After beating Bayern 4-1 away from home, Manchester City returned to Premier League action with an away trip to face Liverpool.
After ninety minutes of intense battle, the two sides ended the match in a 1-1 draw.
Gao Shen made extensive rotations, ensuring Manchester City had a fresh enough squad for the trip. They held the advantage for much of the match, but couldn't break through Liverpool's goal again. The home side secured a draw thanks to a goal from Gerrard.
Interestingly, both Gao Shen and Benítez expressed dissatisfaction with the result after the match.
Liverpool had more chances, while Manchester City had the advantage, yet neither side was satisfied.
But everyone knew that the draw wouldn't affect Manchester City's title race at all.
…
Midweek saw the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
Before the decisive match, Bayern Munich finally ran out of patience and announced the early dismissal of head coach Van Gaal.
After losing again in the league over the weekend, Bayern's discontent reached its limit. The board could no longer keep their promise of letting him finish the season and decided to send him packing early.
Assistant coach Jonker stepped in as caretaker and will lead the team until the end of the season.
Upon taking over, Jonker immediately promoted veteran goalkeeper Butt. At the same time, he reinforced the team's defense in the match against Manchester City, deploying a system with three defensive midfielders in an attempt to pull off a miracle away from home.
But as everyone knows, miracles are miracles precisely because they can't be planned.
Manchester City ended up winning 1-0 at home against Bayern Munich thanks to a goal from Robben.
The entire match was under City's control. Bayern sat deep with a tight defense and played very passively throughout.
This was also the biggest difference between Jonker and Van Gaal.
If Van Gaal had remained in charge, the game would likely have turned into another all-out attacking clash. But Jonker opted for a conservative approach.
In the end, Manchester City eliminated Bayern with a 5-1 aggregate score and successfully advanced to the semi-finals.
In the other three quarter-finals, Manchester United eliminated Chelsea after a 1-0 away win and a 2-1 home victory, securing a 3-1 aggregate win to set up a semi-final clash with Manchester City.
This marks the first time a Manchester derby will be played in the Champions League.
Furthermore, two Premier League teams have reached the semi-finals this season, ensuring that at least one Premier League club will reach the final.
This was great news for the Premier League.
Elsewhere, Napoli narrowly defeated Schalke 04 with a 3-2 aggregate score to advance to the semi-finals.
Barcelona eliminated Shakhtar Donetsk with a dominant 6-1 aggregate, setting up a rematch with Napoli—echoing the Champions League final from two years ago.
This season's Champions League semi-finals are packed with excitement.
Manchester City will face Manchester United in the Manchester derby.
Barcelona will take on Napoli in a repeat clash.
No matter who reaches the final, it will undoubtedly capture global attention.
The first leg of the semi-finals is scheduled for April 26.
…
After the Champions League came the FA Cup semi-finals.
Manchester City fielded a full-strength lineup and took the match seriously, facing Bolton away.
Van Persie and Sturridge both scored twice, helping City crush Bolton 5-0 and advance to the final.
On the other side, Manchester United defeated Stoke City 1-0 and also advanced to the final.
Suddenly, the entire city of Manchester was buzzing.
The two sides had already met twice in the league, were set to face each other in the Champions League semi-finals, and now would meet once again in the FA Cup final.
When interviewed by the media, Gao Shen smiled and said he was particularly pleased.
"Not everyone gets the chance to beat Manchester United five times in a season."
Ferguson fired back through the media, stating that cup competitions and league matches are entirely different.
"I don't like this noisy guy at all. We'll shut him up in the remaining three matches!"
But interestingly, in the following 33rd round of the Premier League, Manchester United were held to a 0-0 draw away at Newcastle.
Meanwhile, Gao Shen's side secured a narrow 1-0 win at home against Redknapp's Tottenham Hotspur thanks to a decisive goal from Suárez.
Gao Shen was elated.
"I have no doubt that Manchester United is already in decline. They won't even be able to secure the last two cup titles this season!"
Ferguson criticized the referee's poor control of the match and also hit back at Gao Shen's remarks, saying that Manchester United had simply taken a nap, while Manchester City's narrow home win only proved that they're no longer that good.
However, just three days later, in the 34th round of the league, Manchester United managed a tight 1-0 home win over Everton.
Manchester City also won 1-0 away against Blackburn.
It was clear both teams were conserving energy and building momentum for their upcoming Champions League semi-final.
By contrast, Liverpool and Chelsea—who had no pressure from other competitions—each won by five-goal margins and thoroughly enjoyed their attacking displays.
Unlucky Arsenal lost 2-1 away at Bolton.
This result shocked the British media, as the Gunners had recently lost 5-0 to Manchester City.
