Capítulo 28: Chapter 230 Another battle for the top spot, the Red Army Liverpool is coming!
"Lin, will you show mercy to your old teammates against Werder Bremen?"
After the results of the lottery came out, a large group of reporters came to the door and surrounded Lin Quan, wanting to interview him.
Facing reporters' questions, Lin Quan smiled and replied:
"My old teammates are very strong. They don't need me to be merciful. On the contrary, I think I should ask them to be merciful. After all, they know my playing habits very well. No one knows how to restrict me better than them. !"
Lin Quan has a good relationship with the veteran players of Werder Bremen. In this kind of civilian team, the relationship between players is generally much closer than when they were in wealthy clubs.
He misses and cherishes this friendship and will not destroy it easily.
So he won't say anything like 'show mercy' that hurts the other person's self-esteem.
On the contrary, he also praised his old teammates so that reporters could pay more attention to them, which could help them increase their attention and reputation!
After all, some players in the Werder Bremen team are really good, all they lack is a suitable stage.
The reporters were not very satisfied with Lin Quan's smooth answer, so they continued to ask:
"Lin, how do you feel about returning to the Weser Arena again?"
"If you scored a goal at the Weserstadion, would you celebrate?"
Lin Quan was silent for a while, seeming to be thinking about how to answer this question.
"Honestly, I didn't expect to return to the Weser Arena as an opponent, it's a subtle feeling.
Last season, when I wore the green jersey of Werder Bremen, I always enjoyed the applause and cheers of the fans, but now, I am afraid of hearing their boos.
It is not easy to score against Werder Bremen, but if I am lucky enough to score, I don't think I will choose to celebrate, whether it is away or at home. "
Lin Quan's answers were sincere, which moved Werder Bremen fans who saw these interviews.
They all went to Lin Quan's social media account and shouted in unison:
"Lin, welcome home!"
Old captain Fritz liked Lin Quan on social media and posted:
"Lin, we all miss you so much, welcome home!"
Arnautovic said: "Hey man, to welcome you back to Bremen, we all have prepared a surprise for you!"
Phil Krueger posted: "It is indeed a big surprise, I can confirm it!"
Lin Quan was curious about what the surprise they were talking about was, but when he asked, the other party refused to tell him.
…
The Champions League is still far away. After the draw ceremony, Manchester City quickly focused on the league and cup competitions.
On December 18, the League Cup quarter-finals began.
Lin Quan came on as a substitute in the 76th minute of the second half and scored his first goal in the League Cup.
With Navas's brace and Lin Quan's goal, Manchester City easily defeated Leicester City 3:1 in the away game, extending their unbeaten season to 25 games.
On December 21, in the 17th round of the Premier League, Manchester City challenged farmer Fulham away.
The two teams once played against each other in the warm-up match before the start of the season. In that game, Manchester City defeated the opponent 2:0.
Facing the powerful Manchester City, Fulham wisely did not choose to fight against Manchester City. Instead, they set up a bus at home, hoping to use defensive counterattack tactics to contain the opponent.
However, facing Manchester City's powerful offensive firepower, Fulham's calculation was obviously miscalculated.
Before the first half was over, Manchester City led the opponent 2:0 with goals from Lin Quan and Yaya Toure.
After the start of the second half, Kompany scored a header, extending the score to 3:0.
After winning the game, Manchester City began to make personnel adjustments.
In the next game, they will face a direct duel with Liverpool, which is third in the league. In order to save strength for this game, Pellegrini chose to replace Lin Quan and other main players to rest.
However, after the substitutions, there were some disturbances on the field.
In the 70th minute of the game, Kompany made a header error in his own penalty area and headed the ball into his own goal, giving the opponent an own goal.
Encouraged by this, Fulham launched a wave of offensive, and Richardson scored another goal in the 77th minute, rewriting the score to 2:3.
Conceding two goals in just seven minutes made Manchester City fans fearful again.
In recent league games, Manchester City has always had a habit of going wrong after taking the lead.
Fortunately, Navas and Milner came on as substitutes. They scored two consecutive goals in the 82nd and 85th minutes, extending the lead back to 3 goals.
In the end, Manchester City defeated Fulham with a score of 5:2 in the away game, increasing its unbeaten streak to 26 games and its unbeaten league streak to 17 games.
If it hadn't been for the loss to Norwich in the last game of last season, Manchester City's unbeaten record across the season would have exceeded 20 games.
However, as their undefeated record accumulates, the psychological pressure on the players becomes more and more intense.
They care more and more about winning and losing, and the psychological burden of wanting to win and being afraid of losing is getting heavier and heavier.
