green winger

Chapter 267

On December 12th, smoke filled the entire Elland Road Stadium, and all players and fans wrapped their arms in black veils. Although there was a brief moment of silence before the game, when the game started, an invisible sense of oppression surrounded everyone. player's heart.

Pass the ball, take the ball, and then pass the ball. What is unexpected is that the players on both sides played cautiously in this game. Even the usual dribbling moves in previous games rarely appeared, let alone tackles and the like.No one can tell whether it is harmony or tacit understanding, because at this moment the field and the stands are completely two worlds.

"Kimbom, Kimbom, Kimbom, the Lions on the pitch, the crowd on their feet, the fans rooting for you for 90 minutes, our love for the yellow and red knows no bounds. Once the team Won the championship and let's go crazy, feel crazy, feel crazy, feel crazy, crazy for Kim Boom! Lions on the pitch, crowd on their feet, fans rooting for you for 90 minutes, we're all for it There is no end to the love of yellow and red!"

As the song says, the Galatasaray fans are indeed crazy. Even if they are in an away game, even if they don’t score a goal, the momentum of the Galatasaray fans is enough to compete with nearly [-] Leeds United fans. Comparable.

In the second round of the UEFA Champions League group stage, Leeds United played against Turkish overlord Galatasaray at home.

If you insist on sending an order among the four teams in Group B, then I think Rome is first, Galatasaray is second, and the remaining two teams are Leeds United and Barcelona.Although in the history of the second round of the UEFA Champions League this season, Galatasaray was eliminated with five consecutive draws, but its strength can be said to be the best in Europe, with two 1:1 draws with Rome and 2: 2 draw with Barcelona can be called a classic.

As a player who has won 40 Turkish domestic championships, including 14 Turkish Super League titles, 13 Turkish Cup titles and 13 Turkish Super Cup titles, Galatasaray's number of championships has maintained the current Turkish domestic record .At the same time, Galatasaray is also one of the three clubs that have never been relegated since the establishment of the Turkish Super League in 1959, and the only club in Turkey that has won the league championship for four consecutive seasons.

But if it’s just this, it’s not worth ranking second. More importantly, Galatasaray won the Europa League and the European Super Cup in 2000, becoming the first team to win the intercontinental trophy. Turkey club.In the 1999-2000 season, the club completed the four-time feat of winning the Turkish Super League, Turkish Cup, Europa League, and European Super Cup at the same time, and remained unbeaten in all competitions in the Europa League that season.

Even Galatasaray is the only Turkish club that has ever been ranked No. [-] in the FIFA World Ranking by the Federation of Football History and Statistics.

Therefore, being able to win the sub-level European championship and win the Super Cup shows that Galatasaray is a strong club, but this is not the reason why the two teams played a little cautiously since the opening and couldn't let go. .As Leeds United's only overseas rival club, everything happened in April 2000. At that time, Leeds United had already shown a rising trend under the leadership of coach O'Reilly, but at the same time Latasaray is also in full swing.

Under such circumstances, the two teams met unexpectedly in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.

The process of the game does not need to be described too much. As one of the absolute protagonists in 2000, despite the best efforts of the Leeds United players, Galatasaray beat Leeds United in the first round. The battle ended with 10:2.It stands to reason that Leeds United, who were defeated in the first round, should learn from this painful experience, find ways to make up for their own shortcomings, and get rid of their shame in the second round, but when the game ended, some emotional fans of Leeds United quit.

They left a bar in central Istanbul in a street fight with local Galatasaray fans, resulting in the stabbing of two Leeds United supporters, 35-year-old Christopher- Loftus with 36-year-old father-of-two Kevin Speight.There was even a Leeds United fan named Paul Reteres who, after being stabbed in the stomach by a Turkish fan, still stubbornly yelled at the Turkish police who came to help: "Go away, don't go away." Help me!" But he was very lucky, the kind-hearted Turkish police were not angered by this, dragged him into the police car, sent him to the hospital, and finally let him survive, but at the same time there were at least three other A Leeds United fan has been stabbed.

