Chapter 384 The fun begins, the battle of Tianwang Mountain

Chapter 384 The fun begins, the battle of Tianwang Mountain

All four rounds of the UEFA Champions League group stage in the 2017-2018 season have ended.

Arsenal is neither the only team to win four consecutive games in the group, nor the only team to qualify early, but it is definitely the only team to secure first place in the group this season.

Manchester United in Group A, Paris Saint-Germain in Group B and Manchester City in Group F all started with four consecutive wins.

The most depressing team is undoubtedly Manchester United, which also won four games and scored 12 points. Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City all qualified early. Even Bayern, second in Group B with nine points, can rely on being third in the group. The Celtics, who have three points, qualify early.

Group B is not sure who can finally get the first place in the group.

The tragedy of Manchester United is that it is only six points ahead of Basel and Interland Moscow, which both have 6 points. According to the same rules for the Champions League group points, the points are tied first based on the outcome. Manchester United and the two teams have only played one game each, which even means You can't qualify in advance yet.

After all, there is still a theoretical two-game losing streak while the other two teams have two-game winning streak.

The situation of Manchester City in Group F is the same as that of Paris Saint-Germain in Group B. They are six points ahead of the third place. Therefore, they can only qualify early and miss the opportunity to secure the first place in the group.

The top three or four teams in several other groups may qualify, and nothing is certain at the end of the four rounds.

After the Champions League in midweek, the mainstream media in Europe first focused on the teams that qualified early, and then focused on the British stadium.

Manchester and London to be specific.

Manchester's Etihad Stadium will usher in this season's Premier League top spot.

London is Chelsea hosting Manchester United.

But the one that gets the most attention is Manchester City vs Arsenal.

The two teams remained unbeaten in the first ten rounds. Arsenal won all ten games and accumulated 30 points. Manchester City ranked second with 9 points with 1 wins and 28 draw.

In the Champions League, both Arsenal and Manchester City have won four consecutive games.

They have also made it past the fourth round of the EFL Cup.

The state is at its peak, and the confrontation at the league level is definitely a contest not to be missed for fans who like the Premier League.

With two points separating the two teams, it was truly a six-point game.

If Arsenal win the game as a guest, the point difference between the two will widen to five points.

On the contrary, Manchester City won and climbed to the top of the Premier League standings with 1 point.

Of course, the point difference won't change if the two teams draw.

But both teams want to win the game.

It is worth mentioning that the odds offered by the world's top ten gambling companies also tend to favor the two teams to win or lose.

The Premier League match schedule is Saturday morning, which starts at 12: noon.

In terms of rest time, Arsenal has a slight advantage.

Also traveling to the Apennine Peninsula, Arsenal, who played on Tuesday, had one more day of rest than Manchester City, who played on Wednesday.

Manchester is not far from London, so the journey by boat and train will not be tiring.

……

In order to better prepare for the Saturday morning league game, Arsenal took the team bus to Manchester on Friday afternoon. There was no need to adapt to the venue. They went directly to the hotel where they were staying and performed simple strength adaptation training in the gym provided by the hotel.

After all, the style of play is already very mature, and there are no new tactics that need to be practiced. The main focus during the season is to find and repair deficiencies and restore physical fitness.

In this regard, Wenger admitted that he benefited from Martin's unfettered ability to move forward and score goals.

Tactics are often dead, and player execution is the key.

Martin can be said to be the most talented person Wenger has seen since the beginning of his coaching career.

He is always able to execute it perfectly within the established tactical system.

The most important thing is that super personal ability can open up the situation in a stalemate.

In the evening of that day, Arsenal held an official pre-match press conference at their hotel.

Faced with the prospect of the game mentioned by the "Manchester Evening News", Wenger said without hesitation: "Win the game!"

If it were put in the past, Wenger would definitely be ridiculed and questioned.

But today is different from the past. The Arsenal he coached has become invincible.

Manchester City coach Guardiola, who learned from media reporters that Wenger must win, was not only not dissatisfied, on the contrary, he was extremely satisfied.

He immediately summoned the players to the conference room provided by the hotel and watched Wenger being interviewed by the media about his belief in winning.

It would not have been a big psychological shock if I heard Wenger giving the same interview content last season.

