Chapter 299 Black Monday and Tuesday!

After a long flight, the Manchester United team arrived at their destination, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, early Monday morning. However, they were still welcomed by hundreds of local fans at the airport.

After getting off the plane, the Manchester United players had no time to adjust to the jet lag. They ate a little and rested, then went to the stadium to warm up after putting their luggage down at the hotel.

The match will be held at King Fahd Stadium at 20: that evening.

If everything goes well, Manchester United will return the next morning after the game and will have no other business arrangements. Including the time on the plane, it will not take more than 48 hours from departure to return to Manchester!

In other words, Manchester United went to Saudi Arabia purely to make some short-term extra money, but who can say it wasn't the case?

King Fahd Stadium is a super-large stadium that can accommodate 7 people. It is a great sight in the sparsely populated Middle East, but the tickets for this retirement farewell match that has nothing to do with any important trophy have already been sold out.

Coupled with the numerous advertising sponsorships and title sponsorships...

This shows the shrewd business perspective and acumen of both Manchester United and the Saudi organizers.

@

The 35-year-old Jabeur has participated in four World Cups for Saudi Arabia and scored three goals.

Except for playing four games for Wolves in 2001, he has played for Al Hilal throughout his career from 4 to the present.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's farewell match was successfully held at 20 p.m. on Monday in front of a packed King Fahd Stadium.

However, after the kick-off, Al Hilal, as the home team, did not receive as much cheers as the visiting team Manchester United. To be more precise, they did not receive as much cheers as the visiting team's Cristiano Ronaldo.

C Ronaldo truly interprets the charm and influence of Manchester United's number one player. At present, C Ronaldo is definitely the favorite of Saudi fans. Every time he passes the ball and makes a dazzling move, he draws cheers and screams from the fans!

The second most popular player among Manchester United's starting players is actually the new rising star Ricardo Richarlison. After all, he is also a handsome young man, but his playing style is a bit simple, not as flamboyant and dazzling as Ronaldo.

In addition, Rooney, Hargreaves, Park Ji-sung and Vidic all came on as substitutes in the second half;

Giggs, Scholes, Wes Brown and Saha did not come with the team at all. The first two are veterans and there was no need for them to travel long distances, while the latter two were injured and stayed in Manchester to recuperate.

So basically, Ferguson divided the first team into three groups, one group as starters, one group as substitutes, and one group as left-behind players; for example, Ferdinand and Vidic each played half the game with O'Shea...

Apart from O'Shea, the only four first-team bench players who played the entire game were Simpson, Eagles, Fletcher and Anderson.

However, although the visiting team Manchester United received more cheers, the home team Al Hilal was the one who scored the first goal.

The home team was lucky to take the lead in the 19th minute, when Chiatani's long-range shot hit Ferdinand's calf, deflected and fell into the net on the opposite side of Van der Sar's center of gravity...

But Manchester United quickly equalized the score in the 25th minute.

It was Ferdinand again, this time he made a save on the goal line, blocking the opponent's shot;

Then Li Qi, who returned to defense, rushed to protect the bouncing ball, and made a long pass in the first time to launch a counterattack!

After stopping the ball on the sidelines at halftime, Ronaldo turned around and started running directly into the home team's penalty area with the ball.

When he was about to enter the penalty area corner, facing multiple double teams, Ronaldo decisively passed the ball to Tevez who was outflanking in the middle;

The latter successfully made an offside move and faced the home team goalkeeper Diayea as soon as he received the ball; the Argentine beast naturally did not let the opportunity slip away and easily pushed the ball into the goal.

The subsequent game was still carried out at a high intensity. Although it is not known whether there was any acting involved due to money reasons, Manchester United took the lead in the 33rd minute anyway.

This time it was Li Qi who assisted his good friend Cristiano Ronaldo: Li Qi took a corner kick from the right side, and Cristiano Ronaldo, with the cover of Tevez, went around to the front point and headed the ball into the goal!