Although the Turkish police quickly summoned five Turkish suspects after the incident and arrested one of the murderers, Ali-Umit Demir, on April 4, it is conceivable that such vicious incidents occurred in There was great shock throughout the world.

And this is especially true for Leeds United as the fan involved. Even if the Turkish Galatasaray team expressed condolences for the assassinated fans afterwards, what's the point of this! ?The beams between the two sides were thus forged.

Therefore, in this game, the players on both sides are tense. No one wants to be the next victim in the media. Even if they are members of the team, all players know that in such an atmosphere Once it is affected, it is easy to cause a situation that is out of control.No one dares to say that his body is made of iron, and no one dares to say that he is willing to ruin his career for such a fight.

The two strong teams played mediocrely throughout the first half, without the slightest bright spot. If I had to say it, whenever a Galatasaray player got the ball, the Elland Road Stadium would There were deafening hisses.The advantage in numbers makes the Galatasaray fans at a disadvantage in terms of voice alone.However, in the face of such a situation, the Galatasaray fans who were helpless at the beginning quickly came up with their so-called method-throwing a lot of garbage and objects into the stadium. There was a lot of interference, and Myers, who was about to take a throw-in, was almost injured by lighters all over the sky.

Seeing this scene, the coach O'Reilly standing on the sidelines was furious. As early as three days before the start of the game, he had already greeted the club in advance and asked the club to submit an application to UEFA. All kinds of unpleasant and vicious incidents have occurred, and I hope that Galatasaray fans can be banned from going to the UK to watch the game, so as to avoid another violent incident.You must know that this kind of application sounds unreasonable, but it is actually traceable.

As early as after the tragedy, the Leeds United Club had decided to ban Galatasaray fans from going to the UK to watch the game in the second round to avoid another violent incident, and the club chairman Ridsdale also informed UEFA of this decision .It’s just that the Turkish Galatasaray team not only expressed condolences to the fans who were assassinated, but also worried about the safety of their players going to England to play. So how can the English police ensure the safety of the players, so they suggest that the second round of the game be held in a third country in Europe.

But the current situation is that the Leeds United Club did submit an application as requested by O'Reilly, but UEFA did not agree, even if it was held in a third country, which made O'Reilly very distressed.He is very clear about the virtues of those well-known football hooligans. If the disputes and emotions of the fans on both sides affect the players and the game, then things will go to the other extreme. After all, Galatasaray is also on the list Famous ruthless man.

So after finally getting to the intermission, O'Reilly finally let out a long sigh of relief, hoping that the fans of both sides can relax the atmosphere in these ten minutes.Kenny was also sweating profusely at this moment. He didn't realize that his entire back was soaked until now. He sighed and looked around. It turned out that every teammate was facing such a situation.It seems that such a tense atmosphere is not only for myself who played against Galatasaray for the first time, but also for veteran players like Bowyer and Alan Smith who have experienced the tragedy in 2000.

Maybe it's because they have a more vivid memory of that scene.

However, in the second half, the players still have to face a more realistic problem, that is, this is a game after all. As time goes by, the score is still 0:0, and the players on both sides are a little anxious.In the first game, Galatasaray drew with Roma and scored a point, while Leeds United was even worse. They lost directly to Barcelona without scoring a point.

So if this situation continues, it is unacceptable for players on both sides. Who doesn't want to shake off the opponent as much as possible?So unconsciously, the movements among the players began to increase, and when Kewell was knocked down by a Galatasaray player during the offense, his emotions reached a critical point.

"Butchers, butchers, you're a bunch of butchers, you don't deserve football. 90 minutes the fans are rooting for you, 90 minutes later the butchers are rooting for you, and once the team wins the title, you're going crazy, excited Be a butcher, but we won’t be afraid!!” Obviously, the fans of Leeds United also did their homework early. After seeing their players being knocked down, they first uttered all kinds of curses, and then they sang overwhelmingly.

Hearing the behavior of his own fans, the chairman Ridsdale sitting in the box shook his head helplessly. He knew that if he was more serious, such a situation could even be sued by the opponent to UEFA for a fine.

(End of this chapter)