The Legendary Chairman Novel - Chapter 1116
1116 A Familiar and Unfamiliar Place
Leeds United face Liverpool, Everton and Middlesbrough in the last three Premier League matches.
These three teams were only slightly easier to deal with than the Middlesbrough team. The other two teams were not easy to deal with. More importantly, Leeds United are facing Liverpool just after their clash with Barcelona. This is a very, very bad thing.
Looks like Leeds United are having a hard time overtaking Arsenal.
However, it wasn’t all bad news for Leeds United. There was some good news.
Arsenal’s last three matches were against Chelsea, Manchester United and Stoke City, three opponents far more difficult to deal with than the three opponents of Billies United. Of course, it was mainly Chelsea and Manchester United. Both teams were trying their best to win the Premier League. It was clear that they were going to fight Arsenal head-on, so Leeds United still had a chance to beat Arsenal.
The competition in the top four of the league is really too fierce.
The Premier League title race is also fierce and Manchester United are three points ahead of Liverpool at the top of the table. And Liverpool are three points ahead of Chelsea, all three of whom are holding back their chances of winning the Premier League next year.
In the last three matches, Manchester United’s opponents were Manchester City, Arsenal and Hull City. To be honest, the schedule was not easy, and Manchester City and Arsenal were not easy to deal with. Hull City was relatively easy.
Liverpool’s last three matches were against Leeds United, West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur. This schedule was obviously not that easy to deal with. Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur were both very strong and could overturn Liverpool. Liverpool would have a difficult time winning the title.
Chelsea face Arsenal, Blackburn and Sunderland in the last three rounds, the easiest of the top five so far. They can easily win three consecutive games just by crossing the Arsenal barrier.
So the top three have a chance of winning the Premier League.
Who will win the Premier League this season is hard to say!
The Premier League title race this season has been too fierce. Unfortunately, Leeds United have long since faded out of the race to win the Premier League title and have been denied the unprecedented title for four consecutive years.
Of course, Leeds United have not focused on the Premier League this season. Leeds United’s main goal is the Champions League. Now, Leeds United were getting closer and closer to Zhong Cheng’s goal. Now, they only needed to cross the Barcelona barrier before they could advance to the final.
Now Zhong is leading the Leeds United players to prepare for the upcoming Champions League semi-final second leg. At this moment, Guardiola was leading the Barcelona players to Leeds United to face Leeds United away.
Countless media reporters rushed to the hotel in Barcelona. They were all interviewing people from Barcelona, especially Peeker!
Peeker is revisiting the same place. He has a glorious past with Leeds United!
Pique has a very, very high status in the hearts of Leeds United fans. Now everyone wants to know how Pique is doing in Barcelona?
To be honest, Leeds United fans still miss Pique!
If Barcelona hadn’t taken a fancy to Pique, he would still be a central defender for Leeds United. Unfortunately, Barcelona could not reject Pique’s summons. In the end, Pique chose to leave Leeds United and join Barcelona.
To tell the truth, the Leeds United fans are feeling very uncomfortable right now.
Leeds United fans are unhappy with Barcelona and some even hate Barcelona for stealing their defensive jaws.
Now that Leeds United have finally played Barcelona, the Leeds fans are hoping that the team can teach Barcelona a a lesson and let Barcelona know how powerful the Leeds United are. This is something Barcelona can’t compare to!
Yes, now Leeds United fans want to let out a sigh of relief and get sick of Barcelona.
Media reporters are now interviewing Barcelona coach Guardiola, Guardiola said: “Obviously, Leeds United is a very strong team, especially their defense, so coming to Barcelona is a very big test for us.” But what I want to say is that Barcelona have to score in this game, otherwise we will be eliminated, this is absolutely not allowed to happen!
Barcelona is clearly here for the final victory.
Barcelona are now aiming to advance to the Champions League final of the season and they have a little bit of a disdain for Leeds United.
Zhong Cheng didn’t really care about it now. The more they acted like this, the more advantageous it would be for Leeds United.
Guardiola added: “Of course I know that Gerrard used to play here. To be honest, I have to thank Mr. Loria. It was he who taught Gerrard so well and was able to be so strong at such a young age. Mr. Loria is really, really strong!”
Guardiola added: “If possible, I would like to bring Compani from Leeds United to Barcelona, so Compani can replace Puyol and become Gerrard’s best partner in the future. After all, the two of them played very well with Leeds United.”
Well, Guardiola is starting to dig.
