novelraw Chapter 605 - 412: Champions League Odds 3rd! League Progresses Together, Final 4 Rounds of Title Race Entering Intense Phase!
Chapter 605 - 412: Champions League Odds 3rd! League Progresses Together, Final 4 Rounds of Title Race Entering Intense Phase!
Champions League quarter-final first leg, all four matches have concluded.
Barcelona played steadily, securing a narrow 2:1 home win over Benfica.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid suffered an upset, losing 0:2 away to Wolfsburg!
The performances of the La Liga duo in the Champions League were vastly different, with C Luo’s post-match lamentation sparking media discussion.
The defending champions Barcelona’s ranking for title contention continues to rise.
The Premier League duo, Manchester City and Manchester United, also showed contrasting performances!
Manchester City reversed a 3:1 away victory against Paris Saint-Germain, gaining an early lead in the first leg.
Despite Eevee’s confident vow at the post-match press conference to lead the entire team in a stunning comeback at Etihad Stadium, such tough talk only elicited laughter~
Meanwhile, Manchester United was hammered by Guardiola’s Bayern, losing 0:3!
Under the overwhelming siege of the Guardiola style possession play, Icardi was isolated and performed terribly.
Playing the full 90 minutes of the match, he only had 8 touches, made 5 passes, and no shots, receiving the lowest match rating of 3.5.
After the first round, the odds companies have promptly updated the latest championship odds:
1. Barcelona 1:2.4
2. Bayern Munich 1:3.0
3. Manchester City 1:4.5
4. Wolfsburg 1:4.8
...
8. Manchester United 1:20
Angry Manchester United fans "stormed" Icardi’s social media.
"Manchester United spent nearly one billion euros, just to buy this useless!"
"Zero shots all match! How exactly is he better than Rashford?"
"Can you see it? His performance in both derbies was pathetic, and in tough matches like against Bayern, he’s entirely unreliable!"
Facing these criticisms, Icardi chose to ignore them, simply activating a deaf-and-dumb mode, and eventually disabled the comments on his social media.
...
After training ended that morning, Tang Long returned home and first reviewed the entire match replay against Paris Saint-Germain.
This is what Chiwo had instructed him during his time at Inter Milan; post-match analysis by the coaching staff is one aspect, but he also needs to conduct his own review.
When he saw the forward through pass he made to Sterling, Tang Long quickly noticed a problem!
During the match, in the heat of the moment, he hadn’t observed this detail.
Through slow-motion replay, it was noticeable that at the instant Kimpembe extended his foot, although slower than Sterling, he still nicked the ball, causing Sterling’s forward route to slow down; if not for Sterling’s exceptional balance, quickly adjusting and passing two players, this forward through pass from the start seemed less smooth.
Could the ball be placed at Sterling’s preferred foot while positioned on the opponent’s weaker foot side?
This was a detail Tang Long hadn’t considered when practicing this forward through pass with Sterling during training.
In football, aside from true reverse-footed players—a rarity in world football—most players prefer to play with their favored foot.
This holds true for both offense and defense.
Thus, generally, left-back players prefer left-footed players, and right-back players prefer right-footed players, to ensure they can disrupt the ball using their favored foot during defense.
Tang Long also paid attention during passing, aiming to pass the ball to the receiver’s preferred foot, as advised by coaches during their early training.
But when collaborating on this forward through pass with Sterling, both Tang Long and Sterling overlooked the consideration of the defending player’s left and right foot!
Tang Long quickly entered the AI Cloud Training Ground to practice this detail.
As the season progressed, the AI Cloud Training Ground had already created individual model tools for each Manchester City player.
However, given Manchester City’s current lineup, the only player capable of executing a front-ball play with Tang Long and tempting the opponent to preemptively extend their foot was Sterling.
Adding a model opponent, Tang Long and Sterling began practicing non-stop.
This practice continued for five hours.
...
Before the second leg of the Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City still had a league match to play.
Premier League round 34, Manchester City hosts Southampton.
In this match, Pellegrini also dared not relax!
Even Tang Long, who had just played a full 90 minutes in the Champions League three days ago, still got a chance to start.
In the locker room, Pellegrini solemnly instructed the players:
"Although we gained an advantage in the first leg of the Champions League, don’t forget that in the league, we only have a 5-point lead over Manchester United. A 5-point gap is small, less than two games! Any accidental loss will allow the opponent to close the distance to us. We must fight to win this match as well and try to finish the battle in the first half!"
The further the season progressed, the more cautious Pellegrini became.
