Chapter 221: The only seedling in the Premier League
The predictions given by the media are already obvious: Manchester United and Barcelona will meet again in the Champions League final.
Facts have proved that Manchester United's home game against Bayern Munich was also a close call. Manchester United defeated Bayern Munich 3:2 at Old Trafford and advanced to the Champions League semi-finals with a total score of 6:3.
In this game, Rooney miraculously appeared on the bench of Manchester United, which shocked all the media. It is very likely that Rooney will go into battle due to some unexpected situation. Fortunately, Manchester United took the lead in only the third minute of the game.
, Rafael and Li Yu passed the ball continuously, and then Li Yu passed the ball to Gibson, who shot hard from 25 yards from the right. The ball bounced off the ground and jumped into the lower right corner. This was his first European goal.
The wonderful start was not over yet. After only 4 minutes, Li Yu ran wildly with the ball in the middle and suddenly passed the ball to the right. Valencia patiently passed Badstuber and passed in, but Demichelis failed to block it.
On the line, Van Buyten also made a mistake in marking, and Nani's heel from the edge of the penalty area hit the back post. This was his first goal since August.
Although Li Yu did not directly score a goal, both goals had a huge relationship with Manchester United's No. 9. Rooney can rest assured to watch the game from the bench.
At the end of the first half, Manchester United continued to expand the score in the 41st minute. Rafael threw a throw-in from the right. Valencia, who had shaken off Badstuber, picked over Demichelis and passed in. Li Yu made a 14-yard pass.
Missing the ball everywhere, Nani scored twice with a push shot from 15 yards away, a two-point double kill. Bayern Munich still could not escape its own misfortune, 3:0!
However, after taking a big lead, Manchester United players were a little slack at the end of the first half, and Bayern Munich also seized the opportunity at the last moment and scored a goal.
Bayern pulled one back in the 43rd minute. Muller headed the ball over and Olic, who got away from Carrick, scored from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area.
At the end of the first half, the total score was 6:2, and Manchester United still led Bayern Munich by a large margin.
Shortly after the start of the second half, Bayern Munich once again took advantage of the loopholes in Manchester United's defense and scored a goal. Franck Ribery took a corner kick, and the unguarded Robben shot a half-volley with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area into the lower left corner. Key location, key figure
There was a leak, and Manchester United once again paid the price of a goal for their lax defense. However, Robben's world-beating goal also left the Manchester United players speechless. It was so beautiful.
The total score is 6:3. There is already a huge gap between the two sides in the game. Bayern Munich may just be fighting for dignity.
Immediately, Bayern Munich launched a crazy attack in an attempt to save some face with goals, but in the end they failed. The German team had no choice but to accept the fate of being double-killed by Manchester United in two rounds and eliminated from the competition.
Rooney failed to play in the end. In fact, the psychological warfare factor of Ferguson's move was far greater than the actual fighting on the field. It encouraged the momentum of Manchester United players on the field, demoralized the opponent, and also put a certain amount of pressure on the opponent.
However, Ferguson also said calmly in the post-match press conference that Manchester United did not play very well at home today, and they were far from playing well on the away road. This may have something to do with the fact that they scored consecutive goals in the opening game and took a big lead. Some players were at a critical moment.
Lack of enterprising spirit.
Although he didn't name him by name, everyone already knew what Ferguson was referring to: the defensive players. The two goals conceded in this game had a lot to do with the slackness of the defense. Obviously Ferguson was not too satisfied with this.
Although they took a 3-0 lead in the 41st minute, the game did not develop in the direction of 7-1 in the end. Two goals from Olic and Robben made the Red Devils' opening lightning attack ultimately in vain.
It was a gorgeous campaign. Although they eventually advanced to the Champions League semi-finals, Manchester United's starting 11 still made people feel a little worried.
Gary Neville was not included in the roster, Giggs and Scholes were on the bench, and the three senior players of Manchester United did not start at the same time. Sir Alex Ferguson gave the team a clear signal to speed up the overall process. After 33 rounds of the Premier League this season, this season
After 10 games of the UEFA Champions League this season, among the 43 key games, there were only two games where the three players failed to appear on the first pitch at the same time.
