Chapter 275: Between sadness and joy

For Premier League fans, this Champions League quarter-finals made them very happy. Both Premier League teams who went to the Champions League performed well. Leiden Oriental defeated Lazio twice away and entered the semi-finals with one foot. Manchester United also tied Real Madrid 0-0 away and won a draw from the away game, which is definitely an acceptable result.

In addition to Manchester United and Leiden Oriental, Arsenal and Leeds United have also entered the semi-finals of the League Cup. They are about to play against Lens of Ligue 1 and Galatasaray of Turkey respectively in the semi-finals of the League Cup. In the eyes of the British media, it is very likely that the two Premier League teams will meet the League Cup final, and it is even possible that the Premier League teams will meet the Championship Cup final...

But on the next day, this joyful atmosphere disappeared.

Two Leeds fans were stained with blood on the streets of Istanbul. Supporters of the two teams fought on the streets of Istanbul. In addition to the large number of people, the Galatasaray fans who played at home were obviously prepared. Many of them were carrying the unique Turkey knife. Of course, Leeds fans would not be opponents.

After the news came, England was shocked. The two dead fans were 37-year-old Loftas and 40-year-old Spiegel. The latter was the organizer who organized Leeds fans to go to the away game to watch the game. Countless fans flocked to Elland Road Stadium and presented flowers to the fans who died. Among them, not only Liverpool, Arsenal and other team supporters, but even Leeds's arch rival Manchester United fans also rushed to Elland Road Stadium to commemorate the two dead fans. For fans, it is the greatest tragedy to suffer such a bad luck just because they follow the team they support to go away.

In this case, Leiden Oriental once again attracted a lot of attention because when Leiden Oriental played Galatasaray away game in the Champions League group stage, their chairman and head coach Xiao Ming repeatedly emphasized that fans should not go to Turkey to watch the game. At that time, many people thought that Xiao Ming was making a big fuss, but what happened now proved that this Chinese was obviously very foresighted.

"I am very sorry that this kind of thing happened. The people who died should not be defiled. Why did I ask the fans not to go to Turkey at that time? Because I know that it is a normal phenomenon in Turkey to carry a knife on his body. When there is a conflict between fans, this kind of weapon that can directly cause death is impossible to use. When conflicts with people, unless they are professional boxers, it is impossible to seriously injure the opponent, but with a knife, it is different. I am a very sensitive person and always worry about some possible dangers. I don't want the fans of Leiden East to be injured because of going away, but I really didn't expect that this would happen! When we were in Turkey, we were disturbed that we shouldn't have. There were constant noises near the hotel we stayed at to disturb our rest.

But after all, it is not a direct harm... This is the ugly scene. It is not an accident, but a murder! The two lives disappeared like this, and they also have parents, wives and children... Yes, there are football hooligans in the UK, but football hooligans are not only available in Britain. In the game in Istanbul, I once saw the reflection of the knife in the stands. Fortunately, no one threw the knife into the field at that time. But what I want to ask is, is Turkey's security check just a gesture? Why can such obvious contraband be brought into the stadium? This may be accidental, but if Turkey continues to inspect this aspect, perhaps all teams in the continental Europe will refuse to go to Turkey to participate in the game. We want games, not war."

What Xiao Ming said in an interview resonated with countless English fans. When people talk about football hooligans, they will think of English fans. But in fact, the fierceness and fanaticism of Turkish fans are even worse, not to mention that they are not only rude fans, but also often cause trouble on the court.

Football has nothing to do with life and death. Football is higher than life and death. But if football causes war, bloody conflict or even death, will you still love such football games? Yes, football itself is simple and innocent, but too many people have mixed other things into football, such as the so-called national self-esteem.

The FA's actions in this regard were still very fast. They quickly made a decision. Before the ten Premier League games held this weekend, they all watched three minutes of silence for the fans who died. What made the FA even more trouble was the second leg of the League Cup. Who knows if Turkish fans will be hit harder when they come to the UK.

The British police also quickly expressed their attitude. Due to the serious lack of police force, the personal safety of every Turkish fan will not be guaranteed by then. This prompted UEFA to hold a meeting quickly and finally decided to ban Turkish fans from going to Leeds to ensure the smooth progress of the second round of the game.

Turkish fans were very angry about this and thought they were involved in innocent ways. However, the next two things made them shut up. In ten days, there were two consecutive injuries in Turkey. A Galatasaray fan stabbed a Besiktas fan with a knife during the discussion. The other thing was not dead, but it was even worse. Three Galatasaray fans kidnapped Okan, the cheerleader captain of the same city opponent Fenerbach, and then cut off the opponent's ears with a razor, and then ran away.

