Chapter 12 Different Lives in the Same City

There is something wrong with Manchester City again! Before Manchester City's away game against West Ham United last weekend, midfielder Milner's name appeared on the starting list, but after the game, Milner's position was replaced by Barry, and Milner suddenly disappeared from the 18-man list!

The Daily Star solved this mystery for us after the game. It turned out that Milner was suddenly told by Mancini that he had been withdrawn from the starting line-up at the last moment before he was ready to play, and was even expelled by Mancini!

It is reported that before the incident, Milner was doing routine warm-up activities on the court with other starters, but Mancini suddenly appeared and informed Milner that he was not on the starting list. The Italians' back-to-point behavior obviously angered Milner, and the English midfielder threw his training vest to the ground heavily! Of course, Mancini did not allow his authority to be challenged, and he immediately expelled Milner from the player channel.

Mancini then removed Milner from the list of 18, and the English didn't even get a chance to be a substitute!

Manchester City has been in turmoil recently. After losing to Ajax in the Champions League, Mancini's loss after the game was attributed to the lack of fighting spirit of the players, which made many veteran players in Manchester City's team have resistance to Mancini. Mancini has gradually lost his heart, and even some players have a quality to Mancini's tactics. Suspicious, for example, defender Richards has publicly bombarded Mancini's tactics.

Now that Mancini is in conflict with Milner, the honest man in the team, it seems that the Italians are really going to lose control of the locker room.

Perhaps the trigger for all this comes from the unfavorable Champions League. Of course, Manchester United will not replicate the situation of their sworn enemies in the Champions League.

The trouble between the head coach and the players, the biggest competitor last season, must be good news for Manchester United.

After defeating Braga away, Manchester United was finally able to crush the nightmare of being out of the Champions League last season and advance from Group H to the last 16 two rounds ahead.

However, in addition to the group qualifying, this game also has a very special significance for Giggs, who started for Manchester United - after playing today, Giggs has made 135 appearances in the Champions League, tying the record of former AC Milan legend Maldini and becoming The player with the second largest number of appearances in the history of the UEFA Champions League.

In this landmark game, under the unfavorable situation of Manchester United losing a penalty and falling behind 0-1 in the second half, Giggs first assisted Van Persie to equalize the score, and then planned the whole process of Manchester United getting the penalty kick against the score - "Wang Laoji" proved with practical actions that as a recent The 39-year-old veteran still has the ability to change the game.

Like the last round of the match at Old Trafford, Braga has been causing trouble for Manchester United all the time and taking the lead in scoring goals. However, at the last moment of the second half, Giggs suddenly exerted his strength and made two goals for Manchester United, making the winning balance completely fall to the Red Devils: in the 80th minute, Manchester United launched a counterattack. After seeing Van Persie in front, Giggs sent a pass to Van Persie that crossed the whole Braga defense. General Fan After getting the ball, he formed a single knife and easily hung the ball over Braga goalkeeper Beto, who made a mistake. As a result, Manchester United seized this fleeting opportunity and successfully equalized the score!

And just 4 minutes later, Giggs expanded the output of Manchester United's offensive with a more wonderful performance - after receiving Rafael's cross pass, Giggs shook a Braga defender beautifully with a change of rhythm at the moment of stopping. Then he sent a just right pick pass to Hernandez; Little Pea's single shot in the penalty area was barely saved by Beto, and then Li Yu was helplessly put down by the Braga defender when she tried to make up the shot. At the reminder of the bottom referee, the referee made a penalty kick, and Li Yu hit the penalty.

Manchester United overtook the score to 2-1!

With the strength of the last moment, Manchester United won without any danger. As an important contributor to Manchester United's victory today, Giggs' wonderful performance runs through the whole game.

According to OPTA data, Giggs passed 77 of 82 passes in this game, with a pass success rate of 93.9%, and his 35 forward passes in the game also achieved an 87.5% success rate. While giving a direct assist, Giggs sent a total of three threatening passes in this game, which is also the highest in the game.

As mentioned earlier, with today's appearance, Giggs has become the second most appearance in the history of the UEFA Champions League, and the only thing he needs to look up to temporarily is Raul, who has played a total of 142 UEFA Champions League games.

Considering that Raul has gone to the Middle East to pan for gold, and Maldini, who is tied with Giggs, has already retired, it seems that Giggs still has great hope to completely surpass these two people and dominate the list of appearances in the history of the Champions League.

However, no one can say whether the gap between the seven games will become a gap. After all, last month, Giggs revealed to Goal.com his idea of retiring at the end of the season: "This may be my last season. If I can't contribute to the team like in the past few years, then I will retire."

However, after watching today's game, who would doubt that such Giggs is incapable of contributing to Manchester United? I believe that all Manchester United fans will hope that Giggs can change his mind, enjoy his career on the green field, and enjoy it all the way to the age of 90 - using the recently extremely popular "90-year-old body", it is not difficult to imagine that when the 90-year-old Giggs is lying in **, someone will ask him, "Do you want to play the Champions League?" Help me up!"

