Chapter 195 Peak showdown, Manchester City VS Bayern Munich

On October 2, the second round of the Champions League group stage started.

In another game that started in the same group, CSKA Moscow, which played at home, relied on an own goal gift from its opponent to narrowly defeat Plzen 3:2 and get a precious three points.

Manchester City is also paying close attention to this game. If they cannot defeat Bayern Munich, then CSKA Moscow will be their biggest competitor in the group.

"Doesn't CSKA Moscow's strength look very strong?"

"That's right, if the opponent hadn't given an own goal, this game would have been hard to predict!"

"Don't be careless. It's not time for them to show their strength at home yet."

"Yes, by the time we play against them, the temperature in Moscow will be much lower than now, and everything will be hard to say by then!"

Everyone nodded. With the long journey and the weather debuff, this away game was indeed difficult to play.

"Okay, don't think so much, just play our game well. As long as we can win, we don't have to look at other people's faces. Instead, it's others' turn to look at our faces!"

"Yes, if we win Bayern, we will not only qualify, but we can even replace them as the favorites to win the championship!"

"Haha, I don't dare think about winning the championship. I just need to make it to the quarterfinals this year!"

"Don't look down on yourself. With our strength, as long as we don't meet those top teams in the knockout rounds, we still have great hope of entering the quarterfinals!"

In this round of the Champions League, there are several games that have attracted much attention.

In the death group, Arsenal's home game against Naples, Group C's PSG's game against Benfica, and G-football Porto's game against Atletico Madrid are all games where all parties believe that the strength is relatively balanced before the game, and the result of the game is difficult to predict. kind of competition.

Moreover, these games will also have a great impact on the qualifying situation of their respective groups. Whoever can defeat the direct competitors in a strong showdown will be able to take the initiative to qualify.

However, compared with these games, the strong showdown between Manchester City and Bayern Munich is obviously more attractive.

There is a lot to watch in this game. First of all, both teams have a lot of stars.

Someone calculated based on the data of the German transfer market. If the value of the players from the two teams is added up, the total value will exceed 1 billion euros.

This number is very exaggerated, and it also reflects how luxurious the lineups of the two teams are.

Secondly, this is a showdown between the rich and the nouveau riche.

Bayern is a long-standing giant in the Bundesliga, while Manchester City is an upstart in the Premier League.

One has a strong foundation for decades, and the other has just emerged, with a blank in the honor book.

These two teams can be seen as a collision between the old and new forces in today's football.

In the end, are the traditional giants better with their deeper heritage, or are the new football rules overturning the giants with their strong financial resources?

This is one of the highlights of the game!

In addition, there is another point of interest:

This is the first confrontation between father and son Guardiola and Lin Quan in an official game. People are very curious about who can have the last laugh between the two.

"It must be Guardiola, does it need to be said?"

"That is, what kind of strength is Bayern and what kind of strength is Manchester City? Can these be compared?"

"Bayern's main lineup has basically not been changed this season, and they have also strengthened Gotze, Thiago and others, plus Guardiola, a famous football coach, their strength may be even stronger than last season. , I don’t even know how they can lose?”

In a pre-match online poll, most fans supported Bayern's victory.

Objectively speaking, Bayern is obviously stronger.

And in the Champions League, Bayern is also more experienced.

Manchester City has only participated in the Champions League three times. The first two times did not even qualify for the group stage. In terms of experience, they are far behind the Champions League champions.

However, there is not completely no support here at Manchester City.

"I'm optimistic about Lin Lin. He can lead the team to overthrow Bayern in Werder Bremen. There is no reason why he can't do it in Manchester City!"

"Yes, although Bayern is very strong, football is round, and a strong team may not be able to win. In the Champions League group stage last season, Bayern even lost to BATE Borisov!"

"And there is another very important point. After Guardiola coached Bayern, he made adjustments to Bayern's technical and tactical play, but there was not enough time. The team did not fully reach the state he wanted. This is very important for Bayern. It may be a weakening, so Bayern may not be as strong as we thought!"

In general, although some people support Manchester City, there are still relatively few people supporting Manchester City.

The betting company also opened a handicap before the game. The initial handicap they gave was Manchester City's home handicap. This handicap is obviously more optimistic about Bayern's away win.

