Chapter 788
? At the end of the first round of the Premier League, except for Arsenal, other traditionally strong teams have won.
In the eyes of the media, this season's Premier League will only come from the three teams of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea. As for Arsenal, Liverpool and other teams, I am afraid there will be no possibility of winning the championship.
And the most promising, of course, is the defending champion Manchester City.
"Manchester City's lineup is stable, and it has also strengthened some positions this season. Their lineup depth and book strength are the best in the Premier League. Even in Europe, Manchester City's lineup is top!"
At the post-match press conference, Gao Bo did not pretend, when asked by the media about the league championship, he said: "We are the defending champions, and it is no secret that we are The goal is of course to continue to win the Premier League title, our strength can do this, we are the best team in the Premier League!"
Although many fans of other giant teams will be a little unconvinced by this, the championship is the last word, and Manchester City topped the table after the first round of the league.
Of course, the league is still very long, and it is impossible to decide the outcome in one round.
A week later, the second round of the league also followed.
Manchester City challenged Cardiff City away from home. At the Cardiff City Stadium, the bluebirds Cardiff did not cause too much trouble for Manchester City.
With Vardy's goal in the first half and Sanchez's goal in the second half, Manchester City easily defeated Cardiff City and won two consecutive league victories.
For Manchester City, there is also good news in this round that their direct title rivals Manchester United and Chelsea meet in this round.
Manchester United and Chelsea were 0-0 at Old Trafford, with neither side able to score.
As a result, Manchester United and Chelsea were each two points behind Manchester City from the start of the second round.
This round of the Premier League ended. On August 29, UEFA held the draw for the 2013-2014 UEFA Champions League group stage at the Grimaldi Conference Center in Monte Carlo.
The defending Champions League champions Manchester City are naturally the team in the first pot. They were drawn last in the first pot and were assigned to Group H.
In the end, Manchester City and AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic were assigned to the same group.
This is a very ordinary group, not a group of death, but the opponents of the group are not weak.
The media generally believe that Manchester City and AC Milan will qualify from the group, and the two teams will compete for the first place in Group H.
......
At the same time as the results of the draw ceremony came out, Manchester City also quickly took a plane to the Eastern European country Czech Republic.
The 2013 UEFA Super Cup was played at the Eden Stadium in the Czech Republic.
The two sides of the match are the Champions League champions Manchester City against the Europa League champions Benfica.
The European Super Cup is known as the "European King of Kings".
It's a race between two European champions.
Despite his current position, Gao Bo has won three European titles - one Europa League and two Champions Leagues.
But this is his first time participating in the European Super Cup.
And their opponent Benfica, which is Portugal's super giants.
They are the most successful club in Portugal in a hundred years. In their history, they have won the Portuguese football top league 32 times and the Portuguese Cup 27 times.
At the same time, they also won the Champions League twice.
But there is one statistic that may make Benfica fans very sad. Although they have two Champions League titles, their number of Champions League runners-up... as many as five! In addition to the Champions League runner-up, they also have a UEFA Cup runner-up.
In other words, Benfica has participated in eight European finals, but only twice won the championship. The probability is low and scary, and their two championships were all in the very distant 1960s. At that time, Benfica coach Bella Guraman led Benfica to defeat Barcelona and Real Madrid one after another. In 1961 and 1962, consecutive It won the Champions League in two years and became the first team in history to break the monopoly of Real Madrid for five consecutive championships.
And next, is the famous "Gutman's Curse".
After leading his team to defeat Real Madrid led by superstars such as Di Stefano and Puskas in the Champions League final in 1962, Gutman asked the Benfica board for a salary increase, but was rejected. Angrily, when leaving the team, the Hungarians issued a "vicious curse": "From now on, Benfica will not be able to win the European Championship in 100 years (Not in a hundred years fr no illBenfica ever in a European Cup)!"
No one expected that Gutman's vent was a prophecy. Since then, Benfica has reached the Champions League final 6 times and the UEFA Cup final once, but they have all lost! Manchester United a year later; in the 1990 Champions League final, although the legendary Benfica star Eusebio specially went to Gutman's grave (died in 1981) to pray before the game, the Portuguese team still lost 0-1 to the Rossoneri. In the 1983 UEFA Cup final, the "Eagle" lost 1-2 to Anderlecht.
In order to break Gutman's curse, the Benfica club sends people to visit the grave of the deceased Gutman every year.
And last season, when Benfica reached the Europa League final again, the most classic scene in the final was that Benfica fans pulled up a huge banner in the stadium: "Bella, it's been fifty years. , please forgive us..."
Perhaps the prayers of the Benfica fans did the trick.
In last season's Europa League final, Benfica defeated Basel on penalties and finally won the European Championship again after half a century!
When the game ended, many Benfica fans burst into tears.
At the first moment of winning the championship, the club also held a grand celebration. During the celebration, many people in the club also thanked Gutman for his forgiveness...
Of course, Benfica, who broke the curse, is naturally very excited, and they began to look forward to the team's glory in the next half century.
......
In this game, Gao Bo did not send all the main players to play. The starting forward was Vardy, Griezmann and David Silva also sat on the bench, Sanchez played on the right, Adam White played on the left, and the attacking midfielder played. It's Erickson.
The double midfielder has become Milner's partner Fernandinho, the center-back partner is Umtiti and Maguire, the left-back Sabaleta, the right-back Luke Shaw, and the goalkeeper is still Oblak.
Although this lineup can only be regarded as Manchester City's second-line lineup, the tactics developed by Gao Bo are still very proactive and aggressive tactics.
Of course he wants to win this title and complete his own club trophy Grand Slam.
At the beginning of the game, Manchester City quickly suppressed the opponent!
