Chapter 607: After successive fierce battles, will Manchester City collapse?

Haaland's sudden outburst completely exceeded Liverpool's expectations.

Moreover, there was not much time left in the game at this time. Even if they had woken up and understood that they had underestimated the threat of Haaland before, it was too late.

At the last moment of the game, Liverpool launched a crazy counterattack in an attempt to equalize the score.

However, they failed to achieve their goal under Manchester City's steady defense and had to swallow the bitter pill of failure at home.

For Liverpool, this result is almost a death sentence.

They failed to defeat their opponents at home, and their hope of winning on the road became even slimmer.

After the game, the Liverpool players on the field were very disappointed and collapsed to the ground one by one.

They really tried their best in this game, but still failed to win Manchester City, and were even reversed by their opponents. This result was not even as good as the last draw.

Also unwilling were the Liverpool fans in the stands. When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, many Liverpool fans even started to cry.

They have understood that after losing to Manchester City at home, Liverpool's Champions League journey this year has come to an end.

This makes these Red Army fans who are looking forward to seeing the team's recovery extremely disappointed.

When the match between Manchester City and Liverpool ends, all four games of this round of Champions League are also over.

Judging from the final results, the teams that were favored before the game basically won, and there was no upset.

Defending champion Real Madrid defeated Juventus 3-0 in an away game, basically locking in a ticket to the semi-finals in advance.

Bayern Munich, with an aging lineup and declining strength, narrowly defeated Sevilla 2:1 away from home.

Although he failed to play the dominant performance that fans expected, even the reversal and equalizing goal came from an own goal by the opponent.

But just tell him whether he won or not!

Bayern won, and also scored 2 away goals. They return to home in the next game. As long as they don't lose too outrageously, their semi-final spot is still very stable.

Compared with Bayern, Barcelona seems to have better luck.

Playing at home, they defeated Serie A team Roma 4:1.

In this game, Roma's defensive players gave out gifts one after another. First, captain De Rossi scored an own goal, and then Malonas scored another own goal. Barcelona scored two goals with the help of the opponent's own goal. The victory came extremely easily.

After the first round of competition, everyone can basically guess the list of the top four.

Therefore, many fans directly skipped the second round and began to enjoy the matchup between these four teams in the semifinals.

"Real Madrid is the defending champion and Manchester City was the runner-up last season. I think it will definitely be interesting if these two teams meet in advance in the semi-finals!"

"Guardiola and Lin are both former Barcelona players, and Manchester City has also defeated Barcelona in the Champions League final. I think if Manchester City and Barcelona meet in the semi-finals, it will also be a very exciting game!"

"Then according to what you say, Bayern is Guardiola's former club. Wouldn't it be exciting to take Manchester City to stage a revenge plot against the old club?"

These four teams are all very strong. No matter how the draws are drawn, the semi-finals will be exciting.

But it's too early to say this now, after all, there is still the second round to play!

Although these four teams have great advantages, the possibility of upsets is not impossible.

…

After the game against Liverpool, Manchester City took the bus back to Manchester without stopping.

Although Manchester City and Liverpool are very close, this game is very taxing on the players, and it may take several days to fully recover.

Unfortunately, in the next round of the Premier League, Manchester City will face the Manchester Derby at home.

Although Manchester City's physical strength is stronger than Manchester United, they have just finished playing Liverpool and don't have much time to rest. If they encounter Manchester United at this time, I am afraid they will inevitably have a fierce battle.

This is indeed the case!

On April 8, in the 33rd round of the Premier League, Manchester City, playing at home, relied on Lin Quan and Aguero's goals in the first half to establish a 2:0 lead 30 minutes into the game. Huge lead.

But after entering the second half, the physical fitness of Manchester City players began to decline. In addition, Manchester United strengthened its stranglehold on the center. After lacking sufficient physical fitness to restrict their opponents, Pogba, Herrera and others began to become active.

In the 53rd minute of the second half, Herrera assisted Pogba and scored a goal.

