Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid

"How did Manchester City win the championship last year? Arsenal and Manchester United were both able to securely qualify in the group. Chelsea was also squeezed into third place in the group because of one less goal scored at Shakhtar Donetsk's home court. At least there is still the Europa League to play. What?”

"You just directly mocked Manchester City for being eliminated at the bottom of the group, and you also made a roundabout way of sarcasm. Didn't you have some bad luck? Manchester City's performance in the Champions League last season was not bad. Wasn't it a pity that they were eliminated because they were only one point behind Napoli?"

"I understand, so this should be the first level in the Premier League?"

"You seem to be unconvinced? It's a pity that no matter how unconvinced you are, no matter how bad Manchester City plays in the Champions League this season, they are still the new Premier League champions!"

"Case solved guys, these are Manchester United fans."

"What's wrong with me being a Manchester United fan? Which fan of a Premier League team doesn't laugh at Manchester City now?"

Before the Champions League knockout rounds are about to start, fans from all over the world have begun to discuss the possible outcome of the first-round clash online.

In England, Manchester City, which was eliminated at the bottom two months ago, has naturally become the target of ridicule again.

In the past, when this kind of situation happened, Arsenal fans naturally had to get involved and help out.

But this time they couldn't care less about Manchester City's jokes.

On the evening of February 13th, they will face Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium.

When they think that their opponent is six-time champion Real Madrid, Arsenal fans just feel that this year's Champions League journey has come to an end.

Fans from all over Europe can't stand it, and they all complained about UEFA's draw arrangement.

Ajax was placed in the same group with Real Madrid for three consecutive years, and Arsenal met a strong team in the first round of the knockout rounds for three consecutive years.

If you have to talk about luck, you can't have such bad luck for three consecutive years, right?

There is some secret behind the scenes, and the fans are too lazy to complain anymore.

From a neutral perspective, they are basically more willing to cheer for Arsenal.

In the past three years, Barcelona, ​​Milan and Real Madrid have taken turns against each other. If Arsenal draws Bayern again next year, everyone will have to curse UEFA for Arsenal even more.

Don't bully honest people like this!

On the afternoon of February 9th, the twenty-sixth round of the Premier League started, and Arsenal's players looked more serious than usual.

After ninety minutes of fierce battle, they narrowly defeated Black Cat Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of Light.

A few hours later, at the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Real Madrid also ushered in the 23rd round of La Liga against Sevilla.

Many Arsenal fans chose to watch the Real Madrid game on time.

After a full week of rest, Mourinho directly released the entire main lineup with a wave of his hand.

Without injuries, Coentrao and Arbeloa finally started together at the Bernabeu for the first time in a long time.

Seeing the star-studded Real Madrid stars stepping onto the turf, Arsenal fans quickly joined the scene.

It was as if it was not Sevilla that stood beside the Real Madrid players at this moment, but their beloved Arsenal.

At this moment, Li Ang, who had his hands behind his back, was very relaxed. Facing the live broadcast camera, he smiled and nodded as usual.

This scene is already familiar to La Liga fans.

Li Ang is like this, no matter whether he is playing against a strong or weak team, he will smile in front of the camera before the game, and his mentality is very good at first glance.

But Arsenal fans don't know that.

When they saw Li Ang smiling and nodding towards the camera, they subconsciously felt their hearts tighten.

After the game officially started, I watched Li Ang take the ball at the beginning and constantly cooperate with his teammates to attack Sevilla's midfield defense line.

Arsenal fans felt even thirstier.

What is Arsenal most afraid of now? What I'm most afraid of is encountering a team that's tough in the middle and has super ability to disrupt the situation!

If you look at it at the beginning of the century, Arsenal had Vieira, and they were not afraid of their opponents playing hard in the middle.

Four or five years ago, Arsenal had Alexander Song and Cesc Fabregas, so they were not afraid of competing with their opponents in the middle.

But now?

With Diaby injured again and unable to be counted on, the toughest defender in Arsenal's midfield is Arteta.

Sevilla's current double midfielder combination, Kondo Biagamedel, is one of them stronger than Arteta?

But neither of them, plus Maduro who was delaying in defense, could withstand the repeated attacks of Leon and Essien!

