Chapter 381: Li Ang Still Prefers Playing Against Barça
Chelsea's continuous victories in the league undoubtedly placed significant pressure on Manchester City.
Yet, even with a shorter recovery period after their Champions League knockout clash, Manchester City managed to keep pace, securing a powerful win over West Bromwich Albion in Round 33 of the Premier League.
With one extra match played, City remained level on points with Chelsea but trailed slightly due to goal difference, sitting second in the table.
Their chances of winning the league were still very much alive.
In the next Premier League round, City would travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea — their second direct clash this season.
If City won, they could seize the initiative in the title race and then watch carefully as Chelsea dealt with their match in hand against Arsenal.
But if they lost again, most of their season's hard work would go down the drain.
Falling three points behind Chelsea with only four rounds remaining — even the most optimistic City fans would struggle to imagine a comeback.
Thus, for City, the next league match against Chelsea was practically a title-deciding war.
Victory would keep their hopes alive. Defeat would mean the end of everything.
For Chelsea, however, the margin for error was much wider.
They didn't even need to go all-out against City. A solid draw would be enough. Then they could take full points against a more manageable Arsenal side during their rescheduled match.
That might sound disrespectful to Arsenal, but the truth was simple: Chelsea had an overwhelmingly strong record against the Gunners.
Even if the rescheduled match took place at the Emirates, Chelsea wouldn't feel much pressure.
Mentally, Chelsea's players were undoubtedly more relaxed than City's.
Regardless of what each team imagined about the next Premier League round, their immediate focus had to shift back to the Champions League.
After Round 33 concluded, the Champions League flame reignited.
This time, Chelsea would play slightly later. On April 13th, Manchester City and Real Madrid clashed first in their decisive second leg.
Juventus and Benfica also prepared for their second leg showdown.
In the first leg of the quarterfinals, Chelsea had defeated Bayern 2–0 away, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid had drawn 0–0 at Camp Nou, Real Madrid and Manchester City had tied 2–2 at the Bernabéu, and Juventus had crushed Benfica 3–0 away.
Overall, only Chelsea and Juventus had seized early advantages.
Barça's draw at home put them at a disadvantage — especially since Atlético had been unbeatable at home all season.
Real Madrid were in a similarly uncomfortable position, failing to win at home and conceding two away goals to Manchester City.
But pre-match media coverage was, as usual, a lot of noise. Barça and Real hadn't lost — anything could still happen.
Before the games began, Li Ang privately told his teammates he favored Real Madrid to advance.
It wasn't blind loyalty to his former club or dislike for Manchester City.
He simply spoke from experience:
In the Champions League, especially by the quarterfinal stage, experience often outweighed raw strength.
City had grown tremendously this season, no question.
But they had never reached the semifinals before, while Real Madrid had achieved back-to-back titles not long ago.
Even if Madrid hadn't lifted the trophy again recently, their players had a wealth of knockout experience.
They had faced every imaginable scenario in Europe's biggest competition.
Compared to that, City's players were still relatively green.
When it came down to do-or-die matches, composure mattered more than anything else — and Real Madrid would have it in spades.
If City had already reached a few semifinals in recent seasons, things might have been different.
Chelsea, after all, had only won the Champions League last year after first suffering heartbreak in previous semifinals.
Experience with near-misses laid the foundation for ultimate glory.
Thus, it wasn't that Li Ang underestimated City — they simply hadn't matured enough yet.
When the match started, City quickly seized the initiative, pinning Madrid back and launching waves of fierce attacks.
From a surface perspective, City seemed to dominate — and many fans online predicted they would advance.
But for all their aggression, Madrid's tight, disciplined defense gave City little in the way of clear chances.
They buzzed around the box but couldn't carve out a real opportunity.
To Li Ang, even though City looked stronger, the scoreless first half revealed their underlying weakness.
Madrid, passive as they seemed, were playing smart under Ancelotti's guidance.
Away from home, the plan was clear:
Absorb pressure early, let City's players tire themselves out, then strike back decisively in the second half.
Mourinho had employed similar tactics back when he coached Madrid — resting players like Ronaldo and Di María in the first half, then unleashing them in the second.
