Glory Greenery

Chapter 383 The Power of Money
After defeating Benfica in the Champions League, Manchester City rushed back to the UK again non-stop.

Drawn by Chelsea, Manchester City are two points behind Manchester United in the standings.

After the previous Stoke City game ended, the Premier League officially entered the final sprint stage, because now there are only eight games left before the end of the Premier League this season.

The eight-goal victory between the Champions League and Benfica not only allowed Yang Mo to regain the top scorer list of the Champions League from Messi with 13 goals in one fell swoop, but also gave Manchester City a chance to win and no longer need to be distracted by the quarter-finals of the Champions League. In the second round, you can focus on the league.

After returning to the UK, Manchester City took a simple rest and entered the training preparations for the league.

On April 4nd, the No.2 league game in the Premier League, which is also the penultimate eighth game of the Premier League this season, Manchester City will play against Sunderland at home.

After the midwifery match with Sanden Land, on April 4, Manchester City will usher in the second round of the Champions League quarter-finals with Benfica.

However, because Sunderland ranked mid-range and Benfica fell behind by seven goals in the first round, Manchester City did not regard them as the most important opponent, because the next step is the real test for Manchester City.

Immediately after the end of this game, when the time comes on April 4, Manchester City will go to London for the second round of the Premier League No.

Before the No.30 six rounds of the league directly played against Manchester United, if Manchester City wanted to continue to take the initiative to win the league championship in their own hands, they had to ensure that they could not lose a game in the previous league.

Therefore, after this series of games, they will challenge the Gunners away to the league, and there must be no loss.

For most of the time in training, Manchester City put the main opponent on the next round of league opponents Arsenal. For Sunderland and Benfica, the feeling of Manchester City's team is as the outside world thinks that Sunderland is impossible What threat to them.

However, when it came to April 4nd, when the home game with Sunderland was over, everyone was dumbfounded looking at the 2-3 score on the scoreboard.

"In this game, Manchester City's defense was too disappointing! Sunderland's No. 7 player, Larsson, used the same method to catch the ball in the penalty area twice in a row to complete the shot!"

"Although I don't know what's going on in Manchester City's game, but from the performance of the game, they obviously lacked preparation for this game, and their tactical performance was very arrogant and arrogant!"

"Although Yang Mo worked very hard in the game, and even completed the sixth hat-trick in the league, surpassing Alan Shearer's record of five goals with three goals or more in a single season, Yang Mo's efforts alone obviously cannot change the future. Defensive issues."

"And the worst thing is that Kompany, who has just returned from injury in this game, and Aguero, who has been playing steadily for a short time, all suffered injuries, and it is very likely that they will not be able to play in the Champions League and against Arsenal."

"In this round of Manchester United's away game against Blackburn, Manchester United defeated Blackburn with two goals, raising the points to 76 points and directly leading Manchester City by 4 points in the standings."

"In this case, with only 7 rounds left in the league, even if Manchester City beat Manchester United in a direct match with Manchester United, they will not be able to overtake the score."

"Similar to the first half of the league, Manchester United has no strong opponents to fight except Manchester City, and Manchester City has to face Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle and other strong teams successively."

"The most important thing is that Manchester City still has the energy involved in the Champions League, while Manchester United, who are out of the Champions League, can concentrate on the league."

"Hey... Manchester City's championship situation is not optimistic."

After the game, Zhan Jun summed up with a sigh, which can be regarded as a thorough explanation of the difficulties Manchester City is facing now.

Losing this game that shouldn't be lost, Manchester City's dream of winning the championship fell into a quagmire in an instant.

At the press conference after the game, Yang Mo was quite helpless in the face of the reporters' frantic questioning.

"It was a bad night, everything sucked, our opponents tried their best, we didn't do our best, we let down the fans who came to cheer us on."

As soon as Yang Mo said this, some reporters with ulterior motives immediately asked: "Yang, you said you didn't do your best, are you referring to certain teammates?"

Having debuted for several years, Yang Mo is no longer a rookie at the beginning, and immediately heard the trap in the reporter's words.

With these ill-intentioned plans, I hope that he will speak ill of his teammates, so that some serious news will come out.

