Chapter 319: Manchester United’s chance has come, and so has their opponent in the Champions League

After the game, Ricardo immediately called Lafayette to ask why the work of the game was not done properly? It has been so long since the explanation, but Manchester United is still being criticized?

Unexpectedly, Lafayette replied calmly: "I knew before the game that you couldn't start! They lost so badly in the Champions League and previous games, and you helped Manchester United to break through the game every time... They were so desperate to lose, so they thought they could make a comeback when you were not in the starting lineup..."

This is all about human relationships. There is nothing we can do about the market situation. However, there are certainly benefits to this. After all, the Premier League and the Champions League are much more important than the FA Cup. They feel that they cannot let Manchester United win the treble this season...

Well, I didn't tell you before the game because I felt that these things had nothing to do with you, and the less you know, the better. Just let me handle it, and you can just focus on playing football."

Hearing this, Ricardo was speechless...

All I can do is to say something symbolic: "Damn it, if the Champions League and the Premier League are also hacked, you won't have a good time!"

@

This season's FA Cup has been particularly harsh on Manchester United. Since its debut, they have drawn only Premier League teams, and in the last round they had a battle between the Red Devils and the Gunners. However, in Sir Alex Ferguson's 100th FA Cup show, Manchester United defeated Arsenal and morale soared.

Therefore, when the FA Cup quarter-finals drew Portsmouth, Sir Alex had no complaints. Instead, he said with relief: "Fortunately, we were drawn to play at home."

But no one expected that in Sir Alex Ferguson’s 101st FA Cup match, Manchester United would be defeated: the Ferguson era had never lost to a top team in the FA Cup, and the hope of washing away the regret of last year’s final at Wembley was also dashed, and the dream of winning the treble that had been shouted for a season was also shattered...

Judging from the data, Manchester United undoubtedly controlled the game, with 22 shots to 8, 11 corner kicks to 5, and a ball possession rate of 64.6% to 35.4%. The ball was in Portsmouth's half for 36.3% of the game. Manchester United not only controlled the game, but also had an overwhelming advantage.

However, Redknapp refused to bow to Manchester United. Before the game, he declared that he would go to Old Trafford to conquer Manchester United: "We are not going to strive for an unbeaten record, but to strive to beat them. Both mentally and physically, Portsmouth has the strength to beat Manchester United."

As a result, the united Pompey team created an upset in the first match of the FA Cup quarter-finals. It was also the first time in 8 years that Portsmouth defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford and the first time in 50 years that they reached the FA Cup semi-finals.

At the press conference after the game, Sir Alex was very angry. He thought that Portsmouth defender Distin's foul on Ronaldo in the 7th minute should have been a penalty kick. The angry old Sir Alex even pointed the finger at the entire refereeing community:

"When the referee refused to award a penalty to Ronaldo, the game was doomed to fail for Manchester United. Ronaldo was knocked down by Distin, and the referee Atkinson signaled the game to continue. In the second half, Atkinson awarded Portsmouth a penalty and sent off Kuzak with a red card...

Of course Sir Alex Ferguson also admitted that Manchester United wasted too many opportunities, but condemnation was the only topic the Sir wanted to discuss.

However, after Manchester United suffered their second defeat of the season in the second game at Old Trafford, ruining their dream of winning the FA Cup, something worse was to come:

The defeat in the FA Cup also caused Manchester United to lose two goalkeepers, Van der Sar and Kuszczak. Ferdinand was forced to wear gloves to guard the goal. After denouncing the referee, the old Sir Alex faced a huge problem, that is, who would be the goalkeeper for the Red Devils in the next game.

As Manchester United has been eliminated in the two major domestic cup competitions, Kuszczak's three-game suspension will take effect in the league. Among them, the match against the Reds at Old Trafford on March 3 is one of Manchester United's most crucial games of the entire season, but Kuszczak and Van der Sar will definitely not be able to catch up.

Sir Alex Ferguson only has two options left, 25-year-old Foster and 22-year-old Heaton. Both have weaknesses. The former has been lying in bed due to injury for most of the season and has only played in the reserve team recently. The latter is too young and has no experience in the first team.

After comparing the two, Sir Alex Ferguson was forced to choose Foster.

Foster is 1 meters tall and in good physical condition. He made rapid progress in the two seasons he was loaned to Watford. In the first year, he helped the team get promoted to the Premier League. In the second year, although he failed to avoid relegation, he repeatedly avoided massacres by himself. In 88, he was selected for the England team.

Watford manager Bosaid once said: "Foster is better than Van der Sar. He will become the best goalkeeper in the world."

In addition, Foster is also one of Ricardo's die-hard fans. After all, he is often caught by 3R to practice "voluntarily for free" in daily life. In the team group matches, he also likes to be in the same group with Ricardo, who often treats him to meals and is the only one who cares about his feelings...

