The game started quickly and Guardiola, who was sitting in the stands, shouted at the field, but it was of no avail.
The substitutes' bench at Old Trafford is located below the South Stand "Sir Bobby Charlton Stand", opposite the North Stand "Sir Alex Ferguson Stand". After Ten Hag came to the team, he changed the positions of the home and away team's substitutes' benches. The home team's substitutes' bench came to the west of the center line, closer to the West Stand "Stretford Stand", where Manchester United diehards gather.
Stretford is an area of ​​Greater Manchester, within the Borough of Trafford, hence the name of the West Stand.
The East Stand, which is a stand specifically for disabled fans and visiting team fans, has an electronic scoreboard right above it, so it is also called the "scoreboard stand."
Although the visiting team's bench where Guardiola was sitting was not too far from the East Stand, the Manchester City fans sitting there were completely unable to support their head coach. Guardiola, who was surrounded by communications personnel and security guards, was surrounded by Manchester United fans, and his shouts could not be heard on the court at all.
Another goal was lost in a counterattack, which annoyed Guardiola, who pursues perfection.
In his career, he has encountered many challenges. When he first took over as coach at Barcelona, ​​he encountered Manchester United, who had met twice in the Champions League final, Real Madrid with Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, Chelsea with a tough Champions League schedule, and Mourinho's triple crown kingdom Milan, but every time Guardiola led Barcelona to survive.
After being criticized for failing to make a breakthrough in the Champions League as Bayern Munich coach, he came to Manchester City and dominated the fiercely competitive Premier League, which still earned him immense praise from the outside world.
There are even many fans who have hailed him as the greatest head coach of all time.
However, over the past six months, looking at Manchester United, which could not be shaken off or defeated in the standings, and thinking of the magical scene of last year's Champions League final, he himself realized that the dominance of Manchester City, which he had painstakingly built up, might be broken by this red Chinese.
He kept talking to the communications staff beside him, who passed his meaning to the staff on the bench, who then showed it to assistant coach Carlos Vicens, who then gave a speech to the players on the sidelines.
The effect of this lecture was as bad as it could be, especially since it happened on the road.
One goal ahead, Manchester United fans have already started singing:
"Manchester's sky is always red"
The only response from Manchester City fans is "In the past 10 years, we have won 6 Premier League titles, and how many have you won? 0!"
However, fans are forgetful and stubborn. As long as you are strong now, no one will talk to you about the past.
On the field, Manchester United continued to maintain a situation where they did not have the upper hand in ball possession but had the upper hand in attack.
In the 8th minute, Chen Xiaoliang received a long pass from Timber outside the penalty area and knocked down the Croatian midfielder in a header competition with Kovacic. Then he took the ball and took a few steps forward. He took a long shot before Rodri and Grealish came over to form a double team. The ball was blocked by Ederson at the left post and went out of the bottom line. Manchester United got another corner kick.
After getting up, Ederson immediately spread his hands and complained to his teammates in the midfield. No matter how tricky the angle of Chen Xiaoliang's powerful shot was, it was difficult for him to catch the ball directly with both hands because the arc was very erratic. If he blocked the ball directly from the front, if he was unlucky, he would block in front of a Manchester United player and be easily shot. Therefore, he could only block to the left and right sides.
When Guardiola saw that Manchester United had given another corner kick, his anger increased to another level. He stood up and yelled at the midfield and the wing. The Manchester United fans nearby immediately started to make a noise, and when they saw the camera sweeping over them on the big screen, they either laughed or booed Guardiola, instantly drowning out his shouting.
Although Grealish and Kovacic on the field couldn't hear what the head coach said at all, they knew that he was dissatisfied with them.
As two mature championship-level players, they immediately turned their heads away and did not meet Guardiola's eyes.
Manchester United took a corner kick and Chen Xiaoliang was still lagging behind.
Kva drove the ball towards the back of the penalty area, Lindelof's arm and Akanji 's arm were entangled together, and they both fell to the ground at the same time. The ball could not be headed and flew directly out of the baseline.
"Foul!"
Fans of Manchester United and Manchester City in the stands shouted at the same time, but they wanted to express different demands.
The players also surrounded the referee. Manchester United asked for a penalty, while Manchester City asked the referee to give Lindelof a yellow card for diving.
The referee of this match, Greek referee Sidiropoulos, ignored the simultaneous requests from both sides for fouls on the other side and directly signaled Ederson to take the goal kick.
Ederson made a direct long pass to De Bruyne, who advanced for some distance and wanted to make a long pass directly to Haaland who was looking for the ball with his back to the goal, but Chen Xiaoliang's return defense and Tinbell formed a double-team, one harassing Haaland to prevent him from exerting force, and the other jumping to compete for the header and directly blocked the ball.
