The strongest winger

Chapter 725
The 2008-2009 League Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester United was held at 3:3 pm local time on March 8rd in the UK, which is [-]:[-] am in BJ time, but there are still countless Chinese fans waiting for the game to start at midnight. All Chinese fans hope that Aiello can defend all the championships he won last season in this season's competition, and prove to the world that Aiello is the best player!

Before the game, the odds of the three major European bookmakers were that Chelsea handed over the half-goal within 10 minutes. The odds of Chelsea winning were 1:1, while Manchester United's winning odds were 15:1. It was obviously inclined to the handicap of Chelsea winning, which made many fans who supported Chelsea feel dark.

Before the game started, most of the seats in the new Wembley Stadium were already occupied by fans from both sides of the game, leaving only about 1 vacant seats for idle English fans. Coincidentally, these tickets were bought by local Chinese studying or working in England. Therefore, when players from both sides entered the field to warm up, the whole stadium looked more like Chelsea's home court.

This also made Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who came to the VIP seats ahead of schedule, once again plan to build a new stadium for Chelsea. Stamford Bridge, which can only accommodate [-] fans, is no longer worthy of the current Champions League champion Chelsea, so he turned to CEO Kenyon and said: "Peter, give you a month, and give me a detailed plan for building a new stadium."

"Ah?" Kenyon was stunned for a moment instinctively, and then nodded sharply after reacting: "I see, boss."

Only then did Abramovich return his attention to the court with satisfaction. Of course, his attention was still on Ai Luo, who is currently the hottest player in the world.

He knew...that he really bought the right person by spending 6000 million pounds decisively.

Aiello’s 30% portrait rights alone are already worth half of the transfer funds, plus a series of advertising revenue and game bonuses last season, completely exceeding Ailuo’s transfer fee. Abramovich sometimes secretly scolded Valencia’s chairman Soler for being a fool. He is really stupid to have a champion and a cash cow to sell for petty profits...

In the history of English football in the past century, Chelsea can be said to be inconspicuous. It was not until the end of the century that they began to introduce international stars. It was not until the Russian boss Roman Abramovich took over that they officially had the background to become a wealthy family. However, this wealthy background is not a traditional statement, but a negative description.

The previous Chelsea team didn’t exist, but it’s different now. With Aiello joining the team, they won all the championships they could win in just one season, and they were truly recognized as a European giants team.

It can be seen that Aiello's arrival has had a great impact on Chelsea.

Therefore, Chelsea fans also know how to be grateful to Aiello. Whenever there is a home game, there will always be a huge Aiello poster artificially hung in the stands. The indirect beneficiaries are also the Chinese who spend in Chelsea fans. Just like Valencia back then, many enthusiastic Chelsea fans gave the Chinese a cost price.

However, the League Cup final was different from previous games. This time, the Chelsea fans in the stands hung two huge posters of Aiello: one was wearing a blue No. [-] jersey holding a caricature of Aiello leading Chelsea to seven trophies last season; students.

This has also become a beautiful landscape in the League Cup final.

※※※

As in previous games, Aiello squatted aside and joked with Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney before the game while picking up the ball.

And this scene also attracted the attention of the reporters on the scene. The two armies are at war, and the communication between the players who have private friendship before the game has always been a highlight of the game report.

It is worth mentioning that when it broke out that Liverpool coach Benitez fired his assistant after discovering that his assistant Ayestrom had a friendship with Mourinho, the "Daily Mirror" also made a joke with the complaining Mourinho. We all know the friendship between Aiello and Cristiano Ronaldo. Will he refuse to use Aiello because of the relationship between the two?

Mourinho at the time said insinuatingly: "Unless I have a brain problem."

The camera returns to the new Wembley Stadium, and the three of them chatted and hooked their shoulders on the sidelines until they were called by the team's fitness coach to return to their warm-up area and continue to warm up.

The game time was eight o'clock in the evening, around 07:30, and the players from both sides returned to their respective locker rooms.

In the pre-match draw, Chelsea got the home lottery, while Manchester United became the visiting team. However, because the colors of the home jerseys of the two teams did not conflict, Manchester United wore their traditional red jerseys with the permission of the organizing committee before the League Cup final.

So this is another blue-red war rather than a blue-white war.

