Chapter 403: Double hat trick! The second best in history!
At halftime, Manchester United entered the locker room with a 1-0 lead at home.
Despite being ahead in all statistics, Roma could only rely on Rock's good personal ability to launch some attacks sporadically, but the score could not satisfy Manchester United's players.
After all, we still have an away game in Rome later. If we can widen the score today, we will be more confident later.
Ten Hag replaced Cesco with veteran Benzema, but this was only an adjustment from the perspective of tactical adaptation. He found that several midfielders and backcourt players of Roma were too familiar with Sesco. Although Sesco was also familiar with them, after all, two fists are no match for four hands. Under the targeted defense, the 20-year-old center forward, who had seen a lot of ups and downs, was unable to display his skills.
This is the turn of Benzema, who has won the Champions League five times.
While still maintaining a good physical condition, Benzema's experience and response when facing different types of defenses are absolutely top-notch.
In addition to his ability to score goals individually and his delicate ball-playing skills, he quickly revitalized Manchester United's frontcourt offense in the second half, adding another connecting point in front of Chen Xiaoliang.
In the 51st minute, Kva dribbled the ball forward from the left and was double-teamed by Cristante and Pellegrini, with Zalewski nearby ready to make backup.
Kwa had no choice but to pass the ball back to Luke Thomas behind him.
Chen Xiaoliang retreated to ask for the ball, Luke Thomas passed the ball horizontally. As soon as Chen Xiaoliang received the ball, Wijnaldum and Rock rushed up again one after another.
At this time, Benzema retreated from the front and reached out for the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang had already observed his movement and made a lob pass that flew over Wijnaldum's head.
Benzema did not stop the ball. He had just seen with his peripheral vision that Ito Hiroki was chasing after him. At this moment, he pushed the ball to his left side and the right side of the court with his right foot and passed the ball to Rashford.
Ito Hiroki jumped forward but caught nothing. Instead, Benzema turned around and ran back, shaking off Ito Hiroki, whose center of gravity was still moving forward, and came into the penalty area.
As soon as Rashford received the ball, he saw Benzema running into the penalty area in the opposite direction and immediately sent a straight pass diagonally.
Left-back Spinazzola no longer cared about Rashford at this time, and quickly rushed towards Benzema with Ito Hiroki who was chasing back.
That's Benzema, the winner of the Ballon d'Or two years ago. Leaving him alone in the penalty area is tantamount to giving away points.
Benzema rushed into the penalty area in just a few steps, but after all, he is old and his explosive power has obviously decreased. Although he has just shaken off Ito Hiroki, he was caught up by Xiaori who turned around and chased him.
He raised his left hand, holding Ito Hiroki while protecting the ball under his feet, while his head was looking back and forth to his left and right.
At this time, Rashford had moved to the right side outside the penalty area, while Chen Xiaoliang had quickly moved forward to the left penalty area line. Roma's defense line moved inward, and Cristante and Wijnaldum surrounded him, not daring to give Chen Xiaoliang too much space.
Chen Xiaoliang changed direction to the right and ran towards the middle of the penalty area. Benzema took the ball and turned around, passing the ball back from the right side of the penalty area and passed it in front of Chen Xiaoliang's running direction!
The ball was passed at the perfect time. Seeing that Chen Xiaoliang was about to touch the ball, Wijnaldum rushed to the ground and stretched his legs to tackle the ball!
But when it comes to the speed of ground tackles, the Dutch midfielder is no match for Chen Xiaoliang. In fact, Wijnaldum also thought that even if he couldn't touch the ball, it would be a good idea to temporarily block Chen Xiaoliang's route to shoot after he touched the ball.
As a result, Chen Xiaoliang fell to the ground, stretched out his legs, and used the outside of his right foot to gently push the ball out of the penalty area. A strong and tall player came from behind and appeared behind the ball!
Manchester United's new No.16 Milinkovic-Savic!
This number once belonged to Roy Keane and Michael Carrick. These two players, who have never been teammates, have won a total of 12 Premier League titles and 2 Champions League titles.
Now, this number has come to Milinkovic-Savic.
He swung his right foot back and did not choose to take a violent long shot towards the goal from 2 meters outside the penalty area. Instead, he used the outside of his right foot to kick a curved ball!
Zhan Jun: “Outside the restricted area!”
"Just push and shoot!"
“The ball goes in!”
"It was neat and tidy. After a series of passes in the frontcourt, Milinkovic-Savic helped Manchester United score another goal in the 52nd minute, leading Roma 2-0!"
Zhang Lu: "The ball went from Kva's feet on the left to Rashford's feet on the right, then to Chen Xiaoliang's feet on the left side of the penalty area arc, and then to Milinkovic's feet on the right side of the penalty area arc. Benzema, who was in the middle, played an indispensable role. Although he had nothing to do with the goal and assist, he relied on counter-running, back-insertion to tear open the defense, and then made key assists. Without him, this ball would not have been scored."
