On the evening of April 24th, Manchester Intihad Stadium.
When the referee Kao Shaoyin from Hungary blew the whistle to end the game, the entire stadium fell into a deathly silence, and everyone looked at the score in the stadium in disbelief.
Zero to one.
International practice is that the home team goes first and the visiting team goes last.
Manchester City actually lost at home.
Head coach Pellegrini stood in front of the home team's coaching bench. He still looked calm in a suit and tie, but he couldn't hide the look of loss on his face, especially when he turned around, that helpless and lonely figure.
Let people see his predicament at this moment.
The mighty Manchester City lost!
And it’s still at home!
Heynckes and his team went into a frenzy.
Bayern Munich players celebrate wildly.
They finally got revenge for last season. Although Manchester City is no longer sophisticated, they still feel happy.
Destroy Manchester City first, and then do something profound!
This is a very difficult game.
Bayern Munich, playing away from home, only had 34% of the ball possession, only 4 shots, and only 1 shot on target. But this time it was on target, Thomas Muller broke through the goal of German national team teammate Neuer.
goal.
The German goalkeeper didn't have a good way to deal with this because the distance was too close.
Who can save this kind of shot from the edge of the small penalty area?
Manchester City shot 15 times in the game, seven of which were on target, but they failed to score a single goal.
In Gao Shen's previous life, veteran goalkeeper Bute, who should have retired long ago, once again put in a crazy performance.
He turned 39 on May 28 and left an extremely deep impression on people.
There is even news that Bayern is still considering extending Bute's contract for another year.
Because so far, Bayern has not found a suitable goalkeeper who can replace Butt.
Based on the Bayern goalkeeper's performance at the Intihad Stadium, he is indeed worthy of this contract extension.
The defense composed of Alaba, Dante, Van Buyten and Lahm, the midfield composed of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Gustavo and Vidal, and the trio composed of Ribery, Mandzukic and Thomas Muller
halberd……
Bayern's lineup, with its unparalleled strangulation ability, caused Manchester City to suffer a disastrous defeat at their home court.
They struggled for more than 80 minutes. In the 83rd minute, Alaba suddenly stepped in from the left. After receiving Ribery's pass, the low ball was passed to the goal. Thomas Muller
A shot from behind hit the target at close range.
This was Bayern's only shot on goal in the entire game, and the ball went in.
What else could Pellegrini say?
When he turned his head and looked at his assistants and saw the disappointed fans in the stands, the Chilean engineer felt very uncomfortable because he knew very well that at this moment, everyone in this stadium except Bayern
Everyone probably misses his ex.
Just yesterday, his predecessor led Real Madrid to defeat the all-powerful Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 at the Parc des Princes in Paris and advance to the Champions League final.
But tonight, he lost to Bayern at home.
He could give countless reasons, but none of them could hide this fact.
Comparison is the devil that kills people!
Pellegrini was not the first victim of the devil's sword, nor was he the last.
…
"He is not profound after all!"
In the chairman's stand of the Intihad Stadium, Manchester City chairman Mubarak looked at the Manchester City players walking down the field with their heads hanging down, feeling very uncomfortable.
As brilliant and smooth as Manchester City has been in the past three years, he is so frustrated at this moment.
Originally, he and the management were ambitious to achieve three consecutive Champions League titles.
But now it seems that hope is getting slimmer.
It’s not that Manchester City doesn’t have this reality.
It's because Pellegrini wasn't strong enough.
Manchester City has always had a problem this season, that is, how to distribute the superstars in the frontcourt?
Gareth Bale, Robin van Persie, Suarez, Robben, Robinho, Sturridge, Hazard...
During Gao Shen's coaching period, Manchester City built two strong lineups and a strong bench in order to insist on fighting on the fourth front.
From the perspective of input and output, it is definitely a good deal.
And judging from the appreciation of players, Manchester City has really made a lot of money.
What Gao Shen brought to Manchester City was not only a championship, but also a treasure trove of talents.
But Pellegrini is not Gao Shen. He does not have Gao Shen's strong aura and skills. He cannot suppress the Manchester City locker room.
This has led to problems in the Manchester City dressing room this season.
For example, Robinho and Sturridge became dissatisfied when they did not get opportunities.
In the past, when Gao Shen was here, they were able to get a lot of game opportunities. Even if they were substitutes and rotations, they did not dare to say anything outside. But now, they all dare to express their dissatisfaction in front of the media.
This is Manchester City's biggest problem right now.
More importantly, Pellegrini's tactics rely too much on big-name superstars, resulting in Manchester City's current offensive and defensive imbalance.
The Premier League was suppressed by Manchester United, and in the Champions League, they lost to Bayern at home in the first leg of the semi-finals. It has been a bad year, and Manchester City's current situation is not very ideal.
A change of coach won't be enough, but many things have become clear.