However, although Yang Mo was dissatisfied with the performance of some teammates in the team, especially Kolo Toure, who started the game, the state of the game was simply terrible. Sunderland No. 7 player Larson scored twice. The goals were all scored from Kolo Toure.

Fortunately, after the start of the second half, Mancini replaced Lescott in time, otherwise the game would not have been a draw, but a loss.

But even though he was dissatisfied, Yang Mo didn't want to vent his dissatisfaction in public, because he knew that such an approach was extremely naive, and apart from making the reporter happy, it would have no effect on solving the matter itself.

"Losing is never caused by one person. If I have to talk about one person, I think..."

When Yang Mo said this, the reporter thought that Yang Mo was going to reveal the name of a certain Manchester City player, so his eyes widened a lot, waiting for Yang Mo to say that name.

But what Yang Mo said next disappointed all the media reporters.

"I think this person should be me. If I can score one more goal, then the game will not be lost."

"At this most critical moment, I didn't do my best, I..."

The reporter was not interested in listening to Yang Mo's behind-the-scenes talk.

You are only 21 years old, you are so slick and mature, and you asked us not to interview, the reporter expressed his displeasure.

Amid the resentment of the majority of reporters, the press conference ended like this.

After the game, although the whole team of Manchester City seemed dignified because of the game being tied, but because of the tight game time, Manchester City did not solve this problem in the team at the first time.

Just four days later, at the Etihad Airways Stadium, the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Benfica began again.

In this game, because Manchester City has seven away goals, no one thinks that Manchester City will be upset.

After the game, the result was as everyone expected, Manchester City successfully advanced.

But although Manchester City advanced, but this game, Manchester City won very ugly.

I don't know whether it was the haze brought about by the draw in the last game, or the players' momentum has been exhausted by the end of the season. In this game, Manchester City did not have the momentum of the seven-goal massacre in the first round.

Kompany was injured, and Kolo Touré and Lescott were the starting central defenders. As a result, Kolo Touré, who performed poorly in the last game, made another mistake and allowed Benfica to score a goal.

As for Manchester City's striker, Mancini arranged for Yang Mo and Balotelli to start. As a result, Yang Mo played normally, but the other players were completely lost.

Throughout the game, Yang Mo was strictly guarded by Benfica, but still scored a goal with his personal strength.

But when Benfica devoted most of their defensive power to him, neither Balotelli nor Dzeko, who came off the bench later, failed to seize the opportunity to create a goal.

In the end, the game against Benfica ended 1-1.

Although Manchester City advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League by virtue of the total score, the game revealed that the morale of the Manchester City team has plummeted since the last game.

After the game, the entire Manchester City team finally realized that the low atmosphere in the team must be resolved immediately, otherwise there will be big problems in the subsequent leagues.

In addition to the league, there is a more difficult Champions League waiting for them.

When all the matches in the quarter-finals of the Champions League are over, all four teams in the semi-finals are also released, and there are no weak teams in the semi-finals.

In the first half, Bayern defeated Marseille in two rounds without any surprise, while Barcelona won AC Milan in two rounds.

Last season, under the leadership of Yang Mo, Bayern was eliminated by Barcelona after struggling to reach the semi-finals.

This season, Yang Mo left Bayern to join Manchester City. Unexpectedly, Bayern met Barcelona again in the semi-finals.

This time, the Youngberry combination that made the whole of Europe frightened has become the Robery combination.

Whether Bayern, who lost Yang Mo, can complete their revenge and pass through Barcelona to enter the final is the biggest highlight of the semi-finals in the upper half of the Champions League.

In the lower half, it is needless to say that Manchester City advanced to the semi-finals, but in the other match between Chelsea and Real Madrid, Real Madrid finally won!

Chelsea defeated Real Madrid 2-1 in the first round. After returning to the Bernabeu home court, Real Madrid entered the semi-finals by relying on the advantage of away goals with Ronaldo's 83-minute goal.

