The UEFA Champions League Quarterfinal Draw Is Out! Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Ultimate Show-Off, Smiles When Tang Long Comes Up!
The UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists are out!
Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Wolfsburg, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Benfica.
After the draw ceremony, the pairings are as follows:
Manchester City vs Paris Saint-Germain
Wolfsburg vs Real Madrid
Barcelona vs Benfica
Bayern vs Manchester United
Pellegrini is fairly satisfied with Manchester City's draw.
In the UEFA Champions League quarter-final draw, there are no seeded teams and no rule against teams from the same league being drawn together; any two teams could be drawn together.
Although they didn't draw relatively weak opponents like Benfica or Wolfsburg;
However, Manchester City also avoided formidable rivals such as Real Madrid, Barca, and Bayern.
The fans were also discussing it extensively.
Manchester City's draw is in the mid-range, neither good nor bad.
-[This is considered mid-range? It's excellent! Look at their city rivals, Manchester United; Bayern is far superior to Wolfsburg!]
-[There are no weak teams in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals; at this stage, every team faces a tough challenge.]
In my opinion, if Manchester City wants to win the title, the sooner they play Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich, the better.
-[Ibrahimovic vs. Tang Long, this is sure to be a highlight!]
- [Haha, I want to see how Ibrahimovic reacts. The biggest show-off in football, does he have confidence against Manchester City?]
-[What do you mean, the greatest show-off in football? That's God, okay?]
After a Ligue 1 match.
After scoring a hat-trick to thrash Monaco, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was not only named Man of the Match, but also brought his Ligue 1 goal tally for the season to 30, topping the scoring charts and far surpassing his teammate Cavani's 15 goals.
Who is the best center forward in Ligue 1 1?
The number of goals speaks for itself!
However, a minor incident occurred during Ibrahimovic's post-match interview.
When the host presented him with the Man of the Match trophy, Ibrahimovic waved it off dismissively, saying he didn't want it and that whoever wanted it could have it.
"My house is covered in these trophies. I just let my son play with them. Please don't give them out anymore, my son is so tired of them!"
"UEFA Champions League match against Manchester City? That's a good draw. I like playing against teams with a shorter average height, so I can use my physicality to overpower them and create space."
"Tang?"
Upon hearing the reporter mention Tang Long's name, Ibrahimovic stroked his chin and smiled meaningfully.
"Tang is too young! He's not even 20 years old, just a kid. What's there to say?"
"I'd rather talk to you about his agent, Ronaldo. He's the greatest striker of all time, an epic figure, and my idol from my youth."
"When I played in Serie A, I faced Ronaldo. Even though Ronaldo was only 20% of his peak strength at that time, he was still a formidable player."
The reporter pressed further:
"You look down on Manchester City that much? They just eliminated your former club Inter Milan!"
Ibrahimovic picked at his big nose and snorted.
"What is Inter Milan? In Serie A, the only team I love is AC Milan. They are the true kings of the UEFA Champions League. As for Inter Milan, they are far inferior!"
Before the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
Manchester City have two more Premier League matches to play.
These are the home game against Swansea in Round 31 and the away game against Norwich in Round 32.
There are eight games left in the Premier League season.
The battle for the league title has entered the final sprint!
After Manchester City's home victory over Manchester United in the last round, the gap between the two teams has widened again, from two points to five points.
With five points and less than two games played, there's absolutely no reason to relax.
For these two matches, Pellegrini decided not to rotate his squad against Norwich, continuing to use his main players and aiming to finish the game in the first half before resting the key players.
As for the away game against Swansea, we'll use a rotating bench to conserve energy, and then naturally focus our attention on dealing with Paris.
Two lines, advancing simultaneously;
Grab with both hands at the same time!
"Rayne, give it your all," Pellegrini encouraged his assistant coach. "We're going to push for the league and the UEFA Champions League. We not only want to conquer the Premier League, but also reach the top of Europe. I firmly believe that if we do that, next season, even if Guardiola wanted to coach Manchester City for free, the management wouldn't agree!"
"You're right, boss. In football, everything is about results. We'll fight game by game. No matter what, I'll stick with you!" Rayne declared his loyalty.
Premier League Round 31 match against Swansea.
Manchester City fielded their strongest lineup!
In the last round at the Meazza vegetable field, the Blue Moon players, enduring the cold wind and rain, started again, except for one rotated player, Sagna.
Even so, riding high on their comeback victory against Inter Milan, the players displayed impressive fighting spirit from the very beginning.
Tang Long quickly got into the game in his familiar attacking midfield position, and in the fifth minute he provided a brilliant assist to Agüero to score!
Etihad is boiling over once again!