In addition to further deteriorating the image of Turkish fans in the world, these two things also made several arrested Galatasaray fans claiming that Leeds fans first insulted Turks and harassed Turkish women even more suspicious, but instead made another news more real - those Galatasaray fans targeted a group of Leeds fans entering the bar in advance and then immediately launched an attack when they came out.

Of course, these things are already a story. Turkey took over the enemy with England. Later, the famous Turkish defender Alpay maliciously attacked Beckham in the game and was immediately terminated by Aston Villa. It was just a continuation of this incident.

In a sad atmosphere, the 32nd round of the Premier League was held as scheduled. Because of participating in European games, Leeds' matches against Aston Villa, Arsenal's matches against Sherlock on Wednesday, Leiden East's matches against Sunderland and Manchester United's matches against Middlesbrough were all postponed for two days. There is no European match between the 32nd and 33rd rounds. If you don't do this, the FA will just take a shower and go to bed.

What Xiao Ming is most concerned about is Liverpool's game. Now Liverpool ranks third in the standings, with only one point less than Leeds United, two points less than Leeds Oriental, and one point ahead of Arsenal. Now among the top six in the standings, except Manchester United is far ahead of Leeds Oriental, which is ranked second by ten points, the gap between second and six is ​​only five points in total, Leiden Oriental is 58 points, Leeds United is 57 points, Liverpool is 56 points, Arsenal is 55 points, and even Chelsea, the sixth place, has 53 points. Although they have basically locked in a place to participate in European competitions, participating in the Champions League and participating in the League Cup are very different.

What disappointed the four teams that postponed the game was that both Liverpool and Chelsea won the game in advance, and Liverpool jumped to second in the league with 59 points, and Chelsea also rose to fifth place, leaving Arsenal to sixth place.

This situation forced Leeds, Arsenal and Leiden East to the point where they had to win, and the results of these three games were different - one joy and two sorrow.

Leiden Oriental withstood the pressure and defeated Sunderland away, and returned to the second place in the standings with 61 points. Arsenal and Leeds may have had their results due to the fact that they had less rest for a day, and Arsenal was unexpectedly tied by the relegation team in the relegation zone at home, while Leeds United simply lost to Aston Villa, suffering a four-game losing streak.

"It's another important game..." Xiao Ming said with a headache. In the 33rd round of the league before the second leg against Lazio, Leighton Oriental will welcome Liverpool at home, which is only two points less than him. If they lose the game, they will give up the second place. The only thing that makes them feel comforted is that Leeds, ranked third, has now been thrown away by four points by them. Even if they lose a game, Leighton Oriental can afford to lose now.

However, even if Xiao Ming is about to usher in the second leg of the Champions League, there is no reason to give up the game. Even if Liverpool has a strong momentum recently, Leiden Oriental has to maintain its honor at home.

When he was facing a direct competitor who qualified for the next season's Champions League before two consecutive Champions Leagues, Xiao Ming's attitude was very pragmatic and rational - that is, he was to make full use of his advantage of leading points, and even if he played a little ugly at home, he had to maintain his leading advantage. Even if he couldn't win, he should not lose.

With this idea, Leiden Oriental successfully completed its strategic goal at home. They relied on Boban's straight free kick to tie Liverpool and continued to maintain their two-point advantage against their opponents. In another game, Manchester United won again, and another four-to-zero home sweep - they defeated Sunderland and expanded their lead to 12 points. Arsenal defeated Leeds United in a surprising four-zero away game, giving the opponent a five-game losing streak, while also allowing their points to surpass Leeds United, returning to the fourth position, and continuing to put pressure on Liverpool and Leiden Oriental.

After receiving the news that Manchester United continued to win, Xiao Ming sighed in his heart: "Character, character, character is consumed like this..." In his opinion, his team cannot win before every Champions League match, just to accumulate character in the next Champions League match. Otherwise, how can it be explained that a team like Leiden Oriental, which participated in the Champions League for the first time, performs better and better...

Chelsea lost the chain in this chase. They lost to Xie Zhousan, who was at the bottom of the points away. This team that fought for the slim hope of relegation became the touchstone of a strong team and also the team that Leiden Oriental is most grateful to - they tied Arsenal, defeated Chelsea, and directly helped Leiden Oriental maintain the advantage of entering the top three...

Leighton Oriental is really lucky to be able to keep the top three positions while often tied. After the start of the second half of the season, they occasionally lose their chains, but their direct competitors often lose their chains. Although they are still not so steady in the second position, even Chelsea, ranked sixth, is only six points away from them, but the most difficult schedule has passed. Among the next five opponents, there are no direct competitors, and Liverpool still has to compete with Chelsea, and Arsenal also has to play against Chelsea. Leeds has been seriously injured recently, and it may be difficult to enter the top three.

