Chapter 1,217 The Unprecedented Manchester Derby

Manchester United got the three points they wished for in the away game, but the process was not perfect. The defense made frequent mistakes and Vidic, the absolute main player, was sent off. If they do not continue to play Galati Steel in the next game, the consequences will be serious.

In another game, Benfica defeated Basel 2:0 in an away game. Now the two teams are only one point apart. Manchester United wants to get first in the group. The next few games, especially the direct dialogue with Benfica, cannot be missed.

After the game against Galati, Manchester United left Romania early the next morning and rushed back to Manchester to prepare for the weekend's game against their rival Manchester City.

Manchester City also played in the Champions League, and their opponent was stronger than Manchester United, La Liga's Villarreal.

Manchester City played at home, and the game was very anxious. In the end, they defeated the Yellow Submarine, which was famous in the Champions League five years ago, with a thrilling 2:1.

After Manchester City was acquired by a Middle Eastern rich man, after several years of huge investment, this season finally paid off. Now they remain unbeaten in the Premier League and have the same points as Manchester United.

Manchester City still cannot compare with Manchester United in the Champions League, and can only be described as a mediocre record. However, there are not many shortcomings in winning against Villarreal, drawing with Naples, and losing to Bayern. After all, they are a new team in the Champions League.

Manchester City has always been a weak team in history, and now it can only be said to be an upstart, a rich man. They cannot be like Manchester United and want to win the Champions League and the league championship. Their goal is only the league championship.

Manchester City has been recruiting players in the past few seasons, and has repeatedly wanted to buy Gao Xiaodong at a high price, but due to various reasons, it was not possible.

It is difficult to achieve good results in the Champions League without superstars, but through acquisitions in the past few years, Manchester City's strength has greatly increased, especially the depth of the bench, which gives them a great advantage in the long league competition.

Since the 1977-1978 season, Manchester City has not led the league standings for 34 years. If they can defeat Manchester United this time, they will once again top the standings. This will be a huge encouragement to players, fans and coaches. huge.

Pellegrini attaches great importance to this local derby with Manchester United. He believes that this is Manchester City's best opportunity to challenge Manchester United.

Pellegrini was right, this is indeed Manchester City's best chance.

Since 43 years ago, when Manchester City beat Manchester United by 2 points to win the second and most recent top league championship in the team's history, and entered the Champions League for the first time, Manchester City has gone from bad to worse. Although Manchester United twice They were relegated, but they soon began to exert their strength, especially after Ferguson became the coach of Manchester United. Manchester United achieved dominance in the Premier League, with 20 crowns, proud of England; while Manchester City could only enjoy a small victory in the derby.

Pay tribute to the glory of that year.

After the Abu Dhabi consortium acquired Manchester City, there were heavy signings of more than 100 million pounds each season, and Manchester City gradually caught up with Manchester United in terms of strength.

This season started with 7 wins and 1 draw in the first 8 rounds. This is Manchester City’s best start since 1897, and they are only 1 point behind Manchester United. Both sides are participating in the Champions League. Now Manchester City can finally compete fairly with each other at the same height. A real contest.

For fans around the world, this is also the best Manchester derby.

Before the Abu Dhabi consortium acquired Manchester City, the so-called "Manchester City Derby" only had a regional influence. In terms of historical tradition, it is not as good as the "time-honored derby" between Celtic and Rangers; in terms of championship glory, it is not as good as the English Derby between Manchester United and Liverpool? In terms of popularity, Mersey County, Birmingham, North London and even Northern Derby are no worse than Manchester City Derby.

But now, this is an unprecedented Manchester City derby. Its connotation has transcended football and has become a global party in the name of football.

There is no shortage of stars here: if fans have forgotten the names of Dennis Law and Nick Young, but Gao Xiaodong, Rooney, Nani, Aguero, Nasri, Giggs, Balotelli are also star-studded, they The number of fans and the resulting star power far exceed that of his predecessors.

And fans may see the Stone Roses, Oasis and celebrities from the fashion and entertainment industries in the box.

There is no shortage of fans here: not only will the Dream Theater have 70,000 live spectators, but there will also be hundreds of millions of global fans watching the game simultaneously through multimedia such as TVs, computers and even mobile phones.

The most direct indicators to measure the popularity of a game are traditional TV media data such as the number of viewers and ratings. The most eye-catching derby in recent years is undoubtedly the Spanish El Clasico. Guardiola's dream Barcelona VS Mourinho's renaissance Real Madrid clashed four times in 18 days last season, becoming the No. 1 hot topic in world football that month.

According to statistics from Spanish media, the number of live TV viewers for each of those four games (league and cup) exceeded 1 billion.

1 billion is a hurdle, a watershed between truly world-class peak events and ordinary competitions. The finals of continental events such as the World Cup and European Cup all belong to the “1 billion viewers club”.

This season, the double club between Liverpool and Manchester United has attracted 600 million viewers around the world. This data is a true reflection of the current status of the traditional North West Derby - due to Liverpool's poor performance in the past two years, the English Derby has hardly regained its former glory.

The Premier League can compete on a scale of 1 billion, including the 2007 home match between Arsenal and Manchester United and the match between Manchester United and Chelsea last season.

Last season's match between Manchester City and Manchester United set a viewing record for the British public television channel's prime time slot from 8 to 10 o'clock - a total of 7.3 million viewers in the UK watched the game, accounting for 28.8% of the market share.

Although this season's Manchester derby has not yet begun, in China's Weibo topic trend rankings, Manchester City derby has already led the Baihua Film Festival and Weibo Level 4 exam topics, becoming the most discussed hot spot among Chinese netizens.

The Manchester derby has not overtaken the biggest topic around the world: the release of "The Adventures of Tintin", but in the UK, the Manchester City derby has also become the hottest topic on Twitter.

According to British media predictions, the number of viewers of this Manchester City Derby is very likely to exceed that of this season's double red meeting, reaching 700 million viewers.

Manchester City is just an ordinary strong team now, and its strength has not been proven. The reason why Manchester City Derby is so popular is firstly because the Premier League is so popular, and secondly because Gao Xiaodong and Sun Hai are there.

70% of fans around the world watch the Premier League, which is broadcast live in 211 countries and regions around the world. Last season, the Premier League attracted more than 4.7 billion viewers. This data is far higher than other leagues: 50 countries and regions broadcast La Liga, 52 Serie A, and only 23 Bundesliga.

The Asia-Pacific region is the region outside the United Kingdom that is most crazy about the Premier League. The number of viewers ranks first in the world. The proportion of Chinese fans watching is 46%. Chinese fans basically use Gao Xiaodong’s Manchester United as their main team. In addition, Manchester City also With Chinese player Sun Hai playing for the team, Chinese fans almost regard the Manchester Derby as a Chinese Derby.

With the huge number of fans of the Premier League around the world, coupled with the attention of almost all Chinese fans, it is not surprising that the Manchester Derby has set a record in terms of attendance.