Chapter 243: Common Enemy of the Premier League, the Little Lion [Please Subscribe, Big Guys! ]

On February 19, the first round of the Champions League 1/8 knockout rounds continued to burn.

Following Manchester City, Barcelona and Chelsea who appeared yesterday.

AC Milan, Arsenal and Bayern Munich also stepped onto the cruel battlefield of the Champions League knockout rounds today.

Compared with the leagues they are familiar with, the teams participating today still played relatively conservatively.

In last night's game, Manchester City only lost to Barcelona 1:2.

The proportion of games like Chelsea's 4:0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League knockout rounds is still too small.

Tonight, Milan and Atletico Madrid basically played a pure defensive battle.

If Atletico Madrid center Costa hadn't seized the opportunity in the 88th minute of the second half and forced Bonera to score a lore goal, the two teams would basically have ended in a draw.

The game between Arsenal and Bayern was also very fierce in defense and midfield confrontation, but when it comes to aggressive offense, neither team actually played it.

You should know that both teams have a smooth and fast offensive style in their respective leagues, but they still play more conservatively in the knockout rounds of the Champions League.

However, Bayern's advantage in the midfield is still unmatched by Arsenal.

Bayern has an advantage in the midfield, more offensive rounds, and a more stable defense. In the end, Bayern still won Arsenal 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium.

In the game that night, the live camera captured the figures of Leon and De Bruyne appearing in the stands of the Emirates Stadium.

This made countless fans in front of the TV feel "surprised".

After the game, when Muller and Kroos successively released social media photos of them dining with Leon and De Bruyne at an Italian restaurant in London.

The fans then understood why Leon came to the Emirates Stadium to watch the game today.

But what's funny is that when fans left a message on Muller's social media account asking him if Li Ang invited them to dinner, Muller replied:

"Yes, the little lion wants to find out our military intelligence, but don't worry, I won't betray my team for a meal!"

But when fans went to Li Ang's social media account to verify, Li Ang's words were in another style.

"Ah? He (Muller) said that as long as I invite him to dinner today, he will give me the information inside the Bayern team, isn't it?"

After answering the fans' questions, Li Ang also tagged Muller's social media account.

Then the two of them insisted on their own opinions and said that the other was a liar on social media.

As a result, half an hour later, Kroos updated a picture on his personal social media account. There was no him in it, but a scene of Le Ang and Muller sitting in the game hall with their arms around each other playing FIFA.

Well, the fans of Bayern and Chelsea were also happy, saying that Kroos was the most honest one among the three.

Muller is still the funny guy, and Li Ang has become a funny guy now when he plays with him.

The fans of Bayern and Chelsea are very happy on this night.

However, the fans of Manchester City and Arsenal have not had a good time in the past two days.

The first round of the Champions League knockout round is one aspect.

At the moment when the war in the Premier League is about to rekindle, the fans of the two teams think of the situation that Chelsea won the last round of the league, while the two of them were tied by their opponents.

The melancholy in their hearts is even stronger.

Some time ago, they were still thinking about waiting for Chelsea to make mistakes so that they can catch up.

As a result, Chelsea is continuing to advance in the league and the Champions League, but they themselves have fallen behind.

After the 26th round of the Premier League, Chelsea has 66 points, 8 points ahead of Manchester City, the second in the Premier League, and 9 points ahead of Arsenal, the third.

As for Liverpool, which has surpassed Tottenham and ranked fourth in the Premier League, they have only accumulated 53 points, and they are 4 wins behind Chelsea!

Such a leading advantage is enough to make Chelsea's position at the top of the Premier League as stable as Mount Tai.

On February 21, at the pre-match press conference of the 27th round of the Premier League.

Facing reporters' questions about the current Premier League situation, Guardiola also spread his hands and joked.

"Well, actually I don't think the gap between Manchester City and Chelsea is that big now. Maybe Chelsea's performance will be more stable?

But I must point out that you need to take a good look at the last Premier League game, Chelsea's comeback against Everton.

