Volume 1: Heroes Come and Go, People Pay Attention Chapter 140: Reached the Semi-Finals for Two Consecutive Years (Please Vote for Me More)

Chapter 140: Reaching the semi-finals for two consecutive years (third update, please vote for me)

Liverpool defeated Porto 3:0 at home and has already squeezed into the semi-finals. Their opponent in the semi-finals will be the winner between AC Milan and Manchester United.

Despite being completely defeated by Liverpool domestically, Manchester United is still very competitive in continental Europe.

It can even be said that if it weren't for Chen Yingxiong, Manchester United would still be the hegemon in England. Only Manchester City can cause them trouble. Of course, Manchester City can't do it now. They are in a mess internally.

As long as they don't run into Liverpool, Manchester United is still confident of winning any game.

The peak showdown between Manchester United and AC Milan also attracted a lot of attention.

Chen Yingxiong doesn't care who can win between the two teams. Anyway, no matter who it is, reaching the semi-finals is the end. The first one to enter the final must be Liverpool led by him.

After playing in the Champions League quarter-finals with Porto, Liverpool will go away to challenge their opponent Birmingham in the 33rd round of the league.

Martin O'Neill continued to rotate in this game. Because the points advantage is already huge, he has the confidence to rotate at this time.

For him, it doesn't matter if Liverpool loses one game or draws a few games.

The most important thing now is for the players to stay physically fit.

Because of the huge lead in the league, Martin O'Neal also had more thoughts.

After Liverpool won the League Cup, what Chen Yingxiong said before the season often appeared in O'Neal's mind.

"Why do we have to win one championship a season? Why can't we win three... no, four championships a season?"

We have already won the League Cup and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. However, because Chen Yingxiong insists on playing with the reserve team, it may be difficult for us to win the championship. In the league, we are 12 points ahead of second place Chelsea. With such a huge advantage, as long as we can continue to lead and play three more rounds of the league, we can win the championship in advance. At least we can win two championships. Why not try to win the Champions League?

You know, the only championship I haven't won is the Champions League.

Last season, it was because I wanted to give up the Champions League. This season, the situation is different. There is absolutely no reason to give up...

Martin O'Neill has been thinking about this issue these days. He is not a player. He can do this on impulse. He is the head coach. He cannot just satisfy his own desires. He must also be responsible for the whole team. If he decides to invest heavily in the Champions League, he will still win in the end. Easy to say, what if you lose? If some other chain reactions are triggered, resulting in all the efforts being made, who is responsible? Isn't it still him? He must be responsible for every decision he makes. If it brings bad consequences, he may have to be dismissed from get out of class.

So O'Neal cannot be careless.

He thought over and over and observed the situation.

When the team only used half of its main players to defeat Porto at Anfield, he felt that Liverpool could compete for the Champions League this season.

Although his opponents in the semi-finals, whether Manchester United or AC Milan, are very strong, Liverpool's performance now gives him endless confidence. Reaching the finals shouldn't be a big problem.

As for what to do in the finals...Martin O'Neal hasn't decided yet. Anyway, we'll wait until we reach the finals. Even if you don't win the championship in the end, at least reaching the finals is an amazing achievement.

The more O'Neill thought about it, the more he realized it was feasible.

So he decided to adjust the team's goals.

For this reason, when playing against a weak team like Birmingham, he chose to continue the rotation, replacing more main players and letting substitute players play.

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In the end, Liverpool, who played more substitute players, reached a 1:1 draw with Birmingham in the away game. Although Chen Yingxiong started, he did not score this time.

The goal scorer was Gareth Bale, who scored the team's only goal with a long shot.

Although they were tied by Birmingham, this did not affect the general trend of the league.

Chelsea, who are ranked second, are as many as ten points behind Liverpool, and their thoughts are not on catching up with Liverpool, but on fighting with Manchester United, Newcastle, Arsenal, and Manchester City.

These five teams are competing for three Champions League places. As you can imagine, the competition is fierce.

No wonder Martin O'Neill was so calm and said after being held to a draw by Birmingham that the result was not worth mentioning.

After being held to a draw by Birmingham City, Liverpool began preparations for the Champions League.

In this game, Martin O'Neal plans to continue to use rotation, basically a configuration of half main players and half substitutes.

Chen Yingxiong is the guarantee of the team's victory on the court.

Even if it’s an away game, there’s nothing to worry about.

He is not worried about whether Chen Yingxiong's physical fitness can still bear it.

This question makes absolutely no sense!

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In the away game, Liverpool encountered less resistance. Because Porto cannot retreat and defend, if they want to advance, they have to score. If you want to score a goal, you have to press out and attack. After pressing out and attacking, there will be a lot of gaps behind the ball.