Affected by this, the outside world has become even more negative about Manchester City.

After all, the spinach company is here to eat, and it must be more professional than ordinary fans.

…

An hour and a half before the game, the Manchester City and Bayern buses departed from the Carrington training base at almost the same time and set off for the Etihad Stadium.

The streets leading to the stadium were almost packed with Manchester City fans wearing sky blue jerseys.

"Kick hard and we must win them!"

"Lin, come on, let them know how powerful you are!"

"Aguero, score more goals and don't be polite to them!"

The fans shouted various cheering slogans to encourage the players.

In fact, it can be seen from the expressions on their faces that Manchester City fans are also very nervous.

Fans know very well that this game may be the most important game of the season for Manchester City.

If they cannot win this home court, they will most likely follow in the footsteps of the previous two years and fall into the Champions League group stage once again.

Therefore, countless fans came spontaneously to support the team, hoping to help the team win this victory.

The fans' enthusiasm and expectations made Manchester City players feel an invisible pressure.

Tension began to spread within the team.

After arriving at the stadium, the players changed their clothes and equipment and silently walked to the stadium to warm up before the game.

Fans were also entering the stadium one after another at this time. The Etihad Stadium was dyed blue, and only a small red area could be seen in the visiting team's stand, which was the 3,000 Bayern fans who were traveling with the team.

It’s also difficult for them. British football hooligans are very famous.

They are watching the game in an away game, and if they are not careful, they may have a conflict with the home team's fans. If the two sides fight each other, the number of Bayern fans is too small, and they may suffer a big loss.

Of course, UEFA is also prepared for this. A large number of security personnel came to the game, and there were also police patrolling and guarding outside the stadium.

The existence of groups like football hooligans not only poses a threat to the security of Manchester, but also brings loss of face to the UK, so they have always cracked down on this kind of behavior.

At 19:40, the players from both sides, led by the referee, led the ball boys into the field.

Before the game even started, Manchester City's team anthem - Blue Moon (Blue Moon) had already begun to sound at the Etihad Stadium.

The rhythm of this song is not exciting or passionate at all, but has a soothing and tender feeling.

But at this time, with this tender and soothing melody, the inner impetuousness and tension of the Manchester City players are being calmed down little by little.

They moved their lips and sang softly.

The players held hands and formed a circle.

No high fives, no chants.

Only the singing was flowing slowly.

Beep!

A long, loud whistle sounded.

The game begins!

"The game has officially started. The one wearing blue jerseys on the field, attacking from left to right, is the home team Manchester City; the one wearing red jerseys, attacking from right to left, is the visiting team Bayern."

In the studio of CCTV, He Wei cheered up, and the long-awaited focus show finally started.

While looking through the starting lists of the two teams, he introduced:

"Before this game, the two teams had the same points and goal difference, so this game is also a battle for the top spot in Group D."

"Yes, so this game is very important for both teams!"

Xu Yang quickly agreed.

"Let's take a look at the starting lineups of the two teams. Pellegrini arranged for Richards to start in the defense. He probably wanted to limit the performance of Bayern's core Ribery."

"Ribery's performance in the Champions League last season is obvious to all. I think no one dares to take him lightly when facing Bayern."

"That's right. The same goes for Bayern. Midfielder Martinez starts the game. Guardiola probably uses him to restrict Lin Quan!"

"Haha, Heynckes has used this trick before, but the effect was not very good. I wonder if Guardiola has any hidden tricks."

"Manchester City's defensive arrangement today was very cautious. They did not launch an attack rashly after the start. Judging from their formation, they probably did not intend to compete with Bayern for possession of the ball. Instead, they focused on defense and counterattack to catch the opponent's mistakes."

"As expected from Bayern's side, Guardiola's team adopted a strikerless formation."

"This is also his consistent style of play during his time at Barcelona, ​​but Bayern is not Barcelona. Whether this tactic can be successful here remains to be seen."

"The outside world previously thought that Guardiola might seek stability in such a strong matchup and continue to use the mature tactics of the Heynckes era. But obviously, everyone guessed wrong. Guardiola did not because of the importance of this game. Just adopt conservative tactics when it comes to sex.”

