Chapter 662: Manchester City's Two Giants
The good condition of the substitute players makes Mourinho more confident to challenge the Premier League three consecutive titles and defend the Champions League.
Of course, this is also inseparable from the fact that Shakhtar Donetsk was sent off at the beginning of the game and did not bring any test to Manchester United's defense throughout the game.
In any case, this is a very rare experience for the young Greenwood.
In fact, Mourinho has always believed that for young people, the confidence boost brought by such a stable game is far more suitable than being ordered in times of crisis.
The scene of being ordered in times of crisis and turning the tide is definitely not a good opportunity for young people to show up, and it may even ruin a young person.
Four days later, Manchester United ushered in the 12th round of the Premier League. They visited the Etihad Stadium to challenge their city rivals Manchester City.
This is another extremely difficult game!
Although Manchester United adopted a comprehensive rotation policy in the Champions League match in the middle of the week, allowing Manchester United's main players to get a good rest, Manchester City defeated Juventus 2:1 after a hard battle at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, biting the Zebras in the standings, which caused some physical problems for Manchester City's main players, but such consumption is not fatal at the beginning of the season.
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Etihad Stadium.
When the game reached the 71st minute, Manchester United intercepted the ball at the front of the 30-meter area in their own half, and Bruno made a long pass over the top to initiate a quick counterattack.
Mbappe sprinted forward at a very fast speed on the left.
"Manchester United launched a counterattack."
"The referee did not blow the whistle, Mbappe successfully countered offside!"
Thousands of Manchester United fans throughout the Etihad Stadium cheered and shouted Mbappe's name.
Mbappe quickly caught up on the field and stopped the ball on the left side of the penalty area.
Manchester City's right back Kyle Walker also returned to defense very quickly. In this game, he has been entangled with Mbappe.
The two were one-on-one inside and outside the penalty area.
Facing Mbappe who was approaching with the ball, Kyle Walker was like a formidable enemy and took a defensive posture.
However, Kyle Walker still failed to defend and was eaten alive by Mbappe's speed.
As soon as Mbappe rushed into the penalty area, he kicked directly!
"Mbappe shoots directly!"
"The ball goes in!!!!"
"In the 91st minute, Manchester United launched a counterattack after Bruno intercepted the ball in the midfield. Mbappe quickly dribbled the ball from the left and rushed into the penalty area. Facing Kyle Walker's defense, Mbappe calmly chose to shoot directly."
"Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson reacted but still failed to stop the ball from entering the net."
After scoring the goal, Mbappe excitedly rushed out of the stadium and ran all the way to the bottom of the stands, opening his arms to the fans who supported him in the stands, as if he wanted to hug the fans in the stands.
This made Mbappe receive even more enthusiastic applause and cheers.
The teammates behind him also rushed forward and surrounded Mbappe.
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"This is the sixth goal of the game and also the third goal of Manchester United in this game. The two sides are tied at 3:3."
"It can be said that this is a wonderful game. From the beginning of the game, both sides played not conservatively at all."
"Mourinho is obviously also aware that Manchester United's defense in the new season is not solid. Even if it is strictly defended, it may not be able to defend against Manchester City's offense, because before this game, Manchester City had scored 33 goals in 11 Premier League games, which is the most powerful offensive team among the 20 Premier League teams."
"So, Mourinho chose to go head-to-head, which is obviously I am full of confidence in the state and strength of the Manchester United attack group led by Bruno. "
"In the new season, although Manchester United's defense is a bit unstable, the state of the frontcourt attack group is still good. In the first 11 rounds of the league, they scored 32 goals, only one goal less than Manchester City. "
"Bruno did not live up to the trust of the head coach. In the first half, he used a forced breakthrough on the left to assist the middle of the penalty area. Harry Kane made a low shot and hit the goal, equalizing the score for Manchester United. "
Manchester City took the lead in the 12th minute. Sterling made a cross from the left, Bernardo passed back from a far point, and David Silva shot into the net in front of the small penalty area, opening the scoring for Manchester City.
In the end, the two sides tied 1:1 in the first half.
After the start of the second half, Manchester City quickly took the lead. In the 48th minute, Lingard was intercepted by Fernandinho in the midfield. Aguero and De Bruyne played a wall kick and shot into the upper corner of the small penalty area. De Gea lacked reaction.
This was the Argentine striker's ninth goal in the Manchester derby.
Ten minutes later, Manchester United equalized the score again. Bruno sent a penetrating pass from the middle, Harry Kane got the ball on the left side of the penalty area and was tackled by Ederson, and Bruno took the penalty kick and scored.
