Star Card System

The result of this draw has excited countless fans.

The strong dialogue they have been looking forward to has arrived since the beginning of the knockout round!

And for the top teams, they are never afraid of anything.

When the enemy comes, the general will block the water and the earth will come!

Simeone: "I am looking forward to Ronaldo's return to the Metropolitan Stadium. We will give him a wonderful welcome ceremony!"

Klopp: "We regrettably lost to Manchester United last season. This season we will take back what we have lost!"

Guardiola: "Manchester City has the strength to win the Champions League. The boys will give the world a surprise!"

Pochettino: "We are not afraid of any opponent. We are confident to go further!"

Ten Hag: "Ajax's goal is the semi-finals. We will fight for it!"

Many top coaches spoke generously and built momentum in advance.

However, there was no interview with Mourinho.

Because Mourinho was not in Monaco at this time.

Compared with the Champions League knockout draw, he has more important things to do.

That is to lead the team to play in the Club World Cup!

The 2018 Club World Cup had already started a few days ago.

However, as the Champions League champion, Manchester United did not need to participate in the first few games and could directly play in the semi-finals.

Manchester United only needed to go there a few days in advance to warm up.

In the quarter-finals that had already passed, the Asian Champions League champion Kashima Antlers defeated Guadalajara 3-2 and advanced to the semi-finals.

And their opponent was Manchester United, who was ready to go.

In the evening of December 19.

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The Club World Cup semi-finals officially started.

Although Manchester United has been in a bad situation recently, they are still confident of playing against an Asian Champions League champion.

However, facing the powerful Champions League champion, Kashima Antlers went all out, retreated at the beginning, and stabilized the front line.

Manchester United's continuous fierce attacks were fruitless, and the opponent's two counterattacks almost knocked the goal.

It was not until the 44th minute of the first half that Manchester United finally scored.

Xia Xing sprinted with the ball again on the left side and shook off two defensive players in succession.

Facing the opponent from Japan, some kind of blood in Xia Xing's body was stimulated.

His success rate of passing in this game was close to 100%!

What kind of horror is this!

At this moment, he broke through along the left side again, sprinted quickly, and shot in the middle of the penalty area!

35 meters away from the goal, a shot hit the net directly!

1 to 0!

Manchester United scored the first goal!

With a goal in hand, Mourinho on the sidelines also felt at ease.

In the second half, Xia Xing once again contributed one pass and one shot, helping the team score two more goals.

3 to 0!

Manchester United is in control of the victory!

Before the end of the halftime, Kashima Antlers took advantage of the free kick opportunity and scored a goal in the chaos, saving a little face.

In the end, Manchester United defeated Kashima Antlers 3 to 1 and got a ticket to the final of the Club World Cup.

This was expected by everyone. After all, how could the Champions League champion and the Asian Champions League champion be at the same level?

However, there are unexpected things, and there are upsets.

Another match held at the same time was between River Plate and Al Ain.

As the host and champion of the UAE League, it was not easy for Al Ain to make it all the way to the semi-finals.

They won the New Zealand team Wellington in a penalty shootout in the play-offs.

A few days later, they defeated Tunisia Hope 3-0 in the quarter-finals.

In this game, they made a smooth attack, which was amazing.

Before the semi-finals, everyone thought their miracle was over.

After all, the opponent in the semi-finals was the South American Libertadores Cup champion River Plate, a veteran Argentine team.

There are many talented players in this River Plate team.

Experienced veterans, including the old captain striker Prato, who has a deep resume in South America and Europe, and is also a legendary player who once played for Boca and later became the captain of River Plate.

There are even more young talents.

There is the 18-year-old talented striker Alvarez who is favored by Manchester City. It is said that Manchester City's scouts are paying attention to him one-on-one, and have reached a transfer agreement with him and his parents. In the future, it is very likely that he will wear the blue moon jersey to fight in Europe.

There is the 20-year-old young midfielder Palacios, who is said to be negotiating a transfer with Leverkusen and is very likely to join next season.

There is the 21-year-old defender Montiel, who is said to be very close to several La Liga teams. In the context of the lack of defenders in Europe, he is now quite popular.

There is the 22-year-old right-back Lucas Martinez, and many Serie A teams are negotiating a transfer with him. The closest one is Fiorentina.

There is also the attacker Juan Quintero, who suffered a Waterloo in Porto and temporarily returned to River Plate to find his form.

With a group of geniuses, River Plate should be able to win easily against the UAE team.

But the final result was jaw-dropping.

River Plate scored a goal, and Al Ain quickly equalized, showing great resilience.

The two sides played 2-2 in regular time and entered the penalty shootout again.

In the end, Al Ain was assisted by God again in the penalty shootout and won River Plate 5-4.

They won unexpectedly and advanced to the final of the Club World Cup!

This incident caused a sensation in the UAE!

They have made history!

The runner-up of the Club World Cup is the most impressive!

But this is not enough, they also want the championship!

Now the English media has begun to build momentum, and countless so-called inside stories about the Club World Cup final are flying all over the place.

"The UAE bribed the referee and is ready to create a legitimate victory and win the legitimate championship!"

"The shady dealings in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup may reappear!"

"The UAE government secretly talked with the Glazer family, and they talked until late at night!"

Countless conspiracy theories were widely spread in the media, so that this game has attracted enough attention before it was even played.

The day before the final was the third and fourth place final.

River Plate swept Kashima Antlers 4-0.

The Japanese were beaten without any chance to fight back in front of the River Plate genius group.

In this game, River Plate seemed to be venting its dissatisfaction.

But they had nothing to be dissatisfied with, after all, their defeat in the semi-finals was caused by their failure to seize the opportunity, and there was no black whistle in Al Ain.

In the evening of December 22.

UAE, Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

It was the same venue again, and the entire Manchester United team went out in an orderly manner.

Even Pogba and Martial, who were abandoned by Mourinho, appeared on the team bus at this time.

Even if Mourinho didn't like them, they were also members of the team, and they couldn't be excluded from such an important championship occasion.

Of course, the two of them couldn't be included in the big list, they just entered the stadium with the team, and then sat in the designated private room to watch the game.

The camera passed by, and there was no expression on their faces.

They didn't even look at the direction of the stadium.

Maybe they didn't care about the outcome of this game... (End of this chapter)