Chapter 69: The curtain call day
"First championship!"
After Manchester City defeated Stoke City one-to-zero and won the unsurprising FA Cup championship, the Mirror used such a title to report the game, and the "first" prefix also foreshadowed people's expectations for Manchester City. Unlike the Mirror, since the next two championships will compete between the two Manchester teams, the local Manchester Evening News in Manchester did not exaggerate too much, but focused on Linson.
The first season is the league champion, the league cup champion, and the UEFA Cup champion.
The second season, the FA Cup champion...
An ellipsis only represents many possibilities. But for Lin Sen, this means that Lin Sen has won the Premier League "Grand Slam" in just two seasons. Of course, if it is not considered the Community Shield.
"For Manchester City fans, if Linson is called Ferguson of Manchester City, they will definitely not be happy, but this will not change Linson's position in the hearts of Manchester City fans, because it was this person who ended their 33-year history of no championship and won them the first Premier League championship in their history and the first Europa League championship. Now, they still have a chance to go further..."
Lin Sen didn't know that the media once again promoted him to heaven, but this was no surprise.
In England, the head coach will only be "remembered" by the media in two situations, when he is most proud, and when he is most unlucky.
Now, Lin Sen dare not be too proud. Although Manchester City has been away from the FA Cup, which is far more valuable than the League Cup. After the game, Lin Sen not only declined the originally few celebrations, but even asked the players to return to the training ground according to the normal training time the next day.
Of course, this time, even the happiest fans will not think that Lin Sen is disappointing, because Manchester City does not have time to celebrate, and winning the FA Cup is certainly a happy thing, but there are more important things in Manchester City next.
On May 18th, four days later, Manchester City will usher in the 37th round of the league. Then in four days, the Premier League will usher in the curtain call of this season, and finally, a week later. What is waiting for Manchester City is perhaps the most important game of the season: the Champions League final.
So, it’s not that Lin Sen is confused about the charm, but where does the time come from to celebrate?
The supplementary match four days later will determine whether Manchester City will hand over the league championship to their mortal enemies in the city in advance.
In fact, there have been two completely different opinions among Manchester City fans for this game, or the last two games in the next two games.
One is the rational one. They analyzed the schedule and situation of Manchester City next. They believed that Manchester City should give up the league, because even if Manchester City wins the last two league games, the initiative to win the championship is still in the hands of Manchester United. Instead of doing so, it is better to prepare for the Champions League final. Moreover, the red card against Barcelona has led to two important players in Manchester City who can only watch the Champions League finals at that time. Lin Sen happened to use these two games to "make up" this flaw.
It should be said that this view is exactly the idea that Lin Sen has been thinking about the most in recent days.
Whether it is the league or the Champions League, Manchester City faces Manchester United. The difference is that in the league, Manchester United is in the lead position, and in the Champions League, Manchester City is at least on the same starting line as the opponent. In this case, making appropriate trade-offs seems to be the wisest decision. But at the same time, Manchester City fans also have another opinion, which we call radical opinions.
They believe that no matter who the league champion is given to, they cannot be given to Manchester United. This seems irrational, but in fact, if Manchester City hand over the league champion to Manchester United, it is not only Manchester City that "rests" in advance, but Manchester United is the same. On the contrary, if Manchester City "chases" until the last moment, it will be a kind of pressure on Manchester United. Moreover, in the last round, Manchester City and Manchester United's opponents are qualitatively different.
Therefore, no matter which opinion it is, it cannot be completely said to be a dispute of intentions, and each has its own reasons.
But how to choose is Lin Sen's problem alone.
The people waiting for Linson to make a choice are not only Manchester City fans, but Manchester United coach Ferguson is also waiting.
The current situation, Manchester City's situation is basically the same as Manchester United's situation. If Manchester City give up the league, then in the Champions League final on May 29, the two teams may have sufficient ammunition to make the game more exciting, but if Manchester City wants to "resist" to the last moment, at most, everyone will see each other on the field with a bruised face.
Anyway, Manchester United's lineup is definitely a little bit more neat than Manchester City.
The time soon came May 18th, and Lin Sen gave the answer.
Facing his opponent Stoke City in the FA Cup final a few days ago, this time Manchester City did not let their opponents resist for so long. They gave a more perfect answer than the previous few days: three goals in home games! This may be the only game in history that made Manchester City and Manchester United fans care about the results of the game equally. In the end, countless Manchester City fans who had been in conflict for a long time were more and more looking forward to the final match, and countless Manchester United fans who stretched their necks to prepare for celebration had to suppress the urge to cheer.
