Bab 220: Chapter 220: Barcelona's Shocking Change, Rosell Imprisoned, Manchester City's Brutal Schedule!
Chapter 220: Barcelona's Shocking Change, Rosell Imprisoned, Manchester City's Brutal Schedule!
Lin Quan hadn't paid much attention to what was happening at Barcelona for a long time, but when he learned that Rosell had embezzled as much as 40 million euros using his position, he was still very shocked.
"Does the club president have such great power?"
Barcelona is a membership-based club, and theoretically, the club president's authority shouldn't be that extensive.
"Who knows, most likely it's using transfer operations as an excuse to embezzle money, as for where the money went exactly, that's unknown!"
David Silva shook his head. He wasn't a product of La Masia's youth training camp, so he didn't know much about Barcelona's situation.
These pieces of news were still heard from his friends in Spain. It's reported that when faced with the accusations of the jury, Rosell denied the charges and refused to disclose the whereabouts of the funds on the grounds of commercial secrecy.
But the public was speculating that this money was likely related to Neymar's transfer this summer.
"Barcelona's fans are very angry. They protested outside the club, demanding Rosell's resignation. It's said that Rosell doesn't even dare to go home now, fearing being caught by angry fans!"
Lin Quan nodded. This was probably deserved! He came to power through illegitimate means, and then fell from grace for the same reasons, it's a kind of karma.
The news of Rosell's alleged crimes obviously had some impact on Barcelona's performance. The previously unbeaten Barcelona, after being defeated by Athletic Bilbao away, lost its unbeaten streak.
With this, there were no more undefeated teams in La Liga.
La Liga's competition is very fierce. After losing this match, Barcelona's points were caught up by Atletico Madrid.
Their old rivals Real Madrid were only three points behind them. The situation of contending for the championship, which was originally very advantageous, suddenly became somewhat uncertain.
If Barcelona couldn't quickly get out of this negative impact, they might be left behind by the Madrid duo.
Probably aware of this, the Catalonia Court of Appeal increased its investigation and interrogation efforts on the Rosell case.
Based on informants' reports, they found evidence that Rosell was suspected of tax evasion, match-fixing through forged documents, and bribery of the chairman of the Brazilian Football Association and executive committee members of the National Football Association.
This news immediately caused a tremor in the football world.
The chairman of the Brazilian Football Association and the executive committee members of FIFA successively resigned and accepted investigations by their country's courts.
Rosell himself was forced to resign as president of Barcelona and faced trial. It's said that he might be sentenced to at least three years in prison.
This news caused many people to sigh with regret.
The position of Barcelona president, like that of a certain country's president, is indeed a high-profile industry.
From Nuñez to Laporta, and then to Rosell, none of these Barcelona presidents had a good ending.
And Bartomeu, who temporarily took over as chairman of Rosell's executive committee, didn't know if he could escape this curse.
...
Barcelona's unbeaten record was ended, but it benefited Manchester City instead.
"Hehe, Barcelona lost, and now only Bayern and us remain undefeated in the five major leagues!"
Navas said with some schadenfreude.
"Heh heh, in the next match, we'll face West Bromwich. The opponent's strength isn't strong, so we've got this one in the bag!"
Negredo seemed confident, not even considering the opponent seriously.
"Now it's a matter of who between us and Bayern makes a mistake first!"
The players still cared a lot about the team's unbeaten record. They really wanted to defeat Bayern and become the only undefeated team in the five major leagues.
However, Lin Quan wasn't very optimistic about this. He vaguely remembered that in Pep Guardiola's first season at Bayern, it seemed that they created the longest unbeaten record in Bayern's history.
He couldn't remember the exact number of unbeaten matches, but it was obviously not short, after all, it was a historical record of Bayern.
"The winter break is approaching in other leagues, but there's no winter break in the Premier League, we need to prepare for the downturn in performance!"
During the team's pre-match training, Pellegrini and several assistants discussed.
This was Pellegrini's first time coaching a Premier League team, so he had to be more cautious.
"Is the Premier League's winter break really that terrifying?"
An assistant coach asked curiously.
"Yes, it is. In other leagues, players get almost a month of rest after more than three months of matches.
But because there's no winter break in the Premier League, the schedule becomes increasingly dense in December due to various cup competitions and league matches, and the number of matches the players have to participate in compared to the previous few months increases significantly.
For example, in November, we only had three league matches, but in December, we have seven league matches, including three matches within six days around Christmas, and rounds 17 and 18 are even back-to-back, with league matches to play on consecutive days!"
