Chapter 575 The Winning Hand
Ederson's attention was focused on Kante's possible pass to Gundogan on the right side of Manchester United. He really didn't expect that Kante would suddenly take a shot, so Ederson's position was tilted to the left. , at this time, it was too late to adjust his position, so he could only rise into the air, stretch out his arms, and try to save the football that suddenly flew from a long distance.
"Kante - the ball has been scored!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Along with Zhan Jun's roar, Manchester City's patron saint Ederson slumped down from the air, his facial expression He was desperate. He didn't touch the football. The football passed over Ederson's right hand and suddenly penetrated into the net, sending the snow-white net flying high!
In the 69th minute of the game, N'Golo Kante, the second most unlikely scorer in the Manchester United team, scored. As for the first person who cannot score, naturally it is goalkeeper De Gea.
2:1, Manchester United exceeded the score again at the Etihad Stadium!
"A crazy kick... a world wave!! It came from Kante! He suddenly took the ball forward, he passed Fernandinho, he deceived Otamendi, he shot, he scored ! Ederson lost to Kante... This was Kante's first Champions League goal in his career, scored in the Champions League semi-finals against Manchester City! This French midfielder either didn't score or scored. The ball is the key goal!”
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Kanter, who entered the crazy world wave, was running, but before he could take two steps, he was surrounded by equally crazy and excited teammates. They threw him to the ground and pinned him down.
Their mouths roared with excited good words, excited swear words, and excited howls.
This goal is too crucial, and this goal boosts morale too much.
During this period, Manchester City's offensive was very fierce, and Manchester United's defense was frequently in trouble, giving it a feeling of being precarious.
As a result, Kante helped Manchester United score a go-ahead goal at this time, which undoubtedly completely killed the game.
After all, after Kanter scored, Manchester United's total score in the two rounds was already 5:1!
Kante, who rarely scores goals, always scores a key goal, and Manchester United has never lost in the games where Kante has scored.
Manchester United was celebrating like crazy, but there was a dead silence on the Manchester City side. Everyone couldn't believe their eyes. They couldn't believe that the one from Manchester United who almost never scored a goal and almost never shot a goal was the entire Manchester United team. Except for goalkeeper De Gea and substitute goalkeeper Romero, the guy who was least likely to score a goal actually scored, and it was such a shocking world-shaking kick that even Ederson and I had no choice but to surrender!
"When he was playing in Udinese, Kante had such a super world-beating kick." Sun Jihai said bitterly, "Yes, he rarely shoots, and goals are even rarer because of his shooting. His skills are really poor, but he is such a player. As long as he scores a goal, he is super beautiful and super crucial. At 1:2, Kante scored a wonderful goal and Manchester City fell behind. "
"He worked very hard on defense. He swept around. Together with his teammates, he built a solid defense line in front of Manchester United's back line. When attacking, he contributed a key goal that made people jump up and cheer. N'Golo Kante , No matter what the final result of this game is, I vote for him as the best player," Zhan Jun said, making no secret of his appreciation and support for the Manchester United star.
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Getting up from the ground, Kanter shouted at his teammates, protesting against everyone's ravage on him, and everyone laughed.
Manchester City's players were stunned, they could not accept this goal. But one person was not dazed. He rushed directly to the referee Felix Brüsch.
It was De Bruyne. The Belgian was complaining and protesting to the referee Bruchy. He believed that the starting point of Manchester United's counterattack was when Fellaini poked the ball from his feet. He should have fouled him first. , so the referee should have blown the whistle at that time. If there is a cause, there will be a result. Then Manchester United's goal was a foul first and was invalid.
Felix Bruchy shook his finger, Manchester United did not foul and there was nothing wrong with the ball.
In fact, when Fellaini and De Bruyne are pulling each other, both sides have their hands moving. According to Bruchy's usual law enforcement habits, he may be relatively biased towards the home team and call Fellaini a foul, but that is not the case. For some reason, Bruchy hesitated for a moment when he was about to blow the whistle. In this moment of hesitation, Manchester United's counterattack had already begun. Then Bruchy signaled that there was no foul and the game continued.
There is no problem with this penalty. With that kind of pull, the referee can call Fellaini a foul or not, or even call De Bruyne a foul. If the choice is made, it all depends on the referee.
Therefore, according to the rules, there is no problem for the referee Bruchy.
Since the whistle was not blown at that time, Bruchy will naturally ignore De Bruyne's protest now.
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Seeing that the referee insisted that there was no problem with Manchester United's offense, De Bruyne, who had always been good-tempered, also exploded. He yelled at the referee: "Are you going to blow it?"
Yellow card!
Felix Bruchy did not hesitate at all and decisively showed De Bruyne a yellow card, allowing the Manchester City midfielder to calm down.
