After playing the League Cup final, the entire Manchester City team returned to Manchester from London, without any time to rest, and immediately ushered in the twenty-sixth round of the Premier League make-up match.
This is because Manchester City is playing in the League Cup, causing the team to miss the 26th round of the Premier League and postpone it to mid-week. The team welcomes Blackburn at home.
In this battle, all the core players, including Su Dong and David Silva, took turns.
But even so, Manchester City still relied on the goals of Douglas Costa, Aguero and Dzeko to defeat the visiting Blackburn Rovers at home 3-0 and win this make-up victory.
…
Three days later, in the twenty-seventh round of the Premier League, Manchester City was still at home and welcomed Bolton.
Just like three days ago, Guardiola still hid core players such as Su Dong this time, and continued to play Bolton with a rotation and substitute lineup. In the end, with Aguero's brace, he defeated Bolton 2-0 at home.
Whether it was winning the League Cup or defeating their opponents in two consecutive rounds as substitutes, Manchester City's performance attracted a lot of attention from the media, but within the team, it did not cause too many waves. Everyone was more focused on preparing for the game.
For Manchester City, there is not much suspense about winning the Premier League. The remaining eleven games are more about maintaining the current lead and adjusting the team's status. The real main battlefield is still in the Champions League.
Of course, there is also the FA Cup.
Let’s not talk about the special significance of the FA Cup to English football. Local fans attach great importance to this cup. More importantly, the team has already won the League Cup, and there is basically no suspense about the Premier League championship. If they win the FA Cup again,
Cup, those three championships are enough to stand out from the crowd.
They won the Triple Crown last season. If they win the Triple Crown again this season, they will really sweep the English football world.
If they can compete in the Champions League again, Manchester City will definitely rely on this season to establish their position among the top teams in Europe.
From now on, who dares to ignore Manchester City?
It is also because of this that Guardiola publicly stated at the press conference after the game against Bolton that Manchester City was about to usher in the most important game of the season.
…
When the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 ended, Manchester City first won the League Cup and then ushered in two consecutive victories in the Premier League. AC Milan also performed well in Serie A.
Allegri's team first drew 1-1 with Juventus at home in the 25th round of Serie A.
A week later, AC Milan defeated Palermo 4-0 in the away game with Ibrahimovic's hat trick.
The decisive battle was imminent, and the Rossoneri showed strong combat effectiveness, especially Swedish center Ibrahimovic, who even proved his peak condition with a hat trick.
After the game, Ibrahimovic talked about the upcoming game in an interview with the media. He said that AC Milan will definitely defeat Manchester City and advance to the quarterfinals.
"Remember the rule, man, the team with Zlatan is always stronger!"
A hat-trick made Ibrahimovic feel proud, especially the criticism that he did not do much in the first leg of the Champions League made Ibrahimovic even more annoyed.
Ibrahimovic also took the initiative to talk about Sudong. He believed that Sudong was playing tricks in other leagues.
"In fact, if for no other reason, I can do what he does in La Liga, but he can't do what I do in Serie A, because in Serie A, the defense will be tighter, so he can do it in Serie A."
There is no way to score goals in the round."
"On the contrary, if I go to England to play, or go to Germany to play, I will blast them there, just like what I did in Serie A."
"This is what I want to say, I will help AC Milan advance in Manchester and prove that I am the strongest center in the world!"
When Ibrahimovic's remarks after the game were reported to England, Su Dong did not respond directly when interviewed by the media. He expressed that he was not interested in comparing with anyone.
"I can't stop other people from treating me as their goal in life. This is someone else's business, but I am very sure that there is only one opponent in front of me, and that is myself!"
Regarding Ibrahimovic, Su Dong said that he knew he was very strong, but...
"How many goals did he score in the knockout rounds of the Champions League? Is it as many as mine?" Su Dong chuckled and spread his hands.
Everyone knows that Ibrahimovic does not perform well in high-intensity games and is better at bullying.
Just like in the past two rounds of Serie A, against Juventus, it was Nocerino who scored for AC Milan, while Ibrahimovic scored a hat trick against Palermo.
This is the characteristic of the Swedish center.
The Swedish center is also a very emotional person.
Su Dong has always known that as early as when he was playing for Juventus, he had regarded Su Dong as his opponent and often took the initiative to provoke him.
Over the years, the two have met several times in public, but they have no personal relationship. However, Su Dong is still relatively familiar with him, so he deliberately retaliates before the game, just to stimulate him, and it is best to make him angry.
