Chapter 188 The Champions League officially kicks off, with crazy performances from the major clubs!
On September 14, the fourth round of the league started.
There were no focus battles in this round, but there were a lot of upsets.
Manchester United, who played first, beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at home and finally stopped their decline.
However, the Blues in BIG4 unexpectedly lost to Everton on the road.
This result is surprising!
Mourinho's team continues the old problem before, their forwards can't score goals no matter what.
In this game, Toffees Everton also performed extremely well. They relied on their tenacious defense and sharp counterattacks to defeat Chelsea, giving the opponent their first defeat of the season and breaking Chelsea's unbeaten streak.
The outside world thought that Everton's record would decline after Moyes left this season.
Unexpectedly, they not only continued their excellent results from previous seasons, but even went one step further!
Everton currently has one win and three draws in four rounds and remains unbeaten.
It is one of the only three teams left in the Premier League that has not lost a game.
The other two are Liverpool and Manchester City.
After an unexpected loss to Everton, Chelsea's points fell to sixth place in the standings. Although Manchester United has the same points as them, they are just one point ahead of them with their goal difference advantage.
This gave the Red Devils fans who had been ridiculed by Blues fans another opportunity to fight back and ridiculed Chelsea one after another.
"Haha, I just like to see the Chelsea people looking deflated!"
"Everton did a great job, now I wonder what the fans have to say!"
"Hey, I will always remember how Chelsea fans made their faces when we lost to Manchester United in the last round!"
"Haha, they don't even think about who we lost to!"
In the eyes of Manchester United fans, the Red Army is a wealthy team. Their home stadium is not easy to play in the first place, so losing to them is not a shame.
But who did Chelsea lose to?
Toffees Everton?
This is our younger brother from Manchester United. Isn’t it embarrassing that the Blues can’t even beat my younger brother from the Red Devils?
"Tch, it's just a game. What's there to worry about? You, Manchester United, should just worry about the next city derby against Manchester City!"
"That's right, if Manchester United loses again, Moyes' job may not be guaranteed. Maybe we can watch a good show then!"
Chelsea fans seized on Manchester United fans' sore feet and launched a taunt at them.
This further angered the Red Devils fans, who also began to attack Chelsea.
"It's as if Chelsea don't have to face Liverpool and Manchester City. They are in a state where they can't score a single goal. Every time they get a point in a game, it's a blessing. Even if Manchester United wins one game and loses one, , and the points are higher than yours!”
Manchester United's pain point is that the coach's position is unstable, while Chelsea's weakness is that their forwards cannot score goals.
Both teams are in serious trouble, and neither seems to be easy to solve.
If this continues, both the red and blue sides may not have a chance to win the Premier League title this season.
Forgotten in the corner, Gunners fans quietly made a fortune.
The Red Devils' record is unstable, the Blues' forward line is weak, and the Reds have been in decline for a long time.
Based on this, is our Arsenal going to end its championship-less history this season and successfully win the Premier League championship trophy?
In the subsequent away game against Sunderland, Arsenal won three consecutive victories 3:1 and temporarily topped the list with nine points, which made Arsenal fans convinced of this view.
A good era for Arsenal is coming!
Chelsea had just been upset, and Liverpool were not to be outdone.
In the away game against Swansea, the Red Army scored two goals in the first half and thought they were sure of victory.
Unexpectedly, the opponent launched a counterattack in the second half, chasing two goals in a row and knocking away the three points they obtained.
However, despite the tie, Liverpool still relied on the advantages accumulated from the previous three consecutive victories to beat Arsenal with 10 points and temporarily ranked first in the Premier League.
Manchester City was also almost tied by their opponents in this round.
Manchester City has too many stars in the team, so it is greatly affected by the FIFA virus.
After participating in national team games, most players rush back to their clubs to participate in league games.
This made them out of shape for the entire game. Some players from South America were unable to even finish the entire game due to excessive physical exertion.
The 0:0 score remained until injury time.
Just when everyone thought it would be a draw, in the last minute of stoppage time, Lin Quan sent an extremely fatal pass, assisting Negredo to score a goal, helping the team win 1: 0 defeated the opponent with difficulty.
Although the victory was very embarrassing, Manchester City still curled up three points and maintained its top position in the standings with a 4-game winning streak.
After finishing the league, the Manchester City team flew non-stop to the Czech Republic to prepare for the first game of the Champions League group stage.
Victory Plzen is a team in the Czech First Division and is not well-known in Europe.
But as their opponents in the opening game, no one at Manchester City dared to look down upon them.
They overturned so many times in the Champions League group stage that they were afraid of overturning.
"Plzen Victory is the weakest opponent in our group. No matter what tomorrow's game, we must win against them, and we must score as many goals as possible and accumulate enough goal difference advantages. In this case, we will win in the future. Only in this game can we take the initiative!”
Pellegrini also knows that Manchester City's boss takes the Champions League seriously. His predecessor Mancini was fired because he was eliminated from the group stage twice in a row.
