In the final round of the Europa League group stage, Manchester City challenged Juventus away.
From the moment Manchester City announced their 18-man roster for the away game, the whole world knew that this game had been abandoned by Manchester City. In fact, as early as the previous round, Manchester City played with a full substitute lineup.
This was especially true for the game against Juventus. Guardiola even brought the English teenager Sterling, who had just turned 16 on December 8, into the squad. This was the first time that an English talent entered Manchester City's senior squad.
List.
There are eleven positions in the entire lineup, and there is no regular main player. This is enough to illustrate the problem.
Even the commentator on the live TV broadcast jokingly said that if Lech Poznan saw Manchester City playing with such a lineup, they might complain to UEFA that Manchester City deliberately let go to help Juventus advance.
But things have reached this point. Manchester City can be said to have done their best. Juventus actually performed very poorly at their home court and did not score a goal until the 43rd minute.
Forget about the late goal, Juventus never scored again, which is understandable. But at the 77th minute, the Juventus defender actually took the initiative to give a gift and passed the ball directly to Adam Johnson.
This time, the English winger directly dribbled the ball down and passed the ball. Portuguese midfielder Moutinho stepped in decisively and scored in front of the goal to equalize the score for Manchester City.
Things suddenly got interesting!
There are still about fifteen minutes left in the game. If Juventus immediately launches a frenzied attack, they might still have a chance. But the problem is that the Bianconeri have shown an attitude of being indifferent, as if they don't care at all.
Promotion.
Since you behave so coldly, it is certainly impossible for Manchester City to stick to your opponent's cold butt with such a warm face.
Especially after Guardiola replaced the youngster Sterling, this kid played very actively on the wing, creating several threats and making Juventus' defense tense.
In the end, the two sides shook hands and made a draw.
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It’s hard for the Lord of Hell to persuade the damn ghost!
These words are really suitable to introduce Juventus.
It has to be said that it is very surprising and disappointing that Manchester City showed such a lack of enterprising spirit at home when they have already sent out all their substitutes and can only hope to advance if they win.
After the game, the Italian media criticized Delneri's coaching with overwhelming criticism.
The Europa League is indeed unattractive. There are many games, little prize money, and it consumes a lot of players, so many teams are not willing to play. This is understandable, but this is the group stage, especially after being eliminated in this way.
, it hurts morale too much!
As Turin Sports News said, Juventus did not actively and strategically give up the Europa League, but was eliminated!
The former is understandable, but the latter is caused by insufficient strength and problems. The two are not the same.
Of course, Lech Poznan defeated Red Bull Salzburg 1-0 in an away game.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, even if Juventus defeated Manchester City, they still failed to win the championship in the end.
But things can't be seen that way.
The two games were played at the same time. If Juventus defeated Manchester City and failed to advance in the end, it would be excusable. But a draw with Manchester City would be equivalent to giving up the right to advance, which would be difficult to forgive.
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In the end, Manchester City and Lech Poznan both qualified together.
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After the last Europa League group stage match, the Europa League drew lots and Manchester City welcomed Greece's Thessaloniki Aris.
The name of this team is not very famous, but it has a very famous head coach.
Cooper!
Yes, it’s the Argentine coach who led Valencia to the Champions League finals twice and who had a feud with Ronaldo at Inter Milan. After leaving the four major leagues, he moved to many teams and is now in Thessaloniki.
Coached by Aris.
This also basically determines the characteristics of this team, which is a solid defense.
For Manchester City, there is another huge challenge, and that is the away game.
The first round of the game will be played in mid-February. Manchester City will have to travel to Greece and travel a long distance. The consumption of the journey may be greater than the consumption of the game.
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December 26th, Boxing Day.
Guardiola's management is relatively humane, and the team is basically not required to gather the night before the game.
But just after Christmas with his family, he had to get up early the next morning to gather at Carrington, and then set off north to Newcastle. This is a very depressing thing for any player.
The players were full of emotions throughout the whole process, and everyone was unhappy.
Even Su Dong himself felt very depressed.
Wang Chuqing finally had a vacation, but he was busy competing again.
In the past, whether in Spain or Germany, he could accompany Wang Chuqing to travel around during the winter break, but now he could only leave her alone at home. How could Su Dong be happy?
As the captain of the team is like this, you can imagine the emotions of other people.
The coaching staff was well prepared for this, but they themselves were also very depressed.
It's a bit like waking up angry. Everyone knows they shouldn't, but they still feel angry.
Facts have also proved that not only Manchester City players are like this, Newcastle players are even more outrageous.
How excessive is that?
