Chapter 572 The Rise of Juventus

This season's Premier League is really full of laughter and sorrow.

The Blues returned to the championship, Tottenham failed to win the title, the Red Devils failed to revive, and Liverpool returned to the Champions League...

In addition to these, the biggest highlight of the final round is the fourth battle between Arsenal and Liverpool.

In the final round of the league, Arsenal were two points behind Liverpool and four behind on goal difference.

In other words, if Arsenal wants to secure fourth place, they must not only defeat their opponents, but also pray for Liverpool to lose.

The games on both sides were played at the same time. Arsenal fought extremely hard in this game. Even after the team was sent off with a red card less than 20 minutes into the game, the Gunners were still attacking tenaciously.

After a hard battle, Arsenal defeated Everton 3:1 at home and got the three points that were indispensable in the script to secure the fourth place.

But Arsenal's expectations were soon dashed, as the score of another game soon arrived.

Liverpool easily defeated Middlesbrough at home with a score of 3:0, extinguishing Arsenal's last hope.

After the game, many Arsenal fans were unwilling to leave the field for a long time. They sang the team song over and over again and stood with the team.

Wenger walked slowly into the stadium to comfort the crying players.

Arsenal's performance this season has been very good. In the end, they scored a high score of 74 points. In previous years, this score was enough for them to get a Champions League spot.

But this year their luck was a bit worse, and unfortunately they were unable to continue their previous tradition of entering the Champions League every year.

Wenger wanted to say sorry for this. One general was incompetent and the three armies were exhausted.

He felt that he was dragging down the team, so he chose to leave after the end of this season.

I hope that after I leave, the club's senior management can find a suitable successor!

…

The end of the league is a relief for Manchester City.

Finally, we can get out of the disadvantageous situation of multi-front combat!

This season, their league performance has reached a new low in the past four years, ranking third in the district. For Manchester City, who are used to winning championships, it is a bit embarrassing.

However, it may not be easy to win the title in the increasingly fierce Premier League from now on.

Especially for a team like Manchester City that needs to work on multiple fronts at the same time, it is a huge challenge.

Due to personnel changes this season, Manchester City's record has been ups and downs, and both the league and the Champions League have been affected.

They lost the league championship and failed to get first place in the Champions League group stage.

Fortunately, the subsequent games went relatively smoothly, and they easily defeated Monaco in the quarter-finals.

Another double defeat against Dortmund in the quarter-finals!

Although they didn't get the opponent they wanted the most in the semi-finals, they did get a good opponent like Juventus, which finally didn't add any extra difficulty to them.

At least compared to the other giants that advanced to the semi-finals, Manchester City's path to promotion is relatively smooth.

Real Madrid, who was favored by everyone, was beaten 2:1 by ten-man Bayern in the second round at home, almost being overturned at home.

Fortunately, in the overtime period, with Ronaldo's two goals, Real Madrid advanced to the semi-finals without any danger.

As for Atletico Madrid, the outside world was originally very optimistic that they would continue to keep clean sheets against their opponents, but they never expected that Atletico Madrid would almost be overturned by Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.

Although Atletico Madrid won in the end, Leicester City only ranked 12th in the Premier League. Such a team is not a strong team to begin with.

It is so difficult to win against Leicester City, so it is difficult for the outside world to have high expectations for Atletico Madrid.

Therefore, for Real Madrid, which was drawn against Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals, the outside world believed that Real Madrid was sent to the finals.

Considering that Real Madrid's strength has gone further this season, while Manchester City's strength has declined.

Once Real Madrid does reach the finals, this year will really be their most promising year!

On May 3, the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals begins.

Real Madrid was at home and defeated Atletico Madrid 3-0 with Ronaldo's hat trick.

As expected, Atletico Madrid hardly poses any threat to Real Madrid.

This score basically sentenced Atletico Madrid to death, and it also meant that Real Madrid had advanced to the finals in advance.

Compared with the competition in the first half, which was clearly divided between strong and weak, the competition in the second half was much more anxious than outsiders expected.