As Mike Phelan closed the locker room door tightly, the sound from the field stopped abruptly, and all the players focused on Ferguson. They all knew that the old Scottish man would definitely have a lot to explain before the game.

Ferguson chewed gum and looked at the team's top star, Cristiano Ronaldo, and said meaningfully: "Cristiano, you have to shoulder more responsibilities in this game, so I will push you to the front line to partner with Wayne. We have lost to Chelsea in the past two games this season, so we must win this game, right? I believe you think so too."

Everyone looked to Cristiano Ronaldo. As the team's well-deserved top star and top scorer, he should naturally shoulder equal responsibilities in games related to the championship.

Rooney also looked forward to his friend Cristiano Ronaldo, but his eyes were complicated.

From the beginning of the 2006-2007 season, he had to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the team to help his friend Cristiano Ronaldo. He is not a saint, and sometimes he would be jealous and complain, but many times he had to swallow his anger. He didn’t want to lose to Aiello again in the League Cup final, so he wanted to see his friend’s answer.

Cristiano Ronaldo looked up and glanced at all his teammates, then looked at his mentor Ferguson, and nodded fiercely: "I will definitely!"

Rooney and Ferguson nodded at the same time.

Immediately, Ferguson focused on explaining Ai Luo's defense. Even though he had said it countless times before the game, for him now, restricting Ai Luo in the game is the most important part of the final.

The atmosphere in the locker room of the home team seemed more relaxed. Mourinho explained in an orderly manner what might happen in the first half and how to deal with it.

Of course, the more important thing is to tell the team's defense line not to be distracted.

The final is a decisive game, as long as there is a slight mistake, the championship will be missed.

At the same time, the frontcourt players are also required to seize the opportunity and try not to let the League Cup final go into overtime when there are double matches for a week. Otherwise, the physical consumption of the players will be very serious, and the chances of injury will be increased. Players who are over 20 years old, such as Carvalho, Ballack and Drogba, naturally cannot recover their physical fitness compared to young people in their [-]s.

So try your best to solve the battle in 10 to [-] minutes!

※※※

In this 2008-2009 English League Cup final match, the two sides offered the strongest lineup they could send.

Chelsea's goalkeeper is Cech, the four defenders are Ashley Cole, Terry, Carvalho and Bosingwa, the midfielders are Essien, Lampard and Ballack, and the forwards are Aiello, Drogba and Anelka.

Manchester United's goalkeeper is still Van der Sar, the four defenders are Evra, Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and O'Shea, the midfielders are Park Ji-sung, Scholes, Carrick and Nani, and the forwards are Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

The two teams have played against each other seven times in the past two seasons. Chelsea has the absolute upper hand with five wins, one draw and one loss. This game is the eighth time the two teams have met in the past two seasons.

The fans in the stands are clearly separated, half red and half blue, with only a small patch of variegated colors, representing neutral fans.

After the start of the game, the progress of the game was beyond everyone's expectations. After kick-off, Manchester United used continuous passes to enter Chelsea's 30-meter defensive area. Cristiano Ronaldo used Rooney's cover to pass the ball away from Essien's defensive range.

"Beautiful! Cristiano Ronaldo's first shot in the opening game was extremely threatening! If Cech's reaction was not fast enough, then Chelsea would have fallen behind in the new Wembley Stadium in less than 1 minute of the opening!!"

Before Lineker had time to report the lineups of the two teams, he had to explain the shocking process of the game.

After 1 minute, Chelsea made consecutive passes in the midfield. Carrick and Scholes, the central midfielder combination, were mobilized to run back and forth, but there was nothing they could do.

Soon... the football reached Aiello's feet, which immediately attracted the attention of Carrick and Nani, but Ailuo suddenly swung his right foot about 32 meters away from the door before the two arrived.

The right instep hit the football firmly.

"—Ai, shoot!"

Van der Sar's pupils shrank sharply, and his body instinctively made a sideways pounce, blocking the ball very thrillingly, and the football was slightly higher than the crossbar and hung above the net.

Originally, everyone thought that this confrontation between the two sides of the game would be a test attack from each other, but what they didn't expect was that the core players of the two teams directly came to a confrontation, which completely raised the rhythm of the game!
(End of this chapter)