Chapter 547 Ideal Result

Bruno had just communicated with the referee on the field, and turned his head to see Fellaini's back as he left. He lowered his head and hunched his back, looking like a complete loser. Coupled with the boos from the stands, he will not be welcome here for a long time.

But I wonder if he is also on Mourinho's blacklist?

Fellaini's foul angered the players of Shakhtar Donetsk, who launched a fierce attack on Manchester United's penalty area in the subsequent game.

Bruno decided to temporarily avoid the front after assessing the situation on the field and use defensive counterattacks to deal with the opponent. So he commanded the team to retreat and put on a defensive counterattack posture, hoping to catch the opponent's massive attack.

His decision was correct.

In the 27th minute, Bruno made a long pass to McTominay from the backcourt. The intention of this pass was obvious and it was not difficult to defend, so the opponent's central defender Lakiski planned to stop the ball with his chest in the penalty area and then pass it out. But when the football hit his chest, he felt that it was not what he imagined. The power of the football was greater than he expected, so the football did not stop obediently, but hit his chest hard and bounced out.

This gave McTominay, who was right next to him, a golden opportunity. He inserted from behind and kicked the ball!

Shakhtar Donetsk goalkeeper Partov did not expect his central defender to make such a low-level mistake. He was not prepared for McTominay's sudden shot and could only watch the football fly into the goal behind him.

1:0!

Manchester United, who was one man less in the away game, took the lead!

The shouts of Shakhtar Donetsk fans who had been cheering for their team suddenly weakened. Manchester United fans cheered, and their voices temporarily overwhelmed the home team fans who had an advantage in numbers.

………………

Until the end of the first half, the score remained the same. Although Shakhtar Donetsk strengthened their offensive, Bruno's several accurate long passes created counterattack opportunities for his teammates, and they also restrained themselves a lot.

During the halftime break, everyone saw Fellaini in the locker room. He seemed to have not recovered from the blow of being sent off with a red card. He sat alone in his seat, lowered his head, and looked very depressed.

Mourinho also criticized Fellaini mercilessly.

Although the team is leading now, the game is not over yet. No one knows what impact Fellaini's red card will have on the game. If the team loses the game because of his red card, then no one will stand up to speak for him even if the criticism is harsh.

After criticizing Fellaini, Mourinho adjusted the team's tactics. The team still had to attack in the second half, because a one-goal lead was not safe.

In terms of offense, Bruno is naturally the key figure. He must step forward to participate in the attack, because if he is too far away from the opponent, the threat he can bring is limited. But if he went up, the back would be empty, so Mourinho asked Mahrez to move from the wing to the middle and temporarily play as a defensive midfielder.

Before going on the court, Bruno specially comforted Fellaini. He put his hand on Fellaini's shoulder and patted him gently without saying anything.

Of course, he knew Fellaini's mood. It was not pleasant to waste time on the bench when he was obviously capable, but what could he do?

………………

In the second half, Shakhtar Donetsk strengthened its offensive in order to win the game at home and keep the hope of promotion.

And Manchester United did not retreat to defend, but took advantage of the gap behind Shakhtar Donetsk to press forward and continued to attack.

In the 51st minute, Shakhtar Donetsk equalized the score. Shakhtar Donetsk made a long pass from the backcourt. Mahrez made a mistake in clearing the ball in the air. Fred advanced at high speed and passed Smalling at the top of the penalty area. Romero attacked and missed, and Fred scored an empty goal.

But six minutes later, Manchester United took advantage of Shakhtar Donetsk's eagerness to overtake the score after equalizing the score, and launched a highly efficient and quick counterattack. In the end, Mahrez passed the ball in the ribs, and Bruno, who successfully countered the offside, pushed the ball from close range and broke the goal of Shakhtar Donetsk again.

The score returned to the state at the beginning of the second half. Shakhtar Donetsk was naturally unwilling to give up and continued to attack.

The two sides attacked for almost twenty minutes, and both got some opportunities, but neither of them seized them. The score was still 1:2, and Manchester United, who played away, was leading.

………………

When the game reached the 75th minute, the score remained unchanged.

Mourinho made a substitution adjustment at this time. He replaced Mahrez with Herrera, strengthened the defense, and planned to keep the advantage of this goal.

Shakhtar Donetsk attacked with all his strength, hoping to equalize the score before the end of the game.

Their offensive finally worked. In the 85th minute of the game, Mata pulled down Marlos at the top of the penalty area, and Shakhtar Donetsk got a free kick. Fred kicked the ball, and the ball passed the wall and went straight into the dead corner of the goal.

