After Balotelli was sent off with a red card, he broke the door of Anfield's visiting team's locker room. This incident also attracted the media's interest.
This Italian bad boy did not lack topics and would often cause some outrageous disturbances.
When Mancini talked about this matter, he chose to avoid it by beating around the bush. "I didn't know about this. If he really broke the door, then he has to pay for it himself! It's like he lit a fire at home. "
Manchester City visited Anfield and lost three points to Liverpool. Then they broke the door of Liverpool's locker room.
.....
After Liverpool won the game against Manchester City, Fleet Street had nothing but admiration for Liverpool!
"The King of England, Liverpool, is unstoppable!"
Even The Times published such a battle report to praise Liverpool's performance in this season's battle between the powerhouses.
Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City.
Liverpool completed a four-game winning streak against their direct Premier League title rivals in the first half of the season!
Three days later, Liverpool once again sent their troops to Stamford Bridge in West London.
The EFL Cup quarter-final was played here.
Chelsea had just gone through the turbulence of a change of manager. They were as many as nine points behind the leaders, Manchester City, and seven points behind the defending champions, Liverpool. It was clear at a glance that they had to chase after points in the league.
At the same time, Chelsea was not sure whether they would qualify for the Champions League in the group stage of the Champions League a week later. They had to face Valencia at home in a life-and-death battle. If they were defeated by Valencia, they would be eliminated!
Therefore, Chelsea's pressure after the change of manager came first from the Champions League a week later, and then from the Premier League.
As for the EFL Cup, although they had reached the top eight, their opponent was Liverpool. Even if it was a home game, no one was confident that they could get the ideal result after giving it their all.
Just ten days ago, Liverpool crazily slaughtered Chelsea here with an 8: 0 score. The scars had not been healed, so how could they talk about revenge?
It was DiMatteo who took over the reins from Villas-Boas. He would lead Chelsea to face Liverpool once again.
Considering the pressure on the other fronts, Di Matteo wisely gave up on the EFL Cup. He believed that the fans could understand this.
However, to be on the safe side, Liverpool still sent their entire main force to play.
At Stamford Bridge, Di Matteo sent a lot of young players, such as the little magical beast Lukaku, the new midfield star Romeu from Barcelona, and so on.
Chelsea played particularly conservatively at home, and Di Matteo brought out Chelsea's former defensive ability.
Liverpool, on the other hand, scored goals by Johnson and Tiote in the away game within 90 minutes and advanced to the semi-finals of the EFL Cup with their heads held high.
After the game, Di Matteo was calm when he talked about losing to Liverpool again. He said that compared to the previous heartbreaking defeat, Chelsea was now regaining his lost confidence.
Perhaps it was not as simple as regaining their confidence. Chelsea made a big splash in the middle of the week.
The boss, Abramovich, wanted to rebuild Chelsea. It seemed that there was not much hope for Chelsea this season. However, before rebuilding, the first thing to do was to clean up the team!
According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea's boss, Abramovich, had decided to carry out a major purge in the upcoming winter transfer window to rebuild the team in the face of the team's recent serious predicament.
It was reported that in addition to Alex and Anelka, who had submitted their transfer applications and been officially recognized by the Chelsea Football Club, Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Bosingwa, and Ferreira were also on the Blues' purge list. The Chelsea Football Club was willing to listen to offers for the six players in the winter transfer window.
The Daily Mail said that Anelka, who had been banned by Chelsea from participating in the First Team's training, intended to sign a contract with the China's Shanghai Shenhua Football Club with an annual salary of 6.4 million pounds. Alex, who had also been expelled, was likely to transfer to Serie A's Juventus Football Club. In order to maintain sufficient personnel in the center back position, Chelsea was likely to promote the 17-year-old reserve team player, Nathaniel Chalobah, to the First Team next week.
Drogba and Salomon Kalou's existing contracts with Chelsea would expire at the end of the season. Chelsea would allow them to sign "pre-contract" contracts with other clubs in advance in January.
According to the Daily Mail, Drogba was likely to accept a high-priced offer from West Asia, while Kalou had received interest from Arsenal.
The Daily Mail also revealed the commotion inside Chelsea's locker room.
Since Alex and Anelka were quite popular in the locker room, the club decided to expel them from the First Team. The sight of the two players' lockers being emptied shocked the entire Chelsea team.
Alex and Anelka both firmly believed that they had been deliberately insulted because they had been informed by the club that they could only park their cars in the public parking lot next to the youth training base and could no longer park their cars in the First Team's exclusive parking area.
While carrying out the purge, Chelsea was also going to make purchases with Abramovich's strong financial support.
According to the Daily Mail, several of Chelsea's current signings included: Seeking to purchase Bolton Wanderers' England national center back, Gary Cahill, to fill the void left by Alex's departure.
Seeking to purchase Porto's Uruguay national center back, Álvaro Pereira, who could play as both a left back and a left midfielder.
Seeking to purchase Chile's 22-year-old talented striker, Eduardo Vargas, who would become another important step in Chelsea's youth development.
Seeking to purchase the Spain national team's number one striker, David Villa, who was not doing well at Barcelona, to replace Drogba and Anelka.
Seeking to purchase Lille's 20-year-old talented attacking midfielder, Eden Azar, who Chelsea had made an attempt in the last winter's transfer window. The answer he received was: Come back in 12 months …
Chelsea might use Lampard as a bargaining chip, plus the transfer fee, to buy Tottenham Hotspur's Modric. In the summer, the Blues' offer of 40 million pounds was rejected by Tottenham Hotspur, but they were still obsessed with the Croatian midfielder.
The Daily Mirror said that although it was surprising, Lampard could be included in the deal and the latest offer would be made next month. Tottenham Hotspur's manager, Old Redknapp, was related to the "Magic Lamp" and was keen to get the England midfielder to play for him. Some time ago, Tottenham Hotspur tried to renew Modric's contract, but there was still no result. Chelsea might take the opportunity to make another offer in the winter.
If these few signings could be realized, then Abramovich's transfer funds could exceed 100 million pounds!
Stamford Bridge was shrouded in gloom again this season. The story of the Blues did not make the fans happy, but no one could have predicted that when Di Matteo led the Blues to a triumphant advance in the Champions League a few months later, even boss Abramovich would be surprised!
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