Xu Zhu's Successor's Football Journey

Chapter 358 The First Championship Trophy

The Cardiff Millennium Stadium is located in Cardiff, Wales. It is the national stadium of Wales and is mainly used for rugbunion events and the national main stadium for international rugby events.

This stadium used to be the largest stadium in the UK, capable of accommodating 74500 spectators, and has a retractable roof. One of the best.
Now, the most famous Wembley Stadium in England is being renovated, so this magnificent stadium is used as the stadium for the FA Cup final and the League Cup final, which greatly strengthens the popularity of the Millennium Stadium.

On February 2, the 27th English League Cup final was held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The opponents were of course Chelsea and Liverpool.

Yesterday, all Chelsea members came to Cardiff, Wales. Chelsea, from top to bottom, attached great importance to this game. This is the first championship that Chelsea is expected to win in many years. Mr. also came to the scene to watch the game, and cheered and encouraged the players in the locker room before the game.

The same is true for Liverpool. They have not been able to win the league championship for many years, and this former super giant is about to be reduced to a second-tier team. The entire Liverpool needs a championship trophy to give players more motivation and support the future of the team development of.

Before the game, Liverpool had just experienced a 'Gerrard storm'. Steven Gerrard publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the team in the media. He emphasized: "I like Liverpool very much, but as a As a professional player, I also want to win the championship. If Liverpool still can't have the championship this season, I will consider leaving in the summer transfer."

Gerrard's remarks caused an outrageous uproar, but no media made any accusations, and no fans declared that 'Gerrard is a traitor' and so on. They really understand this English hero who has been deeply marked by Liverpool.

As one of the top midfielders in the world, Gerrard has played for Liverpool for 8 years. During these 8 years, his performance has been very stable, but he only won the English Football Cup and the English League in the 00/01 season. Cup, UEFA Cup false triple crown, won the UEFA Super Cup in 01/02 and the English League Cup in 02/03.

Among these total champions, there is not a single league champion or Champions Cup champion, that is to say, all the champions have no gold content, which is really unacceptable for a strong professional player.If Liverpool still can't win any important championships this season, then Gerrard chooses to leave, and anyone can understand.

After Gerrard announced this passage, Mourinho immediately seized the opportunity and contacted Gerrard's agent, who said: "If Steven agrees to leave Liverpool, Chelsea will be considered first."

This has made Mourinho feel very comfortable recently, and he is looking forward to this final even more. He can't wait to promise Liverpool immediately, steal all their championships, and bring Steven Gerrard to Stamford Bridge. He is now I'm even thinking about how the 'Double Virtue Combination' should be applied on the field! !

All of the above have been hyped up by the English media. Before the start of the League Cup, this is definitely shocking news! !
As Chelsea's well-deserved No.1, Wang Li also said in an interview with reporters: "When I was in the England team, I played with Steven. He is very strong. If we can become teammates with him, It must be a good feeling and I welcome him."

All of these have given the League Cup final a deeper meaning. Many media reporters feel that this game may become a stage for Gerrard to show his strength for the new club before the transfer. The game is more suspenseful and entertaining.

However, very few media believe that Liverpool will win, because the gap between the two teams is too great. Apart from injuries, there is also an insurmountable gap between the two teams in terms of strength and record. It can be said that now The current Liverpool and Chelsea are basically two teams.

However, no one could have imagined that the game itself was very exciting.

Liverpool, who were underestimated, gained an advantage at the beginning.

Only 45 seconds into the game, central defender Luis Garcia passed the ball to Morientes on the right. The Spaniard encountered Chelsea's tight defense on the wing while dribbling the ball. In a melee, Garcia successfully broke through and made a pass. Paulo Ferreira made a mistake in defense. After receiving the ball, Gerrard turned around and volleyed with his left foot at the far corner 10 meters from the left side of the penalty area. Facing this shot, the starting goalkeeper Peter Ferreira Cech was helpless.

1:0! !
In less than a minute, Liverpool took the lead.

The goal came too fast, which made the fans in the audience a little unbelievable. After Liverpool scored, Benitez reacted very quickly. He immediately made adjustments, strengthened the team's defense, and started to play. Defensive counterattack.

Benitez's tactics were correct. Just after Liverpool scored a goal, Chelsea launched a continuous and violent attack! !