You have to see what Li Ang did in that game.

God bless, Chelsea injured a main central defender before the game, and another main central defender during the game, but they still have Li Ang, so they turned the game around smoothly!

We were watching that game at the time, and after watching it, I said to my assistants, okay, don't let me hear Li Ang's name in the next few days, he will make me sleep badly.

..."

Guardiola did not avoid the question of reporters comparing Manchester City and Chelsea now. He also generously admitted that he was very troubled by Leon and Chelsea's performance.

His frankness earned him a wave of favor from reporters and fans.

But at the same time, his words also pushed Chelsea, which had finally kept a low profile recently, to the forefront of public opinion again.

Mourinho and Guardiola attended the pre-match press conference at about the same time.

So reporters couldn't use Guardiola's words to ask Mourinho relevant questions.

They were more interested in this round of the Premier League, whether Mourinho would continue to let Li Ang start as a central defender and partner with Gary Cahill.

Mourinho smiled and changed the subject.

It was not until an hour before the start of the next day's game that Chelsea released the starting eleven and revealed the mystery.

The name of Kalas was on the starting eleven, and with his words, Chelsea's starting lineup also had four full defenders, so Li Ang would not play as a central defender in this game.

In addition to Kalas, Van Ginkel also got the opportunity to start again.

With Van Ginkel and Matic protecting him, Li Ang will definitely put more energy into the offense in this game.

Considering the recent media hype, Li Ang is only two assists away from achieving the double 20 data achievement of the season.

The fans quickly reacted, Mourinho is going to help Li Ang to improve his personal data!

Chelsea's match against West Bromwich, a team currently in the relegation zone, happened to be this round of the league.

So even if it is an away game, Chelsea can directly control the rhythm of this game with its strong strength.

Neutral fans really don't think West Bromwich can withstand Chelsea's attack.

Although Chelsea has rotations from beginning to end in this game, even after the rotation, Chelsea's offensive trident is Oscar, Lukaku, and De Bruyne.

Such offensive firepower is far from what the Premier League relegation team can withstand.

Li Ang still has a normal heart, but like Lukaku and Oscar, they are completely full of confidence.

At 3 pm that day, in the winter sunshine that was rare in recent days, the referee blew the whistle and Chelsea took the lead at the Hawthorns.

Lukaku passed the ball to Oscar, who then passed it back. Leon stood at the top of his own center circle and received the ball steadily, then moved horizontally to the left half of the field with the ball.

Although the Chelsea team only rested for three and a half days after the Champions League.

But after using a physical recovery potion, Leon has recovered 90% of his physical condition, so he still looks very energetic on the court today.

More than 20,000 fans at West Bromwich Albion's home stadium booed loudly to try to interfere with Leon's organization.

However, when Leon faced the pressing of West Bromwich striker Bissouma, he calmly protected the ball and turned around.

After a 360-degree turn, Bissouma fainted, but Leon started to move forward neatly!

Seeing Li Ang's ball-protecting and breaking through the defense and turning neatly, West Bromwich Albion coach Steve Clarke's eyes twitched slightly.

"This kid can actually learn Xavi's ball-protecting and turning?"

At this moment, many fans in front of the TV also saw that Li Ang's familiar turning and getting rid of this time really had some of Xavi's shadow!

Speaking of which, Xavi's long-known stable ball-protecting and getting rid of ability in the football world is always ridiculed by fans as a 360-degree circle without dead ends.

But in fact, this move of his is quite useful on the court.

And there are many midfielders who imitate him, but none of them can be as steady, bold and smooth as him.

Now Li Ang has done this ball-protecting and getting rid of action very well, although the opponent who is pressing him is only a striker.

But his turning after protecting the ball is particularly smooth and agile, and he has completely left his opponent behind.

When the other West Bromwich frontcourt players reacted and wanted to double-team Li Ang, Li Ang had already quickly passed the ball to Oscar on the left in front of him.

Li Ang's clear-headed escape and pass gave Oscar a chance to challenge the opponent's full-back Reid on the left.

