelsea 2-1 with goals from Aguero and Nasri to advance to the FA Cup final this season.

Their opponents in the FA Cup final are Aston Villa.

...

Three days later, Aston Villa ushered in an away match against Reading in the twenty-ninth round of the league.

We can see that Director Fang is very angry. He has complained and protested to the referee many times. Howe said.

Factually speaking, today's referee is indeed somewhat biased towards the home team Reading. Zhang Lu said, Or even if you don't say favoritism, at least the referee Foy's enforcement standards today are quite loose. This is a fact.

In Fang Jue's view, the referee Foy favored the home team Reading today.

The Reading team is already known for its rough style, and the referee's law enforcement standards are loose, which clearly connives at the home team's foul behavior.

Twenty-six minutes into the game, the referee Foy finally showed the first yellow card of today's game.

This is Mane, who returned from injury, dribbling the ball in the frontcourt. He was almost hugged by Reading's midfielder Reggett Wood, and he almost didn't tear off his shorts while hugging him. .

Such an obvious foul, Foy can't stand it anymore, he can't play the cards. Howe said with a smile.

Aston Villa took advantage of this free kick in the frontcourt, Ha Mei drove the football into the penalty area, and Thiago Silva scored a header, 1-0.

In the ensuing game, the Reading team, which was behind, fouled more frequently.

Faced with this situation, Aston Villa's anger has also risen, and it is not uncommon for people on the field to turn their backs on their backs for a while.

The referee Foy was still conniving at first, but later found that the scene was out of control.

Foy began to play frequently.

Not long after the start of the second half, he awarded a penalty to Aston Villa and Reading.

And Senderos and Reading's full-back Pierce were also sent off by red cards.

Both sides scored penalty kicks steadily, and the score became 2-1. Aston Villa still leads away by one goal.

This is also the final score. In the 29th round of the Premier League, Aston Villa won the Reading team with a difficult 2-1 away game.

At the press conference after the game, Fang Jue criticized the referee's enforcement. He believed that the referee Foy failed to control the game well.

Throughout the game, Foy showed a total of two red cards and eleven yellow cards.

You know, this is Foy's 'record' when he showed his first card after more than 20 minutes into the game.

...

After the game between Aston Villa and Reading, the team returned to the hotel and did not rest immediately.

They are waiting for the result of Manchester United and West Ham United.

Manchester United's make-up match was originally supposed to kick off at the same time as Aston Villa's game, but due to heavy rain, the game was postponed for two hours.

When you turn on the TV, the first thing you look at is the score in the upper right corner of the TV screen.

Two to two.

In this game, Manchester United took the lead twice, and West Ham United tenaciously equalized the score twice.

Now that the game has progressed to the final stoppage time, Manchester United launched a frenzied attack on West Ham United's goal.

However, until the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, Manchester United failed to score again.

In the camera, Ferguson walked straight into the player tunnel with a livid face.

It was also the twenty-ninth round of the league match, Aston Villa won, Manchester United was tied by West Ham United in a good situation, and only scored one point.

In this case, Aston Villa will expand its lead in the Premier League standings, leading Manchester United by four points.

And, don't forget, Aston Villa has one less game. In this case, the difficulty for Manchester United to make a comeback in the league has suddenly increased a lot.

...

The next day, the headline on the front page of England's Guardian was: Manchester United have to fight to the death!

The next round of the league, the thirty-fourth round of the league, is Manchester United's home game against Aston Villa at Old Trafford.

Such a direct confrontation can be said to be the last chance for Manchester United to come back.

According to the media, Manchester United must win, and only if they win the game, they will be one point behind Aston Villa with one more game, and they can rekindle the hope of winning the league.

However, if Manchester United do not win the game, this can be divided into two situations:

Manchester United drew with Aston Villa at home. Manchester United was four points behind Aston Villa in the case of one more game. Manchester United was sentenced to death with a reprieve.