Now Madrid, with Bale tearing down the right instead of Di María, were even better suited for this approach.
Li Ang expected Madrid to be far more dangerous after the break — and he was right.
Once the second half began, Madrid quickly shifted gears, battling City for midfield control.
City's players, worn out from their high-energy first half, started to fade.
As Madrid's control grew, Ronaldo and Bale saw more and more of the ball.
And instead of sitting back, Madrid attacked.
City made a crucial tactical mistake:
Instead of consolidating and regaining control, Guardiola insisted on maintaining a full-frontal attack.
Fidelity to his philosophy, yes — but reality doesn't lie.
That decision cost City dearly.
In the 73rd minute, Bale received a switch pass from Benzema, burned past the slower Kolarov on the wing, and broke free down the sideline.
Bayern's defense crumbled.
No one could catch the rampaging Welshman.
Bale tore to the byline and whipped in a pinpoint cross to the far post.
Cristiano Ronaldo rose high above Otamendi — seemingly flying — and powered a header into the back of the net.
Bravo's limited wingspan couldn't stop it.
Madrid had struck first — and in a match like this, that was lethal.
City were thrown into disarray.
Guardiola frantically threw on more attackers, but Madrid, now firmly bunkered in, expertly killed the game.
Ancelotti's pragmatic, ruthless tactics strangled City's last hopes.
The 1–0 scoreline might have looked slim, but it was enough.
City threw everything forward until the final whistle, but they never found a way through.
Experience won out.
Ronaldo's 13th Champions League goal of the season sent Real Madrid back to the semifinals.
City fans were left heartbroken in their own stadium.
As for the British media, who had spent days hyping City's "inevitable" triumph?
They quickly shifted gears — placing all remaining hopes on Premier League's sole survivor: Chelsea.
The other quarterfinal match that night — Juventus versus Benfica — barely registered in England's news cycle.
Naturally, the huge strength gap between Juventus and Benfica didn't stir much interest among the media or neutral fans.
After watching the Real Madrid vs Manchester City match, Li Ang just glanced at the post-match news and, upon seeing that Juventus had beaten Benfica 2–0 in the second leg, lost interest.
Juventus' clean, decisive two-legged victory was only to be expected — after all, they had drawn the only "easy draw" in this year's Champions League quarterfinals.
With that, two semifinal spots were confirmed.
On the evening of April 14th, Chelsea, Bayern, Atlético Madrid, and Barcelona all took to the stage.
At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea fielded a full-strength starting lineup, ready for battle.
Meanwhile, Bayern, with their backs against the wall, faced the final verdict of their knockout stage journey.
From the very start, the tone of the match was set:
Chelsea, holding a two-goal lead, had no need to rush into attack.
With the home advantage, they immediately lined up to sit deep and counterattack.
Bayern had no other choice — they had to go all out on offense, pinning all their hopes on attack.
Thus began a brutal and fierce battle of attack versus defense at Stamford Bridge.
Bayern, much like Manchester City the previous night, went all-out from the opening whistle, leaving no room for conservative play.
But Chelsea didn't just park the bus — their counters remained sharp, constantly seeking to kill off Bayern with a fatal blow.
Bayern's attacks, as a result, looked more and more like a double-edged sword.
Mourinho's strategy tonight was completely transparent:
He dared Bayern to attack endlessly, knowing they had no choice.
Everyone in Bayern's squad knew Chelsea would counter, but what could they do?
Nothing.
The hole dug at the Allianz Arena was simply too deep.
To have any chance of forcing extra time, Bayern had to score at least two goals — without conceding even once.
Given such conditions, the pressure on Bayern's players was immense.
The more desperately Bayern attacked, the calmer Chelsea became.
Playing counterattack football put no pressure on Chelsea at all — it was their specialty.
And in their strongest domain, no team in the world could suppress them.
Bayern fought valiantly, but the triple defensive wall Chelsea constructed strangled all of Bayern's attacks outside the penalty area in the first half!
Li Ang played with tremendous energy, tirelessly running to support the defenders and massively easing their workload.
Though this meant he had fewer attacking chances himself, Mourinho preferred seeing him shine defensively tonight.