That guy, two physical monsters broke up Sevilla's central defense in the first half!

Real Madrid didn't use the offensive tactics of inserting from the wing very much. They relied on Li Ang and Essien to advance and distribute the ball, and they launched a continuous offensive.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema showed almost perfect finishing efficiency when they had enough rest.

Together, the two of them only took seven shots in the first half, six of which hit the goal frame, and they scored three goals!

When the first half of the game ended, many Arsenal fans chose to turn off the TV in discomfort.

I dare not look at it, Real Madrid's state is so annoying!

There are still a small number of Arsenal fans who endured the whole game between Real Madrid and Sevilla.

After Real Madrid beat Sevilla with five goals here, these Arsenal fans immediately summed it up and spoke online.

It's okay if this is not summarized. Once it is summarized, okay, they found that Real Madrid needs to restrict too many players now!

After roughly understanding Real Madrid's defensive system and looking at their own offensive line, Arsenal fans can only say.

It feels very frustrating.

Even though the game hasn't started yet, they have already anticipated the passivity on the scene.

This slightly pessimistic view and sentiment began to spread rapidly on the Internet, but more Arsenal fans stopped similar statements from continuing to appear.

After all, football is round, and no matter how difficult it is, they have reason to believe that their team has the possibility to create miracles.

As the first Premier League team to appear in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Arsenal has attracted the attention of the sports media across England.

On the afternoon of February 12, all members of Real Madrid arrived in London one day in advance to play on the pitch.

At almost the same moment, Wenger and Arteta attended the pre-match press conference.

The British and Western media reporters at the scene asked many questions, and Wenger answered some selectively.

However, when it comes to evaluating young players on both sides, Wenger generously praised Mourinho's actions in promoting youth players at Real Madrid in recent seasons.

"Actually, these young players have their own characteristics. We cannot forcefully put them together to compare who is better and who is worse. This is a wrong way of comparison.

In contrast, I prefer to use the terms 'suitable' and 'less suitable' to evaluate the help of these young players to a team.

Jose has done a great job in this regard. He has promoted many suitable young guys to the Real Madrid first team in the past two years. I have to congratulate him on his work.

But now you are comparing Li Ang with these young guys, I think it is a bit unfair.

Gentlemen, Li Ang has been selected as the 23-person candidate list for the Ballon d'Or. Can he still be considered a young player without much experience? "

Wenger's praise and optimism for Li Ang were not concealed at all.

Immediately, a British media reporter joked about "temperature difference signing" and asked Wenger whether Arsenal had made an offer for Li Ang in the past few years.

Wenger left the press conference with Arteta after leaving an intriguing answer.

"Who wouldn't want to sign Leon in the summer of 2011?"

This answer is very interesting, and the reporters at the scene quickly wrote hot press releases because of this sentence.

In the evening of that day, after the Real Madrid players finished playing on the field, the relevant hot news came across on the bus back to the hotel.

Facing the joking inquiries from his teammates, Li Ang could only reluctantly say that he had never received any contact calls from Arsenal.

"Mr. Wenger may have just said that casually, so don't overthink it."

However, Mourinho, who was sitting in the front row of the bus with his eyes closed and concentrating, slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

In the summer of 2011, when Li Ang ended his loan from Milan and returned to Real Madrid, he did receive several offers for Li Ang from the other three major league teams.

The most sincere among them is Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson even called him personally to ask for Li Ang. Manchester United can offer 18 million euros to buy him.

At the time, this was a fairly fair and sincere offer.

Li Ang performed well in both La Liga and Serie A, and also won the double championship in Serie A that season. He is truly a leader among the younger generation of players.

But if Real Madrid wanted to sell Li Ang at that time, most interesting clubs would never pay the price of 18 million.

Ferguson is really courageous.

It's a pity that Mourinho said that he would not sell it at all, nor would he sell it with a buy-back clause. Sir Alex had no choice but to give up in the end.

Among the clubs whose quotations were lower than those of Manchester United at that time, Arsenal was actually included.

Wenger also called Mourinho himself.

Arsenal's transfer budget is insufficient, and Wenger can only spend up to 15 million euros.

But he proposed a way to complete the deal by paying the transfer fee in one lump sum and adding players.

