Chapter 641 The Best Spell

After returning to Manchester from Monaco, Manchester United soon ushered in the fourth round of the Premier League, visiting Turf Moor to challenge the Red Wine Army Burnley.

Manchester United launched an active offensive after the opening, but several excellent opportunities were wasted by Manchester United's offensive players. However, when the game reached the 27th minute, Manchester United finally took the lead. At that time, Manchester United launched a quick attack. Lingard made a cross from the left, and Harry Kane, who was not guarded, headed the ball from the edge of the small penalty area.

In the 36th minute, Manchester United launched another quick counterattack. Bruno passed the ball straight from the middle, and Harry Kane's shot from the top left corner of the small penalty area was saved by Joe Hart in time.

Manchester United expanded the score in the 44th minute. Harry Kane knocked back, and Mbappe's powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area was blocked by Taylor and deflected. Westwood made a hasty stop and made a mistake. Harry Kane shot low in front of the small penalty area and scored, rewriting the score on the field to 2:0.

Neither side made any adjustments during the halftime break.

Shortly after the start of the second half, Manchester United launched another quick counterattack. Cancelo made a cross from the right, and Bruno volleyed from the edge of the penalty area. The ball bounced off the ground and was easily caught by Joe Hart.

Rashford then replaced Lingard.

Manchester United sealed the victory in the 69th minute. Lennon fouled Rashford in the penalty area, and Bruno scored a penalty kick to lock the score at 3:0.

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After defeating Burnley, the first international match day of the new season arrived. Bruno also returned to Portugal to serve the king and began to join the team in the European Nations League.

This is a brand new event. The 55 members of UEFA are divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D according to the ranking coefficient. Among them, there are 12 teams in the A League, 12 teams in the B League, 15 teams in the C League, and 16 teams in the D League.

Each level of the league is divided into four groups, and two of them play double round-robin matches. Finally, the top four teams in the A-level league will participate in the finals (semi-finals, third and fourth place finals, and finals) in June of the following year to determine the champion. The bottom four teams will be relegated to the B-level league. The top four teams in the B-level league will be promoted to the A-level league, and so on.

The 12 A-level league teams in the first UEFA Nations League are Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, England, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Iceland, Croatia and the Netherlands.

After the draw, Germany, France and the Netherlands were divided into the first group, Belgium, Switzerland and Iceland were divided into the second group, Portugal, Italy and Poland were divided into the third group, and Spain, England and Croatia were divided into the fourth group.

On this international match day, Portugal only had one group match in the UEFA Nations League, and the other match was a friendly match with Croatia.

This match was held on the evening of September 6th, local time in Portugal. This was the second meeting between the two sides after the World Cup quarter-finals.

Ronaldo missed the Portuguese national team in this period, and Bruno started for the first time wearing the Portuguese captain's armband.

In the 18th minute, Kovacic made a steal in the frontcourt, the Portuguese defender made a mistake in clearing the ball, Perisic volleyed and scored, Croatia took the lead 1:0.

However, Portugal quickly equalized the score. In the 32nd minute, Portugal set a ball on the right side, Bruno drove into the penalty area, and Pepe headed the ball to equalize the score.

These were also the only two goals in this game, and the two sides finally tied 1:1.

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Four days later, Portugal ushered in the first UEFA Nations League group match, playing at home against the Italian national team.

This game will be Portugal's first European Nations League. How will the Portuguese team perform without Ronaldo, and whether Bruno can take on the responsibility of the spiritual leader of the Portuguese national team, these are the focus of the world's attention.

In the first round, Italy under Mancini's coaching still did not have too many amazing performances. Balotelli, who returned to the national team, did not perform satisfactorily and will miss this game due to injury.

In this game, Andre Silva and Bernardo Silva started, and Ruben Neves will also start. For Italy, Immobile partnered with Zaza and Chiesa as forwards, while Jorginho and Bonaventura were in the midfield.