I just don't know if this goal counts as the paid assist that Ronaldo promised to Li Qi? The two should have agreed before the game, right? Is the assist reward for the friendly match a big discount?

Soon afterwards, the home team also discovered Manchester United's weak spot; of course, according to the old fans, it was the script coming true!

Al Hilal quickly equalized in the 38th minute. Ferdinand made a reckless tackle in the penalty area while defending, and the referee controversially and decisively awarded a penalty!

But in fact, no Manchester United player expressed dissatisfaction with this, and Ferguson also treated it with a smile. After all, the sponsor paid extra money, and it was of that amount: it was really too much!

So the protagonist of this game, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, scored the penalty kick as expected, and Kuszczak, who was eager to come on as a substitute to get the performance fee, naturally jumped in the wrong direction...

The two sides ended the exciting and high-intensity first half with a score of 2-2; then Sir Alex Ferguson made major adjustments at halftime, with Vidic, Hargreaves, Park Ji-sung and Rooney replacing Ferdinand, Evra, Ronaldo and Tevez respectively, and the 17-year-old youngster Welbeck, who was promoted from the Manchester United youth team to the first team last week, replacing Li Qi.

Considering Kuszczak had already come on as a substitute, Manchester United had almost replaced half of the first-team lineup.

Soon after the start of the second half, the home team looked likely to take the lead again.

This time it was O'Shea who fouled the reckless Jabeur in the penalty area, but the latter took it upon himself to magnanimously give the chance to score a second penalty to his teammate;

But it was clear that this lucky Shalhoub was not in the script, so the penalty he scored was asked to be retaken by the referee, and then he missed the penalty again...

Of course, Manchester United CEO Gill shook his head and said: There is no refund!

In the 56th minute, the home team coach, fearing that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would perform beyond his capacity again, replaced him, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's legendary experience will become history after this moment!

Although the subsequent game could not be said to be lackluster, in Li Qi's opinion it was just a melee between the two sides. After all, the protagonists had already left and no one was interested in fighting anymore. They just played wherever the chance came. The main thing was to strive for more individual performance.

Unexpectedly, the home team took the lead again in the 73rd minute, the goal coming from Karash's incredible back-heel goal!

In the final moments, Manchester United still had a chance to equalize the score, but Welbeck and his son took the penalty kick and won it, but he missed the penalty kick...

This was completely beyond the expectations of Manchester United CEO Gill: I didn't expect Sir Alex Ferguson to be so capable, and he didn't reveal before the game that he would deliberately arrange a loss!

The blushing Sir could only admit it with a smile, and secretly planned to go back and give Hei Bei more training...

Manchester United Club was very happy and passively accepted the larger of the two red envelopes from its enthusiastic Saudi sponsor!

@

The day after the game, the Manchester United team, who rushed back to the UK early in the morning, also learned of a major event from the rolling news media at the airport:

That was when the US subprime mortgage crisis was raging around the world, the French Bank Societe Generale was involved in a trading fraud case that shocked the world - the author will not go into the details, but it also triggered a global stock market crash!

Monday was directly called Black Monday by the media. Asian stock markets opened first and led the decline. The SH Composite Index of a certain country plummeted 5.14% throughout the day, and the worst-performing Asian stock market even fell by 85% in one day;

European stock markets that opened later also recorded their biggest drop since the September 2001, 911 attacks, with the London FTSE 100 index recording its biggest single-day drop in history.

The US stock market escaped the disaster because it was closed that day, but it was only delayed for one day. Just when Ricardo dragged his tired body back home at night and was surprised to welcome Emma Watson's sudden night attack, the US stock market also ushered in a crisis on Tuesday when trading resumed.

On January 1, Asian stock markets that had already closed and Asian investors continued to suffer heavy losses. The Nikkei Average and a certain country's SH Composite Index continued to plummet by more than 22% and 5% respectively, while the H-Hong Kong Eternal Life Index fell by 7%, the largest single-day drop in history!