Manchester City lost the ball again.
Basically in the first 20 minutes, Manchester City couldn't control the ball and attack slowly, nor could they counterattack and attack quickly. They became more and more anxious as the game went on, and completely lost the confidence and self-confidence of the Premier League champions.
The term psychological baggage often appears in sports events, but it is an abstract thing that no one can really see, but it does exist.
At this moment, Manchester City players are carrying a huge psychological burden.
In terms of odds, they are leading, in terms of record, they are undefeated, and in terms of performance in the past few years, they have overwhelmingly surpassed Manchester United. The Champions League trophy is the ultimate honor that the entire club is eager to pursue.
Guardiola's tactical philosophy of short pass penetration and off-ball running requires the most inspiration and creativity. Under such tense circumstances, it is only natural that the players on the field become out of line.
Manchester United continued their offensive.
In the 23rd minute, Livakovic jumped up and caught De Bruyne's corner kick, and he launched a counterattack with a hand-thrown ball again.
In order to stop Dalot on the right from receiving the ball and passing it to Chen Xiaoliang who was running forward in the middle, Grealish, who was chasing back, stretched out his legs and tripped the Portuguese right-back, and took the initiative to ask the referee for a yellow card.
Looking at the embarrassment in the midfield and backcourt, Haaland, who was at the front, felt a little helpless.
However, this striker, who has always been an optimistic person, was not as anxious as his teammates. Instead, he kept clapping and shouting to encourage them, even if the pass to him did not reach the target or was intercepted by the opponent.
As the first half was coming to an end, in the 44th minute, Manchester United got another corner kick. This was their sixth corner kick opportunity in the half.
This time Chen Xiaoliang stepped forward and stood outside the penalty area. Haaland also retreated to the outside of his own penalty area, staring at Chen Xiaoliang.
Kvart took a tactical corner kick and passed it to Dalot who was on the side, and Dalot took the ball back to the bottom line.
This retreat and move made the offside line, which had just retreated a little in the penalty area, move forward again, and also gave the Manchester United players who were preparing to head the ball the opportunity to reposition themselves and get rid of the defense.
Chen Xiaoliang swung his left hand downward forcefully, knocking away Haaland's right hand that was grabbing his left arm, then rushed to the right ribs, and Haaland immediately caught up.
However, this striker, who has scored 46 goals in the league, 8 goals in the Champions League and 4 goals in other cup competitions this season, a total of 58 goals, has quite limited defensive abilities.
Chen Xiaoliang rushed to the right corner of the penalty area. Dalot turned his back to Grealish who ran out to defend him and passed the ball back to Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang kept receiving the ball and made a direct cross, but the ball was out of the way before Haaland stretched out his left leg to intercept it.
In the middle, Cesco jumped up! Rodri and Stones jumped up with him!
But the ball passed over the heads of the three people!
It's a feint!
Lou Yichen: "Come to the back point!"
"Header!"
“Good shot!”
"Swedish central defender! Lindelof scored his first goal in the Champions League this season!"
“A goal worth a thousand gold!”
"In this game, he, who had not started for a long time, was entrusted with an important task by Ten Hag. He served as the central defender in the defensive three-man defense, mainly marking Haaland. Unexpectedly, he not only played steadily in defense, but also had unexpected gains in offense!"
Liu Yue: "The score was pulled to 2-0, and it was difficult for Manchester City to play now. The key was that the head coach could not give real-time instructions on the sidelines."
"The old problems from last season have not been solved this year. This Manchester City team can be said to be the strongest team in today's football. But the method used by Ten Hag now is the same as the method used by Mourinho in Rome last season, which is two weapons, set pieces and counterattacks. These two weapons are the most effective weapons for Guardiola's style of team."
"After all, no matter how much you control the ball or how accurate your pass is, it has nothing to do with whether you can win the ball in the air. Whether it's B Silva, De Bruyne or Kovacic, these excellent midfielders can't contribute at all in air defense."
Xie Hui: "Guardiola is still a coach who pursues idealism. In fact, a player like Kevin Phillips can fully play the role of an engineer midfielder in a game like today, but Guardiola felt that he could not fit in. Not only did he sell him, but he also did not start Bellingham tonight and chose Kovacic instead."
"The idea may be good, in order to control the ball, but once Manchester United rushes and jumps, the shortcomings will be infinitely magnified."
Lou Yichen: "Coach Xie Hui, if you were the coach of Manchester City, what would you change?"