In the starting lineup, they are playing against Wigan and Blackburn at home in the league. In other words, this season, as long as it is a key match for Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson will send at least one of his old starters. But this time, Manchester United unexpectedly arranged a brand new
The younger starting lineup caught Bayern by surprise, and Sir Alex Ferguson decided to make changes.
Van der Sar is 39 years old, Lal is 19 years old, Ferdinand is 31 years old, Vidic is 28 years old, Evra is 28 years old, Valencia is 24 years old, Gibson is 22 years old, Fletcher is 26 years old, Carrick is 28 years old.
Neal is 23 years old, Rooney is 22
Years old...The average age of the starting lineup against Bayern is only 26.3 years old. If Edwin van der Sar is not included (the goalkeeper position is special), the average age of the other 10 Manchester United players is only 25.3 years old, which is very, very young.
Facts have proved that Ferguson guessed the start, and Bayern, who was caught off guard, was defeated by the young Manchester United at the beginning of the game. But on the battlefield, in addition to the coach's accurate off-field dispatching, the only thing that can play a decisive role on the field is
It can be a player. In terms of player quality, Manchester United, which has Li Yu who is 100% in shape, is not completely at the upper hand. Especially in terms of ball control, these Manchester United players are even inferior to Bayern.
As we all know, Barcelona's strongest link is their ball control. There is a saying in football that the one who wins the midfield wins the world, which refers to the importance of ball control in the midfield.
In a confrontation between two armies, once a certain team gains a foothold in the midfield, it will naturally have the upper hand. However, after being at a clear disadvantage in controlling the ball in the first round, in the second round, Manchester United controlled less than 40% of the ball at home, which is very telling.
In the second leg of the UEFA Champions League 14 finals this week, the two participating Premier League teams, Manchester United and Arsenal, had very poor passing numbers. Among a total of 8 teams, Manchester United only made 337 passes, ranking 6th;
After meeting Barcelona, the master of ball control, Arsenal ranked second from the bottom in this ranking with 323 passes.
In the second round, Bayern ranked second behind Barcelona with 520 passes, ranking second in the Champions League quarterfinals. In the final stage of the game, with Bayern playing one more player, Manchester United could no longer steal the ball from Bayern.
Of course it is closely related to Bayern's signings this season.
According to statistics from Germany's "Transfer Market", Bayern has spent a total of 67.23 million pounds on signings this season, signing the very practical Olic for free, 27 million pounds for Gomez, 21.6 million pounds for Robben, 9.90
Szczuk was purchased for 10,000 pounds at the end of the season, Planic was purchased for 6.93 million pounds and Bluffhead was purchased for 1.8 million pounds.
Among them, Olic and Robben scored 3 of the 4 goals in the two rounds, while Planic and Gomez also performed very well in the first round. After selling Podol for 9 million pounds
Ski, sold Lucio for £6.3 million, sold for £3.78 million
After getting rid of Hummels, selling Baumjohn for 900,000 pounds, and selling Borowski for 675,000 pounds, Bayern purged players in the transfer market and recovered 10,000 pounds. In other words, Bayern’s transfers this season
Tens of thousands of pounds were spent on the market to strengthen the team.
On the other hand, Manchester United sold Ronaldo for 80 million pounds, Fraser Campbell for 6 million pounds, Manucho for 2.4 million pounds, Lee Martin for 2 million pounds, and Simpson for 500,000 pounds.
After Weiss left the team at the end of his loan period, Manchester United only introduced Valencia for 17 million and Xiaodi for 5 million.
Wuf, 3 million to bring in Obertan, 500,000 to buy McGinty, and Smallin, who was introduced in the winter, only joined this summer, which can be regarded as an investment in the next season. Calculated in this way, Manchester United's net investment in signings this season is only -
65.4 million pounds, but Bayern spent +10,000 pounds. The Red Devils invested 112 million pounds less than Bayern!
Manchester United is actually competing in the Champions League with such a big gap in the Champions League. Isn't this a miracle of Ferguson? It is also the result of Li Yu's full-scale outbreak.
To be fair, with an investment of 110 million pounds less than the Bundesliga giant Bayern, Manchester United played like this in the two rounds. Most of the time, they relied on Li Yu's continuous offensive output. If it weren't for Li Yu's continuous explosion,
Perhaps the huge gap will turn into the result of failure.