Everyone couldn't help but sigh—Arsenal was in real trouble.
…
While the world eagerly anticipated the upcoming Manchester derby in the Champions League semi-finals, big news broke out of Paris.
Paris Saint-Germain officially announced a massive change: the Qatari consortium had completed its takeover of the club!
The news instantly ignited heated discussion across European football and beyond.
Just six months ago, the Qatari consortium had contacted Manchester United but were scared off by the Glazer family's sky-high asking price.
There had also been earlier rumors of the Qatari group planning to acquire Leeds United, but surprisingly, it turned out to be Paris Saint-Germain.
The rich man has arrived!
Now things were about to get interesting!
The football world was abuzz with speculation about Qatar's ambitions behind the PSG acquisition.
Even Su Qing, Lucas, and others came to Gao Shen to discuss whether this would impact their ongoing efforts to acquire Leeds United. But the answer they received was that it would have no effect.
After all, Leeds United currently has very little presence. If it weren't for previous media speculation linking them to the Qatari consortium, nobody would have paid attention to the White Rose.
They've simply fallen too far.
Gao Shen wasn't surprised at all. He had known about this for some time.
"You don't seem surprised," Su Qing looked at Gao Shen curiously.
The secrecy surrounding the deal had been very tight, so everyone else was caught off guard.
"It's normal. Qatar is preparing its bid for the 2022 World Cup, so they need football projects to build momentum. Not only that, I can even say for certain, they'll be waving chequebooks across Europe, buying up star players and building PSG into a powerhouse as quickly as possible."
This would also bring another side effect, market inflation.
Transfer fees and player wages would soar.
There wasn't much time left for Gao Shen to develop.
"What you said kind of makes sense… but also kind of doesn't," Lucas scratched his head with a wry smile.
Gao Shen gave him a look that said, "I knew you guys would gossip about this," then added, "UEFA president Platini is French. He's very close to Blatter. Qatar's bidding for the World Cup..."
Though he only briefly mentioned it, everyone immediately understood.
Ah, a behind-the-scenes deal!
Gao Shen thought to himself, If I told them this behind-the-scenes deal would lead to both Blatter and Platini stepping down in the future, I wonder what kind of expressions they'd make?
You have to understand, FIFA and UEFA right now are like emperors of world football.
Who would've thought the future would be so brutal and direct?
"Be prepared. With this wave of foreign capital pouring in, player valuations and wages will skyrocket in the coming years," Gao Shen warned firmly.
Su Qing certainly believed him, and even Lucas, Borel, and the others trusted his judgment without hesitation.
Gao Shen's bold predictions had never been wrong before.
"In fact, instead of worrying about the Qatari consortium far away in Paris, I think the recent acquisition of Queens Park Rangers by Malaysian tycoon Tony Fernandes might impact us more," Gao Shen reminded them.
That deal had been announced just a few days earlier.
Although the Championship season hadn't yet ended, Queens Park Rangers had already sealed the title and secured Premier League promotion. At this key moment, Tony Fernandes announced he had acquired the newly promoted Premier League club for £100 million.
The deal was relatively low-profile. QPR didn't even announce it on their official website until it was finalized. Fernandes is not only the owner of Malaysia's AirAsia but also owns the F1 team Lotus.
Reports say Tony Fernandes is now searching for a well-known Premier League coach and plans to significantly increase investment in the squad to ensure survival in the Premier League.
There are also reports that Fernandes is a lifelong West Ham United fan. He had previously tried to acquire the club but failed. After West Ham were relegated, he immediately bought QPR without hesitation.
This made some Rangers fans uncomfortable, given the poor relationship between the two clubs.
Football fans are always emotional.
Tony Fernandes has pledged to spend big this summer to strengthen the squad, but the top priority remains finding the right manager.
It's obvious that Neil Warnock, who guided QPR to promotion, is no longer in their plans. With new funds in hand, QPR now has the means to pursue someone better.
Potential candidates include local names like Mark Hughes, Steve Bruce, or Hodgson.
Paris may be far, but London is close.
Gao Shen believed this transfer was more likely to affect his Leeds United plans.
The biggest disagreement remained over the stadium and training ground deal. The other party had lowered the price from £20 million to £17 million, but that was still above Su Qing's ideal figure. She had visited Leeds several times to negotiate but hadn't reached an agreement yet. Now her patience was being tested.
Still, since they had signed an exclusivity agreement, Gao Shen and Su Qing could afford to wait a bit longer.
If push came to shove, they'd just go ahead and buy it. It wouldn't be a loss anyway.
At the same time, Gao Shen was still waiting for news from London.
(To be continued.)
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