Chapter 613 Target
With the end of the Champions League, it means the real end of the 2017-2018 season. Manchester United, which remained unbeaten in all events this season and won six titles including the Community Shield, European Super Cup, English League Cup, FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League, is undoubtedly the biggest winner.
For the players, Bruno is the most dazzling one. With 41 league goals, Bruno not only defended the title of Premier League top scorer, but also defeated Yosi and defended the European Golden Boot. In addition, he contributed 23 assists in 38 Premier League games, which also allowed him to defeat De Bruyne, Thomas Muller, Alberto, Neymar, Yosi and other assist players to become the assist king of the top five European leagues.
In the Champions League, although Bruno, who scored 14 goals, failed to surpass Ronaldo to become the Champions League Golden Boot, he was already outstanding enough. Moreover, he contributed 11 assists in 12 Champions League games, making him the assist king of the Champions League this season.
Throughout the 2017-2018 season, Bruno played 61 games for Manchester United in various official competitions, making him the player with the most games in the top five European leagues this season. At the same time, his playing time of 5,368 minutes is also the most in the top five European leagues.
In these 61 games, Bruno scored a total of 67 goals and made 36 assists, both of which are the highest in the top five leagues.
In these two data, Ronaldo scored 44 goals and 8 assists in 43 games, while Yosi scored 45 goals and 18 assists in 54 games, which is a big gap from Bruno.
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Bruno's various games at Manchester United are over, but he can't start his vacation because the World Cup in Russia will start this summer.
In fact, long before the start of the Champions League final, the Portuguese national team had already assembled and started preparing for the upcoming World Cup.
And just two days after the end of the Champions League final, on the evening of May 28th, local time in Europe, Portugal will usher in the first warm-up match before the World Cup in Russia, against the European powerhouse Tunisia.
In this match, all three Portuguese players who participated in the Champions League final were absent, and the captain's armband was worn on the arm of veteran Pepe.
Portugal played at a very high level in the first half, and goals from Andre Silva and Joao Mario helped Portugal take a two-goal lead.
However, after leading by two goals, the Portuguese national team began to drift a little, first allowing Tunisia to pull back a goal in the 39th minute of the first half, and then Tunisia scored another goal in the 64th minute of the game.
In the end, the game ended in a 2:2 draw!
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Five days later, on the evening of June 2, Portugal ushered in the second warm-up match before the World Cup, visiting the Roy Baudouin Stadium to challenge the European Red Devils Belgium.
This is a strong dialogue between the current world third and world fourth. Portugal ranks third in the FIFA national team rankings, while Belgium, which performed well in the World Cup qualifiers, ranks fourth.
It is no exaggeration to say that Belgium can be called one of the most talented teams in Europe. In the 28-man list selected by Martinez, the total value reached an astonishing 800 million euros.
Due to the abundance of talents, Martinez even gave up Nainggolan, the midfield core of Roma.
This Belgian team has a strong star flavor, with Chelsea's offensive core Hazard and Manchester City's midfield core De Bruyne, Serie A Golden Boot Mertens, Chelsea striker Lukaku on the front line, and Manchester City captain Kompany on the back line.
Facing Portugal, which did not have Bruno and Ronaldo as the two core players, and even rested many main players, the European Red Devils had no way to deal with it. The luxurious attacking group Hazard, Lukaku and others were also unable to score, and they could not beat Portugal for 29 consecutive years, with a score of 0:0.
Not only that, Belgium also lost the defensive general Kompany in the game, which once again made Belgium's World Cup prospects worrying.
On the contrary, the Portuguese team, in the absence of the two core players in the team, still drew with Tunisia and Belgium in a row, which made people see the huge potential of this team.
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On the evening of June 7, Portugal ushered in the last warm-up match before the World Cup.
In this game, Bruno and Ronaldo have both returned to the team and both started.
Since Portugal will face Spain in the first round of the World Cup group stage in 8 days, this game is also regarded as Portugal's last rehearsal before the World Cup.
Ronaldo formed a striker combination with Bernardo Silva and Guedes in this game. Bruno, Moutinho and William Carvalho are partners in the midfield.
Algeria also has good players, including Mahrez, Bruno's teammate at Manchester United, Leicester City striker Slimani and Napoli's Ghoulam.
At the beginning of the game, Portugal attacked the front of Algeria's penalty area just 10 seconds after the start, and the offensive was swift.
In the 16th minute of the game, Bruno made a precise long pass in the middle position, Bernardo Silva headed the ball at the top of the arc in front of the opponent's penalty area, and Guedes made a high-speed insertion and received the football in the penalty area and shot it, and the ball went into the net. The score on the field was Portugal 1:0 Algeria.
In the 36th minute of the game, Ronaldo dribbled the ball from the left bottom and made a cross. Bruno headed the ball in the penalty area and scored. The score on the field was Portugal 2:0 Algeria.
This score remained until the end of the first half.
At the beginning of the second half, Portugal's offensive continued unabated. In the 54th minute of the game, Guerrero made a pass from the left, and teammate Guedes in the center scored with a header in the penalty area, extending the score advantage to 3:0.
At the end of the 90-minute match, Portugal defeated Algeria 3-0.
In this game, Ronaldo completed the 150th national team milestone and became the first player in Portuguese football history!
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After three warm-up matches, the Portuguese team immediately flew to Russia to prepare for the upcoming World Cup in Russia.
Before the Portuguese football team left the capital Lisbon to fly to Russia, they were received by President de Sousa at the Portuguese Carriage Museum and given a farewell. Such high-level courtesy will definitely promote Portuguese players to achieve good results in the World Cup.
When the Portuguese team's bus arrived at the team's hotel in Sochi, Ronaldo got off the bus last, as usual. After getting off the bus, he went straight to the team's hotel.
