Chapter 430: At the most critical end of the season, Chen Xiaoliang disappeared?
2 to 3, it was almost 70 minutes and Klopp started to make substitutions.
But he had been struggling for a long time, and the reason for his struggle was precisely because of Cesco's amazing hook just now.
Who was substituted? Scottish left-back Robertson was replaced by Greek left-back Tsimikas. This was a positional substitution, and there was nothing wrong with it. However, the sad thing was that this was the only substitution that was not wrong.
How to change midfield?
Curtis Jones? Elliott? Bajcetic?
It seems that no matter which one is replaced, the strength of the midfield will only decrease...
How to change the forward?
The player with the worst performance was Salah, so it seemed the best option to take him off the field and replace him with Luis Dias.
But that's Salah. He is like Messi to Liverpool. Have you seen Barcelona and Argentina be the first to take down Messi when the offense is unfavorable?
If you win, the fans may not praise you, but if you lose, they will really criticize you.
Thinking of this, Klopp became even more worried. Konate had been warming up for a long time, and he had not yet made a decision to replace Van Dijk, whose performance tonight could only be described as a disaster.
Being a coach is difficult...
Being a head coach is even harder...
Being the head coach of a top club is extremely difficult!
The fourth official first raised a sign, and Tsimikas replaced Robertson. The two high-fived on the sidelines. It was already the 70th minute. Konate, who was almost cooling down from the warm-up, couldn't help but look at the hesitant head coach. He wanted to speak but couldn't.
But he can't speak, someone will help him speak.
Cesco, who went completely crazy tonight, became Liverpool's number one concern, and Chen Xiaoliang also realized that the reason why Gvardiol was reluctant to switch defense with Van Dijk was that he was afraid of entering the penalty area. Therefore, even if he was not within the shooting range, Gvardiol only assisted in defense and did not focus on him.
Since you are afraid, I will do this anyway.
In the 72nd minute, Chen Xiaoliang took the ball in the midfield, took a few steps, and facing Barrera who was defending him, he passed the ball to Kwa on the left, and then rushed towards the penalty area at high speed.
Barrera and Lavia followed the defense all the way, and when approaching the top of the arc, Lavia switched to guard Kwa who was dribbling the ball, while Gvadiol and Barrera formed a double team from the front and back.
But Chen Xiaoliang's side was just a feint. Before Kva entered the offensive third zone on the left, he saw the right moment and made a powerful pass, kicking the ball to Cesco's feet in the penalty area and at the penalty spot!
The pass was very forceful, Cesco received the ball with his back to the goal, and after blocking the ball with his left foot, the ball bounced straight up from his feet. The commentator couldn't help but sigh "Oops", thinking that he didn't stop the ball well.
However, Cesco tonight was caught off guard. After defeating Van Dijk twice in a row, he concluded that the former defender had no defense against those unpredictable and unconventional shots.
So, he looked at the ball that was bounced up by his left foot and thought about Van Dijk who was defending closely behind him. He decided to go all out, turned his back to the goal, quickly took half a step outside the penalty area, then turned his body half counterclockwise, swung his right foot in the air, and shot at the ball that was still in the air halfway down!
This time Van Dijk moved. He took a step forward, trying to block the shot with his body, and even opened his arms in desperation - this is obviously a taboo for a central defender defending in the penalty area.
But the ball almost passed through his right armpit and went straight to the lower left corner of the goal.
Brazil's top goalkeeper Alisson once again watched the ball go into the net in a half-squatting position without making any saves, then stood up and sighed to the sky...
Lou Yichen: "Cesco! So beautiful!"
"Just now he said 50 million pounds! I wonder how much his value will increase after today's Manchester United derby!"
"2-4, Manchester United, playing away, took advantage of Van Dijk's disastrous form today and focused on Cesco in the second half. Cesco also completed his second hat trick of the season!"
"The last hat trick was also in a crucial match, in the 12th round of the league, away at the Emirates Stadium, scoring 3 goals against Arsenal!"
Liu Yue: "He scored 15 goals in the league, plus 5 assists, which is equivalent to contributing 20 goals."