After all, the overall performance last season was average, and it was not until the last round of the league that the top four were determined to participate in this season's Champions League group stage.

This season's performance is quite strong. Except for an unexpected 1:1 draw with Everton in the second round, they have won all the other nine league rounds, only two points less than Arsenal, who won all the games in the beginning.

They also performed well in the Champions League, winning the right to qualify from the group ahead of schedule with an unstoppable four-game winning streak.

In this context, the players' confidence has grown sufficiently, and they have realized that they can compete with Arsenal, which dominates Europe.

who is afraid of who?

Guardiola looked at the indignant players and asked while the iron was hot: "Arsenal doesn't take us seriously at all. You know that tomorrow's game at noon is at our home stadium, the Etihad Stadium. Let's talk about it, do you want to give us some money?" Do they have any color at all?"

"want!"

The players shouted in unison, fully venting their frustration.

De Bruyne's voice was louder because... since the two left Wolfsburg, there has been no win against Martin.

The most terrible thing is that they are completely defeated!

"Okay! Then we will let the Arsenal people know at noon tomorrow that Manchester City is the dominant player in the Premier League!"

Guardiola said impassionedly.

……

De Bruyne, who returned to the hotel room, felt that the winning atmosphere in the team was already very good, so he tweeted to his friend Martin on the social platform Aite: Tomorrow’s game at noon, suffer the consequences! 【struggle】

Martin, who happened to be playing with his mobile phone, received the prompt and saw De Bruyne's Instagram post. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but raise, and he replied as before: Is this kid talking in his sleep?

De Bruyne has seen Martin's meanness a long time ago and responded immediately: "I'm serious, I will win tomorrow's game!"

Martin replied: Go to sleep quickly, there will be everything in your dreams.

De Bruyne, who had been mentally prepared for a long time, was still shocked by Martin's words.

What the hell, why does this happen every time?

He refused to admit defeat and replied: Can't you respond directly?

A large number of fans who follow De Bruyne and Martin collectively joined in the fun, brought benches and melon seeds, and acted as qualified melon-eaters.

Martin, who saw De Bruyne's reply, smiled and responded directly: It's not impossible, but are you mentally prepared to lose? Don’t cry again when you lose the game~

De Bruyne: "..."

He realized that he would definitely not win the argument, so he had to end this wave of proactive challenges in a hurry: You must be mentally prepared to lose! Don't come back! 【Good night】

Of course Martin would not go as De Bruyne wished. He replied with one word: Oh.

De Bruyne, who felt that he was about to break through the defense, directly quit Ins.

sleep!

※※※※※

The football atmosphere in the city of Manchester was particularly frenetic on Saturday morning.

Manchester City fans wearing sky blue jerseys can be seen everywhere, and many Manchester United fans specially cheered for Arsenal, managed by Arsene Wenger, their rival during Ferguson's time, in order to disgust their rivals in the same city.

What’s interesting is that on social media, Arsenal fans and Manchester United fans have reached a certain tacit understanding.

Will cheer for the opposing home team on game days.

That is to say, local Manchester United fans cheer for Arsenal as a guest at the Etihad Stadium, and local Arsenal fans sing for Manchester United as a guest at Stamford Bridge.

Outside the Etihad Stadium, there are crowds of fans, as well as patrols and security guards watching eagerly.

The battle for the top spot involves too many things.

England is also rich in football hooligans, so there is no room for error and we must be fully prepared.

About two hours before the game, the two teams participating in the top battle arrived at the Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City, which has the home advantage, received a huge welcome from the home fans.

The visiting team Arsenal was naturally greeted with overwhelming boos.

Arsenal, who traveled with the team, worked very hard and cooperated with the Manchester United fans who temporarily defected to help join in the fun. They were evenly matched and cheered for the Arsenal team who arrived at the away game.

Martin won the World Footballer title not long ago. He has his own traffic and is also the most watched player.

All kinds of banners, slogans, and flags are related to Martin.

Feeling the extremely unfriendly atmosphere from Manchester City fans, he half-squinted his eyes like a villain: Are you drifting?

……

There is still an hour before the start of the game, and the starting lineups of both sides are announced.

The home team Manchester City sent a 433 formation.