Zhan Jun: "Having an old person in the family is like having a treasure!"
"Manchester United actually had this tradition in the past, from Bryan Robson in the 1992 era, to Keane and Van der Sar in the era of Ronaldo and Rooney, to Scholes and Giggs in the era of Rashford, and even Rooney and Carrick became veterans. In the succession of Manchester United's lineups, veterans have played an important role in mentoring and guiding the team!"
"But now, after 10 years without winning the Premier League title, all the pillars of Manchester United who carried the glory have retired. Now the only one who played in the team during Ferguson's time is Spanish goalkeeper De Gea."
"But Benzema's arrival, at least at the Champions League level, has provided great help to young teammates!"
After Milinkovic-Savic scored the goal, his teammates celebrated happily. For him, the so many years in Lazio more or less consumed his inner desire for the championship.
He joined Lazio in the summer of 2015 and in eight seasons, he only won one Coppa Italia and two Italian Super Cups, which can hardly be called an outstanding achievement.
He will be 29 in 12 days and knows that the golden age of his career has entered the countdown, so he informed Lazio in advance that he would not renew his contract. He wanted to leave Serie A and look for an opportunity to win the championship.
Over the years, despite his high value and considerable fame, he has never been bought by a wealthy club. In addition to the price, the main reason is due to his own playing style.
First of all, he is not fast, which means he likes to get to the front line of attack. He cannot rely on himself to break through the defense. He needs to use smart off-ball running and the cooperation of good midfield passers to do so.
But the problem is, he himself is a midfielder.
The major giants in European football today have no shortage of excellent scorers that can be purchased, but what they lack are super passers like De Bruyne and Modric. It is for this reason that Ten Hag once pursued his former player Frenkie de Jong desperately.
A midfielder also needs other midfielders to pass the ball, which deviates from the needs of the top clubs.
Another point is that, despite his strong physique and tall stature, his defensive ability is not bad, and he also has excellent header ability, but he is still limited by his speed. When facing flexible and fast players, especially when facing explosive counterattacks that are common in the Premier League, his defensive effectiveness will be greatly reduced.
In some ways, he is actually somewhat similar to Casemiro.
Regardless of who will gain or lose in the end, from the perspective that Real Madrid can sell Casemiro in the ceremonial midfielder but still keep Kroos and Modric, it can be seen that a strong waist is relatively easier to find, but a passing master is hard to come by.
And Milinkovic-Savic can hardly be called a master in passing the ball.
This led to the fact that he, an all-round midfielder who is good at everything, has been linked with top clubs every year, but has always played for Lazio, which is not even a top team in Serie A.
But Manchester United is different now.
Want to organize an attack? There is Chen Xiaoliang.
Want to score? There is Chen Xiaoliang.
Want to press high? There is Chen Xiaoliang.
Want to retreat to defend? There is also Chen Xiaoliang.
But there is only one Chen Xiaoliang. Gerrard put him as a defensive midfielder since he had not developed his offensive ability. Mourinho put him in the middle of the midfield since he was good at both offense and defense. Now Ten Hag has made him more responsible for offense and final pass since he has great offensive ability. This has also led to the explosive growth of his personal data this season.
But under such an arrangement, you can no longer ask Chen Xiaoliang to retreat to the penalty area in every defense, although he has been trying his best to do so.
On the other hand, Casemiro's defense in the defensive midfielder position is too important to the team, but even though he has outstanding physical fitness, the burden of 51 appearances and 42 starts last season is indeed a bit heavy.
Manchester United needs a player similar to him, who can protect the area behind Chen Xiaoliang in strong dialogues, allowing the core of the team to fully participate in offense and defense in the frontcourt without any worries, and can also rotate with Casemiro in general regular games to extend the career life of this Brazilian midfielder who will be 32 years old in 8 days.
Fred, McTominay, B Fee and Eriksen do not meet this requirement, so for Manchester United, Milinkovic-Savic has become the best choice.
Come when called, fight when come, and win when fight.
Although he had scored a goal in the League Cup before, this time scoring a goal in the knockout round of the Champions League ignited the long-lost passion and fighting spirit in Milinkovic's heart. He ran to the sidelines, pinched the team logo on his chest with his right hand and kissed it continuously, and shouted to the Manchester United fans in the stands with a flushed face.
Although Roma fans felt a little sad because of conceding another goal, they still felt secretly happy when they thought that Milinkovic-Savic came from Lazio and that Manchester United bought Lazio's top star and reduced the strength .
In the 74th minute, Ten Hag replaced Casemiro with B Fee, Kwa with Ganacho, and Rashford with Anthony, indicating that the strategic goal of this game had been achieved.
