Before the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals, the situation in the Premier League changed abruptly, and Manchester United, who had occupied the standings for more than half a year, slipped to second place in the standings!

Gutter capsizes!

Instead of extending their lead in the league after being eliminated from the Champions League by Monaco, Manchester United drew with Newcastle United, who were still in danger of relegation, at Old Trafford, and Arsenal swept away local derby rivals Wimbledon 5-0 in Highbury to move one point above Manchester United to the top of the table.

With the last three rounds of the Premier League remaining, the championship situation has changed dramatically, and Manchester United has not only lost the initiative, but may not even be able to keep the runner-up!

In addition to Leeds United and Crystal Palace, Manchester United's opponents in the last three rounds also visited the Lions' Den Stadium to challenge Millwall, and the difference in goal difference between the two teams was only 2, Manchester United lead, but in points, Manchester United is 3 points ahead of Millwall.

Arsenal's last three opponents were Barnsley, Everton and Aston Villa.

Millwall are four points behind the leaders and three points behind second-placed Manchester United, and with only three rounds remaining, Aldridge has made a blunt announcement: the title has been defended!

Fleet Street found that the current situation is very similar to the last season's championship situation, except that the top three at that time were Newcastle United, Manchester United, Millwall, and now Arsenal has replaced Newcastle United, and like Newcastle United, with three rounds remaining, they still lead the standings, the only difference is that Arsenal no longer has to compete with direct competitors, but Manchester United and Millwall will have a meeting, obviously, Arsenal's probability of winning the championship is far greater than Newcastle United two years ago.

From August to April, the campaign continued. Millwall are completely relieved in the league. Although not being able to defend the title is a blow. But they have been chasing since September, and the psychological blow is certainly not as strong as Manchester United, and it is no secret that they are aiming for the Champions League, and no matter how hard Aldridge has been before, they have shown a posture to attack the Champions League. The league has been able to keep the pressure on the leaders and Fleet Street says it has been a very successful season for Millwall, at least with a trophy to be earned.

With the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals looming, the Millwall squad is unaware of the situation in the Premier League and are united on their journey to Monaco.

Monaco, Stade Louis II.

Aldridge came here with his team today, showing a very low-key posture before the game, even slightly pessimistic.

He stressed Monaco's home advantage, with Millwall failing to win the first leg and Gareth Southgate suspended. They have lost their chance to qualify for the finals.

This time, Aldridge didn't talk to Tigana before the game. The other party, as the owner here, came over to shake hands with Aldrich before the game, and then patted each other's arms and separated, and the two were actually not at peace in their hearts.

As a new generation of young coaches, whoever gets the ticket to the Champions League final after this game will be the pinnacle of his coaching career, and will undoubtedly make his fame and achievements reach a new height in European football and world football!

"The second leg of the Champions League semi-finals, Monaco at home against Millwall is about to begin, before this season, not many people would have guessed that one of these two teams will enter the Champions League final, Monaco has not played the Champions League for nearly ten years after the previous coach Arsene Wenger led the team to win the Ligue 1 title, but the new coach Tigana won the Ligue 1 crown last season, and this season set foot in the Champions League field of Monaco after many years of absence, from the group stage to the knockout round, all the way to the semi-finals, and in the first leg away 0: 0 drew with Millwall and now at their home stadium and the situation of reaching the final is very favourable for them. Millwall is led by the young coach Aldrich Hall, the club is competing in the Champions League for the first time in more than 100 years, he has also achieved brilliant results, winning all the group stage to shock Europe, and the double defeat of Barcelona is two classic games, the 1/4 finals relied on tenacious will to eliminate the favorite Juventus at the last moment, although they are not favored at the moment, but they must not be underestimated, in Turin, they have created miracles, in Monaco, what will they bring? We'll see! ”

Southgate, who was suspended for a suit and leather with his family, sat in the stands and watched the game for one game, and if the team progresses to the final, he will be able to play as long as there are no injuries.

Millwall's starting formation today is 4231, with two personnel changes.

Materazzi replaced Southgate as the starting central defender partner Elgra, in the past two league games, Aldridge specially let Elgra and Materazzi partner in the league, and consciously put the opponent to attack to test the tacit understanding between the two, the effect is not bad, Materazzi has been in the team for four years, has been steadily improving, and his brave and tenacious style of play, is also very suitable for the characteristics of the Premier League, his technical ability has reached the stereotyped stage, this season's league plus cup more than 25 appearances have won unanimous praise.

Another personnel change was Shevchenko on the bench and was replaced by Danish Goldwing Glen Char.

To play more conservatively today, Millwall needs some individual ability when attacking on the wing, especially the speed characteristics, and the two Nordic wingers of Larsson and Glen Schal are the most crucial points in the team's counter-attack.

The game started quickly, and Monaco took advantage of the home field to control the pace of the game first, playing unhurriedly and testing the opponent's form first.

