Chapter 457: The miracle of hitting Real Madrid’s fifth consecutive Champions League title

Chapter 457: The Miracle of Real Madrid’s Five Consecutive Champions League Championships
Arsenal defeated Manchester City at the new Wembley Stadium to win the 2018-2019 EFL Cup, which was expected by most people.

After all, Martin is undefeated in all his appearances for Arsenal.

Moreover, they have won the game three times against Manchester City this season, as has been the case in the past few seasons.

Therefore, there are huge advantages on the psychological level.

As long as you don't deliberately seek death, winning is a sure thing.

Arsenal, who won the championship, also tied Liverpool's record of four consecutive titles set in the early 1980s.

The vast majority of media and fans believe that as long as Martin does not leave Arsenal, there will be no problem in creating his own consecutive championship record.

After winning the first championship trophy in 2019, Arteta was in a very good mood and gave the players a day off with a wave of his hand.

As time comes to March, the schedule is still tight for Arsenal.

Before the international break, there are league games, make-up games, the FA Cup and the second legs of the Champions League 1/8 finals.

A 5-1 home league victory over Bournemouth, followed by a North London derby with Tottenham.

Since the new White Hart Lane stadium is not yet available for use, Tottenham still rents the new Wembley Stadium as their home stadium.

The result will naturally not be good.

Martin, Mahrez, Xhaka and Gnabry each scored a goal to beat Tottenham 4-0, which wasted no money in the transfer market last summer.

Arsenal fans no longer bother to ridicule Tottenham because they feel that their neighbors in north London are completely unworthy of Arsenal's position.

To ridicule as usual will give Arsenal fans a strong feeling of devaluation.

Four days later, it was the second leg of the Champions League 1/8 finals that kicked off at the Emirates Stadium.

In the first round, they defeated Schalke 04 with three goals as an away team. The return to home game in the second round was considered a formality.

The results of the game also verified the correctness of the media's views.

Martin, Cavani, Xhaka and other players all sat on the bench and did not come on the bench until the second half of the game.

九十分钟战罢，凭借马丁替补登场的一锤定音，最终阿森纳主场1：0击败破门乏术的沙尔克04.以总比分4：0晋级本赛季欧冠八强。

The weekend's league opponent has a strong background and is the Red Devils Manchester United.

However, Manchester United led by Solskjaer still needs to be distracted from the second leg of the Champions League 1/8 finals in the middle of next week. The league visit to the Emirates Stadium was strategically abandoned, and a large number of main players did not come to London at all.

They lost to Paris Saint-Germain 0:2 at home in the first round, but they have to give it a try when they go to the Parc des Princes in the second round.

There were no surprises in this game at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal beat Manchester United 5-0 at home.

I don’t know if giving it a try had a miraculous effect. Manchester United defeated PSG led by Neymar 3:1 at the Parc des Princes, and reached the quarterfinals with the advantage of more away goals.

Another round of 1/8 finals that started at the same time had a big upset in the second round.

Real Madrid defeated Ajax 2:1 in the first leg and lost 1:3 at home.

In other words, Real Madrid lost to Ajax 3:4 in two rounds and were eliminated.

With the emergence of these two upsets, the top eight of the UEFA Champions League in the 2018-2019 season are all announced.

The Premier League became the biggest winner, with all five teams advancing.

Bundesliga and Ligue 1 all go home.

The remaining three teams are Ajax, Barcelona and Juventus.

This made the British media extremely excited, calling the Premier League the best league in the world.

At 2018 noon on Friday, the 2019-1 Champions League quarter-final draw ceremony was held at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon.

The fact that the tournament has reached this stage means that there are no evasive rules and teams from the same league can be drawn together.

The draw ceremony was still hosted by Marchetti, director of the competition department.

Liverpool and Manchester City were drawn together, Manchester United met Barcelona, ​​Arsenal met Juventus, and Ajax and Tottenham were automatically paired.

In the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, Arsenal defeated Crystal Palace 1-4 at home and took the lead in advancing to the semi-finals of this season's FA Cup. The other three teams that advanced to the semi-finals were Manchester City, Wolves and Brighton.

Everyone knows that the FA Cup championship is likely to be between Arsenal and Manchester City.

After this FA Cup match, all major top leagues have entered a short intermission.

That's right.

International match day!
Martin was naturally called up by the Portuguese national team to participate in the 2020 European Cup qualifiers.

In the draw held in December last year, Portugal, as the seeded team, was drawn into Group B. There were also four teams in the same group: Ukraine, Serbia, Lithuania and Luxembourg.

