Football: The strongest post-2000s Chapter 101

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Li Qing performed exceptionally well in the fifth round of the FA Cup, scoring one goal, providing one assist, and orchestrating one attack, helping Liverpool defeat Leicester City at home.

During the routine post-match press conference, a media reporter questioned Klopp, asking him why he didn’t bring Li Qing to the press conference again.

Klopp said earnestly, “Li said he is still young, and he will only accept media interviews when he turns eighteen. Really, I’m not lying to you. If you don’t believe me, you can go and ask him.”

Not a single reporter present didn’t roll their eyes, all thinking, “You old geezer are really bad!”

Media reports on the British Isles once again revolved around the recent outstanding performance of the super new star, Li Qing. However, it wasn’t long before the focus of the British Isles and mainstream European media quickly shifted to the losing team, Leicester City.

Why?

Leicester City’s management announced the termination of Ranieri’s contract!

Li Qing was very surprised when he saw the media reports. If he remembered correctly, Ranieri should have been dismissed only after the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16.

What, it’s earlier?

Could it be… the effect of him, this butterfly?

Moreover, it’s truly difficult to understand dismissing a meritorious coach before the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 begins.

However, many fans believe that dismissing Ranieri is in line with the trend of football, even though he surprisingly led this team to win the league championship last season.

This season, apart from advancing to the Round of 16 in the Champions League as group leaders, the league performance has been a complete mess, only one point ahead of the relegation zone.

Losing Kante last summer had a big impact on Leicester City, but don’t forget that Leicester City still has the dual threat of Vardy and Mahrez, so there are no problems in the attack. Moreover, the defense line maintained its integrity from last season, plus summer reinforcements, their strength should have increased.

It was under these circumstances that they suffered a league Waterloo, and Ranieri, as the head coach, must bear absolute responsibility.

Li Qing shook his head and focused on the next league match.

Unfortunately, next week’s league opponent is Leicester City, who will be welcoming their new head coach.

But before that, there are still the Champions League knockout stages and the League Cup final to look forward to.

At 8 PM local time in Great Britain on Wednesday evening, the FA Cup quarter-final draw was finalized. Liverpool drew a tough opponent: Manchester United, under the management of Jose Mourinho.

The Liverpool executive who participated in the draw felt very speechless. Among the teams that advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals, besides the giants Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Arsenal, there were three weaker teams left.

Millwall from League One, Lincoln City from the National League, and Middlesbrough.

Aside from Middlesbrough being a bit of a headache, Millwall and Lincoln City were almost ideal opponents for a guaranteed spot in the semi-finals.

Often, by the quarter-final stage, big clubs start to take it seriously.

Even a small mosquito is still meat!

Liverpool coach Klopp wasn’t present, but he watched the live broadcast, and his mouth twitched noticeably when his team drew Manchester United.

Why did Tottenham draw Millwall, Arsenal draw Lincoln City, and Manchester City draw Middlesbrough?

And his team had to face the strongest Manchester United?

That’s not logical!

Not all Liverpudlians were depressed about this draw; Li Qing was quite excited. According to the home and away teams indicated by the draw, Manchester United would be playing at home, which meant Li Qing would travel with the team to Old Trafford.

That European five-star stadium, known as the Theatre of Dreams.

Mourinho’s team excels at defensive counterattacks, and Klopp’s team also excels at counterattacks. The difference is that Mourinho emphasizes defense in the midfield and backline, often referred to as “parking the bus,” while Klopp emphasizes high-pressing.

The essence of both is the same, but the difference lies in the visual experience they provide to fans, thus leading to different reputations.

With the prevalence of the tiki-taka tactic promoted by Guardiola, it seems that fans all over the world enjoy watching tactics that involve passing the ball into the net, which is praised as offensive football.

The “parking the bus” tactic promoted by Mourinho has been labeled as anti-football. Although Klopp’s team also plays fast counter-attacking football, his tactical style emphasizes speed more, requires higher physical demands from players, and is more aggressive, thus more popular. Mourinho’s “parking the bus” is a more cautious and steady type, which can easily be labeled as negative.

Li Qing used to admire Mourinho greatly. Having transmigrated, he encountered Mourinho’s Manchester United and naturally wanted to test the power of Mourinho’s “parking the bus.”

He was very much looking forward to seeing whether the spear, which had consecutively pierced Chelsea and Tottenham’s defenses, was sharper, or if Mourinho’s shield was sturdier.

Before the FA Cup quarter-finals, Liverpool had two more league matches, one home and one away: an away game against Leicester City and a home game against Arsenal.

It’s worth noting that the day before Liverpool’s away match against Leicester City was the 2016- 2017 League Cup final, where Manchester United and Southampton would decide the first champion of the season in England at the new Wembley Stadium.

Li Qing has an excellent memory. Because he admired Mourinho, he remembered Mourinho’s achievements at Manchester United quite clearly. If nothing unexpected happened, Manchester United would defeat Southampton in the League Cup, and also win the Europa League this season, thus qualifying for next season’s Champions League as Europa League champions.

Including the Community Shield at the beginning of the season, Mourinho achieved a small treble in his first season managing Manchester United, which was perfect.

Getting back to the main topic, Li Qing watched the live broadcast of this match at home. The match process and result were as expected: with Ibrahimovic’s late winner, Manchester United narrowly defeated Southampton 3- 2, winning the championship.

The next day, Li Qing traveled with the entire team to Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England, to challenge Leicester City, who had a new coach.

From the starting lineup, Li Qing did not appear as a starter, but fans generally knew that Li Qing was still young, and starting too early was not a good thing. Instead, coming on as a substitute would have a greater impact.

The person who took over as Leicester City’s head coach was Ranieri’s assistant, Craig Shakespeare. For some unknown reason, this team, which had been in a slump this season, was completely revitalized under Shakespeare’s leadership.

Vardy, who hadn’t scored in the last eight league matches, surprisingly helped Leicester City open the scoring at the King Power Stadium.

Before the end of the first half, Milner’s header clearance in the box was not far enough, and Leicester City midfielder Drinkwater’s long-range shot from outside the box helped the home team extend their lead to two goals.

The live director meaningfully gave a close-up shot of the away team’s bench, or more precisely, of the recently outstanding super new star, Li Qing.

Liverpool fans watching on TV were not depressed despite their team being two goals down; on the contrary, they were full of anticipation.

Their team had consecutively fallen behind against Wolves, Chelsea, and Tottenham before coming back to win. They believed that this match was very likely to follow a similar script.

PS: Something came up today, the fifth update will be a little late, sorry. _

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