20demayo Chapter 403
Chapter 403
This was the first time that Li Shiguang had the urge to send a player away immediately after buying him.
Fortunately, Allen knew Li Shiguang well enough.
After completing the formalities with Balotelli as quickly as possible, Allen immediately arranged for someone to buy a plane ticket, and then sent Balotelli to the airport as quickly as possible.
When Li Shiguang finished the morning training and went to the restaurant for lunch at noon, he had already missed Balotelli.
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The next morning, Li Shiguang led the team to Liverpool. In the evening, they had to face Liverpool away in the 20th round of the Premier League at Anfield.
As a direct confrontation between the BIG5 teams, the attention of this game should have been the highest in this round of the league.
Unfortunately, Liverpool's performance this season was a bit too bad. When they won Derby County and overtook Chelsea to enter the top four, the media were still praising Liverpool's recent state for finally stabilizing, but they didn't expect that only three days later, they tied with Manchester City, which ranked sixth, and fell to fifth place in the standings again.
So before the game started, the outside world was almost unanimously optimistic that Leeds United would be able to take all three points away from home and continue to lead the standings.
Regarding Liverpool's predicament.
Fans and the media don't know, but Li Shiguang has heard from Allen that Liverpool's current situation has something to do with himself.
To be honest.
David Moores is a very capable and genuine chairman who absolutely puts the interests of the club first. If he had more selfishness and controlled the club to make more money, the Moores family would not have been able to hold most of the shares of Liverpool Club for more than 50 years.
In fact, at the beginning of the new century, with the gradual development of the Premier League and the rapid growth of the entire football economy in England, Moores had already very forward-lookingly concluded that Liverpool must introduce external investment in order to better compete with Manchester United and Arsenal.
Before the "Istanbul Miracle", Moores had already tried to do this work and began to communicate and connect with external funds.
But the "Istanbul Miracle" slightly eased Liverpool's growing financial difficulties, which made Moores slow down. In his opinion, Liverpool, which has won the Champions League, is on the rise. Even if it wants to introduce external funds, it should look for the best.
If Li Shiguang hadn't appeared, Liverpool should have been sold to American businessmen Hicks and Gillett by Moores last season.
But the appearance of Li Shiguang changed everything.
After getting familiar with Li Shiguang, Moores' mentality gradually changed.
From his perspective.
Li Shiguang, a thirty-year-old boy with no experience and who only knew how to enjoy himself, was able to bring Leeds United, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, back to life in just over a year! At the same time, he was able to manage the business with his left hand and achieve results with his right hand. He not only made money, but also led Leeds United to win the Premier League championship and the Champions League quarterfinals.
What Li Shiguang can do.
There is no reason that I, who have been focusing on football for nearly 20 years, can't do it.
So the passion in the chest of Mr. Moores, who was already over 60 years old, was ignited, thinking that he must lead Liverpool to break the embarrassing situation of not having a Premier League championship before he retired.
Unfortunately, reality is cruel.
Who would have thought that a dignified Champions League champion team would be directly kicked out of the Champions League zone by the other four Premier League teams after one season?
Losing the benefits of the Champions League, Liverpool's summer signings naturally had big problems, and the unfavorable signings were most directly reflected in the new season's league.
The team's performance in the first half of the season was not satisfactory, which led to the team's management gradually complaining about Benítez.
But Benítez was also wronged.
I proposed a signing plan, you couldn't buy it, and in the end you blamed me for the problem of leading the team. Isn't this bullshit?
So in the past half of the season, in fact, the originally very friendly cooperative relationship between Benítez and Moores has gradually shown some cracks.
Especially after learning that Leeds United once again rejected Liverpool's offer for Torres the day before yesterday, Benítez was even more upset.
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Under this situation.
This game, which already had some strength gap, naturally had no suspense.
After the referee blew the whistle to start the game.
Withstood Liverpool's initial wave of attacks.
Leeds United gradually controlled the rhythm of the game with a strong midfield and began to show their strong offensive power at Anfield!
In the 17th minute.
Modric and Alonso completed a wonderful two-on-one match in the midfieldAfter shaking off Gerrard who rushed over to press, Alonso rushed straight into the Liverpool penalty area with the ball, and finally took the ball against Milner who came to defend him, and shot from about 25 meters away from the goal.
Seeing Alonso's heavy shot, Reina reacted immediately, moved sideways for two steps and then jumped into the air, stretching his body to the extreme, just touching the ball on the goal line, flicked it with his fingertips, and with the exclamation behind the goal, the ball hit the top of the crossbar and bounced out of the bottom line!
Although Liverpool escaped.
But this is just the beginning.
Alonso's powerful shot against his old club sounded the offensive horn of Leeds United in this game.
24th minute
Kaka broke through the middle and passed the ball to the right. Facing Fabio Aurelio's defense, Ribery did not choose to stop the ball before breaking through. Instead, he stepped on the ball with his left foot and quickly rolled forward when the ball rolled to his side. Then he exerted force with his feet and rushed to Aurelio's right.
Man and ball passed!
After dribbling into the penalty area, seeing Carragher and Reina rushing towards him, Ribery made a quick decision and swept the ball across the goal.
Adriano, who had been waiting for a long time, just touched the ball lightly and touched it into Liverpool's goal!
1:0!
Leeds United leads away!
After losing the ball, Liverpool tried to counterattack under the leadership of Gerrard, but they never broke through the Leeds United defense line that was severely criticized by Li Shiguang some time ago.
Instead, Leeds United seized a counterattack opportunity near the end of the first half.
Bale and Kaka used their speed to completely tear apart Liverpool's defense. After a simple three-foot pass, the ball was sent to Liverpool's penalty area, and then Kaka completed the final shot.
2:0!
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and continued the battle.
During the halftime break, Li Shiguang emphasized that in the second half, the offensive should be maintained and the opponent should not be given any breathing space. The requirement is to kill the game before the 70th minute!
Li Shiguang said so.
The players of Leeds United will naturally not slack off.
After the kick-off, Liverpool was pressed in their own half.
The 66th minute of the game.
Bale and Finnan went head-to-head on the wing, showing the Liverpool fans on the scene what real speed crushing is. When the Welsh supercar brought the ball to the bottom line and crossed it, Finnan behind him was at least three body lengths away from him.
In addition to Bale.
Adriano in the penalty area also showed his strength for the first time at Anfield.
Facing Bale's cross.
The Brazilian striker first used his body to force Carragher, who had been entangled with him, away, then jumped high and hit the football with his forehead.
The football was like a cannonball that burst out of the chest, without giving Reina any time to react, and directly hit the net behind him!
After this ball was scored.
The Anfield Stadium, which was originally a little noisy, fell into complete silence.
Whether it was the fans in the stands, Benítez on the sidelines, or the dejected Liverpool players standing on the field, they all knew it in their hearts.
This game has gone far...