Chapter 212: Is Bayern Munich Going to Crash Again? Guardiola, What Are You Doing!?
"CSKA Moscow is very bold, they chose to attack Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, this choice might just work wonders!"
As He Wei's words fell, Manchester City scored.
Just three minutes into the game, Lin Quan broke into the penalty area and scored with his first shot.
He Wei looked a bit embarrassed; this turnaround was too fast, wasn't it? CSKA Moscow, couldn't you at least put up a fight?
Conceding a goal just at the start, this game was basically over!
Xu Yang on the side chuckled, saying, "It seems their choice wasn't very wise. It seems they haven't watched Manchester City's previous games before coming here."
"CSKA Moscow had no choice. If they still want to keep their hopes of advancing, they can only fight Manchester City to the end. If they lose this game, they can't expect to beat Bayern Munich in the next one, right?"
"Well, yes, facing both Manchester City and Bayern Munich, it's indeed a bit too difficult for the Russian Premier League champions!"
This is the tragedy of teams outside the top five leagues; they often get grouped with those top clubs from the big leagues.
Facing these top teams, their chances of winning are very slim.
At times like these, they can only fight with their backs against the wall!
Even after falling behind, CSKA Moscow didn't give up.
Their players continued to fight tenaciously, but in the face of absolute strength, their struggle seemed futile.
In the 20th minute, Aguero scored the second goal for Manchester City, further extending their lead.
Ten minutes later, Yaya Toure also scored, and Manchester City was already three goals ahead.
The pace of this game was very similar to their previous match against Norwich, and the goals came even earlier than in that game!
Seeing their team beating the Russian Premier League champions on their home turf, the Sky Blue fans at the stadium were ecstatic.
It was 3-0 in just thirty minutes; this game should be in the bag, right? And winning this game meant they would advance from the group with two rounds to spare!
After falling in the group stage for two consecutive years, they finally managed to break through!
It's really not easy!
In the box, Mansour also couldn't help but feel emotional.
Initially, when he spent a fortune to acquire Manchester City, he thought with his substantial financial resources, he could quickly dominate the football world.
However, reality quickly taught him a lesson!
Despite Manchester City's wealth, top players were unwilling to come to them.
They had to spend far more than the market price to buy some non-top-tier players.
This resulted in them wasting a lot of money.
Moreover, the players they initially bought, such as Robinho, were later proven to be unsuitable for the team's requirements or simply flops.
In the first three years after the Abu Dhabi consortium took over Manchester City, they spent a lot of money, but the improvement in results was slow.
It wasn't until the fourth year, with Aguero's last-minute goal, that they barely snatched a league championship trophy from Manchester United.
By then, Mansour's investment in Manchester City had already exceeded £1 billion!
If spending a certain amount of money could bring back championships, that would be acceptable.
But the team's two eliminations in the Champions League group stage made him realize that winning the Champions League wasn't something money alone could achieve.
He needed to buy the best players, match them with the best coaches, and then choose the tactics that best suited the team to have a chance.
And even then, it was only a chance!
There were too many strong teams in Europe, and football matches weren't just about the strength on paper; luck and form also played a role.
These were uncontrollable factors.
At times like this, the effect of spending money was not so ideal.
"I hope we can go further in the Champions League this year!"
Mansour didn't expect to win the championship all of a sudden this year; he was aware of his team's strength.
Manchester City didn't have the aura of champions; they needed to become a powerhouse in the Premier League first before they could have a chance at the Champions League.
This year, breaking through the group stage and achieving a historic breakthrough for the team would be enough.
If they could make it to the quarterfinals, that would be even better.
During this winter transfer window, he planned to continue buying some players.
Due to David Silva's injury, the organization work in the frontcourt had completely fallen on Lin Quan alone.
Although Lin Quan had done these tasks well, having him take on multiple roles would limit his attacking abilities.
While Messi and Ronaldo were racking up stats, Mansour didn't want Lin Quan to be hindered by the team's platform.
He hoped to provide Lin Quan with a better platform to fully unleash his potential.
So, he wanted to buy a better playmaker for Lin Quan, someone to deliver bullets to him and feed him goals.
As for the candidates, he had his eye on a few: Cesc Fabregas, who played for Barcelona; Luka Modric, who played for Real Madrid; and Kroos from Bayern Munich was also a backup option.
Among these three, Mansour prefers Fabregas the most because he has previously played in the Premier League and proved his worth.
Moreover, both he and Lin Quan are members of the Spanish national team, so their cooperation is more tacit and doesn't require much time to adjust.
In addition, Fabregas's main position at Barcelona is not stable, making him the easiest of the three to acquire.
If they could bring Fabregas to the Etihad Stadium, when David Silva returns from injury, Manchester City will have four Spanish players in the midfield and forward positions.
The attacking system organized by these four would be unstoppable, at least in the Premier League.
CSKA Moscow really showed some courage. Despite being three goals behind, not only did the team's morale not collapse, but they became more decisive and resolute.
In the last minute of the first half, taking advantage of Manchester City players' decreased attention, they launched a successful attack. Ivorian forward Dumbia scored a goal, making the score 3-1.
