Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 219 We're too short!
Just three days after their league match against Liverpool, Manchester City are about to face Liverpool in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.

Their opponent is Braga, the Portuguese team that eliminated Liverpool.

Braga is not a well-known team in Europe, and it is not even considered a powerhouse in the Portuguese league.

However, they have been a dark horse in European competitions this season. They first eliminated Scottish giants Celtic and La Liga powerhouse Sevilla in the Champions League qualifiers, and successfully entered the Champions League group stage.

In the Champions League group stage, their lack of experience led them to lose to Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk, resulting in a disappointing third-place finish in the group and a place in the Europa League.

In the previous two knockout rounds, they eliminated Poznanhet and Liverpool in succession, successfully advancing to the Europa League quarterfinals.

Such a result is remarkable for Braga, a small Portuguese club.

Braga doesn't have any particularly famous star players, but they still perform quite well thanks to their overall defensive counter-attacking style.

However, they were not so lucky in this match.

Arriving at the Etihad Stadium, Braga appeared utterly helpless against a Manchester City team enraged after two consecutive defeats.

Shan Yongzhuo scored four goals with a header and a volley, while Balotelli and David Silva also contributed goals, leading Manchester City to a 6-2 victory over Braga at home, effectively ending the suspense in just one leg.

After finishing their Europa League match against Braga, Manchester City immediately faced Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final.

The pressure of fighting on three fronts was exposed at this time.

Despite spending a whopping £200 million in the summer, Manchester City's squad is actually quite thin, lacking depth. Moreover, although the team has had a season to gel, their cohesion is still not very good.

More often than not, Manchester City relies on the individual abilities of its players to win, especially on goals from Shan Yongzhuo. Their overall strength and foundation are still far behind those of traditional Premier League powerhouses.

Under the pressure of fighting on three fronts, Mancini is even less willing to rest Shan Yongzhuo.

Therefore, Shan Yongzhuo started the game again in this match.

After all, they've reached the FA Cup semi-finals, so it's impossible for them to give up passively, especially since their opponent is their arch-rival Manchester United.

On the day of the match, Manchester City came to Old Trafford Stadium.

Playing away from home, the team is fatigued, and the situation seems unfavorable for Manchester City.

However, Manchester United is also under a lot of pressure right now, as they are competing on three fronts.

In the recently concluded Champions League quarter-final, Manchester United defeated Chelsea 3-1 on aggregate after a hard-fought battle.

In the recently concluded 32nd round of the league, they fought hard until the very end, narrowly defeating Newcastle United thanks to a last-minute goal from Berbatov.

The pressure of competing on three fronts is considerable for Manchester United, and more importantly, their starting lineup is older than Manchester City's.

Therefore, neither side was in good form in this FA Cup semi-final, and the game was rather dull.

However, Manchester City ultimately prevailed, defeating Manchester United 2-0 with goals from Shan Yongzhuo and Silva, thus advancing to the FA Cup final and completing a season sweep of Manchester United.

Manchester City then traveled to Portugal to face Braga in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final match.

Shan Yongzhuo finally got a break.

Despite Shan Yongzhuo's repeated assurances that he was in good form, Mancini did not include him in the roster, thus thwarting Shan Yongzhuo's hopes of racking up goals.

After all, with such immense pressure from the current schedule, Shan Yongzhuo's form is crucial. With a resounding victory over Braga in the first leg, the second leg is essentially just a formality; such a match provides Shan Yongzhuo and the key players with a much-needed rest.

Mancini led a completely reserve team against Portugal, and unsurprisingly lost 1-3. However, they still managed to eliminate Braga 7-5 on aggregate and advance to the Europa League semi-finals thanks to their huge advantage.

In the last league match of April, Manchester City will host Tottenham Hotspur at home.

In their first encounter, Manchester City thrashed Tottenham at White Hart Lane in the first round of the league. This match marks the second meeting between the two sides this season.

Tottenham's performance this season has been quite good. After 32 rounds of league matches, Tottenham has accumulated 52 points and is ranked fifth in the league, 6 points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. It will be difficult for them to qualify for the Champions League, but they have basically secured a Europa League spot.

Manchester City is currently under the greatest pressure in the league.

They are currently tied with Manchester United on 65 points, but are in first place in the league due to a better goal difference.

For Manchester City right now, no league match is a must-win.

In this match, Mancini fielded his strongest lineup against Tottenham, aiming to defeat Tottenham at home and try to shake off the slump of two consecutive league defeats.

The Al-Ittihad Stadium was packed to capacity on the day of the match.

With the league entering its final sprint, Manchester City fans have an incredibly strong desire for the league title. Having finally seen a glimmer of hope for winning the championship this season, they naturally don't hesitate to give the team their full support.

The most eye-catching team was naturally Shan Yongzhuo's female cheerleading squad. They occupied the most prominent position, and their numbers had expanded to an alarmingly large number.

At first glance, the hundreds, even close to a thousand, female cheerleaders create a truly spectacular scene.

The female cheerleaders kept chanting Shan Yongzhuo's name.

Manchester City players are already used to this, but Tottenham players only learned about it from the news before. Now that they've actually seen it, they feel an indescribable sense of envy and jealousy.

"Rafael, why do you think he's so popular?" Lennon nudged Van der Vaart next to him, looking at Shan Yongzhuo who was doing a simple warm-up on the other side of the field, and asked with a mixture of envy and doubt.

Van der Vaart thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it's because he performed so well, and he's also very handsome."

Lennon curled his lip and said dismissively, "I admit I performed well, but when it comes to handsome, I don't think I'm any less handsome than him."

After saying that, Lennon tossed his hair and struck what he thought was a very cool pose.

In fact, Lennon had always been troubled by Shan Yongzhuo. He considered himself a very handsome Englishman, but what frustrated him was that his girlfriend was a fanatical fan of Shan Yongzhuo, which made him very unhappy.

Seeing these female cheerleaders now only made him more annoyed.

Van der Vaart sighed somewhat dejectedly and said, "Okay, I admit you're handsome, about as handsome as me, but we both have one big problem: we can't compare to Shan Yongzhuo in terms of what we have. Do you know what it is?"

"what?"

"We're too short."

"..."

Lennon's face darkened; he realized that speaking to Van der Vaart had been a mistake.

(End of this chapter)