"This is completely opposite to Mourinho!"

"Both teams currently have very good records in the league. Bayern has five wins and one draw and remains unbeaten. Manchester City has won six consecutive games. It can be said that both teams are in their best form."

"But one thing worth noting is that in the 8 meetings between Manchester City coach Pellegrini and Guardiola, he has lost 7 and drawn 1 without winning. Of course, this is related to the strength of the teams coached by the two, but it can also reflect , there may be a certain degree of restraint in the coaching styles of the two."

"Haha, this doesn't seem to be good news for Manchester City!"

On the sidelines, in the home team's coaching bench, Pellegrini looked a little nervous.

What the commentator said is not accurate. He once coached Real Madrid in the 2009-2010 season. As a result, Real Madrid was beaten by Guardiola's Barcelona at home and away.

Pellegrini has always been very afraid of this rising star in the coaching world.

This is also the main reason why he chose to play defensive counterattack tactics at home.

With Manchester City's current defensive level, it's really hard to write the word "death" when playing against Guardiola's team!

In the opening stage, both sides were testing each other, and neither side's offensive was large.

In the 5th minute, Aguero's long shot was saved by Neuer, and Manchester City got a corner kick.

Lin Quan walked to the corner kick area, took a few steps back, and glanced at Bayern's penalty area.

Bayern's defenders are tall and strong, and it is difficult for Manchester City's forwards to grab points.

So he did not choose to find a forward, but sent the ball backwards, preparing for captain Kompany to head the ball.

Lin Quan's corner kick accurately found Kompany, but the latter's header was directly confiscated by Bayern goalkeeper Neuer.

Neuer didn't delay after getting the ball. He ran out of the goal quickly and threw the ball to his teammates on the wing.

This ball is looking for Ribery. At this time, Manchester City's backcourt is very empty. Once Ribery receives the ball, he can drive straight in and pose a threat to Manchester City's goal.

Fortunately, Richards was focused, fought for the landing point, and pushed the ball out of the sideline, defusing Bayern's counterattack.

Pellegrini applauded Richards's clearance from the sidelines. Although it seemed that Ribery was still far away from Manchester City's goal, it didn't feel that dangerous.

But if Ribery really gets the ball, once he speeds up, this distance is not worth mentioning at all.

After the five-minute trial ended, Bayern sounded the horn for a massive attack.

From this point on, players such as Ribery, Robben and Muller began to become active.

In the 7th minute of the first half, after Bayern made consecutive moves in the midfield, their defender Rafinha suddenly sent a long pass from the right.

The ball was passed very accurately and directly found Ribery in front.

Ribery waited for a moment after receiving the ball, used the change of rhythm to pass the Manchester City player who was attacking, and then quickly dribbled the ball inside.

At the same time, both Muller and Robben were moving forward. Bayern fired three arrows from the front, and for a while, the Manchester City penalty area was in turmoil.

Ribery glanced in the direction of his teammates and seemed to be preparing to pass the ball, but suddenly took a volley.

Joe Hart did not expect the opponent to hit the near corner and made a hasty save without preparation.

Although he touched the ball, Ribery's shot was so powerful that Joe Hart couldn't push the ball out with his fingertips and could only watch the football fly into the net.

Bayern 1-0 Manchester City!

Ribery used a cold shot to help the team take the lead on the road.

After scoring the goal, Ribery seemed particularly excited. He rushed to the stands where the visiting team fans were and celebrated his goal with a slide.

As Bayern's core player in winning the Champions League, in the absence of major competitions such as the European Cup and World Cup, there are widespread rumors that he has a chance to win this year's Ballon d'Or.

Needless to say, the Ballon d'Or is attractive to players. Ribery naturally also longs for this award.

After the Golden Globe Award has been monopolized by the peerless duo for five years, if he can win the Golden Globe Award, his reputation will be greatly improved and he will truly become a top star comparable to Melo.

However, the outside world is just rumors now. Before the Golden Globe Awards, no one knows who will win this year’s Golden Globe Award.

So for Ribery, he must give a better performance as much as possible before the Golden Globe Awards, so as to impress the judges, increase his votes, and defeat his competitors!

And leading the team to kill everyone in the Champions League is obviously the best way!