Zhong Cheng could sense that Guardiola was not joking. He really wanted to take Kompani away. Zhong Cheng’s brows furrowed. This fellow was truly a good person who did not come.
Of course, Zhong Cheng felt that Kong Pani was not stupid, he would not choose to leave. At least at this time, he would not choose to leave. After all, Puyol could replace him for at least a year or two. If he were to move to Barcelona now, would he be on the bench?
Obviously, it would be better to stay at Leeds United and play in the first team than to go to Barcelona and sit on the bench.
Zhong Cheng wasn’t worried about Kompani. Guardiola’s attack was not destructive to Leeds United.
Guardiola finally stressed one point: “We will definitely win, we will definitely advance!”
Obviously, Guardiola was confident now.
Zhong Chengzhen doesn’t know what to say about this. Since you don’t have confidence, then I’ll see you in the competition!
Yes, Zhong Cheng did not give any interviews this time, making Leeds United look very mysterious.
Only on the day of the match did Zhong Cheng lead the Leeds United players to appear in front of everyone, which attracted the fans and media reporters’ frenzied pursuit. The media reporters all wanted to interview Zhong Cheng, so they knew what the Leeds United team had been doing these past few days. Did you prepare some secret weapon?
Zhong Cheng still did not give any interviews to the media reporters. Even in the routine interview before the match, Zhong Cheng said indifferently, “We will definitely go all out in this match!”
Then, Zhong Cheng kept his mouth shut and didn’t say anything.
This made the reporters’ hearts itch. What exactly was Leeds United doing?
At this time, Guardiola probably couldn’t sit still. He also wanted to know what Zhong Cheng was up to, right?
Unfortunately, neither Guardiola nor the reporters knew what Zhong Cheng was doing.
In this match, there were a lot of people present. The Crown Stadium, which could accommodate 60,000 fans, was really packed today. Many Leeds United fans came from far away. Many came from the easternmost, southernmost, and back of Yorkshire to watch the game at Crown Stadium.
The Leeds United fans were all wearing white shirts and waving their Leeds United flags to cheer for the Leeds United players.
Leeds United fans are looking forward to the game, hoping they can beat Barcelona to advance to the Champions League final. Leeds United fans have been waiting a long time for this day.
Leeds United fans cheered for their players by singing Leeds United’s team song.
At this moment, the Leeds United players entered the stadium under the lead of the referee. The players from both sides walked out and the match was about to begin.
“Alright, now let’s introduce the starting lineup of both sides!” Eddie Gray said.
The starting lineup for today is as follows:
Visiting team: Barcelona, head coach: Guardiola, formation: 4-3-3
Goalkeeper: Valdes
Fourth Guards “Left to Right”: Eric Abidal, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol and Danny Alves
Three midfielders “from left to right”: Andres Iniesta, Rafael Marquez and Xavi
Three strikers “from left to right”: Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o and Leo Messi
This is Barcelona’s starting lineup for today. This is one of Barcelona’s more common lineups this season. Of course, Guardiola did not only use this lineup throughout the season, he also used the 4-4-2 formation many times. Today, he used an offensive formation and sent out a lot of attackers. It was clear that they were going to fight Leeds United to the death.
This was also the first time Pique had returned from the Leeds United Fire to face Leeds United. This was also the first time Pique had arrived at Leeds United’s new home, the Crown Stadium.
To tell the truth, when he saw this home court, Peeker felt as if he was in a dream.
The stadium was much better than the Elland Road Stadium. Pique was a little regretful that he had not played as a Leeds United player in this match. Pique also knows that this wish will not come true in his lifetime because he will play Barcelona until he retires.
Peeker’s heart was still very, very complicated!
“This is barcelona ‘s starting lineup. It’ s very offensive. Next we ‘re going to look at leeds united’ s starting lineup. Mark Lawrenson said immediately.
Home: Leeds United, Head Coach: Zhong Cheng, Formation: 4-2-3-1
Goalkeeper: Zhong Zheng
Four defenders “from left to right”: Ivanovic, Compani, David Louis and Lichtsteiner
Double waist: Sedu Keita and Yaya Touré
Three avant-garde “left to right”: Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo
Single forward: Diego Milito
Because one of Leeds United’s main strikers, Edison Cavani, was severely injured and his attackers were a bit tight, Zhong Cheng chose to change the formation, changing from a double striker to a single striker. In that case, the counterattack would be more direct and swift, because Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo would have more space. The threat posed by these two would increase exponentially. However, Diego Milito’s task was much heavier. He would even become a supporting character and become a permanent center.