Chapter 1019 - 247: Champions League Weaklings, Data Plummeting?
"Don’t call him Lu Yang, call him Lu Frenzy!"
"Rapid Wild Dash! The most awesome goal-scoring performance in the Five Major Leagues!"
"Feet on fire! When will they cool down?"
"Serie A goal record, are you trembling?"
"Lu Yang’s only weakness is the Champions League? The last time he didn’t score, was the last time!"
"Champions League attack! Sporting Lisbon is welcoming the battle at the top of the group!"
"Champions League preview, Sporting Lisbon has a bigger chance of winning, but Lu Yang’s form will be the key to determining victory or defeat!"
"Weak shrimp in the Champions League! Lu Yang failed to score in the last Champions League round, what does scoring more in the league matter?"
Controversy over the awards continues.
But the matches that need to be played still have to continue.
Under such a backdrop, the fifth round of Champions League group matches kicked off.
This round has Sporting Lisbon challenging San Remo away.
Sevilla and Arsenal are facing each other.
The match between Sevilla and Arsenal is slightly earlier.
Sevilla is currently ranked fifth in La Liga, just behind Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barça, and Valencia, not a bad result.
But their performance in the Champions League can’t be said to be good.
They are basically infinitely close to elimination.
And Arsenal, their performance in the Champions League is similarly unstable.
However, their league form is very good.
Last week, they faced Chelsea, currently the Premier League team with the most chances for awards, and ended up with a tense 4-3 victory, winning the match.
As a result, Arsenal’s rank in the Premier League returned to the top four, their momentum is very strong.
This Chelsea was previously at the top of the Premier League.
This shows the prowess of this Arsenal team.
But in this round of the Champions League, Arsenal lost 0-1 to Sevilla, shocking everyone.
In this way, both teams accumulate 5 points.
Moreover, Sevilla, who was originally at the bottom, due to a one draw and one win record against Arsenal, moved up in the ranking, surpassing Arsenal to become third in the group.
Premier League noble Arsenal, unexpectedly at the bottom of the group.
In this way, never mind the Champions League, they don’t even have the Europa League they played last year.
This is not repeating the old pattern.
Truly, like King Xiao’er celebrating the New Year, worse year after year.
Arsenal fans felt somewhat emotionally conflicted for a while.
Three days ago they beat the league leader, three days later they are at the bottom of the Champions League group stage.
Should they be happy or sad?
Should Arsenal be praised or criticized?
Fans are bitter inside.
Similarly, Mr. Winter himself felt bitter inside.
Reform comes with side effects.
Last year’s Arsenal and this year’s Arsenal are not the same.
Last year’s Arsenal tactics were more mature, but the players lost motivation, especially the young players, even appearing as the "Four Big Lazy Guys," becoming a joke of European Football.
This year, Mr. Winter exerted thunderous means to rectify the team atmosphere.
Also, based on existing players, he revamped the tactics, making the playing style more direct and efficient.
But in terms of coordination, this led to some shortcomings.
Therefore, Arsenal’s performance has been quite volatile so far.
They can beat very strong teams, but they might also lose to very weak teams.
Especially the returning French Divine Striker Nelka, sometimes extraordinary, sometimes dreadful, has yet to settle down.
A team’s lower limit is determined by the Central Forward.
Upper limit is determined by the Winger.
This sentence, to a certain extent, makes sense.
Arsenal cannot even stabilize the Central Forward’s form, it’s no wonder their overall performance is like a roller coaster.
Sevilla and Arsenal’s scores directly resulted in a matchup between San Remo and Sporting Lisbon, which starts later, having a... direct qualification spot!
If this match ends in a draw, all four teams theoretically would have the chance to qualify in the last round.
But if someone wins this match, the winner can announce early qualification!
San Remo wins, the point rank would be 10, 7, 5, 5, San Remo with ten points would definitely qualify, regardless of the last round, just a matter of being first or second in the group.
Sporting Lisbon wins this match, achieving the same effect.
Thus, the significance of this match suddenly becomes different.
Both sides have the chance to take control of their own destiny early.
...
"Alright, welcome everyone to today’s Champions League match, I am your old friend Luo Cheng." Luo Cheng smiled sitting in the CCTV studio, "Sitting next to me today is a face you might not expect, he is... Guan Zeyuan!"
Applause sounded, a lot of domestic fans became interested.
"Is this the Guan Zeyuan who said nothing works?"
"Isn’t he commentating in Serie A? Has he been called back?"
"CCTV is impressive!"
"I have high hopes for Guan Zeyuan’s development in the country, young man, hang in there!"
"Honestly, I hope he says something unpleasant this match, please don’t jinx my Lu."
"That’s the idea."
"The first four consecutive grand slams in history were jinxed by him, that’s really something."
"Hello everyone, I am Guan Zeyuan." Guan Zeyuan clearly understood his position, straightforwardly said, "In fact, there are many points worth discussing in this match."
"Many European media believe that since Lu Yang did not score in the last Champions League, his performance in this match might not be particularly good. Such saying seems a bit bizarre, but it exists widely in football matches."
"Oh? So Guan Zeyuan, do you also believe Lu Yang’s performance in this match will be poor?" Luo Cheng asked.