Oscar did not hold back, but after dribbling the ball rhythmically on the wing, he quickly dribbled the ball and changed direction, directly shaking off Reid who wanted to stop him head-on!

West Bromwich's right center back Macaulay quickly pressed out of the penalty area, trying to force Oscar back to the wing.

However, Li Ang, who had quietly inserted himself at this time, shouted loudly, and Oscar's eyes lit up, and he quickly passed the ball back to the left side of West Bromwich's half!

Li Ang slightly adjusted his pace in response to this fast ground ball, and then sent a forward pass without stopping the ball!

Lukaku reacted quickly, and the moment Li Ang sent the pass, he had already surpassed Craig Dawson, another center back of West Bromwich.

Then he took the pass from Li Ang while running and pushed the ball into the far corner of West Bromwich Albion's goal with his left foot!

West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Ben Foster failed to save the ball.

But when the football hit the inside of the post and bounced into the net, the linesman's flag was already raised high!

"Oh, Lukaku's start was a little too fast, he's offside!"

In the Sina Sports studio, Zhan Jun's words of celebration were almost coming out of his mouth.

As a result, when he saw the linesman raising the flag, Zhan Jun sighed and almost blurted out something he shouldn't say to Lukaku.

Fortunately, Coach Zhang's commentary was also very loud at this time, and Zhan Jun also suppressed his excitement and quickly adjusted himself.

At the edge of the court at this moment, Mourinho lowered his head and touched his eyes, cursing a few words in his mouth.

On the other side of him, Steve Clarke covered his chest and took a long breath, and then yelled in shock, signaling his defensive players to cheer up.

"My my..."

Knowing that he was offside, Lukaku touched the back of his head a little angrily, and then he raised his thumb high to Li Ang.

However, Li Ang did not say anything. He extended his index finger and smiled, pointing at Lukaku, and then called Oscar to retreat with him.

"Oh my God! Li Ang's wonderful smooth instigation and final pass were wasted by Lukaku. Is this kid born to play in the middle without such a brain?!"

"What a pity! It's really unbearable to watch... Lukaku, Lukaku, you should be more careful!"

"You need to yell at this kid more. Li Ang's temper on the court is still too good. Don't smile at him, glare at him more!"

At this moment, countless Chelsea fans complained about Lukaku's forward penetration awareness.

In fact, if he played on the side, Lukaku's ball might not be offside.

He always makes some small mistakes when playing in the middle.

Either he can't find the landing point of the high ball, or he starts too fast, or he is a beat slower.

Anyway, now Chelsea fans are all happy when they see Lukaku playing on the wing, and they frown when they see him playing in the middle.

Fortunately, their opponents today are really weak.

After the first 26 Premier League games, West Bromwich Albion only scored 19 goals, which is definitely the last in the Premier League in terms of offensive ability.

If their defense was not barely acceptable, they would be lucky to be ranked third from the bottom.

So although Lukaku in the front will waste some opportunities, Chelsea's defense in the midfield and backcourt is impregnable, and West Bromwich Albion has never successfully launched a threatening counterattack.

This rhythm has basically become the offensive and defensive tone of Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion in this game.

Chelsea's offense was very smooth and there were many opportunities, but except for Oscar's shot after receiving Lukaku's back pass in the first half, Chelsea failed to further expand its lead.

Because Lukaku directly wasted three excellent threatening shooting opportunities!

Among them, Li Ang came in from the middle and gave him a single shot and a half-single shot.

He hit it too straight once and was confiscated by the opposing goalkeeper, and hit the goal frame once.

I won’t talk about Li Ang, but when he saw Lukaku head the cross from De Bruyne with almost no one guarding him, Li Ang couldn’t help it!

Mourinho didn’t even need to take action during the halftime break.

Li Ang hooked Lukaku at the end of the first half, and then touched his big round head like a boiled egg and scolded him!

Lukaku, who looked almost a circle bigger than Li Ang, was also very aggrieved.

