Chapter 334: Advance into the top 4 of the Champions League first!

Manchester United quickly forgot the regret and disappointment of the draw with Middlesbrough last weekend, because tomorrow's match against Roma cannot afford to lose. Although in the history of the Champions League, there has never been a record of a team leading 3-0 away from home and being overturned at home.

But there is a UEFA Cup, which is the only German team that has won the European Cup but never won the league championship - Leverkusen. Oh, the Korean star Cha Bum-kun also set the record that year...

In addition, the author also knew that my brother Long led the team to perform a miracle and rewrote the history of Leverkusen.

所以爵爷自然也不会大意，于是在2008年4月9日晚上，欧冠1/4决赛的次回合，曼联在主场排出了一个极为保守的4-2-3-1首发阵容：

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Van der Sar;

后卫线四人组是6号韦斯布朗、19号皮克、5号费迪南德与伤缺8个月后复出的27号西尔维斯特；

The double defensive midfielders are No. 16 Carrick and No. 4 Hargreaves;

The three forwards are No. 13 Park Ji-sung, No. 8 Anderson and No. 27 Giggs;

The single arrow is No. 32 Tevez.

Seeing Sir Alex Ferguson send both Hargreaves and Park Ji-sung to the field at the same time, Li Qi, who was sitting on the bench, thought that it was only because Fletcher was injured, otherwise Sir Alex Ferguson would probably use three defensive midfielders...

Yes, Li Qi sat on the bench with Ronaldo and Rooney, saving their strength for the championship battle with Arsenal at the weekend; while Scholes and Evra were not even included in the match list.

But the league is at least a weekend matter. Manchester United’s top priority tonight is to advance to the top four of this season’s Champions League, and the rest will come later…

However, as Sir Alex Ferguson expected before the game, Spalletti still played with all the main players in the visiting Roma team, with only two changes in the starting lineup, Juan and Perrotta replaced Tonetto and Aquilani respectively; the formation was also the same as in the first leg, 4-2-3-1:

The goalkeeper is No. 32 Doni;

The back line from left to right is No. 77 Cassetti, No. 5 Mex, No. 4 Juan and No. 2 Panucci;

The double defensive midfielders are No. 16 De Rossi and No. 7 Pizarro;

The three attacking central midfielders are No. 11 Taddei, No. 20 Perrotta, and No. 30 Mancini.

The single arrow is No. 9 Vucinic.

As for Roma's King Totti, he still failed to catch up with this Champions League battle. But it doesn't matter, Cantona, the former King of Old Trafford, came to watch the game instead.

In the club's history, Manchester United have advanced 13 times with a first-leg away win, and Manchester United is currently unbeaten at home in European competitions for three consecutive years;

过去一年内，曼联曾两次在梦剧场击败罗马，上赛季1/4决赛更是以7比1的世纪比分制造了罗马欧战最惨痛失利，罗马此前10次作客英格兰也仅获胜1场……

So this is also the reason why Sir Alex dared to put the entire 3R combination on the bench, but he still didn't dare not bring them, thinking that if the situation changed, he could temporarily replace two of them with the starting Tevez to form a three-quarter Magic Quartet combination.

Seeing Manchester United's starting lineup, people generally believe that this game will be a dull battle, especially the home team Manchester United will focus on defense.

But after the kick-off, everyone realized why stereotypes are always broken. Manchester United, whose lineup was more defensive, quickly launched wave after wave of attacks, while Roma, which should have been making a desperate attack and counterattack, was suppressed.

Not long after the kick-off, Manchester United players made a strong attack.

In the 6th minute, Giggs made a straight pass from the left rib, and Park Ji-sung successfully made an offside move. Unfortunately, the latter's low left-foot shot from 12 meters in front of the goal missed the far post.

Then Park Ji-sung made a diagonal pass from the right past Roma defender Juan, and Tevez headed the ball from 9 meters in front of the goal, but unfortunately the ball went wide of the near post.

Of course, Roma, with all its main players fielded, is not without chance.

In the 14th minute, De Rossi broke through the right rib and passed the ball to Vucinic, who cut into the penalty area and shot from a small angle, but was blocked by Van der Sar. Then, Mancini's low shot from the left 18 meters away from the goal was also confiscated by Van der Sar.

This was basically a microcosm of the situation between the two sides in the first half. Roma, which had all its main players, was suppressed by Manchester United's second team, which had more physical strength after the rotation.

The two sides switched between offense and defense very quickly. The home team's attack was more threatening, and it seemed that they were only a step away from scoring. Although the visiting team had a shot in the counterattack, it was a little lacking in energy.

However, the Roman expeditionary army actually saw hope of changing the overall situation...