Less than a minute into the game, when goalkeeper Krul passed the ball to his midfielder Button, he failed to pass the ball well. Su Dong stabbed him diagonally and successfully stole the ball.
It looked like Krul was taking revenge on the Boxing Day game by passing the ball directly to Soudung.
"Brother, I'm optimistic about you, hurry up and shoot towards my goal!"
This "pass" of the ball made Su Dong feel embarrassed, so after he drew Coloccini's attention with the ball, he was too embarrassed to rush into the penalty area and kick the goal, but passed the ball to Di
Maria, the latter calmly pushed the goal and opened the scoring for Manchester City, 1-0!
The emotion of the Newcastle players is really much greater than that of Manchester City!
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After scoring the first goal, Newcastle launched a fierce attack in an attempt to equalize the score. However, in the fifth minute, Manchester City seized an opportunity and launched a counterattack after stealing the ball in midfield. Su Dong passed the ball to Milner, who took advantage of the situation.
After knocking back and completing a one-two, Su Dong dribbled the ball into the penalty area and calmly hit the target with a push, giving Manchester City another victory.
Two to zero!
After taking a two-goal lead, Manchester City began to slow down.
This is also a strategy formulated by the coaching staff before the game, and they will not fight Newcastle to the death in such a game.
No need, Manchester City just want to get three points steadily.
In the second half, at the fifty-fifth minute, Su Dong was substituted.
Neither Newcastle nor Manchester City scored again after that.
In the end, Manchester City defeated Newcastle 2-0 in the away game.
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Manchester United defeated Sunderland 2-0 at home. Ferguson also severely seduced Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson before the game, but he showed no mercy to him during the game.
Chelsea continued their winless record and suffered a 3-1 away defeat to Arsenal.
Although the score gap was quite large, in fact, the two teams were evenly matched. Arsenal scored two goals in two minutes before the end of the first half and shortly after the start of the second half.
For most of the rest of the time, the two teams were basically the same.
Everyone can see that Ancelotti has entered the countdown to the end of get out of class.
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Two days later, Manchester City returned to Manchester and ushered in their twentieth round opponent, Aston Villa.
Only eight minutes into the game, David Silva's through ball hit the left side of the penalty area. After Su Dong got the ball, he refused to fall to the ground under the force of the opponent's right back Lichai.
The right foot sent the ball into the goal.
One to zero!
Just five minutes later, Manchester City took advantage of a corner kick and Pepe scored with a header, expanding the score for Manchester City to 2-0!
In the 27th minute, a goal was born that made all the fans in the Etihad Stadium stand up and applaud.
Starting from Marcelo and Pepe in the backcourt, to David Silva, Moutinho, Gareth Paris and Busquets, and then to Su Dong in the front, Manchester City completed it in a very short period of time.
Thirty-six consecutive passes.
During the entire passing process, Aston Villa did not even have a chance to touch the ball. The entire defense was completely ignored by Manchester City. In the end, David Silva sent a direct pass from the left rib, tearing the ball.
After opening the defense, Su Dong once again broke into the penalty area and calmly scored the goal, scoring Manchester City's third goal.
Three to zero!
This is also Su Dong’s double goal!
In the 33rd minute, Moutinho dribbled the ball to the outside of the penalty area. After attracting the defensive attention, he passed the ball to David Silva. The Spaniard rushed into the left side of the penalty area and calmly pushed the ball to four goals.
Than zero!
After changing sides and fighting again in the second half, Manchester City launched a fierce attack at the beginning. Sanchez dribbled the ball continuously on the right and broke through two opponents.
Manchester City plays another game.
Five to zero!
hat trick!
In three days and two games, Su Dong scored four goals, which is quite surprising.
More importantly, Manchester City also showed strong offensive firepower.
In the end, Manchester City was also at home, relying on Su Dong's hat trick to beat Aston Villa 5-0!
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Manchester City continues to win and continues to lead the Premier League standings.
Ferguson's Manchester United also relied on Berbatov's goal to beat Birmingham 1-0 away from home and win another three points.
Arsenal narrowly defeated Wigan Athletic 2-1 away from home.
The three teams at the top of the league basically defeated their opponents.
Among them, Manchester City has the strongest momentum, especially the goal scored after a continuous pass. It was hailed by the media as the best goal of this round and captured the essence of Barcelona football. Cruyff also praised it in the column.
Comment on Su Dong’s goal.
Chelsea continued to be embarrassed.
Ancelotti's team originally scored a goal from Malouda in the 61st minute, but unfortunately it was ruled offside by the referee and was lost.
The final score was zero to zero, and the Blues were invincible again.
After eight games without a win, Chelsea finally fell out of the top four and were replaced by Tottenham Hotspur.
