Chapter 358: Champions League semi-final second leg! But get a prize in advance.

Indeed, Manchester United's loss to Chelsea in the league's life-and-death battle was not completely unacceptable. Although the points were tied, they still had a 25-goal advantage in the league, which was not a number that could be caught up in two rounds of games.

Therefore, as long as Manchester United wins the last two rounds of the league, it can secure the championship; and in the last two rounds of the league, Manchester United's opponents are West Ham United and Wigan Athletic, who have no ambitions, unlike Chelsea, which will play against the old powerhouse Newcastle and Bolton, who are fighting desperately to avoid relegation.

Manchester United: The advantage is still mine!

As long as Manchester United can beat Barcelona and advance to the Champions League final, Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to keep half of the team in the bench against Chelsea was a wise move. Otherwise, it would probably be the same as Arsenal's - a bloody week.

However, while the Manchester United players were waiting for Barcelona's visit in Manchester, they also received two good news: two Manchester United players won awards!

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2008年4月27日晚上，英超第36轮联赛最后一场比赛，阿森纳迟来的胜利--客场6比2大胜德比郡的比赛结束后，英国职业球员协会(PFA)公布2008年各项年度最佳结果。

Among them, Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo won the best player award again.

In addition, Ronaldo's new teammate, Italian rising star Li Qi beat Arsenal midfielder Fabregas to win the Best Young Player award!

The PFA was founded in 1907 and includes 4000 member organizations; since 1974, the Players Association has selected the Player of the Year at the end of each season.

Moreover, those who have the right to vote are professional players who play on the field themselves, so this award is also seen as a very convincing prize.

This is fundamentally different from the 2024 Golden Globe Awards, which changed its rules as if it were a child's play.

At the end of last year, the 23-year-old Ronaldo lost to Kaka in the European Golden Ball Award and FIFA's Best Player award. The media believed that this inspired him to further improve in the Premier League.

So, this season, Ronaldo has made 31 appearances in the league and scored 28 goals, which not only broke his personal league goal record of 17 goals set last season, but also made him very likely to win the Premier League top scorer this season.

C Ronaldo's performance on the field has won wide recognition from the players participating in the league, and this victory is also his second consecutive win.

It is worth mentioning that Ronaldo won the Best Player and Best Young Player awards last year, becoming the second player to win both awards after Aston Villa star Andy Gray 30 years ago.

However, this year, the honor of the best young player has a new owner, not Fabregas, who was unanimously optimistic at the beginning of the season. Because last season, Fabregas lost to Ronaldo by a slight disadvantage, and everyone thought it was Fabregas' turn this season.

But unexpectedly, Manchester United's new signing Ricardo Lee emerged as a dark horse this season, making 36 appearances in 32 league games, with 20 goals and 5 assists, surpassing Fabregas, who had been struggling in the Premier League for five seasons, and won the honor of the best young player.

Li Qi has won the Best Young Player award for Manchester United for the fourth consecutive year, following Rooney who won the award consecutively and Cristiano Ronaldo last year.

Manchester United also won the Best Player and Best Young Player awards for two consecutive years, but last year it was Cristiano Ronaldo who won both awards, while this year Li Qi won one.

In fact, there are even voices that although Ronaldo's number of goals is far ahead, if the data of assists and penalties are counted, Li Qi is the most handsome boy of Manchester United this season. Therefore, Li Qi this season should get the same treatment as Ronaldo last season - that is, winning both awards.

To this end, on the night Barcelona arrived in Manchester, ESPN organized a talk show called "Champions League Night", in which three guests expressed their opinions on the best players in their minds;

However, the three guests went off topic as they were discussing. Of course, they didn't go too far, but Fabregas was off topic...

Cascarino, chief critic of The Times, believes: "There is no doubt that Ronaldo is the best active player on the planet, and the upcoming Champions League semi-final is an opportunity to prove this."

Of course, the guests certainly have different opinions. Sky Sports' special La Liga commentator, former England international Francis, believes that Messi is more outstanding than Ronaldo:

"Messi is absolutely phenomenal. Although Barcelona's performance in La Liga this season is not as impressive as Manchester United's in the Premier League, Messi's role and performance in the team definitely far exceeds that of Ronaldo."

It was originally a discussion about the best player in the Premier League, but as soon as Ronaldo came on the scene, the first person to be compared to him was Messi. I don't know if it was because the guest went beyond the scope of the discussion or if it was intentional on the part of the producer. After all, it feels like Ronaldo and Messi are no longer at this level of the league.

However, the competition between the two great players was soon interrupted by a third party. Chelsea legend and special commentator for The Guardian Gianfranco Zola had a different opinion:

"In terms of contribution to the team, I think Ricardo Richie is definitely the best player of the year. I am not praising him just because he is my compatriot. You should see, how long has it been since he has achieved 20 goals and 20 assists in a season?

I am not sure if there has been such a phenomenal performance in European football before. You know, this is only Li Qi's first season at Manchester United. I am looking forward to his performance next season.