After the game started, Italy seemed very conservative, and Portugal's forwards seemed a little confused after the absence of Ronaldo. After 45 minutes of dull battle, the two sides drew 0:0.

After the halftime break, Portugal attacked more actively and broke the deadlock in the 48th minute. The Italian defense intercepted the ball but did not clear it in time. Bruno intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and knocked it into the penalty area. Andre Silva stopped the ball and shot with his left foot. Grapes beat Italy 1:0.

This was the only goal of the game. In the end, Portugal beat Italy 1:0 at home and took the first place in the group.

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After the international match day, Bruno, who returned to the club, immediately ushered in the fifth round of the Premier League. He will lead the team to visit Vicarage Road Stadium to challenge this season's super dark horse Watford.

After the start of the new season, the Hornets performed very well, winning four consecutive games in the first four rounds, and currently ranked third in the standings with only a disadvantage in goal difference. Behind them are the two Manchester City teams with 3 wins and 1 draw!

And Watford head coach Gracia also became the best Premier League coach in August by leading the team to four consecutive Premier League wins in August.

At the pre-match press conference, Mourinho praised the opponent of this game, and he praised Watford's good defense.

"Obviously, this is a team that is difficult to score against. They are the second team in the Premier League that concedes the fewest goals. It will be difficult for us to score in this game."

Mourinho's words won Gracia's favor. He felt that Mourinho, a senior, was very humble to a younger generation like him after achieving such great achievements.

"No, no, no, I should say that I am fascinated by Manchester United. Coach Mourinho has created a fascinating team. I have studied Manchester United's games carefully. Every time I study them, I have to admire them."

Gracia is obviously a gentleman. Mourinho praised him and he reciprocated.

The spectators were all stunned. It's not that there were no media who wanted to provoke a fight before the game, but the two head coaches didn't pay attention to those at all. They actually created such a scene of mutual appreciation, which really disappointed many people.

Before the game, Vicarage Road Stadium, the visiting team's locker room.

"Watford is very stable, but the more such a team is, once the situation is unfavorable, once it loses, it will collapse in the short term."

"For this game, I have only one request, win the game!"

"Go, go, kick the Spanish big nose's ass for me."

Mourinho pointed at the door of the locker room and shouted.

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At the same time, in the home team's locker room.

"Chelsea is beginning to be in chaos, Guardiola at Manchester City is also beginning to lose the trust of the team's management, Liverpool is still in the process of reconstruction, this is our best chance!"

"Boys, the championship is not impossible. Mr. Ranieri set the best example for us three years ago!"

"But now we have an obstacle blocking the road, that is Mourinho's Manchester United."

"Win the game, beat Manchester United, use your actions to tell this young team, tell that old guy, Watford is no longer the Watford of the past!"

In fact, Gracia is not a coach who is good at passionate mobilization speeches, but when he said this today, he was in high spirits and full of enthusiasm, and he said it very vigorously.

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The match between Manchester United and Watford was played later. Before that, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea had already defeated their opponents. If Manchester United cannot win the game, they will lag behind the Red Army and the Blue Army by more than 4 points in the standings and gradually be left behind by their opponents.

Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City are also paying attention to this battle for the top spot.

Klopp said that he hopes to see Manchester United and Watford draw.

Manchester City coach Guardiola refused to predict the result of the game when he was interviewed by the media. He said that he was not very interested in this game and Manchester City just needed to do its best.

At this moment, Manchester City coach Guardiola called the whole team together to watch the game.

Well, Guardiola is not interested in this game, he is only interested in Mourinho.

After the game started, Watford played very actively at home, and it seemed that they wanted to swallow Manchester United in one bite.

"What do you think?" Guardiola asked his coaching staff members.

"Gracia wants to attack instead of defend." Arteta said, "His purpose is very clear, using offense to compress Manchester United's space and keep the threat away from their own goal."

"But Manchester United's quick counterattack is very sharp, I don't think this is a good strategy." Another assistant coach said.

At this moment, the commentator shouted excitedly: "Counterattack, counterattack!"