At least, Pellegrini is really not the most suitable successor to Gao Shen.
"Bryan, what is your technical team's assessment of Sarri?" Mubarak asked with concern.
Many people say that Sarri is Gao Shen II. He himself served as Gao Shen's assistant for three years and was deeply influenced by Gao Shen. Moreover, Leeds United performed very well in the Premier League this season and have been ranked third in the Premier League.
six.
It's also interesting to say.
Gao Shen is known as the king of cup competitions, and Sarri seems to have this trend.
In addition to their outstanding performance in the Premier League this season, Leeds United has also achieved success in cup competitions.
For example, the useless League Cup.
In the League Cup final in March, Leeds United defeated Yorkshire's dark horse Bradford 5-0 to win the League Cup.
This is certainly not a great achievement, after all, no big team will pay attention to the League Cup, but it is a championship after all, and it can participate in the Europa League next season.
Speaking of which, Leeds United has reached the League Cup final for two consecutive seasons.
Last season, as a dark horse, they lost to Manchester City coached by Gao Shen, but this season, as a Premier League team, they defeated dark horse Bradford and won the Yorkshire derby.
But just the League Cup is nothing. Leeds United also defeated Millwall of the English Championship 2-0 in the FA Cup semi-finals a few days ago and also reached the FA Cup final.
Manchester City defeated Mourinho's Chelsea 2-1 in the semi-finals and reached the final.
The league is stable at the top, and both cup competitions have reached the finals. Sarri has the demeanor of a sophisticated cup king.
Because of this, Sarri has also attracted the attention of many European giants, especially Italy.
Manchester City is also very familiar with Sarri and is naturally paying close attention to him.
Especially now that Pellegrini's coaching results are not very satisfactory.
"We all feel that there is still a big gap between Sarri and Gao Shen, and he may not be able to do better than Pellegrini." Brian Marwood shook his head.
Mubarak nodded, which is normal.
There is only one, unique existence of Gao Shen.
Even Guardiola, whom Gao Shen personally recommended, may not be able to do as well as Gao Shen.
"You called Gao Shen before, what did he say?" Mubarak asked with concern.
When he mentioned this, Marwood looked funny.
"He made a bad move."
Manchester City's CEO Gary Cook caused a scandal over an email, and the club was forced to sack him, leaving Manchester City's CEO vacant.
Manchester City wanted to recruit Guardiola, but Guardiola did not want to take over from a senior player at this time, so the Spaniard chose Bayern Munich, but Manchester City was still unwilling to give up.
After Gao Shen goes to Real Madrid, he will not leave for a while, and Guardiola is currently the best head coach in European football besides Gao Shen, and he is also Gao Shen's disciple.
Therefore, Mubarak asked Marwood to go to Gao Shen for help.
The strategy given by Gao Shen is that former Barcelona vice-chairman Ferran Soriano and former Barcelona technical director Begiristain are both very capable people. Manchester City can recruit both of them and use them to seduce them.
Guardiola.
"That's a good move!" Mubarak laughed.
This trick is really very profound.
Completely out of line with common sense.
"I have learned about it. These two people are indeed very capable and have a good relationship with Gao Shen." Marwood did things appropriately.
He is not worried about his position in Manchester City at all. Even if the technical team is handed over, he will definitely join the board of directors.
Mubarak nodded, "Then let's get in touch and I'll meet with them sometime."
Marwood immediately agreed.
"By the way, Rudolf Borrell gave me a call."
"What's going on?" Mubarak was a little surprised.
Borrell used to be Gao Shen's assistant and was in charge of the youth training, but later he went to Leeds United as the technical director and took charge of the overall situation.
"Aren't they improving their youth training team recently?"
"Yes, I heard that they are poaching people all over the world, and they were even discussed at the Premier League summit before."
"Now he is more restrained, but he has set his sights on us. You know, he used to be in charge of our youth training camp."
"who?"
"Sterling and Rabiot, as well as several other young players, such as Sancho and Alexander-Arnold, are all interested."
Since the Football Association's reform of youth training, young players can also "transfer", provided that a compensation is paid.
Manchester City's youth training is actually pretty good, but players like Adrien Rabiot, who will be eighteen soon, have yet to get a chance with the first team, and Sterling, too.
The first team is so strong and the lineup is so large that the youth team never gets a chance.
Under such circumstances, it will be difficult for Manchester City to retain people.
Either rent it or sell it.
Fortunately, Manchester City has never been positioned as a youth training team, but as a top powerhouse.
Top giants have never had a tradition of cultivating young players.
Therefore, Manchester City's strategy is to send players away, let other teams train them, and then spend money to buy them back when Manchester City needs them.
This is the business line of giant teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United.
Also from Manchester City.
"Okay, let them pay according to the regulations." Mubarak said nonchalantly.