In addition to giving a big hug to the frontline reporter of "AS", he also told reporters: "Tomorrow we will beat Spain."
After finishing speaking, the Portuguese star winked playfully and walked into the hotel with a smile.
The Portuguese team will face the 2010 World Cup winner Spain in the first game of this World Cup. This much-anticipated Spanish-Portuguese battle will be held on the evening of June 15.
The Spanish team has recently been undergoing a coaching change. The team has just lost coach Lopetegui. Former Real Madrid and Spanish national team player Hierro will replace Lopetegui to lead Spain in the World Cup.
Portugal and Spain were assigned to Group B in the World Cup group stage, along with Iran and Morocco.
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After the first training session in Sochi, Santos found Bruno in the restaurant and told him that he had something to ask for in the evening and hoped that he could go to Santos's room for an interview.
After dinner and some chatting with his teammates, Bruno said goodbye to everyone and knocked on Santos' door.
Santos opened the door for him and invited him inside.
First, I paid attention to Bruno's health, especially his physical condition.
The conversation between Santos and Bruno did not look like a conversation between a head coach and a player, but an exchange between two people of equal status.
Then Santos got to the topic of the conversation: "What do you think of this World Cup, Bruno?"
"Your opinion, sir, what do you mean?"
"score."
"Of course he is the champion." Bruno had actually thought about this question himself. Not on the way here, but after confirming the qualification for the Russian World Cup.
Apart from the championship, he couldn't think of any other goal. The Portuguese team already won the European Cup two years ago. Can't they still make a breakthrough in the World Cup? He has accumulated experience and self-confidence in Europe's top competitions, which makes him enthusiastic about competitions such as the World Cup.
Although the overall strength of the Portuguese team is not the best in the world, he believes that his outstanding performance will definitely help the Portuguese national team achieve a historic breakthrough.
In addition, according to his character, the purpose of participating in football games is to win. If the goal is not to win the championship, then simply don't participate.
That's what he thought.
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Santos laughed, narrowed his eyes and said, "My goal is to reach the semi-finals. I thought it was already very difficult. I didn't expect you to be more ambitious than me."
"That's what I think, sir. If we can qualify in the group and reach the top 16, we are only two games away from the semi-finals. Why not strive to enter the semi-finals? After entering the semi-finals, we are only one game away from the finals. It’s just a game, why not work hard to enter the finals? Since we have reached the finals, are we here to compete for the runner-up? So...” He spread his hands and said, “I think we are here to compete for the runner-up. Only the championship is the most suitable goal.”
Santos was laughed at Bruno's theory of "if that's the case, why not continue?"
This sounds a bit idealistic, but when Bruno says it, it doesn't make people feel incredible.
He has proven this many times in European football. Santos feels the same way, but is it okay to have this kind of confidence in his own team?
Santos is not an arrogant fool. He knows that there is a gap between the strength of the Portuguese team and Manchester United. Although many people feel that Manchester United is definitely not a top team in Europe, but compared with the Portuguese national team, it is still top. At Manchester United, Bruno has many outstanding teammates to help him, but what about the Portuguese team? Except for Ronaldo, he probably has to rely on himself most of the time.
but……
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Santos looked at Bruno. This man never minded these small places. In fact, he always moved forward under tremendous pressure.
From the beginning at Udinese, he has been regarded as the new hope of Portuguese football, the real hope of helping the Portuguese team achieve a breakthrough. Bruno has never disappointed Portuguese fans. After he entered the Portuguese national team, he helped Portugal win the European Cup and Confederations Cup.
Bruno has been outstanding and consistent for four years. He even took the initiative to put the pressure on himself, as if he enjoyed playing under such heavy pressure.
Psychological quality, this is where he is superior.
Santos said: "If you think so, it's great. But you know, football is not a one-man sport. You have such an idea and work towards this goal, but what about your teammates? Can you guarantee that they are willing to think and do so?"
Bruno shook his head and said: "I don't know, but I am willing to try."
Santos nodded and said: "Well, you and Cristiano have the same idea. One of you is the captain and the other is the core of the midfield. You have a unified goal, so work hard. You go to rest, you must be exhausted this day."
Bruno smiled and shook his head and said: "It's okay, young people are energetic, so this little running around is nothing."
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The conversation ended. From this conversation, Santos knew the thoughts of the core of the team. In addition to the previous conversation with captain Ronaldo, he knew the true thoughts of the two key players of the national team, which was helpful for his work.
If the core has no fighting spirit, then his work will be difficult to carry out. As long as the core is pursuing, his work will be much simpler.
The role of a team's core is very important, otherwise why is it called "core"? Just look at the difference between Manchester United with Bruno and without Bruno.
Bruno also gained something. He learned more or less about Santos's plan from this conversation. Santos announced that the team had no goal for this World Cup, but in fact it was not the case. His goal should be the semi-finals.
But as long as they reach the semi-finals, this goal will definitely be revised. As he said, since the team has made it to the finals, why not try to make it to the finals? Since they have already made it to the finals, why should they work hard for a runner-up?
So as long as the team can successfully enter the semi-finals, Bruno will have the confidence to challenge the championship.
If it is said that leading the Chinese team to challenge the World Cup championship is a fantasy, but leading the Portuguese national team to challenge the World Cup championship is still possible. After all, the Portuguese national team is not a top team in Europe and even the world, but it is also a quasi-strong team.
Especially since they won the European Cup two years ago and the Confederations Cup last year. Not only do they have two superstars like Ronaldo, but the strength of other main players is also at the level of the top five European leagues. The foundation is not too bad, and they have such a foundation, so they can give it a try.
If he just comes to go through the motions and goes home after the group stage, he might as well have a good vacation, and then go to training with Manchester United to prepare for the next season.