Super Marshal

December 2, 2009, Blackburn Ewood Park.

There was a dead silence in the stadium.

All the Blackburn fans in the audience almost held their breath, their eyes fixed on the goal in the field.

In front of the goal line, Blackburn's main goalkeeper Robinson spread his legs and opened his arms. He looked directly at the Chelsea forward Kalou who was gently placing the ball on the white spot of the penalty kick, and slowly bent down. The waist is like a dormant cheetah, ready to fly towards its prey at any time.

Kalaw put the ball down and stepped back slowly, counting his steps. He stepped hard and hard with each step until he stood still.

In the penalty area, the two of them were looking at each other, ready to give their opponent the most fatal blow at any time.

What is going on now is the English League Cup quarter-finals, Chelsea's away game against Blackburn Rovers.

Since the start of this season, Chelsea have played double matches in a row. Three days ago, they just defeated Arsenal 3-0 and won full applause. On the weekend, they will challenge the league leader Manchester City away from home, and next week they will play in the Champions League group. The final decisive battle of the game will determine whether Chelsea can qualify for the top spot.

In such a dense schedule, Chelsea also made appropriate choices.

In this League Cup match, Scolari arranged a large number of substitute players to start, forming Chelsea's second team to challenge Blackburn away. The home team Blackburn, under the coaching of Allardyce, had no chance of promotion. Determined to win.

The two sides fought fiercely for the ninety-minute match, resulting in a 2-2 draw. After entering overtime, the fight became even fiercer. In the end, the two sides tied 3-3 and entered the final penalty shootout. .

At this moment, the penalty shootout has entered the fifth round.

In the previous four rounds of penalty shootouts, Blackburn and Chelsea each missed one.

On Chelsea's side, Ballack missed the first-round penalty, but in the fourth round, Chelsea goalkeeper Hilario saved Kalinic's penalty, saving the Blues and dragging the penalty shootout into the fifth round. .

Robinson faced Kalaw, and this penalty kick will determine the outcome.

Everyone's eyes fell on the narrow penalty area. In front of the coach's bench, Scolari and Allardyce also stared at the penalty area with stern expressions. They were also very worried.

Whether you live or die, it all depends on this kick!

As the referee blew his whistle, everyone in the audience held their breath.

All I saw was that Kalou took a deep breath, rushed forward quickly, followed the steps he had just carefully calculated, and when he got to the ball, he stepped hard on the ball with one foot, raised the other foot, and stared at the opponent's goalkeeper with his eyes. Robinson.

This is an extremely experienced old goalkeeper. He is calm and did not reveal his flaws in advance. Instead, he stared at Kalou.

Kalou's mind changed quickly and he made a deceptive fake move before hitting the goal, but in fact he pushed the ball into the middle.

Unexpectedly, Robinson was well prepared. Although his body shifted his center of gravity, he reacted quickly and blocked Kalou's shot with his legs.

At this moment, the entire Ewood Park stadium erupted like madness.

All the Blackburn fans rushed out of their seats, cheering and screaming wildly.

Allardyce raised his arms high and kept shouting, venting his inner excitement.

5 to 4, Blackburn beat Chelsea with a penalty kick!

Although this is not Chelsea's main lineup, it is still exciting, isn't it?

For Blackburn, the league is a distant, elusive goal. Only the cup is what they should pursue, so Allardyce poured all his belief in winning the cup into the cup.

Eliminating Chelsea, Blackburn enters the semi-finals of the League Cup!

Next to Allardyce, Scolari silently turned and walked to the visiting team's coaching bench after Kalou scored the penalty kick, leaving a helpless back to the live TV cameras.

It was Chelsea's second defeat of the season and it cost them a title.

…………

…………

London, Stamford Bridge Stadium.

The cheers of Blackburn fans celebrating their promotion came from the TV, and the camera also captured Scolari's helpless back, and the Chelsea players walking off the field in low spirits.

Chelsea lost the League Cup!

The conference room was quiet, but there was no tension at all.

Many people present were mentally prepared for the outcome of this game, and the defeat was already in their plans.

Fatigue is Chelsea's biggest enemy, and Scolari communicated with the management before the game.

This season's Champions League group stage was drawn against Atletico Madrid. Chelsea's luck was not good. Now there is only one final round left in the group stage and we are facing the decisive battle. The league encounters Arsenal and Manchester City in the two rounds, which are also the highlights. The team needs to make some trade-offs.

Whether it is Abramovich or the management, the advice given is to ensure the league and the Champions League.

Especially the league.

This weekend's game against Manchester City, Abramovich does not want to lose under any circumstances.

Therefore, Scolari arranged a large number of substitutes for this game, and even players such as Terry and Lampard were not used.

It should be said that it is not bad to be able to play like this with Blackburn in the away game.

The main stars such as Terry, Lampard and Drogba can recharge their batteries and prepare for the weekend league.

"What's the result at Manchester City?" Abramovich asked with concern.

While Chelsea are challenging Blackburn, Manchester City are also challenging Arsenal.

"The game is over. The Gunners also entered the second team as substitutes and lost 3-0." Granovskia replied.

Abramovich raised his eyebrows, mentally prepared.