3 to 1, another reversal! Manchester United struggled to win Braga on the road, won 4 consecutive wins in the group stage in one go, and scored 12 points in advance and locked the top of the group 2 rounds in advance!

Compared with last season's disastrous elimination, Manchester United's performance in the Champions League this season can be said to be very strong. Although the process of the game is not convincing, 3 points is real. This is the 300th European game in Manchester United's history, and nothing is more memorable than a victory.

On December 8 last year, at Jacob Park Stadium in Basel, Manchester United lost 1-2 to their opponents in a draw. In the end, they were eliminated with 2 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss and 9 points in the group stage. The weak home record was an important factor that led to their final exit.

You should know that Manchester United was eliminated from the group last season with the result of defending the Champions League champion, and it is also recognized as the most uncompetitive group. The runner-up of the Champions League had to play in the Europa League, and was later humiliated by Athletic Bilbao. This is a team of the same level as Manchester United. Unacceptable.

Fortunately, Manchester United has learned a lesson. In four games this season, Manchester United first beat Galatasaray 1-0 at home, then reversed Cluj 2-1 away, and then beat Braga at home and away. 12 points in 4 games have locked the top of the group in advance. In the next two games, Manchester United can completely rotate boldly with the mentality of training, and the Red Devils can also temporarily collect from the European field and concentrate on preparing for the league. Compared with last season's bleak out, Manchester United's rebound in the Champions League this season is gratifying.

After four rounds of the UEFA Champions League group stage, Manchester United is the only team in the top 32 that has won all four games. Although Porto and Malaga have also qualified ahead of schedule, Manchester United is the only team that has secured the top spot in the group ahead of schedule.

In addition, compared with other Premier League three teams, Manchester United's performance is the best. Although Chelsea scored 7 points and tied for the first place with the Shakhtar Donetsk, they still have to play Juventus, who are only one point behind them in the away game. The situation of the group is still unclear. Arsenal's situation is similar, and the result of 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the group makes them dare not take it lightly. As for Manchester City, there are only 2 points in the four rounds of group matches. In the 57-year history of the UEFA Champions League, only two teams can still qualify under such circumstances. If Manchester City wants to qualify, they can only expect a miracle. However, even their coach Mancini has admitted that he has released a series of pessimistic remarks that "Manchester City will qualify unless the immortals come to save"...

On December 8 last year, Manchester United was eliminated from the Champions League group, 11 months and 336 days away. You know, that night, although Manchester City defeated Bayern, Manchester City was eliminated from the group because Naples defeated Villarreal.

However, 336 days later, the former brothers went to the opposite path. There is only a theoretical possibility for Manchester City. Even Mancini said that even God could not save Manchester City, while Manchester United won 4 games and ranked first in the top 32. The performance of the red devil and the blue moon is really a heaven and an earth.

Ancelotti has begun to look forward to the Champions League: "I think as far as the history of Manchester United is concerned, we should win more Champions League titles. I want to win the Champions League a few more times to catch up with our biggest rivals Liverpool, as well as Bayern and Ajax.

AC Milan and Real Madrid have won a certain gap with other teams, and it is really difficult to catch up with them. When I recall our chances of winning the championship, I'm very frustrated, but you can't be too greedy. Look at my coaching career, two Champions League champions and one European Cup Winners Cup champion, I'm proud of it!"

Back to the league, Manchester City's internal strangst intensified, defeating the powerful Tottenham Hotspur 2-1. After experiencing the pain and humiliation in the group stage of the Champions League, this round of Premier League Manchester City rebounded strongly at the Etihad Stadium, temporarily getting out of the predicament with a thrilling reversal of 3 points, and Mancini He was also able to shake hands with Boas after the game. I have to say that this must rely on the birth of a person - or the birth of a hero. Zheko, the star of Bosnia and Herzegovina, broke the goal in the 88th minute, which finally turned Manchester City into danger and also completed Mancini.

However, the controversy may also start from that moment. Dzeko, who contributed to the final kill after the game, was not as happy as he thought. Instead, he aimed the head coach Mancini.

"What do you want to say to the coach and the boss? I think goal is my best response!" There is obviously resentment in Dzeko's true expression. For nothing else, the black wave has been dissatisfied with his substitute positioning for a long time! Never want me to accept the position of a super substitute! I am 26 years old. Before joining Manchester City, I played a lot of games in the Bundesliga, scored a lot of goals, and won the league championship and the glory of top scorer. I have never been a substitute, and I don't want to be a substitute in the future. With me scoring so many goals for the team, I think I should get more opportunities to play.

Although he won the game, Dzeko's words, which can be understood as "forced palace", were like a slap in the face and threw heavily on Mancini's face.

In fact, it's not just Dzeko. The news from the Daily Mail revealed that the relationship between Mancini and Manchester City's generals is already at a critical point of a complete break!

The newspaper said that Manchester City's soldiers have had enough of Mancini's indifference, arrogance and inhumanity, as well as some shirking words in public.

However, the Daily Mail said that so far, the Manchester City generals have not completely broken up with Mancini. Considering that Mancini has brought a significant improvement in strength to the Manchester City Club, the two sides have not yet reached the point of tension.