If he doesn't want to follow in Mancini's footsteps, then there can't be any surprises in the group stage this time.
Leaving aside Bayern for the moment, there is a gap between Manchester City's hard power and its opponent.
But the other two opponents in the group are weaker than them, so they must win this game steadily!
Perhaps Pellegrini's instructions before the game had the opposite effect. After the game started, Manchester City played very tightly and the players were very nervous.
The first half lasted 30 minutes, and the score on the field was still 0:0. Instead, Manchester City players received two yellow cards for excessive movements.
Pellegrini was relatively relieved at first, but when he saw the team's posture, he became nervous again.
No way?
Manchester City won't lose away from home, right?
The players of Plzen Victory were a little scared when they heard the name of the opponent's Premier League team. They were already three points behind in terms of momentum.
After playing for thirty minutes, I found that the opponent's level seemed to be just that?
As a result, they began to become bolder, no longer playing conservatively, but more and more trying to attack, trying to change the score.
As soon as the opponent attacked, Lin Quan felt relieved.
The teammates were too nervous before, and there were too many players inside and outside the opponent's penalty area, so many cooperations couldn't be achieved.
It's okay now. The other party is dishonest and actually wants to fight with them.
There are suddenly more gaps in the opponent's penalty area!
Lin Quan then gestured to his teammates to speed up the pace of the game, and took the lead in pressing Pilsen's players in the midfield.
Under his leadership, Garcia, Navas, Aguero and others also took action and joined the pressing team.
Pilsen's players rarely play against teams from the five major leagues, and they are very uncomfortable with the pace of play in the five major leagues, especially the Premier League.
As soon as Manchester City picked up the speed a little bit, they immediately couldn't hold it anymore.
The two sides fought in the midfield, and the winner was quickly determined.
Manchester City's players overwhelmed their opponents with their superior skills and stronger physical confrontation.
After taking control of the midfield, their offensive quality also quickly improved.
In the 48th minute of the game, Manchester City intercepted the ball in midfield and quickly passed it to Lin Quan on the wing.
Lin Quan dribbled the ball through the opponent's interception and then cut inside. After attracting the opponent's attention, he faked a shot and passed the ball to Aguero, who was in a better position.
The Argentinian didn't waste his wonderful pass and scored the ball with a blast!
"pretty!"
On the sidelines, after seeing the goal, Pellegrini excitedly waved his arms and celebrated with his assistants!
He has waited for this ball for too long!
If the team can no longer score goals, the opponent will soon return to its previous conservatism. In that case, they may really not be able to win the opponent.
After scoring the first goal, the rest of the game became much easier.
With the score behind, there was no point in setting up the bus.
Pilsen had to attack.
And once they attack, their defense is completely inadequate in front of Manchester City's forwards.
In the 53rd minute, Lin Quan received a pass from Garcia, withstood the push of the opponent's defender during the physical confrontation with the defender, leaned on the defender and swept the ball into the goal.
Manchester City wins again!
Under Manchester City's violent attack, Pilsen was already unable to withstand it!
However, the Manchester City players remembered the coach's instructions and despite being two goals ahead, they still did not give up the attack.
They also want to get more goal difference from Pilsen!
In the 65th minute, Manchester City once again launched a fast break.
After Lin Quan dribbled the ball down the baseline, he slipped past the defensive player and hit the goal from a small angle in the penalty area.
The goalkeeper concentrated his attention, stretched out his hand and blocked the ball.
However, the ball he saved did not fly too far and landed in the penalty area, causing a melee between players from both sides.
In the chaos, Pilsen's defender tried to clear the ball with his big foot, but it bounced off the leg of the Manchester City player and caused a refraction.
The goalkeeper had just completed the save and before he could get up from the ground, he saw the football flying towards him.
The ball came so fast that he could only instinctively wave his hand to block it, but of course he didn't block it.
3:0!
The goal was scored by Javi Garcia.
The latter himself didn't expect the goal to be scored. He originally wanted to grab a shot.
But the opponent's defender was one step faster than him, and he did not steal the opponent.
Seeing the opponent raising his feet to make a clearance, Garcia raised his leg to block it symbolically. Unexpectedly, a strange combination of circumstances resulted in a goal.
This is really like trying to find nowhere, and it takes no effort at all!
In the end, Manchester City blossomed more. With three goals in the second half, they won a good start in the Champions League group stage and gained precious three points.
Because Bayern in the same group also defeated CSKA Moscow 3:0 at home, both Manchester City and Bayern temporarily ranked first in the group with 3 points and 3 goal differences.
Because the eight games of the first four groups all started at the same time.
After the game on Manchester City's side, the results of other groups' games were also released.
In Group A, Moyes' Manchester United repelled the challenge of Bundesliga powerhouse Bayer Leverkusen with a score of 4:2 at Old Trafford.