Now, there is only one last round left in the league.
The gap between Manchester City and Manchester United is only one point left.
What is unknown is that when Manchester City scored its second goal in this game, Ferguson, who had almost become a Manchester City fan watching Manchester City games every day in the past week, turned off the TV again and muttered.
OK, since that's the case, then that's it.
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May 22, the curtain day of the 2010/2011 Premier League season.
In addition to the cruel relegation battle, thanks to Manchester City's victory in the last round of the game, the championship battle that did not end early is undoubtedly the biggest suspense.
In Martin Taylor's words, in the last game, whether it is Manchester City or Manchester United, fans who watch the game on the spot need to take their mobile phones to watch the game, because for Manchester City fans, whether this game is meaningful will completely depend on the result of another game. For Manchester United fans, if they cannot maintain the lead, then they can only count on Manchester City in another game not to lead.
Since it is the last round, all matches will be played at the same time.
In the two games between Manchester United and Manchester City, Martin Taylor chose Manchester United's game for live broadcast. On the one hand, this is because Manchester United is the initiative after all. As long as they do not make mistakes, the league champion will not be able to "escape" from Manchester United's palm. On the other hand, it is also because Manchester United is playing at home today, with the exciting field on the court and the stands even more exciting.
"Okay, referee Atkinson blew the whistle to start the game. This is the highlight of the last round of the Premier League in 2010/2011. Manchester United faces Blackpool at home. Before this game, the leader Manchester United temporarily led Manchester City, which is one point, that is, if Manchester United wants to hold the league championship trophy after the game in this game, they would better ensure that they can get three points. And their opponent Blackpool currently only has 39 points, ranking second to last in the league, but they still have a chance to relegate, because in front of them, Birmingham and Wigan scored with them, and Wolves only have one more point than them... Of course, they only have one premise for relegation, that is, to defeat Manchester United in front of them..."
The game began with cheers, and no one knew whether it would end with cheers. Interestingly, Martin Taylor had not even finished reading the starting list of both sides, and the situation had changed.
The time on the screen just jumped to the forty-first second, and the live footage of the game had already keenly captured the strangeness in the stands: a sudden commotion was heard somewhere in the stands at Old Trafford Stadium.
Then, before Martin Taylor could react, the director of the game had already divided the game screen into two, giving a clear view of the cause of the commotion of Manchester United fans.
The other half in the screen is Reebok Stadium.
At this time, the whole picture seemed to be shaking in cheers, and soon, a playback was given on the screen: Manchester City, which just started, had a long shot and scored the first record after several simple passes, and the game time was frozen in 35 seconds. Then, the picture changed, and a dramatic update appeared in the latest Premier League standings: Manchester City temporarily surpassed Manchester United with a two-point advantage to top the list.
"Oh oh oh... It's really hard to believe. Less than a minute before the game started, news of a goal had already been heard from another field. Manchester City was first recorded by Adriano. My God, thirty-five seconds? This is the fastest goal this season! Now, the burden is thrown to Manchester United, and their opponents are one step ahead..."
Inside the court.
Ferguson, who had been standing on the sidelines from the beginning of the game, didn't know what was going on, but he noticed the commotion in the stands, so it was not difficult for him to guess what was going on. At this moment, in this situation, the reaction of the fans' stands was the most direct weather vane. It was just...
Did Manchester City score a goal?
So fast?
Damn Bolton!
Ferguson cursed in his heart.
Admittedly, if Manchester City really scored, it was indeed the fastest goal this season, but it was not the fastest goal in Premier League history, nor the fastest goal in football history. So Ferguson would be surprised, but would never be surprised. Bolton made him a little annoyed.
Unlike Manchester United's opponent Blackpool, who needs to fight for his life, "snatch food from the tiger's mouth" to seize the last glimmer of hope of relegation, Manchester City's opponent Bolton has already arrived safely in the last round. Therefore, no matter how Ferguson "provoked" Bolton in the way he is best at before the game, it cannot change the fact that this game for Manchester City is of no practical significance to Bolton.
Therefore, no matter how annoyed you are, your destiny still needs to be changed by yourself. (To be continued, please search for Piaotianyi, novels are better, updated and faster!
Chapter completed!