Manchester City surpassed the score again in the 86th minute. Bernardo made a diagonal pass from the right, and De Bruyne, who successfully countered the offside, stopped the ball at the edge of the small penalty area and pushed it into the net calmly.
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After celebrating the goal with Mbappe, Bruno walked to the center circle while thinking about the game.
From the one and a half hour game process, Manchester City's strength is indeed stronger.
The midfield composed of De Bruyne and David Silva firmly controlled the ball, and the advantage was very obvious.
In the first 11 league games of the new season, except for the third round, when the possession rate was slightly lower than that of Tottenham, the other 10 games were all around 55%, including the one against Chelsea.
However, Bruno had expected that the team would be at a disadvantage in possession in the game against Manchester City. After all, Guardiola's team has never lost in terms of possession rate.
However, this Manchester United team is not bad. The players are active in running, and most importantly, they have solid technical skills.
The more running, the more support and connection. In addition, Bruno himself and Gundogan are both technical midfielders. Although Kante feels a bit desperate, his footwork is not bad at all, and his passing is also quite thoughtful. In this way, Manchester United's midfield is full of creativity.
With Harry Kane in the frontcourt, Rashford on the left, and Mbappe on the right, Manchester United's entire midfield attack is quite outstanding.
If you have to find a flaw, it is that the back line is not stable enough. In the new season, the back line, including Maguire and Van Dijk, all made low-level mistakes.
But it is precisely because of this that Mourinho resolutely chose to gamble and go out to fight Manchester City.
Such a game is very exhausting, so after 65 minutes, Mourinho replaced Rashford with Lingard and changed the formation to 442 to strengthen the interception and defense in the midfield, but the overall formation remained unchanged.
Sometimes football games are like this, you have to gamble and take risks.
Although Mourinho has always been regarded as a representative of conservative football, he has never lacked the spirit of burning his boats when he needs to take risks.
However, Manchester United's luck was not good this time. When the game was about to end with a 2:2 draw, Manchester City scored again in the 86th minute and took the lead for the third time in the game.
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When Manchester City took the lead for the third time and there was not much time left in the game, Mourinho once again showed the courage to burn his boats. He first replaced Gundogan with Mahrez and continued to strengthen the offensive force.
On the field, Manchester United took the initiative, pressed forward and launched a crazy attack.
In this case, there is really no difference between losing 1 goal and losing 2 goals.
Under the strong offensive of Manchester United, Manchester City's defense line failed to hold on after all. In the first minute of injury time, Bruno assisted Mbappe to score, and the score on the field was rewritten to 3:3.
Manchester United equalized the score almost at the last moment, and Manchester City was also unwilling to start a big counterattack, increasing the intensity of the attack, and even pressing the back line.
However, there was too little time left for Manchester City. They no longer had enough time to lead the score for the fourth time.
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When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, Manchester United breathed a sigh of relief.
The last two minutes of injury time were indeed forced to be a bit embarrassed, but fortunately everyone in the team gritted their teeth and held on.
The scoreboard at the Etihad Stadium showed the final score of this game, 3:3.
The home team Manchester City is in front, and the visiting team Manchester United is behind.
Although Manchester City has been mentally prepared to let Manchester United continue to remain unbeaten after Manchester United equalized the score for the third time, when the whistle sounded and Manchester United extended their unbeaten record to 52 games, Manchester City players were still very frustrated. Many players even hung their heads, looking very painful and sad.
They took the lead three times in the game, but failed to convert the lead into victory, which made them very painful.
Before the game, the whole world believed that Manchester City was the team with the most hope to end Manchester United's unbeaten record. They almost did it in the game, but they failed in the end.
Manchester United was extremely excited. Their team once again withstood the test, and their unbeaten record was also maintained by them.
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Manchester United's shocking three times fell behind and equalized three times, extending their Premier League unbeaten record to 52 games. As soon as the game ended, this news quickly spread from the UK to the world.
Manchester City can't stop Manchester United's progress, who else can end Manchester United?
Is Manchester United really going to break AC Milan's record of 58 unbeaten games in the top five leagues again?
In fact, in an interview, Mourinho said: "We do have the strength to challenge AC Milan's record, but every Premier League team is not easy to beat, we need to go all out."
Bruno also said in an interview: "We won't think too much, we will just play every game as a final. We have made history by being able to achieve 52 unbeaten games in the Premier League, but we are not satisfied, because every step we take next is creating history, which will bring unprecedented motivation and courage to me and my teammates."