In the 29th minute, Vucinic's right-foot shot from 20 meters in front of the goal was blocked by Van der Sar, and Roma got the ball and continued to attack; Mancini Jr. dribbled the ball to the left side of Manchester United's penalty area and fell to the ground after Wes Brown made a tackle.

The Norwegian referee Ovrebo, who was nearby, blew the whistle decisively and pointed to the penalty spot!

But Roma, who got a good chance to take a penalty kick, was obviously too happy too early.

De Rossi, who was responsible for taking the penalty kick, chose to volley the ball with his right foot towards the upper left corner of the goal, just like last weekend's league game, but this time he missed the penalty!

I don't know if the pressure at the Theatre of Dreams was too great, or if the deafening boos from the fans at the scene affected him, or if the curse about masturbating by a certain Italian spirited young man who wished to remain anonymous on the bench took effect?

Anyway, Roma's morale was affected to a certain extent after missing the penalty kick. They didn't get many good opportunities in the subsequent games until they completely lost the chance in the second half...

In the 70th minute, Tevez broke through the right rib and moved forward at high speed. Hargreaves received the ball on the right and made an accurate cross in time.

Tevez quickly got in front of the goal and leaned forward to head the ball 4 meters away from the goal! This time he did not miss the target and sent the ball into the far corner!

这是特维斯本赛季9场欧冠打进的第4球，帮助曼联本场比赛首开记录1比0领先于罗马，也将两回合的总比分改写成了4比0！

Then it became complete garbage time, and Spalletti also replaced main players such as Pizarro and Perrotta.

Sir Alex also replaced O'Shea and Gary Neville, the latter of whom took over the long-lost captain's armband from Ferdinand; this was the Manchester United captain's first comeback after 13 months of injury, and it was also his 99th appearance in the Champions League!

最终曼联无惊无险的1比0拿下了本场比赛，以两回合总比分4比0的比分淘汰罗马晋级07/08赛季的欧冠4强，将和巴塞罗那争夺一个决赛的席位。

@

The other final spot will be decided in another Premier League civil war - between Chelsea and Liverpool.

I don’t know whether Liverpool is lucky or unlucky. They faced strong teams one after another in the knockout rounds. First, they faced Inter Milan, the Serie A giants. Then they fought three games in a row with Arsenal. Then, in the semi-finals, they faced Chelsea, the famous tough boys of the Premier League...

The only advantage is that you don’t have to travel long distances. Flying to Milan is already the longest journey. The rest of the games will be in London and Liverpool, which is not much different from playing in the Premier League.

However, Liverpool is also a famous red iron army in the Premier League. I won’t talk about the case three years ago that was often mentioned. It would be boring if I talked about it too much. The three battles with Arsenal this time alone can show the resilience of the Red Army Liverpool and the coaching style of the cup king Benítez.

In two consecutive away games, Liverpool tied with Arsenal, who had better technology and field, with a score of 1-1, but they played better and better and became more and more proactive. In the third game that decided the outcome, Liverpool staged a thrilling goal battle with Arsenal!

Arsenal took the lead in the 13th minute. Diaby broke into the penalty area from the right and shot hard. The ball was blocked by Reina but still bounced into the goal to score.

Liverpool equalized the score in the 32nd minute. Gerrard assisted Hyypiä with a header from a corner kick, which was his eighth European goal in his nine years at Liverpool.

With the two teams in a stalemate, Liverpool took the lead in overtaking the score in the 70th minute of the second half.

Crouch received a long pass and headed the ball to Torres, who turned and dodged the defense from 15 yards on the left side of the penalty area and shot into the far corner. This was the Spanish golden boy's 29th goal this season, including 5 goals in the Champions League.

However, the Gunners would not give up. They launched a full-scale counterattack and scored a crucial away goal in the 83rd minute, equalizing the score and taking the lead in advancing!

Theo Walcott made a brilliant 25-yard run and then crossed the ball to Adebayor, who scored with a low shot, scoring his th goal of the season.

When everyone thought that Arsenal was going to advance to the semi-finals with the away goal advantage which should have been an equalizer, the bookmaker, oh bah bah bah, how could the Red Army Liverpool let the leeks get their wish so easily?

The game was reversed in three minutes after Arsenal scored.

Babel broke into the penalty area on the left side and was brought down by Touréra to win a penalty. Gerrard scored in one fell swoop, scoring his fifth goal in the Champions League and his 20th goal of the season, helping Liverpool to take the lead again!

Then in the injury time, taking advantage of Arsenal's full-scale attack, Liverpool scored a goal in a counterattack by Babel in the 92nd minute to seal the victory, 4-2!

The two-round 5-3, the Premier League battle in the Champions League quarterfinals, in the end, the Red Army Liverpool won the last laugh...

……