In this game, Wang Li served as a right midfielder. As a striker, his main task is of course to score goals. However, after Benitez made adjustments, Liverpool's morale was greatly boosted, and the right side was their defense. Focusing on the area, Wang Li failed to get any good chances throughout the first half, which made him realize that even Liverpool, which has been repeatedly defeated by Chelsea, exerts its full strength and is by no means easy to deal with.

Fortunately, Chelsea's efforts were not in vain. In the 77th minute, in order to get rid of the defenders, Wang Li moved from the center to the bottom line on the right and gave his teammates a chance.

Gerrard jumped high and tried to clear, but his clearance failed to be strong, which gave the starter Alkin Robben a chance, and the latter volleyed to equalize for Chelsea.

After that, the coach Benitez, who felt that the game was out of control, completely gave up his face, and he immediately arranged for the team to defend with all their strength, trying to drag the game to overtime.This tactic succeeded, facing the full defense of Liverpool's 11 players, even if Wang Li's footwork is outstanding, there is no good way.

However, after the start of overtime, Wang Li's greater advantage gradually emerged. Even when many players were unable to run, his physical fitness could still support long-distance attacks. Liverpool dribbled the ball in the hinterland and finally broke the deadlock for Chelsea with a long shot, and the score became 106:2.

Only 3 minutes later, it was still Wang Li, who was pulled down by Liverpool players at the front of the penalty area. Chelsea got a free kick in a good position.

Wang used his right foot to send a free kick. This kick was full of power, but due to the influence of the wall, the angle was not tricky, so the goalkeeper Dudek saved it, and Drogba reacted quickly. He followed closely Then, a vicious follow-up shot kicked the ball straight into the net.

3:1! !
From 0:1 to 3:1, from the opening lead to the current two goals behind.

Liverpool has gone through a process from joy to hope, from hope to loss, from loss to despair.

At the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the Blues fans were full of joy, while the Liverpool fans were in despair. The local Welsh fans who came to watch the game still favored Chelsea. Who made Chelsea's results this season so good! ?
As a result, the audience still burst into enthusiastic cheers, as if they were already celebrating the championship.

But the final score is not this.

Scoring two goals in a row in overtime is definitely a desperate thing, but the Liverpool people are extremely eager for the championship. Under the unity of the will, even if there is not much time in the game, Gerrard still took advantage of a header in the 113th minute. The ball brought back a victory for the team, but it was too late. In the end, Chelsea got their wish and beat Liverpool.

This game was thrilling, and the winner was not decided until the second half of overtime, which no one expected before the game, but in the end Chelsea got their wish and won the League Cup championship trophy, and Wang Li also won his first prize. a champion.

For Chelsea, this is the 10th championship title in club history and the first since Abramovich and European champion coach Mourinho took charge of Stamford Bridge, which is still very meaningful.

After the game, Wang Li and his teammates celebrated the victory. The whole team was overjoyed, and Mourinho became the protagonist of the team. Fans are treated like heroes.

However, Mourinho generously stepped forward to comfort the defeated Liverpool players this time. After that, Wang Li won the best player in the final again, and he also raised the silver trophy representing the championship on behalf of Chelsea.

However, this is just a League Cup, and this trophy is somewhat tasteless. Wang Li is not complacent about it. He knows that Chelsea and himself will chase more championships this season, and the journey has only just begun. The English League Cup is really nothing, the league championship and the European championship are the most important.
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Winning the English League Cup can be regarded as a good start for Chelsea. For this season's championship road, although the game process is a bit dangerous, it is indeed a good start.

However, many non-Blue support media in England began to laugh at it. They kept mocking Chelsea for being happy just because they won the English League Cup. Jun is just a nouveau riche, and he only won 10 championships in a century to satirize Chelsea.

In fact, whether it is the English media or the fans, it is very clear that the League Cup has now become one of the tasteless trophies that the English Premier League team can get. If it is better than the Charity Shield and other trophies, it is only It is just a matter of qualifying for the UEFA Cup qualifiers, but for top teams like Chelsea and Manchester United, they can directly enter the Champions League with their results in the league. Qualifying for the UEFA Cup is meaningless at all. The World Cup is indeed a bit tasteless, at most it is just a relatively high-quality warm-up match. Even though Chelsea has put a lot of energy into this event, the fans don't think it is meaningful.

In England, the most valuable trophies are the league champions and Champions League champions, and for England fans, the most historic trophy is the FA Cup.

