Chapter 161: Champions League Qualification, League Cup Final vs. Manchester United
After 11 rounds of the 2013–2014 Premier League season, the table stood as follows:
1: Arsenal — 10 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses, 31 points
2: Liverpool — 8 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 25 points
3: Chelsea — 6 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses, 21 points
4: Tottenham Hotspur — 6 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses, 20 points
Manchester United — 6 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses, 20 points
Southampton — 6 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses, 20 points
8: Manchester City — 6 wins, 1 draw, 4 losses, 19 points
Although Arsenal dropped two points in round 11 and their winning run ended, their lead at the top of the table was still considerable.
Wenger decided to rotate Xia Qi, Per Mertesacker, Luke Shaw and others.
Xia Qi felt aggrieved; he thought his performances were very good and Wenger's rotation was hurting his chance to collect points.
But Wenger and the coaching staff didn't agree. They ignored Xia Qi's protests and forced him to rest.
In the 12th round of the Premier League, Xia Qi was rested and Arsenal won 2–0 at home against Southampton.
After round 12 came the international break.
Xia Qi was called up to the England squad; Roy Hodgson indeed played Xia Qi as an attacking midfielder.
England had already qualified early for the World Cup, so Hodgson used the break to experiment; Xia Qi played only half a match, and England beat Slovakia 3–0. Xia Qi earned a high 9.0 rating after the game. Slovakia's coach later said that England with Xia Qi and England without Xia Qi were teams of different levels.
Xia Qi was also selected in the European Team of the Year; interestingly, in the Europa/European XI he was listed as a left winger — it seems club performances dominated the selection and the national team appearances only made it more convincing. Xia Qi was also the youngest player among those shortlisted.
In the World Cup European qualifiers there were two rounds left, but some groups had already sealed qualification: Group A — France; Group B — Portugal, Switzerland; Group C — Germany; Group E — Poland; Group F — England; Group G — Spain, Italy; Group H — Belgium — all had qualified early.
In Group B and Group G the two qualifying spots were already decided, so the remaining matches were essentially dead rubber.
The qualification picture was unclear in Groups D and I.
In Group D Serbia, Ireland, Wales and Austria were separated by only three points with two games left — anything could happen.
In Group I Croatia had been criticized: after eight rounds they had only 14 points, trailing Iceland by 18, Ukraine by 16 and Turkey by 15 — their qualification prospects looked worrying. They needed to win both remaining games and also hope Ukraine and Turkey earned no more than four points combined from their last two matches.
In short, Group I was the real "group of death" in European qualifying.
...
Returning from international duty, Xia Qi was still rested and did not take part in the League Cup semi-final. A recovered Theo Walcott led Arsenal to an away win at West Ham.
The League Cup semis were two-legged; in the other tie Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United thrashed Newcastle 6–0, all but sealing their spot in the final.
The media hoped Arsenal would not "take it easy" in the next round — if both progressed, the League Cup final would be a high-profile Old Trafford–Arsenal showdown unseen in nearly a decade.
Since its creation the League Cup had been awkward — the big six often didn't take it seriously — so if Arsenal reached the final and faced Manchester United it would be a rare highlight for the competition.
The media coverage annoyed Ferguson. Reporters worried Arsenal might rest players, but they didn't worry about United — to Ferguson that felt disrespectful.
You couldn't entirely blame the media: this season, the minor domestic cups were United's only realistic chance at silverware. Ferguson's competitive nature made it unthinkable he'd end the season empty-handed.
Although United still had a 1% chance of winning the Premier League, most people would sooner believe the Chinese national team could lift the World Cup than bet on United to win the title.
In the bustle of November passing into December, Xia Qi's rest rotation finally ended and he led Arsenal across the three competitions: Premier League, Champions League, and League Cup.
In the league Arsenal beat Cardiff and Hull and drew with Everton, remaining unbeaten.
They beat West Ham in the League Cup and set up a final with Manchester United.
In the Champions League group stage they joined Borussia Dortmund in advancing to the knockout rounds.
