Chapter 434 Guardiola starts to tidy up again
On the court, Mandzukic put his hands on his hips and glanced anxiously at the time on the scoreboard.
The game time has come to the last few minutes. Counting the injury time, there is really not much time left for them.
In this game, Mandzukic seemed to work extra hard and even desperately.
For others, it might just be an ordinary Champions League group match.
But for Mandzukic, this is his revenge against Guardiola!
Last summer, due to disagreements with Guardiola, Bayern's striker was sold to Atletico Madrid at a low price by Guardiola.
The feud between the two was thus forged!
Maybe it's fate, maybe it's God's will.
Just this summer, Mandzukic chose to leave Atletico Madrid and join Juventus. Soon after, his team was drawn with Manchester City coached by Guardiola.
After learning about the time of the match against Manchester City, Mandzukic has been carefully preparing for this game.
He wanted to take revenge on Guardiola in front of fans all over the world, and used his actual actions to prove that Guardiola was blind and it was a mistake to give up on him!
Mandzukic had a good idea and worked hard enough after the game started.
But in this game, Manchester City's defensive intensity was terrifyingly high.
The opponent's two central defenders were like two iron towers, tall and strong. He didn't take advantage of them at all.
Even though he tried his best, he still couldn't get a good chance to score.
That assist for Morata was already a result of great luck.
As for him stepping forward and breaking through Manchester City's goal to become the savior, this scenario seems to be hopeless at present.
However, Mandzukic was obviously very unwilling to return home in vain.
Therefore, even though the game time has reached injury time, he still gritted his teeth and once again rushed into Manchester City's penalty area and started a hand-to-hand fight with Manchester City's two tower-like defenders.
Dybala is very smart. After seeing Mandzukic attracting firepower from the front, he used his cover to ambush at the front of the penalty area. As long as his teammates can pass the ball to his feet, he can burst or shoot, and there is a lot of room to deal with it.
However, Manchester City is not only strong in the defense, but also in their midfield.
Juventus did not take advantage of the midfield stranglehold. Several attempts to pass the ball to the frontcourt players ended in failure.
Seeing time passing by, the game is about to end.
Dybala had to retreat to catch the ball, and at this time, Cuadrado finally brought the ball out and handed it to his feet.
Fernandinho rushed towards him immediately, and Kanter also came in front of him, blocking his breakthrough line.
On the bench, Dybala clearly saw his teammates being constantly intercepted and intercepted by Kanter, and he did not dare to fight head-on with the opponent.
So before the two men surrounded him, Dybala immediately passed the ball.
With his excellent awareness, Morata grabbed the spot before the defensive player and ferry him to the penalty area.
Seeing the football flying towards the penalty area, Mandzukic immediately realized that this might be his last chance in this game.
So, he shook off Van Dijk's interference, kicked the ground hard, and rushed towards the landing point of the football.
"Stop him!"
Seeing Mandzukic going to grab the spot, Navas in front of the goal immediately shouted to his teammates.
Mandzukic's header is very powerful. When he was at Bayern, he often used headers to help Bayern score goals.
Facing such an aerial bully, he must not be given the opportunity to comfortably header the ball.
Van Dijk relies on his brain when playing football. He knows that he cannot foul in the penalty area, but at this time, only physical contact can affect the opponent's balance and then destroy the opponent's shot.
Therefore, he quickly rushed towards Mandzukic and took off together with Mandzukic's body.
If Mandzukic went for the ball, then Van Dijk's move was completely for the man.
Of course, on the surface, he still looked like he was going for the ball, at least his eyes were always looking at the ball, and he just glanced at Mandzukic with his peripheral vision.
Under the influence of Van Dijk, Mandzukic's body balance was greatly affected, and his movements of shaking his head to attack the goal were somewhat deformed.
But even so, the football still flew straight to the goal.
However, with the interference of Van Dijk, the quality of the ball he pushed dropped a lot. With Navas fully prepared, he easily saved the ball and defused Juventus' attack.
Seeing that his shot failed to break through Manchester City's goal, Mandzukic was very angry.
He raised his right hand to signal to the referee that Van Dyke had committed a foul, but Van Dyke looked innocent and signaled that he was defending normally.
The referee glanced at the two men and said nothing.
He was standing very close just now, so he could see clearly that during the fight for the header, Van Dijk made no movement with his hands. He did not push or pull Mandzukic, and there was no intention of a malicious foul at all.
Not only that, after Mandzukic completed his header, Van Dijk even helped him to prevent him from accidentally falling when he landed.
How could such a good and well-behaved player commit a foul?
The referee felt that Mandzukic probably missed the opportunity to score, so he became angry, right?
But no matter how angry you are, you can't take your anger out on others, right?
Besides, victory and defeat are commonplace, and losing to the strongest team in Europe at the Etihad Stadium is not a shame.
With such a preconceived idea, and the fact that Van Dijk's actions were indeed very clean, the referee ignored Mandzukic's protest.
After the injury time ended, he quickly blew the whistle to end the game.
In the end, after a hard-fought battle, Manchester City defeated the visiting Juventus 2:1 at their home court.
In this game, both teams showed extremely high tactical literacy and combat capabilities, and the game was exciting enough for the fans who came to the scene and watched the game on TV to enjoy a wonderful game.
After this battle, Manchester City got their wish and got a good start.
For Juventus, losing to Manchester City in the first game of the group stage is somewhat disadvantageous.
But after ending the battle with the defending champion early, their next schedule will be much easier.
Moreover, the strength shown by Juventus in this game made the outside world think highly of them.
Some fans of the Old Lady even felt that it was an honor for their team to lose. Although they lost, judging from the strength they showed, it does not seem to be difficult to break out of the group stage.
If the two teams can advance together, they may one day meet again in the knockout rounds or even the finals.