@

Another 07/08 FA Cup quarter-final that ended almost at the same time as Manchester United's also produced a big upset.

At Oakwell Stadium, the home of Championship team Barnsley, home team striker Odegaard scored the only goal on the field. Although the goal was suspected to be a collision with the goalkeeper, it was his possession of the ball that helped Barnsley beat the Blues Chelsea in an upset within 90 minutes!

So Barnsley, who eliminated Liverpool and Chelsea successively, became the biggest dark horse in this season's FA Cup.

In addition, after the FA Cup match ended, six matches of the 6th round of the 07/08 English Premier League were held one day later.

One of the focus matches was fought at the JJB Stadium in Wigan, Greater Manchester, and the result was also a big upset. This weekend's England game will definitely make the bookmakers earn a lot of money!

Arsenal drew 0-0 with Wigan Athletic away from home. The Gunners suffered three consecutive draws in the league and are only 3 points ahead of Manchester United, who have played one game less.

Manchester United's opportunity has come!

@

However, the Red Devils, who are determined to shake off the FA Cup defeat and overtake the Gunners in one fell swoop, can't be impatient. After all, Manchester United has another week's break before the next round of the Premier League.

However, this time, Sir Alex Ferguson, who was in a bad mood, did not give the team a holiday, but organized an intra-team friendly match.

Of course, it was not an ordinary first-team intra-squad match like the ones in daily training, but a match between Manchester United's first team and a merger of the second and third greatest teams in Manchester City - the Manchester United reserve and youth mixed team.

The main purpose is to let the few little kids who joined the team in the winter see the older brothers in the team, and also to reward the kids who have been unable to make it in the reserve league and the youth league recently, giving them the opportunity to compete with their idols and promote a harmonious atmosphere of good progress within the team.

According to gossip, Sir Alex Ferguson tasted the sweetness in the deal to bring in Ricardo Liqui, especially as Italy has performed very well in international competitions for youth teams in recent years, so this time Manchester United brought in three Italian guys at once.

Moreover, according to some unreliable news, these three Italian guys are all loyal fans of Ricciardo!

Before the game, Sir Alex Ferguson specifically introduced the talents of Manchester United's reserve and youth teams. Several of them had been promoted to the first team for training for a period of time before, and Ricardo also knew several of them, but he had not had the opportunity to get familiar with the few who joined in the winter.

Of course, the most popular player in the first team is still Cristiano Ronaldo. After all, he is the leader and has been popular for longer, unlike a certain Italian star who was suppressed by a slow-starter and only started to become popular this season.

But after all, he is good-looking and the second most popular player in the team besides Ronaldo. This made Lukaku, who was originally ranked second, and Giggs, who thought he was ranked second, very dissatisfied...

However, although Ricardo became famous late, he also has die-hard fans, namely three Italian little brats who surrounded Ricardo and stared at him as if he were looking at a gorilla, oh no, they were looking at the stars.

It’s just that Ricardo thinks these three little brats are quite big…

The first one is Rodrigo Possebon. Born in 1989, he just turned 19 this year, but he has grown to a height of 1 meters.

Although he started his career at Internacional as a defensive midfielder, he has decided to join the Italian U19 team because his father is of Italian descent.

It is also said that Manchester United's Brazilian scout John Calford discovered this promising star at the same time as he was scouting the twin brothers Fabio and Rafael.

Unexpectedly, this physically fit young man with dual Brazilian and Italian nationality's favorite football star was not Ronaldinho or Kaka, but Ricardo Richarlić, so it was not difficult at all to persuade him to join Manchester United and the Italian national youth team.

Possebon is extremely excited. Joining the team of his dreams and having the opportunity to compete with the most perfect midfield idol in his mind is such a perfect thing!

And his dream of competing on the same field came true in the second month after he joined the team!

The second one is Federico Macheda. He was born in Rome, Italy in August 1991. He is only 8 years old, a real little kid, but he is already 16 meters tall.

This is an Italian striker talent that Manchester United has been observing for a long time. It seems that Manchester United likes Italian striker talents, such as the last golden boy Rossi...

Originally, Manchester United wanted to wait until he turned 17 before officially signing a professional contract. However, with Lazio's coveted attention and the emergence of Ricardo Richie, Sir Alex Ferguson decided to sign the new Italian Vieri, who came from a poor family, on an apprenticeship contract more than half a year in advance.

The cost is only £3.5 in youth training compensation and the apprentice's maximum salary.

The third Italian young talent who is almost hanging on Ricci is Davide Petrucci, who was also born in Rome, Italy in 1991, but is two years younger than Macheda, and is a product of the Roma youth training camp.