Objectively speaking, Manchester United's performance on all fronts so far this season is satisfactory enough. As Sir Alex Ferguson said, money cannot buy a championship, let alone a glorious history.
But competitive sports are impossible without money.
Manchester United and Liverpool are constrained by huge debts. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is standing still. Arsenal, the financially healthiest one, is busy repaying the loan from the Emirates Stadium... Look at Liverpool's predicament this season, and then look at Manchester City's 3 wins against the top four teams this season.
With 2 draws and 1 loss, and now firmly in the top four, you will find the role of money. If Manchester City's example is not convincing enough, you can look at Real Madrid's crazy momentum in grabbing points in La Liga this season.
, you will find the effect of huge investment.
So far this season, Manchester United has been eliminated from the FA Cup early. It is very intuitive that there is a problem. Manchester United's bench depth is no longer strong. Let's look at which team Leeds United eliminated the powerful Manchester United. Although
It was all substitutes, but the final outcome was beyond everyone's expectations.
After successfully defending the League Cup, Manchester United still has the Champions League and the Premier League to compete for.
Now, Manchester United is still in the lead in the standings, leaving behind the two-game gap between Arsenal and Chelsea. There are only five rounds left in the league.
As long as there are no big surprises, Manchester United will achieve an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title. Manchester United can still be called a very successful season.
Even if the Red Devils were unfortunately defeated by Chelsea and only won one League Cup this season, this Manchester United team is still very worthy of the world's respect. They still have three consecutive Champions League titles to continue to write glory.
But once both the Premier League and Champions League titles are lost, Sir Alex Ferguson will have to ask the American owners the Glazer family for money. The Red Devils' signings this summer will determine their fate in the Champions League next year. All the major powers in Europe are recruiting players.
With the market rushing to buy new players, if Manchester United continues to cede its say in the transfer market to other strong players this summer, it will be tantamount to sitting back and waiting for death.
If Manchester United had not maintained the last hope of the Premier League, this would have been the first time in the past seven seasons that a Premier League team has missed the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The last time a Premier League team had such a disastrous performance in the Champions League was in the 2002-03 season. In that season, only Manchester United reached the final eight. But in the 14th final, although Manchester United lost in the second round at Old Trafford
Rufford defeated Real Madrid 4-3, but Galacticos still eliminated the Red Devils with a total score of 6-5 to advance to the semi-finals.
Since the 2004-05 season, Premier League teams have appeared in the finals for five consecutive seasons. Liverpool won the championship in the 04-05 season, Arsenal was the runner-up in the 05-06 season, Liverpool was the runner-up in the 06-07 season, and Liverpool was the runner-up in the 2007 season.
-Manchester United won the championship in the 2008 season and successfully defended the title in the 2008-09 season, but this record was almost ruthlessly broken this season.
Although it is not the worst ending, it is also the Premier League's worst result in the Champions League in the past four years.
The results are overwhelming. The decline in the strength of the Premier League teams has become an indisputable fact, and their control over the Champions League is also declining year by year.
Compared with member-based clubs such as Real Madrid and Barcelona, which often spend hundreds of millions of euros on signings, the two giants of the Premier League, Manchester United and Arsenal, are achieving a "trade surplus" and achieved negative investment in the transfer market last summer; Chelsea owner Abramovich has also had many
In fact, the Blues' biggest move in the transfer market in the summer before Mourinho's dismissal was just the purchase of Malouda for £13.5 million.
As for Liverpool, Benitez's team has been overwhelmed by debt and can only look for bargains in the transfer market. Occasionally, he went crazy and spent 20 million pounds to buy Aquilani. Now it seems that he can only
Raised on the bench.
In competitive sports, in most cases, input and output are still directly proportional. A good example is Inter Milan led by Mourinho. After leaving Chelsea, Mourinho led Inter Milan to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League this season.
, This is of course closely related to Inter Milan’s continued high investment in recent seasons.
This season, although Inter Milan left Ibrahimovic, Diego Milito, Motta, Lucio, Eto'o, Sneijder, Pandev and other generals have come to vote, adding to the team of last season's Serie A champions.