2-0, although not a big victory, it was a bloodless victory without any unnecessary losses.
The UEFA Champions League officially awarded the best player of the match to Milinkovic-Savic, who scored a goal, had four successful aerial duels, two steals, two interceptions and two clearances.
With a goal and an assist, Chen Xiaoliang gained 9 skill points (42→51) and 4 breakthrough points (65→69).
In the first leg of the other 16 knockout matches, Real Madrid lost 1-2 to Manchester City at home, and the odds that Nagelsmann will be fired midway through the season continue to rise;
Paris Saint-Germain beat RB Leipzig 3-0 at home and has one foot in the quarterfinals;
Bayern tied with Barcelona 2-2 at home;
Arsenal beat Real Sociedad 3-0 at home;
Newcastle played against Inter Milan away at San Siro, and the two sides drew, and the game ended in a 0-0 draw;
Juventus' home game against Benfica and Napoli's home game against Atletico Madrid both ended in a 1-1 draw.
Manchester United's next match will start on March 3.
The next day, February 16, Chen Xiaoliang and his teammates started a rare "leisure" time.
The Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup will not start until March, which means that there will only be one league game per week in the remaining two weeks of February. This is of great significance for the team's physical reserves in the second half of the season and for the integration of new players into the team through a combination of actual combat and training.
Two days later, on February 18, Manchester United continued to play against newly promoted Burnley at home.
Burnley, who have lost 16 games in 24 rounds and are at the bottom of the league with 16 points, has a goal difference of minus 31. Although they spent 50 million pounds to buy three new players from Ligue 1 and La Liga in the winter window, it is easy to imagine that players with real strength and potential would not be willing to join a team that is likely to be relegated at the end of the season in the winter window.
Former Manchester City captain Kompany, who was in a dilemma, led his team to suffer ridicule and abuse for a full 95 minutes at Old Trafford. Almost everyone in the audience had a frown on their brows, as if they were carrying a huge burden in their hearts.
In the 14th minute, Anthony cut in from the left and shot. The ball went wide of the post and hit the face of Welsh defender Connor Roberts and bounced into the goal, which was an own goal, 1-0.
Chen Xiaoliang then took over the game.
First, in the 22nd minute, after receiving a corner kick from B Fee on the left side and a series of headers in front of the goal, he moved forward smartly and shot the ball into the net at the back point, making it 2-0.
In the 27th minute, after the opponent's goalkeeper Muric passed the goal kick to defender Bayer, he suddenly rushed forward to intercept the ball, then dribbled a few steps to the middle to attract the attention of the defense, and passed the ball to Rashford, who played as the center forward in this game, who easily lobbed the ball into the net, making it 3-0.
In the 40th minute, facing Burnley who had collapsed in mentality, Chen Xiaoliang asked Kva to gently push the ball to the right 2 meters to the left outside the penalty area and about 25 meters away from the goal, and then he shot a curved ball. Goalkeeper Muric had no reaction and the score was rewritten to 4-0.
After the half-time break, Kva and Casemiro both left the field, and Ten Hag began a large-scale training session.
He originally wanted to replace Chen Xiaoliang as well to let him have enough rest, but Chen Xiaoliang insisted on playing for a while longer.
Ten Hag thought that Chen Xiaoliang, who had already scored two goals, wanted to get a hat trick, so he agreed to let him play for another 20 minutes and replaced him in the 65th minute.
But Chen Xiaoliang knew in his heart but couldn't say it out loud. His physical strength didn't need to be rotated at all. Playing longer on the field and getting more data could help him get points faster and continue to improve.
What's more, two goals were scored in the first half, and the BUFF of God's Descent to Earth was triggered, and all technical attributes were +1 until the end of the game.
He thought, if this were in a lawn mowing game or a football novel, it would be like starting a state of unparalleled chaos.
So, in the 52nd minute, he broke through the wing and made a back pass at the right bottom line, helping B Fee who was at the back post to score a goal. Then 5 minutes later, he made a cross from the right and assisted Rashford to score another goal.
After the celebration, it was already the 59th minute. Ten Hag looked at the watch and thought it was almost time, the score was already 6-0, so there was no need to wait until the 65th minute to make a substitution.
He asked assistant coach van der Gag to notify the fourth official, but McLaren stopped them both.
McClaren: "Eric (ten Hag), you have to wait, you can't replace him now."
Ten Hahe was a little confused: "Why?"
McLaren pointed to the large electronic screen and said, "Look at the technical statistics."
Ten Hag didn't understand yet and said, "Isn't it just a hat trick?" But Van der Gag on the side suddenly realized: "Eric, he has already made three assists in this game!"
Ten Hahe was stunned for a moment, then thought about it carefully and realized it was true. He immediately blurted out, "Fuck! This monster..."