If Manchester United lose at home, Manchester United will be seven points behind Aston Villa in the case of one more game. With four rounds left in the league, Manchester United is almost equivalent to being sentenced to death.

...

Fang Jue is also a little distressed now.

Four days after their trip to Old Trafford, Aston Villa travel to Borussia Dortmund for their Champions League semi-final first leg at Westvallenstadion.

Dortmund's home court is the famous devil's home court in European football.

This game will definitely not be as easy as the media renders.

What Fang Jue has to consider is, in the game against Manchester United, is he going to do his best to win the away game against Manchester United, and strive to maximize the expansion of the league's lead?

Or hold back and focus on the Champions League semi-final first leg against Borussia Dortmund four days later?

In the end, Fang Jue chose a relatively moderate choice.

In the game against Manchester United, he decided to carry out a small rotation. His goal in this game is not to lose:

A draw at Old Trafford is also acceptable.

Let's take a look at the starting XI of both sides, the away team Aston Villa, the goalkeeper is Ter Stegen, the central defender is the partner of Nesta and Thiago Silva, and the left back is Danny Rose. , Kyle Walker at right back.

The midfield is Clement and Milner, Shinji Kagawa.

Up front is the trident of Ibrahimovic, Mane and Vardy.

For Manchester United, the goalkeeper is De Gea.

The back line is Evans, Phil Jones, Evra and Rafael.

In midfield Giggs, Carrick, Valencia, Rooney.

Van Persie and Hernandez up front.

For Manchester United, it's the strongest lineup they can make.

In contrast to Aston Villa, Fang Juexue hid De Bruyne, Lewandowski, Ronaldo and Modric.

...

After the start of the game, both sides were very cautious and did not show too strong desire to attack.

Aston Villa is not in a hurry, everyone can understand this.

However, the Manchester United team, which had to win this game, was not in a hurry, which was beyond many people's expectations.

Fang Jue glanced at Ferguson: old fox.

Obviously, Ferguson is very aware of Aston Villa's sharp defensive counterattack. If Manchester United rushes to attack and behaves too impatiently, Aston Villa may seize the opportunity to counterattack.

This is how a scheming person like Ferguson can hold back. If it were Fang Jue himself, he estimated that he would arrange for the team to attack wildly as soon as they came up. 【Bad Luck Card】Well.

The game has started for more than 20 minutes, and the score on the field is still zero to zero.

The two sides fought fiercely and fell into a strangle in the midfield.

The game was more than intense, but not exciting enough. Howe said, However, even if the game ended with zero to zero, Fang Jue's guidance would still be acceptable.

At this time, Aston Villa launched an attack.

After Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Shinji Kagawa hit the wall in the frontcourt, he made a gesture to pass the ball to Vardy who came to meet him, but suddenly passed the football to Mane on the wing.

Aston Villa also instantly accelerated their offensive tempo.

Raphael wanted to intercept Mane immediately, but Mane passed by with an accelerated change of direction.

Strictly speaking, it was too easy for Raphael to pass, which directly led to the sudden collapse of Manchester United's defense line because of this breakthrough.

Entered the restricted area!

Mane wants to shoot with his foot.

Phil Jones blocked the football with his body.

Outside the penalty area, Milner pushed the football back.

Ibrahimovic stopped the ball with a long leg.

Then, everyone saw the big man's skillful feet.

I saw him tossing and turning in the narrow penalty area, giving full play to his excellent foot skills and firmly controlling the football under his feet.

First, a spike passed Evans.

Then another lateral pull to avoid Carrick's shot.

Then before Evra's tackle came, there was a sudden toe poke.

The shot was too stealthy and too sudden, Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea was caught off guard no matter how fast he reacted...

The football just rolled past De Gea's feet and quickly rushed into the net.

Gooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaal! Zlatan——Ibrahimovic! Birmingham's commentator elongated his tone and roared excitedly.

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