Manchester City has no European competitions this season, so they are focused on the league and cup competitions, so they are naturally better able to show their strength.

More importantly, players such as Stephen Ireland, Elano, Jo, David Dunn, Bridge and Petrov were all the absolute main players in the Premier League last season, but they can only play in the Premier League this season. Gao Han's men served as substitutes.

One can imagine how strong Manchester City's bench is.

"Kaka played for another half an hour this time and contributed an assist." Granovskia said.

Abramovich frowned, a little worried.

Recently, the British media has been paying attention to the news about Kaká. Gao Han arranges for the Brazilian to play for 20 or 30 minutes every time. He seems to be helping the Brazilian find the rhythm of the game, and Kaká is also a substitute in each game. Slowly regained the status.

"He will not have a chance to play in this weekend's game." Abramovich said harshly.

As long as Chelsea controls Manchester City in the away game and the team's situation on the field is unfavorable, then Kaka will not have a chance to come on as a substitute.

How to play Manchester City is a headache for the coaching staff, but the management must consider the entire team.

"Boss, based on what Scolari reported to me before, he hopes to make timely signings during the winter break to ensure the team's competitiveness in the second half," Granovskia said.

"Why?" Now whenever money is mentioned, Abramovich gets a headache.

From 2007 to now, he first got divorced, and then encountered the subprime mortgage crisis, and his wealth shrank significantly.

More importantly, oil prices continue to fall, which has caused heavy losses to Abramovich, who holds Siberia's rich oil resources.

"January is the African Cup of Nations. Four players including Drogba and Kalou have to go back to participate in the African Cup of Nations. I'm afraid they will be absent for the entire month of January. As you can see from the performance of this game, it is difficult for Ballack to return. It meets the team’s requirements.”

Abramovich nodded. He is no longer the tycoon he was when he first arrived. Of course he is aware of the impact of the African Cup on the Premier League, and Chelsea is even more affected by it because they have the most African players.

"He hopes to bring in a striker and a midfielder during the winter break."

"Forward and midfielder?" Abramovich frowned even more tightly. He knew the current transfer situation very well.

"Is there a suitable candidate?"

"We have had contact with Atletico Madrid. Torres and Villa are both very suitable candidates, but Atletico Madrid has made it clear that they refuse to negotiate with us, and both players have liquidated damages of over 100 million."

Today's transfer market is a bit exaggerated.

This summer, Manchester City burned more than 400 million euros in one breath, and Real Madrid still has a transfer budget of several hundred million euros on hand. This has caused the value of players throughout European football to rise accordingly.

Let’s talk about Ibrahimovic’s move to Barcelona.

Under competition from Real Madrid, Barcelona not only paid a transfer fee of 70 million euros, but also even acquired Eto'o. The entire transfer value exceeded 100 million, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo.

Adebayor's original transfer fee was estimated to be around 30 million euros, but Real Madrid made a move and it reached 40 million euros. Many people even said it was very cheap and a good deal.

Players from Eastern Europe, which were originally relatively cheap, are now also very expensive. Barcelona's introduction of Zygrinski and Chelsea's introduction of Zhirkov both exceeded 20 million, which shows that the value of players is indeed soaring.

"Are there no other candidates?" Abramovich asked solemnly.

"Yes, it's just..." Granovsky hesitated.

"Just what?"

"In the past six months, among the more popular players in the European transfer market, the forward is undoubtedly Colombian forward Falcao from La Liga Chinatown."

"Falcao?" Abramovich has heard of this name and it often appears in newspapers. He is now the top scorer in La Liga, and his scoring momentum has even surpassed superstars such as Messi and Ibrahimovic.

Everyone is very optimistic about this Colombian center, not only because he scores a lot of goals, but also because behind him stands Gao Han, who was appointed by Gao Han to join the Chinatown team.

The product produced by Gao Han must be a high-quality product, which has become a golden brand in European football.

"At only 23 years old, he was the top scorer in La Liga last season, helping the Chinatown team to be promoted to La Liga. This season, he has scored a lot of goals and firmly occupies the top scorer list in La Liga. Regardless of his strength, His potential is very promising.”

Abramovich nodded but said nothing.

Granovskya looked at it and continued: "But it's not easy to poach him. The Chinatown team just renewed his contract half a month ago, and Gao Han personally went to Madrid to negotiate."

"Gao Han went to Madrid to talk in person?" Abramovich was a little surprised.

Just for this point, it shows that Gao Han attaches great importance to him.

"Yes, in addition to Falcao, there is also midfielder Ramirez. This is also one of the midfielders who has performed very well in La Liga this season. His contract has just been renewed under the auspices of Gao Han. Therefore, I want to dig out these two Personally, it’s not easy, especially during the winter break.”

The Chinatown team is full of treasures, making this team the coveted focus of the major European teams.

It's just that due to the cold weather, many teams couldn't find a chance to make a move.

But Chelsea has no such concerns. Everyone knows that Abramovich and Gao Han are not on the same page.

"Make an appointment with their agent for me." Abramovich hummed and laughed.

Anything that makes Gao Han unhappy but is good for Chelsea, he is happy to do.