Everyone looked up.

"GOOOOOOOOALLLL!!! Harry Kane! Harry Kane!! Harry Kane!!! Beautiful, I want to cheer for this goal, the whole goal process is very exciting, the counterattack is very fast, Bruno sent a through ball, Harry Kane passed two Watford defenders in a row and shot successfully, Watford's defense was completely penetrated."

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"What do you think?" Guardiola asked Arteta.

"Manchester United has strong offensive capabilities, so they dare to attack their opponents, but--" Arteta paused, "The most difficult thing to deal with this team is when they insist on playing defensive counterattacks."

"So what?"

"Now that Manchester United is leading 1:0, they can play defensive counterattacks more confidently. Gracia is not Mourinho's opponent." Arteta said.

"I don't think so." Another assistant coach said, "Gracia's team has good defense and offense, and their football is beautiful. In addition, they are playing at home, so I am optimistic that they will turn the tables at home."

While these people were debating, Guardiola did not speak. He was thinking.

As his Spanish compatriot, Gracia's tactics can generally be classified as offensive football. Generally speaking, Gracia's team emphasizes control. In Guardiola's view, Gracia's Watford lacks rapid counterattacks and advances, but has more stability in control.

This ball control tactic may be very effective when facing other teams, but it may not be so effective when facing Manchester United with tough pressing tactics and Manchester United with speed and counterattacks.

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Mourinho smiled, not only because the team had taken a 1:0 lead, but also because he knew his tactics were effective and his judgment was correct, and he was more confident about winning the game.

Gracia's team's overall passing range is slow. Will Hughes has excellent footwork and accurate passing, but the burst point and cross routine are single, which makes Deeney's running position for the point become regular and easy to be restricted, resulting in a lack of outflanking in the middle.

Watford, which was behind 0:1, seemed a little confused, as if it lacked the necessary preparation for losing the ball first, which surprised Mourinho. He could hardly imagine that Gracia had not considered how to play if Watford lost the ball too early?

Only Gracia knew the answer.

In the 38th minute of the first half, Bruno took a corner kick, Harry Kane headed the ball from a far point, and Smalling chested the ball and volleyed it into the net from close range, 2:0.

Mourinho celebrated with his assistants in the coaching booth, leading by two goals, and this game was almost a sure win.

However, in the injury time of the first half, Watford made a beautiful attack. Doucoure made a cross from the left side of the penalty area, and Gray, who was unguarded, shot into the net from 12 yards, changing the score to 1:2.

This goal caused Mourinho's strong dissatisfaction. With a two-goal lead, Rojo once again made the mistake of not paying enough attention.

During the halftime break, Mourinho did not praise the players for leading in the first half, but instead made severe criticisms of the team's goal loss.

He can accept the loss of the ball, but he cannot accept the gift package given because of his own mistakes.

After the start of the second half, Watford pressed hard to equalize the score, but unexpectedly Manchester United scored a goal in the 65th minute of the game.

The goal was scored by Bruno. He and substitute Mata made a wall-to-wall cooperation and broke into the penalty area. Harry Kane followed up with a shot. Foster saved the ball and it flew up, right in front of Mbappe. The French genius made a selfless cross pass, and Bruno easily pushed the ball into the empty goal.

Watford, who fell behind by two goals again, seemed a little flustered, and as time passed, this panic and impatience became more obvious. Even Gracia's continuous substitutions did not have any effect.

Mourinho responded tit for tat to Gracia's substitutions.

In the end, Manchester United easily defeated Watford, ranked third, 3:1 away from home and successfully got three points.

No one expected that facing Watford, who had won four consecutive games and even defeated Tottenham and performed very well, Manchester United actually won so easily. In the words of commentator Andy Gray, except for the last few minutes of the first half, Watford suddenly exerted force and caught Manchester United, who was a little relaxed, off guard, Manchester United firmly controlled the game throughout the game.

More British media said that Watford encountered the "best curse" again!