Chapter 443 Turbulence

The European media reports after the game were almost all praise for Manchester City's performance.

Wansheng as the head coach was repeatedly mentioned, and the players were also evaluated. Morris was the best performer among the players, and he became the focus of media reports on the day.

After the game, in a press conference, Wan Sheng praised Morris and said, "I always believed that he was the best, and he proved that with his performance today."

"The last goal is not the main goal, but Li's organization and attack is more critical. He made the team play brilliantly and practically. There is no doubt that he is the protagonist of today's game."

Wan Sheng brought Morris to the venue and asked him to be interviewed by all the media.

Under the questions from reporters, Morris excitedly talked about his feelings about the game, and confidently talked about the team's good situation in the Champions League. What annoyed the Italian media was that Morris's tone was almost Consistent with Wansheng, when talking about the game against AC Milan, he also said, "I believe we can definitely eliminate AC Milan."

"They knocked us out last season, this time it's our turn to reach the semi-finals!"

Morris's words give people the feeling that AC Milan will definitely be eliminated, and there is no hope of qualifying.

But the Italian media also expects AC Milan to qualify!

In the Champions League quarter-finals, the two clashes between England and Italy have ended, and both Italian teams have lost the game.

In the first round, Roma lost 0-2 at their home ground. The situation was even worse than AC Milan. In the first round, they could lose 0-2 at their home court. They went to Manchester United's site, Old Trafford, Who can expect Roma to knock out Manchester United?

Roma and Manchester United are old enemies.

Last season, Roma's opponent in the Champions League round of 16 was also Manchester United, winning 2-1 at home, but losing 1-7 away.

This season, Roma and Manchester United have played against each other twice in the group stage, with Roma having 1 draw and 1 loss.

"When we meet again, we will surely get revenge."

The Italian media boosted morale for Rome with such headlines.

In fact, Wansheng is also very sympathetic to Roma, because the two teams are almost "sympathetic". Manchester City met their old rivals AC Milan, and Roma met their old rivals Manchester United. Both teams were eliminated last season. Now Roma also has a chance for revenge.

It's a pity that the Romans are a little weak.

They played a passionate duel with Manchester United on their own site, the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. After 90 minutes of competition, Roma lost to Manchester United 2-0.

The goals of C-Ronaldo and Rooney completely made Rome fall from the paradise of dreaming of the "Triple Crown" to hell.

The data after the game showed that although Roma and Manchester United shot 12 times, Roma dominated the ball 51 to 49, and corner kicks dominated 10 to 1, but Roma, who lacked Prince Totti, showed little ability to score goals. .

Two teams from England and two teams from Italy played 1-2 and the other 0-2.

Italy was defeated.

From the perspective of the Italian media, it is natural to hope that a domestic team can advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League. AC Milan 'only' lost one goal, which is much more hopeful than Rome's.

But Wan Sheng and Maurice's "master and apprentice" together were not forgiving.

They didn't even say, "There is still a little hope for AC Milan". When they mentioned the fight with AC Milan, they said, "Manchester City will win", which made the Italian media hate it.

Wan Sheng and Maurice don't care so much.

For Manchester City, the first leg is over, they just have to wait for the second leg to do their best, and it doesn't matter what the media says.

That night, all of Manchester City flew back to Manchester.

The next day, Wansheng gave the team a half-day off.

In the afternoon, the team returned to normal training, preparing for the FA Cup game.

Such a hurry to gather for training is actually a last resort, because one day after the Champions League quarter-finals is the England FA Cup match.

The two games are only one day apart, so it would be nice to have a half-day vacation.

In the afternoon training, there was no preparation for the game. The main thing was to let the players on the field do some recovery training. Wansheng also talked to the players about the next opponents.

————

Barnsley, a professional team in South Yorkshire, northern England.

It currently belongs to the English First Division (third level) team, and they have been floating in the lower leagues for a long time. The last time they were promoted to the top league was in 1997, but they failed to be relegated and returned to the second league after only one season of competition.

In the FA Cup this season, Barnsley has performed quite well. It is hard to imagine that this third-tier league team has eliminated two strong teams, Liverpool and Chelsea, and entered the FA Cup semi-finals.

Some British media even called them the "miracle team".

It's not easy for a third-tier team to beat a strong team, but Barnsley has beaten two in a row, which makes them look high-spirited. Even if they meet Manchester City, many of their players will He stood up and said, "We beat Liverpool, we beat Chelsea, and it's nothing to beat another Manchester City..."

"We're good at creating miracles, especially when the game is still in Oakville..."

Some players not only have fighting spirit, but also express their opinions after actually investigating the situation. "They had a battle with AC Milan the day before yesterday, and they definitely haven't recovered their form now. We have a great chance to continue to create miracles!"