Half of the world's stock markets fell below the 250-day moving average, the so-called bull-bear dividing line, on that day.

Due to the time difference, the Federal Reserve announced a 4.3% interest rate cut one hour before the U.S. stock market opened!

Although the U.S. government’s interest rate cut to save the market immediately caused the Dow futures to rebound from a drop of more than 3 points to only a drop of more than 10 points, the next day it also caused a certain country’s SH Composite Index and the H-Hong Kong Eternal Life Index to stop falling and rebound by more than % and % respectively, the latter setting the largest single-day point increase in history!

But smart people know that the 2008 global stock market crash is coming, and if you run slower, you may not even have any residue left...

Ricardo, who moved Emma Watson to a five-star hotel, was not in the mood to worry about this. After all, his sister-in-law was obviously here to cause trouble. Her best friend, Ricardo's number one girlfriend, would arrive in Manchester the day after tomorrow, and she had also made an appointment with Emma Watson to watch the game at Old Trafford on the weekend!

Unexpectedly, the sister-in-law got away with it. I don't know what reason she used to ask for leave, avoid her agent and mother, and come to Manchester early to hang out with Ricardo!

But staying in the apartment is a bit too dangerous. No one knows whether Sarafina will also want to run away for electric stimulation?

……

@

2007年1月27日下午14时，07/08赛季英格兰足总杯第4轮一场焦点战在老特拉福德球场展开争夺，由红衣白裤的曼联在主场迎战纯黄色战袍的热刺。

Manchester United have remained unbeaten in the last 13 encounters between the two sides with 11 wins and 2 draws.

The last time Tottenham won at Old Trafford was in 1989, when Lineker scored the only goal. Since then, Manchester United has remained unbeaten in 19 home games against Tottenham, winning 15 and drawing 4.

双方足总杯历史上8个赛季交战13场，热刺5胜5平3负占据上风，其中曼联6个主场3胜1平2负。

However, the two sides have played 163 games in history, with Manchester United having the advantage with 75 wins, 42 draws and 46 losses.

In addition, before the game, there was still good news from Manchester United. Scholes, who had been absent from the game for 3 months due to a knee injury, officially returned from injury and entered the bench.

With Scholes' return, Manchester United has more options in the central midfield position. Ferguson is very happy about this: "This is very good! According to my experience, when the season enters a critical stage, everyone has to contribute. Scholes brought experience at an important stage of the season.

We've got 15 league games to go and hopefully a couple of Champions League games too and we're all very excited to have Scholesy back, it's like signing a new player."

However, Sir Alex Ferguson believes that they cannot take Tottenham lightly. Tottenham just defeated Arsenal 5-1 in the League Cup in the middle of the week and their morale is high!

However, there were some problems in Tottenham's defense, with Huddlestone and O'Hara replacing the injured Ledley King and Chimbonda respectively.

Manchester United's starting lineup is a 4-4-2 parallel formation:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar;

The back line rested Vidic who was a little unwell after returning from the Middle East, and the starting lineup consisted of No. 22 O'Shea, No. 6 Wes Brown, No. 5 Ferdinand and No. 3 Evra;

The midfield quartet returned to the regular starting lineup with the most appearances this season, No. 7 Cristiano Ronaldo, No. 16 Carrick, No. 17 Li Qi and No. 11 Giggs;

The two strikers are No. 10 Rooney and No. 32 Tevez.

Tottenham Hotspur's starting lineup was also a parallel 4-4-2:

The goalkeeper is number 12, goalkeeper Seini;

The back line from left to right is No. 3 Lee Young-pyo, No. 22 Huddlestone, No. 20 Dawson and No. 6 Tainio;

Lined up from left to right in the midfield are No. 15 Malbranque, No. 24 O'Hara, No. 8 Jenas and No. 25 Lennon;

The two forwards are No. 9 Berbatov and No. 10 Robbie Keane.

