Chapter 994 Enemies meet
Amid the war of words, the third Red Devils derby of this season is just around the corner.
At 4 pm Greenwich time on April 20th, Manchester United's away game against Liverpool at Anfield will kick off.
The match was played at 4 a.m. on April 21 in China. If you went to bed early, you would have basically woken up by then. At least the timing was much better than those matches that started at 4 or a.m.
Especially for some office workers, getting up early to watch the game is just the right time for them to get ready for work.
Therefore, for this game, there were still a large number of Chinese fans waiting in front of the TV, waiting for the game to start.
On the Internet, everyone was already discussing this game more than ten hours before it started.
Liverpool's outstanding performance this season has made the game between the two teams full of suspense. The two sides played 2:1 in their first encounter in the league. In the League Cup final at the end of February, the two sides also played 3:2. Although Manchester United won both games, it was not easy.
Now the two sides meet again in the league, both Manchester United and Liverpool are very much looking forward to winning the game.
For Liverpool, if they can beat Manchester United at home, they can keep the suspense of the league and fight for the last glimmer of hope of winning the championship.
For Manchester United, if they can beat Liverpool away from home, it will not only hit the morale of this arch-rival, but also kill their hopes of making a comeback and winning the league title.
No matter what, since all the coincidences have turned this game into such an important decisive battle, let's fight to our heart's content.
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In the locker room at Anfield, Liverpool head coach Klopp is making final preparations for his men.
"There are still ten minutes before the game starts. I don't need to say anything more, I believe you all know the importance of this game. I won't deceive myself and tell you that this is just an ordinary league game. Some people say that in today's Britain, no one can reverse Mourinho's team when they are leading by a large margin, and the ranking so far this season seems to prove that this statement is correct. But I want to say 'bullshit'! I know we are not afraid of Manchester United, and you know this too!"
Klopp paused, then continued: "Ten years ago, Manchester City was able to close the 4-point gap with Manchester United in 8 rounds and eventually won the first Premier League championship in team history. Why can't we do it?"
Klopp was talking about the 2011-2012 season, when Manchester City reversed Manchester United to win the championship. In that season, when the 32nd round of the Premier League was played, Manchester United ranked first with 79 points, while Manchester City ranked second with 71 points.
As the overlord of the Premier League, Manchester United is extremely stable in the Premier League, so at that time, no one believed that Manchester United would lose the championship that season, but what happened next stunned everyone.
第33轮，曼联客场0:1爆冷输给维冈竞技；第35轮，曼联在主场4:4被莫耶斯的埃弗顿4:4逼平；第36轮，在一场天王山之战中，曼联在伊蒂哈德球场0:1败北……
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In 4 rounds of games, Manchester United had 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses, and its 8-point advantage was wiped out. Moreover, due to the disadvantage in goal difference, Manchester United was overtaken by Manchester City in the standings and lost the top position.
In the last two rounds, although Manchester United won all the games, Manchester City did not let them down either. In the end, when both teams scored 89 points, Manchester City beat Manchester United with a goal difference advantage and won the championship, winning the team's first league championship in the Premier League era.
This season is also considered the season when Ferguson's Manchester United dynasty really began to collapse. Although Ferguson led Manchester United to regain the Premier League title a year later, after Ferguson retired, Manchester United missed the Premier League title for three consecutive years. This is also the first time in the history of the Premier League that Manchester United has failed to win the title for three consecutive years.
In fact, this is still the version in today's time and space. In another time and space, Manchester United has never won the Premier League championship since then.
The current situation is somewhat similar to that season ten years ago.
Although the league has already been played for 33 rounds, due to some reasons, the top three teams in the standings have only played 31 league games. This means that Liverpool has 7 rounds to catch up with the 8-point gap with Manchester United.
"Thanks to the league's schedule, with seven rounds left, we can talk directly to Manchester United! If we can beat them at home, we still have enough time to catch up. Use these 7 minutes to prove to them that we Liverpool are the strongest team in the league now!"
Klopp's passionate speech made the players excited and roaring, like a group of wild horses about to break free, ready to crush all obstacles in their way!