In addition to his contribution on the offensive end, Li Qi's performance is more comprehensive and balanced. For example, in the league last weekend, when the team fell behind, the first person Sir Alex Ferguson thought of was not Ronaldo, but Li Qi, because he knew that the latter could not only help the team on offense, but also on defense.

This is a truly balanced six-sided fighter who is the cornerstone of a championship. If I had a vote, I would absolutely pick him…”

Well, this book’s topic about how the two most outstanding people turned into a three-way competition starts with Zola’s exclusive interview.

However, before the topic of these three heroes can ferment, the three heroes will compete again in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final. Will it be Ronaldo and Li Qi who beat up Messi, or will Messi lead the Dream Team II to defeat the Red Devils?

Let's wait and see...

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2008年4月29日晚上19时45分，下过小雨后的老特拉福德春风宜人，17摄氏度的傍晚特别适合户外运动，尤其是足球比赛。

The second leg of the 07/08 UEFA Champions League semi-final between the Red Devils Manchester United and the Dream Team Barcelona will kick off soon.

Manchester United beat Barcelona 1-0 in the first leg away from home, keeping their unbeaten record in the Champions League this season while handing the opponent their first defeat in the Champions League this season. In addition, Manchester United has won all of their last 11 home games in the Champions League.

In the 8 European matches between the two sides, Manchester United and Barcelona have each achieved 2 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses.

1994和1998年的欧冠小组赛，曼联在主场分别2-2和3-3战平巴萨。1984年欧洲优胜者杯1/4决赛次回合，曼联主场3比0完胜翻盘。

The only final the two sides met was the 1991 European Cup Winners' Cup final, with Manchester United defeating Barcelona 2-1 in Rotterdam.

Both teams rotated most of their main players in the league last weekend, and both lost away from home.

However, unlike Manchester United, who was defeated by another Chelsea team in the league title battle, Barcelona lost to Deportivo La Coruna without any chance of fighting back.

Barcelona has three draws and two losses in the last five league games, without a single win. Let alone competing for the championship, now even the pursuit of runner-up in the league has lost the theoretical possibility.

However, Barcelona still came to Manchester with the belief that they must win. The Dream Team II, which only has the Champions League trophy to compete for, is determined to make a comeback in the Devil's Theatre of Dreams.

Rijkaard fielded almost the same lineup, starting lineup and bench as in the first leg, except for replacing the suspended Marcos with the unbanned Puyol, and still used the offensive 4-3-3 formation.

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Valdés;

The left and right wingbacks are No. 11 Zambrotta and No. 22 Abidal, and the double center backs are No. 5 Puyol and No. 3 Gabi Milito;

The midfield trident is No. 24 Yaya Toure and No. 20 Deco, assisted by the brain No. 6 Xavi;

The forward trident is No. 9 Eto'o, No. 19 Messi and No. 8 Iniesta;

Strong players such as Henry, Bojan, Thuram and Gudjohnsen were on standby on the bench.

Manchester United, who had the advantage in hand, was a little unlucky. Vidic, who missed the first round due to gastroenteritis, had just returned to the game when he was hit on the head by Drogba in the league at the weekend and had to continue to be absent due to injury.

Rooney, who only played most of the game against Chelsea at the weekend, actually had calf muscle discomfort before the game and was unable to pass the physical examination to be included in the game's roster.

However, similar to Barcelona, ​​compared with the first round, Sir Alex Ferguson only changed one starting lineup, replacing Rooney who was absent due to injury with Tevez, and everything else remained unchanged.

After all, Manchester United played well away from home in the last game with this lineup. The winner did not make any changes and still used the 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation that was very targeted at Barcelona:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Van der Sar;

The back four is No. 4 Hargreaves, No. 6 Wes Brown, No. 5 Ferdinand and No. 3 Evra;

The three defensive midfielders are No. 13 Park Ji-sung, No. 18 Scholes and No. 16 Carrick;

The two attacking midfielders are No. 7 Cristiano Ronaldo and No. 17 Li Qi;

The single arrow is No. 32 Tevez.

Famous players such as Giggs, Anderson, O'Shea, Fletcher and Sylvester also sat on the bench, waiting for their opportunity.

@

In the player tunnel, Li Qi greeted his old teammates again, but this time he received a somewhat hostile response: "You are so stingy, it's just one goal away from home! At most, I can score another goal at home! Let you balance it out."

By the way, I wonder if the long-haired and chubby-faced little Messi has taken the time this week to practice how to deal with Park Sam-fei, who is like a dog-skin plaster.

Anyway, we have designed several strategies for Barcelona's lineup this week, let's see which ones are effective...

……

[Although there is no third update at the end, the total number of words in two updates is 6+. The platform is considered to be a burst of updates...

The author remembers that he owed an update on Monday, and will try to make up for it with three updates over the weekend.

I have been re-ordering the second volume these days. I am considering rewriting one or two chapters in the first half of the second volume to highlight Li Qi's progress and goals during the loan season...

Every young player's loan experience is a valuable experience. 】