Xie Hui: "I think Manchester City should return to their original and best form, which is to control the ball and press the opponent."
"Of course it's easy for us as spectators to say it. Guardiola is definitely the one who knows the team's situation best. Let's see if there will be any good adjustments during the halftime break."
During the half-time break, the players of both sides had different expressions. Manchester United's players were relaxed and joking with each other, while Manchester City's players had serious expressions. Ederson and Dias kept complaining to Rodri and Kovacic, saying that the midfield had no toughness and no interception, and the defense was all left to the defenders and goalkeeper.
Chen Xiaoliang didn't care about them, his attention was always on Haaland.
He did not see any impatience or dissatisfaction in Haaland. Instead, he was encouraging Grealish and trying to relax B Silva, who had joined the complaining team.
When Chen Xiaoliang reached the door of the locker room, he heard Guardiola's explosive roar from the other side of the locker room before he entered: "Nobody Talk!!!"
But this time no one dared to shout "Let me talk".
In the locker room, Ten Hag, who was fiddling with the tactical board, was originally preparing to emphasize the tactics with the players again, but after hearing Guardiola's roar, he changed his mind.
He also stopped assistant coach Van der Gage from closing the door.
Chen Xiaoliang immediately understood and said "Nobody Talk" to his Manchester United teammates in the locker room in a voice octave lighter.
The locker room fell silent instantly, but immediately, Guardiola's roar from the other locker room came down the corridor.
Ten Hag also asked Van der Gag to go to the corridor and ask the staff to quiet down so that they could hear more clearly what Guardiola was yelling.
"I'm not God! I'm not omnipotent!"
"You know this! I know this too!"
"But don't give me a bad face! That's the only thing I don't want to see in the team!"
"After a few years, when you become coaches, you can do whatever you want!"
"But now, I'm the boss! I have the final say!"
"So don't give me a hard time, now or in the future!"
After a brief lull, it seemed as though City's players were finding their seats, Guardiola's roar began again:
"Why do I say Messi is the best player I have ever faced?!"
"Because he's a competitor! A beast! He's always hungry for victory!"
"And you guys! What else can you do tonight besides complaining about your teammates?!"
"Pass the ball! Pass the ball! Pass the ball!!!"
"In my team you should never look up to find your teammates, but you and your teammates should be in the designated area ready to receive the ball at any time!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
It was obviously the sound of Guardiola slapping the tactical board hard and shouting "Here! Here! Here!" at the same time.
"It's okay to retreat in defense. I arranged it, but I have never made you so timid in offense!"
"Look at that Red Countryman across the street. Who among you can stop him?!"
"Why can't you stop him? Because you can't make him feel even a little bit of fear or terror!"
"On the contrary, it is you who are afraid and terrified!"
"You must always keep the desire to score goals like a machine! How can you win without goals?!"
"We have come all the way here not to make others successful!"
"If you're scared! Leave this team!"
"In the second half of the 45 minutes, I will give some of you one last chance!"
"If I can't see your changes in the stands, then in all the important games in the future, don't ask me 'why I can't play tonight'!"
Afterwards, Guardiola's voice could no longer be heard. Of course, it was not that he stopped giving speeches, but he began to talk about tactics in the locker room in a normal tone.
After that, Ten Hag closed the door of the locker room and started talking, but his words were much plainer, without so many ups and downs and shouting :
"You all heard what I said just now. If you think a 2-0 score is enough to beat an opponent like Manchester City, then we are doomed to say goodbye to this year's Champions League."
"They are Manchester City, they will never give up, they still have the best players in the world, their total value is still higher than ours, including their championship odds."
"Calm down and remember that we still have one and a half games to play. This knockout round is far from being decided!"
After speaking, Ten Hag talked about tactics for a while, saw that the time was almost up, and gave Chen Xiaoliang a look.
It was time for the captain to give a speech.
Chen Xiaoliang: "I know you are immersed in the excitement of leading by two goals, but I have to calm you down."
"I don't mean to say anything here, but I just want to ask, if we want to play possession and positional play with the opponent now, can we overpower the opponent on the field?"
"Counterattacks and set pieces are certainly our weapons, but it also shows that we are still inferior to the opponent in reality."
"We seized the chances in the first half, but we almost lost the ball twice. Everyone cheer up, the opponent will definitely step up their attack in the second half. Now I need a group of real men to work with me to extinguish the opponent's determination to score a goal and bring the leading situation to the Elyhad Stadium! To the final!"
Everyone: “Okay!”
At the beginning of the second half, Manchester City players seemed to have been slapped in the face by Guardiola and they remembered how to play football again.