Looking at the Brazilian midfielder who scored twice, Mourinho on the sidelines had a strange light in his eyes. Such a midfielder with good offense and defense is exactly what Manchester United needs!

At present, the only one in Manchester United's midfield who can be regarded as good at offense and defense is Bruno. The rest, including Kante, are only good at one aspect.

After the second equalizer, Shakhtar Donetsk continued to attack, but until the referee blew the third whistle to end the game, the score remained at 2:2. Manchester United still took away a draw from the away game with one less player.

Now they can breathe a sigh of relief and prepare for the League Cup final with Arsenal at the weekend.

………………

At 4:25 pm on February 25, local time in the UK, a huge noise broke out at the new Wembley Stadium.

This is the players from both sides entering the field.

The commentator is also introducing the starting lineups of both sides.

Arsenal starting lineup (532):

Goalkeeper: Ospina;

Defense: Bellerin, Chambers, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal;

Midfield: Evil Beggar, Xhaka, Ramsey;

Forward: Aubameyang, Sanchez;

Manchester United starting lineup (442):

Goalkeeper: Romero;

Defense: Cancelo, Maguire, Van Dijk, Ashley Young;

Midfield: Bruno, Gundogan, Kante, Rashford;

Forward: Ibrahimovic, Harry Kane;

"Huh?" Lineker was surprised. He noticed that Manchester United's formation was not the commonly used 433, or even 4231, but 442.

Of course, the 442 formation is also Manchester United's classic formation, but that was in the Ferguson era. The old Sir Alex's two-wing flying tactics were simply a nightmare for other Premier League teams.

"Mourinho unexpectedly used the double striker tactic, and Ibrahimovic appeared in the starting lineup."

In addition, there was another change in Manchester United's defense, that is, Luke Shaw actually sat on the bench, and veteran Ashley Young started as the right back.

"There is no news of Luke Shaw's injury. It seems that choosing Ashley Young to play right back is more of a tactical choice."

………………

"What is that guy doing?" Wenger glanced at the visiting team coaching bench and said.

His focus is on the striker.

Mourinho finally sent Harry Kane to start, which was not unexpected by Wenger. He was surprised that Ibrahimovic, who had been in poor form since returning from injury midway through this season, actually started, replacing the talented striker Mbappe who has been very popular in Manchester United this season.

Harry Kane and Ibrahimovic are a striker configuration that Manchester United has never used before.

In fact, in the past few days, Arsenal has been studying how to deal with the forward configuration of Harry Kane, Rashford and Mbappe in training. After all, this is the most commonly used forward combination of Manchester United this season, and it has been killing all over the Premier League and the Champions League, scoring a lot of goals.

Manchester United's forward configuration made Wenger dare not underestimate it.

Unexpectedly, Mbappe sat on the bench, while Rashford retreated to play in the midfield, and Ibrahimovic appeared in the starting lineup.

This made some tactical arrangements of the Arsenal team useless.

………………

The game has been going on for a while.

Mourinho's attention is on Sanchez.

Arsenal's lineup seems to be a double forward, but Sanchez's position is quite flexible. He will cruise to the two flanks, and sometimes retreat quite deep, becoming the link between Aubameyang and the midfield.

This is a bit similar to the dual-core play of the evil beggar and Sanchez.

While Mourinho was thinking, an attack from the Arsenal team came.

Sanchez went to the wing again and broke through with the ball.

Cancelo had some difficulty facing the Chilean's breakthrough. Fortunately, Gundogan came to help and pulled Sanchez down.

The referee's whistle sounded and Manchester United was called for a foul.

The English Football Association also attached great importance to this League Cup final between the two top Premier League teams and arranged for the well-known referee Mike Dean to referee.

After Webber retired and Clattenburg went to Asia, Mike Dean has become the most experienced referee in the Premier League.

However, Arsenal fans are very resistant to such an arrangement. Before the game, some Arsenal fans even published a letter of protest online. Because the legend of Mike Dean's "North London Terminator" has been circulating among fans.

According to statistics, from 2009 to 2013, the Gunners' winning rate in Dean's games against Arsenal was only a pitiful 7%.

In all 25 Arsenal games that Dean referred to from 2009 to before, the Gunners' winning rate was only 20%.

Back then, in the 2015-2016 season, it was Mike Dean who sent off Paulista and Cazorla of Arsenal, causing Arsenal to lose 0:2.

More importantly, in that game, Diego Costa of Chelsea had several conflicts with the Gunners players, but nothing happened.

This is a typical case of what can be tolerated but not tolerated. After that famous game, 100,000 fans even petitioned to ban Dean.

But today, judging from the penalty after the opening, Dean was still fair.