Chapter 689 What a Talent!

After entering March, Manchester United's first game was against Southampton at home.

Before the game, Southampton's Austrian head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl and Mourinho shook hands on the sidelines and exchanged a few words. The two talked and laughed, and seemed to be quite congenial. Finally, they shook hands again and said goodbye.

The Southampton head coach praised Manchester United for playing beautifully and praised Mourinho as an excellent head coach, saying that Southampton would have a hard time in this game.

Mourinho complimented that Hasenhuttl was a talented head coach who had a successful precedent at Leipzig Red Bull. After taking over Southampton, he quickly helped the team find the direction of victory. In this game, Manchester United will face a respectable team.

Both of them were quite polite, and they seemed to appreciate each other, but when they turned around, both sides had serious expressions and both sides were extremely eager to win.

In this game, Mourinho's Manchester United must win in order to continue to maintain its advantage in the promotion zone of the standings, so that they can face the three-line battle of the league, Champions League and FA Cup in the future with more confidence.

And Southampton also wants to win, they must catch up as soon as possible and stay away from the relegation zone.

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Hasenhüttl is a newcomer who has risen in European football in recent years. Of course, this does not mean that the Austrian is still young. In fact, he is 51 years old.

Hasenhüttl was not successful as a player, and spent most of his time in low-level leagues. In the summer of 2004, the 37-year-old Hasenhüttl retired from Bayern II. Three years later, he joined the Unterhaching club in the German Second Division.

In the summer of 2016, Hasenhüttl became the head coach of the Bundesliga promoted Leipzig, and the two sides started a legendary experience together.

Under Hasenhüttl's leadership, newly promoted Leipzig once topped the Bundesliga standings, scoring 36 points in the first 16 rounds before the winter break, only 3 points behind Bayern Munich.

In the second half of the season, Leipzig's performance declined, but at the end of the season, it still ranked second in the Bundesliga, surpassing Dortmund. It became the biggest dark horse in the top five leagues and even in Europe that season.

In the 2017-2018 season, Leipzig's performance was still eye-catching, and it remained in the Champions League zone in the first half. In the second half of the schedule, they lacked stamina under the multi-line battle, and finally ranked sixth in the Bundesliga, but they scored 53 points, which was actually only 2 points behind the third place.

In the European arena, Leipzig only got third place in the Champions League group stage, and was relegated to play in the Europa League, but reached the quarterfinals.

After the season, Hasenhüttl terminated his contract with Leipzig and was unemployed at home. Later, Southampton's performance was poor, and Hasenhüttl took over the Saints as a fire-fighting coach in early December.

His coaching at Southampton was very successful. When he took over Southampton in early December last year, the Saints were at the bottom of the standings with 1 win, 5 draws and 9 losses. After the Austrian coach took over Southampton, he won 5 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses in 13 league rounds, and was able to rank in the upper half of the standings during the same period. Southampton also escaped the relegation zone and is currently ranked 16th in the standings.

Although they escaped the relegation zone, the Saints are currently only 1 point higher than the relegation zone, and the pressure to stay in the league is still very high.

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The game started for 25 minutes, and the score on the field was still 0:0, and neither side had scored.

Although the score was 0:0, the combined number of shots of Manchester United and Southampton has reached ten times, of which Manchester United had 6 shots and Southampton had 4 shots. From the data, it can be seen that both sides have shown a strong desire to attack. Mourinho has already given the team the order to win. Such a tough battle must be won with all efforts, and Southampton is also unwilling to be outdone.

"The game has been played for 25 minutes. In terms of the number of fouls, Manchester United has 3 fouls and received a yellow card, while Southampton has 5 fouls and received a yellow card." Commentator Andy Gray said, "Although the score is 0:0, we can see the intensity of this game from the data."

Both sides have accumulated troops in the midfield, and both want to compete for midfield control. On the court, people are thrown to the ground from time to time. Especially on the Manchester United side, Mourinho seriously warned Gundogan before the game that Gundogan must also do his best to help Kante defend in today's game.

So the audience saw that Gundogan, who had previously given people the impression of being a mediocre defender, was also desperately involved in defense today. The German international even blocked the gun hole at the top of the penalty area once, which also won him warm applause from Manchester United fans in the stands.

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In such a fierce game, both sides fought hard, and it seemed that no one was sure to break through the opponent's goal. At this time, a flash of football talent from the players finally changed the course of the game.