In this state, they soon ushered in the peak battle with Liverpool.
Liverpool's record this season is very good. Not only has it changed its previous decline in the second group of the league, but it has also strongly entered the championship group.
After Suarez returned from the ban, they achieved a wave of four consecutive victories, averaging 4.5 goals per game, and their offensive firepower was catching up with Manchester City at the top of the list.
In this round of games, Arsenal was tied with Chelsea at home. In the past three rounds, Arsenal had 2 draws and 1 loss, and only scored 2 points. Not only was the gap further widened by Manchester City at the top of the list, but it was also tied by Liverpool behind them.
The Red Army even surpassed the Arsenal in the standings and came to second place in the league due to their goal difference.
Therefore, this game is another battle for the top spot.
For the Red Army, although they are currently ranked second, they only have 36 points, while Manchester City has 47 points. The gap between the two teams is as high as 11 points.
If they can't beat Manchester City, it will be basically impossible for them to win the championship with such a big point difference entering the second half of the schedule.
But if they can defeat Manchester City, it will not only break Manchester City's unbeaten streak, but also narrow the point difference between the two teams to 8 points, at least it will no longer be a double-digit gap.
Although Liverpool's recent momentum has been strong, the outside world is more optimistic about Manchester City.
The best start in Premier League history, with 26 unbeaten games on all fronts and a complete home win.
Who can beat such a team?
If Manchester City were to visit Liverpool's Anfield Stadium this round, then they might still be slightly optimistic about Liverpool.
But it is a pity that Manchester City is facing the challenge of the Red Army at home. Facing this most terrifying home court in the Premier League, no team in Europe is confident that it can break it!
Let alone defeating Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, it would be difficult to even draw with them here!
This season, Manchester City played a total of 12 games at the Etihad Stadium. Not only did they win all of them, they also set a terrifying record of averaging 4.25 goals per game.
Here, losing three goals is considered a small amount, and scoring six or even seven goals is normal.
Among the teams that were massacred by a big score at the Etihad Stadium, there were many giants and powerful teams such as Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham.
Even the powerful Bayern scored three goals in this stadium!
Manchester City may still be able to try to challenge on the road, but at home, they are like gods and simply invincible.
Liverpool is very strong, and their recent momentum is also very good, but with their strength, they seem to be lacking something to defeat such a devilish home court.
However, before the game, Liverpool coach Rogers said:
"Manchester City is a very strong team and it will be difficult to challenge them away from home, but we have found a way to deal with them and we will break their unbeaten streak at the Etihad Stadium."
The outside world is basically skeptical of Rogers' words. Red Army fans are certain that they can overthrow the all-powerful Manchester City in the away game.
But Manchester City fans and most neutral fans are not optimistic about them. So many top teams have failed to achieve goals, can Liverpool really achieve it?
However, what is unexpected is that Rogers is really not bragging.
After the game started, Liverpool did not choose to defend, but set up a posture to attack Manchester City.
Few teams dare to play against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, and usually the teams that choose this way end up with poor results.
However, Liverpool's luck seems to be good today.
In the 24th minute of the first half, Liverpool completed a quick counterattack. After Suarez's shot was saved by the goalkeeper, Coutinho followed up and scored, helping the team lead the home team 1:0.
"Coutinho has made a great contribution, Liverpool leads Manchester City in the away game!"
The commentators' reaction to this goal was not very intense, because many of the teams that visited the Etihad Stadium before scored the first goal, but in the end they could not escape the fate of being reversed. .
However, in the 39th minute, when Suarez scored Liverpool's second goal, the commentators could not calm down.
"Suarez! An incredible goal. He showed his ability as a top striker!"
"This is Suarez's 11th league goal since his comeback. The Uruguayan is charging towards the top of the scorer list. With his current scoring efficiency, he may even threaten Lin Quan's Golden Boot status!"
On Sky Sports, Martin Taylor praised Suarez.
Although there is a lot of controversy about this player, his unsportsmanlike behavior on the field has earned him a lot of infamy.
But in terms of hard power, this guy is indeed a top forward.
"This goal pushed Manchester City to the edge of the cliff. So far this season, Manchester City has never been behind by two goals at home, but Liverpool did it!"
"Before the game, Rogers told the outside world that they had found a way to deal with Manchester City, but everyone was full of doubts about his words. But now, I don't think anyone doubts his words anymore. Liverpool has really found a way to restrain Manchester City. They are very likely to break Manchester City's unbeaten streak!"
After falling behind by two goals, Manchester City's players generally seemed very anxious.
