Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 143 You can do it, come on

This Europa League is the second edition since the UEFA Cup was reorganized and expanded, and it's also the first time Manchester City has qualified for the European competition group stage in many years. The club's management and Mancini himself have certain expectations for the results.

Of course, the requirements are limited, and the importance cannot be ranked higher than the league. Manchester City's main goal now is to finish in the top four of the league or even win the championship.

As for the Europa League, the goal is simply to reach the quarterfinals or the semifinals.

Their first-round opponent is Red Bull Salzburg, an Austrian team with deep pockets. However, Red Bull's investment in sports seems more rational and modest compared to that of oil tycoons.

Thanks to the expansion and restructuring of the Europa League last season, Red Bull Salzburg made history by entering the Europa League group stage and reaching the round of 32, only to be eliminated by Belgian team Standard Liège.

This season, they are grouped with Manchester City and Juventus, making their chances of advancing quite precarious.

However, the Salzburg home fans filled the Red Bull Stadium early on, showing their willingness to give the team their full support.

Under the leadership of Dutch coach Hub Stevens, they reclaimed the Austrian Bundesliga title last season and have demonstrated dominant strength in the Austrian Bundesliga this season.

In Group A of the Europa League, Juventus and Manchester City are clearly a cut above the rest of the teams, and these two strong teams are the teams that must be faced if they want to advance.

Red Bull has its sights set on second place in the group, and to achieve this goal, it must win every single game.

Manchester City is considered their most important rival.

Stevens' coaching staff conducted a thorough analysis of Manchester City. In their view, it would be too difficult to beat Juventus, but they had a chance against Manchester City.

Even if Manchester City is a strong team in the Premier League, so what?
Manchester City are newcomers to European competitions and have undergone a major overhaul of their squad. Despite the arrival of many star players, team cohesion remains a significant challenge.

Red Bull's goal for the match is to defeat Manchester City at home, and they are taking the game very seriously. In particular, they are focusing on Manchester City's star striker, Shan Yongzhuo.

"Suppressing this player would be equivalent to neutralizing Manchester City's biggest attacking threat!"

In the locker room before the match, Stevens said with great certainty: "He is Manchester City's most crucial striker, accounting for the vast majority of Manchester City's goals!"

"Keep him under control! Mark him closely! Don't give him any chance! Let the opponent see how powerful we are!"

Stevens was full of passion, but Red Bull's starting center-back Schkaye looked as if he had swallowed a fly.

Schkaye, 30, is a veteran of Red Bull. The season before last, he faced off against Shan Yongzhuo four times, but failed to gain any advantage each time.

Now, the thought of facing an opponent like Shan Yongzhuo again gives Skayer a headache.

"Respected Coach Stevens, how about shutting down Shan Yongzhuo?"

"proceed if you can!"

Schkayer inwardly scoffed, but there was nothing he could do. As Red Bull's top defender, it was only natural for him to defend against the opponent's star striker.

"I'll ask for leave for the next game against Manchester City. I'll just say I have a cold..."

Meanwhile, Mancini was also making pre-match arrangements, explaining things in detail and repeatedly telling the players what to do during the game.

However, Manchester City's players clearly didn't take their opponents seriously and all seemed very relaxed.

This is normal. Manchester City's players are mostly stars, while their opponents are just the champions of the Austrian league. They don't even consider such an opponent as important as a mid-table Premier League team.

The game finally started.

As the players from both teams lined up to enter the field, it was clear that the Red Bull players looked solemn, as if they were about to step onto the battlefield of a world war, while the Manchester City players all appeared very relaxed.

The two teams have never faced each other before, making them completely unfamiliar opponents.

As soon as the match began, Red Bull displayed high morale. They were ambitious and hoped to win at home, so they immediately suppressed the unsettled Manchester City.

However, as the match progressed, the gap in strength between the two teams gradually became apparent.

The defensive pairing of Kompany and Kolo Toure proved effective, solidifying the backline. Coupled with the formidable double pivot of De Jong and Yaya Toure, Red Bull's attack yielded little success and posed little threat whatsoever.

Starting in the 20th minute, Red Bull's fierce attack began to slow down, and Manchester City gradually gained the upper hand on the field, starting to suppress Red Bull.

In this match, Mancini fielded Silva and Milner on the flanks, and the two quickly unleashed their power.

The two players' breakthroughs threw Red Bull's defense into chaos. In the 22nd minute, Milner broke through on the wing and crossed the ball, which Tevez slid into the goal, giving Manchester City a 1-0 lead.

The Red Bull team was somewhat frustrated after conceding the first goal.

It was only then that they realized the gap in strength and felt somewhat disappointed with the competition.

Stevens shook his head on the sidelines; the goal had completely disrupted his plans.

Although he encouraged the players that Manchester City was nothing special, he was not unaware of the gap in strength between the two sides. His original plan was to score a goal with an early attack, and then solidify the defense to try to secure a victory.

However, after that goal, Red Bull can no longer do that; the most important thing now is to equalize the score as soon as possible.

In the following game, Red Bull continued to intensify its offensive.

This is easy to understand; for Red Bull, it was a last resort.

However, their attack remained inefficient, struggling to penetrate the penalty area and relying mostly on long-range shots from outside the box to create opportunities. Such an attack was hardly threatening.

Moreover, with so much energy devoted to the attack, the quality of their defense declined, and soon their goal was breached again.

In the 36th minute, Shan Yongzhuo received a pass from Silva on the wing, but Schkaye was a step too slow and couldn't keep up in time.

Then, Shan Yongzhuo unleashed a powerful lob shot from near the left side of the penalty area, once again piercing the Red Bull goal.

Before halftime was even over, Red Bull was already down by two goals, which gave Stevens a huge headache.

Meanwhile, Mancini sat on the coach's bench, looking completely relaxed.

With the team leading by two goals, as long as they play normally, nothing unexpected should happen.

(End of this chapter)