Although Manchester United was a little unfamiliar and uncomfortable with the yellow robes of the visiting team Tottenham, they were still very familiar with Tottenham's lineup, including new signing Li Qi, who they encountered in two rounds in the League Cup last season.

Of course, Tottenham are no strangers to Manchester United's starting lineup.

So after the opening, the two sides did not test each other and started fighting directly!

In the 4th minute, Li Qi was blocked from advancing and passed the ball to the side. Giggs made a cross from the right side of the penalty area, and Rooney's shot from 10 yards missed the near corner.

In the 7th minute, Li Rongxiu made a long pass from the wing, and Berbatov stopped the ball with his chest outside the penalty area and shot, but the ball also went wide of the near corner.

In the 14th minute, Li Qi feinted to attract the defense, then sent a straight pass from O'Hara's crotch, and Carrick led the ball forward;

The latter broke through to the top of the penalty area and passed the ball to Ronaldo who cut inside.

However, Ronaldo's long shot from 25 yards away from the goal was slightly off the near post...

One minute later, Tottenham got the best chance since the start of the game.

The visiting team won the opportunity for a quick counterattack through successful low-block defense. Robbie Keane broke through Wes Brown and successfully created a corner kick.

Lennon took a corner kick from the right side, Berbatov took advantage of the screen and headed the ball into the goal from 10 yards outside the small penalty area!

The ball had already passed Van der Sar's defense, but fortunately Rooney cleared the ball on the goal line at the back post! Manchester United escaped a disaster...

However, afterwards, Li Qi, who was the focus of attention, continued to cover Carrick's forward offensive. After being wasted three times by Rooney and Tevez, Manchester United finally had to bear the consequences of frequently wasting opportunities.

Tottenham broke the deadlock and took the lead in the 24th minute.

Huddlestone calmly intercepted Carrick's too obvious through ball to Ronaldo, and then made a long pass to launch a counterattack.

After receiving the ball on the wing, Lennon, a speedy winger, drove straight in. Facing Li Qi's defense, he decisively forced a low cross from the right side of the penalty area, and the ball unexpectedly penetrated Li Qi's small door...

Facing the cross that penetrated Li Qi's crotch, Van der Sar reacted a little bit slow, and then tried to intercept it but failed!

Robbie Keane, who was lurking behind Van der Sar, cleverly shoveled the ball into the empty net!

The Irish striker, who has scored in the last four games, scored his 4th goal of the season, helping the visiting team Tottenham to a 19-1 lead!

Although Manchester United stepped up their offensive, they did not seem panicked. This is the confidence of the league leader...

However, Li Qi did not think of many good ways to participate in the attack at the moment. Tottenham Hotspur kept a close watch on him, and Li Qi even felt that it was tighter than the defense against Ronaldo. They did not allow him to advance across the half court with the ball, and even strictly restricted his turning...

Without the help and tacit cooperation of his teammates, it was indeed difficult for Li Qi to escape the double-team defense of Tottenham Hotspur for a while.

Fortunately, both teams played with 11 players, so they used more defensive resources, so naturally there would be gaps in other positions...

So Li Qi simply chose to retreat over a large area, pressing forward from time to time to attract the attention of the defense, and then covering Carrick's forward pressure and Giggs' offensive organization on the wing.

In the 37th minute, Li Qi feinted again, covering Carrick's forward advance and then sent a straight pass. Giggs, who was also defended in the air, took the ball and cut into the left side of the visiting team's penalty area, and shot with his left foot from 16 yards away from the goal!

Unfortunately, Tottenham goalkeeper Saini made a great save and miraculously tipped Giggs' wonderful shot over the crossbar.

The entire Manchester United team was holding their heads in regret, having missed another golden opportunity...

However, Li Qi discovered a loophole in Tottenham's defense during the previous attack and thought it was worth a try.

So Manchester United scored a goal in the next offensive round in the next minute, which was all thanks to Li Qi's brilliant plan!

……