Chapter 294 Weird game

"The game is over! The game is over!" The MUTV commentator yelled happily. At Old Trafford Stadium, the Red Devils fans were in a carnival.

This is the eighth consecutive year that Manchester United has reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Since the team missed the UEFA Champions League in the 1995-1995 season because they failed to win the Premier League championship in the 1995-1996 season, Manchester United has participated in the Champions League for eight consecutive years, and has reached the quarterfinals of at least every year. Two of them won the championship, two of them reached the quarterfinals of the quarterfinals, and three of them stopped at the quarterfinals of the year. As for which step Manchester United can go this season, we have to wait and see.

In the Champions League this season, not only Manchester United performed well, but the other two participating teams, Chelsea and Arsenal, also performed very well.

At the same time when Manchester United defeated Porto 2:1 at home and entered the quarterfinals with a total score of 5:3 in two rounds, the Blues led by Porto's former head coach Jose Mourinho exchanged white papers with Stuttgart after ninety minutes of home games, thus eliminating the opponent 1:0 in two rounds and entering the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

A day later, Arsenal defeated Vigo Celta with a 2-0 score at Highbury Stadium, becoming the third Premier League team to enter the quarterfinals.

The other five team opponents, Monaco beat Moscow Locomotive 1:0 at home, with a total score of 2:2 in two rounds, and made it to the quarterfinals with the away goal advantage; Real Madrid defeated Bayern 1:0 at home, and advanced to the two rounds with a total score of 2:1; AC Milan swept Prague Sparta 4:1 at home, and advanced to the total score of 4:1; Lyon 1:0 at home, Real Sociedad advanced to the two rounds; Super Laco also defeated Juventus with a score of 1:0 in both rounds.

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Two days later, the Champions League quarter-final draw was held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. After entering the quarter-finals, there was no principle of avoidance, so except for Manchester United himself, the other seven teams that advanced were all potential opponents of Manchester United.

In the quarterfinals, there are basically no weak people. But relatively speaking, among the seven teams of Real Madrid, AC Milan, Arsenal, Chelsea, La Coruña, Lyon and Monaco, the top three teams, and even Chelsea, are things that Manchester United don’t want to encounter early. As for the three teams behind, there is no big difference.

Manchester United and Ligue 1 champion Lyon were drawn together, which was a good draw result. However, Manchester United did not win the advantage of getting away and then home, and will play at home first.

The other three opponents are AC Milan against La Coruña, Real Madrid against Monaco, and Arsenal staged a group of Premier League civil wars with Chelsea.

Such draws avoid the possibility that three Premier League teams will enter the semi-finals at the same time, and many Premier League fans believe that this is UEFA targeting Premier League teams.

After all, with the strength shown by the top three Premier League this season, except for the two giants Real Madrid and AC Milan, the rest of the teams are hard to match.

But from another perspective, this is almost a disguised conservative move to the Champions League semi-finals. And it is also two teams with slightly worse performance in the Champions League.

Coupled with Manchester United, which has outstanding European results, such draws are almost as good as ensuring that two teams advance to the semi-finals.

The Champions League quarterfinals will be held at the end of March and early April.

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Over the weekend, the 28th round of the Premier League started in full swing.

Manchester United ushered in a city derby with Manchester City in this round, but two Chinese on both sides were placed on the bench.

In the past half month, Yin Jun played all four games for Manchester United, so Ferguson decided to let him take a break in this round. However, because six of Manchester United's first team players were absent for various reasons in this game, Ferguson still placed Yin Jun on the bench and did not allow him to take a break completely.

Sun Jihai was not placed on the bench because he had too many games recently, but because he was not in good shape recently, he was squeezed on the bench.

Currently, this Manchester City team is not a match for Manchester United, both in terms of strength and recent match records.

This season, Blue Moon has performed poorly, only 27 points after 27 league rounds, currently ranks 16th in the standings, but is only three points higher than the relegation zone and may fall into the relegation zone at any time. Manchester United has won 67 points, defeating the unbeaten Arsenal with a goal difference and ranking first in the Premier League standings.

In this season's match, Manchester United first swept the opponent 5:1 at Old Trafford in the 16th round, and then won 4:2 in the 5th round of the FA Cup a month ago.

Therefore, all parties are optimistic about Manchester United winning away, but Manchester United people dare not neglect because they lost at Maine Road last season and only scored a 1:1 draw at home.

For derby battles like this, historical results are difficult to explain.

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After the game started, the Manchester United really encountered a fierce battle, suffered repeated dangers, and conceded the ball early.

Just 3 minutes into the game, Manchester United's defense line broke out. Dunn threw a sideline ball from the right, Sibirsky headed the ball in front of Sylvester and rubbed it. Phil Neville was preparing to head the ball in the middle, but Fowler suddenly broke out from behind him, stopped the ball with his left foot and pushed the ball into the net 6 meters in front of the goal.

One minute later, Manchester United almost tied the score. Giggs' left-footed shot outside the penalty area was blocked. Scholes made a strong low shot with his right foot 20 meters in front of the goal. James fell to the ground and saved the ball. At this time, Van Nie had already inserted it to prepare for a supplementary shot. James drove the ball out in a panic. Ronaldo, who followed the left, pushed the shot with his right foot 8 meters in front of the goal. Manchester City goalkeeper James had surrendered, but the goal frame of Manchester City Stadium saved the Blue Moon and blocked Ronaldo's shot.

As the game progressed, Manchester United, which had the advantage in strength, gradually controlled the situation on the field, especially the left side where Giggs and Ronaldo were located put a lot of pressure on the home team.

But just when people thought that Manchester United was getting closer and closer to the equalization score, Manchester United inexplicably concedes the ball.

In the 32nd minute, McManaman took the ball from the right and knocked back. Renner made a diagonal pass on Scholes' left arm and bounced into the penalty area. Manchester City player raised his hand to signal the handball. McCann turned around and volleyed with his left foot 14 meters in front of the goal. The ball drilled into the far corner from Sylvester, who had just recovered from injury, and Manchester City led 2:0.

Manchester United, who was two goals behind, launched a strong counterattack, and after three minutes, he scored a point through the left side. Ronaldo made a diagonal pass from the penalty area. Giggs faced the blocking of several defenders and knocked back on the middle. Scholes shot hard with his right foot 12 meters in front of the goal and hit the lower left corner.

One minute later, Manchester City's mistake in the back line gave Van Nie a chance. Fortunately, James attacked near the left penalty area line and blocked Van Nie. He expressed his dissatisfaction with Distin.

In the 39th minute, Ronaldo and Giggs cooperated to break into the left side of the penalty area, and shot a wonderful arc ball on the inside of his right foot 13 meters in front of the goal and hit the crossbar and bounced back into the field. This was his second time hitting the goal frame.

Ronaldo frowned and looked up at the sky, drawing a cross in his hand.
Chapter completed!