The first minute of the opening!
Umtiti made a long pass from the backcourt, Vardy headed the ball and rubbed back, Adam White accelerated and broke into the right rib of the penalty area! Powerful volley to score!
One to zero! ! !
Adam White was very excited after scoring the goal. At the Eden Stadium, Manchester City's players were running wild to celebrate!
Adam White rushed to the corner flag area and took a long kneeling slide, causing the Manchester City fans who came to the scene to cheer.
"Beautiful!! Adam White's volley in the box!! City have made a fantastic start!!"
"One to zero!!! Manchester City scored a goal after only one minute of the game! Benfica suffered a blowout!!!"
In the commentary, the commentators also applauded for Manchester City's goal.
However, Gao Bo on the sidelines seemed very calm, he was not too excited because of this goal,
This is because this is only a European Super Cup game, this game is not a very important game, and secondly, the opponent Benfica is actually not a very strong team.
Although the opponent is a giant of the European Super League and is also very famous in Europe, the level of the Portuguese Super League is lower than the five major leagues after all, and Benfica's economic strength is also difficult to support them to introduce too big players.
Now the Portuguese Super League has basically become a springboard league for mainstream European leagues. Many South American players land in Europe, and many will choose Portugal as a springboard.
Porto, the famous black shop in Europe, is not the team of the Portuguese Super League.
Gao Bo was right not to celebrate.
Because his team soon scored again!
In the ninth minute of the game, Fernandinho passed the ball forward!
Sanchez drove the ball straight in, accelerated the breakthrough and then crossed!
Vardy beat the defender at the back of the penalty area and shook his head to break the goal!
Two to zero! ! !
This goal almost completely dispelled Benfica's fighting spirit!
Start in less than ten minutes!
Two to zero! ! !
"Faced with Manchester City's second-tier lineup, Benfica still looks smashed. In just nine minutes, they conceded two goals! Although there are still more than 80 minutes of game time in this game, we can be sure that unless it is Miracle, otherwise it would have been predictable for Benfica to lose this game."
"The gap between us and the mainstream European leagues is getting bigger and bigger. The Portuguese league cannot be compared with the Premier League and La Liga at all. Even Benfica, which is extremely strong in the Portuguese Super League, is facing teams like Manchester City. At the same time, it seems to be powerless to fight back." The Portuguese commentator said with some frustration.
The game resumes soon.
Manchester City completely took the initiative!
They control the ball at their feet, mobilize opponents through constant passing, tear open the defense line many times, and create murderous intentions!
In the twelfth minute of the game, Adam White rushed into the penalty area after receiving a pass from Eriksen, and shot just wide of the goal with his right foot!
In the 16th minute of the game, Sanchez made a corner kick from the right, and Maguire headed the goal slightly over the crossbar!
Just one minute later, Milner's long-range shot from outside the penalty area, Benfica goalkeeper made a thrilling save and blocked the ball from the goal!
Benfica's defense was shattered by Manchester City.
In the first 20 minutes of the game, they did not have a shot, not a corner kick, and it became extremely difficult to even score within 30 meters of Manchester City's backcourt.
In the 28th minute of the game, Benfica finally had the first shot of the game.
Although it was only outside the penalty area and barely 30 meters away from the goal, it was a good start.
However, just like a child who was being beaten, Benfica was just about to fight back, but was slapped by Manchester City again.
In the 30th minute of the game, Eriksson made an arc with his right foot on the penalty area line!
With a strong rotation in the air, the football flew into the goal from the upper left corner of the goal!
Three to zero! !
Before the first half was over, Benfica was completely beaten.
The goal made the players on the Manchester City bench burst into laughter.
At this time, the camera was also given to the Manchester City players in the stands who failed to make the squad. Kaka was also sitting there. Although he was unable to play and had protective gear on his feet, the smile on his face was still very bright. .
"I really don't know what Florentino looks like when he sees Kaka now. Kaka's performance in Manchester City is completely different from that in Real Madrid. In the second half of last season, Kaka's performance was simply amazing. It's like a god, and his peak seasons are probably nothing more than this..."
Unfortunately, Florentino will not be here now.
....
In the face of Manchester City's tidal wave of attack, Benfica did not have a good solution.
They simply do not have the ability to withstand Manchester City's attack.
Manchester City did not score in the first half.
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again.
As a result, in the 68th minute of the game, Sanchez also scored!
He volleyed his right foot in the penalty area and smashed the ball into the goal, 4-0!
And this is not the final score.
In the 89th minute of the game, Manchester City scored another goal.
And Benfica did not score a single goal until the end of the game.
They can't even save face.
In the end, Manchester City beat Benfica 4-0 in the UEFA Super Cup to claim their first UEFA Super Cup title in the club's history.
After winning the title, Manchester City's players were as happy as if they had won the Champions League again.
They became the true king of European kings.
"The Champions of the European Super Cup - Manchester City!!" the commentator shouted!
"Manchester City this year is unstoppable! They won their fifth trophy of the year, they are five of the year, and in November and December they need to play in the Club World Cup, when they can even win The laurels of the next year's six crowns!!"
"Benfica, who broke the curse, didn't even have the ability to fight back in front of Manchester City. The game was completely controlled by Manchester City. Although the score of 4-0 was big enough, this score is still far from being able to reflect Manchester City. The advantage in the game!"
"This Manchester City team is so terrible now, I can't imagine what kind of team can beat Manchester City! Now imagine that in the Community Shield, Manchester United and Manchester City are fighting each other, and finally they can get a second The score of two fully shows what Guardiola has achieved at Manchester United. And what kind of achievements can Manchester City create this season? We will wait and see."