UEFA Champions League Semifinal, First Leg: Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Begin Their "Oil War"!
The day before the match between Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain was rescinded.
The match between Manchester United and Bayern kicks off first.
Manchester United were completely outmatched by Bayern away from home, suffering a humiliating 0-3 defeat and returning home in disgrace.
Perhaps still haunted by the derby miss, Icardi squandered numerous chances in this match, failing to convert any of three clear-cut opportunities, leaving his teammates speechless.
Van Gaal was furious at the post-match press conference, his beard bristling and eyes bulging!
For the first time, he openly criticized Icardi without reservation, urging him to regain his form as soon as possible.
When the reporter relayed Van Gaal's words to Guardiola, the Espanyol simply smiled!
"I don't think the team's loss is any one person's fault. We were ahead of our opponents in both possession and shots on goal. If I were Van Gaal, I would look for problems within myself."
Icardi, who was publicly criticized, also made a public statement on the spot!
He immediately liked a news report on social media, just as openly.
From Moyes to Van Gaal, Manchester United are still desperately searching for the next Ferguson.
With just a flick of Icardi's finger, a huge wave was stirred up on the British Isles!
Although he unliked the post an hour later, sharp-eyed media outlets saved screenshots.
Rumors of discord between Manchester United's managers and players began to escalate rapidly!
Even the conflict between De Bruyne and Icardi gradually came to light.
Now, let's shift our focus from Munich, Germany, to Paris, France.
This city of over two million is a fashion capital of Europe and also carries the rich cultural heritage of France.
It is also the center of France football.
Like Manchester City, the Qatar Investment Authority, which controls Paris, also comes from a wealthy oil-producing country.
The Qatar Investment Authority is Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and owns a majority stake in Paris Saint-Germain Football Club.
Therefore, this match is also known as the oil war between the United Arab Emirates and Qatar!
Paris Saint -Paris CEO Nasser was ambitious before the match, evident in his confident expression. After leading the team to three consecutive Ligue 1 titles, it was time to challenge for the UEFA Champions League title!
"Paris Saint-Germain doesn't care whether they draw Real Madrid, Barca, Bayern, or Manchester City; that's not something we need to consider," he said, deliberately placing Manchester City last in the list. "If Paris wants to win the title, they must defeat all the top teams in Europe, because from the first day the Qatar Foundation invested in this team, our goal has never been Ligue 1, but the UEFA Champions League."
Parc des Princes.
Paris fans lined the streets to welcome the team.
As soon as the blue bus appeared around the corner, cheers erupted.
The loudest cheers came from Ibrahimovic, wearing sunglasses, waving to the fans from above through the bus window.
"Ibrahimovic!"
"Ibrahimovic!"
"Ibrahimovic!"
Since arriving in Greater Paris, Ibrahimovic has become its king.
For the past three consecutive seasons, he has scored more than 30 goals, and this season his total number of goals has exceeded 40. At the age of 35, he has set a personal goal record and is showing signs of a second spring in his career.
Although the team has a top striker like Cavani, Ibrahimovic's presence draws all the spotlight to him.
Ibrahimovic thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention.
Whether at Inter Milan or AC Milan, he was always that kind of player; his teammates had to play around him.
The only setback in his career was at Barca, but he still won the league title that season.
Amid cheers, Ibrahimovic took off his sunglasses and yelled "Ha!" at the fans, reigniting their enthusiasm!
However, this "ha" startled Cavani, who had been resting with noise-canceling headphones on. He turned to look at Ibrahimovic, looking angry but unable to say anything.
Cavani was quite displeased, thinking, "I really don't know what this guy is so arrogant about. He's just not destined for the UEFA Champions League. He left Inter Milan, Inter Milan won the UEFA Champions League. He left Barca, and Barca won the UEFA Champions League. This match against Manchester City hasn't even started yet, and he's already acting like he's won? What a strange guy."
"Hey, so you must be Tang? It's an honor to meet me, Oriental. You're even smaller than I expected."
Inside the players' tunnel at the Parc des Princes, Ibrahimovic looked Tang Long up and down.
Tang Long frowned slightly.
Both of them had played football in Italy and could understand each other when speaking Italy.
But for some reason, when Ibrahimovic said this to him, he used English; he didn't use "young," he used "small."
In English, "small" is used to describe a person, but it doesn't refer to age; rather, it means the person is thin or short, and it's an insulting word.
What's more, when Ibrahimovic said this word to Tang Long, he brought his index finger and thumb together, bent down, and pinched the ground in front of Tang Long.
Ibrahimovic is 195cm tall, making him one of the tallest players in both teams' starting lineups.
Tang Long is 182cm tall. Although he's much shorter than Ibrahimovic, he's not exactly short for a football player, is he?
Agüero and Sterling, who are 1.7 meters tall, haven't said a word yet.
Agüero heard Ibrahimovic's provocation and turned around to retort.
"Bosnian bandit, didn't your father teach you how to respect others?" Given his status in the football world, he wouldn't tolerate Ibrahimovic at all.
Agüero a man of few words and ruthless actions; one sentence from him touched a nerve with Ibrahimovic!
His eyes widened instantly, his gaze practically stabling at Agüero.
Ibrahimovic's father was Bosnian and his mother was Croatia. Due to the war, Ibrahimovic's parents fled to a small town in Malmo, Sweden Malmo. Ibrahimovic grew up in the Rosengård slum, an immigrant community near Sweden. Therefore, in the eyes of many people, he is not a pure Sweden and suffered discrimination from a young age.
"You Argentina dwarf, your mouth stinks! Are all the people in your country as small as you? No wonder you couldn't beat UK and couldn't take back the Falkland Islands!"
Ibrahimovic, his face contorted with rage, walked up to Agüero and tried to strangle him, but Kolarov pushed him away as soon as he reached out.
"Zlatan! If you can't handle the game, don't play. First, shut your mouth."
Kolarov is nearly 1.9 meters tall, and the two men's foreheads almost touched.
The match hadn't even started, and conflict was already on the verge of erupting.
Fortunately, the captains of both teams Thiago Silva and Kompany, stepped in in time to ease the situation.
"You, you, and you three, don't leave after the game! Wait for me in the parking lot. I'll make you leave here crying!"
Ibrahimovic immediately uttered a harsh remark, and was then pulled to the back of the team by Thiago Silva.
Seeing Ibrahimovic's incessant chatter, Kolarov, a veteran of Serie A, smiled and said to Tang Long:
"Ibrahimovic is the king of trash talk. Back when we were playing in Serie A, he was at Inter Milan and I was at Lazio, and he would always trash talk me. I heard he claims to be a black belt in Taekwondo? Anyway, I've never seen him get into a fight."
"He did, I remember," Tang Long nodded. "When he was at AC Milan, he got into a fight with United States player Onyewu during training once, and ended up breaking a rib."
"Oh my, you know that too?" Kolarov added, suppressing a laugh. "Going back even further, when he was still playing for Ajax, they faced AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League. He was dirty to Gattuso during a defensive play and kept trash-talking him. Gattuso wasn't good with words and couldn't win the argument, but he didn't let it go. So he slapped him across the face. And guess what? This guy covered his red face and didn't dare utter a sound. I'm not exaggerating, Gattuso told me this himself."
Starting lineups for both teams:
Home team Paris Saint-Germain: 433
Cavani / Ibrahimovic / Di Maria
Matuidi / Motta / Rabiot
Maxwell / David Luiz / Thiago Silva / Aurier
Trapp
Away team Manchester City: 4231
Agüero
Sterling / Tang Long / Navas
Toure / Delph
Kolarov / Kompany / Ranocchia / Sagna
Caballero