Chapter 147: The Champions League is more important

After the international break, Manchester United's international players returned one after another.

Ancelotti's face is not very good-looking, and after this national team break, Manchester United's injury situation makes Ancelotti very helpless.

First of all, Di Maria was injured in the Argentine national team and is expected to be out for nearly two weeks after the team's doctor's initial diagnosis, which means that he is likely to miss the two Champions League finals against Real Madrid, which is a big loss for Manchester United's attacking power.

In addition to Di Maria, Fellaini and central defenders Jones and Chris Smalling have injuries of varying degrees, Fellaini was substituted in the middle of the national team game due to some possible knee problems, and now Manchester United's medical team is doing more detailed treatment for Fellaini, while the injuries of Jones and Chris Smalling are ironic - he collided while training with England and both were injured at the same time........

The impact of the FIFA virus is just too nerve-wracking.

The time has also entered April, when the major European leagues have entered the final stage, and in the European arena, the strong smell of gunpowder has begun to spread.

The UEFA Champions League began to appear frequently in the major media outlets.

On April 5th, the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League will be in full swing, with teams in the quarter-finals battling it out for a place in the semi-finals!!

Since the quarterfinals, there has been no fish belly team in the Champions League, and even Benfica, which seems to be the weakest, is a well-known giant in the entire European continent, even Bayern Munich does not dare to take Benfica lightly.

And Manchester United's Premier League has reached this stage, and the schedule has begun to be dense.

Manchester United's schedule into April is a bit of a stretch, especially in the seven or eight days of early April, when they host Everton on April 3, then host Champions League quarter-final rivals Real Madrid on April 6, and then travel to Tottenham Hotspur on April 10.

These three games, each of which is hard and not easy to deal with, let alone three games in a row in just seven days, with no time to rest and adjust in between, coupled with the team's current injury situation, these have to make Manchester United fans a little worried.

Carlo Ancelotti has to make some trade-offs in the game, but now Manchester United has a considerable advantage in the league, so in the home game against Everton on April 3, Ancelotti made a relatively large rotation.

In addition to Li Qingshan, central defenders Hummels and Rojo, defender Herrera, and goalkeeper David De Gea, as many as five players have been adjusted in other positions, all of whom have been regular substitutes this season, with right wing-back Rafael finally getting the chance to start, and left wing-back Luke Shaw, who has just returned from injury.

The midfield midfield combination is Herrera partnering Carrick and Blind, while the two players behind Li Qingshan are Rooney and Nani.

With such a large rotation, even at home, Manchester United is in a tough battle.

Until the game was three minutes long, Everton was still 2-1 up.

In this game, Manchester United scored first, and in the 23rd minute of the game, Li Qingshan assisted Nani to score and help the team take the lead.

However, in the first half, Everton equalised, Luke Shaw was fouled in the box and gave a penalty, Lukaku converted the penalty to help Everton equalise.

Not long after the start of the second half, right wing-back Rafael made another defensive mistake and was easily passed by the opposing winger Lennon and then scored in the penalty area!

The left and right full-backs each made a mistake and conceded two goals, which made Ancelotti shake his head from the sidelines.

Rafael wasn't in much form for the game, while Luke Shaw didn't feel like a game.

It is indeed a big risk to let these players suddenly play for a long time, but at this point, Ancelotti has no choice, he has so many people at hand, and the lead in the league allows him to give up one or two games in the league.

For now, the Champions League is more important!

After all, having established such a huge advantage in the league, Manchester United has the capital to fight hard in the Champions League!

In fact, after the Champions League has undergone many restructurings, the number of participating teams has increased a lot, in order to get more support from European countries, Platini has allowed more teams from second- and third-rate countries to enter the group stage, which naturally brings good news to those teams in small leagues, so that they also have the opportunity to go to the Champions League and earn some appearance fees.

As a side effect, the group stage has dropped and the Champions League has not been named good, as not all teams are ready to prove themselves in the Champions League.

Even Portuguese giants like Benfica have used the Champions League more as a platform to raise the value of their players in recent years, let alone those teams in smaller leagues........

But teams like Manchester United are different, they have enough capital and depth to fight on two fronts, and if such a big club cannot achieve enough competitive results in the Champions League for a long time, it will also have a big impact on its own profitability. After all, a listed business group like Manchester United will affect its stock price at any time if its own performance is good or bad.

After Moyes' bad season, some financial institutions estimate that Manchester United's overall market value has evaporated more than $500 million in the financial market, and if such a huge loss comes again, even Manchester United, which is in a good financial position, will not be able to bear it.

Therefore, when it comes to making a difference in the Champions League, clubs like Manchester United will not let up easily.

Carlo Ancelotti was ready to lose a league game, but in stoppage time, Li Qingshan scored with a header from a corner to help United draw 2-2 at home to Everton, and finally did not lose at home.

Picking up a point and picking up a zero is not really much of a difference for United's current situation – after this round of league games, Leicester City's home win over Southampton brought the lead back to 13 points. With seven games remaining, the 13-point margin is a stretch – and while there is a theoretical chance of Leicester winning the title, it is slim to none, requiring United to lose five games and Leicester to win five in a row.......