Rooney, who returned to the starting lineup in this game, performed bravely and scored twice to help the team break the deadlock.
Ever since Van Persie came to the team and took away his main position, Lu Xiaopang has not been so proud for a long time.
Although he was a disciple of Ferguson, it was Ferguson who abandoned him in the last year of his leadership.
Now, Moyes is here, and he has given Rooney more opportunities, which makes Rooney very grateful, and he can't wait to respond to the opponent by scoring goals every game.
In addition to Rooney, Robin van Persie and Valencia also scored a goal each to help the team seal the victory.
Although Leverkusen lost, they still attacked tenaciously even though they were lagging behind. They scored two goals against Manchester United, which also allowed fans from all over the world to see the resilience of Bundesliga teams.
In Group B, Real Madrid visits Türkiye's devil's home stadium.
I thought this would be a difficult game, but Ancelotti's team bloodbathed Galatasaray with a score of 6:1, which shocked the world.
Real Madrid does have the advantage in terms of hard power, so no one is surprised that they won.
However, in the Turks' devilish home court, they were able to score such a disparity, which is really shocking!
In this game, although Gareth Bale, whom Real Madrid spent 100 million to buy in the summer, did not score a goal, his breakthrough on the wing made the Turks miserable and provided a great help to the team's win.
But Bell still can't cover up Ronaldo's limelight.
The Portuguese was in great form in this game, and he didn't know it was to declare his status in the Real Madrid team to the world.
Still wanting to show his strength in front of the newcomers and make them realize the reality, Ronaldo completed his hat trick in just 30 minutes in the second half.
After Bell came on the scene, he and Bell's "200 million flying together" made people see the power of money.
If you have money, you can really do whatever you want!
In a corner where no one was paying attention, Ben Zemeow, who had been practicing his shooting skills for more than half a year, quietly completed two shots and one pass in this game.
Although he can't steal the limelight from his teammates, he doesn't have the aura of Mr. Billion Dollar.
But his presence is an important guarantee for Real Madrid to win.
In Group C, Paris defeated the Greek team Olympiacos 4:1 away from home.
In this game, the PSG team blossomed a lot and defeated their opponents to a complete defeat.
Although he did not score a goal, Ibrahimovic made headlines because he missed a penalty kick and became the most depressed person.
The next day, the competition for the remaining four groups started.
Werder Bremen defeated Steaua Bucharest 3:0 at home. Peterson, Phil Kruger, Arnautovic and others all scored their first Champions League goals.
After scoring three points, Werder Bremen's qualifying situation is very good.
But in another game, Chelsea, playing at home, suffered a big upset.
Faced with the challenge against the Swiss team Basel, everyone thought it was a game without suspense, but Mourinho messed up.
In this game, Chelsea scored first, but was reversed by the opponent, and ultimately lost the game with a score of 1:2.
When the score fell behind in the second half, Mourinho replaced almost all the forwards who could be substituted.
But he just couldn't score, and he could only watch helplessly as his opponent took three points from him.
After the game, the Basel people celebrated wildly at Stamford Bridge. They themselves did not expect to defeat the powerful Blues.
The Chelsea people could only cry secretly and swallow the bitter pill of failure helplessly.
If you include the loss in the league just now, Chelsea has lost two consecutive games in all competitions.
De Bruyne sat on the bench for the whole game. When the team fell behind, Mourinho replaced players from the bench three times.
But every time I didn't think about him, didn't even look at him.
This makes De Bruyne feel extremely disappointed...
Group F is facing the grim situation of the death group.
Arsene Wenger's Arsenal played steadily and defeated Marseille 2:1 in the away game and scored precious three points.
Last season's Champions League runner-up Dortmund was defeated by Napoli in the away game.
Dortmund seems to have passed its peak period and is firmly on the decline.
In Group G, Atletico Madrid defeated Zenit 3:1 at home, and Porto also defeated their opponents away from home.
In Group H, where Barcelona and AC Milan are located, the two teams easily defeated their opponents 4:0 and 2:0 respectively at home.
As if to respond to Ronaldo from a distance, Messi also scored a hat trick against Ajax.
At the end of the first round, the Premier League side had won all the games except Chelsea, who had overturned.
La Liga also has three wins and one loss, and the loser is the weakest Real Sociedad.
Serie A has 2 wins and 1 draw. In addition to wins from AC Milan and Naples, the Old Lady was tied with the weak Copenhagen in the away game, which can be regarded as a big upset.
On the other side, the Bundesliga has two wins and two losses, and the French Ligue 1 and Portuguese Super League have one win and one loss.
Judging from the respective records of the five major leagues, the Premier League and La Liga are worthy of being the two top leagues.
Serie A is slightly better than Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 has fallen to the level of the Portuguese Super League.
However, there are two seed teams in the Portuguese Super League and none in Ligue 1. This is very worrying.
I'm writing too slowly. Sorry for the late update. Today's monthly tickets are doubled. Can you please give me your monthly tickets...