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At the same time, in the away team's locker room at Anfield, Mourinho said to his players with a serious face: "Don't think that just because we are 8 points ahead now, as long as we can draw with them away, we can win the championship."
"This kind of thinking is very dangerous. Forget about the draw. In the world of football, there is only victory or defeat. If you can't win, you will lose. In this game, everyone should show their best condition and the most serious attitude."
"Remember, we have only one goal, and that is to beat them at their home ground and completely end Liverpool's hopes of winning the league title!"
The Manchester United players were also very excited.
This is their sixth consecutive year of dominating the Premier League!
Last summer, Manchester United's striker Mbappe was successfully poached by Real Madrid. At the same time, in terms of recruiting players, Manchester United has not made any major moves for three consecutive years. This has caused many media to begin to criticize Manchester United, believing that this is a sign that Manchester United is beginning to decline.
But who would have thought that after the start of the league, Manchester United's performance was very stable, winning games one after another, and always maintaining a lead over its two major competitors Liverpool and Manchester City in the league standings.
Not only that, in the League Cup, Manchester United defeated strong opponents such as West Ham United, Manchester City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool and won the championship, which is known as the most valuable League Cup championship in history.
In the FA Cup, Manchester United also defeated strong opponents such as Aston Villa, Tottenham and Chelsea and reached the final.
As for the world-renowned Champions League, Manchester United advanced to the knockout stage two rounds in advance with an excellent performance of four consecutive wins in the group known as the group of death, and then defeated the dark horse Sporting Lisbon and the strong rival Manchester City to advance to the Champions League semi-finals.
Although Manchester United's opponent in the Champions League semi-finals is the powerful Real Madrid, the confidence-inspired Manchester United players believe that the Galacticos cannot stop them from winning the Champions League for the fifth consecutive time!
If Manchester United can eventually win the Premier League and the Champions League, then, coupled with having already won the Community Shield, European Super Cup and Club World Cup, Manchester United will have the opportunity to win seven titles for two consecutive seasons!
This really surprised many people.
What happened to the fact that Manchester United had passed its peak and was about to decline? How come they are about to win the seventh title again?
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But the Manchester United players probably won't be surprised, because they have worked with Mourinho for six seasons and they know Mourinho's ability and character very well. He is upright and outspoken, and is not afraid of power. As long as it is good for football, he will speak directly, unlike some coaches who like to get involved in complicated interpersonal relationships. He is particularly caring for the players. Although he may scold a player internally, he is particularly protective of his players when facing the outside world and the media, and always gives the players the best protection.
Of course, Mourinho also has many shortcomings, such as his overly strong personality and frequent harsh criticism of players, which may cause players to become tired of his coaching methods.
This is also the key reason why he always exposed the internal traitors in the team when he coached Chelsea and Real Madrid. There were no such scandals when he coached Porto and Inter Milan, but he retired at the peak of his career.
But it is precisely because of this that the saying "Mourinho's Three Years" emerged in world football.
However, his coaching experience at Manchester United broke the saying of "Mourinho's three years".
This season is Mourinho's sixth season as Manchester United coach. In recognition of the hard work of the old coach, Manchester United players hope to congratulate their respected head coach with more championship trophies.
This game against Liverpool is an important step for them to achieve their goals.
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Both players had the determination and reasons to win, and so they met in the player tunnel.
Outside the stadium, Liverpool fans were chanting Liverpool's starting lineup under the lead of the DJ. Every Liverpool player was cheered, even Salah, who was rumored to leave the team, was no exception, although the cheers were obviously much smaller than those of his teammates. Some Liverpool fans who were still upset about Salah's possible transfer to Manchester United were unwilling to cheer for Salah, but they also didn't want to boo and let their opponents laugh at their internal unity, so they chose to remain silent.
Although many players in both teams are teammates of the national team and even have good personal relationships, at this time, everyone stood quietly in their own team, without looking around, and no one went to say hello or chat with friends in the other team.
The referee team came out of the lounge, and under their leadership, the players of the two teams lined up and walked into Anfield Stadium.
The scene was filled with thunderous applause, and the big show was about to begin.
