Blackburn Ewood Park Stadium on December 2, 2009.

The stadium fell into a dead silence.

All Blackburn fans in the audience almost held their breath and stared at the goal in the field.

In front of the goal line, Blackburn's main goalkeeper Robinson spread his legs, spread his arms, and looked directly at the Chelsea striker Kalao, who gently placed the ball on the white spot in front of him, slowly bent down, like a dormant cheetah, ready to fly towards his prey at any time.

Kalao put the ball down, slowly retreated, counting his steps, stepping hard and exerting force until he stood still.

In the penalty area, both of them were staring at each other, ready to give their opponent the most fatal blow.

What is currently underway is the knockout match between the English League Cup quarter-finals, with Chelsea challenging Blackburn away.

Since the start of this season, Chelsea has had a one-week double game. Three days ago, they just beat Arsenal three-to-zero, winning a lot of applause. On the weekend, they will challenge the league leader Manchester City away, and the last final match of the Champions League group stage in the middle of next week will determine whether Chelsea can qualify for the top spot.

In such a intensive schedule, Chelsea also made appropriate choices.

Scolari arranged a large number of substitutes in this League Cup game, forming the second team of Chelsea to challenge Blackburn away, while the home team Blackburn was determined to win the right to advance under the coach of Allardyce.

The two sides played in full swing in the 90-minute game, and the game became a 2-2 draw. After entering overtime, they played even more tragically. In the end, the two sides tied with each other and entered the final penalty shootout.

At this moment, the penalty kick final has reached the fifth round.

In the previous four rounds of penalty shootouts, Blackburn and Chelsea each lost one of their free throws.

Chelsea's side was Barack losing the first round penalty, but in the fourth round, Chelsea goalkeeper Hilaryo saved Kalinic's penalty, saving the Blues and dragging the penalty into the fifth round.

Robinson plays against Karau, and this penalty kick will determine the outcome.

Everyone's eyes fell in the narrow penalty area. In front of the coach's seat on the sidelines, Scolari and Allardyce also stared at the penalty area with a serious expression, and they were also very nervous.

Whether it is dead or alive, it depends on this kick!

As the referee whistle sounded, everyone in the audience held their breath.

I saw Kalao take a deep breath, rush forward quickly, step on the steps I had carefully calculated just now, and get to the ball, step on it with one foot, swing the other foot, staring at the opponent's goalkeeper Robinson.

This is an old goalkeeper with extremely rich experience. He was calm and did not reveal his flaws in advance, but stared at Karau.

Kalao's mind changed drastically and there was a deceptive fake move in front of the shot, but in fact he pushed the ball into the middle.

But unexpectedly, Robinson was prepared for a long time. Although his body shifted the center of gravity, he reacted quickly and blocked Karau's shot with his legs.

At this moment, the entire Ewood Park Stadium broke out like crazy.

All Blackburn fans rushed out of the seats and cheered and screamed wildly.

Allardyce raised his arms and kept shouting, venting his inner excitement.

Five to four, Blackburn beat Chelsea to the penalty!

Although this is not Chelsea's main lineup, it is still exciting, isn't it?

For Blackburn, the league is a distant and unattainable goal. Only the cup is what they should pursue most, so Allardyce devoted all his belief in winning the championship.

Eliminated Chelsea and Blackburn entered the semi-finals of the League Cup!

Next to Allardyce, Scolari turned around and walked towards the visiting team coach's seat after Kalao scored a penalty, leaving a helpless back for the live TV camera.

This is Chelsea's second loss this season, but it ends up losing a championship.

…………

…………

Stamford Bridge Stadium, London.

The Blackburn fans celebrating the promotion came from TV, and the camera also captured Scolari's helpless back and Chelsea players walked off the stadium in a state of turmoil.

Chelsea lost the League Cup!

The conference room was quiet, but there was no tension at all.

Many people present were mentally prepared for the result of this game, and the defeat was already in their plan.

Fatigue is Chelsea's biggest enemy, and Scolari communicated with the management before the game.

This season's Champions League group stage draws Atletico Madrid, Chelsea is not lucky. Now there is the last round left in the group stage and a final battle is coming. The league will encounter Arsenal and Manchester City in the first and second rounds, which are also the highlights, and the team needs to make some choices.

Whether it is Abramovich or the management, the opinions given are to ensure the league and the Champions League.

Especially the league.

Abramovich doesn't want to lose in the game against Manchester City this weekend.

Therefore, Scolari arranged a lot of substitutes in this game, and even players such as Terry and Lampard did not play.

It should be said that it would be good to be able to play like this away from home with Blackburn.

Main stars such as Terry, Lampard and Drogba are able to regain their energy and prepare for the weekend league.

"How is the result of Manchester City?" Abramovich asked with concern.

When Chelsea challenged Blackburn, Manchester City also challenged Arsenal.

"The game is over, and the Gunners also played on the second team of substitutes, but they lost zero to three." Granovskia replied.

