Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

One day before the Champions League match, Sir Alex Ferguson announced the 20-man squad for the trip to Rome. As Manchester United had already secured the top spot in the group stage before the game, Sir Alex Ferguson surprisingly only retained a few main players in this game, and brought more substitutes and young players to Rome to feel the atmosphere of the game.

In this list, Chinese fans and media also discovered the long-lost Chinese player Dong Yuanchao!

In this list, there are five young players who have never played in the first team, including the reserve team's top scorer Brandy, the captain of the youth team Hewson, and Dong Yuanchao who has been in good form recently. Dong Yuanchao scored four goals in a row in the recent reserve team game, ending his goal drought of more than a year and showing good competitive form. His situation has attracted the attention of the reserve team coach.

After losing to Coventry in the League Cup, this game is also a godsend opportunity for young players such as Dong Yuanchao to prove themselves again.

Sir Alex Ferguson encouraged his young players to seize the opportunity like their predecessors before the game: "We have already won the first place in the group, and Roma has secured the second place in the group. This result has no impact. Our original idea was to give young players the opportunity to train in the League Cup, but they let themselves down in the match against Coventry. Now, Evans, Pique, Simpson, Eagles, Dong Yuanchao and others have the opportunity to evaluate themselves again, and we know their abilities. I don't have the habit of sending a team to lose deliberately. I will send a team that I think can win to the game!"

Among the players who started against Derby County in the last round of the league, only Rooney, Brown, Lizzie and Carrick boarded the flight to Rome. Many main players such as Ronaldo, Tevez, Giggs, Ferdinand and others were left in Manchester to rest; among them, Giggs also took advantage of the holiday on Tuesday to go to Buckingham Palace to receive the OBE medal of the British Empire.

With this lineup, Ferguson made a logical decision: Rooney would be given the captain's armband. Sir Alex joked: "He has been pestering me for a long time about the captain's armband, so this time I gave in."

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As one of the young players, Ricardo naturally also traveled with the team to Rome, and secretly summoned Liana to a meeting at a hotel in Rome!

Liana was specifically told to wear a female doctor's laboratory suit to the meeting in the hotel room, which is a white coat, a translucent silk white shirt, a one-step skirt, black stockings and high heels, plus black-framed glasses and so on... Julian was not willing to wear this suit to meet with B man Li, saying that there was a sense of separation and image conflict, but Liana was very cooperative.

Of course, there are still many things to cooperate with, and we can also talk about one or two serious matters, such as asking Liana to pay attention to the cryotherapy for athletes. After all, this is a meeting, and it would not be good to talk about everything outside the meeting...

So B man Li's new roommate, Dong Yuanchao, silently stayed alone in the empty room all night. B man Li already had a stereotype of Dong Yuanchao as a taciturn person, so he didn't feel any guilt. On the day of the competition, he finished the last morning meeting on time, returned to the room, met up with Dong Yuanchao, and went to the lobby to have breakfast and report.

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意大利当地时间2007年12月12日晚上20时45分，欧洲冠军杯F组开始最后1轮角逐，白衣黑裤的红魔曼联客场挑战红衣白裤的红狼罗马。

Manchester United and Roma had already secured their places in the knockout round and their seats were arranged before this round of matches, so the coaches of both teams seized the opportunity to train their players.

Spalletti used Esposito as right winger, while Baruso and Antunes made their Champions League debut, playing as defensive midfielder and left back respectively.

Roma's starting lineup was a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The goalkeeper is No. 32 Doni;

The back line from right to left is No. 3 Cicinho, No. 5 Mex, No. 21 Ferrari and No. 15 Antunes;

The double defensive midfielders are No. 29 Barusso and No. 7 Pizarro;

The three central midfielders are No. 18 Esposito, No. 30 Taddei and No. 30 Mancini;

The lone striker is captain Totti, number 10.

Sir Alex Ferguson sent young players such as Simpson, Pique, Evans and Eagles into the starting lineup. Despite this, there were still 8 international players in Manchester United's starting lineup. Rooney wore the captain's armband, the Polish player Kuszczak was in goal, and the Chinese striker Dong Yuanchao was sitting on the bench on standby.

Manchester United's standard parallel 4-4-2 formation is as follows:

The goalkeeper is 29 Kushchak;

The back line from right to left is No. 25 Simpson, No. 19 Peake, No. 23 Evans and No. 22 O'Shea;

中场4人组合从右往左是33号伊格尔斯、24号弗莱彻、16号卡里克与17号李奇；

The two strikers are the new captain No. 10 Rooney and No. 9 Saha. '

After the start of the game, both sides played very openly and fiercely. After all, neither side had any psychological pressure. The young players just wanted to try their best to show their abilities, create performances, and win opportunities to move up, while the older brothers of the first team just wanted to stabilize the situation and prevent the young players from breaking the situation and causing a bloodbath.