Sure enough, when Su Dong met Ibrahimovic at Manchester's Etihad Stadium, the Swedish center looked at him with malicious provocation in his eyes, as if he wanted to eat him alive.
…
"Hello, Zlatan."
Su Dong greeted him with a smile on his face and stretched out his hand towards Ibrahimovic from a distance.
Don’t reach out and hit the smiling person.
If Su Dong had looked at him with a bad face, Ibrahimovic would have thought nothing of it. But now Su Dong suddenly greeted him with a smile, which made him feel very awkward. He knew clearly that this guy was hypocritical, artificial, and even annoying.
It was disgusting, but he had no choice but to shake hands with him coolly.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "You look so fake when you smile." Ibrahimovic said as he came closer.
"I think so too." Su Dong said with a smile, "But there's nothing we can do about it. With so many people watching, it's impossible for us to quarrel directly, right? Besides, when you come here, you are a guest, so I have to let you go."
"I don't need you to give in!" Ibrahimovic heard the implication of Su Dong's words, "I will definitely defeat you!"
"Many people have said this in the past few years, but..." Su Dong paused, smiled and shook his head, "No one has ever achieved it, and you are the same!"
"We'll see!"
Ibrahimovic turned and left bitterly.
Su Dong looked at his back with a smile, and he felt that Ibrahimovic was angry in his heart.
This is pretty good.
…
There is an obvious difference from the first round game, that is, AC Milan's head coach Allegri does not intend to continue to adopt strict defensive tactics, but wants to be more proactive in attacking.
Allegri's lineup this time adopted a three-forward tactic, Shaarawy, Ibrahimovic and Robinho. The specific positioning of the three players depends on the timing of the game.
In the midfield, the combination of Ambrosini, Van Bommel and Nocerino still continued the three-midfielder tactics in the first round, and the defense also remained basically unchanged. Obviously Allegri still hopes that the team can continue.
Stable performance in the first round.
Judging from the lineup, Allegri's purpose is very clear, he wants to fight attack with attack and score a goal as soon as possible.
The purpose of this is very clear, that is, after scoring an away goal, Manchester City will be forced to attack more actively, so that the game will completely enter the rhythm of defensive counterattack that AC Milan is most familiar with.
Taking off Boateng and replacing him with Shaarawi is a very obvious signal.
The calculation is very loud, but it is difficult to say whether it will work.
Manchester City's lineup remains basically unchanged. They still have their strongest attacking lineup and still adopt a three-four-three tactics, with Pepe, Javi Martinez and David Luiz holding back, and Busque in the midfield.
At the back, Marcelo and Toni Kroos split the wings, David Silva plays the attacking midfielder, and Di Maria, Sudong and Sanchez form a trident.
This style of play is exactly the same as the one in the first round. Marcelo can still attack forward and defend later. He is very mobile and flexible. It depends on the trend of the game.
After seeing AC Milan's lineup, Guardiola kicked out to let Busquets get more of the ball.
Shaarawy has potential, but he is young and lacks experience. Robinho and Ibrahimovic are both good, but these two players have one thing in common, that is, they are not active in defense and do not run much.
, and they all have some sticky balls.
In the midfield, AC Milan has three defensive players, all of whom are relatively deep.
In the first round, Kevin Boateng's sudden advance and wide range of running caused great trouble to Manchester City, especially the suppression of Busquets. To a certain extent, Boateng was
The key to AC Milan's success in the first round.
But in this game, Allegri took him off and replaced him with El Shaaraoui, hoping to strengthen the attack.
From a tactical perspective, there is nothing wrong with Allegri's idea. After grabbing an away goal, AC Milan takes the initiative in the game. As long as they defend Manchester City's offense, they will score sooner or later.
The 0-0 result in the first round was a mixed bag for both teams. How to arrange the tactics for the second round has risks, which are understandable.
In comparison, Manchester City is more unified and basically has no suspense, just passing and controlling the ball.
AC Milan changed their conservative approach in the first round and obviously wanted to catch Manchester City off guard.
Whether it will be effective depends on how many troops they can invest in the game, as well as Manchester City's response.
Guardiola has never been timid when dealing with such a proactive team.
Therefore, in the locker room before the game, after getting AC Milan's lineup and analyzing the opponent's tactics with the coaching staff, Guardiola told the Manchester City players very clearly that in the face of AC Milan's proactive attack, Manchester City's choice
