London, West London, Lowndes Square.
This was one of the busiest areas in West London. In one of the seemingly ordinary apartment buildings, the interior was luxurious and resplendent.
This was one of the many residences of Chelsea's rich Russian boss, Abramovich, in London. He spent about 100 million pounds to buy the two adjacent apartments, opened up the interior, and refurbished them to become one of his many priceless properties.
The Chelsea boss was watching the football game, but his attention did not seem to be on the game. He was a little distracted. His spokesman, John Manny, finished his report and sat down respectfully. Only then did he focus on the television screen. He happened to see Modric score for Inter Milan. The Inter Milan players were celebrating the goal excitedly.
That's right, the Chelsea boss was watching the game between Inter Milan and CSKA Moscow. His Chelsea's Champions League game had been played yesterday. Chelsea had been forced into a goalless draw by Schalke 04 in the away game.
"They conceded a goal just like that?" John Manny muttered in a low voice.
"What?" Abramovich came back to his senses and happened to see the replay of the entire goal on the television. Inter Milan launched an attack from the backfield. The entire offensive process was as smooth as flowing water. CSKA Moscow's defensive line was torn to pieces and battered.
"This goal concede …" Abramovich frowned slightly. Apparently, he was somewhat dissatisfied with CSKA Moscow's performance.
*****
Abramovich watched CSKA Moscow's game not only because it was a team from his native Russia. In fact, CSKA Moscow and Abramovich had a close relationship.
In 2003, Abramovich took over Chelsea and gradually built the Blues into a Premier League powerhouse and even a European champion. His takeover of Chelsea also increased interest in English football in Russia. Chelsea became the Russian fans' favorite European club.
Although Abramovich's takeover of Chelsea made English football widely popular in Russia, not everyone supported his decision. Yuri Luzhkov, the former mayor of Moscow, thought that his actions were unpatriotic and that he had disgraced Russia by investing in Chelsea instead of a domestic club.
In view of this, Abramovich quickly responded.
In 2004, Abramovich signed a three-year sponsorship contract with CSKA Moscow in the name of Sbineft. At that time, CSKA Moscow won the Russian Premier League under the leadership of manager Valeri Gasaev.
Five months after the sponsorship contract was signed, CSKA Moscow drew Chelsea in the Champions League group stage, which led to an investigation by UEFA into the relationship between Abramovich and CSKA Moscow. According to UEFA regulations, two clubs under the same boss could not participate in the Champions League at the same time.
Fortunately, UEFA finally determined that Abramovich had no substantial relationship with CSKA Moscow. It was purely a commercial sponsorship. The Champions League group stage continued. Chelsea defeated CSKA Moscow twice, but the Moscow powerhouse still finished third in the group with Porto and Paris Saint-Germain.
According to the media, Abramovich's Sibneft's sponsorship of CSKA Moscow was terminated in 2005 due to the UEFA investigation, and Abramovich transferred his shares to Gazprom. However, Abramovich still had great influence and control over CSKA Moscow, which was almost a semi-open secret in Russia.
Therefore, Abramovich paid so much attention to CSKA Moscow and would watch CSKA Moscow's games in his spare time.
The face of the Inter Milan manager, Li Ang, appeared on the television screen. After the goal celebration, the manager had returned to the technical area and sat down with his legs crossed, looking relaxed and confident.
On the other side, the CSKA Moscow manager, Valeri Gasaev, looked a little flustered and exasperated. He yelled at his players on the sidelines.
"This goal is beautiful," Abramovich suddenly said.
John Manny did not know what the boss meant, so he just nodded in agreement and did not speak.
*****
CSKA Moscow manager Valeri Gasaev constantly waved his hands on the sidelines, indicating that his team should press out and put pressure on Inter Milan. This was not only for the protection of his own rear defensive line. At the same time, Gasaev was not without a kind of expectation that his team could equalize the score as soon as possible.
However, while the ideal was beautiful, the reality was cruel.
After taking the lead with a goal, Inter Milan did not shrink their formation. Instead, they became more aggressive and continued to put pressure on CSKA Moscow's goal.
CSKA Moscow manager Valeri Gasaev's "overconfident" provocation before the game not only angered the Inter Milan manager, Li Ang, but also the Inter Milan players. They faithfully carried out the manager's instructions and vowed to teach CSKA Moscow a lesson.
This was another attack from Inter Milan.
Inter Milan originally made a fuss on the right flank. The continuous passing and positional movement between David Silva and Mai Kong, as well as Agüero, who retreated to support, made CSKA Moscow's left flank feel like it was facing a formidable enemy.
Modric received Agüero's return pass, took a step forward, and suddenly passed it to Mai Kong. This time, Mai Kong did not continue to move forward. Instead, he passed it back to Carlos. The latter pulled the ball, turned around, and passed it directly to the left flank.
The football transitioned from Carlos to Mata's feet on the left flank.
Mata directly dribbled the ball forward to break through in a menacing manner.
Inter Milan suddenly shifted the focus of their offense to Mata. The Spanish young player's swift and fierce breakthrough suddenly caught CSKA Moscow off guard.
Grigoriev hurried up to intercept.
However, the tall and burly Russian national full back was nimble as Mata. He looked a little clumsy and embarrassed.
Mata directly kicked the football to the side and accelerated past Grigoriev, who was like a wooden stake blocking in front of him.
*****
Just as Mata was about to break into the penalty area with the ball, V. Berezutski rushed out from the side and knocked Mata over!
"Oh! Foul! V. Berezutski fouled! The referee showed a yellow card to V. Berezutski, and Inter Milan got a chance for a free kick in a good position. " Sky Television's British commentator, Motson, said, "The foul was timely. If V. Berezutski did not foul, Mata would have broken directly into the penalty area … At that time, it would be impossible to foul even if you wanted to! It's just that this yellow card will affect the CSKA Moscow captain in the following games. "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
