Chương 185: Big Clubs Put on a Crazy Show!
On September 14th, the fourth round of the league began.
There were no highlight matches this round, but there were plenty of upsets.
Manchester United, playing first, defeated Crystal Palace 2-0 at home, finally ending their slump.
However, Chelsea from the BIG4 unexpectedly lost to Everton away.
This result was quite shocking!
Mourinho's team continued their previous problem: their forwards couldn't score.
In this match, Everton's performance was outstanding. With strong defense and sharp counterattacks, they defeated Chelsea, handing them their first loss of the season and breaking Chelsea's unbeaten record.
People had expected Everton's performance to decline this season after Moyes left.
But they not only maintained their good results from previous seasons, they even improved!
Currently, Everton has one win and three draws after four rounds, remaining unbeaten.
They are one of the three unbeaten teams in the Premier League, along with Liverpool and Manchester City.
After losing to Everton, Chelsea dropped to sixth place in the standings. Although Manchester United has the same points, they are ahead of Chelsea by goal difference.
This gave Manchester United fans, who were previously mocked by Chelsea fans, a chance to fight back, and they started to taunt Chelsea.
"Haha, I love seeing Chelsea fans suffer!"
"Everton did a great job! Let's see what Chelsea fans have to say now!"
"Hehe, I'll never forget how Chelsea fans gloated when we lost the last round!"
"They don't even consider who we lost to!"
To Manchester United fans, losing to Liverpool was not shameful. Their home ground was always tough to play at, and losing to them was acceptable.
But Chelsea lost to who?
Everton?
That's our little brother! The mighty Chelsea couldn't even beat Manchester United's little brother? Aren't they ashamed?
"Pfft, it's just one game. You should worry about your upcoming derby against Manchester City!"
"Exactly, if Manchester United loses again, Moyes might be out of a job, and we'll see quite a show then!"
Chelsea fans hit Manchester United's sore spot, triggering a heated argument between the fans.
"Do you think Chelsea won't have to face Liverpool and Manchester City? With your current form, you'd be lucky to get a point each match. Even if we win one and lose one, our points will still be higher than yours!"
Manchester United's issue was their unstable manager position, while Chelsea's problem was their inability to score.
Both teams had significant problems that didn't seem easy to solve.
At this rate, neither team looked likely to win the Premier League title this season.
Meanwhile, Arsenal fans quietly hoped for their success.
With Manchester United's instability, Chelsea's weak forwards, and Liverpool's long decline, it seemed like Arsenal had a chance to finally win the Premier League title.
In their away match against Sunderland, Arsenal secured a 3-1 victory, marking their third consecutive win and temporarily topping the table with nine points, solidifying their fans' belief in a good season.
It looked like a great era for Arsenal was beginning!
Just after Chelsea's unexpected loss, Liverpool followed suit.
In their away match against Swansea, Liverpool scored two goals in the first half and thought they had the game in hand.
But Swansea mounted a comeback in the second half, scoring two goals to draw the match, costing Liverpool the three points they had in hand.
Despite the draw, Liverpool still topped the Premier League with 10 points, ahead of Arsenal on goal difference.
Manchester City almost faced a similar fate.
With many star players, Manchester City was heavily affected by the FIFA virus.
After returning from national team duties, many players hurried back to the club for the league match.
This caused them to be off-form throughout the match, and some South American players couldn't even finish the game due to fatigue.
The 0-0 scoreline remained until stoppage time.
Just when everyone thought it would end in a draw, in the last minute of stoppage time, Lin delivered a crucial pass, assisting Negredo to score and helping the team secure a 1-0 victory.
Although the win was scrappy, Manchester City managed to get the three points, maintaining their top position in the standings with four consecutive wins.
After the league match, the entire Manchester City team flew to the Czech Republic to prepare for their first Champions League group stage match.
Viktoria Plzen, a team from the Czech First League, was not well-known in Europe.
But as their first group stage opponent, Manchester City took them seriously.
They had too many bad experiences of upsets in the Champions League group stages.
"Viktoria Plzen is the weakest opponent in our group. We must win tomorrow's match and score as many goals as possible to build a significant goal difference advantage. This will give us the upper hand in future matches."
Pellegrini knew the Manchester City owners valued the Champions League highly. His predecessor Mancini was fired for two consecutive group stage exits.
To avoid the same fate, he knew there couldn't be any surprises in this group stage.
Bayern was another matter; Manchester City wasn't as strong as them.
But the other two opponents were weaker, and they had to win this match!
Maybe because of Pellegrini's pre-match instructions, Manchester City played nervously, with players looking tense.
After 30 minutes of play, the score remained 0-0, and Manchester City had already received two yellow cards due to overly aggressive play.
Pellegrini had initially been confident, but seeing the situation on the field made him nervous.
Could Manchester City really lose this away match?
Viktoria Plzen's players initially feared the Premier League giants, feeling overawed.
But after thirty minutes, they realized their opponents weren't that formidable.
Their confidence grew, and they started attacking more, trying to score.
Seeing their opponents attack, Lin felt relieved.
His teammates had been too tense, and with many opponents in and around the penalty area, they couldn't execute their plays.
But now, with the opponents attacking, there were more gaps in their defense.
Lin signaled to his teammates to speed up the pace and led a press against Plzen's players in midfield.
Following his lead, Garcia, Navas, Aguero, and others joined in the press.
Plzen's players, not used to the pace of top European leagues, especially the Premier League, struggled.
With Manchester City increasing the tempo, Plzen couldn't keep up.
The midfield battle quickly turned in Manchester City's favor.
Using their superior technique and physicality, Manchester City dominated.
With control of the midfield, their attack quality improved significantly.
