Chapter 2172: Strong Manchester City, Sterling has a one-on-one opportunity!

There are actually only five Premier League teams that have won the Champions League.

Liverpool has won the most titles, five times.

The second is Manchester United, they have won four championships.

The third is Chelsea. Although Ye Chen defeated Chelsea in Dortmund and snatched their first championship in his previous life, after Ye Chen joined, they won the Champions League title one after another!

Fourth is Nottingham Forest, they have won the championship twice, and defended the Champions League for two consecutive years in 1979 and 1980.

I believe many people don’t know the fifth one, it’s actually Aston Villa!

In 1981-1982, Aston Villa defeated the powerful Bayern Munich 1-0 in the final and won the championship.

It is worth mentioning that Manchester United also defeated Bayern in the 98-99 season...

Manchester City spent a lot of money to introduce head coaches and players, so they are naturally not satisfied with always winning zero in the Champions League!

So tonight is particularly important to them.

Guardiola said at the pre-match press conference that he would only treat this game as an ordinary game.

But in private, he emphasized that this game is more important than any league game this season.

After all, Manchester United has never lost a game in the league, no, it has won 31 games in a row.

This has made Guardiola a little desperate.

Since there is no chance in the league, let’s aim for the Champions League.

He doesn't believe that Manchester United can take care of the league, the Champions League and the FA Cup at the same time.

So this is what Guardiola considers a "great opportunity"!

Although the previous "great opportunities" to defeat Manchester United were lost to Manchester United, there is always a chance in the next moment...

"Manchester United will play with all their main players today!"

"The goalkeeper is still De Gea."

"Cancelo at left back, Maguire and Pepe at centre back, and Damian at right back."

"The three midfielders are Rice, B Ronaldo and Modric!"

"Left winger De Bruyne, forward Cristiano Ronaldo, right winger Ye Chen!"

Many fans were surprised to find that Manchester United's new prince Rashford was sitting on the bench, and De Bruyne replaced him.

Of course, Manchester United players knew about this tactical arrangement early on.

In fact, this lineup was specially arranged by Ancelotti for Manchester City.

This is his favorite Christmas tree formation, and both De Bruyne and Ye Chen have the ability to move to the wing.

According to Ancelotti's idea, Ye Chen in the frontcourt is Kaka of early AC Milan.

Many people only remember that AC Milan was defeated by Liverpool in the 2004-2005 season, but they forget that two years later they reached the Champions League final again in the 2006-2007 season, and their opponent was still Liverpool.

In the second encounter, AC Milan gave it their all and eventually defeated their opponent 2-1 with two goals from Inzaghi and stood at the top of Europe for the seventh time.

Many people say that Ancelotti's Christmas tree tactics are outdated and outdated.

But Ancelotti had his own ideas.

Modern football is all about speed.

Defeat everything with speed.

Facing Manchester City, which is good at controlling the ball, he focused on defense, looking for gaps in the backcourt and counterattacking directly, just like in the previous game when he beat Manchester City 3-1 at home!

"Manchester City also used a 433 formation."

"Ederson will be the goalkeeper."

"Otamendi at left back, Stones and Kompany at centre back, Kyle Walker at right back!"

"The midfield three is Fernandinho, Gundogan and David Silva."

"Sane on the left, Messi on the striker, Sterling on the right."

This lineup is the strongest lineup Manchester City can currently field.

Wang Chu felt muscle discomfort after the last game and was unable to play.

Of course, because of this incident, many Manchester City fans also went to the German official website to criticize Loew...

After all, Löw only let Ye Chen rest and not Wang Chu. Isn't this a clear difference in treatment?

Love did not respond to this.

But anyone with a discerning eye knows that Ye Chen is the king of Germany. As for Wang Chu... although his last name is Wang, he was able to join the German team because of Ye Chen's connections.

Naturally, Wang Chu wouldn't get upset about these little things.

As the time approached 8:45, the German referee Brich also stood in the center circle.

I have to say that Blich has had a good relationship with Manchester United recently. The last game against Paris Saint-Germain was refereed by Blich.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

The countdown began on the big screen.

As the countdown ended, Brich blew the whistle.

"Beep!"

The game officially begins!

Ancelotti stood on the sidelines, his expression remained calm, but his heart was filled with uncontrollable excitement.

For him, this is the Champions League final held in advance this year.

After all, he knows Manchester City's strength very well!

As long as they can overcome this mountain, perhaps Manchester United can reach the top of Europe again this year.

Of course, because the league has a big advantage now, he will put more energy into the league and strive to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League!

Today, the Christmas tree tactics made a comeback as a "little surprise" for Guardiola.

Hopefully he'll like the surprise.

"Bang bang bang!"

On the field, the ball was controlled by Manchester City, who were more active.

Manchester United players chose to stand firm in their positions and not give the opponent any chance to take advantage.

Messi was quite active after the start of the game. Although his official position was a forward, he actually appeared in the middle area.

As soon as he got the ball in the middle, he started to ask for the ball actively, dribbled through, and passed the ball in various ways.

But after several attempts to make key passes were intercepted, he began to realize that things were not as simple as he thought.

With Messi's football IQ, he naturally understood that his passing line had been blocked.

In this case, he began to change his strategy and chose to cut inside and shoot.

But the successive attempts were firmly held by De Gea.

14 minutes 49 seconds.

Manchester United finally got a chance to advance.

Cancelo tried to eat Kyle Walker alive on the left.

But as the best right-back in the Premier League today, Kyle Walker forced Cancelo to play on the outside.

The moment he walked to the outside, he immediately blocked his position and snatched the ball away.

This set of actions caused Manchester City fans to cheer loudly.

After getting the ball, Walker did not waste time, but passed it diagonally to Gundogan in the middle.

Gundogan has now become the mainstay of Manchester City's midfield, with excellent offense and defense.

After dribbling the ball, he quickly made a long pass.

The person he was looking for was Sterling who was moving to the side of the frontcourt.

"call!"

Sterling's super fast speed allowed him to pass between Maguire and Cancelo.

This is also Guardiola’s tactical arrangement!

Maguire turns slowly and is not fast.

Cancelo likes to attack.

So the left side has a big loophole.

Gundogan's long pass was like a sharp dagger, tearing a hole directly in the heart of Manchester United.

Sterling started quickly and his excellent basic skills allowed him to get the ball comfortably.

Maguire was left behind by him.

De Gea in front of the goal did not sit still and attacked quickly.

Sterling was also very calm with the ball.

Rub your right foot gently.

"Sterling has a one-on-one chance!"

"Rub shot——"

The ball easily bypassed De Gea and flew to the far corner of the goal...

At this moment, all the Manchester United fans collapsed instantly.

Manchester United's defense in the first ten minutes made them feel very reassured.

But after Manchester United tried to attack, they were easily torn apart...