It will be much easier to do when you have time.

Liverpool played a defensive counterattack comfortably in the away game.

In the 46th minute, they broke the deadlock and the scorer was Chen Yingxiong again.

After taking the lead, Liverpool's defensive counterattack became more skillful.

Porto was helpless against Liverpool's defensive counterattack. Even Manchester United fell to Liverpool's defensive counterattack, not to mention Porto, who is not as strong as Manchester United?

In the end, Liverpool defeated Porto 1:0 away from home and won the game. As a result, they eliminated the powerful Portuguese Super League team with a total score of 4:0 and advanced to the semi-finals.

"The game is over! Liverpool eliminated Porto and they reached the semi-finals! This is the second consecutive season that they have reached the semi-finals! Last time they were eliminated by Bayern Munich! Can they reach the final this time?"

Liverpool's players embraced each other and celebrated the moment.

Being able to reach the semifinals for two consecutive seasons shows that their strength is not a flash in the pan, but a long-lasting and stable performance.

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With the excitement of reaching the semi-finals, the entire Liverpool team returned to England from Portugal.

One day later, their semi-final opponent was also announced - AC Milan.

AC Milan tied with Manchester United with a total score of 3:3 in the semi-finals, but because they had two goal differences and Manchester United had none, AC Milan advanced to the semi-finals.

This opponent is something Chen Yingxiong has not seen for a long time. Since he left Naples, he has never played against AC Milan again.

But now he is not considering this opponent.

There is something more important than AC Milan waiting for him, and there is a game more important than the Champions League semi-finals waiting for him.

On April 11, Liverpool faced Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup semi-finals.

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Although the team is currently in good form, Martin O'Neill did not let Chen Yingxiong go to practice with the reserve team players in daily training.

He no longer cares about the final results in the FA Cup.

Even if Tottenham were eliminated in the semi-finals, he would not be angry or disappointed.

Anyway, this is Chen Yingxiong's own decision. If he loses in the end, maybe this kid who has been having smooth sailing for too long will suffer a little and learn to restrain himself.

Chen Yingxiong still trains with the first team every day, while the reserve team trains at the No. 2 training ground. There seems to be no overlap between the two. The only time they can train with Chen Yingxiong is during the weekly intra-team training match.

How is it possible to establish a tacit understanding with Chen Yingxiong in this way?

In order to make up for this shortcoming, the reserve team players worked very hard to watch Chen Yingxiong's game videos. They had to watch every Liverpool game several times - once in front of the TV during the live broadcast, and then watched by Coach Clark watched the game videos several times, including full versions and specially edited ones by the coaching staff. He also used special computer software to analyze Chen Yingxiong’s accustomed running routes and catching postures... In a word, The purpose is to make the entire Liverpool reserve team firmly imprint Chen Yingxiong's various characteristics in their minds. In this way, the reserve team players can increase their familiarity with Chen Yingxiong, as if they have been training together. The game has been the same for many years.

There is no other way. Although the method is clumsy, it is the only one.

Until the day before the game, it was no longer as simple as just playing a game with the first team. Chen Yingxiong and O'Neal appeared at the reserve team's training facility. This time he came to train with the team, although only Half a day - after training, they will fly to London, stay in a hotel there for one night, and then go to the FA Cup semi-finals in the afternoon.

Regarding this training, Martin O'Neal didn't have much hope.

Because the time is too short, even if Chen Yingxiong's game video highlights are shown to the reserve team players, Chen Yingxiong has not studied the training content of the reserve team... What is the use of one-sided tacit understanding?

But when the training started, Martin O'Neal on the sidelines was stunned.

Not only him, but Clark, the reserve team coach, was also stunned.

There were also many players from the reserve team who were all stunned.

Because Chen Yingxiong didn't show any discomfort at all!

It was as if he had been training with this team for a season. He knew what to do without Clark saying anything.

He knows the habits of each of his teammates in the reserve team. During the offensive routine drill, his running positions make the reserve team players very comfortable, because he can always run to the route where the reserve team players intend to pass the ball...

"He really hasn't trained with your reserve team?" Martin O'Neill frowned and asked Clark beside him.

Clark shook his head firmly: "Absolutely not!"

"Then this is really a ghost!"

"No matter what the reason is, it is always a good thing!" Clark looked very happy after the initial shock. "This will give us a greater chance of reaching the finals!"

After hearing Clark's words, Martin O'Neill frowned even more tightly.

Could it be that in order to help the team reach the finals, he did some other special training? For example, after the first team training is over, he goes to the reserve team to watch the training? That's not right...the training time of both teams is the same. After the first team's training ends, the reserve team's training also ends.

O'Neill was puzzled...

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