Chapter 732: Give Him a Taste of His Own Medicine

In the stands of the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, Spain, fans from both sides burst into a huge roar.

Amid such roars, the players from both sides came out.

"Players from both sides have come out. Let's first take a look at the starting lineups of both teams in this Champions League final."

"For Manchester United, the goalkeeper is the Spanish goalkeeper De Gea, and the central defender is the partner of Maguire and Van Dijk. The left back is England international Luke Shaw, and the right back is Portugal international Joao Cancelo. The double defensive midfielders are Gundogan and Kante, and the attacking midfielder is captain Bruno Fernandez. The forward trident is Mbappe, Harry Kane and Rashford."

"For Liverpool, the goalkeeper is Alisson. The central defenders are Koulibaly and Matip, the right back is the team's youth player Arnold, and the left back is Robertson. The midfield trio is Henderson, Fabinho and Wijnaldum, and the forward trident is Salah, Firmino and Mane."

The players from both sides lined up and shook hands. The two captains exchanged team flags and tossed coins.

After completing the routine pre-match ceremony, the players from both sides returned to their own half.

Bruno called his teammates to gather together, and the Manchester United players surrounded the city in a circle.

"We have advanced to the final." Bruno stretched out his hand and shouted loudly, "The goal is only the championship!"

"The goal is the championship!" Kante put his hand up.

"Only the championship!" Then it was Maguire.

"Champion!" This is Harry Kane.

"For the championship!!!" This is Luke Shaw.

...

After everyone put their hands in, Bruno looked at everyone, and everyone was looking at him.

Bruno thought of many words in his mind, and finally he just said briefly: "For the treble! Fight!"

"Triple crown!" Everyone roared in a low voice.

………………

In the other half, Liverpool's side, Liverpool's players also surrounded the city in a circle, and they were also mobilizing for the final battle.

"This is Madrid, this is the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, guys." Henderson's eyes swept across the faces of each teammate, "Liverpool hasn't won the championship for many years, and that's why we have to make history here and win the championship!"

Henderson said with a serious expression and a powerful voice: "No one deserves the Champions League except us!"

Hearing this, all Liverpool players roared in a low voice: "Champions!"

When the players of both sides stood in their respective positions, waiting for the kick-off, the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, which had always been extremely noisy and noisy, fell into a brief silence at this moment. Everyone was waiting, waiting for the whistle to start the game.

The referee of this game was Damir Skomina, and the two assistant referees were Jure Praprotnik and Robert Vukan, all of whom were from the small southern European country of Slovenia. The video referee team had four people, including Danny Mekel and Pol van Bukkel from the Netherlands, and Felix Zwar and Mark Borsch from Germany.

As for the fourth official, it was Daniel Hilbert from Germany.

The two linesmen were checking the net to prevent the ball from coming out again after a goal was scored, so as to prevent the referee's judgment from being affected.

This situation has happened in the football league before. There was a hole in the net. The attacking players saw the ball passing the goal line and entering the goal, but there was no ball in the net. The defending players naturally did not admit it, and the referee could only conclude that there was no goal.

The referee received a report from the assistant referee that everything was normal. He had a brief communication with the fourth official. After confirming that everything was normal and the game could be kicked off, he blew a clear whistle.

………………

In the coin-guessing session, Bruno won Henderson, so Manchester United won the right to choose the side, and Liverpool kicked off first.

After Firmino passed the ball to Rashford, he immediately ran forward.

At the same time, Harry Kane immediately rushed over to Rashford with the ball, trying to put pressure on the opponent.

At this time, Bruno also forced Salah behind Rashford.

Rashford did not give Harry Kane a chance to close in, nor did he pass the ball to Salah behind him. Instead, he turned around and passed the ball to Henderson who came over to Salah to receive the ball.

After Rashford passed the ball, he continued to run forward.

Harry Kane ignored Rashford and rushed straight to Henderson who had the ball.

Henderson continued to pass the ball back and passed it directly to central defender Matip.

Harry Kane continued to press the ball forward like a hungry wolf, and he continued to pounce on Matip.

Matip originally planned to pass the ball back to goalkeeper Alisson, but he hesitated.

Seeing Harry Kane's sprinting posture, Matip was really a little scared. He was afraid that if the pass back to the goalkeeper was a mistake, it would be a big pit for Alisson. So Matip chose the safest way, and he passed the ball to Robertson on the side.

Harry Kane pretended to continue to rush towards Robertson.

As soon as Robertson got the ball, he saw someone rushing over. He subconsciously thought it was Harry Kane, so he immediately passed the ball back to Matip.