Goalkeeper: Ederson

Defenders: Delph, Otamendi, Stones, Kyle Ico

Midfielder: David Silva, Fernandinho, De Bruyne

Forwards: Sane, Aguero, Sterling. Arsenal still uses the usual 4231 formation.

Goalkeeper: Petr Cech

Defenders: Mendy, Van Dijk, Koscielny, Bellerin

Midfielder: Xhaka, Kante

Midfielder: Sanchez, Martin, Gnabry

Forward: Cavani

……

The appearance of the starting lineups of the two teams also means that the start of the game is not far away.

Fans from both sides are looking forward to the game that will kick off soon.

Once you win the game, you can expand the point difference/overtake the points!

Former Arsenal captain Arteta, who serves as Guardiola's assistant, stayed on the court to watch the players on both sides warm up.

What troubles him is that Martin has shown a strong desire to score goals, and he can also continuously play wonderful world waves.

The Manchester City fans who arranged the home atmosphere in the auditorium obviously noticed Martin who was in extraordinary condition. They all frowned and had some concerns about the future games.

Arsenal fans who traveled with the team were affected by Martin's excellent form, and the outburst became more and more powerful.

Fans who saw the live footage in advance seemed to feel the fanatical atmosphere coming from the Etihad Stadium, and were even more excited about the high-end Premier League game that was about to start soon.

※※※※※

"Goooooooooooooal—"

Sky TV commentator Andy Gray subconsciously lengthened his voice, and then said impassionedly: "Kevin De Bruyne! He got the ball in front of the penalty area and made a sudden shot, helping Manchester City take the lead in the 18th minute!"

"What gave us a great goal was..."

"Kevin——"

The passionate voice of the announcer at the Etihad Stadium was incendiary.

"——De Bruyne!!"

More than 40,000 Manchester City fans responded in unison.

Several shouts echoed over the Etihad Stadium.

De Bruyne was particularly crazy after scoring the goal. He raised his arms and shouted in front of the home team fans gathering area.

Martin, who was not receiving any attention at this time, became serious, as if he was muttering in a low voice: It's time to get more intense.

The scoreboard showed the score became 1:0, and the home fans were particularly excited, bursting out with huge cheers one after another.

De Bruyne, who scored the key goal, deliberately glanced at Martin after finishing his celebration.

The meaning I want to express is very obvious.

Not long after, the game started again.

Arsenal, who were lagging behind, took advantage of the kick-off to quickly start the game, using Martin's excellent ball-taking ability and forward passing ability to threaten the ball to create danger for Ederson's goal.

Guardiola's teams have always been good at offense but weak at defense.

This is why people later joked that Guardiola would spend 100 million euros every season to improve the defense.

As a former professional player, why don't you know that winning a strong game is all about defense?

But whether in Barcelona, ​​Bayern, or Manchester City, where he is currently coaching, the abilities of defensive players are relatively limited.

Continuous passing and control is to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses.

But Guardiola made a lot of preparations for this game before the game.

Especially against Arsenal's best attacking method.

Martin was not given a comfortable pass and return at all.

You can pass back and cross the ball, but you cannot pass forward.

At first, the effect was actually not good, but referee Anthony Taylor's whistle became softer at critical moments, and many fouls that were not obvious were not blown at all.

So much so that Wenger, who was standing in the technical area where the visiting team coach was directing, was furious.

He gradually realized that Arsenal, which had dominated the British arena for two years, was being targeted by the Premier League!

Betting on one side is really bad for the Premier League. Last season was affected by the downturn of the major giants and it was difficult to achieve results, so I know that even blowing the whistle will not have much effect.

This season is different.

The two heroes of Manchester City are ushering in the second year of Mourinho and the second year of Gua at the same time, which also allows the Premier League to see the opportunity to 'sanction' Arsenal.

Martin suffered multiple fouls less than 20 minutes into the game, and almost all of them were tactical fouls. Even if the referee Anthony Taylor called a foul on a Manchester City player, he would not give a card, not even a verbal warning.

He even pretended not to notice the fall to the ground in key areas.

Zhan Jun, the famous commentator who switched to PP Sports, couldn't stand it anymore and joked: "Did the referee Anthony Taylor not wake up?"

