Chapter 495: Rapid Progress on Both Fronts
September 27, evening.
Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
In the second round of the Champions League group stage, Atletico Madrid played against Manchester United at home.
When this world-renowned Champions League match reached the 65th minute of the second half, the game was 1:1. Griezmann scored a penalty in the first half of Atletico Madrid, and Manchester United equalized the score in the 60th minute of the second half with Bruno assisting Harry Kane.
Manchester United, who equalized the score, was in high spirits and took the initiative on the field, pressing forward and launching a strong attack. Simeone's Atletico Madrid retreated comprehensively and waited for an opportunity to counterattack, which made it difficult for Manchester United's attack to break Atletico Madrid's goal.
In order to counterattack better, Simeone arranged a 4-4-2 formation, and even took Torres in the frontcourt, with Correa and Griezmann as speed-type double forwards, specializing in counterattacks.
At this time, Manchester United launched another offensive on the field.
After Gundogan got the ball at the front of the penalty area, he tried to pass it into the penalty area, but was cleared by Uruguayan central defender Godin.
The ball fell to the right side of Atletico Madrid. Cancelo rushed up quickly and kicked the ball before Atletico Madrid's talented player Saul, trying to pass the ball back to the penalty area to find the team's center forward Harry Kane who was still lingering near the penalty area.
But unexpectedly, the football touched Saul's foot, changed direction, and flew high to the right side of the penalty area.
At this time, Atletico Madrid's entire defensive formation was switching from offense to defense, and the defense line was pressed to the front of the penalty area. With the joint efforts of Cancelo and Saul, the ball just passed over the top of the defensive player's head and fell back to the right side of the small penalty area.
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Bruno's reaction was very fast. When the ball flew over, he had already predicted the trajectory and landing point of the ball. He suddenly turned around, shook off Koke, and with a force on his legs, the whole person jumped up like an arrow.
24-year-old Thomas Partey joined Atletico Madrid at the age of 18. He is a very important player under Simeone. His most important task in this game is to defend Bruno.
Although he was very focused, he noticed the ball as soon as it flew over, especially when Bruno turned around, he immediately followed it, and even thought about what kind of route to take to get in between Bruno and the ball before Bruno, so that he couldn't touch the ball. But the idea was good, but the body couldn't keep up.
The reality was that as soon as the ball flew over, Bruno turned around quickly. Partey only felt that the figure in front of him was blurred, and he couldn't keep up with Bruno.
But he didn't give up, and kept chasing Bruno, blocking Bruno's shooting angle. He knew very well that as long as he blocked Bruno's inside, he couldn't shoot.
But Bruno also knew Partey's idea. He had a slight advantage in speed and was half a body ahead. When he caught up with the ball, he pretended to not stop the ball and directly volleyed.
Partey was startled and immediately chased after him, raising his foot to block Bruno's shot.
Bruno is not stupid at all. Atletico Madrid's goalkeeper Oblak is standing next to the right post. When Partey raises his foot, the shooting angle becomes smaller. Wouldn't it be like sending the ball directly to Atletico Madrid?
He pretended to shoot, but in fact he gently kicked the falling ball back with his right foot. The football seemed to have heard Bruno's call. After hitting his foot, it changed direction and fell behind Partey.
Bruno took the opportunity to stop suddenly, adjust his center of gravity, and after standing firmly with his right foot, he shot directly with his left foot without thinking!
It was not until Bruno shot with his left foot that Partey stopped and slid on the court. The ball flew in a straight line to the bottom left corner of Atletico Madrid's goal.
Slovenian goalkeeper Oblak flew to save the ball, but still failed to prevent the ball from entering the net.
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“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLL!!!!!!”
“In the 65th minute, Bruno scored a crucial goal!”
“This was a wonderful individual performance!”
“Cancelo’s cross hit Saul, changed direction, and fell to the right side of the penalty area.”
“After Bruno caught up, he lightly unloaded the ball, stopped the ball with his right foot, and shot with his left foot. The whole process was done in one go without any drag, showing Bruno’s extremely solid basic skills, especially the stop, which was very exquisite.”
After Bruno scored, he was so excited that he rushed out of the court and glided along the bottom of the stands until he was surrounded by his teammates. The boos of 65,000 Atletico Madrid fans in the stands were the best compliments for him.
