Chapter 1,204 Champions League Hat

Manchester United accidentally lost to Jingzhou at Stoke City and did not get the three points they expected.

Manchester United's opponents, Chelsea and Manchester City, won one after another. Manchester City tied Manchester United in points, and Chelsea once again reduced the points to 2 points.

After defeating their old rival Chelsea, Manchester United is confident in defending the league title. They don't care about their opponents catching up. They believe that their opponents will fall behind sooner or later. This small mistake will not affect the overall situation.

Manchester United's main task now is the Champions League.

Manchester United made a good start by defeating their biggest rival Benfica in the first game of the group stage. However, if they want to take the initiative to take first place in the group, Manchester United must defeat Basel, which is second only to Benfica in group strength. .

Basel was the Swiss champion last season. They have close ties with the Bundesliga and are a team with strict tactical discipline and a tough style.

Historically, Manchester United and Basel have faced each other twice in the Champions League. In the UEFA Champions League group stage of the 2002-03 season, Manchester United defeated Basel 3-1 away from home, but drew 1-1 at home.

Although Basel had the feat of drawing with Manchester United at Old Trafford, their record in England is really not worth mentioning. They visited England seven times and did not win a single victory.

For such a non-mainstream league team, even if it is the league champion, the people of Manchester United, the last Triple Crown winner, will not take it too seriously.

It can be seen from the number of fans present that the Old Trafford Stadium, which can accommodate more than 70,000 people, only attracted more than 50,000 people for this game.

The experienced Ferguson was not careless. He hid his main team in midweek to recharge his batteries and even paid the price of being tied with Stoke City.

In the starting lineup, because the defense performed poorly in the league, Ferguson sent Ferdinand, who had returned from injury, at the center back position.

Ferdinand's appearance was not unexpected, but his partner was not Evans or Smalling, but Phil Jones, who had been a full-back before. It turned out that Phil Jones' position was replaced by Fabio, who had returned from injury.

No one could understand Ferguson's intentions, but Ferguson was highly respected, and everyone believed that Ferguson's arrangement must have deep meaning.

The midfielder is also not a normal combination. Fletcher partners with Carrick and Anderson, and the two wings are Giggs and Valencia.

Gao Xiaodong did not appear in the midfield because forward Rooney sprained his ankle in the league game in midweek.

Ferguson sent Gao Xiaodong instead of veteran Berbatov.

This starting lineup is very strange. Fortunately, there are core players in the front, middle and backcourt. It should be fine against Basel. Manchester United fans are not worried about this.

At the beginning of the game, Basel, who kicked off first, gave Manchester United a powerful blow.

In the 5th minute, Basel quickly hit the ball into the penalty area before Strehler turned around and sent a small slash. F-Frey broke into the penalty area surrounded by three midfielders.

However, Frey was a little nervous in such a big scene. He volleyed in the face of De Gea, but he hit the ball into the stands.

Then Manchester United never gave Basel any chance to shoot.

In the 9th minute, Giggs kicked back and passed from the left. Gao Xiaodong attracted a large number of defensive players in the middle. Valencia got a chance to shoot at the back post, but Valencia's header from a small angle missed.

In the 12th minute, Valencia made a pass from the right, and Gao Xiaodong volleyed directly from the penalty area.

Gao Xiaodong's kick was too positive and the ball was punched out by the Basel goalkeeper.

Manchester United continued to exert pressure, and Basel's defense was in danger.

In the 15th minute, Valencia made a direct pass. Fabio, the right back, hit the left side of the penalty area. Giggs returned to the penalty area and Gao Xiaodong shot into the far corner with his left foot!

Manchester United leads Basel 1-0!

Gao Xiaodong's long-range shot was a morale booster. More than 50,000 fans at the scene stood up and cheered for Gao Xiaodong.

However, Manchester United did not celebrate for too long. They hoped to strike while the iron was hot and seal the victory in one fell swoop.

The game started again. After Basel kicked off from the center circle, Strehler was intercepted by Fletcher when he passed the ball to the forward.

The ball was passed to Carrick, who then passed it to Giggs. Giggs directly took a long diagonal pass into the penalty area, looking for Gao Xiaodong.

There is a connection between geniuses.

Gao Xiaodong quickly moved forward when Giggs passed the long pass. He used his strong body to resist the central defender and volleyed in the penalty area.

At this moment, Basel goalkeeper Sommer had already attacked, but Gao Xiaodong was faster. Sommer did not get close to the ball, so Gao Xiaodong shot.

The ball flew from Sommer's ribs into the net.

Less than two minutes had passed since the first goal, Gao Xiaodong scored twice, and Manchester United led Basel 2-0!

At this time, the Manchester United fans were extremely happy and completely relaxed, thinking that this game was a must-win.

After Manchester United scored 2-0, Basel tried to counterattack, but there was a huge gap in strength between the two teams. Basel's counterattack only lasted five minutes, and they got two shooting opportunities, and then continued to be pinned to the ground by Manchester United.

Maybe it was because Manchester United felt that the overall situation was settled and they were a little relaxed. Maybe it was because of poor ball movement. After completely controlling the situation on the field, Manchester United did not continue to expand the score. Valencia hit the goal post, and Gao Xiaodong's complementary shot was blocked by the defender with his body. At the end of the first half, Manchester United still led Basel 2-0.

There were no substitutions from either side in the second half, and both sides continued their performance in the first half.

Basel wanted to counterattack, but they were unable to break Manchester United's midfield defense.

Manchester United led by two goals. Their offense was either a little haphazard or they were more concerned about personal performance. They played a little procrastinated and were never able to completely kill the game.

This situation lasted until the 58th minute. Nani made continuous breakthroughs from the wing. After making a move, he suddenly cut inside and hit the goal.

Goalkeeper Sommer moved to the right side of the goal, and Nani curled the ball into the back corner of the goal.

Nani had good consciousness and shot accurately, but the ball bounced off the goal post.

However, before the Basel people could express their joy and the Manchester United people could express their regret, Gao Xiaodong fell from the sky and fired the ball into the net.

3:0

Gao Xiaodong played as a forward for the first time this season and scored a hat trick in 58 minutes.

Manchester United fans loved Gao Xiaodong so much that several fans jumped from the stands and ran to the field to hug Gao Xiaodong.

Ferguson felt that the overall situation was decided. Five minutes later, seeing that Basel could not make any waves, he replaced Gao Xiaodong with the young Welbeck, leaving Gao Xiaodong to accept the worship of the fans alone.

Ferguson's behavior cannot be called arrogance. At this time, no one thinks that Basel can turn around. Let alone a team like Basel, even if they are facing Chelsea or Barcelona, ​​at this time, if they lead by 3 goals and replace Gao Xiaodong, there won’t be any problem.

Gao Xiaodong is certainly very strong, but apart from him, Manchester United as a whole is absolutely top-notch in European football.

At this time, Basel head coach Finke, who was replaced by Bayern before Manchester United reversed Bayern in stoppage time in the 1999 Champions League final, also treated the dead horse as a live horse doctor and made a substitution adjustment. Use T. Sciacca replaced Sciacca and launched another counterattack against Manchester United.