In the 10 minutes from 45 to 55 minutes, Manchester United's half seemed to have become Manchester City's back garden. With the obvious increase in running, Manchester City's frontcourt passes became much smoother.
Timber's retreat and the three-center-back defense made Chen Xiaoliang and Casemiro the defensive midfielders on both sides.
These two players can be said to be the best players in the world in the defensive midfielder position, and they firmly control the two flank positions that are the most important in Guardiola's football philosophy.
This made Manchester City's passing smoother, but every time they passed the ball from the middle to the side, they could not pass it directly to the bottom position.
At the same time, when transitioning from the wing to the middle or to the other wing, it is impossible to pass the ball directly through the most threatening area outside the penalty area line, and it has to go back to the midfield area to reorganize.
Bayern star Schweinsteiger, who was commentating on the game on Sky Sports Germany, said that it seemed that Ten Hag really learned a lot of football tactics from Guardiola during his years at Bayern.
His defensive midfielder retreated to form three central defenders, and together with Chen Xiaoliang, they formed a double defensive midfielder, firmly grasping the lifeline of Guardiola's tactical philosophy, making it impossible for all short passes combined with the side and the center to gradually approach the penalty area.
But Manchester United does have two of the best defensive midfielders in the world.
However, despite United’s solid defence, their attack gradually died out under City’s dominance of the ball.
In the second half, Manchester City was significantly ahead of Manchester United in terms of number of passes, ball possession and shots.
Starting from the 70th minute, Guardiola made three substitutions, replacing four players, and continued to strengthen off-ball running, defensive interception and passing and cutting coordination. Although Manchester United also replaced five players, the situation did not change.
In the end, the score of 2-0 was maintained until the end. Manchester United maintained the complete victory in the first round by almost purely defensive tactics in the second half.
Of course, it also gave Manchester City its first defeat in a non-penalty shootout this season.
After the game, Guardiola said nothing and urged his players to pack up as soon as possible and get on the bus. Since he was sent to the stands in this game, he did not attend the post-match press conference after the game, but let assistant coach Carlos Vicens go instead of him.
After being suspended for this game, he will be lifted in the next game, and he will be able to return to the sidelines to command the team in the second round.
Manchester United were not too happy about the victory. The almost one-sided situation in the second half made them feel the pressure from Manchester City, which had regained its form.
Such defense is a test of endurance and concentration. Chen Xiaoliang once compared it to Helena, saying that such a game is like running a marathon and playing Go at the same time.
Not only does physical strength need to be guaranteed, but the brain's thinking and eyes' observation also need to be in a state of high concentration at all times. The fatigue caused after the game is also doubled.
It can be seen from the post-match scores that although Manchester United won 2-0, Manchester City players did not lag behind Manchester United players in the overall score thanks to their performance in the second half.
But Chen Xiaoliang still won the man of the game with a heel goal and an assist, beating Rodri, who made 98 of 107 passes, had 2 headers and 2 interceptions, and was awarded 14 skill points (12→26) and 8 breakthrough points (14→22).
[Big Club Mission] won [Manchester City Tevez Specific Attribute Card]
[Effect: When facing the old club, specify two attributes +1, which can be maintained for the entire game]
This card is obviously of no use to Chen Xiaoliang, so he keeps it for future use as a material card to upgrade attributes.
At the same time, the victory in the first round and the big lead in the score over Haaland, who did nothing in this game, also unlocked a temporary task in the [King of Football] system:
[The King of Football Mission: Win the personal duel with lifelong enemy Haaland]
[Task requirements: Win the two-round knockout match and be more than 1 point ahead of the opponent in the post-match score]
[Mission Reward: Get the same breakthrough points as the total score of the two rounds added together]
[Task Reward: The progress of the Football King Competition increases by 3%]
At first Chen Xiaoliang thought that 3% was too little, but then he thought from another angle: if he could beat his main competitor 10 times, and each time he was significantly ahead of his opponent, then this opponent would basically no longer be qualified to be called a rival.
Starting from April 14th, there will be three games in five days, against Chelsea on the 14th, against Brighton on the 16th, and against Manchester City on the 18th.
This meant that on the second day after the game, which was April 12, Ten Hag could only arrange for the main players to undergo physical therapy and recovery training.
After two consecutive battles with Manchester City, the pressure has been increasing with each game. In addition, it is April and the season is coming to an end, which has made many players feel obviously tired.
Like Casemiro, he is 32 years old after all. Every time he plays, he works like a workaholic, covering left and right and running back and forth.
But the more this happens, the more intense the fatigue becomes, and the longer it takes to recover.