He enjoyed the feeling of scoring more and more!
He found that Ibrahimovic was right. It was really a very pleasant thing to break the opponent’s goal under the eyes of the opponent’s die-hard fans.
Mourinho was so excited that he jumped up from the ground, turned around and hugged his two assistants, Faria and Carrick, and looked extremely excited.
As the former head coach of Real Madrid, Mourinho knew very well how difficult Simeone's Atletico Madrid was.
In this game, Manchester United took the initiative and also took the advantage on the field.
Because of the transfer ban, Atletico Madrid did not make any reinforcements this summer, and they could not suppress Manchester United's ferocious midfield. But Simeone's team still defended tightly and did not give Manchester United too many good opportunities. Partey also defended Bruno perfectly.
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But sometimes, football games are full of various unknown factors.
Who would have thought that Godin's clearance would be kicked to Cancelo?
Who would have thought that Cancelo's pass would hit Saul?
The football field is always full of various accidents, with a strong sense of chance.
But behind the chance, there is a certain inevitability, that is, Bruno's stop is very critical.
"This kid's stop is getting more and more exquisite!" Mourinho couldn't help but admire.
When he caught up with the ball, he obviously had a fake move to shoot directly, which deceived Partey, but then he gently dunked the ball behind Partey, creating space for himself to shoot with his left foot.
There are two key points in this shot. One is the stop, which is very important. Bruno handled it very well. The other point is Bruno's left foot. Everyone knows that Bruno is born with a right foot, but in the past few years, he has always insisted on practicing his left foot, and he has been persistent every day, which makes people who don't know him even unable to tell whether he is left-footed or right-footed.
In order to practice his left foot, he has paid too much hard sweat.
Whether it is the stop or the subsequent left-foot shot, it reflects Bruno's daily hard training.
The performance on the court is only one or two seconds, but it is five years of hard training day and night off the court.
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It's over!
After seeing Bruno score, Simeone covered his face and turned back to the home team's coaching bench. His slightly vicissitudes of life were full of two words: frustrated.
The 2015-2016 season was the strongest peak season for Atletico Madrid, where he coached. Originally, he was confident that he wanted to win the double crown of La Liga and the Champions League. Unexpectedly, they met Udinese in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. At the Friuli Stadium, Bruno's double goal pushed Atletico Madrid into a desperate situation. Back at home, Atletico Madrid finally took down the impossible Udinese with great effort and successfully advanced to the Champions League semi-finals.
However, these two games caused huge consumption for Atletico Madrid, causing Atletico Madrid to fail to hold on in the stalemate between the league and Barcelona, and eventually lost the league championship by 3 points, and even was overtaken by Real Madrid, which came from behind, and fell to third place in the league.
In the Champions League, although Atletico Madrid also reached the final, it still lost to Real Madrid in the penalty shootout, making Qi Xuanzong famous.
In the summer of this year, Atletico Madrid was unable to recruit reinforcements due to a transfer ban. Manchester United, where Bruno is, waved checks and recruited a lot of players. Kane, Mbappe, Mahrez, Cancelo, Lindelof and other strong players came one after another, and there was a great momentum to sweep the world.
It can also be seen from this game that Manchester United's overall strength is obviously stronger than Atletico Madrid. Although they relied on defensive counterattacks to steal one from Manchester United, facing Manchester United's continuous attack, Atletico Madrid eventually lost, lost two goals in five minutes, and was overtaken by Manchester United.
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At this time, Bruno scored a goal, which was absolutely a bolt from the blue for Atletico Madrid.
The team adopted a defensive counterattack tactic, and now they are behind in the score, it is difficult to defend.
Once they press out to attack, Manchester United will definitely retreat and counterattack.
This is the situation Simeone is most reluctant to see, and it is also the most unfavorable to Atletico Madrid.
The safer way is for Atletico Madrid to put some pressure on Manchester United to make mistakes on their own initiative. But Simeone himself dare not put too much confidence, because he knows very well that Mourinho is not a fuel-saving lamp.
So, after losing the ball, he could only walk to the sidelines and keep calling on the players, signaling them to quickly stabilize their position and rhythm, especially veterans such as Godin, hoping that they can play a role.
He was very worried, afraid that the players would be impatient and take the initiative to press forward, which would really be a trick of Manchester United.