"Including this assist, Kvaratskhelia has 12 league assists, ranking fifth in the Premier League after Xiaoliang, De Bruyne, Salah and Saka. In addition, he has 7 league goals, creating 19 league goals."
"Add to that Rashford, who scored 13 goals and provided 4 assists. Although his numbers have dropped a bit this season due to injuries and rotations, he has also created 17 goals."
"As the saying goes, it takes three to make a hero, and we have these three guys to help on the offensive line."
Lou Yichen: "The camera then turned to Anthony on the bench, who was chatting and laughing with his teammates to celebrate Cesco's goal."
"However, due to a significant reduction in his appearances this season, he has only scored one goal in the league and no assists. The other six goals were in the FA Cup and League Cup. He also has zero goals and zero assists in the Champions League. Thinking of his 100 million transfer price, it is inevitable that it seems embarrassing."
Liu Yue: "If Ilankunda, who appeared on the bench today, also enters the first-team roster next season, it will inevitably further reduce Anthony's playing time. With Sancho likely to leave the team in the summer, Anthony's deal seems to have a very low cost-effectiveness so far."
On the sidelines, Klopp had no choice but to make a substitution. With a wave of his hand, he replaced Salah and Van Dijk with Luis Dias and Konate.
Although most of the Liverpool fans at home gave them sparse applause, some radical fans still booed harshly.
After all, this is a meeting between the two Red Devils, a duel between mortal enemies. According to Xiao Ri's saying, the loser of this kind of match would be a war criminal.
Four minutes later, Elliot replaced Lavia.
For Manchester United, McTominay replaced Casemiro, Ganacho replaced Kwa, and Anthony replaced B Fee.
Liverpool, who had the upper hand in both the field and technical statistics throughout the match, fell behind in the score, and both goals were set pieces. They were unable to score in open play, which allowed them to launch a fierce attack on Manchester United's goal in the last 15 minutes.
Newly-come substitute Luis Dias kept harassing De Gea after the switch from offense to defense. Four defenders, two defensive midfielders, and even Chen Xiaoliang all retreated to participate in the support, but under Liverpool's desperate overall forward pressure, it was still difficult for De Gea to pass the ball. In the end, he was forced to choose the safest way, which was to kick the ball forward.
This caused Manchester United's ball possession rate to drop to 36% in the last 15 minutes from 78 to 93 minutes , and they were basically surrounded by Liverpool in the half and kept trying various offensive tactics.
The three relatively young forwards Nunez, Gakpo and Diaz were running, engaging and supporting in and outside the penalty area. Coupled with the tireless Barrera and McAllister, Elliott's external organization and repeated insertions on both wings, Klopp's tactical ability was perfectly demonstrated.
But although Manchester United was passive, they did not lose the ball, only because there was a diamond gate on the penalty area line and a wall of sighs on the goal line.
Seeing Liverpool's strong attack, Chen Xiaoliang retreated directly to the defensive midfielder position, sitting in the middle to intercept all through passes and prevent the opponent from long-range shots.
Timberlake and McTominay were like two destroyers, running back and forth on the left and right sides, forcing Liverpool's offensive organization to the flanks.
Liverpool tried everything but could only try to cross the ball from the wing.
In the end, Ten Hag used a 5-5-0 defensive formation and replaced Cesco with Lindelof.
Under the dual banners of chasing an undefeated season and competing for the championship, with the guarantee of results, fans can accept any tactics arranged by the head coach that can achieve victory but may result in an ugly scene.
In the end, at 93 minutes and 27 seconds, referee Tim Robinson blew the final whistle and Liverpool lost 2-4 to Manchester United at home at Anfield.
The combined score of the two Manchester United derby this season was 10 to 2. While Manchester United defeated Liverpool twice, not only did they improve on last season's record of 1 win and 1 loss, they also avenged the 7 goals conceded in away games.
More importantly, with the victory in this make-up match, with all 20 Premier League teams having completed 35 rounds of the league, Manchester United has 29 wins, 6 draws and 93 points, overtaking Manchester City with 28 wins and 7 draws by 2 points, and returning to the top of the list with only three rounds left in the league!