There are five teams in groups A~E, and six teams in groups F~J.

According to the schedule, Portugal’s first two opponents in the European Cup qualifiers are Ukraine at home and Serbia as a guest.

At the Stadium of Light, Ronaldo, Martin and B scored a goal each to easily defeat the visiting Ukraine.

Then go to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, to challenge Serbia.

There is still a clear gap in strength between the two, and Portugal, which performs normally, will not be upset.

With the goals of Martin and B Fee, they won the game 2:1 as a guest.

The end of two international breaks in March means the focus can be entirely on the club.

The next international break is in June after the season ends.

At that time, the UEFA Nations League semi-finals will be held in Portugal against Switzerland.

If you win, you advance to the finals; if you lose, you advance to the third or fourth place finals.

On April 4, local time in England, Arsenal faced the challenge of Newcastle at home.

Since the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals will be next week after the league is over, Arsenal, sitting at the Emirates Stadium, still has some reservations.

But despite this, Arsenal also defeated their opponents easily under the leadership of Martin.

While ensuring the combat effectiveness of the Champions League, they also scored all three points.

Juventus remains dominant in Serie A, but lacks competitiveness in the Champions League.

In the first round, they visited the Emirates Stadium again. The 'Old Woman' Juventus chose Italian-style defensive counterattack.

However, the team led by Martin likes its opponents to defend defensively the most.

In this way, he can make full use of his best ability of discerning deficiencies in the defense line.

In the Champions League 1/8 finals last season, the two teams were drawn together.

Arsenal defeated the visiting Juventus 4:0 at home and also won 2:0 as a guest, with a total score of six goals.

Before the game started, Arsenal fans at the Emirates Stadium thanked Juventus goalkeeper Szczesny, who came from the Gunners youth training, for his contribution to the team in the past, and also left a large transfer fee.

At 1:4 pm, the Champions League quarter-finals between Arsenal and Juventus kicked off.

I have to say that Juventus' defense did very well, and it made up for the shortcomings of swallowing six goals in two rounds last season.

But the current Martin is not the Martin of last season, and his abilities in all aspects have been improved.

Compared with last season, it has become more difficult to prevent.

Juventus coached by Allegri also lacked changes on the offensive end. There was no way to threaten the defensive system led by Kante + Van Dijk. Coupled with Martin's just-in-time command, it was impossible to break the defense.

In the 29th minute of the game, Martin took advantage of a corner kick to smash open the door guarded by former Arsenal goalkeeper Szczesny. This has always been the case with scoring goals. As long as there is a beginning, the rest will follow.

In the 41st minute, Martin attacked the left rib and sent a precise cross with his left foot.

The football flying towards the penalty area carried a strong inward arc, just around the head of Bonucci, and accurately found Cavani who had penetrated in front of Rugani.

The Uruguayan striker flicked the ball into the far goal.

Szczesny was once again beyond his reach.

Trailing by two goals as a guest, Juventus had no choice. Teams all over the world knew that falling behind Arsenal by two goals was no different from slow death.

Juventus tried to counterattack on the road, and the results were similar to those of most teams that competed with Arsenal.

It was Martin again, who gave Juventus a head-on blow in the 56th minute.

Taking advantage of the counterattack opportunity from defense to attack, he passed five people in a row and completed a wonderful personal heroic goal.

This goal was also the last goal of the game.

In the end, Arsenal defeated Juventus 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium with Martin's two shots and one pass, laying a chance to advance to the two-round knockout round.

The first leg of another Champions League quarter-final match at the same time ended at Anfield at almost the same time.

The two teams fought hard for ninety minutes, and Liverpool won the game 2:0.

The next night, two other first-leg matches of the Champions League quarter-finals were played.

Tottenham lost 0:1 at home to Ajax at the rented new Wembley Stadium, and Manchester United also lost at home, losing 0:1 to visiting Barcelona.

Due to the huge home victory over Juventus in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Arsenal only had slight reservations in the weekend's league game and won 1:4 as a guest at Goodison Park.

The first two Champions League quarter-final second legs are Ajax VS Tottenham and Barcelona VS Manchester United.

Manchester United, who reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, almost reached the end of their run in the Champions League, especially their home defeat to Barcelona.

The score wasn't too much, but the game was terrible.

Less than twenty minutes into the game at Camp Nou, Messi scored two goals. In the following time, the home team took advantage of the overall advantage to play pass and control.

La Liga teams have always been more restrained than the Premier League, and Manchester United simply couldn't resist.

In the 61st minute of the game, Coutinho, who moved from Liverpool to Barcelona, ​​helped his former club kill their old enemy's semi-final dream.