As for the English League Cup, it can only be a lottery. For example, after Chelsea has won the league championship and the Champions League, the media can boast that "the Blues have established a great cause of treble". It was said as an extra, and if Chelsea only won one League Cup this season, then the media would naturally ignore this championship, saying bluntly, 'This is a fruitless season, Chelsea failed very much'.

This is the true and realistic meaning of the English League Cup.

Not only that, after Chelsea showed a non-refuting attitude, many media focused their attention on the game process. They believed that Chelsea did not achieve a repressive victory, but just got lucky to win the championship. Getting the 'Quadruple Crown' is like a daydream! !

Wang Li's performance was also criticized by many media. Since he didn't score in the first 90 minutes, the "Guardian" even directly stated that "Alan's bravery has come to an end, and his super performance will soon return to the mean."

As for the game, Liverpool's brave performance in defense? ? ?

They don't care.

"It can be seen from this game that after halfway through the league, Chelsea's performance has become increasingly unsatisfactory. Although they won the final championship, the whole process was very thrilling. Maybe they can beat Liverpool. More But it was just luck. The young player Alan Wang did not perform well, and his attack in 106 minutes was not enough to prove his strength.” ——A report from The Guardian.

In the front, when the media ridiculed Chelsea as an upstart, Chelsea did not make any official statement, and the head coach Mourinho wanted to regard this as the motivation for the players to strive for more victories. Nouveau riche, defeating giants to win more championships, isn't it just a legendary road to great football! ?
However, the media later began to satirize the game process and attack without any basis, which directly annoyed Mourinho! !

As the head coach of Chelsea, Mourinho's temper is not very good. Although it is true that Chelsea have few championships in history, Mourinho hopes to win more championships this season. To boost the morale of the players, and use the media's criticism as a motivation to fight for the championship.However, now those media brought the topic to the game itself, which made him unacceptable.

In any case, Chelsea's performance is definitely not bad! !
In the whole process of winning the championship, the team defeated a mid-level Premier League team like Newcastle, and defeated a Premier League giant team like Manchester United, and finally won the championship with Liverpool. If it is said that the League Cup is tasteless, Murray Neo agreed too, as the tournament offered Chelsea nothing but a commemorative trophy.But as far as the game itself is concerned, it is still very exciting, and the performance of the players is also very good.

Irony about trophies is fine, but irony about Chelsea's strength is unacceptable.

Originally happy to win a good mood to win a championship, being so disturbed by the English media, the whole Chelsea team felt aggrieved and angry! !
How can you swallow this breath? ? ?

Facts have proved that Chelsea is by no means a soft persimmon, and the Portuguese are definitely not easy to mess with. In the afternoon, the Chelsea club issued an official statement, saying that it refused to interview the following 12 media: "Guardian", "Manchester News", " British Football "…'.

"Our strength is limited, we can't play exciting games, and winning a League Cup is already surprising enough. It can only be said that our vision is still at the stage of 'upstarts', so those who look down on the League Cup trophy , and media reporters who don’t like Chelsea’s performance, Chelsea will not welcome you in the future.” In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Chelsea Club CEO Peter Kenyon said bluntly.

One stone can start a thousand waves! !
As soon as this official statement was issued, it was strongly resisted by the media. In addition to the media that fully supported Chelsea, even the neutral media began to oppose it. In their view, Chelsea’s approach was a declaration of war on the English media. Behavior! !

Even the "Times" said: "This approach is wrong. The development of modern football is inseparable from the press. Blatantly refusing interviews with many media will make Chelsea fall into an endless loop. Their players will not Famous, the club will not make money..."

and many more.

However, fans in London felt very boring after reading this report.

For Chelsea, as long as they win more than 3 championships this season, so what if all the English media refuse to report! ? ---they will be well-known too! !
As for the players will not be famous! ? ——Chelsea is not a small club, and they don't rely on buying and selling players to survive, and all the players in the first team were very famous before joining Chelsea.

Clubs don't make money! ? ---You can count on a club that loses more than 8000 million euros a year to make money! ?The Arabian Nights! !
In short, the reasons given by these media are completely invalid for Chelsea. Under such circumstances, Mourinho's extraordinary courage triggered a discussion battle within the English media in a blink of an eye. During the discussion, apart from the pure 'anti-Chelsea' faction like the "Guardian" who continued to work hard to attract allies, the media with interview rights nodded and ran to Chelsea, Blocked at the gate of the club waiting to find an interview target
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(End of this chapter)