He drooped his big head and dared not say a word. After being scolded by Li Ang for more than a minute, he followed Li Ang into the player tunnel.

Chelsea fans who had been complaining about Li Ang being too gentle to Lukaku before suddenly felt that Lukaku looked a little pitiful.

However, after returning to the locker room, Lukaku was not scolded again.

Because Li Ang had already taught him a lesson in front of the live camera, Mourinho also saw it, so he naturally pretended to be red-faced at this moment, and criticized Lukaku a few words lightly and let it go.

Before the start of the second half, Mourinho also chose to make a substitution, replacing De Bruyne with Torres, so that De Bruyne could rest in advance.

After Torres came on the court, he naturally stood in the center position, Oscar still played on the left, and Lukaku went to the right.

After this change of position, Chelsea was no longer in the attack mode of left and right passing, but directly became a two-wing flying mode.

Oscar occasionally played as a winger, and faced a team in the relegation zone, so his ability was naturally no problem.

After Lukaku pulled the wing, he was even more of a killer.

Li Ang also deliberately tilted the ball to the right side where Lukaku was in the entire second half.

West Bromwich left back Ridgewell is not a good person.

His height and weight, 1.88 meters tall and 82 kilograms, are already considered supermodels among full-backs.

However, even though he has good confrontation ability, he still suffered a setback under Lukaku's accelerated impact.

If Lukaku was restricted by the two central defenders of West Bromwich Albion in the first half, then he completely blew up his opponent after he pulled to the side in the second half.

Chelsea's entire frontcourt attack also exploded with Lukaku's position, and quickly tore a big gap on the left side of West Bromwich Albion.

In the 62nd minute of the second half, Li Ang received Lukaku's return pass after a sudden breakthrough at the right edge of West Bromwich Albion's penalty area.

Then he kicked a strong cross pass and assisted Torres to score Chelsea's second goal of the game at the back of the West Bromwich penalty area!

After Torres scored this goal, he hugged Li Ang happily to celebrate.

However, countless Chinese fans were anxiously waiting for Li Ang's next assist.

This is Li Ang's 19th assist this season!

But I don't know if the West Bromwich Albion players are also aware of this.

In the subsequent games, they still defended other Chelsea offensive players with the same intensity, but it was completely different for Li Ang.

It was difficult for Li Ang to get the ball near West Bromwich's penalty area, let alone pass the ball.

For this reason, West Bromwich's defensive players even took a very decisive tactical foul against Li Ang.

This made Li Ang feel very helpless.

Because first of all, his free kick ability is not yet developed.

Secondly, it is not easy for him to handle free kick opportunities on both sides of the penalty area, because his cross ability is still very average.

It was the other Chelsea offensive players who gained more offensive space because of West Bromwich's extra attention to Li Ang.

In the 79th minute of the second half, Oscar successfully advanced into the West Bromwich penalty area with the help of Li Ang's cover.

Then his timely return pass also helped Lukaku to score a goal in this game.

Only Li Ang, except for assisting Torres to score, did not gain any personal data until the end of the game.

After the game, a Sky Sports reporter who had a good relationship with Li Ang joked that Li Ang might have to adapt to the taste of becoming a common enemy of other Premier League teams in the future.

The defensive players of other teams behind him will definitely pay extra attention to him.

However, Li Ang is not worried about this.

"I know that now I only need one assist to achieve the double 20 data for the season.

Such data is actually very meaningful, because I looked at it and found that there were very few players in the four major leagues who could achieve such data before.

Messi achieved this achievement in two seasons after 2010, but there has been no such player in the Premier League in recent years. The last one who came close was Fabregas.

So, it is really not easy to achieve this. Maybe I still need a little preparation...

What do you think if I achieve this achievement in the next game?"

After Li Ang finished speaking, he smiled and left the interview site.

The reporter who interviewed him was brightened.

Because Chelsea's next game is the League Cup final!

I forgot to say it just now. Sorry, big guys, there is still one chapter.