Chapter 116: The showdown in the round of 16 of the Champions League

January's league schedule has come to an end, but United have two games to play in January.

First up is the FA Cup, where United are at home to Championship side Wigan Athletic, where Carlo Ancelotti made some changes, but Wigan Athletic were also unable to cause an upset on the road, with United winning 3-0 at home, with youngsters Marcus Rashford, Ashley Young and midfielder Marouane Fellaini contributing to the team respectively.

Followed by the second leg of the League Cup semi-finals, Manchester United faced Hull City away, the first leg between the two sides met at Old Trafford, Manchester United defeated Hull City with a score of 2-0, this time to the away side, Ancelotti did not play the main force, but Li Qingshan is still the starter.

With Li Qingshan's first-half goal, Manchester United defeated Hull City 1-0 and won 3-0 on aggregate over two legs to advance to the League Cup final.

And they faced Southampton in the final!

After these two games, the Premier League is in full swing into February.

On February 2, in the 23rd round of the Premier League, Manchester United hosted Hull City. Manchester United won the game very easily, Li Qingshan and Paul Pogba scored in the first and second halves respectively, helping the team to beat the opponent 2-0.

In the next two Premier League games, Manchester United also won one after another, in the 24th round of the Premier League, Manchester United defeated Leicester City 2-1 away, and Li Qingshan did not score in this game. Four days later, back on their home turf, United beat Watford by the same scoreline, with Li Qingshan scoring the winner.

After three consecutive league wins, United continue to maintain their slim advantage over Chelsea in the table, and Chelsea are also on a winning streak as the two sides remain level on points, with United leading on goal difference.

Manchester City, on the other hand, are a little behind, they were held to a draw at home to Stoke City, and are now five points away from the top two teams!!

It now looks like the Premier League title is likely to be between Chelsea and Manchester United.

However, Manchester City did not give up, because for Manchester City, they still have the opportunity to compete with Manchester United and Chelsea face to face, as long as they can win the opponent in a head-to-head match, Manchester City can still close the gap on the points.

What City have to do now is not to drop points against other opponents.....

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In February, the Champions League also returned in full swing, with 16 teams battling it out after qualifying from the group.

On February 16, Manchester United will take on Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain away!

For both sides, meeting such a strong opponent in the round of 16 is obviously something that neither side wants to see.

Paris Saint-Germain has always been a force to be reckoned with in French football, but before the Qatari consortium moved in, their golden age was only in the nineties.

In the 90s, the French radio station Canal+ bought Paris Saint-Germain and brought financial support. Throughout the 90s, Paris was filled with stars such as Alan Roche, David Ginola, Bernard Lamarr, Raize, Ricardo Gomez, George Weah and more.

In the 90s, Paris Saint-Germain won their second league title in Ligue 1 with a group of players such as George Weah, and also made a breakthrough in European competition - in the 1995-96 season, Paris Saint-Germain won the European Cup Winners' Cup, becoming the second French team to win the European championship since Marseille in the 1992-93 Champions League. In that edition of the European Cup Winners' Cup, Paris beat the likes of Celtic, Parma and Deportivo La Coruna all the way, and beat Rapid Vienna by one goal in the final.

However, in the 21st century, Paris Saint-Germain had problems in operation, and in 2003, Paris Saint-Germain had a serious financial crisis and had to sell Ronaldinho to Barcelona. In the 2003-04 season, the team reorganized the team and signed Pauletta, Juan Sorin, Daniel Ljuboa and others in hopes of reviving again, but it backfired, and the team finished runners-up in the league and only won the French Cup. After that, Paris Saint-Germain was gradually left behind by Lyon, Marseille and other teams in the arms race, and the players introduced by the team also appeared to be insufficient. The team did not achieve much success either, winning the French Cup once in 2005/06.

On 30 June 2011, Paris Saint-Germain underwent a major overhaul: the Qatar Sports Investment Fund bought a 70% stake in the club for around 50 million euros, of which 15 million to 20 million euros will be used to pay off the club's previous debts. At this point, the Qatari consortium became the largest shareholder of the club, and Paris Saint-Germain became the team of Middle Easterners. After becoming the largest shareholder of Paris Saint-Germain, the Qataris began to recruit. In the summer of 2011, Paris Saint-Germain spent 91.5 million euros to buy eight players, including Javier Pastore, Jeremy Mene, Mohamed Sissoko, Blaise Matuidi, Salvatore Sirigu, and Kevin Gameiro.

Last summer, Paris Saint-Germain announced that Unai Emery would become the manager of the team, and now Paris Saint-Germain is already the first luxury division in Ligue 1.

They have a large number of coveted superstar-caliber players, such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani, Verratti, Draxler, Lucas Jr., Matuidi!

Putting these players on any team would be the envy of the opposing manager.

There is no doubt that the money of the Qatari consortium has helped PSG build an absolutely luxurious team, but PSG, despite having won four consecutive Ligue 1 victories, have never been able to go further in the Champions League.

Paris Saint-Germain's best result in the Champions League is reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League last season, in fact, they have reached the quarterfinals for two consecutive seasons, but it has always been difficult for such a luxury division to break through in the Champions League.

The team's previous manager, Blanco, was also sacked by the team due to his poor performance in the Champions League. This season, Paris Saint-Germain welcomed a new manager, Unai Emery.

And the main reason why Paris Saint-Germain is interested in Emery is because of Emery's achievements in Europe!

Unai Emery has led Sevilla to three consecutive Europa League titles: 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016, and the Europa League has been won by Sevilla under the leadership of Unai Emery!

On the evening of June 22, 2016, Paris Saint-Germain announced the team's manager for next season through the official Twitter, and former Sevilla coach Unai Emery will be at the helm of the coaching of Grand Paris, and the two sides signed a contract until 2018.

And for Unai Emery, his team will face the most crucial challenge of the season, in the Champions League round of 16, they will face the defending champions Manchester United!