Although he played on the wing, Li Qi, who actually organized the midfield with Carrick, was such a first-line elder brother who was brought to the away game by Sir Alex Ferguson to stabilize the situation. Of course, in terms of age, he and Rooney are also young players, so they are the only ones who can be recruited.

However, Anderson, Ronaldo and Tevez are also young players, but Sir Alex thinks that Li Qi, who does not go to nightclubs, does not drink alcoholic beverages and has a high level of education, is more obedient and calm, so he decided to take Li Qi, who seems to be a good boy, instead of the three bad boys who look like delinquent youths.

As for why Rooney was brought in, it was because Sir Alex Ferguson believed that Manchester United, as the face of the Premier League, needed a captain with an English hukou, otherwise wouldn't it become Inter Milan? Of course, Carrick is also an English hukou, so Carrick is Plan B in case there is a winter melon tofu...

But this game was more intense than exciting, and less exciting or threatening. After all, the veteran players knew that this game was a stage for the young players and substitutes to perform, and they could not steal the show, otherwise they would be hated by the younger players, except for a young man who thought he was also a young player. Well, I'm talking about the new Red Devils captain Luke Shaw, who frequently shot from 20 yards out...

Li Qike was very conscious of staying near the midfield, constantly passing the ball to the boys, and from time to time assisting in defense and interfering with Totti and Mancini Jr. who also had their own ideas in mind.

So both sides basically had young players charging at each other, with a lot of straight-forward, high-tempo confrontations, but not many changes in rhythm and threatening attacks, and the two sides played very lively back and forth.

However, although Roma had the advantage of home court, Manchester United, with 8 international players, still had some technical and speed advantages, so Manchester United began to get corner kicks continuously after the 20th minute. After all, if they couldn't score from the front, they would be blocked and destroyed to get corner kicks.

And when Li Qi took the team's eighth corner kick from the left side in the 34th minute, Manchester United finally took advantage of the chaos to break the deadlock!

The one who scored this time was Pique, whose trauma was healed by the Magic Quartet. Pique jumped high in the crowd in the small penalty area and touched the high-speed arc ball kicked by Li Qi 7 yards in front of the goal. The ball changed direction and was headed into the far corner of the goal! Manchester United 1-0!

After scoring his first goal in his Champions League debut, Pique continued his scoring performance in the second Champions League game. He scored a goal in his first appearance in European competitions this season, which was also his second goal in his Manchester United career!

After scoring the goal, Pique and Li Qi, who assisted with the corner kick, came to the Manchester United fans to celebrate. There were about 1200 Manchester United fans who came to Rome to cheer for the team. Li Qi also celebrated with Pique in this way on purpose. Originally, Pique wanted to play guitar with Li Qi, but Li Qi interrupted him and came to the fans with his arm around his arm...

Li Qi's secret plan in his mind was: Damn it, you are not a member of the Magic Quartet, I have to correct you and let everyone notice which four people can play the musical instruments!

Roma, who were lagging behind, naturally seemed unwilling to surrender at home, so they started to play the game more seriously and devotedly, and almost equalized the score after 3 minutes.

Cicinho made a diagonal pass from the right, Totti received the ball and Cruyff turned around and dribbled past the young Simpson who was trying to steal the ball too aggressively; then Totti followed up with a light poke and sent the ball through the legs of Pique, who scored the goal; the latter was complacent again and committed the big taboo of defenders not to steal the ball too aggressively!

Mancini Jr. made a high-speed run next to Pique, followed up from the left side of the penalty area, and shot with his left foot less than 10 yards away from the goal!

The ball whizzed past Kuszczak's face, but luckily hit the junction of the far post and the crossbar, and bounced back into the penalty area with a bang. Esposito followed up and headed the ball high from 5 meters in front of the goal under the interference of Li Qi who returned to defense!

Roma made several more attempts in the first half, but all of them were saved by Kuszczak, including Totti's long-range shot, Barusso's direct free kick, and Mancini's shot in the penalty area. Manchester United entered the halftime break with a score of 1-0.

In the second half, Roma made the first personnel adjustment, first replacing Taddei with De Rossi; then 10 minutes later, Roma sent Vucinic and Giuly to replace young players Esposito and Barusso; Spalletti began to replace the main players, trying to tie the score at home and save face!

Not long after, Sir Alex also made a substitution, replacing Lizzie with Wes Brown, letting O'Shea play as left midfielder, and began to shrink the defense to save strength for the weekend's Reds derby with Liverpool!

When Rooney sent another clever through ball in the 68th minute, Saha's shot from the penalty spot missed the target, and the new captain of the Red Devils, who had enjoyed the captain's role, was also substituted. The player who replaced Rooney was Dong Yuanchao, who was longed for by Chinese fans! The one who took over the captain's armband was Sir Alex Ferguson's coin, Carrick.

As Dong Yuanchao stepped onto the grass of the Olympic Stadium in Rome, the second Chinese player to appear in the Champions League finals was finally born! Oh no, he appeared!