Although Manchester City won the first round at home, the score was not good.

They only have a goal difference and have given their opponents two away goals.

In an era when away goals had not been cancelled, the score of 3:2 could even be regarded as a victory for the visiting team to some extent.

Juventus is very satisfied with this score, although judging from the score, they did not lose much.

But in fact, Juventus played very ugly in this game. They only had 33% of the ball possession rate in the whole game, and they had very few shots, only 5 shots.

But Juventus is very lucky, or their forward Higuain is in very good condition.

In this game, Higuain scored two goals with three shots, which was surprisingly efficient!

The person who provided him with two assists was Juventus right wing back Alves.

Although Alves is older, after leaving Barcelona, ​​he proved with practical actions that he is still one of the best right backs on the planet!

Compared with Juventus, Manchester City is naturally dissatisfied with this score.

Guardiola rarely got angry after the game and severely criticized the players who performed poorly in this game.

Don't blame him for being angry. Manchester City has already lost the league championship. If there is no more success in the Champions League, then this season will be empty.

The score of 3:2 was really dangerous. It seemed that they were leading by one goal, but the opponent's two away goals were like a thorn in the throat, making Manchester City feel unspeakably uncomfortable.

When the opponent returns to their home court, they only need an economical 1:0 to send Manchester City home!

Judging from the scoring efficiency of the opponent's forward in this game, it is not difficult for Juventus to score at home.

Therefore, the current situation is already very unfavorable for Manchester City.

They did not seize the opportunity at home, so they had to go to the away game for a last-ditch battle. The away game was not easy to play, so they needed to prepare for the worst.

…

On May 8, the entire Manchester City team came to Turin three days in advance to prepare for the second round match against Juventus.

Juventus fans are very 'enthusiastic' about Manchester City. After they arrived, the other party quickly determined the location of the hotel where they were staying, and then a group of people came loudly and tried every means to beat them, including beating gongs and drums. , setting off fireworks and firecrackers.

In short, they tried their best to make noise and not let the Manchester City players have a good rest.

Although the team had anticipated and prepared for this situation before arriving, even so, the team's preparations were inevitably affected.

Affected by this, the morale of the entire Manchester City team seemed slightly low.

Compared with Manchester City, Juventus can be said to have high morale.

It has been 15 years since they last reached the Champions League final, and it has been 21 years since Juventus last won the Big Ears Cup!

The entire Juventus team is extremely eager to step on the stage of the finals again and win the Big Ears Cup again!

Although, they know that it is very, very difficult to achieve this goal!

But they have climbed mountains one after another, passed through obstacles one after another, and now they are only two steps away from the final goal!

As long as they win two games, Juventus can get what they want!

And these two games happen to be the two most difficult games for Juventus among all their games throughout the year!

They have to beat Manchester City first and then Real Madrid to realize their dream of reaching the sky!

is it hard?

Of course it’s difficult. In the entire football world, few teams dare to beat Manchester City and Real Madrid for sure!

You might be able to win by luck, but you can't beat two of the top teams in football in a row.

Juventus needs to show all its strength, its best condition, and go all out to make it possible!

May 10, 2017, 19:45, Juventus Stadium.

The game kicked off with the deafening cheers of fans from both sides!

As soon as the game started, the two sides started a fierce strangulation battle with bayonets on the court.

Those who win the midfield win the world, this is the experience summed up by countless people.

Therefore, the fight between the two sides around the midfield was particularly fierce, even tragic.

In the 10th minute of the first half, the first injury and attrition occurred on the field.

During a fight with Manchester City's midfielder, Khedira was injured and fell to the ground. After examination by the team doctor, he confirmed that he could not persist and was forced to be substituted.

Khedira's end was a blow to Juventus.

The German who dares to fight and fight is a key part of Juventus' midfield.

Although he is not a defensive iron, he has high work input, a wide running range, and is very daring to fight. With him on the court, the players feel much more at ease psychologically and can often perform at a better level.

