Chapter 799: League Finale, Dominating England!
On the evening of May 21st, the Premier League finale saw Manchester City hosting Watford at home.
In this match, Guardiola fielded the main lineup for a warm-up, but he repeatedly warned the players not to make dangerous moves and to try to avoid injuries.
So the situation remained stable throughout the game. The away team scored first in the first half, while the home team equalized in the second half with a goal from substitute Nolito.
The score remained 1-1 until the end of the full game.
With this, the Premier League came to a close, with Manchester City achieving an excellent record of 29 wins, 7 draws, and 2 losses, totaling 94 points. Chelsea, in second place, had 29 wins, 3 draws, and 6 losses, totaling 90 points.
Tottenham Hotspur ranked third. They started strong but faltered later in the season, threatening Manchester City's lead at one point but failing to keep up with the top two.
Liverpool secured the final Champions League spot, while Arsenal, despite their efforts to finish in the top four, had to settle for fifth place and play in the Europa League.
The three relegated teams were Hull City, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland, while the three promoted teams from the Championship were Newcastle United, Brighton, and Huddersfield.
According to the officially announced income from bonuses and revenue sharing for the top 20 teams of the season, Manchester City earned ￡150 million, with Chelsea closely behind at ￡147 million.
Liverpool, due to higher broadcasting ratings than Tottenham Hotspur, earned ￡146 million, ranking third, while Tottenham earned ￡145 million, ranking fourth.
Even the bottom-placed relegated Sunderland could receive ￡93.47 million. In addition, the Premier League introduced a "relegation distribution plan" to further safeguard their interests.
This system, nicknamed the "parachute," specifically allocates a portion of the revenue each season to teams relegated from the Premier League to the Championship, ensuring these teams can financially land softly, as Premier League wages are much higher than those in the Championship.
After relegation, the teams receive 55% of broadcasting revenue in the first year, followed by 45% and 20% in the next two seasons.
Take Newcastle United, who unfortunately dropped to the Championship last season, for example. They received about ￡41 million in revenue sharing, which helped them sustain themselves. This season, they lifted the Championship trophy and returned to the Premier League.
In addition to revenue sharing, the Premier League also announced the winners of various season awards. The best formation for the best lineup was chosen as 3-4-3, with Chelsea's Courtois as goalkeeper.
The three defenders were Van Dijk (Southampton), Otamendi (Manchester City), and Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham Hotspur).
The four midfielders were David Silva (Manchester City), De Bruyne (Manchester City), Hazard (Chelsea), and Pogba (Manchester United).
The three forwards were Lukaku (Everton), Wang Feng (Manchester City), and Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur).
As for the Premier League's top scorer and Player of the Season honors, they naturally belonged to the Chinese superstar. His feat of breaking the single-season goal record was talked about by all media and fans.
Across the top five leagues, the second-highest goal scorer was Messi from Barcelona in La Liga, with a total of 37 goals, which was seven fewer than Wang Feng's, thus Wang Feng once again won the European Golden Boot.
"No one can take the top scorer title from Wang Feng unless he himself doesn't want it!" the European Golden Boot award selection committee, World Soccer magazine, said so.
Since joining the top five leagues, the Chinese superstar has missed this award only twice, once because he was moved to play as a defensive midfielder for the overall team strategy, and once because he was competing for his teammate.
Otherwise, he has shown an incomparable dominance, winning the award with a significant advantage.
Within Manchester City, Guardiola intentionally reduced Wang Feng's playing time, only letting him make decisive contributions at crucial moments. Therefore, his efficiency can be said to be unrivaled in the football world.
At the same time, the Spaniard has also changed his previous practice of rigidly training the main lineup, constantly rotating due to multi-line combat and injury pressure, ensuring that almost all first-team players get playing time.
Even the young recruit Gabriel Jesus, who joined in the winter, appeared on the Premier League stage in some rotation matches, and substitute forward Nolito scored 6 goals.
However, this also brings new problems. The large number of signings made by Manchester City last summer has led to a very bloated composition of players. After the season, it is necessary to streamline the team in order to make targeted reinforcements.
The substitutes who performed well want to seek higher positions, and the head coach needs to make choices about who can be let go and who must stay to ensure the team's normal operation next season.
Of course, everything will have to wait until the dust settles after the FA Cup and the Champions League.
On the evening of May 27th, at the Wembley Stadium in London, the FA Cup final between Manchester City and Chelsea began, another peak showdown between the two teams.
The Blues were extremely unwilling to lose the league trophy, having achieved a high score of 90 points in the league, but losing the initiative to the Sky Blues twice in the head-to-head matches.
Therefore, they were eager to redeem themselves and spoil Manchester City's dream of a clean sweep.
After the start of the match, the attacking side led by Hazard and Diego Costa launched an attack against the Sky Blues.
In the 11th minute, Moses passed to Hazard, who then made a through pass. Costa received the ball near the goal and shot, almost breaking the Manchester City defense, but Bravo reacted quickly and punched the ball out of the bottom line.
Chelsea won a corner kick opportunity, and Alonso took the kick into the penalty area. In the chaos, Otamendi headed the ball away, but it was blocked by his teammate Kolarov. However, Silva quickly arrived to clear the danger.
But at this moment, the referee blew his whistle, indicating a handball by Kolarov and awarding Chelsea a penalty kick! "From the slow-motion replay, the ball seemed to hit the shoulder area of the Manchester City defender. There's little suspicion of a handball. This is very likely a mistaken call," commentator Zhang Jun said.
"Manchester City players surrounded the referee, explaining continuously, but they couldn't change his mind."
In the end, Hazard converted the penalty to give Chelsea the lead.
Although feeling very frustrated, the game continued. Captain Kompany and Wang Feng both stepped up to comfort everyone, and they quickly adjusted their mindset and re-entered the battle.
In the 33rd minute of the first half, Bravo took a goal kick from the back, De Bruyne chested the ball down in the opponent's forty-meter area with his back to the goal, then turned and sent a lobbed pass to the edge of the penalty area.
This lob pass was very clever, with the angle and landing point just right. Wang Feng leaped to volley as the ball descended, drawing a rainbow arc in the air. It grazed the crossbar and entered the Chelsea goal, making it 1-1!
Boosted by the equalizer, the morale of the Sky Blues soared. In the 67th minute of the second half, they got another good chance.
This time it was a corner kick opportunity, taken by De Bruyne. Kante headed the ball away in the penalty area, and Kompany, who was attacking, grabbed the loose ball and passed it again to the Belgian.
De Bruyne feinted a cross, then suddenly passed a square ball to the top of the arc, where the retreating Chinese superstar controlled the ball sideways, then turned and shot with his right foot.
This caught the Chelsea defense off guard, and goalkeeper Courtois was a step slow to dive. The ball hit the inside of the post and deflected into the net.
In the end, thanks to Wang Feng's brace, Manchester City reversed Chelsea 2-1 and lifted their sixth FA Cup in history.
And this season, the Sky Blues also successfully achieved the Grand Slam of English professional leagues, winning the Premier League, League Cup, and FA Cup, which is a first in history!
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