Manchester City's 3-0 victory over Arsenal shocked the entire Premier League. Although Arsenal's performance this season has been ups and downs and they lost to some weak teams, they still showed the performance of a top team in other games.
strength, especially the victory over Manchester United proved that they still have considerable strength. However, in this game, Arsenal was suppressed by Manchester City from beginning to end, and Manchester City substituted three players shortly after the start of the second half.
With two main players, Arsenal not only failed to recover a point, but Manchester City relied on a counterattack to score the third goal...
No matter how much Arsenal's strength has declined, it is still a strong team that has an advantage in the Champions League group stage, but it was beaten 3-0 by Manchester City who did not exert its full strength. Even if there are accidental factors, it is enough to make
Something surprising!
But Dick is very satisfied with this game, not only because he defeated Arsenal and continued to catch up with the top two, but also because the victory in this game can prepare him for the next Champions League life and death battle.
Boost your energy.
Although they are still five points ahead of Florence, for Manchester City, this game is also a life and death battle. If they lose to Florence in the away game, then Bayern will definitely try their best to block Manchester City in the away game and make the knockout stage
There is one less opponent. As an upstart like Manchester City, they have offended many people in the European arena. On the one hand, people are envious and jealous because they spend too much money. On the other hand, Manchester City's poaching of people will definitely make many people unhappy.
People's interests have been harmed. For example, Bayern was robbed of Ribery by Manchester City last year and had the opportunity to eliminate Manchester City from the group stage. They also hope to be able to do this, at least in the future, Manchester City's
It will also appear less attractive, which is what everyone wants to see.
The entire Manchester City team flew to Florence after the league ended. This city did not welcome their arrival very much. For the city of Florence, they are one of the few local fans in Italy who have more fans than Juventus.
Cities with the largest number of fans - Juventus is the club with the largest number of fans in Italy. Their support rate in many places is higher than that of the home team. The only cities where Juventus fans' support is really low are Milan, Rome,
There are only four cities: Naples and Florence.
As for the enemy Manchester City, it can be seen what the attitude of Florence fans will be.
However, Dick didn't care about not being liked when playing in an away game. It was normal to be treated like this in an away game, but it would be abnormal if he was constantly welcomed.
The hostility of Florence fans is not like that of Turkish fans who will cause trouble outside the game. However, on the day of the game, Florence fans turned the Stadio Franchi into an erupting volcano, which echoed throughout the stadium.
With the shouts of Fiorentina fans and the boos of Manchester City!
The Fiorentina team has also made the most preparations for this game. They also want to qualify, not to play in the UEFA Cup. Every step forward in the Champions League is real money!
Fiorentina had to win, which allowed them to field a strong offensive lineup in the game. Mutu, Gilardino and Santana formed a front trident, and the midfielders were Melo, Montolivo and Kuzmanovic.
Forming the midfield, the left back is sent by Vargas, who has excellent assist ability. If Viola wants to win this game at home, it must show its offensive ability even more.
Fiorentina has been able to become a regular visitor to the Champions League in the past few years because it has many outstanding top players. Their starting lineup is also quite strong, with a reasonable age structure, excellent personal abilities, and not bad coordination... Although
They only scored three points in the previous four rounds, but this has a lot to do with their unfamiliarity with the Champions League - unfamiliarity with the Champions League is not just a problem for Manchester City.
However, they still drew with Bayern and Manchester City successively, which is enough to prove their ability.
Amid the crazy shouts of the Fiorentina fans, Fiorentina launched a fierce attack from the beginning. Santana is a player with excellent skills and speed. With the constant forward movement from the left, Vargas almost became a winger.
, Fiorentina's offensive on both wings was quite fierce, while Mutu was roaming in the frontcourt, breaking through when he had the chance to get the ball - Mutu's breakthrough ability is also quite outstanding, and with Gilardino in the penalty area,
Florence's offensive lineup is quite good.
Dick, on the other hand, arranged targeted tactics for this game. Alves continued to advance and assist, using offense to suppress Vargas's assists. Barnes did not advance much, and Kompany was responsible.
Marking Gilardino, using his height and strength to suppress the opponent, while dealing with Mutu, he used regional defense. On offense, in addition to Alves suppressing Vargas, Benzema also continued to attack in this area.
Moving from the side, Yaya Toure used his forward thrust to suppress Montolivo's blockage. Ribery stormed the opponent's right wing and constantly broke through Zauri's defense.
The first shot came from Florence. After a series of cooperation, Kuzmanovic, who advanced to assist, dribbled the ball across and shot from a long distance, but Hart blocked it.
However, the first goal did come from Manchester City. In this goal, Manchester City's cooperation was incisively and vividly displayed. In the tightly defended penalty area, Deco and Torres, who advanced forward, played continuous passing cooperation, and then Deco passed the ball.