Liverpool, who lost this game, has 26 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses, with 84 points. In previous years, this score was enough to definitely compete for the championship, but this season it is only a theoretical possibility as they are 7 points behind Manchester City, 9 points behind Manchester United, and 24 points behind in goal difference.
Manchester United must lose all three of their last three games, and Manchester City must not win a single game in their last three games and must lose one of them. Liverpool must also catch up with a goal difference of 24 before they can have a chance of reversing and winning the championship.
99.9999% of the fans would rather believe that aliens are going to invade the earth tomorrow than believe that Liverpool can win the championship.
However, they still have something to look forward to, and that is the FA Cup final to be held on May 16.
In the post-match press conference, Klopp said that since the team only needed 3 points in the last three rounds of the league to secure the third place, he would shift all the team's resources and focus to the two finals of the FA Cup and Europa League.
He and Guardiola agree on this point, except that the latter wants to ensure they win the last three league games and then wait for Manchester United to make a mistake.
Will Manchester United make a mistake? The Times published a poll online, with more than 60,000 fans participating in the vote, of which 61% of fans believed that Manchester United would inevitably lose in the league or FA Cup finals in the process of competing for the Champions League.
Chen Xiaoliang also encountered a problem. When he and his teammates finished greeting the opposing players after the game and thanked the Manchester United fans who came to the away game, they returned to the locker room and turned on their mobile phones. He found 6 missed calls from his father. When he opened the text messages, he found that his grandfather had passed away.
Suddenly, his mood, which had just been filled with pride because of defeating his mortal enemy, plummeted to the bottom.
Although he was traveling through time, his memories of this life were very clear. All of a sudden, the image of his grandfather who raised him as a child and those past events came to his mind, which undoubtedly intensified his sadness.
But in order to prevent his teammates from noticing anything unusual and affecting morale in the final crucial period, he did not show any abnormal emotions.
It was not until the group returned to the hotel that he found Ten Hag and asked for a five-day leave. Ten Hag immediately hesitated and said he needed to discuss it with his boss Jassim.
It's not that he is unwilling, but everyone knows how important Chen Xiaoliang is to this team. During the five days he is on leave, there will be an away league game against Crystal Palace. If there is any mistake, it is very likely that the coveted league championship for 11 years will be handed over to Manchester City, thus facilitating their neighbors' unprecedented four consecutive Premier League titles, plus a terrifying record of six Premier League titles in seven years.
If the other way around, it was Manchester United that won the Premier League six times in seven years, Ten Hag would have let it go.
At this point, Chen Xiaoliang understood Ten Hag's difficulties and did not use his position in the team to put pressure on him.
The next day, the whole team returned to the Carrington base. Some main players rested for a day, while the rest conducted recovery training.
Jassim, Sir Alex Ferguson and technical director Darren Fletcher were already waiting at the club.
The result was very clear. Jasim told Chen Xiaoliang on behalf of the club:
"Today is May 3rd. We are willing to give you 10 days off to deal with family matters. If necessary, Fletcher will fly with you to the Red Country and express his feelings on behalf of the club."
"And the club will keep everything confidential until you feel it is safe to make it public."
Chen Xiaoliang was very grateful and politely declined his boss's kindness. He returned to his residence, packed his luggage and set off for home as quickly as possible.
When Ten Hag saw his boss make such a decision on behalf of the board of directors, there was nothing more to say.
Ferguson saw his uneasiness and shared his past experiences with him alone:
It was the 2004-05 season, and it was Ronaldo's second season at Manchester United when he just turned 20.
Arsenal won the championship undefeated the previous season, and that season was when Abramovich's Chelsea was rising strongly under the coaching of Mourinho.
Also at a critical moment at the end of the season, Ronaldo's father Alvaro was critically ill, and he found Ferguson and asked for leave to visit his relatives.
