Champions League.
The main event of the football world every year.
Apart from the major national-level tournaments like the World Cup, the European Championship, and the Copa América, the Champions League is the competition that fans and players value the most.
From the qualifying rounds to the final champion, the Champions League spans an entire season.
Of course, for teams from the world's biggest league, the Premier League, they don't need to play in the qualifiers. They just need to finish in the top four of the league to automatically qualify for the group stage, without having to play a playoff.
The round of 16 matchups were announced.
Without a doubt, the Liverpool VS Bayern match became the focus of all football fans in the world.
This was also the first time in history that Liverpool and Bayern had met in the knockout stage.
There was a reason why fans were so looking forward to this match.
After defeating Manchester City away from home, Liverpool had already climbed to the top of the Premier League and had occupied the top spot for a whole month.
And Bayern?
Their situation in the Bundesliga was similar to Liverpool's.
Although Bayern was also in first place in the league, Dortmund, like Manchester City, was nipping at their heels.
It could be said that to meet under such circumstances, neither Liverpool nor Bayern wanted to lose.
Both teams were worried that going all out for the Champions League would cause them to stumble in the league.
But to just give up was something they couldn't do.
However, Liverpool had one advantage.
That is, Klopp was very familiar with Bayern. He had led Dortmund to two consecutive Bundesliga titles in the 10-11 and 11-12 seasons, breaking Bayern's monopoly on the championship.
And.
The once-feared Ribéry and Robben of Bayern were both 35 years old this year.
In contrast, Liverpool's core players were all in their prime.
Therefore, for the round of 16 match, the Bayern fans were more pessimistic than the Liverpool fans.
The same was true within Liverpool.
They were confident that they could take care of the Bundesliga giants, and even settle the tie in one leg.
In the past two days of training, the Liverpool team's condition was good.
Most of the players were actively preparing for the match.
Giving up the FA Cup early to focus on the Champions League and the league had relieved a lot of pressure from Liverpool.
With their current squad, fighting on two fronts was completely achievable.
...
February 12th.
4 AM, domestic time.
The Champions League round of 16 kicked off as scheduled.
First up was the Italian Red Wolves, Roma, against the Portuguese giants, Porto.
This match was held at Roma's home ground.
In the first half, both sides played relatively conservatively, and neither side scored.
They knew very well that in the knockout stage, there were very few opponents as weak as this.
Of course, they had to fight hard.
But in the second half, the situation changed dramatically.
Roma took the lead. The team's striker, Zaniolo, scored two consecutive goals in the 70th and 76th minutes, helping the team take a 2:0 lead over Porto.
Just 3 minutes later, Porto returned the favor. López scored with a long shot in a counter-attack, securing a precious away goal.
In just ten short minutes, the two teams had frantically traded goals.
This got a lot of the "Happy Beans players" excited/tilted.
However, in the subsequent match, both sides went quiet again. Roma did not attack again, intending to hold on to the victory.
Porto also seemed very satisfied with scoring an away goal at Roma's home ground.
When the referee blew the final whistle, the score was fixed at 2:1!
At the same time, the match between Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain was also held at the Theatre of Dreams.
In the first half, both sides, like Roma, failed to score.
Paris Saint-Germain, playing away from home, chose to play for a steady win, holding their ground in the first half and weathering United's attacks.
In the second half, Tuchel was the first to make an adjustment.
In the 53rd minute, Kimpembe received a through pass from Neymar, broke into the penalty area with the ball, and scored with a powerful shot.
PSG, away from home, had turned the tables, 0:1.
But this was not the end.
7 minutes later, Loki displayed his heaven-defying speed, single-handedly running through the Manchester United defense and scoring with a tap-in in the box to help the team seal the victory, 2:0.
The European prodigy's god-like speed was breathtaking.
This result was difficult for the Red Devils' fans to accept.
Manchester United's hopes in the league were already gone. They could only hover around fifth, sixth, and seventh place.
There was a high probability that they wouldn't have the Champions League to play in next year. If they don't fight for it this year, the earliest they could would be the year after.
They cheered for their team with all their might, but the thunderstruck Pogba actually received the only red card of the match in the 89th minute.
This meant that in the next leg at the Parc des Princes, the team's core and World Cup winner would not be able to play!
Paris Saint-Germain did not give Manchester United any chance. The 0:2 scoreline lasted until the end of the match.
Afterward, the angry Manchester United fans were unwilling to leave the stadium for a long time.
They had sent off Mourinho, only to get this result?
The French midfield genius became the target of public criticism.
Ten Hag, however, was extremely calm. In the post-match press conference, he continued to be a god.
He believed that the loss had nothing to do with him, and of course, nothing to do with the players.
It was Pogba's red card that had changed the result of the match.
He even listed Pogba's stats from last year as an example, saying he could deliver 25 key passes per game.
...
Therefore, if Pogba had not been unexpectedly sent off, the real score of this match should have been 3:2!
Manchester United had won big.
The Liverpool players watching the game at Salah's house were also stunned.
"According to him, Manchester United probably doesn't lose a single match in a season," Henderson was truly impressed by this new manager of Manchester United.
There have been many eloquent head coaches in history.
But to be able to do what ten Hag did, to be able to complete a comeback in every single post-match press conference, was a feat in itself.
And this was when they lost.
If Manchester United won, even if it was 1:0, ten Hag could spin it into 3:0, 4:0, 5:0!
Manchester United had really found a treasure!
"I heard he has his own agency, with over 200 players under his name," Salah said.
He felt that Manchester United would definitely be very lively in the future.
This new manager of Manchester United was not a pushover.
"This is a good thing."
"That's right, this is a good thing. It just so happens that we're playing the Red Devils next!"
The Liverpool players laughed mischievously.
In fact, they had felt it after the last match. This current Manchester United team was not as difficult to deal with as the one led by Mourinho.
If the Manchester United management could support Mourinho as they had supported Ferguson, things might have been a bit different.
Now, for Manchester United to be revived?
It's still a long way off!
Tendou, as someone who had been through it, had heard some things, so he knew that the suffering of the Manchester United fans was not over yet.
When they spend 100 million on Antony...
Getting sidetracked.
...
The next day, with Manchester United being shut out 2:0 at home by PSG, the English media was merciless in their criticism.
Losing is the original sin. There are no excuses.
The media doesn't care if it was because of a red card, and they certainly won't pay any attention to ten Hag's rhetoric.
If you lose, you stand at attention and take the beating. It's that simple.
After all, you, Manchester United, are representing the Premier League in this competition. This is a disgrace to the league.
The fans of other teams would not miss this opportunity to kick them while they were down.
The Manchester United of the Ferguson era was too dominant. He had brought them a stunning 13 Premier League titles.
This meant that for at least thirteen years, he had shattered the dreams of many teams and fans who were aiming for the title.
Needless to say about mortal enemies like Liverpool and Manchester City, even the Arsenal fans were gloating, mocking that, as expected of Manchester United, their comebacks were truly on another level!
This, of course, was not a compliment. The Gunners fans were referring to ten Hag's post-match press conference comebacks.
The Red Devils fans' noses were bent out of shape with anger!
...
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