This is also the reason why Khedira can gain a foothold in Real Madrid and Juventus. At first glance, this person seems to have shortcomings everywhere, but in fact, he is very important to the team.

Therefore, his absence has greatly weakened Juventus' midfield strength!

Without Khedira's cover, Pjanic, Alves and others felt uncomfortable playing. Even Dybala had to reduce his offensive investment and spend more energy on defense.

Although Juventus' midfielder was temporarily at a disadvantage, their forwards exploded.

Mandzukic, who has left Bayern for several years, has not forgiven Guardiola until now.

Every time he met Guardiola and his team on the field, Mandzukic was as excited as if he had been given a shot of blood.

He just wanted to prove himself, slap Guardiola hard in the face, and let the world know that it was not Mandzukic who was not good, but Guardiola who was blind.

When Juventus met Manchester City several times before, due to the huge gap in strength between the two sides, Mandzukic returned defeated many times and failed to complete his revenge.

But today, at Juventus's home court, they encountered perhaps the weakest Manchester City team in the past three years. On the other hand, Juventus, after a long period of running-in, their strength has steadily improved. The gap in hard power has reached the smallest level in the past few years.

Therefore, this game is a great opportunity for Mandzukic!

He also lived up to the fans' expectations. In the 33rd minute of the first half, he seized the opportunity and used his best header to break the deadlock on the field and rewrite the score to 1:0!

This goal was very crucial because it made the total score of the two sides a tie, and Juventus had already taken the initiative to advance because of its two away goals.

If Manchester City cannot equalize the score, then Juventus can realize their dream of reaching the final!

"Juventus has something. It seems that the score in the last game was not an accident!"

"Qingshi, although the statistics are ugly, but being able to score two goals at Manchester City's home court is enough to show their ability!"

"Is it possible that this season's Champions League final will be between Real Madrid and Juventus?"

"Don't jump to conclusions so quickly. This game is not over yet. You have to have some confidence in Manchester City. Besides, even if you don't believe in Manchester City, you still have to believe in Lin Lin!"

"It's just that, Real Madrid has such a huge advantage, isn't it still a thrilling advancement in the end? Don't underestimate these top teams. No one can predict the result until the last minute."

On the Internet, fans of the two teams were discussing heatedly. In addition to being interested in the result of this game, they were also concerned about whether there would be another upset.

In this season's Champions League, many giants that were favored before the game unexpectedly overturned, such as Barcelona, ​​which beat Manchester City to win the first place in the group.

Many people believe that Barcelona is the favorite to win the Champions League this season because of Barcelona's victory over Manchester City at home.

Unexpectedly, they were ruthlessly eliminated by Paris before even reaching the quarter-finals.

Paris Saint-Germain, which defeated Barcelona 4-0 at home and finally prevented Barcelona from performing a miraculous comeback and entered the quarterfinals, was considered by many to be the favorite to win the championship after eliminating Barcelona.

The results of it?

When encountering Juventus, they were eliminated at the speed of light, and the score was very different. It seemed that the gap in strength was obvious.

Football matches are full of chance. Even if it is a top club, even if the team is worth a lot of money, it is still possible for it to overturn.

What's more, which team can reach the Champions League semi-finals is an underdog?

Even if there is a gap in strength between the two sides in the semi-finals, the gap will not be too big.

After Juventus scored the first goal, the situation was indeed developing in their favor.

But this does not mean that Juventus is really guaranteed to win.

After Khedira left the field, Juventus' midfield problems began to gradually come to light, while Manchester City's advantage in the midfield was expanding bit by bit.

Those who win the midfield win the world. When Manchester City's advantage accumulates to a certain extent, their offense becomes somewhat unstoppable.

In the final stage of the first half, Juventus was already very passive on the court. Manchester City continued to create threats in a short period of time, making Juventus' goal a jittery one.

If the young player Buffon hadn't performed well and resolved the crises one by one, the score might have been evened.

However, Juventus's good luck will eventually run out!