"Geez, isn't this schedule too inhumane? Why did the Premier League schedule it like this?"
"Commercialization, for the pursuit of maximum commercial interests, they deliberately chose to increase the number of matches around Christmas when other leagues are on break."
"...utilizing people's Christmas holiday time to attract fans to watch the matches!"
"Hehe, then the fans, whether they're Premier League fans or not, will only be able to watch Premier League matches. Quite a clever move!"
"But this won't be good for the players. The continuous intense schedule will greatly increase the physical exhaustion of the players and may even lead to a large number of player injuries. Moreover, not being able to return home to be with their families during Christmas but instead having to play on the field will create resistance among the players, and their performance may decline."
Pellegrini had obviously done his homework in advance. Although he hadn't experienced the devilish schedule of the Premier League winter break, he had some understanding of the difficulties during the Premier League Christmas period.
"So what should we do now?"
Seeing how terrifying the Premier League winter break was, an assistant coach asked worriedly.
"We must rotate the squad. We need to be proactive from now on and try to minimize the physical exertion of the main players. This way, when the Christmas matches come around, the main players won't suffer too much of a decline in form."
Pellegrini's considerations were very thoughtful. He even planned to give the team's players a rotating break before Christmas.
This would give them time to rest in advance and spend time with their families.
This way, when the Christmas period of fast-paced matches arrived, their resistance would be somewhat reduced.
However, looking at Manchester City's December schedule, he was somewhat troubled.
After the match against Swansea, Manchester City had 8 more matches to play in December.
Among them were 6 league matches, one Champions League match, and one League Cup match.
The Champions League group stage match against Bayern on December 11 was an away game and involved a battle for the top spot in the group.
On December 14, they would face the challenge of Arsenal, who were in second place in the league.
Arsenal was a direct competitor for Manchester City in the race for the title, and this match was worth six points. Manchester City couldn't afford to lose.
Both of these matches were important for Manchester City, directly affecting their performance in the Champions League and the league this season.
Pellegrini couldn't afford to give up on either match and could only grit his teeth and go for it.
On December 5, Manchester City faced West Bromwich Albion away.
Considering that Lin Quan had just returned from Italy and considering his physical condition, Pellegrini didn't put him in the starting lineup but instead had him sit on the bench.
The dense schedule of Christmas was approaching, and Lin Quan was the most important player in Manchester City. His form had to be ensured, otherwise, the team might collapse.
In this match, Manchester City arranged Aguero and Negredo upfront in a 4-4-2 diamond formation.
Although Lin Quan didn't play, Manchester City's attacking firepower was still terrifying.
At the Hawthorns Stadium, Manchester City's players were full of spirit and took the initiative from the start, launching a fierce attack on West Bromwich Albion.
Just 9 minutes into the game, Aguero opened the scoring, helping Manchester City take the lead.
The Argentine's goal efficiency this season had greatly improved. This goal was his 14th goal in the league, ranking second in the Premier League Golden Boot standings, second only to Lin Quan, who had scored 21 goals.
In the 22nd minute, Yaya Toure scored with a high-quality direct free kick, helping Manchester City increase their lead.
In the absence of Lin Quan, Yaya Toure was Manchester City's first-choice free-kick taker, taking both free kicks and penalties.
In just over 20 minutes of play, Manchester City took a two-goal lead.
This made the traveling Manchester City fans sing with joy!
The match had entered Manchester City's familiar rhythm. Faced with such a rampant Manchester City, who could withstand their attack?
Seeing this result, Pellegrini felt relieved. He stood up to applaud the players, reminding them to control the pace of the game and reduce physical exertion.
After Manchester City's attack was restrained, neither team had many good chances, and the score remained 2-0 until halftime.
In the second half, West Bromwich Albion's performance remained poor.
They seemed to be stunned by Manchester City's terrifying attack in the early stages of the game, with images of Tottenham and Norwich being slaughtered by Manchester City dominating their minds.
Losing to Manchester City wasn't shameful, but what was embarrassing was being bloodied by the opponents at their own home ground.
Seeing that the opponents seemed to have lost their fighting spirit, Pellegrini began to make substitutions early.
In the 65th minute of the match, Manchester City made personnel adjustments, with Milner coming on for the goal-scoring hero Aguero.
However, what he didn't expect was that after making this substitution, the situation on the field suddenly changed.
In the 72nd minute, a long shot from West Bromwich Albion's forward Shaun caused chaos in the Manchester City penalty area.