This goal didn't have much impact on the outcome of the game, but it had a significant impact on Manchester City's goal difference.
Pellegrini was very dissatisfied with this goal. He rarely got angry in the locker room, and his criticism was directed squarely at Fernandinho.
The Brazilian missed his defensive duties in the last minute and wasn't proactive in tracking back, which was the main reason for conceding the goal.
If Pellegrini had criticized him privately, Fernandinho might have admitted his mistake. But criticizing him in front of so many players made Fernandinho lose face.
So, he retorted a few words, which made Pellegrini even angrier. He felt that Fernandinho was challenging his authority, so he directly substituted Fernandinho and let Milner replace him.
Such substitutions are a big blow to players.
Usually, unless they are dissatisfied with their tactical arrangements or extremely dissatisfied with a player's performance, they will choose to substitute at halftime.
Initially, the outside world didn't know what was happening with Manchester City, but seeing Milner come on and maintain the first-half formation and tactics, they began to realize that the Chilean was dissatisfied with the Brazilian!
"What's going on with Manchester City? Why did they substitute so early?"
"I don't know. I didn't see Fernandinho on the bench for Manchester City. Could he be having a conflict with Pellegrini?"
"It's very possible. Let's go, we'll go outside the stadium and see if we can interview Fernandinho. Tomorrow's headlines will be ours if we can!"
Several sharp journalists, upon noticing the abnormality on the Manchester City side, didn't even bother watching the match and went straight out to find people.
...
Fernandinho's substitution didn't have much impact on Manchester City, but after Milner came on, his active running helped the team open up the game on the right flank.
In the 55th minute, Manchester City extended their lead once again.
Lin Quan dribbled on the left flank, and Aguero cooperated with him several times. Seeing that there was only one defender marking him, Aguero immediately started his run.
At this moment, Lin Quan was still relatively far from the goal, and Aguero's fancy run didn't attract much attention from CSKA Moscow's defense, with only one defender marking him.
Seeing the gap in the opponent's defense, Lin Quan sent out his signature 45-degree arc pass along the ground.
The ball, skimming the grass, flew in a beautiful arc on the ground, bypassing the opposing full-backs and landing at Aguero's feet.
"Great pass!"
Seeing Lin Quan's brilliant pass, He Wei in the commentary box couldn't help but shout, startling Xu Yang next to him.
"Here comes Lin Quan's signature 45-degree diagonal pass. When he was in the Bundesliga, he assisted his teammates with this kind of pass many times. Teams familiar with Lin Quan in the Premier League usually wouldn't give him such passing space, but CSKA Moscow doesn't seem to realize this, giving Lin Quan too much room to operate. This is a huge mistake!"
Aguero received Lin Quan's pass comfortably because the ball was so unexpected that the opposing defenders didn't think Lin Quan could bypass their entire defensive line.
As a result, there was no one around Aguero to disturb him!
Aguero didn't waste Lin Quan's brilliant pass. He poked the ball into the goal very easily before the goalkeeper could react.
After completing his brace, Aguero pointed at Lin Quan with his fingers and ran towards him.
Lin Quan thought the other party was going to hug him to celebrate, but to his surprise, Aguero ran up to him and made a gesture of worship.
"That's too much!"
After a moment of daze, Lin Quan pulled Aguero up.
"How did you make that pass just now? It was amazing!"
Aguero put his arm around Lin Quan's shoulder and asked curiously.
"It's just like taking a free kick, just keep the ball at a certain height from the ground!"
Lin Quan said it very simply, but Aguero felt it was very difficult after hearing it.
Among these three, Mansour prefers Fabregas the most because he has previously played in the Premier League and proved his worth.
Moreover, both he and Lin Quan are members of the Spanish national team, so their cooperation is more tacit and doesn't require much time to adjust.
In addition, Fabregas's main position at Barcelona is not stable, making him the easiest of the three to acquire.
If they could bring Fabregas to the Etihad Stadium, when David Silva returns from injury, Manchester City will have four Spanish players in the midfield and forward positions.
The attacking system organized by these four would be unstoppable, at least in the Premier League.
CSKA Moscow really showed some courage. Despite being three goals behind, not only did the team's morale not collapse, but they became more decisive and resolute.
In the last minute of the first half, taking advantage of Manchester City players' decreased attention, they launched a successful attack. Ivorian forward Dumbia scored a goal, making the score 3-1.
This goal didn't have much impact on the outcome of the game, but it had a significant impact on Manchester City's goal difference.
Pellegrini was very dissatisfied with this goal. He rarely got angry in the locker room, and his criticism was directed squarely at Fernandinho.
The Brazilian missed his defensive duties in the last minute and wasn't proactive in tracking back, which was the main reason for conceding the goal.
If Pellegrini had criticized him privately, Fernandinho might have admitted his mistake. But criticizing him in front of so many players made Fernandinho lose face.
So, he retorted a few words, which made Pellegrini even angrier. He felt that Fernandinho was challenging his authority, so he directly substituted Fernandinho and let Milner replace him.
Such substitutions are a big blow to players.