At that time, Juventus can regain ground with Manchester City!
After the match between Manchester City and Juventus, another group match held at the same time also decided the winner.
Sevilla, the winner of the last Europa League championship, cleanly defeated Monchengladbach with a score of 3:0 at their home court.
They also relied on their 3 goal difference advantage to surpass Manchester City and temporarily topped the group.
In other groups, Real Madrid and Paris in Group A easily defeated their respective teammates, and Ronaldo once again scored a hat trick in the Champions League.
However, two of his hat tricks were penalty kicks, which reduced the gold content of this hat trick a lot.
Compared with Real Madrid's unstoppable momentum, Barcelona's luck is much worse.
In the away game against Roma, they were the first to score and suffered a reversal.
To make matters worse, the young player Rafinha, who came on as a substitute, was tackled from behind by Roma star Nainggolan after just one minute of playing, causing a serious knee injury and had to be carried off the field on a stretcher.
Barcelona's morale was greatly demoralized as a result, and the departure of Neymar led to a decline in Barcelona's offensive power. Since then, they have never scored again and finally had to accept the result of a draw.
Barcelona, which was still unstoppable last year, seems to have encountered a series of troubles early in the season this season.
This makes the outside world somewhat optimistic about their future in the Champions League.
While the media in La Liga are worried about Barcelona's prospects, the media in the Premier League are also sighing.
As for the reason for their sighs, it is actually very simple.
Arsenal and Manchester United both lost in the first round, and they both lost to teams weaker than them. It can be said that they were upsets one after another.
"Mourinho doesn't seem to know how to attack anymore, and his team lost because of a lack of offensive firepower.
As for Arsenal, Wenger's luck was really bad. Chamberlain's own goal at the beginning and Giroud's erratic first half from two yellows to one red made their away situation take a turn for the worse.
But even so, facing the weakest opponent in the group, the Gunners should not surrender directly.
Failure to successfully defeat their opponents in the away game is a very unfavorable situation for their group qualifying. "
"Perhaps, this season we can only count on Manchester City!"
Although Chelsea also won the first round of the game, it was a 4-0 victory.
However, the Premier League media seems to be reluctant to mention Chelsea, and the reason is very simple:
First of all, the opponent Chelsea defeated was very weak. The Israeli team has no sense of presence in Europe. There is nothing to be proud of in defeating such a weak opponent.
Secondly, Chelsea's own situation in the league is already precarious. If they want to keep their Champions League spot this season, they must make a choice between the league and the Champions League.
Of course Chelsea can give up the league and focus on the Champions League.
But in their current state, even if they qualify as a group, they may not be able to go far.
Therefore, no one dares to place their hopes on this Blue Army.
Thinking about it this way, Manchester City, who can fight and live up to expectations, seems to have become the only trustworthy target!
"Fortunately we have Manchester City!"
The British media and newspapers finally found some solace.
But if Manchester City is also eliminated one day, then they will just lament collectively!
…
After playing in the Champions League, Guardiola was temporarily relieved.
So he began to work hard. In the sixth round of the Premier League, he moved Kanter's position to the central midfielder to try to develop his offensive attributes.
This adjustment cost Manchester City a heavy price. At the end of the first half, the score on the field was 1:2, and Manchester City, playing at home, actually fell behind.
This made the fans who came to the scene feel very incredible. What happened to Manchester City?
The aftermath of the Champions League?
Compared to the confusion of Manchester City fans, the Hammers fans were collectively excited.
West Ham United's record this season is quite good, especially when they encounter the top-ranked giants, they have won consecutive games.
In the opening game of the Premier League this season, West Ham United defeated Arsenal 2-0 away from home, which gave Arsenal fans a little shock.
In the second round, they played the dark horse Leicester City in darkness at home.
When the opponent scored two goals in a row at the beginning, West Ham United continued to attack the opponent. The ball possession rate once exceeded 70%. They almost kicked around Leicester City's goal and even pulled one back. ball.
If one of the Hammers' players hadn't been sent off with a red card unfortunately, they might have really been able to overthrow the dark horse of Leicester City.
However, this defeat did not cause a big blow to the Hammers. In the fourth round of the Premier League, West Ham United visited Anfield. They defeated Liverpool with a score of 3:0, successfully captured Anfield, and made their debut on the Premier League stage. Klopp also gave a little shock.
If West Ham United can successfully win this game, then they will have defeated three of the five giants in the Premier League, and they can definitely be called the killers of giants!
However, Manchester City is not someone everyone rubs their belly.
After realizing that Kanter was not comfortable in the central midfielder position, Guardiola decisively gave up the attempt in the second half and returned Kanter to the defensive midfielder position.
And in the 65th minute of the second half, he replaced Zhengin forward Aguero, who had returned from injury.
After Aguero came on the field, he was very active. The frontcourt attack group formed by him, Lin Quan, De Bruyne, David Silva and others caused great trouble for West Ham United's defense.
In the 72nd and 78th minutes of the second half, Aguero and Lin Quan scored goals one after another, helping the team reverse the score, and finally defeated the Hammers 3:2, defending their home court and extending Manchester City's winning streak. Arrived at 6 games.
Although the team won in the end, Guardiola was in a bad mood after the game.
He still seems to be immersed in the failed transformation of Kanter and can't extricate himself!
"As expected, it still doesn't work?"
Guardiola felt quite regretful. It would be great if he could really develop this attribute of Kanter!
"Why do you want to transform Kante into that? Wasn't Yaya Toure the same type of player before? But when he was in the team, it felt like you didn't like to use him very much!"
Lin Quan couldn't understand Guardiola's stubbornness. Human energy is limited.
Kanter is better at defense, so just let him play to his strengths. Why force him to do something he's not good at?