With 6 generals, Inter Milan's strength has also grown significantly. Therefore, entering the semi-finals of the Champions League is only a matter of course.
In the European war this season, there are still two teams in the Premier League still alive, namely Liverpool and Fulham in the Europa League; there are three teams left in La Liga, Barcelona in the Champions League and Atletico Madrid in the Europa League.
and Valencia; there are two Bundesliga teams left, Hamburg and Wolfsburg in the Europa League; Serie A and Ligue 1 only have Inter Milan and Lyon in the Champions League left.
So far, the Bundesliga ranks first in European competition this season with 16.583 points; La Liga ranks second with 16.500 points; the Premier League ranks third with 16.214 points; Ligue 1 scores 15.000 points; Serie A scores 14.714 points. And in
In the UEFA league rankings, the Premier League ranks first with 80.142 points, La Liga ranks second with 78.329 points, and Serie A ranks third with 63.624 points. The points gap between the Premier League and La Liga is quite wide.
Therefore, the honor of the first league in Europe can only be competed by the Premier League and La Liga now and in the next three years. With the promotion of Manchester United, the Premier League has only Manchester United in the Champions League this season.
Comparing the United Nations' efforts to prevent the two Premier League teams from joining forces, this illustrates the decline in the strength of the Premier League giants, but it does not prove the improvement of La Liga's strength.
Even if Barcelona can defeat Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-finals and advance to the final as expected, it does not prove that La Liga has completely surpassed the Premier League, but it can only prove that Barcelona, the super strong team in La Liga, is already luxurious enough in today's football. Just as you can't say
The Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers from the West in the Finals, which concluded that the overall strength of the NBA Eastern Conference exceeds that of the Western Conference.
In the past few seasons, La Liga's overall point-earning ability in the Champions League has been inferior to that of the Premier League. It's just that La Liga teams pay more attention to the Europa League (UEFA Cup), while mid-tier Premier League teams pay more attention to the domestic competition. In many cases, they just deal with this.
A tournament with mediocre prize money (last season Villa and Tottenham played a life-and-death battle in the UEFA Cup, and the main players gave up without even going to the away game).
In the Champions League, apart from Valencia and Deportivo that emerged in the early 21st century, and the short-lived and glorious Yellow Submarine in the 2005-06 season, La Liga lacks a third iconic Champions League team besides the two traditional top teams.
In view of Real Madrid's weakness in the Champions League in recent seasons, the La Liga team is only close to Barcelona, which has been strong in recent years to score points.
There is no doubt that Barcelona is strong, but it can only prove its own strength, but not the strength of its league. Just relying on the strength of one Barcelona team cannot conclude that this league is strong.
Compared with La Liga teams, the Premier League teams have formed a group advantage in the Champions League in the past few years. This is also an important reason why the Premier League's ability to earn points in the Champions League has exceeded La Liga in the past few seasons.
According to UEFA competition rules, the criteria for scoring points in the Champions League and Europa League are the same. If Liverpool can overturn Benfica at home tonight, then defeat Atletico Madrid or Valencia in the semi-finals, and finally win the first European Cup in one go
League Cup champion. Even if Barcelona can successfully defend the Champions League, La Liga will not take away the honor of Europe's first league from the Premier League at the end of this season.
After all, Valencia and Atletico Madrid are going to fight each other in the finals of 14 tonight. It is almost impossible to help La Liga increase a lot of points in the European competition at the same time. Although the Premier League team's advantage of 1.813 points in La Liga is not big, it is enough.
Defend the country.
The European War points for next season will be calculated from the beginning of the 2006-07 season. In the 05-06 season, the Premier League scored 14.428 points and La Liga scored 15.642 points. If the European War points from that season are erased at the beginning of next season,
In fact, it is equivalent to increasing the Premier League's lead over La Liga by 1.214 points. This means that as long as Liverpool reaches the Europa League final this season, even if it fails to win the championship, when the European competition starts next season, the Premier League will still
Able to maintain the first league in Europe, although this first position is now somewhat in jeopardy.
In this sense, Liverpool and Manchester United are not only fighting for themselves, but also fighting for the entire Premier League!
