Chapter 422 Lock

Pierre looked at the bench. The French coach was inexplicably agitated.

He glanced at Manchester United's bench and felt envious.

Manchester United's bench also includes offensive players such as Rooney, Rashford, Gundogan and Fellaini.

Where is his Southampton? The only two people on the bench he can trust are Bouffal and Sean Long.

"Let Boufal and Sean Long warm up." Pierre said after thinking for a moment.

Three minutes later, Southampton requested a substitution and Boufal replaced Tadic.

Mourinho smiled inexplicably when he saw Southampton's substitution. He took advantage of a dead ball opportunity and called the team's center back Van Dijk to the sidelines for instructions: "Pay attention to Raymond's pass. Tell others to pay attention to Boufal's inward cut."

After leading 2:1, Manchester United shrank its defense and began to fight Southampton's counterattack, and then the audience saw a very interesting scene.

Southampton's attack revolves around two wings. Raymond tried several passes from the right, but the quality of the crosses was indeed quite average. Van Dijk successfully fought for the top and gave Raymond no chance to pose a threat.

On Southampton's left wing, it's a different scene. Boufal dribbled the ball several times from the wing, but failed to send a cross at the critical moment. The final result of his dribbling forward was either being destroyed by Manchester United's defensive players, or after dribbling the ball into a dead end, he reluctantly sent a pass that was not threatening.

Pierre was livid with anger on the sidelines, while Mourinho covered his mouth and snickered.

He knows Raymond very well, he is fast and has strong impact, but his passing level is indeed average.

As for Boufal, he noticed the characteristics of this player in the previous match against Southampton. He reluctantly sent a cross unless he had no way to continue dribbling.

Pierre sent Boufal to let him and Raymond play on the two wings. It was a good idea. Both of them have wing attack capabilities, but the result... was a bit unsatisfactory.

………………

Seventy-one minutes into the game, the score on the field is still 2:1, with Manchester United leading.

Carrick received Rojo's pass, turned around, avoided Romeu's grab for the ball with a pull, looked up in front, and passed the ball directly to Mata.

The football was blocked by Romeu's outstretched leg, causing it to change direction.

"pretty!"

Mata hooked the football back before it was about to leave the sideline and stopped steadily.

The Spanish midfielder was in excellent condition today. Ibrahimovic's previous goal also came from his wide vision and diagonal transfer of the ball to initiate the attack.

Mata flicked the football and then accelerated to break along the wing.

Raymond came up to defend him, and he chased after him from behind, intending to steal the ball after overtaking.

Mata also noticed Raymond approaching him at high speed. He calculated correctly that Raymond was approaching him and was about to steal the ball when he suddenly stopped.

Raymond also quickly moved his center of gravity, trying to grab the ball a second time.

I saw Mata calmly hooking the football back with his right foot, and then pushing with his left foot. The football rolled forward from Raymond's side. Then, he twisted his waist and passed from Raymond's side. Breakthrough.

"Nice breakthrough, Mata! He showed superb passing skills."

Davis came to cover, but he pounced too hard. Mata saw the right moment, made an emergency stop, smashed the ball, and broke through. Then facing Raymond who rushed forward again, the Spaniard knocked the ball with his heel, turned half at the same time, and passed Raymond for the second time.

"Wow... beautiful!"

Manchester United fans burst into loud applause, cheering for Mata's wonderful performance.

Mourinho also applauded from the sidelines.

"It was so exciting, Mata couldn't stop him today." Gary Lineker praised.

………………

Bertrand comes up to defend Mata.

At this time, in the penalty area, Herrera, Ibrahimovic and Lingard were all running forward quickly.

Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster was a little nervous and shouted loudly to direct the team's defense.

Bertrand knew that Mata had excellent skills with his feet. He did not take any shots blindly. Instead, he stared at Mata's feet and was always wary of the opponent's movements.

Mata flicked the football with his left foot and made a gesture ready to break through.

Bertrand immediately moved his body, ready to intercept at any time. Immediately afterwards, Bertrand's eyes widened and he saw a scene that stunned him: Mata did not choose to break through. He pulled the football and adjusted it. Then he kicked the ground hard with his right foot and swung his left foot towards the goal. football!

Bertrand rushed forward almost desperately, intending to block the shot, but it was too late. The football flew past Bertrand's face, drawing a strange arc.

The football bypassed everyone in the penalty area and made a large arc in the air. It was about to spin out of the goal, but at the speed of the ball approaching the goal, it started to spin inwards.

Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster tried his best to save the ball, but was completely powerless in the face of such a curve.

