Chapter 25: I Want to Try

Although only eighteen minutes had passed, it was over for Ancelotti.

When United took the lead, they took control of the football in midfield with more ease, with Southampton's players struggling to do so.

In the eyes of fans and many commentators, the real killing of the game came in the 42nd minute of the game.

Juan Mata was tripped by Jose Fonte after winning the ball in the box and the referee awarded a decisive penalty.

Jose Fonte gasped and clutched his knees, his chest was heaving, and although the first half of the game was not over, Jose Fonte seemed to have been fished out of the water, and the rest of the Southampton players were not much better, they couldn't even raise the energy to protest with the referee - the Southampton players could not dominate the situation in the half.

Possession of the ball was 80 per cent for Manchester United and 20 per cent for Southampton.

In terms of shots, United had three of their twelve shots on goal, while Southampton had ..... in the first half Zero.

Manchester United made 320 passes with a 90 per cent success rate, while Southampton made just 111 passes with a power ...... Only sixty-eight percent.

Judging from the first half of the game, it was completely a comparison of the data at the crushing level.

Li Qingshan stood in front of the penalty spot, faced Fred Foster, and the penalty was accurately hit.

Two-to-!!

After the break, Southampton tried to fight back, but United quickly stabilized the situation, and in the 63rd minute, Juan Mata scored a cold shot in the box, 3-0!!

It was also the score at the end of the game, when three minutes of stoppage time passed and the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game. Manchester United beat Southampton 3-0 at home to make it two wins in a row in the Premier League!!

.......

With the end of the two Premier League rounds, and before the start of the third round of the Premier League, the top four teams from last season will of course be more concerned about the Champions League group stage draw.

Li Qingshan watched the entire UEFA draw in his small apartment.

According to UEFA rules, the round of 32 will be divided into 4 brackets of 8 teams each, and each group will have a team of different brackets. Among them, the top seven league champions in the UEFA points standings and last season's Champions League winners will automatically be seeded into Pot 1: Spain's Barcelona, England's Manchester United, Germany's Bayern Munich, Italy's Juventus, Portugal's Benfica, France's Paris Saint-Germain and Russia's CSKA Moscow. The remaining 24 teams will be placed in Pot 2 to 4 according to their respective UEFA points standings.

In the draw, teams from the same league will be automatically avoided in the group stage, except as usual. What is different this year and previous years is that due to the tensions between the two countries, the Russian and Ukrainian teams need to avoid it. Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv, who are in the group stage this season, will not be in the same group as Russian Premier League sides CSKA Moscow and Rostov-on-Don.

England's four teams in the Champions League are Manchester United, Leicester City, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Manchester United were placed in Pot 1 as last season's league champions, while Arsenal were placed in Pot 2, while Tottenham Hotspur's European points put them in Pot 3. As for Leicester City, they have been placed in Pot 4 due to their long-term absence from European competition.

Of course, Li Qingshan is more concerned about Manchester United's draw.

The first team drawn by Dutch legend Seedorf was Barcelona, who won last season's La Liga and were drawn in Group C. Subsequently, Seedorf drew the second team to be Manchester United, and the Red Devils entered Group G!

The third is Real Madrid, who have been drawn in Group F. Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich were then drawn and they were drawn to Group D. The fifth team to be drawn was Portuguese Super League champions Benfica, who were drawn in Group B. Immediately afterwards, CSKA Moscow, the Russian Premier League giants, were drawn and they were drawn into Group E. Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain were then drawn and they were placed in Group A. The last team to be drawn was the Serie A champions, who were in Group H.

The draw was conducted in an orderly manner under UEFA's sophisticated back-end calculations.

When all the teams in Pot 4 have been drawn, the draw for the group stage has been completed.

Manchester United have drawn Group G, in this group, the team in the second pot is the Portuguese Super League giants Porto, the third team is the team from Belgium, and the team in the fourth pot is the Danish giants Copenhagen!

When the draw results came out, Li Qingshan turned off the TV. For Li Qingshan, what he is most concerned about is, of course, the draw results of his team.

When the draw came out, all the media thought United had drawn a draw – a group in which United had all but secured a place at the top of the group, with the other three teams hardly posing much of a threat to the Reds.

Overall, though, as the defending champions, the group stage was quite easy for United.

.......

The schedule at the beginning of the season was not intensive, and the team continued to train in a step-by-step manner.

After a day's training, Li Qingshan stayed at the base for an extra hour of training as usual.

But with him today is Pogba.

Pogba placed the ball in a row almost 25 metres from the goal, with a row of dummies in front of him as a human wall.

He was training on a direct free-kick shot.

Li Qingshan watched with interest from the side, only to see Pogba kick the ball out one by one, some hit the human wall, and some missed, but more football was drilled into the goal from the dead corner.

Li Qingshan waited until Pogba's training was over and gave the Frenchman a round of applause.

"What does it feel like to win the Champions League, Lee!"

Pogba rearranged the ball and turned his head to ask.

"It's so cool!!"

Li Qingshan has won the Champions League twice, and Pogba.... Not once.

"Do you think we can win the Champions League this season?"

"Of course!"

Perhaps it was Li Qingshan's natural self-confidence that surprised Pogba, and he turned his head to look at Li Qingshan, a Chinese with a round head.

His face is full of confidence, this is an aura of absolute confidence in his own strength, an aura that belongs to a superstar.

Pogba looked at Li Qingshan, who exuded a superstar aura with some envy.

"After the Champions League was restructured, no team has defended the Champions League......"

"Then I want to try!"

Li Qingshan looked at Pogba, his face radiating light.