"Real Madrid's nemesis?" Simeone smiled bitterly in his heart, looking at Bruno celebrating the goal on the field, and shook his head, "It is more appropriate to say that he is Atletico Madrid's nemesis!"
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Manchester United reversed Atletico Madrid 2:1 away, and Manchester United won 11 consecutive victories in all competitions in the new season!
The genius killer made a fatal blow, Simeone: Bruno is my nemesis!
Bruno completed an amazing transformation, and the wonderful blow was like Bergkamp possessed!
…
After Manchester United reversed Atletico Madrid 2:1 away, the entire European football world once again set off a heated discussion.
Bruno's goal was indeed quite exciting, and countless media reporters and fans were amazed.
Stuart Matheson, a famous Manchester United reporter of the Manchester Evening News, even said in his commentary that this was a flash of genius, and this goal would prove Bruno's talent.
Manchester United, who have won two games in a row, are also leading the Champions League Group C. Roma is ranked second. The Red Wolves beat Qarabag 2:1 away this round, with one win and one draw and 4 points.
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Three days later, in the tenth round of the Premier League, Manchester United welcomed Crystal Palace at home.
Mourinho made a large-scale rotation of Manchester United's lineup because they had a fierce battle with Atletico Madrid in Madrid 60 hours ago.
Of course, the players were tired on the one hand, but the main reason was that the opponent Crystal Palace was limited in strength. In the first six rounds, it was the worst performing team in the league, losing six games in a row, and had not scored a goal, but conceded 13 goals, sitting very firmly in the position of deputy leader.
Among the Manchester United players who played in the Champions League match against Atletico Madrid, only Bruno, Rashford and De Gea continued to start. The other eight positions were all rotated.
A team that lost six games in a row without scoring but conceded 13 goals, met Manchester United, which had won six games in a row and scored 28 goals but did not concede a goal. The scene can be imagined.
Manchester United took the lead only 3 minutes after the start. Rashford dribbled past Ward and cut into the left side of the penalty area and passed back. Mata, who was unguarded, shot low into the net from 14 yards.
After taking the lead, Manchester United easily controlled the game. Bruno's shot from the edge of the penalty area was high, and Ashley Young's long shot was blocked. Fellaini broke through and fell on the right side of the penalty area, but the referee ignored it.
The Red Devils expanded the score in the 35th minute. Ashley Young passed Townsend on the left and passed the ball to the far post. Fellaini volleyed the ball from close range on the right side of the small penalty area and scored 2:0.
Bruno took a corner kick and Smalling's header went wide.
Mata made a cross from the right, McTominay headed the ball to the far post, and Rashford's shot from a small angle was blocked by Hennessey at the near corner. Then Bruno's volley from the left side of the penalty area went wide in the corner kick melee.
The first half ended and Manchester United entered the halftime break with a two-goal advantage.
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Shortly after the start of the second half, Manchester United took advantage of a set-piece opportunity. Bruno made a cross, and their tall and strong Belgian midfielder Fellaini headed the ball and scored, rewriting the score to 3:0!
The pompadour performed very well in this game, scoring twice with his head and feet.
In the 71st minute of the game, Bruno was knocked to the ground in the opponent's penalty area. Manchester United got a penalty kick, and Bruno scored steadily, changing the score to 4:0!
Mourinho stood on the sidelines, smiling and applauding, he knew that the overall situation was settled!
The demoralized Crystal Palace completely lost their fighting spirit, and they did not threaten De Gea's goal at all in the game. The Spanish goalkeeper looked very bored in front of the goal.
In the 86th minute, Herrera made a straight pass, Rashford made a cross from the left side of the penalty area, and Bruno, who came in from behind, easily scored, 5:0.
In the end, with Bruno and Fellaini both scoring twice, and Mata's goal, Manchester United swept Crystal Palace 5:0 at home and won seven consecutive league victories.
However, Mourinho was very low-key after the game. He said: "I would rather use a 5:0 to exchange for five 1:0 victories, but I know this is impossible. We are very happy, we played very steadily, we were very strong from the beginning, and we also controlled the game very well. We made some small mistakes, which is common for these players, and it is also common when facing a team that lacks confidence."
Crystal Palace head coach Hodgson: MMP...