Chapter 85 Champions League group qualification

After the game, Arsene Wenger did not publicly criticize his team and players, despite his deep regret. For Arsene Wenger, it was almost instinctive to protect his players in the media.

“..... We took the lead until about 10 minutes to go, but unfortunately we didn't defend well in the closing stages. But you know, we're playing against Manchester United, and there's not a lot of teams at Old Trafford that you can get out of the game. I'm very happy with my team's performance in the first half of the second half, we played at a world-class level at this stage and I'm proud of Alex's performance, he's a star on the same level as Li Qingshan......."

And Ancelotti praised Li Qingshan's performance in the media.

“.... We were reversed at one point, but luckily we had a great centre-forward..... You know, this is the first game he has come back after being injured, I don't even think he has fully recovered to his peak form, but that's enough, Aoyama is our key player, we do rely on his offensive play, but there is nothing to be ashamed of, we don't have any Li Qingshan dependence, he is one of us, we are a whole, just like a knife, we just have a sharper blade, but you can't say that this knife is suffering from "blade dependence", It's very illogical...."

Sanchez, who scored twice in the game, also spoke about his performance in an interview after the game.

"I'm happy to score two goals, but it's not something to be happy about when the team loses.... Li Qingshan? He's a good player, I have a lot of respect for him, but we don't have a personal relationship... Competitor? No, no, no, I'm not in the same position as him, it's not a competition, and I have to admit that I can't score so many goals in a season like him, it's incredible..."

.......

At the end of the press conference, on the way back to London, Wenger also privately praised Sanchez's performance.

"Alex, your performance was fantastic, we lost the game, but it's not a big deal, the season is still long, we still have a chance..."

Sanchez nodded: "I know, boss. Manchester United are strong and our biggest enemy in the league! ”

"Of course, of course, you are our core player, and I am very happy that you can play so well." Wenger nodded, hesitated for a moment, and finally spoke: "About your contract......

"I've left it all to my agent, boss," Sanchez interrupted Arsene Wenger.

Wenger nodded helplessly. Sanchez has a year and a half left on his contract, but the renewal talks have been rocky.

For Arsenal, keeping Sanchez is no less than a one-to-fifty million signing.

Wenger couldn't criticize Sanchez either, after all, the opponent behaved professionally on the pitch, and even if Sanchez wanted to leave, there was nothing to blame.

....

After the game against Arsenal, the fifth game of the Champions League group stage will be played soon. Manchester United host Club Brugge.

Manchester United had won three and drawn one of their first four games in the group stage, while Porto and Copenhagen finished second and third with six and five points respectively, while Club Brugge have lost all four games in the group.

In the fifth round of the group stage, Manchester United hosted Club Brugge, while Copenhagen played against Porto. With the current points situation, as long as Manchester United wins, they can get the first round of the group one round in advance!

Therefore, Ancelotti did not dare to be careless in this game, as long as he won this game, Manchester United would not have to be distracted in the final round of the group stage, which is undoubtedly an extra rest time for the increasingly tight schedule.

Playing Club Brugge at home, Ancelotti did not despise this team that lost in the first four rounds, what if the opponent lost too much because of the previous one, and this game was put to death and came to life, and burst out with some kind of huge energy?

Therefore, Carlo Ancelotti still sent the strongest squad to ensure that he could beat his opponent and secure the top spot in the group one round earlier.

In fact, Brugge played away from home and really performed very tenacious, not scoring a point in the group stage, which made the Brugge players feel disgraced, although they were already determined to be eliminated, but Brugge still wanted to fight for it and avoid being eliminated with a total defeat - that would be too humiliating.

However, even though the players of Club Brugge performed very hard, they still lost 1-3 against Manchester United, who played with all the main players. Until the eighty-eighth minute of the game, Manchester United still led Brugge 3-0, but in the end Brugge still scored a face-saving goal, and at this time Li Qingshan, Pogba, and Mata were replaced one after another, and the three-goal lead could already guarantee the team's victory, so Ancelotti was worried that the opponent would kick his main player injured, so it would be better to replace it early.

Li Qingshan was also happy with the easy win, as he scored twice in this game to take his tally in the Champions League this season to four. However, this number of goals is far from that of Ronaldo, who swiped a handful of statistics in the group stage - after five rounds of the group stage, Ronaldo has scored eight goals, including five goals in the home and away games against Legia Warsaw!

However, Li Qingshan is not worried, just a few goals ahead, and the Champions League schedule is still long.

In the other game in this group, Porto hosted FC Copenhagen, and the two teams played a very good offensive battle.

In the end, Porto had a slight advantage at home, winning 4-3 to take nine points.

After five rounds, the group points situation is now like this, Manchester United is first with 13 points, while second-placed Porto are in second place with nine points, four points behind Manchester United in second, and third-placed Copenhagen are also four points behind Porto, they have five points and are in third place and can only play in the Europa League, while Club Brugge, who are at the bottom of the group, have not won a point.

In this way, the emergence of this group was determined in the fifth round, Manchester United locked up the first place in the group, Porto locked up the second place in the group, these two teams qualified, and Copenhagen locked up third place to play in the Europa League, the sixth round of this group is not meaningful at all.......