Millwall, on the other hand, were less polite, and once they were successful in defending, they immediately moved forward with quick passes, and although the number of attackers was small, the attacking threat from the flanks was very intuitive.

Glen Charles and Larsson's dribbling line after getting the ball today was very clear: inward, inward, crazy inward!

Glen Charles is the team's dribbling king, he has created the highest average dribbles per game in the limited number of appearances in the Premier League, giving Larsson space to start, he is also very fast with the ball, but due to his role, he does not often pass, but runs to cut the ribs of the opponent's penalty area and threaten the opponent directly with the shot.

The two were deliberately told by Aldridge before the game today to take the ball and go inside, passing people. Just get past one defender of the opposing team. Don't pass people in a row. As long as you pass one person, you have to start watching clearly, and when the opponent has a second player to come up and intercept, the defense must be free, so you have to seek cooperation with your teammates.

In a static defence, Nedved was marked by the opposition two midfielders, and Trezeguet was also caught by the opposition two central defenders, but in a dynamic game. As long as the gap on the side is opened and the inside line is taken, the opponent will inevitably pay attention to the players with the ball, especially Larsson, if he appears in front of the penalty area with the ball and no one goes up to block it, then his long-range shot will penetrate his own door.

Monaco fans are more optimistic, they played a friendly match at the beginning of the season, Monaco played 4-4 away from home, and the first leg ended half a month ago. Monaco also took away the draw from away and today at home. The hope of winning the game is very high.

But they were wrong, very wrong.

The friendly game was negligible, and in the last game, Millwall was hit by the opponent after opening with a lethal counterattack that led to Southgate's red card, and Millwall naturally looked like no threat after playing one less player early.

But in this game, Monaco wants to win and settle the battle within 90 minutes, plus in their own home stadium, they must be more active than playing away in the previous leg, on the other hand, Millwall has set up a fence and relied on a small number of troops in the attack to attack the opponent's defense in a targeted manner.

Monaco played a positional battle to tear apart Millwall's defense, and they found that Millwall was a monolith, even if Henry, who made Southgate's red card in the last game, could not directly threaten the opponent's door in the winger position without sprinting space, in a sense, he was not the king of Highbury's Henry, not only in terms of technical experience and ability, but also in terms of kicking awareness!

The two teams went back and forth, 20 minutes of play passed, and neither one got a great chance, but little by little the situation was changing.

Aldridge watched the game with his chin in his pockets held high on the sidelines, and Monaco's defensive formation had fallen into a passive rhythm, and after suffering the impact of Glen Charles and Larsson cutting inside, their two full-backs began to gradually move closer to the middle, intending to compress the space for the two wingers to cut inside, but also to prepare for the block when their teammates were scrambling to block.

In the 28th minute of the game, Claude Makelle broke the ball and handed the ball to Pirlo, who passed the ball to Glen Char, who repeatedly cut inside and broke through so that Monaco had someone to mark him at the first time when he switched from attack to defense, but Glen Charles cleverly did not stop the ball this time, knocked the ball back to Pirlo, and then ran forward himself.

Pirlo also kicked the ball back to the left, Larsson broke forward with the ball, and at the same time a team-mate behind him was rushing forward at high speed, Larsson brushed past a defensive midfielder and passed the ball to Nedved, who ran out of the middle of the field.

Monaco contracted the central defense, Nedved controlled the ball and observed the situation, and then picked up a pass to the bottom area of the left side, and Capdevilla, who came up with the assist, unexpectedly rushed past the opponent's entire back line, and the entire Monaco back line was shocked.

Capdevilla controlled the ball and waited for the Monaco defence to move back, then knocked it back into the box before someone forced him to do so.

Pirlo appeared in that position, the position that sent chills down the spines of Juventus fans, and it was in this position that Pirlo killed Juventus!

Monaco also realized that Pirlo can't be allowed to play here, never!

The defence pressed out again for a moment, and between the receives and releases, there was a hole in their marking, and Pirlo calmly did not get his feet, but instead passed the ball past the Monaco defenders.

Trezeguet ran sideways on the left side of the six-yard penalty line and fired a shot from Andrea Pirlo in the face of a brilliant assist from Andrea Pirlo.

Monaco goalkeeper Barthez struggled to make a save, but his reaction was still a step slower, and the ball grazed the post and rolled into the goal!

"Trezeguet! Millwall opened the scoring away from home, the whole team scored a goal through a pleasing combination, the whole process is evocative, Pirlo's most calm pass is a masterstroke, everyone thought he would shoot from a distance, but he passed, and it was a pass when his teammates were not offside, Trezeguet's shot also showed the killer nature, he did not hesitate at all, with the inside of his foot to push, the ball speed is not particularly fast, but the angle is very tricky, rubbing the post and rolling into the Monaco goal! With Millwall leading 1-0 away, Monaco are in danger and they must now score two goals in the remaining time to progress, and when that goal comes in, it is impossible for extra-time to happen. (To be continued......)