, Yaya Toure's follow-up shot in the penalty area hit Dainelli and bounced to the left. After receiving the ball, Benzema passed Melo who hurriedly returned to defend, and then passed the ball to the center, getting rid of the opponent's defender.
Torres appeared in front of the ball and pushed the ball towards the ball, giving Manchester City the first opportunity to break the deadlock!
This goal made the Fiorentina fans quiet for a while. The opponent scored first in the first fifteen minutes. This was a huge blow, because for them, a draw was not enough to qualify!
The inexperienced Fiorentina began to expose their shortcomings at this time. They began to attack aggressively. Although they played very fiercely, their defense line was constantly exposed to Manchester City's counterattack line. Manchester City's three forwards are currently playing.
They are all players with good speed and technical coordination. Such a frontcourt trident is quite handy for counterattacks. In fact, Florence's three forwards are also suitable for counterattacks. However, Manchester City's intensive defense does not allow them to have much space.
.
Using defensive counterattacks to deal with Serie A teams can sometimes achieve quite good results.
Florence, which was aggressively attacking, began to have more flaws in the backcourt. They sent too many attackers themselves, and compared with their offense, their defense was not that good, which made them in the second half.
I swallowed the bitter pill at twenty-eight minutes.
Montolivo was pressed by Yaya Toure and Deco in the midfield. In a hurry, he made a mistake in passing the ball and was intercepted by Deco. After intercepting the ball, Deco sent a beautiful through ball.
Benzema, who was inserted diagonally, received the ball under the cover of Torres. He dribbled the ball forward and suddenly took a shot from 20 meters away from the goal. Frey was unable to make a save and the ball flew directly into the lower left corner of the goal.
Two to zero, Manchester City took a two-goal lead in the away game!
Dick kept waving his fists on the sidelines, leading by two goals, and Manchester City was only one step away from advancing!
While Manchester City fans celebrated wildly, Florence fell into silence. Now they are two goals behind, which means that they have to score at least three goals in the next game to keep their hope of promotion! Not yet
Lost the ball...
Fiorentina, who had no way out, launched a crazy counterattack. In the stoppage time of the first half, they finally recovered a point - Mutu scored the ball, Santana broke through from the wing and made a cross, and Gilardino pressed Kong in front of the goal.
Pani regained a point with a flick of his head. Gilardino is one of Manchester City's sufferers this season. He also scored both of Fiorentina's two goals at the City Stadium.
This goal gave Florence fans hope. They hoped to see the team launch a desperate counterattack in the second half, overtake Manchester City, and seize the last chance to qualify!
"Don't worry, everyone, our situation is very favorable now... We continued to defend and counterattack in the second half. Even if we lose the ball, don't worry. If we score one, they will score one more. No team can do it now."
Our full defense allowed us to score three goals in forty-five minutes... As long as we score one more, victory belongs to us! We must get the qualifications for the knockout rounds, and we must not only get the right to qualify,
We still have to strive for first place in the group! This will make it easier for us in the knockout rounds... Do you understand?"
Dick announced his goal in the locker room. Although this game can only qualify with a draw, he still has to strive for victory, because it seems that it is not too difficult for Bayern to defeat Eindhoven. He wants to
Not only is it necessary to qualify in the group, but also to strive for first place. In this case, there is a greater possibility of encountering a weaker team...
In the second half of the game, Fiorentina sent Jovetic and replaced Kuzmanovic in the midfield to strengthen the attack. However, Manchester City's defense was still very tight. Dick replaced Button, whose physical fitness was somewhat reduced.
Deco and the three defensive midfielders were constantly protecting outside the penalty area, and also adequately protected the right wing guarded by Alves. Most of the counterattacks were handed over to the trident in the frontcourt. The three of them played freely.
The movement also gave Florence's offense a lot of fear.
After being unable to attack for a long time, Fiorentina suffered the final blow. After Ribery broke through, he was knocked down by the opponent's defender. Manchester City won a direct free kick more than 20 meters away from the goal. Ribery personally took the free kick and the ball went over.
The wall flew directly into the blind spot of the goal. Three to one, Manchester City completely established the victory!
This victory also gave Manchester City the right to qualify for the group. After five rounds of group matches, they achieved three wins and two draws, qualifying from this group one round ahead of schedule. In another game, Bayern lost three games at home.
They defeated PSV Eindhoven with zero points and also qualified from the group with 11 points. In the last round, in addition to the competition for first place in the group, there was a competition between Fiorentina with three points and PSV Eindhoven with one point for the UEFA Cup.
Qualified for the competition...
"I'm very happy that we have entered the knockout stage... This group is very training, allowing our players to adapt to the rhythm of the Champions League. Next, we have to prepare for the knockout stage." Dick said with a smile at the press conference.