Countless Arsenal fans and Martin fans sitting in front of the TV are angrily criticizing Anthony Taylor.

Even Manchester City coach Guardiola blushed.

Too... too biased.

What makes people angry is yet to come.

In the 39th minute of the game, Sterling received a pass from David Silva on the left rib of the penalty area. He saw Van Dijk's right foot stretched out and instinctively fell down after taking the ball out. On the ground, he fell to the ground and rolled in pain while holding his right foot that was not touching at all.

Van Dyke subconsciously raised his hands to show that his right foot was not fully extended at all...

Anthony Taylor blew his whistle, pointed his finger at the penalty spot, and gave Van Dijk a yellow card.

"Oh? Penalty kick?"

PP sports commentator Zhan Jun exclaimed: "Anthony Taylor awarded a penalty kick to Manchester City!"

This penalty angered Wenger, who was usually mild-mannered and roared loudly in the visiting team coach's technical area.

Martin, who has always been calm, was also a little angry. He first pulled away the angry Xhaka and Van Dijk, and then negotiated with the referee Anthony Taylor as the captain: "Mr. referee, did you really see my teammate kicking the ball?" Arrived in Stirling?”

"Yes, I can see clearly."

Anthony Taylor pointed to his eyes and said confidently.

"OK!"

Martin tried his best to control his emotions and calm down first.

If you say something to vent your emotions because you are too excited, there will really be nothing you can do to save yourself.

Immediately, the live director restored the wonderful process.

Through the replay, it can be clearly seen that Van Dyke’s right foot did not stretch out, and Sterling’s fall was completely instinctive...

"Miscarriage of justice, an absolute miscarriage of justice!"

Sky TV commentator Andy Gray said solemnly.

When the screen was shown to Martin again, Henry, who served as the commentator, solemnly said: "Martin is very right to remain calm enough. I hope he can continue to be calm! I believe Martin will definitely help Arsenal who have suffered injustice during the remaining game time. Na completed a super reversal!"

The commentator Andy Gray is different from the guest commentator. He needs to pay a lot of attention when speaking, but he agrees with Henry's words.

Sometimes you can miss the whistle, but you can't miss it too much.

The slow-motion picture shows clearly that Sterling's flop... was so fake.

Compared with the commentator's relatively focused statement, fans on social media showed no restraint.

There are endless insults against Anthony Taylor.

"Beep~"

Anthony Taylor blows the whistle.

Aguero, who took the penalty kick, took advantage of the change in rhythm to pass Cech and hit the ball easily, turning the score on the scoreboard into 2:0.

"aoaooaoaooooo——"

The frenzied atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium reached its peak, with deafening shouts coming one after another.

While the Manchester City players were celebrating the goal wildly, Martin called his teammates together and said solemnly: "I believe everyone feels that they have been deliberately targeted, so I hope you can continue to stay calm. I will help you with this tone, but it is not a release." The extreme way of emotions, but using goal after goal to tell the world that no conspiracy can knock us down and Arsenal is invincible!"

"Arsenal is invincible!!"

The other Arsenal players chanted in unison.

After celebrating the goal, the Manchester City players keenly noticed that the Arsenal players who were two goals behind were not in the right mood.

There is no heavy face or depressed mood as imagined. Instead, it gives people a feeling of high morale.

De Bruyne couldn't help but look at Martin, his calm expression making him feel a little uneasy.

Having the same feeling, Guardiola, who had just celebrated his goal while standing in the home team coach's technical area, frowned.

When his eyes glanced at Martin, his uneasiness became more and more intense.

Before the game restarted, the on-site director once again gave the camera to Martin, pushing it to his face.

PP sports commentator Zhan Jun said solemnly: "Perhaps... the real battle of Tianwang Mountain has just begun!"

Manchester United head coach Mourinho, who is preparing to challenge his old club Chelsea as a guest, also paid attention to the live broadcast of Manchester City VS Arsenal. The best news for him is naturally a draw.

He was a little worried when he saw Manchester City leading by two goals, but the picture showed Martin, who had a normal expression on his face. He knew... Martin who was so focused would definitely have a huge impact on the next game!

The show is about to begin!

(End of this chapter)