At that time, Ferguson was still a devil coach with the famous nickname of "hair dryer". Just two years ago, on February 15, 2003, after being eliminated by the then arch-rival Arsenal in the FA Cup, Ferguson turned on the hair dryer in the locker room and kicked a sneaker into Beckham's brow, creating the famous "flying boot gate" incident in football.
At that time, the young Ronaldo was far from having the status he would later have in the world. He was nervous when he found Ferguson.
But Ferguson told him: "It's OK, go! Two days, three days is fine, don't worry about the game. Although it is true that the next few games will be difficult, I still wish your father to be safe."
His father, Alvaro, was a veteran, but the war he participated in was not glorious. It was a victory that helped Portugal prevent the Angolan people from breaking free from colonization and gaining independence.
During the war, he witnessed many brutal atrocities, and therefore, he chose to numb himself with alcohol after the war.
C Ronaldo has said many times that in his impression his father was an alcoholic who didn't care about his family. Even the job of washing players' dirty clothes in the amateur team Andorinha was introduced by the young C Ronaldo who was playing for the team at the time.
However, even though Ronaldo joined Sporting CP, later transferred to Manchester United and wore the No. 7 jersey, Alvaro was unable to get rid of his alcohol addiction. He died of liver failure in September 2005 and lost the opportunity to witness his son's great achievements.
This is also the biggest reason why Ronaldo has been extremely disgusted with alcohol since he was a child.
When this past event was mentioned in an interview after Ronaldo returned to Manchester United in the summer of 2021, it still moved Ronaldo so much that he burst into tears on the spot.
Ferguson told Ten Hag that his decision was inspired by an experience he had when he was young.
When he was 33 and the head coach of Scottish second division club St Mirren, a young man approached him on a Tuesday and asked for leave on that week's Friday match day.
He immediately got angry, thinking that the young player wanted to go out and play, or was looking for some reason to go out and play, and questioned him why he had to ask for leave on Friday.
As a result, the young man told him sadly that his mother had passed away.
Ferguson remembers it very clearly. He was at a loss at that moment and felt guilty for his emotions. He immediately agreed to the young man's vacation . From then on, whenever a player came to him and asked for leave, he would always say: "Okay, is there anything I can do for you?"
Ferguson finally told Ten Hag:
"You have to understand that there are things that are more important than the football club and family is one of them and there is no doubt that you should never, ever put the football club before your family.
Ten Hag understood that Ferguson was not talking to him about "great and glorious" principles, but that once the club puts its own achievements before the players' families, especially when it comes to life and death issues, the players' future trust in the club and their feelings for the club will be greatly reduced.
The same goes for fans.
Finally, it was Helena and Reese who accompanied Chen Xiaoliang back to the East China Sea.
He also took the initiative to inform his teammates that he would be away from the team for 5 days to attend the funeral.
At 1 pm on May 5th, B Fee put on the long-lost captain's armband and led the team to Selhurst Park, the home of Crystal Palace.
In order to ensure that there would be no accidents, Ten Hag fielded the strongest lineup after the rotation.
goalkeeper David de Gea;
The back four: Dalot, Lindelof, Lima and Luke Shaw;
Defensive midfielders Timber and Casemiro, attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes;
Left winger Kva, center forward Benzema, right winger Anthony.
Although Crystal Palace has no desire, cannot qualify for European competitions, and will not be relegated to the Championship, they are very happy to perform well in the crucial championship period at the end of the season and change the trend of the championship on their own. Therefore, from the first minute, they showed an attitude that they will not let Manchester United have their way.
In the 7th minute of the game, Crystal Palace defender Clyne kicked the ball out of bounds. Players, staff and all the fans in the stands applauded Chen Xiaoliang for one minute to express their support for the double-title winner and the current face of the Premier League who had lost his family.
In the 8th minute, Kva threw the ball out of bounds and directly threw it back to Crystal Palace goalkeeper and former Manchester United player John Stones, and the game returned to normal.
But the subsequent game was completely devoid of the harmony of the previous scene. Crystal Palace, which had no burden of losing, launched a desperate attack. The two French wingers Olise and Odsonne Eduardo kept cooperating with their teammates on the wing and then attacked towards the ribs, while the No. 10 midfielder Eze and the Ghanaian striker Jordan Ayew attacked the penalty area together.