Just 2 minutes later, Sanchez provided another assist to Pogba, who scored twice within two minutes.

The huge advantage Manchester City built in the first half was quickly erased, and that wasn't even the worst of it.

Manchester United, which is in full swing, has begun to take the initiative on the court, even overwhelming Manchester City, who are playing at home.

Manchester City's luck in this game was really bad. The team had already hit the goalpost twice in the first half. In the 59th minute of the second half, De Bruyne's long shot hit the crossbar again and was ejected.

Two minutes later, Lin Quan's shot in the penalty area was rejected by the post.

Manchester City hit the frame one after another, but Manchester United hit every one accurately.

In the 69th minute, Sanchez broke through on the right and sent a cross. Lingard half-turned and volleyed the goal, scoring a very exciting goal and helping the team complete the overtake.

There was silence at the Etihad Stadium, and Manchester City fans looked at each other.

In their minds, the team has not lost to Manchester United for four or five years.

Will Manchester City lose to their opponents at their home court today?

On the sidelines, Guardiola couldn't sit still at this time.

He immediately started to make substitution adjustments, replacing Gundogan, replacing the exhausted De Bruyne, replacing Sane, and replacing the immobile Mbappe.

Then he hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and used the last substitution spot.

"Harland, come on!"

Guardiola chose to believe in Haaland, the hero of the previous victory, and chose to replace Aguero with him.

Seeing Manchester City's substitutions, Mourinho immediately began to make substitution adjustments.

He successively replaced Sanchez, Herrera and Lingard, and replaced Rashford, Lindelof and McTominay to strengthen defense.

Manchester City fans saw that the opponent's forward Lukaku was still on the court, and they couldn't help pinning their hopes on the king of pestles.

The last time at Old Trafford, if it weren't for the two 'assists' provided by Lukaku, Manchester City might not have won so easily.

After Sane, Haaland and others came on the field, Manchester City's offensive firepower increased.

But Manchester United is different from Liverpool. Guardiola is a very good defensive coach. When he is determined to defend, it will be difficult for even a fully-fledged Manchester City to break through the door of his team, let alone Manchester City. Now is the time for this bad state.

In the 85th minute of the game, Lin Quan got rid of Matic's entanglement in the middle and sent a through ball.

After receiving the ball, Haaland shot the ball into the goal. Just as he raised his hands in the air and was about to celebrate, his goal was considered to be an offside goal and the goal was invalid.

Haaland ran to the referee emotionally to protest. He felt that he was not offside just now and this must be a misjudgment.

However, the referee felt that his authority had been challenged and was very unhappy with such a little kid's questioning. He did not talk nonsense to Harland at all, directly showed him a yellow card as a warning, and insisted on his penalty.

The slow-motion replay on the scene showed that when Haaland received the ball, he was on the same line as the last defensive player, and it was difficult to judge whether it was offside with the naked eye.

If there is VAR to assist the referee in making penalties, this ball may still be contested.

But in this era, whatever the referee says is what it is, not to mention this kind of ball that is very vague and difficult to judge.

Although the goal was ruled out as a goal, it still scared everyone in Chelsea into a cold sweat.

At Mourinho's request, they further strengthened their defensive intensity against Manchester City's midfield, preferring to commit fouls rather than give them a chance to pass the ball out.

Manchester United has been waiting for this victory for too long. In order to get this victory, the players on the field were like beating chicken blood.

This is true when attacking, and it is true when defending.

Even Pogba was unambiguous when defending. Not only did he take the initiative to defend, he also volunteered to take on some of the dirty work.

Under the united defense of Manchester United players, Manchester City ultimately failed to equalize the score.

When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game, the score on the field was fixed at 2:3. Manchester City lost the Manchester Derby, and this season's unbeaten golden status was also shattered.

After the game, Manchester United's players celebrated wildly as if they had won the Premier League championship this season.

"Your team played a great game, congratulations!"

Although he lost, Guardiola still stepped forward gracefully and shook hands with Mourinho to congratulate him.