The Premier League and Bundesliga were the biggest winners in the Champions League — each had four teams reach the knockout phase.
The Champions League round-of-16 draw took place three days later in Nyon.
The pairings:
Manchester City vs. Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen vs. Paris Saint-Germain
AC Milan vs. Atlético Madrid
Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich
Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Borussia Dortmund
Olympiakos vs. Manchester United
Galatasaray vs. Chelsea
Schalke 04 vs. Real Madrid
After the draw, the British press declared Ferguson lucky: United had drawn the weakest opponent in the round of 16.
From a historic perspective the weakest might be Zenit St. Petersburg, but their venue is a nightmare for Premier League sides — a place many would avoid playing at all costs. So United had drawn an excellent tie from their point of view — it couldn't have been much better.
By contrast Arsenal and Manchester City drew tougher opponents; City in particular faced slim chances.
On December 20, the English League Cup final was to be held at neutral Wembley Stadium.
This was Manchester United's best chance to win a trophy that season; everyone at United wanted it badly.
The confidence boost from the 11th round of the league made them feel they could snatch victory.
Penguin (stream) didn't buy the broadcast rights for the final, so many Chinese fans used VPNs to watch live.
Sky Sports covered the match live.
Because this final was the heaviest League Cup final in a decade, and because it was another chapter in the Ferguson–Wenger rivalry — possibly the last time these two would meet for a trophy — and because it might be Manchester United's only route into Europe next season (via the Europa League), all of these factors stoked huge public interest.
Sky Sports assembled an unprecedented hosting team and invited Thierry Henry and Ole Gunnar Solskjær as pundits.
Wembley Stadium
In the dressing room
Wenger tapped the tactics board: "My final requirement is victory!"
"This is not just a final for a trophy; it's the culmination of a decade of disputes between him and me. He's a man I respect. We are friend and rival — the best way to respect him is to hand him second place."
Ferguson: "This season we've been rubbish. Even opponents who used to quake at the sight of us now bare their teeth. I won't say more — tonight we rise, starting with beating Arsenal."
After the managers' motivational speeches the players left the dressing room fired up.
In the tunnel, Wayne Rooney and Xia Qi slapped hands in greeting.
Xia Qi had been an attacking midfielder for the national team, and in three days his rapport with Rooney had risen to 80%.
The mama's boy is popular everywhere.
Male friendships can come fast, like a tornado — sometimes they need only one match, a night of drinks, or a few online games together…
"Tonight, I'll finish you off," Rooney said cockily, as if self-hypnotizing.
Xia Qi wasn't about to yield even verbally:
"No time to mess around for 90 minutes. I've got a date with Emma."
"Emma Watson?"
"Yep."
"Bastard!!!"
Emma of '13 was like the fairy-girl idol of those born in the '80s in China.
"Because of that obscenity, I'm calling it a half-time day," Rooney said.
"Fuck!"
"You wish!"
Rooney gave Xia Qi the middle finger and many United players followed.
Shinji Kagawa, standing either side of him, glanced around awkwardly, smiled sheepishly, bowed slightly and also gave the middle finger.
Manchester United's starting XI that night was still a 4–3–3 with Shinji Kagawa replacing an injured or rotated player
Arsenal made a small change too — Thomas Vermaelen came in for Samuel Umtiti.
This year was a World Cup year and it might be Vermaelen's last World Cup; Wenger was human about this and in less crucial but high-profile matches he would look after his veteran captain.
Arsenal's hunger for the trophy wasn't as great as Manchester United's.
Although the League Cup is a minor cup, it still carries the full ceremonial weight of a final.
There was a pre-match entertainment segment.
Under-8 teams from Manchester United and Arsenal performed dribbling routines, followed by a performance from a well-known British singer.
After the pageantry, the stadium DJ called out players' names. United's English players received the loudest cheers.
When it was Xia Qi's turn, both cheers and boos peaked.
But what made the other players envious wasn't his popularity — it was that the cameras gave Emma Watson a close-up in the VIP box.
On the close-up shot the couple blew kisses to each other... shameless!
END CHAPTER)
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