"Beat Manchester City and we'll be in the final!"

The British media are very encouraging of Barnsley's spirit of being brave to challenge strong teams and be able to win. Many media have made targeted reports on this, and some media even said, "Manchester City is likely to lose to Barnes. profit."

In this regard, Wansheng didn't even bother to say much.

At the pre-match press conference, Wansheng only talked about the team's current situation, and did not say anything about Barnsley. Some media interpreted this as 'lack of confidence'.

But the game had just started, and they immediately shut up.

Manchester City scored in the third minute!

When Robert Carlos kicked the ball into Barnsley's goal, the fans at Oakville Stadium shut up.

hard to imagine……

Before the game, most of the media reports revolved around Barnsley, and the Barnsley fans also felt that the team had great hope. They all came to watch the game with hope. It turned out that it was only three minutes. Manchester City scored.

Carlos's goal made many people shut up.

There were no surprises in the next game. Manchester City relied on the goals of Carlos, Ljungberg and Darren Bent who came off the bench to defeat Barnsley with three goals away.

After the game...no one said anything.

The British media described Manchester City's victory as "normal". "As the defending Premier League champions, it is normal to beat a third-tier team."

Everyone agrees with this view.

By this time, no one will mention the miracle created by Barnsley anymore. Perhaps only the players of Barnsley will remember that they eliminated Liverpool and Chelsea in a row and entered the semi-finals of the FA Cup. brilliant.

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After the FA Cup quarter-finals, it was the 33rd round of the Premier League, Manchester City vs. Liverpool.

This is the first time Manchester City and Liverpool have met this season.

In fact, according to the schedule announced by the FA, this game will be played in January after Christmas, but due to the conflict with the England League Cup semi-final time, the game has been postponed until now.

The game was tough for both teams.

Manchester City has just experienced a battle with AC Milan, and Liverpool has just had a deadly match with Chelsea. The state of the two teams is not very good.

Even if the venue of the game is Manchester Stadium, Manchester City has not been able to guarantee the state, as evidenced by Torres' two consecutive shots missed.

So does Liverpool.

Steven Gerrard, the only active player they played, shot three shots directly out of the bottom line in the first and second half.

After the final 90 minutes, the two sides scored a goalless draw.

0 to 0.

This result is acceptable to Manchester City, because the team still has a five-point advantage over Manchester United, and Liverpool is a bit dangerous. They are currently ranked fifth in the league, three points less than fourth-placed Arsenal.

If they tie this game again, they will lose 5 points, and it will be very difficult to catch up in the last 5 rounds.

This has nothing to do with Manchester City.

In fact, after the match against Liverpool, almost all the news related to Manchester City in the British media has nothing to do with the game. Everyone is discussing one figure, that is the chairman of Manchester City Club Thaksin Shinawatra.

Last summer, the Thaksin consortium bought Manchester City with a capital injection.

Many people think that Thaksin gave up politics in Thailand, devoted himself to football, and wanted to do something in the UK, but in fact, from last summer to now, Thaksin has done almost nothing except inject capital into the club. .

Now Thaksin himself has long left the UK.

After Christmas, due to political pressure from the Thai government, Thaksin went into exile in Japan.

At the end of February, Thaksin came to Hong Kong, took a Thai Airways flight from Hong Kong and arrived at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Upon arriving in Bangkok, Thaksin knelt to the ground and folded his hands to show respect for Thailand to journalists and their supporters, while seeking political asylum and defending dozens of charges against him.

Thaksin then returned to Japan.

Thaksin told the media, "My wife and I have been invited by China to attend the Beijing Olympics. After the Beijing Olympics, I will return to Thailand with my wife."

On the day of the Manchester City-Liverpool match, the British government had already stated that it "will no longer provide political protection to Thaksin."

What the British government means is that even if Thaksin comes to the UK, he will not be allowed to step into British soil, but the key is that Thaksin is also the chairman of Manchester City Club.

The chairman of a club was refused entry to the country by the government, which meant that Thaksin would not be able to return to the Manchester City Club to preside over the work in a short time, then the Manchester City Club would have no chairman.

"Will the Manchester City club be turbulent because of this?"

"Will Thaksin's problem affect the team's performance?" Some media even worried about the issue of player salaries for Manchester City.

In this regard, Manchester City club press officer Richardson quickly stood up and said, "The club is operating normally, and the club's top management also has a board of directors ruling."

But the outside world is still talking about it...

"Manager Sinar may represent Thaksin and take over as club president."

"The board is dissatisfied with Sinar, he doesn't have enough prestige."

"Wan Sheng's coaching position has been affected."

"It is very likely that Thaksin will choose to sell his stake in Manchester City..."

"..."

Amid all kinds of rumors, there was some turmoil within the club, and many players were talking about it in private. (To be continued ~^~)