The two used to be very good friends, but later they became unhappy due to different ideas and some nastiness on the field.

But the two of them haven't reached the level of enemies yet, their relationship is just a little colder.

And as the two gradually pulled apart in league and Champions League results, Guardiola gradually became less interested in fighting with Mourinho.

After all, I have won so much that I have become a little numb.

But for Mourinho, he has always regarded Guardiola as his biggest opponent.

This victory is a great morale booster for him and his team.

This proves that he is still capable of defeating Guardiola and his team!

Mourinho heard Guardiola's words, glanced at the Manchester City players on the court, and said to him:

"Thank you and congratulations on having a great group of players and a great team!"

Guardiola was a little surprised. He didn't expect Mourinho to change his gender.

However, before he could speak, Mourinho continued:

"But my team is the greatest team and I will prove it!"

After that, he turned around and left.

Guardiola was stunned for a moment, shook his head and laughed.

This guy is still so competitive and arrogant. He hasn't changed at all!

There was no suspense in Manchester City's home defeat to Manchester United, and it became the headlines of many newspapers after the game.

The whole of Britain and even the entire European football world are wondering when Manchester City's undefeated streak will be broken.

There are not many games left in the Premier League. If Manchester City does not lose, they will win the championship with an unbeaten record.

In the history of the Premier League, only Arsenal has won the title undefeated.

But in the season when Arsenal won the championship, their momentum was far less powerful than Manchester City.

If Manchester City really wins the championship undefeated, then other Premier League teams may have to live in the shadow of Manchester City again.

Therefore, Manchester United's victory is not only of great significance to themselves, but also to the entire Premier League.

However, for Manchester City, they have already won the championship 7 rounds in advance, and the outcome of this game will not have much impact on them.

But losing to Manchester United at home will still have some impact on the players' mentality.

So Guardiola calmed the players in the locker room and announced that he would give the team a day off to let them have a good rest.

After they have rested, they will be ready to face Liverpool's challenge at home.

This period of time is indeed very unfriendly to Manchester City.

The opponents they have faced in the last four games are all strong teams. First they played Liverpool away, then they played Manchester United at home, and then they continued to play Liverpool at home. After the game with Liverpool, they went to White Hart Lane to challenge Tottenham.

Playing such four high-intensity games in just ten days is a huge test for any team.

What's more, Manchester City had just lost to their rivals in the same city, and their morale had been greatly affected.

If they lose to Liverpool again in this game, the team may not only lose hope of advancing to the Champions League semi-finals, but may even collapse at the end of the season.

For this reason, Guardiola attaches great importance to this game. Even if Manchester City has a considerable advantage, he does not dare to neglect it.

In the last game against Manchester United, Manchester City established so many huge advantages in the first half, didn't they collapse in the second half?

Considering the team's current devilish schedule and the physical reserves of the players, this game must not be careless, because they cannot afford the consequences of losing.

Losing to Manchester United in the league does not matter to Manchester City, since they have already won the championship in advance.

However, losing to Liverpool in the Champions League will cause Manchester City to stop in the quarterfinals and lose hope of revenge against Real Madrid.

This is unacceptable to Manchester City in any case.

Therefore, Guardiola did not continue the formation and style of play from the previous game, but adopted the style of play that Manchester City had used to win 18 consecutive games at the beginning of the season.

Manchester City picked up a pressing and offensive style of three central defenders at home!

Amid the crazy cheers from the fans, Manchester City launched a fierce attack on Liverpool after the opening game!

In the 2nd minute of the game, De Bruyne sent an assist, Lin Quan broke into the penalty area and completed a fatal blow. Manchester City scored at the speed of light, rewriting the total score to 4:2!

This goal came so fast that Liverpool and even the fans at the scene were caught off guard.

On Liverpool's coaching bench, Klopp's brows were deeply frowned. They were 2 goals behind, and their opponents had three away goals. If Liverpool wanted to advance, they had to score at least 3 goals!

This is too difficult! (End of chapter)