Mourinho naturally firmly refused again in the end, but he was also surprised.

Wenger, who has always been searching, was able to pay such a price for Li Ang, who had just been kicked out, which was really rare.

At that time, after Ferguson and Wenger were rejected by Mourinho, they did not let the club issue a formal offer, so there were no related transfer scandals.

Of course, Li Ang didn't know that he had attracted the attention of many famous coaches in the summer of 2011, but Mourinho knew it all.

At that time, it was because so many of his peers were optimistic about Li Ang that he was extremely determined to sell a certain attacking midfielder who had a problem with Li Ang.

Now it seems that not only his vision is accurate, but also that of other famous coaches.

If Li Ang was really sold to Manchester United at that time, even if a buy-back clause was added, Mourinho felt that he would regret it now.

The biggest impact and touch this incident had on Mourinho was that it made him more patient with young players.

Not only in terms of talent, but also in terms of growth.

Even when dealing with young players who were not very optimistic at the beginning, such as Vazquez who was only promoted to the first team, Mourinho also learned to listen to more people's opinions.

For example, Mourinho listened to the analysis and suggestions of Coach Castilla and Karanka.

So he tried to give Vazquez more playing opportunities, and finally successfully discovered Vazquez's adaptability advantage in multiple positions.

The smooth growth and integration of other Castilla youth training players into the team has benefited Mourinho a lot in training young players.

His will is still firm and his persistence in his self-idea is still strong, but his training and way of dealing with people are no longer so "sharp".

He has more patience and tolerance for the growth of young players.

This has also created the "new" Mourinho who currently has an increasingly good reputation among the younger generation of players.

Of course, Mourinho's heartfelt gratitude to Li Ang for this must still be difficult to express easily, it is really too...

However, it is not a big problem that this will help Li Ang get out of trouble.

After briefly talking about Arsenal's offer in the summer of 2011, the attention of the Real Madrid players in the car was quickly attracted by Mourinho.

Li Ang himself was confused.

"I am really a member of the 'Temperature Difference Sign' in terms of relationships!"

After the surprised thought flashed through, Li Ang felt a little secretive joy in his heart.

After all, there is a saying that is widely circulated in football.

A player who has never been selected for the "temperature difference lottery" list has the nerve to say that he is the top star in the world?

Li Ang, who had been enjoying himself all night because of this, did not complain at all when he faced the rain and fog in London the next morning.

If it only rains, Li Ang is actually quite adaptable to this climate.

After all, his hometown, Sichuan Province, is like this. There is no heating in winter, and people often move outdoors, so the cold and damp conditions are unavoidable.

Alonso and Ronaldo, who have played in the Premier League before, are also fine.

However, most of the other Real Madrid players are somewhat uncomfortable in this weather.

Fortunately, Mourinho, who had previous experience, specifically asked the club staff to rent an indoor training ground, so the last practice on the morning of the game was completed normally.

After completing the final preparations, the Real Madrid generals took photos of relaxed training and hotel life in the photos taken by the club's accompanying staff.

When these photos circulated on the Internet with the release of Real Madrid's official tweet, Premier League fans had to admit it.

The atmosphere in Real Madrid's team before the game was quite good, and the players' mentality was also very relaxed.

These photos that look quite confident and relaxed can bring more pressure to the entire Premier League than some photos of serious preparations!

This is the self-confidence of the top teams in football today.

At six o'clock in the evening, all members of Real Madrid took the bus and started heading to the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal's players started setting off at about this point, and as if it was a signal, London sports media reporters were dispatched one after another.

When the buses from both sides arrived, many media reporters from different countries had gathered outside the Emirates Stadium.

Of course, no players will be interviewed outside the venue. These reporters just want to take some material for subsequent news reports.

The Real Madrid bus continued to drive towards the stadium, but now Li Ang opened the curtain inside the window.

After he saw the reporters outside, he smiled and made a "V"-shaped gesture.

This attracted enthusiastic filming from reporters on the scene.

Maybe Li Ang simply wanted to say hello, but this did not prevent reporters from using their rich imaginations.

In less than ten minutes, a fresh report with pictures was posted on the Internet by Sky Sports:

"Leon's "V" Declaration: We are here to win! 》