In the 48th minute, after intercepting a pass in midfield, Manchester City quickly passed the ball to Lin on the wing.
Lin broke through the defense, cutting inside, and then faked a shot, passing to the better-positioned Aguero.
The Argentine didn't waste the opportunity, blasting the ball into the net.
"Beautiful!"
On the sidelines, Pellegrini celebrated wildly with his assistants after the goal.
He had waited too long for this goal!
If they didn't score soon, the opponents would have gone back to their defensive tactics, and it would have been really hard to win.
With the first goal, the game became easier.
With the scoreline against them, Plzen had no choice but to attack.
But with them attacking, their defense was left vulnerable against Manchester City's forwards.
In the 53rd minute, Lin received a pass from Garcia, held off a defender, and scored.
Manchester City extended their lead!
Under Manchester City's relentless attack, Plzen struggled to cope.
But Manchester City's players remembered their coach's instructions. Despite leading by two goals, they continued to attack.
They wanted to secure as many goals as possible.
In the 65th minute, Manchester City launched another fast attack.
Lin dribbled down the wing, evaded defenders, and shot from a tight angle.
The goalkeeper managed to parry the ball, but it didn't go far, causing a scramble in the penalty area.
In the chaos, a Plzen defender tried to clear the ball, but it deflected off a Manchester City player's leg and into the net.
The goalkeeper, having just made a save and still on the ground, could only watch as the ball flew past him.
3-0!
The goal was credited to Javi Garcia.
Even he didn't expect to score; he had only tried to block the clearance.
But it ended up as a goal by sheer luck.
In the end, Manchester City scored three second-half goals, winning their opening Champions League group match and securing three valuable points.
Bayern also won their match against CSKA Moscow 3-0, so both Manchester City and Bayern topped the group with three points and three goals.
As the first four groups' eight matches were played simultaneously, other group results also came in after Manchester City's match ended.
In Group A, Moyes' Manchester United defeated Leverkusen 4-2 at Old Trafford.
In this match, Rooney, returning to the starting lineup, was in top form, scoring twice to break the deadlock.
Since Van Persie joined and took his starting spot, Rooney hadn't had such a proud moment in a long time.
Although he was Ferguson's favorite, Ferguson had also benched him in his last year.
Now, with Moyes giving him more opportunities, Rooney was grateful and wanted to repay him with goals.
Besides Rooney, Van Persie and Valencia also scored, securing the victory.
Despite the loss, Leverkusen showed resilience by scoring twice against Manchester United, demonstrating the toughness of Bundesliga teams.
In Group B, Real Madrid played in Turkey's hostile environment.
What was expected to be a tough match ended with Ancelotti's team thrashing Galatasaray 6-1, shocking everyone.
Real Madrid's strength was evident, so winning wasn't surprising.
But to dominate
with such a wide margin in Turkey's notorious home ground was astonishing.
In this match, Gareth Bale, bought for a billion, didn't score but his wing play tormented the Turkish side, contributing significantly to the win.
But Bale couldn't overshadow Ronaldo.
The Portuguese superstar was on fire, completing a hat-trick in just 30 minutes of the second half.
With Bale, their "Billion Duo" showed the power of money.
Money really can make you unstoppable!
In a quiet corner, Benzema, who had practiced shooting for half a year, quietly completed two goals and an assist.
Although he couldn't steal the limelight, his presence was crucial for Real Madrid's victory.
In Group C, PSG defeated Olympiacos 4-1 away.
PSG's players scored from all over, breaking the opponent's defense.
However, Zlatan made headlines for missing a penalty, becoming the most frustrated player.
The next day, the remaining four groups played their matches.
Werder Bremen won 3-0 against Steaua Bucharest, with Petersen, Füllkrug, and Arnautovic all scoring their first Champions League goals.
After securing three points, Werder Bremen's chances of advancing looked good.
However, Chelsea's match ended in a huge upset.
Facing Swiss side Basel, everyone expected a straightforward win, but Mourinho's team stumbled.
Chelsea scored first but were reversed, ultimately losing 1-2.
In the second half, when Chelsea was trailing, Mourinho threw all his forwards into the game.
But none could score, and they had to watch Basel take all three points.
Basel celebrated wildly at Stamford Bridge, while Chelsea players could only swallow the bitter pill of defeat.
Counting their recent league loss, Chelsea had lost two consecutive matches in all competitions.
De Bruyne sat on the bench for the entire match. Even when the team was trailing, Mourinho never considered him, not even glancing at him.
This left De Bruyne deeply disappointed.
In Group F, facing the tough group, Wenger's Arsenal played steadily, securing a 2-1 away win against Marseille.
Last season's Champions League runners-up, Dortmund, were defeated by Napoli away.
Dortmund seemed past their peak, steadily declining.
In Group G, Atletico Madrid defeated Zenit 3-1 at home, while Porto also won away.
In Group H, where Barcelona and AC Milan played, both teams won their home matches 4-0 and 2-0, respectively.
Seemingly responding to Ronaldo, Messi also scored a hat-trick against Ajax.
After the first round of matches, all English teams except Chelsea won.
La Liga also saw three wins and one loss, with Real Sociedad being the only team to lose.
Serie A had two wins and one draw, with AC Milan and Napoli winning, while Juventus was surprisingly held to a draw by Copenhagen.
Meanwhile, the Bundesliga had two wins and two losses, while Ligue 1 and the Primeira Liga both had one win and one loss.
From the performances of the top five leagues, the Premier League and La Liga were undoubtedly the top two leagues.
Serie A slightly edged the Bundesliga, while Ligue 1 had fallen to the level of the Primeira Liga.
Though the Primeira Liga had two seeded teams, Ligue 1 had none, which was quite disheartening.
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