However, less than a minute after Dong Yuanchao came on the pitch, before he even touched the ball, Roma equalized the score in the 1st minute. Vucinic, who also came on as a substitute, provided a key assist. After finding a good opportunity to break through on the right side of Manchester United's penalty area, he avoided Evans' entanglement and decisively knocked the ball to the left.

Mancini cut into the middle, stopped the ball and dodged Pique's diving effort, then shot the ball into the lower right corner of the goal with his right foot from 13 meters in front of the goal, piercing Kuszczak's fingers and scoring! Roma 1-1 Manchester United!

Of course, this goal had nothing to do with Dong Yuanchao, who had just come on as a substitute. It was just a coincidence that the timing was not right, as Roma's offensive climax was just around the corner. However, Dong Yuanchao's first chance to show his ability was 10 minutes later. In the 81st minute of the game, Dong Yuanchao got his first chance to touch the ball, but his attempt to get the ball from the right rib and cut into the penalty area was blocked by Roma's left back Antunes.

In the last few minutes of the game, Dong Yuanchao still found a few opportunities to show his ability, but in the end he failed to make a shot. After equalizing the score, Roma seemed to have lost their spirit and spirit and failed to create any new threats.

The two sides finally shook hands and agreed to a 1-1 draw, and Manchester United still failed to become the first English team to win all the group matches.

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At the press conference after the game, Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson said he was very satisfied with the final result of the game, especially since this Manchester United team, which was mainly composed of young players, was once ahead of Roma: "We have a lot of young players in this game, but we performed well. I am very happy about this. Facing stronger opponents, our young players performed very well."

For Manchester United, a 1-1 draw is definitely an acceptable result. You know, the Apennine Peninsula is definitely Manchester United's hell. The Red Devils have only won here twice in history. Before the game, the old Sir Alex Ferguson was worried that the Romans would be eager for revenge and that Manchester United's second team, which was mainly composed of young people, would suffer humiliation. Fortunately, his worries did not come true in the end.

Sir Alex Ferguson also admitted that the main players were rotated a lot in this game in order to save energy for the Premier League giants dialogue with Liverpool on Sunday: "We have a very important game on Sunday, so some players stayed in Manchester. They did not slack off, but completed the training session very well."

The Premier League will usher in "Super Sunday" this weekend, and the four giants Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool will fight against each other!

Currently, the traditional top four teams in the Premier League are very close in strength and form, and the competition for the championship is unprecedentedly fierce.

In the last round of the league, Arsenal and Liverpool's unbeaten records were both broken by weak teams, but in the Champions League group stage in the middle of the week, the two winners among the Premier League's top four were also the Gunners and the Reds, especially the latter's easy 4-4 away win over Marseille in a life-and-death battle, which was the most encouraging.

This Sunday, the two clubs will play at home against their rivals Chelsea and Manchester United respectively. One of them is a London derby, and the other is a traditional English derby! This "Super Sunday" is a six-point battle for both clubs.

However, Sir Alex Ferguson also had something to worry about before Super Sunday. It was about Manchester United's right-back position. Old captain Gary Neville's ankle injury recurred after nine months of treatment, and his return schedule had to be postponed again.

When Gary Neville was injured, Wes Brown, who had always been the main right-back, posed a problem for Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of contract renewal!

Wes Brown, whose contract expires next summer, has been deadlocked in the renewal negotiations for two or three months. Although Sir Alex Ferguson said that Brown's contract will remain valid, as long as the England right-back signs, all the troubles can be settled.

But Wes Brown himself has always had an unclear attitude. On the one hand, his agent encouraged him to ask for a high price. On the other hand, this Manchester United youth training talent who played as a substitute for 11 years in Manchester United has already had the idea of ​​changing teams to become a main player.

Coincidentally, when Wes Brown is leaving, there is already a team that wants to take over. According to a famous British tabloid, Sunderland head coach Keane has already told Sir Alex Ferguson that if Wes Brown leaves, he hopes to be sold to Sunderland first. For this, the "Black Cats" are willing to offer a transfer fee of no less than 800 million pounds.

At the same time, Newcastle also has their eyes on Wes Brown. Allardyce wants to reorganize the defense and is very eager to get the versatile player from Manchester United, and the Magpies are also willing to pay a high price for him.

In addition, the 32-year-old veteran Saha, who has been suffering from injuries and has not been able to recover his form, may also leave the team.

But Sir Alex Ferguson could not care less about that for the time being. After all, three days after returning from Rome, on the afternoon of December 3, the focus battle of the 12th round of the 16/07 English Premier League, the first round of the Red Derby between Manchester United and Liverpool this season will be contested at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium!

Liverpool has failed to beat Manchester United in the league home games in the past five seasons, losing four of them, and the Reds only beat the Red Devils in two cup matches at Anfield. Last season, Manchester United played a classic game at Anfield, with 5 players winning against 4 players away from home: Although Scholes was sent off before the end of the game, O'Shea scored the winning goal in stoppage time, helping Manchester United to escape with 2 points!

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