It is revealed that Mancini once roared at everyone in Manchester City's locker room and claimed to take all the responsibilities and protect his players in front of the media and the public. However, as the Manchester City Legion created a humiliating and painful record step by step in the Champions League, Mancini completely forgot His own promise and his contemptuous attitude towards his players made Manchester City's players very dissatisfied.

Another outbreak point of the conflict between Mancini and the players occurred in Milner. On the eve of the league match between Manchester City and West Ham a week ago, Milner, the team's general, was furious because he was dissatisfied with Mancini's move to put himself into the starting list and suddenly withdraw, and then Mancini clashed with him. Maiman, the angry Italian young marshal, directly expelled this disciple from the player channel. In the next two games (the Champions League against Ajax, the league against Tottenham Hotspur, we can no longer find Milner's name from Manchester City's list, not even on the bench!

The England international is afraid that he has been frozen indefinitely because he offended Mancini.

In contrast, Manchester United seems to be addicted to the reversal recently. If they are not scored by their opponents, they will not play well.

Play five games in a row in 14 days, and three of them are strong conversations with heavyweight opponents such as Chelsea and Arsenal. The recent schedule is also a big "devil schedule" for the Red Devils Manchester United.

Today's away game against Villa is the end of this devil's schedule, and the Red Devils also reversed Villa with three goals in a row through the sudden force in the second half, achieving a three-game winning streak in the league. At the same time, after the eighth reversal of the season, the Red Devils have also become the well-deserved "king of reversal" in the mainstream leagues in Europe.

In today's first half of the game, the young Villa really made the tired Red Devils miserable. Manchester United not only did not create any threat on the offensive end, but the defense also kept making mistakes in Villa's counterattacks. By the 50th minute, when Villa's Weiman scored twice at close range, Manchester United had fallen behind 0-2 in the score.

However, since then, the sudden combat effectiveness of the Red Devils began to make Villa unable to resist: Valencia, who was repeatedly blocked in the first half, staged several good plays on the right side in the second half, completely revitalized the Red Devils' side attack; and there was almost no existence in the first half. In the second half, Van Persie not only had two wonderful shots hitting the crossbars, but also sent a kill assist with a free kick before the end of the game.

Of course, the most amazing thing is Li Yu, who replaced Mata after the intermission. Manchester United scored twice and made an oolong in just 45 minutes, using a "quasi-hat trick" to complete the reversal of this game for Manchester United.

After winning this game, Manchester United temporarily led the second place Chelsea by 4 points and the third place Manchester City by 5 points in the table. Considering that Chelsea and Manchester City will play against strong rivals such as Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow, Manchester United's lead is likely to be further expanded after this round.

And this victory is also Manchester United's 14th victory in various competitions this season, and as mentioned earlier, 8 of these 14 victories were won by Manchester United through reversal. In fact, there are also a total of 10 games in which Manchester United lost the ball first this season, that is to say, in the case of the opponent's first goal, Manchester United has an 80% chance of reversing and winning, with a total of 24 points back!

In addition to all five major European leagues, except Manchester United, among the six teams of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona won 4 times, Chelsea won 3 times, Real Madrid won, Juventus won once, and Barcelona Le Saint-Germain has never reversed the victory.

That is to say, Manchester United's ability to reverse and win this season is enough to win the five major European leagues. It is really "no reversal, no Manchester United"!

Reversal means scoring more goals than their opponents, and Manchester United's strong reversal ability is based on the attack power they have been able to strengthen this season.

As we all know, since Manchester City almost snatched the championship trophy because of the disadvantage of goal difference last season, Ancelotti has attached great importance to the improvement of Manchester United's offensive power this season. For this reason, while the team already has high-level offensive players such as Li Yu, Hernandez and Valencia, he still does not hesitate to spend a lot of money to introduce Van Pei. Excellent attackers such as Nishi and Shinji Kagawa, and before this game, Ancelotti also told The Guardian that he hoped that his disciples would score at least 100 goals in the league this season.

At present, Manchester United has scored 29 goals in 11 rounds of the Premier League, averaging 2.64 goals per game. If they maintain such efficiency, they will have the opportunity to score 100.18 goals in a total of 38 league games. It can be seen that although Chelsea in the 20-year history of the Premier League has only scored 103 goals in a single season in the 09-10 season, Ancelotti gave this order to his disciples. It's still hard to talk about it.

Even if you look at the whole of Europe, Manchester United's attack power is enough to rank in the top three. After all, they have scored as many as 44 goals in 17 games, averaging about 2.6 goals per game.

In the five major leagues, only Barcelona, which scored 47 goals in 17 games, and Bayern, which scored 52 goals in 17 games, performed better than them, but can surpass Real Madrid, which scored 43 goals in 17 games. This is Manchester United this season. The strong attack power makes them so good at scoring goals, and the strong reversal ability makes them fearless of their opponents' goals.

At present, the Red Devils are so difficult to defeat, so have they complained about their teams on the field next?