What Manchester United lacks now is time to recover.
In order to reduce the team's fatigue, Ten Hag arrived in London a day in advance, allowing the players to have a good rest in the hotel and try to reduce the fatigue caused by the long journey.
However, Chelsea, who are trying their best to fight for the top four, will not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Chelsea, which has no European competitions this season and has strategically given up the two domestic cup competitions early on, aims to enter next season's Champions League.
Chen Xiaoliang trained for a total of 4 hours in two days (training value 78→82). The night before the game, he used 80 training points to increase his physical fitness by 1 point in order to slightly speed up his recovery from fatigue.
Training value 82→2, Physical fitness 15→16
With his legs still slightly sore, Chen Xiaoliang and most of his teammates who were rotated walked into Stamford Bridge.
In the goalkeeper position, De Gea returned to the starting lineup after recovering from injury;
The back four: Dalot, Maguire, Lindelof, Luke Thomas;
The double defensive midfielders are Milinkovic-Savic and McTominay, and the central midfielder is Chen Xiaoliang;
Left winger Ganacho, center forward Benzema, right winger Anthony.
This is the team's attempt to ensure combat effectiveness and achieve the best possible result after rotation.
But facing Chelsea, whose performance has improved significantly under Pochettino's coaching, who is in high spirits at the end of the season and has a hellish home field, Manchester United did not attack the opponent's attacking third zone many times throughout the game.
The hardest-working player in Chelsea's lineup is midfielder Mason Mount.
This guy is just 25 years old. He had been flirting with Manchester United for a long time before the end of last season. The player himself was also ready to join Manchester United next season. However, he didn't expect that after going around in circles and greeting all his relatives and friends, he finally found out that he was just Chen Xiaoliang's backup.
Mount was so angry that he turned into an angel of revenge on the court with a heart full of resentment.
He took advantage of his great endurance and kept running back and forth in the midfield and frontcourt, either supporting his teammates or creating offensive opportunities with his active running and passing, which led many commentators to say that Mount's performance was enough to win him a starting position in Manchester City's lack of vitality in the midfield.
Many people also directly questioned why Guardiola bought the 29-year-old Kovacic last summer instead of Mount, who was only 24 years old at the time.
After buying Nkunku in the winter window, Chelsea loaned Lukaku, whose form was declining, to Inter Milan again, who were reluctant to let him go. Nkunku's arrival and Osimhen formed the Blues version of the Black Wind Duo. Although Osimhen's personal goal efficiency dropped slightly, it actually increased Chelsea's overall goal number.
In addition, during the two transfer windows, Chelsea owner Burley personally sold and sent away 16 players, achieving the so-called "Bully more sales", which completely resolved the locker room conflicts that had been dragging down the team's performance and further stimulated the team's vitality.
To fight against foreign aggression, one must first stabilize domestic situation. Chelsea, which has already "stabilized domestic situation", is now "fighting against foreign aggression" against Manchester United on the field.
In this situation, Chen Xiaoliang played as a central midfielder.
Pochettino did not expect that he wanted to use Manchester United's fatigue to improve the statistics of his forward line, but he did not expect that the eager Black Wind Duo and the revengeful Mount would give Chen Xiaoliang heads all night.
Now, brushing data has turned into delivering performance.
De Gea, who is recovering from injury, doesn't seem to be injured, but rather he has been recuperating for the past few months. Proper rest has brought him a second spring in his career.
Originally, Ten Hag wanted to sign his old player Onana, but since all the money was used to buy Chen Xiaoliang, Cesco and Kva from Roma, he had to settle for the second best and activated De Gea's one-year contract extension clause and instead bought Livakovic at a low price.
Unexpectedly, this roundabout way of saving the country has now brought about other miraculous effects.
Similarly, in such a retreating iron bucket formation, Maguire, who stayed in the penalty area without having to worry about being bypassed or offside, once again became the excellent central defender that people were willing to pay 80 million pounds for.
In the end, despite a huge gap in shots (27 to 5), shots on target (18 to 1), and ball possession (68% to 32%), Manchester United managed to hold out for a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge.
With the "help" of Mount, Mudrick, Osimhen and others, Chen Xiaoliang achieved superhuman statistics of 11 successful headers, 9 steals and 9 interceptions.
Even the Premier League officials pointed out in their post-match commentary that this was the first time a player had scored a perfect 10 points and taken the man of the match award based solely on defensive statistics...
Although the scene was ugly, sometimes iron-blooded and unyielding defense is also a kind of violent beauty, and more importantly, Chen Xiaoliang and his team's unbeaten season continues.