Chapter 141: A Dead Duck
Li Qing was very proud of winning the Player of the Month award for two consecutive months. At noon that day, he posted a message on his Instagram, Twitter and his personal account on QQ.com - My glory belongs to the motherland.
There were two pictures, one of which was holding the Player of the Month award, and the other was a photo of the red national flag.
In this way, Li Qing told everyone in the world where his heart belongs.
Domestic media and fans took screenshots or forwarded Li Qing's speech, and it became a hot news topic in just one day.
Chen Yong, deputy director of the Football Association Office, snorted coldly when he saw Li Qing express his patriotic feelings, and said in a voice that only he could hear: "When the time comes, you will know how to die!"
The 2016-2017 English Premier League is coming to an end, and the competition for the league championship has entered a white-hot stage. Before Manchester United played against Chelsea at home, there were two most watched games, Tottenham vs. Bournemouth and West Bromwich vs. Liverpool.
In addition to the leader Chelsea, which has a great chance of winning the league championship, Liverpool and Tottenham are also strong contenders for the league championship.
The first league match was between Tottenham and Bournemouth at home. The match at White Hart Lane did not go beyond the expectations of Tottenham fans. With goals from Kane and Son Heung-min, Tottenham beat Bournemouth 4-0 at home.
With one round played first, Tottenham is only 1 point behind Liverpool, but still 6 points away from Chelsea, the leader of the table.
West Bromwich Albion is currently ranked eighth in the league. It seems very close to the sixth place with a place in the Europa League, but it is actually 10 points behind Everton, the seventh in the league, and 12 points away from Manchester United, the sixth in the league.
There are only six rounds left in the league. It is a pipe dream to expect Manchester United to lose and West Bromwich Albion to win.
Such a team with no hope of relegation in the European war is destined to not pose a real threat to Liverpool, which is striving for the championship.
Of course, West Bromwich Albion, who is at home, did not surrender. They parked the bus at home and tried to draw Liverpool at home.
Facts have proved that parking the bus is of no use in front of Liverpool.
In addition to his sharp breakthroughs, Li Qing's long passes are also outstanding. West Bromwich Albion puts its defensive attention on the left side of its defense, which basically means that there will be problems in the right side of its defense.
Li Qing was closely guarded, and Milner and Mane frequently got opportunities on the left side.
West Bromwich Albion coach Pulis saw this and had to wave his hand and let the defensive players return to their own right side of defense.
In the process of back and forth involvement, the defense line finally had a defensive loophole.
Emre Can suddenly passed the ball to the right rib 35 meters away from the goal in the middle. Li Qing accelerated while running and dribbled the ball directly into the penalty area. The West Bromwich Albion defender was stunned for a moment, and then stretched out his foot to trip and kicked a ball of air.
Li Qing, who entered the penalty area, chose to look at Firmino who was following up in the middle, faked a pass, and dribbled the ball to the bottom line with the inside of his left foot. Former Manchester United player Evans was knocked to the ground. The next thing was very simple for Li Qing. Shooting in the penalty area would increase the goal rate by 20%. He used his left foot to complete a high-quality low shot in the right corner of the small penalty area.
The ball rolled along the grass toward the far corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Foster was half a beat slower when he got off the ground, and could only declare that he was out of reach...
And this goal was also the only goal of the whole game.
Liverpool, who had won ten consecutive league games, was only two points behind Chelsea after one round. However, due to the FA Cup quarter-final away game against Manchester United, the home game against Burnley in the 28th round was postponed, which meant that Chelsea and Liverpool only played 32 games in 33 league rounds.
If Chelsea draws with Manchester United away, then Liverpool will tie the points if they win the make-up game. According to the Premier League rules for equal points, the goal difference is compared first. In this regard, Chelsea only has 2 more than Liverpool.
This... is not good news for Chelsea.
At the same time, Conte, who was preparing for the league at Old Trafford, learned from his assistant the result of the game at the Hawthorns Stadium, and he felt huge pressure.
This kind of pressure was the greatest he had felt since he became Chelsea's head coach.
Perhaps Conte's pressure was instilled into the players. Manchester United opened the scoring at home just seven minutes into the game.
After Herrera intercepted the ball in the midfield, he sent a penetrating straight pass. David Luiz stretched out his foot to intercept but failed to touch it. Rashford, who received the ball in the middle, took the ball into the right side of the penalty area. Facing the attacking Courtois, he chose to shoot low into the far corner. The ball went into the far end of the goal from the leg of the fallen Courtois.
Hazard, who was highly expected by Chelsea fans, was completely frozen by Herrera in this game. It was difficult for him to help Chelsea attack in the game, so that Chelsea's attack was paralyzed for a time.
Manchester United, who took a defensive counterattack at home, ended the first half with a score of 1:0. At the beginning of the second half, Herrera, who had sent an assist and frozen Hazard in the first half, received a pass from Ashley Young on the left side of the penalty area and chose to shoot directly without stopping the ball.
The ball kicked out by Herrera happened to hit Zouma who was blocking and refracted. Facing the ball with a changed trajectory, goalkeeper Courtois had no time to react.
2:0
Manchester United led Chelsea by two goals at home, and Old Trafford entered a long-lost fanatical atmosphere mode.
Head coach Mourinho even played the iconic slide as a strong reaction to Conte's insult at Stamford Bridge in the first round.
Klopp in front of the TV cheered!
Li Qing and other teammates who were paying attention to this game naturally clenched their fists and cheered for Manchester United.
If Manchester United can finally beat Chelsea at home, then... Liverpool, who won the make-up match, will surpass Chelsea by one point!
Thinking of this possibility, Liverpool fans in front of the TV became extremely excited and cheered for the outstanding Manchester United players.
At the end of 90 minutes, the score of 2:0 did not change. Manchester United and head coach Mourinho defended their own glory at Old Trafford.
The live director gave the Chelsea head coach a close-up shot of his face. The arrogant Conte frowned at this time, and he didn't even shake hands after the game and went straight to the player channel.
Obviously, he knew what it meant to lose as a guest.
But people have a fluke mentality. Conte, who attended the routine press conference after the game, said that the league has not ended yet, and any possibility will happen, and Chelsea is still leading in points.
Chelsea was eliminated from the FA Cup. Liverpool will play in the FA Cup semi-finals next weekend. The league scheduled for the weekend was automatically postponed, which means that Liverpool will play two fewer games in preparation for the FA Cup semi-finals. The gap opened again may be a score that Liverpool will never be able to catch up.
Liverpool local media snorted: "The dead duck is still stubborn!"