De Bruyne stared at the referee. Fortunately, he had not lost his mind yet. He was so angry that he finally lowered his voice and said: "Referee, I don't mean to offend, but you are indeed wrong."
"Listen to the referee." At this time, Fellaini came over and kindly comforted his national team teammates.
De Bruyne's anger, which has just subsided, can no longer be contained. How the hell do you have the nerve to say "listen to the referee"?
De Bruyne didn't even think about it and pushed Fellaini down. Go to hell!
Fellaini sat down on the ground and looked at De Bruyne with an innocent and aggrieved face.
Yellow card!
The referee Felix Bruchy's face turned green. De Bruyne attacked in front of him. This behavior was too bad, and he heard clearly what Fellaini said, even though the referee The referee is not stupid, and he also knows that this guy has bad intentions when he says this, but objectively speaking, this is correct.
Of course, the most important thing is that De Bruyne cannot take action.
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Referee Bruchy showed De Bruyne a second yellow card, followed by a red card.
Two yellows turned into one red, and De Bruyne was sent off with a red card.
There were loud boos in the Etihad stands.
Manchester City captain Fernandinho is negotiating with referee Bruchy.
"Wow wow wow, let's see what happened? The referee gave De Bruyne two yellow cards and sent him off." Zhan Jun shouted, "De Bruyne seemed a little dissatisfied with the referee's decision. , he protested to the referee Bruchy, so he was shown a yellow card, and then what happened between him and Fellaini who came over? He pushed Fellaini down under the nose of the referee, and received another yellow card, two yellow cards Turned red and he was sent off."
"This is an unexpected situation, a very bad unexpected situation." Manchester City star Sun Jihai shook his head and sighed, "It's so uncool. Now Manchester City is trailing 1:2, and there is one less player. The situation is very bad."
Guardiola jumped in anger on the sidelines. He had already decided to make substitutions before. Mkhitaryan had already warmed up. Guardiola was ready to replace the exhausted De Bruyne and replace him with Mkhitaryan to continue to strengthen the attack.
But now, De Bruyne has been sent off, and all Guardiola's plans have been disrupted.
The most important thing is that this made Guardiola panic. He realized that the situation was not good and the possibility of losing this game suddenly increased a lot.
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De Bruyne was sent off, which directly became the most important turning point in the game.
On Manchester City's side, the substitution adjustment of Mkhitaryan has been temporarily withdrawn. Guardiola needs to make a decision quickly to see how to make substitutions and how to adjust.
Mourinho was very decisive. After seeing De Bruyne sent off, he immediately asked Mata, Rashford, Mbappe and Ibrahimovic to warm up.
A few minutes later, Manchester City made substitutions, Mkhitaryan came on as a substitute, Bernardo Silva was replaced, Manchester City changed to 324, Guardiola was planning to break the pot.
He couldn't accept the result of being double beaten by Manchester United in the Champions League semi-finals. Anyway, the team was lagging behind now, so he might as well fight to the death. If he could score a goal through a fierce attack, although the result was still eliminated, at least he was not beaten by a double. Kill it!
Mourinho immediately followed with substitutions, Mata replaced Fellaini, and Rashford replaced Kante, who was also beginning to decline in physical strength.
Manchester United also changed its formation, changing to a 4231 formation, with Herrera and Gundogan forming a double midfielder, and Rashford, Mata and Bruno forming the three-pole musket behind Harry Kane.
Manchester United also immediately switched from conservative tactics to offensive posture.
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After De Bruyne was sent off, for Manchester City, it was not only one less man, but more importantly, when they were 1:2 behind, Manchester City had to press out and attack behind a single midfielder. This means that the space behind Manchester City's massive pressure will be infinitely magnified.
In the 83rd minute of the game, Manchester United's third goal came. Luke Shaw and Mata continued to cooperate on the left wing, attracting Kyle Walker and other Manchester City defensive players to concentrate on this side. Mata Suddenly a horizontal pass was passed, Bruno received the ball and sent a through ball. Harry Kane held Otamendi and knocked the football to the right. Mbappe, who followed up, rubbed the football and the football was transferred to left.
Massive pressure on the back, Manchester City's defense was already short-handed, and now it was completely mobilized and exhausted. Bruno, who inserted in from behind, had no one to defend him. He hit the goal with a beautiful header. Football Flying into the net from between Ederson's hands, Manchester United 3:1 Manchester City.
In the end, the score of this focus battle was 3:1. Manchester United defeated their local rival Manchester City with two away goals.
As a result, Manchester United achieved a double defeat against Manchester City in the two rounds of the Champions League semi-finals, and advanced to this season's Champions League final with a total score of 6:1.