In the melee, Manchester City's goalkeeper Pantilimon made a basic mistake, deflecting his teammate's clearance into his own goal, giving the opposition an own goal.
Kolarov was speechless. He had already successfully cleared the ball, but Pantilimon, for some reason, decided to intervene!
Pantilimon quickly apologized to his teammates, admitting that the goal was his responsibility.
However, unexpectedly gaining a goal, West Bromwich Albion, who had already felt that the game was lost, suddenly seemed to see hope.
They rekindled their fighting spirit, changing from being passively beaten to actively attacking Manchester City.
In the 85th minute, Anichebe, who came on as a substitute in the second half, dribbled the ball inside from the wing. Manchester City's defenders made a mistake in coordination, failing to close the gap and allowing the opponent to break through.
Goalkeeper Pantilimon immediately chose to rush out, but he was deceived by the opponent's feint.
In a panic, he instinctively grabbed the opponent's ankle, bringing him down in the penalty area.
Whistle! The main referee quickly blew the whistle and ran over with a serious expression.
Pantilimon realized he had made a mistake and quickly got up to try to explain to the referee, even attempting to help Anichebe, who was rolling on the ground.
However, the referee ignored his explanation and mercilessly pulled out a red card from his front pocket, sending him off directly!
"What an idiot!"
Seeing Pantilimon being shown the red card, Pellegrini, who was usually good-natured, couldn't help but swear.
So what if the opponent breaks through and scores an empty goal?
At worst, it'll be an equalizer!
Now with the goalkeeper sent off, Manchester City not only had to make a passive substitution but also played with one man down, making the situation much worse.
While sending off the Manchester City goalkeeper, the main referee also awarded a penalty.
The fans at the Hawthorns Stadium went crazy. If this penalty was scored, the score would be leveled!
The team actually managed to come back from being two goals down!?
And the opponent was also down to ten men. Could it be that Manchester City's unbeaten streak would end at their hands?
The situation of the match took a sharp turn, and Pellegrini couldn't sit still anymore.
He first substituted Hart, then asked Lin Quan to warm up, preparing to bring him on shortly.
Hart had been on the bench for several matches. Seeing Pantilimon's increasingly good performance in the team, gaining more and more trust from the head coach, he had already lost hope in his future at Manchester City.
But unexpectedly, things turned around. Pantilimon's two blunders would definitely greatly affect his impression in the head coach's mind.
Maybe he could seize this opportunity to regain his starting position! Thinking of this, Hart was excited and hurriedly went on!
Compared to Hart, Lin Quan wasn't as excited.
The team inexplicably fell behind, giving him a bad feeling.
Although Pantilimon's performance was indeed very poor, Manchester City's defense today was also not good.
Especially the captain Kompany, his performance was like night and day compared to before, as if he suddenly forgot how to defend.
Lin Quan, as Manchester City's lucky charm, had staged many last-minute heroics this season.
As long as he was on the field, Manchester City could always turn the tide.
So, with only two substitution slots left, Pellegrini chose Lin Quan without hesitation.
With him on, even though the team was one man down, Manchester City still had hope of winning.
And, what if Hart miraculously saved the opponent's penalty? ...
The miracle didn't happen, Hart failed to save the opponent's penalty.
By the time Lin Quan came on, the score on the field was already 2-2.
Actually, the situation hadn't deteriorated to that extent yet. Manchester City had only been equalized, not fallen behind.
But, after Lin Quan came on, he clearly felt that his teammates' emotions and state were a bit off.
At first, Lin Quan didn't think much about it. He actively reached out for the ball, immediately cooperating with Milner, David Silva, and others, wanting to reorganize an effective attack.
Just now, while observing from the sidelines, he had noticed that after Aguero went off, Manchester City's front line became somewhat chaotic, and the threat to West Bromwich Albion greatly decreased.
That's why the opponents dared to come out and play attacking football against them!
So, as long as they reorganized the team's attack, threatened the opponent's goal in the frontcourt, they wouldn't dare to be so reckless.
However, soon Lin Quan noticed a problem: When he was attacking, his teammates were not daring to join in the attack.
They seemed to be afraid of something, except for Navas and David Silva, others were not eager to participate in the attack.
This situation made Lin Quan couldn't help but frown. He could confirm that his teammates' mentality was off.
But, what exactly was the problem?
Suddenly, he remembered something. Could it be because of that reason?
(End of this chapter)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone