Chapter 569: One Round Decides the Outcome
With Bruno's double goal, Manchester United finally beat Tottenham 2:1 and entered the FA Cup final of this season.
A day later, at the same stadium, Chelsea beat Southampton 2:0 and met Manchester United in the FA Cup final of this season. The two teams will continue to compete for the FA Cup championship of this season at the new Wembley Stadium on May 19.
The ten days from late April to early May are extremely critical for Manchester United. It can even be said that every game may determine the final success or failure of Manchester United in this season.
And the opponents of these games are all very strong without exception.
April 21, FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham;
April 24, the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, home against Manchester City;
April 29, the 36th round of the Premier League, home against Arsenal;
May 2, the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, away challenge Manchester City.
It can be said that this is a game that is almost like lead bullet roulette. Every game may make Manchester United suddenly eliminated in a certain event.
Fortunately, Manchester United had good luck and won the first game, defeating Tottenham and breaking into this year's FA Cup final.
The next home game against Manchester City is undoubtedly more important than the game against Tottenham at the new Wembley Stadium, because it determines whether Manchester United can go one step further and break into this season's Champions League final.
In the era when the away goal rule still exists, in the two-round match, Manchester United drew the schedule of home first and away later, which is actually in a disadvantage.
In this case, if Manchester United cannot gain enough advantage in this home game, there is a high probability that they will be eliminated in the two-round knockout match.
Therefore, even though Manchester United and Tottenham fought a fierce battle at the new Wembley Stadium three days ago, Mourinho still sent out his strongest lineup in today's game. The purpose is naturally to win a big victory over Manchester City at home and establish enough advantages.
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On the evening of April 24, at Old Trafford, in the Champions League semi-final, Manchester United played against Manchester City at home.
Players from both sides came to the player tunnel one after another. The referee on duty, Spanish Antonio Mateu Laos, was conducting the final inspection before the players from both sides came on the field. When he saw Bruno, he obviously stayed for a while longer and nodded slightly.
He has long admired this superstar who is famous in European football. Many people say that he is one of the three giants in the world football today who are on par with Ronaldo and Yosi.
Although Bruno has risen in the world football for several years, this is the first time Laos has enforced a game in which Bruno participated, so Laos is also the first time to really see this latecomer in the world football.
The Spanish whistle wanted to take a serious look at whether Bruno really has the strength to be on par with the two superstars, Ronaldo and Yosi.
Of course, this did not prevent him from expressing some goodwill to Bruno.
Bruno smiled politely in return.
Guardiola's formation today is 433, goalkeeper Ederson, four defenders from right to left are Kyle Walker, Kompany, Laporte and Otamendi; De Bruyne, Fernandinho and Mkhitaryan form the three midfielders; the front trident is David Silva, Jesus and Sane.
On the Manchester United side, Mourinho also arranged a 433 starting lineup, goalkeeper De Gea, four defenders are Cancelo, Maguire, Van Dijk and Luke Shaw; three midfielders are Bruno, Kante and Gundogan; Mbappe, Harry Kane and Rashford form the trident.
This is the most commonly used main lineup for Manchester United this season, and it is also the lineup that Mourinho relies on the most. In most key battles, as long as these players are not injured or suspended, he will send out this lineup.
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In this game, Bruno faced his old rival Fernandinho again. Next to him stood De Bruyne and Mkhitaryan. Bruno was very familiar with these three players.
Less than six minutes into the game, he seized an opportunity on the right and quickly ran out of the gap, getting a chance to counterattack.
Compared with other sports, there are eleven players on each side of a football match. Including the referee, there will be a total of twenty-three people on the field. Among them, except for the two goalkeepers whose activity areas are fixed in the penalty area, the rest of the players are basically moving at high speed, interweaving with each other. If you are not careful, you will miss it.
For any competitive game, concentration is the most important basic quality of the players. This is especially true for football games with many people and frequent interweaving and running.
In football games, the most easily exposed problem of lack of concentration is that you can't catch the ball path.
When Manchester United intercepted the ball in the backcourt, Luke Shaw got the ball on the left side of the center line. When he looked ahead, Otamendi, the guest left back of Manchester City, obviously did not catch the crisis because he thought the ball was still on the left. But in the next step, when Luke Shaw quickly made a long diagonal pass and quickly sent the ball behind Manchester City's left back and left center back, he hurriedly realized the danger.
Just as he turned around to chase the ball, Bruno had passed by him at the fastest speed, like a gust of wind, quickly caught up with the football, and easily stopped the ball with his chest.
Fortunately, not all Manchester City defenders were distracted like Otamendi. Laporte reacted immediately, quickly returned to defense, and blocked Bruno.
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Two players one on one, Bruno chested the ball and started quickly, trying to shake off the opponent, but Laporte decisively fouled and tripped Bruno to the ground.
The referee Laos gave the Spanish compatriot a yellow card without hesitation.
Through the performance of these ten minutes, Laos found that Bruno's strength was indeed stronger than other players on the field. It was not unreasonable to say that he was on par with Ronaldo and Yosi.
Manchester City won a chance to breathe and quickly retreated to its own penalty area to organize defense.
Bruno's right cross accurately found Harry Kane, but the Manchester United center's header slightly hit the crossbar.
Although he failed to score, Manchester United gave the opponent's central defender a yellow card just six minutes after the start. Mourinho's opening tactics worked, and Bruno's start was very eye-catching.
Guardiola was very upset on the sidelines and kept complaining to the fourth official, obviously thinking that the punishment was too heavy.
As a defender, especially a central defender, with a yellow card on his back, he would be restricted and unable to move freely.
Of course, in comparison, if he didn't foul, Bruno would pass him directly and enter the penalty area, and Ederson would find it difficult to stop him. At that time, he would be more passive if he was scored. Therefore, Laporte's choice was understandable.
Mourinho stood on the sidelines and seemed to be more relaxed from the beginning of the game.
When he saw Bruno let Laporte carry a yellow card, he laughed directly.
Although the subsequent frontcourt set-piece failed to score, such a result was already good.
"This kid's short-distance explosive power is getting better and better, especially when he got rid of it." Mourinho praised.
"Yes." Faria nodded, "Just now, the two Manchester City defenders couldn't stop him. Fortunately, Laporte fouled decisively, otherwise, the goal would be stable."
When he saw Bruno constantly retreating on the court, he was calling on his teammates to try to launch an offensive to the right, Faria and Mourinho smiled at each other again.
What a smart kid!
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Otamendi is the away full-back, and he has a habit of being distracted. Now Laporte has a yellow card, and he is already playing with his hands and feet tied. Bruno signaled his teammates to play more on the right, which is a bit like adding insult to injury and taking advantage of his illness.
This is definitely a very praiseworthy choice in a football match.
On the court, with Bruno's call, Manchester United's attack quickly tilted to the right.
Mbappe and Cancelo, this right-wing combination of Manchester United is originally known for its offensive ability. With Bruno, this immediately made Manchester United's right-wing offensive more frequent, putting great pressure on Manchester City's left.
Especially when Bruno was active, Manchester City's left was exhausted.
In the 21st minute, Rashford made a diagonal pass to the front of the penalty area on the left, and Harry Kane passed it to Mbappe on the right.
Mbappe had no chance, and pushed the ball back to the midfield without stopping, giving it to Bruno.
Bruno quickly passed the ball to the right, and Cancelo made a sideways run. After receiving the ball, he took it directly to the right side of the penalty area, pulled out Otamendi, and then suddenly passed it to the penalty area.
At this time, Bruno had already run to the empty space, and after receiving Cancelo's cross pass in the penalty area, facing Laporte, he pulled to the left, swung his left foot and shot directly!
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"Bruno!!!"
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLL!!!!!!!"
"In the 21st minute, Manchester United took the lead in breaking Manchester City's goal!"
"What a neat attack!"
"Manchester United launched an attack on the left, Harry Kane headed the ball, Mbappe passed the ball to Bruno, and then passed it to Cancelo on the right. Cancelo and Bruno cooperated very well, pulling out the defensive player and passing the ball to the middle."
"One-on-one frontal defense, and in the penalty area, Manchester City's central defender Laporte seemed very restrained, because he already had a yellow card, and could only watch Bruno shake out of the gap and score directly!"
The entire Old Trafford stadium was shouting Bruno's name.
Bruno quickly rushed out of the stadium, opened his arms all the way, rushed to the bottom of the fans' stands, and celebrated his goal.
This goal was easy to score, mainly because the position he ran out of made Laporte very embarrassed.
Of course, this was also due to Cancelo's cross pass assist.
So, when his teammates rushed over, Bruno excitedly hugged Cancelo and accepted the cheers of the fans in the stands with him.
Cancelo was also very excited.
He now does morning exercises with Bruno every morning, and then does strength training together. After the training session, he will also accompany Bruno to do ball-stopping training, which allows him to quickly make up for his original shortcomings in physical confrontation and defense.
With the improvement of strength and defense, his position as the main force in the first team has become more and more solid, and Valencia has gradually been suppressed by him on the bench.
However, the Ecuadorian has no complaints and is even happy to see it happen. After all, he is 33 years old and has even planned to return to his hometown in Ecuador to play after the end of this season and spend the last days of his career.
In this case, his position in Manchester United has a successor, which is undoubtedly the best result.
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After Bruno scored a goal and broke the deadlock on the field, Guardiola seemed very annoyed and more afraid of Manchester United's offensive.
Manchester City quickly adjusted the team's tactics and began to focus more on defense, which made it difficult for Manchester United to continue to create threatening scoring opportunities throughout the first half.
Bruno was also closely guarded by the opponent and failed to get a good chance.
The first half ended with a one-to-zero lead. After the second half, Manchester United still adopted the game strategy of the first half, steadily testing Manchester City's left, especially Laporte.
In the 53rd minute, Manchester United got another chance on the right. Mbappe forced to start against Otamendi one-on-one, and rushed into the right side of Manchester City's penalty area with the ball along the right. When Laporte and Otamendi's attention was on him, Mbappe suddenly passed the ball back to Cancelo who was inserted in the back row.
After receiving the ball, the Portuguese right-back entered the penalty area along the right rib, volleyed with his right foot, and broke through Manchester City's goal again.
2:0!
This goal helped Manchester United basically lock in the victory.
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At this point in the game, Manchester City had to further strengthen its defense.
If the first round was lost, the second round would be meaningless.
After the team led by two goals, Bruno was still not satisfied and continued to run frequently on the right.
Only eight minutes after the last goal, Bruno received a pass from Harry Kane and rushed into the penalty area with the ball. When facing Laporte, the Manchester City center back was forced to trip Bruno.
The referee blew the whistle immediately and gave a yellow card plus a penalty.
The Manchester City center back also accumulated a second yellow card and was sent off with a red card, destined to miss the second round.
As Manchester United's first penalty taker, and this penalty was created by Bruno himself, there was no dispute about the right to take the penalty.
Bruno also calmly took the penalty kick and scored, extending the score to 3:0.
This was Bruno's 11th Champions League goal this season, second only to Cristiano Ronaldo who scored 15 goals, ranking second in the scorer list.
Afterwards, Bruno was substituted and Mata replaced him.
Until the end of the game, the score remained at 3:0.
According to international practice, the home team is ahead.
In the two-round match, Manchester United ended the battle in just one round.