The football passed between the goal post and the crossbar and hung into the net.

"GOOOOOOOOOALLLLL!!!!!"

"Juan Mata... a beautiful goal! In the 72nd minute, he defeated Southampton alone! This Spaniard who was purged at Chelsea and came to Manchester United, he used such an exquisite kick to score The ball changed the score to 3:1! !" Lineker exclaimed excitedly, "Leo, Alan, I bet this goal will be among the top ten goals of the season! It's so beautiful! The defensive players have nothing to do with the ball!"

………………

After scoring the goal, Mata was very excited. He tore his jersey hard, ran and shouted, and then he was thrown to the ground by his teammates who swarmed him.

Mourinho stood up from the coaching bench and waved his fist vigorously.

At more than 70 minutes, 3:1, this goal is equivalent to adding a key weight to the championship balance!

He turned his head and glanced at the Southampton coach not far to his right and said that he felt happy when he saw Pierre furious.

Pierre was indeed very angry, and the reason for his anger was not even because of the team's defensive problems.

In fact, Southampton's defense did not make any obvious mistakes in the process of conceding the ball. The goal was conceded only because Mata's personal ability and condition were too strong.

This goal is completely a reflection of the star's personal ability.

Because of this, Pierre was even more unhappy because he didn't know who to scold.

In the commentary box, the commentators were still praising Mata with various words of praise and modifiers, praising how beautiful this goal was.

………………

Ten minutes have passed, and the score on the field is still 3:1, with Manchester United leading Southampton by two goals.

Mourinho also completed Manchester United's second substitution adjustment today. Rashford came on as a substitute, replacing Lingard.

Manchester United fans applauded Lingard. The performance of the little prince of Wembley today cannot be said to be amazing, but it is still remarkable. Not only did he score a penalty of his own making, he also played a very important role in Manchester United's attack later on.

Lingard left the field with a smile on his face. Mourinho high-fived him, put his arm around his shoulders, whispered and praised him.

In the 88th minute of the game, Southampton got a goal back.

Boufal passed the ball, and Gabbiadini's astute header succeeded, rewriting the score to 2:3.

"Gabbiadini! The Italian scored twice!"

"The game is not over yet! It's not over yet!" Southampton's commentator shouted excitedly, "It's just Southampton time!"

Pierre applauded from the sidelines, and the French coach had a cathartic smile on his face.

In this game, Southampton was almost completely suppressed by Manchester United. Although this was related to him hiding some of the main players, it still made him feel very aggrieved.

Gabbiadini's brace made him exhale a long breath.

………………

Mourinho walked to the sidelines, clapped his hands, shouted and made gestures.

The gesture means don't be hasty and don't panic.

At the same time, Mourinho made substitutions, Fellaini came on as a substitute, and Ibrahimovic was replaced.

All Manchester United fans stood up, applauded and paid tribute to Ibrahimovic.

The penalty created by Lingard came from a pass from Ibrahimovic, and Ibrahimovic also scored a goal. The Swede is a big contributor to Manchester United today.

Mourinho hugged Ibrahimovic, and then he made another steady gesture toward the court.

Now Manchester United is still leading by one goal and there is not much game time left. There is no need to mess up the position.

Gabbiadini's goal gave Southampton hope of equalizing the score. They almost came out in full force with little time left.

For Southampton, there is no essential difference between losing 2:3 or 2:4: they both lost the championship.

At this time, there was no need to worry about defense.

……………………

With this completely desperate style of play, Southampton's back was wide open.

The space was quickly seized by Manchester United, who are good at seizing opportunities. Carrick made a long pass from the backcourt to find Rashford. The Manchester United youngster dribbled the ball along the left wing and passed the ball into the penalty area.

Fellaini's header was punched out by Fraser Forster.

Mata got the ball and he was about to take a long shot, but suddenly he hit a through ball!

The football rolled past Steffens' feet, and Steffens didn't react at all.

Yoshida Ma also reacted in time. He fell to the ground to tackle, but he only barely touched the football and did not completely clear the ball.

Rashford stepped out from behind the defender and caught up with the ball in stride.

Facing goalkeeper Fraser Forster, Rashford shot low. Fraser Forster stretched his leg to block it, and the football rolled to the side.

"Herrera!"

Facing a mostly empty goal, Herrera succeeded with an easy push shot.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLL!!!!"

"Fourth! Herrera scores!"

"4:2! This is the goal that completely kills the game!"

"2:4! There is no time, Southampton lost the final!"

"The game is over! The suspense is over! Behind two goals, with only two minutes left, Southampton will never be able to complete the comeback no matter what!"