As halftime ended with the score still locked at 0–0, hope among Bayern fans dwindled further.
In the second half, Chelsea made slight tactical adjustments.
They still mainly counterattacked, but now they also fought more fiercely for midfield control.
Simply put, Chelsea wanted to pull their defensive line further up, forcing Bayern to expend more energy contesting the midfield.
Bayern resisted — if they allowed Chelsea to extend their line, all their prior attacking efforts would be wasted.
Neither side yielded, leading to a fierce midfield battle.
But by the 60th minute, Chelsea abruptly shifted tactics again — abandoning the midfield battle and falling back deep.
Bayern's players didn't have time to think about the reason behind the switch; they were just desperate to reclaim territory.
However, their frantic forward surge left more and more gaps in their backline.
In the 67th minute, Li Ang and Matić double-teamed Thomas Müller.
Müller, under pressure, could only pass sideways — and Kroos, reading the play perfectly, intercepted before Ribéry could react!
Kroos quickly lofted a ball forward to Suarez, who had dropped deep to link up play.
Hazard and De Bruyne immediately accelerated along the wings.
Suarez didn't rush; shielding the ball, he waited a beat and then laid it off to the onrushing Li Ang.
Suarez's choice reflected his exceptional football intelligence.
As Bayern's defenders shifted focus toward Suarez's pass, Li Ang, without taking a touch, instantly launched a long, low pass!
The ball whizzed across the pitch and landed precisely at De Bruyne's feet.
Meanwhile, Hazard raised his arm, darting diagonally toward Bayern's box.
De Bruyne, reading the movement instantly, whipped in a cross — but not toward Hazard!
Instead, it curled back slightly toward the top of the box!
De Bruyne had completely fooled Bayern's defense.
Li Ang, having dragged Javi Martínez's attention earlier, slowed his forward run —
because Suarez was already storming into the box!
The Uruguayan adjusted his steps, looking poised to shoot, but Alaba bravely lunged to block.
In a flash, Suarez cut the ball back neatly, slipping past Alaba cleanly!
The South American's exquisite footwork was on full display.
Neuer rushed off his line, but Suarez didn't panic.
He had already picked his spot, calmly slotting a low shot past Neuer's dive.
The ball skimmed the turf and nestled into the far corner!
Li Ang roared in celebration!
Stamford Bridge erupted into deafening cheers!
The tie was over.
Bayern had no chance of stopping Chelsea's march toward a Champions League title defense!
A devastated Lahm covered his face outside the box.
Müller stood hands on hips in midfield, lost in thought.
Thiago's eyes were still filled with anxiety.
Chelsea's celebrations were brief, but now Bayern's players were even more mentally broken.
Thousands of traveling Bayern fans fell into despair.
Mourinho, ruthless as ever, chose this moment to twist the knife.
He brought on Gary Cahill and Marco van Ginkel, strengthening the defensive lines further.
Subbing off Kroos and De Bruyne showed Chelsea's absolute commitment to defending their lead.
With around 20 minutes left, expecting Bayern to score three goals was nearly impossible.
But Bayern had no choice — they launched one last desperate offensive surge.
Suarez and Hazard dropped back into midfield to help defend, while five defenders and three holding midfielders sealed the back.
Chelsea's "luxury bus" was fully parked.
Even neutral fans couldn't help but pity Bayern.
Chelsea held firm, and the match ended with a clean sheet.
Two wins, two clean sheets, a 3–0 aggregate score!
Chelsea stormed into the Champions League semifinals with an overwhelming display!
Meanwhile, at almost the same time, Atlético Madrid had completed their comeback against Barcelona — winning 2–1 at home to claim the last semifinal spot.
Thus, the four semifinalists were confirmed, and an even more brutal battle awaited.
After the final whistle, Chelsea celebrated wildly at Stamford Bridge.
After a few embraces, Li Ang sought out assistant coach Holland to check the Barça–Atlético result.
"Atlético won? 1–0?"
Holland corrected him — Barça had scored first, but Atlético came back with two goals in the second half.
Li Ang shook his head.
Barça being overturned made sense — but he still felt a little regret.
After all, if he had a choice, Li Ang still preferred playing against Barcelona in the Champions League.
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