A pinnacle showdown between the Red King and the White Nobles (2002/2003 Champions League Manchester United 4-3 Real Madrid) made the "Russian predator" Abramovich determined to enter the football world.
Classic Champions League showdown – Manchester United 4-3 Real Madrid
Many years later, the entry of another rich man in the Premier League has once again set off a new wave of greenery in England, and he is the "blue moon" Manchester City controlled by Mansour.
Bidding farewell to the brief period of Thaksin, Mansour and his Abu Dhabi consortium landed in Manchester, where red is better than blue, compared to the ferocious mercenaries hired by Thaksin the previous year:
Elano, Giovanni, Bodinov, Bianchi, Korluka, Petrov and others, Mansour has signed the famous "cycling teenager" Robinho from the Bernabeu with great fanfare, as well as Belgian centre-back Kompany, Argentine international Sa ballretta, Russian Super League forward Baro and others, in addition to welcoming back Wright Phillips, of which the Brazilian Robinho, who holds the title of summer champion, attracts the most attention.
Robinho moves to Manchester City
Now let's go back to 14 September 2008, the day when the Manchester City Stadium (which had not yet been named by Etihad Airways) welcomed more than 50,000 fans, and the whole stadium was a sea of blue, because Chelsea from London are blue-colored teams like Manchester City.
It was in this enthusiastic cheer that The Summer "Standard King" Robinho, wearing The Manchester City No. 10 shirt, came on, ushering in his first game since joining Manchester City and landing in the Premier League, and this match with Chelsea is undoubtedly the highlight of this round of the league, because there are too many points to watch:
Wright Phillips, who has returned to his old club Manchester City, has to face Chelsea, who is also his old club; French top scorer Anelka, who helped Manchester City win a small home victory at home 4 years ago, now has to face the old owner; and Manchester City youth coach Sturridge, who came on as a substitute for Pol, and then joined Chelsea...
Robinho's free-kick went straight to the goal
But either way, the focus of this game will be on the Brazilian Robinho, who has recently joined Manchester City.
Just five minutes into the opening, the newcomer Robinho was not afraid of the field, he showed the very picky Englishman the wonderful footwork of samba football like a pixie, allowing Wright Phillips to almost break the barrier at the beginning of the game and successfully take the lead for the home team.
With this attempt, Robinho began to become more and more confident, the footsteps of the cycling teenager wandered freely in all corners of the Manchester City stadium, seeing Terry, Carvalho and others who were accustomed to rampage attacks were obviously very uncomfortable with his drifting position and agile style, and 8 minutes later, Carvalho's foul on Ruo in front of the box gave them a complete insight into the power of the Brazilian star.
We used to think that free kicks at the top of the arc of the penalty area had always been the hallmark of Beckham, Carlos, Henry, Ronaldinho and others.
Robinho celebrates the goal
At this moment, Robinho has perfectly conquered all the spectators here with a beautiful arc that is not lost to anyone, the sky blue "standard king" has officially risen, the enthusiasm on the pitch has been fully ignited by his goal, and the entire Manchester City stadium is boiling, even Cech, the Czech goalkeeper who has long been accustomed to big scenes and has always been known for his calm and steady, can only stand there, silently watching the Brazilians who are crazy celebrating because of their debut goal.
To know that in the previous 6 games against Chelsea, Manchester City, who was bombarded by the opponent with 15 goals, has never been able to break through the opponent's goal, let alone get the victory from the opponent, and Robinho only used one shot to break this embarrassment, which is the personal ability of the star, which is also the change that Mansour hopes Robinho can bring to Manchester City, from the civilian team to the giants.
However, the good times did not last long, and City's leading edge did not last long before it was equalized.
Joe Hart has won the Premier League Golden Glove award twice
In the 18th minute, Lampard's corner kick caused chaos in the City penalty area, and although Terry's shot was accidentally blocked by his own joc cole, the Portuguese Carvalho made up for it and scored in front of goal. Chelsea, who had just woken up from their dreams, finally had a decent attack, and the initiative in the game was gradually successfully won by the more experienced and powerful them.
In the 52nd minute, Mikel, Joe Cole, Lampard and Maruda faced City's new defensive line, undaunted, and played a series of wonderful combinations in front of the field, and finally Lampard scored a powerful shot after cleverly dunking Manchester City captain Dunn.
In the 70th minute, Joe Cole made another threat, he passed a scalpel-like pass, Anelka got rid of Dunn's defense, single-handedly entered the box, facing Joe Hart, he calmly completed a push, shot the old owner, for Chelsea to extend the advantage, lay the victory...
Robinho's Manchester City career has been a bit high and low, but he is the first superstar signed by Mansour since he took charge
Throughout the game, although Manchester City, which received a huge investment, ultimately failed to beat the old Chelsea, Robinho's free-kick score became a highlight of the game.
Due to the extremely limited strength of his teammates, under Chelsea's airtight defence, Robinho can get too few opportunities, which seriously hinders his play and the execution of Manchester City's tactics.
But this goal, this beautiful free kick, it was as if Robinho was warning all the teams in England: Attention! It's time for the alarms in your backline to go off!
After that, under the leadership of Robinho, Manchester City did play more and more methodically, more and more good-looking, even in the face of traditional giants, they are not afraid.
Robinho returning to Santos
Two months later, on 22 November, City's 3–0 home win over Arsenal became Robinho's best performance of the season, and he himself scored the best five-year stats in 31 league games and 14 goals in his first season with Manchester City.
It can be said that this veteran British team with a long history but lack of honor and stardom has been in the right direction towards a giant under the leadership of Robinho alone, although his performance only lasted a little more than a year and six months due to injuries and many reasons, but this is enough, because it is enough for Mansour to vaguely see the prototype of a future giant and the shadow of another Premier League champion.
In the past, Robinho, who has left footprints at the brilliant Bernabeu, the Etihad, and the San Siro full of honors, has stayed in the late years of his career in the Chinese Super League giants Guangzhou Evergrande.
Robinho appeared with Ibrahimovic at AC Milan
Although the "cycling boy" was already in the twilight and the style was gone, the Santos moment of the "Twin Stars" with Diego in the memory, the moment when the champions, the top scorer and the best player of the Copa America in the summer of 2007, and the days when he led AC Milan to regain the league championship will not fade.
Robinho moves to Guangzhou
Time is not old, we are not scattered, accompanied by another Brazilian star gradually fading figure, he is like a train speeding to the distance to follow the memory, follow the time, drive to the depths of our minds.