The 32nd round of the Premier League arrived as scheduled. When Liverpool had a big enough lead over Manchester United and Chelsea, there were still a few people who were hoping for a miracle to happen, such as Liverpool's collapse. In that case, this season's Premier League storyline would definitely be the most subversive in history.
Chelsea was at Stamford Bridge to face Aston Villa. Ancelotti's team began to show signs of strength. After all, they had been eliminated from the Champions League and could focus on the league tournament.
7:1
A shocking score. Chelsea created a bloodbath.
Manchester United lost the English derby in the last round, but Ferguson also emphasized that the Red Devils, Manchester United, would not give up. He still did not believe that Liverpool could keep winning.
At the Reebok Stadium, the Red Devils, Manchester United, made the home team, Bolton Wanderers, swallow four bullets.
With 4: 0, Manchester United also won.
The pressure was on Liverpool, and Liverpool had to face Barcelona at home next week. Comain gave the main players a rest and sent the substitutes to face the Black Cats, Sunderland, who were in the middle and lower of the league table at home.
Riera and Yossi Benayoun propped up Liverpool's offense in this game.
Although the growth of Babel and Ngog did not satisfy Comain, he always thought that the two young strikers could have a foothold in an ordinary team. But as a substitute for a Premier League team, they were still too far away.
But in this game against Sunderland, Ngog and Babel both played well and helped the team beat their opponents at home by 3: 0.
Comain praised the team's performance after the game, but he knew in his heart that the team still needed to further strengthen the forward line and strengthen the team's lineup in the summer.
There were six rounds left in the Premier League. Liverpool led Manchester United by nine points and Chelsea by 11 points.
If nothing unexpected happened, Liverpool only needed to win three games in the six rounds of the league tournament, then Liverpool could pick up the league title trophy.
Now the mentality of the Liverpool team had changed.
Everyone regarded the league title as something in the bag. This confidence drove the team to turn their attention to the Champions League. Since the league title was already a guaranteed achievement for this season, then it was also the trend to work harder and strive for greater achievements in the Champions League.
On March 29th, La Liga powerhouse Barcelona landed in Liverpool.
When the Liverpool players were in the Melwood Training Ground lounge watching BBC Sport on the television, it showed the scene of Barcelona walking out of the airport and boarding the bus after arriving at Liverpool.
When Qin Xiong saw Messi, the corners of his mouth curled up. His eyes suddenly brightened, and his fighting spirit was overflowing!
He also saw his old friend Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Barcelona's strong attack did not put pressure on Liverpool. Instead, it filled the team with motivation.
After going through two rounds of fierce battles with Real Madrid and winning the double red with Manchester United, the Liverpool team's confidence was at an all-time high. Now, they were looking forward to the pinnacle of the game!
Liverpool continued to prepare for the game step by step.
The day before the first leg of the Champions League 14 final, Comain attended the pre-match press conference at Melwood.
The focus of the reporters was on how Liverpool would restrict the new Ballon d 'Or winner, Messi.
Comain replied calmly, "Barcelona has caused a sensation in European football. People are talking about how to contain Barcelona, and so is Liverpool. We will focus on studying Barcelona's past games to find a way to deal with them. Messi is a very good star player, but it is not enough to just think about how to restrict him. This is a contest between two teams. We need to suppress Barcelona in the overall confrontation."
This might be a cliché argument, but in fact, the Liverpool coaching staff did think so.
Just like the most threatening player in Liverpool's formation was definitely Qin Xiong, but to suppress Liverpool, it was impossible to just think about how to restrict Qin Xiong. Torres, Gerard, Alonso, Kuyt, and so on. These players would all play an important role in the game. It would be a mistake to ignore any of the players.
If in a pinnacle of the game, just restricting one of the opponent's players could gain an advantage and even win the game, then such a pinnacle of the game would not live up to its name.
Guardiola's statement at the pre-match press conference was similar to Comain's.
"Let's leave the topic of who is better between Qin Xiong and Messi to the media and fans. Just like Comain thinks that Qin Xiong is the best player in the world, in my eyes, Messi is the best player on the planet. In the game between Barcelona and Liverpool, we still need to rely on the team as a whole to restrain the opponent. Otherwise, it will be disastrous. Barcelona's achievements in the past have obviously relied on the technical and tactical system of the entire team. Such a technical and tactical system has also been successful in the Spanish national team, which further proves the importance of the team as a whole."
Both managers were praising the team as a whole, which was in line with the philosophy of contemporary European football.
The European media was waiting to see who would win the game and eliminate the opponent, Liverpool or Barcelona, through the team as a whole.
On the night of March 31st, Anfield was packed and the stars were shining brightly. Liverpool and Barcelona met on a narrow path in the Champions League!
In the players' tunnel, Qin Xiong first saw the tall and strong Ibrahimovic. He had not seen him for many years, and Ibrahimovic had become more mature.
Ibrahimovic also saw Qin Xiong, and the complex look in his eyes was well concealed.
Ibrahimovic's development trajectory could be said to be smooth sailing when they entered the top league together from Ajax. The only thing that was criticized was that he was weak in the key battles in Europe.
Why did he go to Barcelona?
Even Qin Xiong could understand this. He had won so many titles in Italy that his hands were sore. But at the top of Europe, Ibrahimovic had only stood on Ajax once. Naturally, he wanted to have a more brilliant career.
His good friends at Ajax, Qin Xiong and Snede, the former had won three Champions League titles. Snede and Qin Xiong had reached the top of Europe for the second time in Real Madrid. And in that season, they wrote Real Madrid into the glorious history together, set many records, and became the terrifying team in the memories of the fans and many opponents!
The white terror that was set off did not last long.
And Barcelona almost reached the height that Real Madrid had reached in the previous season in the following season.
Ibrahimovic had the opportunity to join Barcelona. Naturally, he would not miss such an opportunity.
Anyway, the league title was no longer worth anything to him. Only the achievement of the Champions League could take his position in the football world to another level.
But after the transfer to Barcelona, things did not seem to be as good as he had expected.
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