Chapter 229 Global Attention, Red Vs. Blue
England won 7 and tied 1 in 8 group matches, with 22 points. Slovakia, which lost, had 15 points. There were only two rounds left in the World Cup qualifiers in Group F. England, which was already seven points ahead, announced that it had advanced from Group F in advance.
However, since England's overall strength was relatively outstanding in Group F, it was expected that it would advance. The domestic media in England did not feel too surprised. Their attention was more focused on Li Qing, who contributed 4 goals and 1 assist in two group matches.
Since Li Qing represented England in the World Cup group stage, he has been able to lead England to turn defeat into victory, especially in the group match against Scotland in the 6th round. If it were not for Li Qing's super performance as a substitute, England might not be able to advance now.
In addition, the first half of the group match against Malta in the 7th round ended with a score of 0:0. It was Li Qing who came on as a substitute in the second half to create a penalty kick. Rashford made a big mistake in the just-concluded 8th round of the group match. If it were not for Li Qing's equalizer, perhaps... England would have suffered a home defeat.
In addition to England, which has advanced from the group stage in advance, there are also Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Belgium, which means that there are still four direct qualifying places in the European World Cup qualifiers, and the eight best second-placed teams in each group can qualify for the play-offs.
With the end of the last international match day in September, the attention of major European media began to return to their respective leagues and the Champions League group stage that is about to rekindle the war.
The media focus from England is completely on the Etihad Stadium in Manchester!
At 12:30 noon on September 10, local time in Great Britain, Manchester City will face the defending champion Liverpool at home.
This game has attracted the attention of fans all over the world. The defending champion Liverpool is in a good state, winning three consecutive league victories. Manchester City is also not weak, with two wins and one draw, and the state can be said to be getting better.
This summer, Manchester City has made several big investments, buying Mendy and Bernardo Silva from last season's league champion Monaco for 52 million pounds and 45 million pounds respectively, and then buying England international Kyle Walker from Tottenham for 50 million pounds.
36 million pounds set a world record for goalkeeper transfer fees to sign goalkeeper Ederson from Benfica, and 27 million pounds to buy marginal player Danilo from Real Madrid.
In addition to signing Douglas Costa from the Brazilian team Vacos da Gama and buying Kayode from Austria Vienna, Manchester City invested about 220 million pounds this summer!
The crowd of spectators envied Manchester City, which was sponsored by the oil empire, especially Arsenal fans.
So, Kroenke was shot for no reason again.
That is to say, Manchester City made strong reinforcements for the defense this summer. Except for Bernardo Silva, the other players are all defensive players, especially Mendy, Kyle Walker and Ederson. The three positions are supplemented, which are completely effective reinforcements for the problems exposed by Manchester City's defense last season.
Although Liverpool did not make many signings this summer and sold midfielder Coutinho, they signed Van Dijk, who created a record for defender transfers, bought Chamberlain in the midfield, and the rapid growth of the demon player Li Qing. Liverpool's overall strength has increased significantly compared to last season.
Manchester City played against Liverpool at home in the 4th round of the 2017-2018 Premier League. The Premier League played the first game. In order to maximize the attention, the other games were played half a day later than this one.
This is not the first time Li Qing has come to Manchester. He has come many times for personal matters and three times for games. The first time was the 1/16 finals of the Youth FA Cup at the beginning of this year, the second time was the league away challenge to Manchester City, and the third time was the FA Cup quarter-finals away challenge to Manchester United.
All three games are good memories for Li Qing.
In other words, every time he comes to Manchester, he has very good memories.
So, he posted an important message on INS - Manchester again? Sorry, I'm going to score again.
In a short while, a large number of Liverpool fans liked and supported him, hoping that Li Qing could continue to show his power in this game and help Liverpool defeat Manchester City, which has invested more than 200 million pounds in the new season.
Manchester City fans sneered and reported him. The angry ones even started to spray Li Qing for being incredible and disrespectful to his opponents.
Without Li Qing's intervention, a large number of Liverpool fans volunteered to respond, which was very lively.
Manchester City and Liverpool both have international teammates, so there is no unpleasantness. After all, the relationship between Manchester City and Liverpool is pretty good. There is a saying that goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Manchester City and Manchester United are mortal enemies in the same city, and Manchester United and Liverpool are mortal enemies, so... they became friends.
Back to the point, since the game time was set at noon, the entire Liverpool team took a train to Manchester in the afternoon before the game to prepare for the battle of Tianwang Mountain.
The time difference between Great Britain and Kung Fu Country (this cannot be changed back for the time being, I am afraid of triggering a landmine, please forgive me) is divided into summer time and winter time. The first day of April to the last day of October is summer time, and the first day of November to the last day of March is winter time. The time difference between summer time is 7 hours, and the time difference between winter time is 8 hours.
12:30 p.m. local time in Great Britain is 7:30 p.m. local time in Kung Fu Country. This time is just after dinner for Kung Fu people, which is a very suitable time to watch the game.
The entire Liverpool team arrived at the Etihad Stadium half an hour before the game. It took about 20 minutes to change into training shirts and socks. When they appeared at the stadium, the audience seats were already full. Almost half of the stadium was surrounded by sky blue. Only the south stand could see a touch of red.
"wuwuwuwuwuuuuu——"
At the same time, a huge booing sounded over the Etihad Stadium. Manchester City fans used this way to tell Liverpool players whose home court this was!
When they saw Li Qing turn around and look at the audience, the boos became louder and louder, overwhelming.
The sudden booing scared Li Qing, especially when he saw the banners, slogans and huge posters held high by the fans, and muttered: "You will know how to die later! Humph!"
Arnold didn't hear clearly: "Li, what did you say?"
"It's okay, I just feel that the sound of flies is too loud, and I have to think of a way to shut them up later."
Li Qing put his hands behind his back and walked straight forward.
Arnold looked back at the stands where the Manchester City fans were. In addition to the boos, there were also many huge posters, banners and slogans that made fun of Li Qing, which made him speechless.
According to Li Qing's character, Manchester City was in trouble.