Usually, unless they are dissatisfied with their tactical arrangements or extremely dissatisfied with a player's performance, they will choose to substitute at halftime.
Initially, the outside world didn't know what was happening with Manchester City, but seeing Milner come on and maintain the first-half formation and tactics, they began to realize that the Chilean was dissatisfied with the Brazilian!
"What's going on with Manchester City? Why did they substitute so early?"
"I don't know. I didn't see Fernandinho on the bench for Manchester City. Could he be having a conflict with Pellegrini?"
"It's very possible. Let's go, we'll go outside the stadium and see if we can interview Fernandinho. Tomorrow's headlines will be ours if we can!"
Several sharp journalists, upon noticing the abnormality on the Manchester City side, didn't even bother watching the match and went straight out to find people.
...
Fernandinho's substitution didn't have much impact on Manchester City, but after Milner came on, his active running helped the team open up the game on the right flank.
In the 55th minute, Manchester City extended their lead once again.
Lin Quan dribbled on the left flank, and Aguero cooperated with him several times. Seeing that there was only one defender marking him, Aguero immediately started his run.
At this moment, Lin Quan was still relatively far from the goal, and Aguero's fancy run didn't attract much attention from CSKA Moscow's defense, with only one defender marking him.
Seeing the gap in the opponent's defense, Lin Quan sent out his signature 45-degree arc pass along the ground.
The ball, skimming the grass, flew in a beautiful arc on the ground, bypassing the opposing full-backs and landing at Aguero's feet.
"Great pass!"
Seeing Lin Quan's brilliant pass, He Wei in the commentary box couldn't help but shout, startling Xu Yang next to him.
"Here comes Lin Quan's signature 45-degree diagonal pass. When he was in the Bundesliga, he assisted his teammates with this kind of pass many times. Teams familiar with Lin Quan in the Premier League usually wouldn't give him such passing space, but CSKA Moscow doesn't seem to realize this, giving Lin Quan too much room to operate. This is a huge mistake!"
Aguero received Lin Quan's pass comfortably because the ball was so unexpected that the opposing defenders didn't think Lin Quan could bypass their entire defensive line.
As a result, there was no one around Aguero to disturb him!
Aguero didn't waste Lin Quan's brilliant pass. He poked the ball into the goal very easily before the goalkeeper could react.
After completing his brace, Aguero pointed at Lin Quan with his fingers and ran towards him.
Lin Quan thought the other party was going to hug him to celebrate, but to his surprise, Aguero ran up to him and made a gesture of worship.
"That's too much!"
After a moment of daze, Lin Quan pulled Aguero up.
"How did you make that pass just now? It was amazing!"
Aguero put his arm around Lin Quan's shoulder and asked curiously.
"It's just like taking a free kick, just keep the ball at a certain height from the ground!"
Lin Quan said it very simply, but Aguero felt it was very difficult after hearing it.
Mandzukic heard Boateng's words and subconsciously looked in his direction.
Boateng saw that Guardiola was already looking their way, so he quickly signaled to Mandzukic.
"Mario, go warm up, the team needs you!"
It was only at this moment that Mandzukic heard Guardiola calling his name.
Upon hearing the second half of that sentence, he quickly got up from the bench and took off his jacket, rushing to the sidelines to warm up!
Finally, he could get on the field!
It's only been 55 minutes, there's still time!
After sending Mandzukic to warm up, Guardiola called Martinez to warm up as well.
It seems like he intends to make two substitutions in one go.
Seeing Guardiola call two players to warm up from the bench, the Bayern players on the field felt a bit nervous.
Under Guardiola's management, except for Neuer, no one's position in the team is secure.
This guy loves to change formations. Under him, players' positions change so frequently that even the players themselves don't know where they'll be playing in the next match.
Four minutes later, the results of the substitutions came out.
Mandzukic came on, replacing the underperforming Thomas Muller.
Martinez came on, replacing the somewhat lost Kroos.
This substitution made the Bayern fans at the stadium very unhappy.
Muller and Kroos are both products of Bayern's youth academy. They've been with the team for many years and are beloved by Bayern fans.
Guardiola's decision to substitute them was not objected to, but specifically targeting Bayern's own youth academy players, that's something they have an issue with!
Mandzukic didn't care about all this. After shaking hands with the dejected Muller, he excitedly ran onto the field, not missing any chance to attack, running, pressing, and contesting fiercely in the frontcourt.
By this point, the game had already passed 60 minutes, and the Billson Victory players were already feeling exhausted under the siege of Bayern players.
And Mandzukic is the type of player who is physically strong, has plenty of stamina, and possesses a very strong mentality.
Playing as a center forward, his impact is much stronger than pseudo-center forwards like Thomas Muller!
Mandzukic's efforts soon paid off. In the 64th minute of the match, he outjumped the opposing defender in an aerial duel and headed the ball into the net.
Less than five minutes after coming on, Mandzukic scored a goal.
The commentators at the venue, Bayern fans, and many players on the field all felt that Guardiola's substitution was a stroke of genius.
However, Guardiola himself could only smile bitterly: his reform at Bayern had only succeeded halfway!
(End of this chapter)
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