Barcelona advanced to the semi-finals with a total score of 4:0.

At the same time, the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, which ended at the Cruyff Stadium, staged a stunning reversal.

Ajax led by two goals in the first half but suffered a huge counterattack by Tottenham in the second half.

Little Lucas came down from heaven and scored twice in the 55th and 59th minutes. Then the two teams exchanged offense and defense but no one scored.

Until the last second of injury time, Lucas Jr. completed the victory with his third goal in a single game!

虽然主场0：1输给阿贾克斯，但是次回合3：2赢球，总比分3：3，依靠客场进球数多的优势晋级本赛季欧冠四强！
This result also equals the club's record of reaching the semi-finals at the beginning of the Champions League.

In other words, Tottenham fans like to say that Tottenham, which reached the semi-finals, achieved its best result since the Champions League was restructured.

The media from England were completely excited.

As Tottenham eliminated Ajax and advanced to the semi-finals first, the Premier League team is likely to occupy the three places in the Champions League semi-finals again after nine seasons!

Even a high probability!

Liverpool and Manchester City were drawn together in the Champions League quarter-finals, which means that the Premier League team has locked in a semi-final spot.

Defending champion Arsenal defeated Juventus with three goals at home. There is a high probability that they will not overturn when they visit the Allianz Stadium in Turin in the second round...

At 1:4 pm the next day, the other two second legs of the Champions League quarter-finals, Juventus VS Arsenal and Manchester City VS Liverpool, started on time.

Both visiting teams won the first round respectively, but everyone knows that Arsenal, the only visiting team, will most likely not give Juventus a chance to come back.

Even if Manchester City loses to Liverpool by two goals in the first leg, they still have a chance to reverse the defeat when they return to the Etihad Stadium in the second leg.

However, Klopp's team achieved a major breakthrough in strength this season. In the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals against Manchester City as a guest, they were neither humble nor overbearing, and even used the opportunity of counterattack to take the lead.

After conceding a goal at home and failing to score as a guest in the first round, Guardiola's team became anxious.

It is precisely because of this that Manchester City players lost their cool heads.

Before the end of the first half, the Red Arrows scored a textbook counterattack goal.

The total score has become a four-goal deficit for Manchester City. If they want to reverse and advance, they must score five goals in a row without conceding a goal.

Facing a unified-minded Liverpool, Manchester City really has no good solution.

It was not until the end of the game that Manchester City scored a face-saving goal.

1:2
The team was eliminated with a total score of 1:4.

There were no surprises in the game at the Juventus Arena. Martin scored the only goal of the game and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the fourth consecutive season with a total score of 4:0.

At 12 noon on Friday, the draw ceremony for the Champions League semi-finals was held at UEFA’s Nyon headquarters.

I don’t know if it was intentional, but the North London derby opponents Arsenal and Tottenham were drawn together, and Barcelona and Liverpool were automatically paired.

Arsenal fans were very excited to see this pick.

First of all, Tottenham is the weakest team among potential opponents, and secondly, the two teams have an advantage in the North London Derby, which is no different from a walk-off final.

Tottenham fans burst into tears when they saw their home team being drawn against Arsenal in the Champions League semi-finals.

What the hell...

For them, even if they go to play Barcelona, ​​they are not willing to touch Arsenal.

[UEFA really knows how to arrange a script, the first North London Derby in Champions League history! 】

[Coutinho returned to Anfield for the first time, what kind of feast was it? 】

[The topical Champions League semi-finals, blind guessing that Arsenal easily advanced to the final, impacting Real Madrid's miracle of five consecutive championships in the early days of the Champions League! 】

……

Hot topics on all major social platforms revolve around the Champions League semi-final draw.

The four teams that reached the semi-finals first turned their attention back to the weekend league.

Arsenal's visit to Watford was another victory.

Three days later, they also defeated Wolves in the FA Cup semi-finals at the new Wembley Stadium, taking the lead in advancing to this season's FA Cup final.

There were no surprises in another semi-final the next day. Manchester City, who had been eliminated from the Champions League, defeated Brighton 1:0 and would have a direct confrontation with Arsenal for the fifth time this season.

The first four times, all ended in defeat.

Therefore, many media and fans believe that there will be no surprises in the fifth confrontation this season.

However, this game will not start at the new Wembley Stadium until the end of the league. There are still leagues and Champions League in front of the two teams.

Of course, Manchester City only has the league.

It is a pity that it is impossible to compete for the league championship. We can only compete with Liverpool for second place as much as possible.

(End of this chapter)