Chapter 526 Sleepwalking

The team's continuous victories have created a good atmosphere for the entire Manchester United team, and the players are in a good mood.

After a happy Christmas, Manchester United ushered in the first game of the second half on Boxing Day. The opponent was Burnley, whom they had not met in the first half.

If Manchester United can beat Burnley at home, they will complete the kill of the remaining 19 teams in the Premier League!

However, since the international match day in November, Manchester United has been in an ultra-high-density event of two games a week, and the players' physical fitness is not optimistic. Today's game is only about 65 hours apart from the last game before Christmas. The physical fitness of the players in the main lineup has not been restored, so Mourinho can only use another lineup to play today's game. The players who played in the game against Leicester City before Christmas, including Bruno, were all rotated.

In fact, the players in this rotation lineup only rested for six days. They also played the League Cup semi-final on the evening of the 20th.

Burnley took the lead just 3 minutes into the game. Rojo fouled Hendrick outside the penalty area and was given a yellow card. Guevara made a free kick from the left, McTominay headed the ball but was blocked by Kevin Long, and Barnes scored from close range in the small penalty area.

The game just started and they lost a goal. The Manchester United players on the field were a little confused. Burnley, on the other hand, was in high spirits and launched waves of attacks.

In the 12th minute, Guevara made a cross from the right, Fellaini failed to clear the ball, and Alfield volleyed the ball from 12 yards in the first time, and the ball hit the top of the crossbar and bounced out.

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This crossbar scared Manchester United from top to bottom, and they felt like they had survived a disaster.

Subsequently, Manchester United's performance improved a little, and they also organized some attacks. However, Ashley Young and Mata's shots were bravely resolved by Burnley goalkeeper Pope.

Manchester United, who missed great opportunities in a row, suffered another heavy blow in the 36th minute of the game. Ashley Young fouled Alfield, and Differ shot a free kick from 25 yards directly into the upper left corner, and Manchester United fell behind 0:2 at home.

While the visiting players were celebrating wildly, Old Trafford fell into silence.

Manchester United fans have forgotten when they last fell behind by two goals at home.

Mourinho's face on the sidelines was also very ugly.

Although he was mentally prepared to face a tough battle and even a backward situation when he sent out a full substitute lineup, falling behind by two goals in the first half was still somewhat beyond Mourinho's expectations.

While Burnley players were celebrating the goal, Mourinho called Ashley Young, the captain of Manchester United in this game, to the sidelines, signaling the team to fully recover in the last few minutes of the first half, strengthen defense, and deal with the remaining minutes of the first half.

With the entire Manchester United team retreating and strengthening defense, Manchester United finally did not lose the ball in the first half.

When the first half of the game entered injury time, Mourinho left the court first.

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No one knows what happened in Manchester United's locker room during the halftime break. But Mourinho's rage was inevitable, after all, he had never been so embarrassed at home since he took over Old Trafford.

After the halftime break, Manchester United changed two players in a row. Bruno and Rashford came on as substitutes, while Rojo and Ibrahimovic were replaced. Manchester United changed from 442 in the first half to 343, with Ashley Young, Phil Jones and Damian forming three defenders, Bruno, Herrera, Fellaini and Mata in the midfield, and Lingard, McTominay and Rashford forming the front trident.

At the beginning of the second half, Burnley wanted to take advantage of the kick-off to attack Manchester United. After all, the second half of the game had just started, and Manchester United players might not be focused yet. If they could take advantage of such an opportunity to score another goal, then the possibility of them becoming the first team to beat Manchester United this season would be really great.

The ball was quickly passed to Guevara. The 27-year-old Icelandic international is best at playing as a right winger, but today he is playing as a striker and is active on the left side. He can play on both sides and is a versatile winger. After receiving the ball, he planned to break through Manchester United's right back as usual.

He did succeed. Ashley Young was easily shaken by his change of direction and acceleration, but his ball was intercepted immediately afterwards by Herrera.

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Herrera, who intercepted the ball, did not continue to control the ball, but turned around and passed the ball to Bruno in front.

Bruno turned around while receiving the ball, and when the ball rolled over, he also adjusted his face to the attacking direction.

Because they knew the importance of Bruno, Burnley's players did not dare to neglect defending Bruno. Seeing Bruno receiving the ball, the 28-year-old experienced midfielder Jack Cork pressed forward.

At the same time, another midfielder Hendrick was protecting behind and was ready to rush over to steal the ball at any time.

Bruno did not want to tangle with the two opposing players in the midfield. Manchester United's style is to attack and be fast, and it is unwise to waste time in the midfield at this time. So he just turned around and passed the ball again. Jack Cork missed the ball, and Hendrick's protection was in vain. He followed the ball to the side, and Bruno passed the ball to Lingard on the right.

Lingard did not dribble along the sideline, he sent the ball horizontally to the center of the penalty area, McTominay just retreated to meet him.

McTominay, as the center forward of this Manchester United team, is also a key defender of Burnley, so when he saw him retreating, a Burnley central defender followed him.

McTominay did not let the central defender closely guard him, but directly passed the ball back to Bruno.

When Bruno received the ball, he did not make too many adjustments. After stopping the ball with his left foot, he immediately passed a penetrating straight pass with the outside of his right foot.

These two actions were connected very quickly, because they used the outside of the foot, and there was no hip rotation, so the opponent naturally could not judge what Bruno was going to do through this action.

Bruno's pass did not give Burnley's defenders and midfielders time to react. Jack Cork originally planned to turn around and pounce, but now he can only watch the ball leave Bruno's feet and run towards their penalty area.

The football flew quickly through the ribs of Burnley's center back and right back. Behind them, Damian, who had just made a run from the full-back position, had rushed over and received the ball!