When he passed the ball, Robertson realized that he had been fooled. Because it was not Harry Kane who rushed towards him, but Mbappe.

Where is Harry Kane? The English center forward rushed directly towards Matip who was about to receive the ball.

………………

As soon as Matip received the ball, he found that Harry Kane had rushed to him. He quickly dribbled the ball and tried to dribble past Harry Kane.

Matip thought he could dribble past the opponent, but he didn't expect Harry Kane to directly entangle him.

As a tall central defender, Matip's height and weight are both quite good, and his physical fitness is beyond reproach. Matip has a certain foundation in anticipating and clearing high-altitude balls in defense, and also has the traditional problems of this type of defender: slow turning and not particularly fast speed, but he has certain skills at his feet, and a good long pass, and can occasionally instigate a few attacks.

Matip, who joined Liverpool in the summer of 2016, has generally performed quite well in the past few seasons. He is solid in defense and can also help the team strengthen its control of the ball in offense.

However, perhaps due to fatigue after a season of games, Matip's state fluctuated at the end of the season.

Therefore, Mourinho emphasized in his pre-match tactical deployment that among the two central defenders, Koulibaly and Matip, Manchester United should focus on making a breakthrough from Matip today.

Now, Matip was entangled by Harry Kane, and he was stumbling in control of the ball.

………………

"Hurry up and pass the ball!" Alisson was anxious and shouted loudly in front of the goal. He was really worried that Matip would be intercepted, and then he would be directly single-handed.

And this kind of entanglement, if Harry Kane fell to the ground, who knows whether the referee will call an offensive foul or a defensive foul.

In Alisson's view, Matip was a little bit floating, too confident in his footwork, or in one sentence: sticking to the ball!

Matip also realized that he was playing with fire. He flicked the ball and then kicked it out with a big foot.

Harry Kane immediately stretched out his right foot to block it.

The next moment, an unexpected situation occurred. Matip's big foot was blocked by Harry Kane, bounced back, and flew towards Liverpool's goal in a weird arc.

Fortunately, Alisson was highly focused and made a very wonderful diving save, lifting the ball over the crossbar.

Alisson, who made this excellent save, was furious and yelled at Matip, which roughly meant "You idiot, play with fire yourself and don't hurt me!"

………………

Manchester United's corner kick, Rashford kicked the ball into the penalty area.

Harry Kane lost his position when competing with Koulibaly for the header, and the ball was headed out of the penalty area by Koulibaly.

Fabinho continued to kick the ball forward, and Henderson in the midfield got the ball before Mbappe got it, raised his foot and hooked the ball back in the air.

Mbappe missed the first time, but he immediately came up again to press Henderson.

Henderson protected the ball, and he pretended to pass it to Salah who came to respond, but suddenly pulled the ball and turned around, trying to break through.

Mbappe pulled and dragged, and Henderson fell to the ground.

As soon as the referee Skomina's whistle sounded, Henderson got up from the ground and he was about to take a free kick.

Then, Wijnaldum, who had just received the ball, pulled the ball and turned around beautifully. He was about to make the second move, but the ball was poked away.

"Beautiful! Kante! This is Kante. He successfully made a prediction at the critical moment and completed this steal!"

After Kante poked the ball away, he took a big step forward and blocked Wijnaldum behind him. At the same time, he quickly passed the ball and chose to send the ball to Mbappe on the wing.

………………

At this time, Liverpool's formation was slightly tilted to the right, and Manchester United's right side was relatively empty.

After receiving the ball, Mbappe took a few steps forward. Henderson and Liverpool's left back Arnold were immediately attracted by Mbappe's dribbling.

At this time, Cancelo suddenly inserted from behind Mbappe at high speed and passed Arnold at high speed.

Mbappe was waiting for this moment. He immediately sent an overhead ball, looking for Cancelo who was inserting from the side of Arnold.

Arnold was shocked and turned around and rushed to Cancelo who was about to receive the ball.

Cancelo stretched out his foot to take the football in the air, and then he was approached by Arnold.

At this time, Cancelo's greatest feature was revealed. He pushed the football forward and then chased the ball at high speed.

Arnold was not slow and immediately caught up. However, at this time, the difference in physical confrontation between the two was reflected. Arnold was squeezed behind Cancelo and couldn't cut his body.

Seeing that Arnold couldn't stop Cancelo, Koulibaly rushed out to help.

Cancelo was waiting for this moment. When Koulibaly rushed halfway, he immediately passed the ball.