On April 19, in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Leiden Oriental played against Lazio at home.

The two-goal loss at home has put Lazio in a desperate situation. They have no way out. Only by attacking from the beginning of the game can they have the opportunity to win a glimmer of hope.

Lazio didn't want to hide anything about this, and Leiden East was also well prepared.

When Lazio launched a crazy attack from the beginning of the game, Leiden East also launched a fierce fight from the midfield. For Leiden East, although they had gained enough advantages in the first round, if they were careless in the second round, they would still lose the advantages they had accumulated before.

Based in the midfield, push the defense line forward and fight far away from the goal to reduce the opponent's direct threat to the team. Do not blindly play big feet. After stealing in the backcourt, quickly organize the ball to the wing to launch an attack, using attack instead of defense, and while killing time, it also reduces the pressure on your own defense line.

Leiden East's tactics wiped out the opponent's sharpness very well. At the end of the first half, the score was zero to zero. Lazio's shot reached thirteen times, but only three shots were within the goal frame. Leiden East's shot was only within five times, but also three shots within the goal frame.

During the break, Xiao Ming once again emphasized the importance of defense, and allowed the players to continue pressing in the midfield - as long as they persist for another forty-five minutes, Leiden Oriental will undoubtedly enter the semi-finals of the Champions League and become Barcelona's opponent in the semi-finals. In the game held yesterday, Barcelona defeated Fiorentina at home and became the first team to enter the semi-finals in the second half, while the team to enter the finals in the first half defeated Porto Bayern, and their opponent will be the winner between Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Shortly after the start of the second half, Lazio's fierce attack finally achieved results. Without entering the opponent's penalty area, Eriksen chose to bet on luck. Lazio frequently used long shots to threaten Leiden East's goal since the beginning of the second half. In the tenth minute, Nedved shots made a wonderful long shot near the left side of the penalty area. Jasquelinen struggled to save but failed to touch the ball. Lazio chased the total score into one-two!

Seeing the hope of promotion, Lazio was greatly motivated. After all, they only needed one goal to struggle from the brink of death, but Leiden East was not panicked. Regarding this situation, the coaching staff had already practiced in training before the game. They were still blocking the midfield and launching attacks.

Lazio, who scored a point, was inevitably a little anxious. They pressed hard, and Leiden East did not retreat, which made the midfielder extremely dense and made Lazio's gap in the backcourt become larger and larger.

In the 21st minute of the second half, the eleventh minute after Lazio scored, a counterattack from Leiden East completely extinguished Lazio's dream of turning the tables.

Marc Lele unexpectedly passed a beautiful overhead ball in the backcourt. Fanny inserted and removed Marc Lele's pass at high speed, then went straight in one shot, dunked Macegiana, who was attacking, and then pushed the ball into the empty goal in front of Nesta who was returning to defense.

One to one, the total score was three to one, and Leiden East once again expanded its lead! If Lazio wants to advance, he has to score two goals in less than thirty minutes before he can eliminate Leiden East with the advantage of having more away goals.

But will Leiden East let the other party succeed like this?

Xiao Ming was familiar with Robbie Keane and replaced Phillips with Robbie Keane. The Irish fast gunner ran onto the field with a grin and threatened the Blue Eagles - you guys should press on, and after pressing on, be careful of your flaws in the backcourt!

The game continued to stalemate, and Lazio still pushed forward to attack, but they had to fear Leiden East's counterattack. With concerns, the attack naturally became more difficult to threaten Leiden East's gate.

"We lost too much in the first leg."

After the game entered the injury stoppage stage, Erikson sighed to Mancini, who had been substituted, and said: "It's my fault. If we weren't in a hurry to attack in the first round, we wouldn't have been so passive..."

Mancini shook his head and looked at the situation on the court helplessly. He had nothing to say about this situation. Moreover, in the two games, he obviously felt that he was indeed old. It became increasingly difficult to get rid of the opponent in the face of the defense of those young defenders.

When the referee blew the whistle to the end of the game, Brisbane Road Stadium immediately became a sea of ​​joy. All the fans of Leiden Oriental were celebrating the team's entry into the semi-finals of the Champions League. Although Leiden Oriental would not surprise them, the first time they participated in the Champions League, this is a fact that makes people feel happy and fainted!

"Barcelona..."

Amid the deafening cheers of the audience, Xiao Ming took a deep breath, and then he would meet a powerful opponent, Van Gaal, Figo, Rivaldo, Luis Enrique, Guardiola, Cruivet...

From next season, Barcelona will start to decline. Barcelona has been unprecedentedly strong in the past two years. What does it matter if you can meet such an opponent?
Chapter completed!