Immersed in tactical execution, Ten Hag did not care too much about the data, but Henry in the Sky Sports live broadcast room had already raised his chin and remained silent!
A hat trick is not easy, and an assist hat trick is even more difficult, not to mention scoring a goal, assisting a hat trick, and getting two hat tricks in a single game. That is simply unbelievable and extremely rare.
In the history of the Premier League, Henry did it in the 2005-06 season when Arsenal beat Middlesbrough 7-0, and no one else has done it since.
Among the active players, Suarez completed a super double-hat with 4 goals and 3 assists against Deportivo La Coruna in the 2015-16 season when he was at Barcelona. The other is Werner in the 2019-20 season, who also achieved the same when he represented Leipzig in an 8-0 victory over Mainz.
If Chen Xiaoliang can do this in this game, he will add another record to the record list of the Premier League and even European football. What's more, even the strong players like Messi and Ronaldo have never done this.
At this point, Henry was hoping that Ten Hag would quickly replace Chen Xiaoliang so that he could continue to enjoy this honor alone. However, Ten Hag also knew that replacing the core player of the team who was in great form at this time seemed somewhat "inconsiderate".
Fortunately, no one had to wait too long.
In the 71st minute, Chen Xiaoliang made a straight pass to Anthony who slipped into the penalty area from the right bottom line. Burnley defender Bayer stepped forward and fell to the ground to make a tackle, trying to clear the ball.
Anthony suddenly came to his senses and stretched out his leg to touch the ball, causing the ball to change direction slightly, causing Bayer, who did not have time to retract his leg, to kick his foot.
With such high-speed contact, Anthony was bound to be tripped, and the referee decisively awarded a penalty kick.
Anthony stood up and rubbed his sore feet, then looked up and said to Chen Xiaoliang with a smile: "Captain, go!"
B Fee beside him also pushed Chen Xiaoliang: "It must go in!"
Chen Xiaoliang placed the ball on the penalty spot and took a deep breath.
"Beep!" The referee Simon Hooper blew the whistle and Chen Xiaoliang started his run-up!
Step out with the right foot first, one step, two steps, three steps, four steps, step on the ground with the left foot, and swing the right foot back suddenly!
Burnley goalkeeper Muric, whose face had been shattered, flew to the right, trying to save the ball and save his already lost face.
But unexpectedly, not only did he fail to avenge the previous shame, but he added insult to injury.
Chen Xiaoliang seemed to be exerting force, but in fact he made it look like a piece of cake. When his foot landed, he gently pushed the inner instep forward and made a low shot in the middle!
"yeah!"
The fans in the stadium were shouting wildly, and Ferdinand in the live broadcast room was also celebrating. Only Henry was left with his hands on his head expressing disbelief. After a long sigh, he finally gave Chen Xiaoliang a round of applause.
The French legend realized that it was only a matter of time and inevitable that Chen Xiaoliang would break his previous records one by one.
This time, Ten Hag finally substituted him, but this was not for a rest, but to let him leave the field alone and accept the worship of all the fans at Old Trafford.
Chen Xiaoliang knew that if he continued playing, he might be able to make a breakthrough, but he was already very satisfied with what he had achieved so far.
29 goals, 18 assists, he will break more and more records in the foreseeable remaining games of the season.
After the game, Chen Xiaoliang asked for the game ball, but he did not take it away. Instead, he signed it and gave it to a red elementary school player named Hu who was specially invited to watch the game on the sidelines.
He never had the habit of collecting match balls to commemorate hat tricks. Whether the ball was there or not, the record was there. After the record was set, the goal immediately became to create a new record.
As for inviting the young players from the Reds, it was something he had discussed with Van der Sar until that evening. His Reds youth training camp, based on its cooperation with Rangers, also officially began to cooperate with Manchester United's youth training academy.
However, these players are not contracted by Manchester United, thus circumventing the FA's restriction that clubs are not allowed to sign non-British and EU players under the age of 18.
The team owner Jassim strongly agreed with this and Van der Sar also thought it was a good idea.
Jasim, who worships Chen Xiaoliang to the point of doing whatever he says and even forgetting that he is the owner of the club, is a crazy Manchester United fan. His Class of 1992 Foundation is named after the Class of 1992.
He hopes that Chen Xiaoliang can train the next Class 92 for Manchester United. What is even more exciting is that unlike the Class 92 who all come from the UK, he hopes that the future "X2" class will be composed of players from all over the world.
However, to be honest, the Dutch legendary goalkeeper and current Manchester United CEO did not consider it from a competitive perspective. For Manchester United, the most commercially successful club in football, after Chen Xiaoliang became famous all over the world, it was of utmost importance to use all factors in the football field to seize and expand the Asian market, where they were already far ahead of all other clubs.
Of course, if we could cultivate another Chen Xiaoliang, I would be so happy that I couldn’t stop smiling.