In the 31st minute, Manchester United's goal was broken. Olise made a cross from the right side in front of the goal. Jordan Ayew's shot was blocked by De Gea, and Eze followed up and scored, the score was 1-0.
At the same time, one hour into the game and in the 72nd minute, Manchester City was already leading Brentford 3-1 at home and was almost certain to win.
When Van der Gag showed the real-time score to Ten Hag, Ten Hag felt a strong sense of uneasiness.
In the midfield, Ten Hag and B Fee led a passionate speech, and then Casemiro delivered his first and possibly last formal locker room speech this season.
He usually doesn't say anything because he has Chen Xiaoliang, the real leader, but at this moment, he must stand up.
Casemiro: "If our captain is absent for the entire season and only for today's game, we lose the game, then when he comes back, how can we have the face to fulfill what we said to him when he left, that we would carry the team on our shoulders and wait for him to come back with victory?!"
"If we lose today, people will always say from now on that this is Chen's team. Without him, we are nothing!"
Ten Hag also adjusted the tactics and took the initiative to instruct the players to attack Crystal Palace in the second half, using stronger offensive strength to destroy their weak defense.
This change really worked.
In the 55th minute of the second half, Kva received a through ball from B Fee, passed two players on the left side of the ribs, and then made a fake shot in the penalty area, knocking down defender Josim Anderson and goalkeeper John Stone, and pushed the ball into the empty goal, tying the score to 1-1.
At this time, Manchester City's game has ended, and the score of 3 to 1 has not changed. According to the current results of both sides, they will have 94 points each, and Manchester City will temporarily return to the first place in the league based on the goal difference.
Then in the 65th minute, Benzema received the ball on the penalty area line and passed it to Luke Shaw who came in from the left. The latter made an inverted triangle pass to B Fee who rushed to the right side of the penalty spot and shot successfully, 1-2, Manchester United overtook.
In the 73rd minute, the Water Attack took advantage of the melee caused by a corner kick, and Eze scored another goal to tie the score at 2-2.
Ten Hag started making substitutions, with Cesco, Milinkovic-Savic and the injured Rashford all coming on the field.
In the 85th minute, Cesco received the ball with his back outside the penalty area, and then passed it back to Casemiro who was not far behind. Casemiro made a lob pass into the penalty area, and Milinkovic-Savic, who was offside, easily lobbed the ball, which flew over the head of Johnstone and into the goal, 2 to 3!
In the 92nd minute, Crystal Palace, who were pressing forward in an attempt to snatch back one point, had their defense left empty and were counterattacked by Manchester United. Dalot made a long pass and Rashford scored with a single shot, eventually securing the victory 2-4.
In the end, there was no danger. After the 36th round of the league, the two unbeaten teams were still ranked in the top 2, with Manchester United leading Manchester City by 2 points with 96 points.
The good news is that Manchester United, who have been fighting continuously, can finally have a week of rest, but the bad news is that their next opponent is Arsenal, who just won Middlesbrough 2-1 at home and currently ranks 5th in the league with 80 points, only 1 point behind Newcastle in 4th place.
If Newcastle wins in the next round and Arsenal loses to Manchester United away at Old Trafford, the gap between the two teams will widen to 4 points and Arsenal will be completely out of the Champions League next season.
For a while, everyone who hoped that Manchester United would win the championship was hoping that Chen Xiaoliang would come back soon.
Anyone who does not want Manchester United to win the next round, whether it is Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City or others, does not want to see Chen Xiaoliang appear at the Theatre of Dreams on May 12.
However, the reason why a king is a king is that he will never let his comrades down, and he will never break his promise to those who believe in him.
After being away from the team for 4 days and dealing with all the family matters, Chen Xiaoliang showed up at the Carrington training base on time early in the morning of May 7.
The paparazzi who had been lurking outside the base immediately posted the photos of David driving Chen Xiaoliang to the training on the Internet. The Daily Telegraph even used this headline directly - The King Returns, Everything is Settled!