However, after joining Manchester United, Petrucci and Macheda became good friends. After all, there is no such thing as mortal enemies in the same city. Moreover, as roommates, the two have the same idol...

Manchester United took advantage of a loophole in Italian football and used an apprentice contract to sign the midfield attacker nicknamed the new Totti first. It only cost 10 pounds in youth training compensation and the same apprentice maximum salary contract.

So Italy's new De Rossi, new Vieri and new Totti have joined up at Manchester United's Carrington base and are now chattering around their common idol...

Ricardo, with a smile that was so stiff, decided to give these three little Italian brats a good training in the team match. No, he decided to get close to them and let them feel the beating from their big brother. Oh, that’s not right, it’s care.

After all, Ricardo couldn't afford to offend the three big brothers in their nicknames. Oh! That's not right, Daniele can still be naughty. Although he looks fierce, he is actually a fool...

Who knows, these three people will become good helpers for Ricardo in Manchester United or the national team in a few years!

Thinking of his good helper, after signing autographs and taking photos with his loyal fans after the game, Ricardo couldn't help but think of his old teammate in Sevilla last season, Maresca.

According to reports, this season, under the leadership of striker Fabiano, Marco has been doing very well in Sevilla.

The latter scored 21 goals in 21 La Liga games! The efficiency of 1 goal per game even surpassed Ronaldo.

So Maresca, under the cover of the banner of destroying the city and the stronghold, also picked up a lot of goals and assists, and the data is close to double 10. It is said that Italian coach Donadoni is considering calling him into the next national team.

It is conceivable that if Marco's performance can continue until the end of the season, it will not be a dream for him to go to the European Cup and reunite with Ricciardo to form the Italian twins!

In addition, many of Ricciardo's die-hard fans and young fans in the Italian youth team have also performed well. For example, Olympic-age players such as Pelle, Acquafresca, Montolivo, Canini and Criscito seem to have performed much better than in the revelations of old Ricci!

Ricardo has been in touch with them through text messages and emails, mainly bragging, gossiping, and insulting each other; of course, occasionally they will play a few games online or seek abuse...

@

In addition, the day after a bloody exchange with the young players in the team, oh no, the draw for the 07/08 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals was announced.

Three Premier League teams have entered the same half of the group, and the expected inter-Premier League dialogue will be between Arsenal and Liverpool.

The Champions League quarter-finals are as follows:

The top half features Arsenal vs. Liverpool and Fenerbahce vs. Chelsea;

The bottom half features Schalke 04 versus Barcelona, ​​while Manchester United will once again face Roma.

The winners of the four games in the upper and lower halves will advance to the semi-finals to compete against each other.

Chelsea drew Fenerbahce, but many people envied the luck of Chelsea coach Grant.

During Mourinho's era, the Blues have always had bad luck in the Champions League draw, and being in the same group with the defending champions for three consecutive years is a small record.

But after Mourinho left, the Blues entered the knockout stage and faced Olympiacos and Fenerbahce in succession. Although the latter's fighting power should not be underestimated, it was a far cry from the situation in the previous two years.

According to the media's predictions based on paper strength, if nothing unexpected happens, the team in the upper half that eventually reaches the final will be from the Premier League; after all, it is unlikely that Fenerbahce will eliminate Chelsea and the winner between Arsenal and Liverpool in succession.

This will achieve the record of having a Premier League team reach the Champions League final for four consecutive years, which also reflects the strong competitiveness of the Premier League.

The draw in the lower half presents an interesting situation.

Barcelona met Schalke 04. Although Germany's Schalke is above Fenerbahce in William Hill's championship odds, in terms of technology and combat effectiveness, the Turkish team actually has a greater chance of an upset, and the team has a strong home advantage.

Therefore, fans unanimously believe that Barcelona, ​​which draws Schalke, has the best draw in the Champions League quarter-finals, which means they will be "guaranteed" to the semi-finals.

But it is true that not only UEFA, but also Premier League fans, probably fans all over the world would prefer to see Barcelona challenge the Premier League teams when the Premier League occupies half of the top eight teams in the Champions League, so as to avoid the situation of the Premier League's total monopoly.

Judging from the draw situation, Manchester United will be the team carrying the banner of the Premier League. The Red Devils are the only Premier League team in the lower half. Whether they can make it all the way will determine whether the final in Moscow will be a Premier League civil war.

However, interestingly, Manchester United drew Roma again in the Champions League quarter-finals, which even surprised head coach Sir Alex Ferguson. After all, Manchester United was more likely to encounter an opponent from the Premier League:

"It's incredible, I had a strong feeling we would be drawn against a Premier League team.

What’s even more surprising is that we will play against Roma six times in one year! It will be an interesting match because we know Roma very well and Roma knows us very well…”

……

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