They were eager to attack and equalize the score, but Liverpool's defense today was very targeted.
The more anxious Manchester City is, the lower their offensive threat is.
Taking advantage of their eager attack, Liverpool also launched a very threatening counterattack. If it weren't for Joe Hart's brave save of Sterling's single-handed ball, Manchester City might have been three goals behind.
The first half of the game ended quickly. With a two-goal advantage, Liverpool's players walked to the visiting team's locker room talking and laughing.
On the home team's side, Manchester City's players are generally in a very depressed mood.
During the halftime break, Pellegrini made some adjustments to the team's tactics.
He replaced Milner with a stronger defensive ability, intending to limit the opponent's attack on the wing.
At the same time, Lin Quan's position was raised to the front line, and David Silva was asked to play as an attacking midfielder to deliver cannonballs to Lin Quan.
This substitution adjustment had a certain effect. After the start of the second half, David Silva assisted Lin Quan and scored a goal.
Manchester City once saw hope of tying the score!
But Rogers quickly made personnel adjustments. He replaced the goal hero Coutinho and replaced him with No. 12 Moses, asking him to closely mark David Silva.
This move worked quickly. Under Moses' marking, David Silva's pass gradually lost its threat. Lin Quan couldn't get the ball after being in front, and the threat to Liverpool's goal was greatly reduced.
Pellegrini immediately made another personnel adjustment. He replaced Fernandinho and replaced him with Xavi Garcia.
Xavi Garcia has good passing ability. When he played before, he had a good cooperation with Lin Quan.
The purpose of Pellegrini's substitution adjustment is obvious. He is still trying to deliver cannonballs to the forward players, especially Lin Quan, and use his powerful offensive ability to equalize or even reverse the game.
However, this substitution not only failed to achieve the expected results, but because of Fernandinho's dismissal, it greatly weakened Manchester City's ability to control the midfield.
Under the frantic fighting of Liverpool players, Manchester City made frequent mistakes in the midfield. Javi Garcia conceded two goals within five minutes of playing. One of them was counterattacked by the opponent on the spot, which almost led to tragedy.
Without the support of the midfield, the forward players are left alone without support, and the threat to Liverpool's goal is infinitely reduced.
Seeing time passing by, the end of the game is getting closer and closer, but Manchester City is still lagging behind.
The Manchester City fans at the scene began to shout Lin Quan's name anxiously. After Lin Quan realized that he had no chance to stay on the front line, he no longer paid attention to Pellegrini's tactics and took the initiative to drop back to catch the ball.
He wants to use his personal strength to equalize the score, just like the previous two-game winning streak!
In the 89th minute of the game, Lin Quan got the ball in his own backcourt.
When football appeared at Lin Quan's feet again, everyone became nervous, whether they were Red Army fans who were traveling with the team or those who were sitting in front of the TV or watching the game in the pub.
Lin Quan has had several winning records, and Red Army fans are very afraid that he will rewrite the score at the last moment.
In that case, the 3 points they got will become 1 point!
The game is now approaching stoppage time. As long as they hold on to these last few minutes, they can take away a victory from the Etihad Stadium.
In order to stop Lin Quan's attack, Liverpool players adopted foul tactics against Lin Quan.
Moses and Suarez received yellow cards for knocking down Lin Quan one after another, but Lin Quan was like a superman who couldn't be kicked down or knocked down. Every time he was knocked down by the opponent, he stood up immediately, quickly handed it to his teammates, and continued. Head towards Liverpool's goal!
In order to stop him, Johnson, who had already received a yellow card, had to choose to foul again and tackle him to the ground at the front of the penalty area.
The referee immediately blew the whistle for a foul and showed Johnson a yellow card mercilessly. Two yellows turned into one red, and he was sent off.
Liverpool paid a heavy price to stop Lin Quan, but Lin Quan still came to the edge of their penalty area.
At this time, the game time has reached 93 minutes, and the injury time has been exhausted.
This free kick is Manchester City's last chance to attack.
They no longer have anyone to extend their undefeated record at home, but they still have one chance to maintain their undefeated streak.
There were more than 50,000 fans at the scene, whether they were fans of the home team or fans of the visiting team. When Lin Quan stood at the service point, they couldn't help but stand up collectively.
Lin, you must score!
This is the cry and prayer in the hearts of Manchester City fans!
Don't go in, Mignolet, come on, be on guard!
This is the voice of Liverpool fans.
At this moment, in addition to the fans of the two teams, the entire Premier League's eyes are focused on the field, paying attention to the result of this free kick.
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