Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Ninth Smoke Filled the Air

The night of winning the FA Cup, the Manchester City team has returned to Manchester by plane.

Thousands of fans and journalists were waiting at the airport.

When the entire Manchester City team walked out of the airport one by one, the fans on the scene burst into violent cheers, which was a welcome ceremony organized by the fans spontaneously.

After that, many reporters came to interview.

But the entire Manchester City team did not stop. They walked and answered one or two questions from reporters. Everyone showed a busy look.

After everyone boarded the bus, Wan Sheng looked at everyone and said, "Remember what I said after Christmas?"

"Our goal is all champions!"

"League, League Cup, FA Cup, the domestic championship in England, we have all won, and now, we are only one game away from the final goal..."

Wansheng did not continue to speak, but everyone had already shouted, "The Champions League! The Champions League!"

Everyone is excited.

Thinking back to the championships they won, and thinking about the Champions League final with Chelsea in Moscow in a few days, everyone is very excited, knowing that together with the team, they have created a place that can go down in history and be remembered by fans. Decades, even centuries of great history.

"To win all the English titles? To win the Champions League?"

This was unthinkable before.

But Wan Sheng, the head coach, brought it up. They took a hard-working attitude and have gone all the way to this point. Now everyone's mentality is completely different, and everyone has incomparable confidence.

"The Champions League final is only one game away!"

Wan Sheng stretched out a finger and said excitedly with a flushed face, and the others followed in an excited discussion.

The FA Cup is in hand, and it's over.

They are looking forward.

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The Manchester City club did not celebrate the FA Cup victory, perhaps even the fans were "tired", and everyone was waiting for Manchester City's last game.

As Wan Sheng said at the club's press conference for the FA Cup winner the next morning, "I want to tell all the Manchester City fans, all those who support Manchester City, the FA Cup is not something to celebrate. Yes, because we have a more important game - the Champions League final!"

"It's time to celebrate when we get back from Moscow!"

A reporter asked, "What if Manchester City lose the Champions League..."

"Failure! That would be a failure!" Wan Sheng exclaimed, "We have won all the domestic championships in the UK, but only without the Champions League is a failure!"

"What's there to celebrate about failure?"

Soon the theory that "no Champions League is equal to failure" appeared in many media reports.

Some commentators analyzed this and believed that 'Even if Manchester City did not win the Champions League, it would only be a small regret', 'Manchester City was still successful this season', and some people agreed with Wansheng's statement that 'a season with regrets'. Not a success', because the Champions League is very important, Manchester City have reached the final, and losing in the final is more painful than being eliminated early.

The media that quickly supported Manchester City felt that the topic was not very good.

The Champions League final has not yet started, how can we talk about 'Manchester City's failure'? Manchester City will definitely win!

So they turned the topic to 'what will happen if Chelsea lose the Champions League'. Compared with Manchester City, Chelsea's results are much worse. They don't have any championships, and they only finished third in the league, which is the same as last season's results.

But with Chelsea reaching the Champions League final, their results are much better than last season.

Now they are on the verge of winning the Champions League!

For a time, 'Grant leads the team better' or 'Mourinho leads the team' has become a debate, but when it comes to the leadership level of the two, Mourinho has been unanimously approved, and most people only Think 'Grant's luck is better'.

Then the point of discussion became ‘the consequences of Chelsea’s failure’. The Sun and The Times both expressed the view that the biggest consequence of Chelsea’s loss of the Champions League final is that Chelsea coach Grant will almost certainly leave the coaching position.

"Abramovich can't possibly allow an incompetent coach to play games by luck!"

Of course, this has nothing to do with Manchester City.

After the FA Cup final, the players didn't even have a day's vacation. In the morning, the whole team had arrived at the stadium and started to prepare for the game.

Now all they have left is the Champions League final in Moscow and Chelsea.

Needless to say, the importance of the Champions League final. Throughout the season, the team's hard work in the Champions League is for the last decisive battle.

Chelsea, old rivals.

Wan Sheng and the rest of the coaching staff didn't even need to do special research, because both sides knew each other very well, so in terms of preparation, they still focused on normal tactical training.

The disadvantage for Manchester City is that they played one more FA Cup final than Chelsea, so in comparison, Chelsea have more time to prepare, they even arranged a warm-up match, Manchester City do not have this time, Even on the first day of training, most of the time was spent on recovery training.

