Chapter 339: Defending the Dignity of the Premier League

The first leg of the 2017-2018 Champions League quarter-finals at Anfield ended with Liverpool's 4-0 victory. Liverpool, with four goals, has almost stepped into the semi-finals of this season's Champions League.

In another match that was changed to Turin's Allianz Stadium last year, Juventus lost 0-3 to the defending champion Real Madrid at home. Real Madrid's top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice and was the biggest contributor to Real Madrid's away victory over Juventus.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who should have been the focus of the world, was robbed by Li Qing from the British Isles. The strong dialogue and scoring twice should indeed be the subject of hot discussion among the media and fans. The problem is that Li Qing, who performed a hat trick, raised his personal Champions League goal number this season to 17.

This number of goals is the single-season goal record created by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2013-2014 season when he led Real Madrid to win the 10th Champions League title in team history. Now it has been tied in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, which means that Li Qing is likely to break Cristiano Ronaldo's single-season Champions League goal record.

In fact, not many people would be surprised that Li Qing broke the goal record created by Ronaldo, because Li Qing scored 12 goals in the group stage with four starts and one substitute, surpassing the single-season group stage goal record created by Ronaldo. He only played in the first leg of the two-legged Champions League quarter-finals, which means that Li Qing scored 17 goals in only six games and one substitute appearance.

You should know that Ronaldo participated in all thirteen games of Real Madrid in the 2013-2014 season!

The British media and the Chinese media gave all the words that could praise Li Qing, but the media in the Iberian Peninsula disagreed, believing that the opponents Liverpool faced in the Champions League this season were not strong, and there was a world of difference from the opponents Ronaldo faced in the Champions League in the 2013-2014 season.

Li Qing's strongest opponent in the Champions League this season is Atletico Madrid, followed by Roma. Porto and Sevilla in the quarter-finals and quarter-finals can only be said to be strong teams, if not strong teams.

The fans were so deliberately guided that they really thought that Li Qing's goals lacked gold content.

However, the English media looked back and found that Real Madrid's opponents in the 2013-2014 Champions League were not that good...

In the group stage, they were in the same group as Galatasaray, Copenhagen, and Juventus. Except for Juventus, which was quite strong, Copenhagen and Galatasaray were basically the role of accompanying the prince to study. Schalke 04 in the 1/8 finals and Dortmund in the 1/4 finals were both good draws. Even Bayern, who was drawn in the semi-finals, was already on the decline. There was no persuasiveness at all.

If it weren't for Ramos' equalizing goal at the end of injury time in the final against Atletico Madrid, how could Real Madrid win the championship?

If there was no goal, overtime would no longer exist, and Ronaldo, who scored from the penalty kick, would not even have created the record of 17 goals!

So, the English media and the Iberian Peninsula media started to fight, and even Li Qing and Ronaldo's fans followed suit on the Internet.

Messi fans are quite bored during this period. They are afraid that the world will not be in chaos. They will help whichever side lacks support, and always maintain that the two sides are in a confrontation...

Li Qing, who tied Ronaldo's single-season Champions League goal record, was not as excited as the outside world. For him, tying the record is just a matter of course. If he can play in the second round at the Pizjuan Stadium, he is confident that he will break the record in one fell swoop.

On the second Champions League match day in the middle of the week, Barcelona, ​​sitting at the Camp Nou, defeated Chelsea 4:1, and Bayern Munich defeated Manchester City 3:0.

For this result, the English media did not expect it. Chelsea's overall strength is indeed not as good as Barcelona. The problem is that Manchester City and Bayern Munich are evenly matched. How could they win three goals away from home?

In the history of the Champions League, there are really few teams that can come back to their home court after falling behind by three goals away from home.

According to the results of the four Champions League quarter-finals, only Liverpool, who beat Sevilla four goals at home, is the Premier League team with the best chance of advancing to the Champions League semi-finals.

Of course, Chelsea and Manchester City, who lost away, did not admit that they were eliminated. Conte and Guardiola both believed that the second round of the game would determine the final semi-final spot.

After finishing the first round of the Champions League quarter-finals, Liverpool quickly put their focus back on the league, that is, to challenge their city rivals Everton at Goodison Park.

In addition to the Merseyside derby, the 33rd round of the 2017-2018 Premier League also has the Manchester derby and the London derby.

Manchester City will face Manchester United at home, and Chelsea will face West Ham United at home. The two teams will have the second round of the Champions League quarter-finals next week. Compared with the semi-finals that have already entered the semi-finals more than half a foot in advance, the future of Manchester City and Chelsea is full of uncertainty.

Liverpool's four-goal home win gave the Merseyside derby held at the weekend a lot of room for maneuver, and they can fully play their main players if allowed.

Li Qing, Salah and Mane scored one goal each in the first and second half, helping Liverpool beat Everton 3:1 at Goodison Park and win their 30th victory of the season.

Perhaps because they have to prepare for the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich at home next week, Manchester City, who are at the Etihad Stadium, held back a bit, and were eventually defeated by their city rivals Manchester United at the end of the game, winning their second defeat of the season with a score of 2:3.

The 33rd round of the 2017-2018 Premier League has ended. Liverpool, who played one game less, ranked first with 30 wins, 2 draws and 92 points. Manchester City ranked second with 27 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses in 33 games and 83 points. Manchester United ranked third with 22 wins, 5 draws and 5 losses and 68 points. Tottenham ranked fourth with 19 wins, 7 draws and 5 losses and 64 points.

Liverpool is nine points ahead of Manchester City with one game less. Manchester City has five games left, while Liverpool has six games. This means that Liverpool can win the 2017-2018 Premier League championship as long as they beat Bournemouth and West Bromwich Albion.

Why?

Manchester City is currently the only competitor for Liverpool to win the league championship. It is nine points behind with one more game. When the Premier League has the same points, it is not determined by the battle between the two sides, but by the goal difference.

Manchester City's current goal difference is 62, while Liverpool's is... 83 goals. This means that it is difficult for Liverpool to win the league championship after two consecutive wins and then four consecutive losses, while Manchester City achieves the last five consecutive wins.

Unless, Liverpool concedes 3 goals per game in the process of four consecutive defeats.

Moreover, Manchester City may not win all the remaining five league games, so Liverpool is very likely to defend the league title.

Since the second round of the match between Liverpool and Sevilla will be held on the second match day of the Champions League, the whole team will go to Seville, the capital of the Andalusian Autonomous Region of Spain, on Tuesday morning.

The Champions League will hold two quarter-final second rounds on the match day of the week. Chelsea and Manchester City, who lost by a large score in the first round, did not turn the tables.

Chelsea drew with Barcelona 2:2 at home and was eliminated with a total score of 3:6 in the two rounds. Manchester City was obviously affected by the 2:3 loss to Manchester United at home. They lost to Bayern Munich 1:2 at home in the middle of the week and were eliminated with a total score of 1:5.

In other words, Liverpool has become the only seedling of the Premier League in the Champions League and shoulders the responsibility of defending the dignity of the Premier League.