He was determined to win the treble this season and continue winning the chance to coach next season. This obsession led him to gradually reduce the rotation of key players.
Not only Tang Long, but also the starting players from the last match, such as Agüero, Sterling, Navas, Ranocchia, and Yaya Toure, all appeared on the field again.
Pellegrini stubbornly believed that at this stage of the season, even if players experience physical issues, their strong fighting spirit will help them overcome difficulties.
After all, judging from the players’ current lineup, there is still a significant gap between substitutes and the main team, making Pellegrini hesitant to rotate easily.
Although Agüero’s decisive goal in the 78th minute secured all three points for Manchester City, the difficulties in the match were far from being as simple as the 1:0 scoreline suggested!
Two moments left a deep impression.
One was in the 38th minute of the first half when Yaya Toure, known for his ability to advance with the ball, received a through pass from Tang Long and carried the ball less than 10 meters before being caught up by Southampton’s not-so-fast midfielder Clasie.
Additionally, Clasie, who stood only 1.70 meters tall, managed to knock down Toure, who was 20 centimeters taller, with a reasonable shoulder challenge, causing Toure to stagger and fall to the ground.
Even Clasie himself seemed surprised at how easily he managed to intercept.
The live spectators at the Etihad Stadium were stunned!
Clasie is known as a technical midfielder, not typically adept at tackling.
During the halftime break, Pellegrini asked Toure if he could continue, and the usually strong-willed Toure gritted his teeth and insisted he was fine, forcibly enduring the match in the second half.
However, in the 71st minute of the second half, a fatal mistake by Kolarov nearly allowed the opponent to score first.
Wanyama, Davis, and Clasie, Southampton’s three midfielders, formed a momentary small-range blockade around Tang Long.
In a triangular formation, the three quickly converged on Tang Long from three directions, intending to block his passing routes while intercepting the ball to start a counterattack.
Facing the pressure, Tang Long passed the ball to Delph to divert the opponents’ attention;
Then Delph quickly returned the pass, drawing away a defender, and Tang Long used the back of his foot to flick the ball in a different direction, passing it to Kolarov, who was advancing on the left wing.
Three quick passes and two movements resolved the blockade by the opponents’ three midfielders.
A burst of applause broke out on site!
When passing the ball to Kolarov, Tang Long habitually gave a lead.
He even considered Kolarov’s stamina, as he was already 31, giving a lead that wasn’t too large, allowing the ball to have enough hang time to let Kolarov move forward.
However, Kolarov, having played the main role for most of the season, found his energy reserves lacking as the season drew to an end.
He couldn’t muster the burst from the start, and as he saw the ball about to fly out, he hurriedly rushed forward a few steps, leapt high to control the ball in mid-air, felt a cramp coming as he stretched out his leg, instinctively contracted, causing the ball not to be controlled well, landing instead at Mane’s feet!
His heart sank instantly, and before his body hit the ground, he exclaimed in urgency!
Faced with the golden opportunity delivered to him, Mane, a fast winger, wasted no time in exploiting the gap behind Kolarov, charging towards Manchester City’s penalty area;
If not for Ranocchia’s signature bow step retreat, intercepting Mane along with the ball, Caballero would likely have struggled to block Mane’s solo shot!
Fortunately, Pellegrini finally began to make substitutions, and after Delph and Clichy came on, Manchester City’s players’ overall stamina was somewhat equalized.
Subsequently, with Tang Long’s through pass, Agüero’s signature chip shot secured the home three points for Manchester City!
Meanwhile, the match between Manchester United and Newcastle was unfolding elsewhere under the banner "unknown in the Champions League, heavy punches in the league."
Icardi surprisingly scored a hat-trick, leading the team to a 3:0 away win, keeping Manchester City under a close 5-point gap pressure from Manchester United.
Nonetheless, this wasn’t bad news for Manchester City. Although the gap between the two teams wasn’t widened, another league round was reduced, leaving only four to go.
With fewer matches remaining, as long as they didn’t make mistakes, Manchester United would never have a chance to catch up—a reassurance for Pellegrini.
Thus, even when the medical team issued a report showing two new injuries after the match, Pellegrini wasn’t overly concerned.
Toure’s back inflammation had flared up, and Kolarov slightly strained his groin during that leap to control the ball.
These two probably won’t make it to the second leg of the knockout stage against Paris Saint-Germain due to injuries.
Pellegrini even commented to assistant coach Rein:
"The match against Paris was decided in the first leg, winning this league match is more significant than the second leg of the Champions League!"