There are only three days left until the finals.

Manchester City took a plane in the afternoon and flew to Moscow in advance to adapt to the environment. On the same day, the Chelsea team also flew to Moscow.

In Moscow in May, the temperature difference is not small from that of the United Kingdom. Both teams must allow players to adapt to the environment in advance and get enough rest in order to maintain a better state.

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When the two teams arrived in Moscow, the city was already in the smoke of the Champions League final.

From Domodedovo International Airport to the Luzhniki Stadium under the Sparrow Hills, red and yellow ball game posters continue to appear on dozens of kilometers of roads. This kind of poster painted on the road with oil appears every few hundred meters. , as if leading the way for tens of thousands of British fans.

In the city, bunting with game posters reminded people that the big battle was coming.

In the face of huge advertising expenses, the Russian organizers obviously hope to compensate by selling tickets.

According to media reports, the cheapest tickets are currently priced at more than 1,000 US dollars, while the ticket price of VIP seats is as high as 7,500 euros.

In addition, Moscow hotels and football bars have long been booked out.

Since two days ago, about 40,000 British fans began to pour into Moscow, which made the Moscow police face a formidable enemy and immediately stepped up their vigilance.

Now about 7,000 police officers have begun 24-hour patrols in many key areas in Moscow, stepping up the investigation of suspicious persons.

Although the relationship between the UK and Russia was once tense due to the drug case of former Russian spy Litvinenko, which caused a lot of uproar last year, the police of the two countries have also worked together to release the suspicions for the safety of the Champions League final.

This time, the British police specially sent dozens of experienced police officers to Moscow to assist the Moscow police to closely monitor the British fans in Moscow; in the UK, British Airways specially launched flights to transport two teams of fans; After the plane arrived in Moscow, Russia also arranged for the fans of both sides to land at different airports, so as to avoid their premature contact and thus avoid the intensification of conflicts.

Playing in Moscow is another big advantage for Chelsea. The hometown of Chelsea owner Abramovich, the star Shevchenko with Slavic blood in the team is undoubtedly the most popular star among local Moscow fans.

So some media also said, "This is Chelsea's home game."

When the entire Manchester City team came to Moscow, a reporter asked Wan Sheng about this issue, and Wan Sheng smiled disdainfully, "Moscow is Chelsea's home ground? No, the whole world is Manchester City's home ground for a match against Chelsea! At Stamford Bridge, we won more than once! So no matter what home or home, we will definitely win the Champions League!"

Wan Sheng's aggressive words gave Manchester City a lot of encouragement.

Chelsea was naturally not to be outdone. Coach Grant immediately stood up and expressed his determination to win. He talked about the state of Chelsea players.

The first is Shevchenko, who has attracted much attention.

In Chelsea’s last round of the league, Shevchenko scored the winning goal. Although Chelsea failed to surpass Manchester United to get second in the league, it at least proved the state of the Ukrainians. Grant comprehensively evaluated Shevchenko for a season. "It's been a really strange season for Shevchenko. He didn't start the season very well, and after resuming training in recent weeks, he's done a lot better. Compare the number of minutes he's played this season. , he has scored a lot of goals."

After that, Grant talked about Anelka. After Anelka came to Chelsea, he was injured most of the time. There were Drogba and Shevchenko in the striker. In the last two rounds, Anelka played and scored two goals. The efficiency was quite high. Grant looked forward to it, "I hope he can still score here and help us win the Champions League!"

Next, Grant talked about Terry. Terry was injured and could not play before, but now he has recovered. "Terry can also play, our defense is more stable, and this decisive battle can definitely be played better."

When it comes to the Champions League final, Grant has a lot to say. This is not just the trophy that Chairman Roman Abramovich values ​​most. The Chelsea club, and those infatuated fans, are all looking forward to the club's revenge against Manchester City in the final. , took home the big ear cup.

Grant said: "Our goal is of course the Champions League, but we need to give more to win the trophy."

"The Champions League final will be a different experience. Now this is our goal. We did not beat Manchester City this year, but this is Moscow. I believe that the team can win this championship trophy, which is very meaningful to the club!"

After Grant expressed his determination to win, he seems to have brought back Chelsea's fighting spirit and momentum, but Wansheng will not make him any better...

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PS: Continue to ask for monthly ticket support~~(To be continued ~^~)