Chapter 174: The Feared Atletico Madrid

In the early morning of April 26, Beijing time, the Champions League semifinals began to be in full swing.

First up is Manchester City's game, which hosts Bayern Munich.

Manchester United fans certainly want to see Manchester City unlucky, although there is no distraction in the English media that does not support Manchester City, after all, the Champions League game is an outlet, and the media still have to talk about some political correctness when it comes to the outside world.

But the fans didn't care about that, especially the Manchester United fans, who sat in the stands of the visitors at the Etihad Stadium and put up signs that said "Only Manchester United can represent Manchester".

However, it seems that Manchester City is still weaker than Bayern Munich.

Just one minute into the game, Alaba opened the scoring for Bayern Munich, a goal that completely disrupted City's deployment.

However, before the end of the first half, Sergio Aguero stabbed smartly in the box to help Manchester City equalise.

And in the second half, just as Manchester City, who were playing at home, pressed hard, Bayern Munich's offensive counterattack broke through Joe Hart's goal again.

This time, it was Lewandowski who shot from distance from nearly 30 yards out, and the Polish striker hit a ball that left Joe Hart helpless to watch the goal go into the net.

Bayern Munich had a few more chances to score, but they were all cleared by Joe Hart.

Manchester City's luck was also good, in stoppage time, De Bruyne's shot was blocked by Boateng's handball, and then the referee decisively awarded a penalty, and also showed Boateng a second chapter of yellow cards, accumulating two yellow cards and being sent off, it seems that the next leg of the game between the two sides will be missed.

Sergio Aguero calmly fired into the bottom right corner and scored a brace to help Manchester City hold Bayern Munich to a home draw.

Although Bayern scored two away goals, at least they did not lose at home, and Manchester City still have a chance in the next leg.

The Champions League semi-finals have always attracted the attention of Chinese fans, but due to this embarrassing live broadcast time, many fans can only choose to watch one of them - after all, it is always difficult to stay up late for two days in a row. As a result, many fans did not watch this game, and in addition to the existing fan bases of Bayern Munich and Manchester City, many more fans are still waiting for tomorrow's game.

Tomorrow it's Manchester United away to Atletico Madrid!

Atletico Madrid have been very strong in the Champions League in the past two or three years, reaching the final of the Champions League in two consecutive seasons before this season, and successfully lifting a Champions League trophy.

However, these two Champions League finals, Li Qingshan is still a member of the Atletico Madrid lineup, and is the absolute main force, making immeasurable contributions to the team. Therefore, many media believe that after selling Li Qingshan, Atletico Madrid's strength has declined quite significantly.

Especially in this season's La Liga, Atletico Madrid, which has won the La Liga championship for two consecutive seasons, can only rank third after Barcelona and Real Madrid this season, and is already seven points behind Barcelona in first place and five points behind Real Madrid in second.

However, in the Champions League, Atletico Madrid's performance is still very good, after qualifying from the group, Atletico Madrid eliminated PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona successively, and reached the Champions League semifinals.

The team that can knock out Barcelona is never to be underestimated.

And this time, the opponent of the top four of Atletico Madrid is Manchester United with Li Qingshan. This had to make the fans of Atletico Madrid sweat, after all, how strong Li Qingshan is, they know best.

And many Chinese media have begun to hype Li Qingshan to reach the Champions League final for the third year in a row. In the past, it was difficult for a Chinese player to play in the Champions League, but now he may see the shadow of Chinese players in the Champions League final for three consecutive seasons.

.......

In fact, if Atletico Madrid knocks out Manchester United, they will also reach the Champions League final for the third consecutive season.

Carlo Ancelotti clearly did not ignore this: "This team is quite strong at home, they have a tough style, they have a lot of energy, they can maintain a high pressure posture throughout the game, so we have to be very cautious and not think about eating the opponent in one bite away from home, I can accept a draw away from home, everything will be said when we return to our home stadium, remember, the game is 180 minutes, don't be impatient, even if it's 0-0, we are not afraid!" ”

Manchester United's players were not surprised by Carlo Ancelotti's caution.

A team that can reach the Champions League final two years in a row, and this season eliminated Barcelona and reached the semi-finals, such a team must have two brushes. Compared to Manchester United's slump in the Champions League in recent seasons, they do not underestimate the qualifications of their opponents.

'Their high quality in midfield is stifling, so you have to be very cautious. After Ancelotti finished speaking, Li Qingshan also added. After all, he played two seasons at Atletico Madrid, and there haven't been many personnel changes in this team, so he still has some understanding.

"Lee is right, handle the ball as safely as possible in the backcourt, run more to respond, and don't be successful in the backcourt when they break the ball!" Ancelotti said.

The players nodded, this is the Champions League semi-final, there are not many goals in this experience, so many players listen carefully. When you don't have much experience yourself, it's good to listen to other people's opinions.

"Everyone must rest well tonight, remember to close the doors and windows of the hotel, and avoid being harassed by the noise made by the other party in the middle of the night."

Making some noise under the opponent's hotel and distracting the rest of the opposition players is also very common in football, and Manchester United have also taken precautions against it.

"Alright, adjourn now!!"

Ancelotti looked at the time, stood up and said.

After all the players left the dressing room, assistant coach Ryan Giggs said with some concern: "If you talk about the opponent so strong, will it put too much pressure on them, I think many players are starting to get nervous, they have no experience in the Champions League semi-finals after all." ”

Carlo Ancelotti shook his head: "It's okay to be nervous now, there's still a day before the game, and they can adjust by then, and they can do that, as long as they don't get nervous before the game starts." ”

"I'm more worried than that because they aren't mentally prepared enough to deal with this tough battle."

Ancelotti's face was worried.