Bruno suddenly dribbled the ball from the middle, and Southampton's midfielder Ward Prowse stepped forward to intercept. Bruno pretended to break through from the middle, but suddenly passed the ball out, and it was Rashford who received the ball.

After Rashford got the ball, he knocked the ball back to Gundogan, and he turned around and ran forward. Gundogan shook his ankle and passed the ball out.

People thought Gundogan passed the ball to Rashford who was already running, but Gundogan passed it to Mbappe on the right.

Mbappe stretched out his foot to cushion the ball, then suddenly accelerated and avoided the attack of Bertrand, the veteran left back of Southampton. After he caught up with the ball, he did not cross the ball from the bottom, but suddenly cut inside and rushed into the penalty area under the double defense of two opposing players!

This change was beyond the expectations of Southampton's defenders.

Southampton's head coach Ralph Hasenhüttl shouted anxiously on the sidelines, directing the team's defense.

Southampton's goalkeeper Gunn also shouted loudly, directing his teammates to chase and intercept Mbappe.

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After Mbappe attracted three Southampton defenders, he did not continue to break through, but suddenly stopped and made a move to pass the ball to Bruno, who also made a move to come over to respond.

This immediately attracted the attention of Southampton's defenders, and the left center back Vestergaard immediately moved his body to block the passing line.

Almost immediately after Vestergaard's move, Mbappe, who originally had no shooting angle, immediately saw a small shooting route.

Mbappe, who originally intended to pass the ball to Bruno, made a change in an instant. He dunked the ball back and then suddenly shot directly from the top of the penalty area!

In the penalty area full of legs, Southampton goalkeeper Gunn had been paying close attention to the situation in front of the penalty area, and then he saw a flash of white light...

Is this a long shot? !

Southampton goalkeeper Gunn's reaction was not slow. He tried his best to save the ball and really succeeded in saving the ball, but the power of this shot was very strong and it hit the upper corner of the goal. Gunn barely lifted the ball, but still couldn't stop the ball from moving forward. When Gunn fell in front of the goal, he looked up and saw that the ball had flown into the net behind him...

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"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!"

Amid the high-pitched shouts of the commentator, the young Mbappe rushed to the corner flag area and celebrated the goal crazily.

Seeing the team lose the ball, Southampton coach Hasenhüttl patted his seat in anger.

"Our players are attracted by Bruno." The assistant coach said beside him.

Hasenhüttl nodded. Bruno is the number one player in the world football today, and is also Manchester United's top star and absolute offensive core. His threat is unquestionable. You can't just ignore the movement of such a threatening player. This gives Mbappe, the French boy, space and opportunity to shoot.

However, Hasenhüttl had to admit that Mbappe's goal was very beautiful. He dribbled the ball on the wing, dribbled inside, and shot in one go. The quality of the shot was also very high.

Although he has only taken over the team for three months, Hasenhüttl has established prestige among Southampton players with his outstanding team performance. Despite falling behind 0:1, under the command of Hasenhüttl, Southampton's players did not panic. After the game resumed, the loss of the ball stimulated the team to launch a more fierce attack on Manchester United's goal.

"Southampton's attack is too fierce." Faria said with some concern.

Mourinho did not speak. He stared at the field. The opponent's performance after losing the ball really surprised him. It seems that the Austrian on the opposite side is really good. It is not just luck that brought the Premier League vice-captain, who was originally a mess, out of the relegation zone in just three months.

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Southampton's offensive efforts paid off in the 41st minute of the first half. Their center forward Austin made a cross pass, and the 20-year-old young player Valeri shot from 25 yards on the right. The ball was blocked by De Gea and went into the near corner.

This is the first goal of the 20-year-old French full-back's career.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"

"Valeri! Just now a young Frenchman took the lead for Manchester United, and in the blink of an eye another young Frenchman equalized the score for Southampton! 1:1! Before the end of the first half, Southampton's attack finally paid off!" The commentator Martin Taylor shouted.

"Maguire was a little distracted in this defense, and was caught by Austin first." Andy Gray shook his head. The central defender was caught behind the opponent's forward, and the result was obvious.

"For this goal, Manchester United's left back Luke Shaw should take greater responsibility. He failed to keep up with Valeri." Martin Taylor interrupted.

Mourinho was furious on the sidelines, and he shouted loudly to the field.

Mourinho was not unprepared for the loss of the ball, but he was a little unhappy that he lost the ball because of his own mistakes and confusion. And the loss of the ball at this time point was really a bit of a blow to morale.