Perhaps they're safe from relegation but have no hope of European qualification;
Perhaps overwhelmed by Manchester City's strong attacking desire at the start, Swansea offered almost no high-intensity resistance.
Manager Monk is also quite sensible and doesn't intend to compete with Manchester City for anything.
In his pre-match strategy, he didn't even make any specific plans; he just followed the team's usual tactics step by step.
Soon, in the 41st minute of the first half, Sterling received a cross from Zabaleta on the right wing and scored again with a low shot!
The 2-0 scoreline and the opponent's lack of strong desire to win gave Pellegrini ample opportunity to rotate players in the second half, allowing the key players to rest.
This also exemplifies the strategy of "Tian Ji's horse racing" during a long season.
For a powerhouse like Manchester City, some Premier League managers will psychologically surrender before the game even starts, shifting their focus to other teams.
Tang Long was the first player to be substituted.
In the 60th minute of the second half, Tang Long was substituted off and replaced by Delph.
The 30-minute rest period is especially precious for Tang Long, as he has played the full 90 minutes in several consecutive games.
Subsequently, Sterling and Agüero were also substituted.
These three players form a central axis for Manchester City from the back to the front, and Pellegrini relies heavily on them.
During garbage time, Bony was surprisingly active.
As the match entered stoppage time, Bony headed in a corner kick, finally breaking his goal drought.
Despite the fact that Pellegrini has placed more trust in Agüero in the team's recent encounters with several strong opponents;
However, Bony was also holding back a lot of energy and dared not relax at all during training, waiting for the opportunity to score a goal at any time. So after the game, while everyone else went to take a shower, Bony still held onto Tang Long.
"Tang, do you think my positioning was problematic during my 15 minutes on the field? Could you please analyze it for me?"
After a moment's thought, Tang Long demonstrated the tactics to Bony directly on the tactical board in the locker room.
"Delph was temporarily filling in for me as the attacking midfielder today, but he made two decent through balls. The reason you didn't connect with him is because of this, you see..."
Premier League Round 32.
Manchester City will play Norwich away.
This is the last Premier League match before the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint -Paris.
They will head to Paris just four days after the competition ends.
Two consecutive away games will naturally be tiring.
Therefore, Pellagrini implemented a significant rotation!
Tang Long, Agüero, Kompany, Sterling, Toure, and other key players are all resting.
Only key players such as center-back Ranocchia, wing-back Navas, and left- Kolarov were retained.
Poor Joe Hart still didn't get a starting position.
There is no need for goalkeeper rotation. Although Caballero is short, his form this season is far superior to Joe Hart, the "world-class goal backdrop".
Bony makes his first start!
With a five-point advantage, Pelle, with a draw as his bottom line.
I can accept it as long as I get even one point.
Even if we lose a game, it's okay, because we have the foundation.
However, the situation developed in a way that exceeded the Chile coach's expectations!
Bony seemed to have suddenly found his rhythm, connecting precisely with Delph, who was playing as an attacking midfielder, twice in a row, and scoring twice in the first half!
Even Delph himself was taken aback.
Why has Bony's positioning suddenly become so much smarter? In addition to his signature diagonal runs behind the two center-backs, he's also started making serpentine runs.
Especially Bony's second goal, where Delph made a casual pass that somehow bypassed the defenders, and Bony actually anticipated the ball's trajectory, which was truly unbelievable.
Seeing Bony's excited expression.
Agüero couldn't sit still on the bench!
"Boss, give me more time in the second half, I don't want my legs to get cold before we play Paris!"
Pelle naturally knew what Agüero was thinking; he didn't want his starting center forward position to be taken away by Bony.
The Chile are pleased to see such healthy competition among their forwards.
In the 65th minute, he made two substitutions: Bony was replaced by Agüero, and Delph was replaced by Tang Long.
"Tang, give it your all, let's get our feet warmed up together!"
Both of them went all out!
Agüero scored a hat trick in twenty minutes!
They extended their lead to 5-0!
All three assists came from Tang Long, two of which exploited the space behind Japan full-back Nagatomo Yuto.
Nagatomo Yuto also looked unwilling, but could only stare helplessly at Tang Long and Agüero's celebrating backs.
Agüero's third goal, in particular, was spectacular!
After 11 consecutive passes in the middle, the ball was passed through the middle.
Facing Zabaleta's pass back on the wing, Tang Long made a one-stop through ball, changing the rhythm and catching Nagatomo Yuto off guard. Nagatomo watched helplessly as Agüero made a run behind the defense and unleashed a powerful shot into the far corner.
This run of goals left Pellegrini on the sidelines breathless, and he immediately shouted:
"You two need to pull back! Don't get too into form too early, save your energy for the UEFA Champions League!"