So far, among the semi-finals of the Champions League, only Manchester City is left in the Premier League, Bayern is the only team in the Bundesliga, and La Liga has two teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

For a while, the Spanish media once again shouted that La Liga is the first league in Europe, while the unconvinced British media tried to refute it, and the two sides were in a melee.

However, despite the noise outside, as one of the top four, Manchester City, the only remaining player in the Premier League, is worrying about their own problems recently.

The Champions League is still far away, but the game against Arsenal is about to start.

Although Mansour and Mubarak were very dissatisfied with Mancini in their hearts, they knew that if they wanted to change the atmosphere in the team and boost the morale of the players, they had to discuss with Mancini.

"Mr. Chairman, I think no matter what the results of this season are, we must consider the summer signings in advance, especially the central defender position."

In the Manchester City chairman's office, Mancini first told Mubarak the first thought in his mind.

Now that Manchester City has Yang Mo in the frontcourt, Silva's organizational skills and Yang Mo's understanding have gradually become tacit, but there is no need for too many changes.

But on the defensive line, especially in the central defender position, Kompany is fairly stable, but Kolo Toure is no longer the Kolo Toure who was originally at Arsenal.

This season, Kolo Toure is in a very worrying state after returning from the suspension, otherwise Mancini would not have let Lescott and Kompany start together.

"Mr. Mancini, if you have a target you are interested in, you can report it to the club for operation. However, our biggest difficulty now is not signing in, but solving the current problem."

"In these few games, the state of the players is very wrong. We must make changes immediately! I hope you can give some reliable suggestions."

After Mubarak finished speaking, Mancini immediately fell into deep thought.

He is not a coach who is good at boosting the morale of players. Besides, at this point in the season, it is obvious that words alone cannot cheer up players.

For a team like Manchester City that is full of mercenaries, it is obviously better to use another thing, something that Manchester City does not lack.

That is, money!
Mancini: "Mr. Chairman, I thought of this time. It's time for you to discuss with Mr. Mansour and formulate a monetary reward plan for winning a season."

Mubarak is a smart man, his eyes lit up immediately after hearing what Mancini said, and he understood what he should do.

On April 4, just the day before the game between Manchester City and Arsenal, Manchester City held a player mobilization meeting.

In this mobilization meeting, Mansur, the big boss of Manchester City, appeared in person and announced a reward plan for winning this season.

As long as Manchester City can win the league championship or the Champions League, the players will get a lot of cash rewards. If they can win the double crown, the cash rewards will be even more exaggerated.

After the mobilization meeting, from the excited eyes of the Manchester City players, it is not difficult to guess how much the money is.

In fact, even Yang Mo, who was not badly short of money, couldn't help throbbing when he heard the figures announced by Mancini, thinking that Mansur really deserved to be a local tyrant.

"It seems to work well now, but I don't know if it will work."

After the mobilization meeting, Mubarak looked at the departing players with worry in his eyes.

But what Mubarak didn't know was that on the second day, the Manchester City players who went to London told him with practical actions that he underestimated the power of money.

When the away game against the Gunners Arsenal ended, reporters and fans looked at the 1-4 score on the field, and they didn't believe their eyes.

Is this still Manchester City, which suddenly lost morale and lacked major generals in the previous two games?

On the defensive line, Manchester City players played an iron-blooded defense. On the offensive end, although Aguero has not returned from injury and Dzeko failed to start, other midfielders have completely exploded.

Silva had one shot and two passes in this game, Nasri scored a goal, Yaya Toure scored a goal, Balotelli created an assist, and Yang Mo only scored a goal .

Under the collective explosion of Manchester City's midfield and frontcourt, Yang Mo's performance was completely covered up. In this game, Silva won the best of the game with his strong performance.

At the final press conference, Mancini also took Silva to attend at the request of Yang Mo.

The collective outburst of Manchester City's players was shocking to the outside world, and they couldn't figure it out at all.

Later, according to the news from an insider in Manchester City, everyone knew the truth of the matter.

What brought Manchester City back to life?money! "

After the victory, the Sun newspaper, which got the news, published this headline, making Mansour's coveted money reward plan public.

For a while, the news about Manchester City's victory over Arsenal was suppressed by the naked pound.

(End of this chapter)