Abramovich raised his eyebrows, and was mentally prepared.

Manchester City has no European competitions this season, and they have been trying to make every effort to the league and the cup, so they can naturally show their strength.

More importantly, players such as Stephen Ireland, Ellano, Joe, David Dunn, Bridge and Petrov were the absolute main players of the Premier League last season, but this season they could only play as a substitute under Gao Han.

It is conceivable how strong Manchester City's bench is.

"Kaka played for another half an hour this time and contributed an assist." Granovskiya said.

Abramovich frowned and was a little worried.

Recently, the British media have been paying attention to Kaka's news. Gao Han arranged for Brazilians to play for 20 or 30 minutes every time, which seemed to be helping the Brazilians find the rhythm of the game. Kaka has also recovered his form one after another in the bench.

"He will not have a chance to play in this weekend's game." Abramovich said ruthlessly.

As long as Chelsea controls Manchester City away and the team's situation on the court is unfavorable, Kaka will not have a chance to play as a substitute.

How to play Manchester City is a headache for the coaching staff, but the management must consider the entire team.

"Boss, based on what Scolari had reported to me before, he hopes to sign in time during the winter break to ensure the team's competitiveness in the second half of the year." Granovskiya said.

"Why?" Now Abramovich has a headache whenever he mentions money.

From 2007 to now, he first divorced, and then encountered a subprime mortgage crisis, and his wealth shrank significantly.

More importantly, oil prices are still falling, which has caused heavy losses to Abramovich, who has rich oil resources in Siberia.

"January is the African Cup, and four players including Drogba and Karau are going to go back to participate in the African Cup. I'm afraid they will be absent throughout January. You can see the performance of this game. It's hard for Barack to meet the team's requirements anymore."

Abramovich nodded. He was no longer a rich man who had just arrived back then. Of course, he knew the impact of the African Cup on the Premier League, and Chelsea suffered a lot because they had the most African players.

“He hopes to bring in a forward and a midfielder during the winter break.”

"Forward and midfielder?" Abramovich frowned even more. He was very clear about the current transfer market.

“Is there a suitable candidate?”

"We have had contact with Atletico Madrid. Torres and Villa are very suitable candidates, but Atletico Madrid has made a clear statement and refuses to negotiate with us, and the liquidated damages of both players are over 100 million."

The transfer market is a bit exaggerated now.

This summer, Manchester City burned more than 400 million euros in one go, and Real Madrid still has a transfer budget of hundreds of millions of euros, which has made the value of players in the entire European football world rise higher.

Let’s talk about Ibrahimovic’s transfer to Barcelona.

Under the competition from Real Madrid, Barcelona not only paid 70 million euros in transfer fees, but even paid for Etoo, whose total transfer value exceeded 100 million yuan, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo.

Adebayo's original transfer fee was estimated to be around 30 million euros, but Real Madrid took action, reaching 40 million euros. Many people even said it was very cheap and cost-effective.

Players in Eastern Europe, which were originally relatively cheap, are now very expensive. Barcelona introduced Ziglinsky and Chelsea introduced Jirkov, both of which exceeded 20 million. It can be seen that the players' value is indeed soaring.

"No one else is chosen?" Abramovich asked with a serious face.

"Yes, just..." Granovskiya was a little hesitant.

"Just what?"

"In the past six months, among the most popular players in the European transfer market, the striker is the Colombian striker Falcao of La Liga Chinatown."

"Falcao?" Abramovich has heard of this name and often appears in newspapers. He is now at the top of the La Liga scorer list, and his goal momentum has even surpassed superstars such as Messi and Ibrahimovic.

Everyone is very optimistic about this Colombia center, not only because he scored a lot of goals, but also because there is Gao Han behind him, who is the Chinatown team that Gao Han chose to join.

Products produced by Gao Han must be a fine product, which has become a golden signboard in European football.

"At the age of 23, he was the scorer of the Spanish Second Division last season, helping Chinatown to successfully advance to La Liga. This season he scored a lot of goals and firmly occupies the top spot in La Liga scorers. Whether it is strength or potential, they are very favored."

Abramovich nodded and said nothing.

Granovskia looked and continued to say: "But it's not easy to poach him. Chinatown just renewed his appointment with him half a month ago, and Gao Han went to Madrid to discuss it in person."

"Gao Han went to Madrid to discuss in person?" Abramovich was a little surprised.

Just because of this, it shows Gao Han's importance to him.

"Yes, in addition to Falcao, there is also midfielder Ramirez, who is also one of the midfielders who performed very well in La Liga this season. He has just renewed his contract under Gao Han's host. Therefore, it is not easy to find these two people, especially during the winter break."

Chinatown is full of treasures, making this team the focus of the major European teams.

It’s just that due to Gao Han’s relationship, many teams cannot find a chance to start.

But Chelsea did not have such concerns. Everyone knows that Abramovich and Gao Han were not in a match.

"Please ask me for a date with their agent." Abramovich hummed and laughed.
Chapter completed!