Chapter 744: Successive Victories
The summer transfer window is closed, and international football has entered the first international match day of the new season. Portugal will have two European Cup group matches, away to Serbia on the evening of September 7, and away to Lithuania on the evening of September 10.
Due to the national team matches in June, Portugal will participate in the semi-finals and finals of the UEFA Nations League, while the other four teams in the same group will participate in the European Cup group stage, so Portugal has played two fewer games than Ukraine and Luxembourg, who have the fastest schedule.
In the group standings, Ukraine has also won 9 points with 3 wins and 1 loss, thus surpassing Portugal and rising to the top of Group B.
This is the second consecutive time that Portugal and Serbia have met in the European Cup qualifiers. In the last tournament, Portugal defeated Serbia at home and away, which also rewritten the record of the two sides in the previous 10 encounters to 5 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, and Portugal began to gain the upper hand.
At the Red Star Stadium in Belgrade, the home of the Serbian national team, facing more than 50,000 Serbian fans, Portugal gave its opponent a crushing defeat.
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After the game started, Serbia relied on its home advantage to launch a fierce attack on Portugal's goal, but failed to break through Portugal's goal.
After gaining a foothold, Portugal began to take advantage on the field, but it took the lead before the end of the first half.
In the 42nd minute of the game, Portugal launched a wave of attacks. Bruno pulled to the right, broke through and sent a cross. William Carvalho, who came in from behind, shot from the top of the penalty area, and Portugal changed the score to 1:0.
In the 58th minute, Portugal expanded the score. Bruno passed the ball, and Guedes dribbled past Maksimovic and broke into the penalty area from 12 yards on the left side and shot into the net, helping Portugal change the score to 2:0.
Serbia scored a goal in the 68th minute. Tadic took a corner kick and Milenkovic scored a header from the edge of the small penalty area.
Portugal opened up the gap again in the 80th minute. Bruno sent a penetrating pass from the middle, and Ronaldo shot into the net from 12 yards. Portugal once again took a two-goal advantage, and Bruno performed an assist hat trick.
Serbia scored another goal in the 85th minute. Tadic broke through and passed the ball. Mitrovic shot into the upper right corner from 12 yards on the right side of the penalty area, and the score was rewritten to 2:3.
Portugal sealed the victory in the 86th minute. Bruno drove straight into the middle and then passed the ball to Guerrero. Guerrero made a cross pass, and Bernardo shot low from 14 yards into the lower right corner of the net, and the score was fixed at 4:2.
In the end, Portugal defeated Serbia 4:2 away.
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Due to another match played earlier in this group, Ukraine defeated Lithuania 3:0 away, so Portugal can only continue to rank second in the group.
However, since Ukraine will have a bye in the sixth round of this group three days later, Portugal has a chance to overtake in the standings.
Ukraine has 4 wins and 1 loss in the first 5 rounds, scoring 6 goals and conceding 4 goals, with a goal difference of only 2. Portugal's current record is 3 consecutive wins, scoring 9 goals and conceding 3 goals, with a goal difference of 6. So Portugal only needs to beat Lithuania in the next round away, and they will surpass Ukraine and rise to the top of Group B.
Obviously, Portugal is not satisfied with a small victory away from home. After all, their opponent Lithuania is only a fish bottom ranked 136th in the world, while Portugal is currently the world's top team.
At the LFF Stadium in Vilnius, Portugal won a hearty victory. Ronaldo scored four goals in the game, Bruno also scored two goals and assisted twice, and William Carvalho added icing on the cake during injury time. Portugal defeated Lithuania 7:1 away and strongly occupied the top position in Group B.
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Back to the club, Bruno immediately ushered in the fifth round of the Premier League, Manchester United played at home against Leicester City.
Due to the influence of the FIFA virus, Manchester United seemed very depressed in the game. On the contrary, the visiting team Leicester City quickly entered the state after the start of the game. Maddison volleyed in the penalty area in the 4th minute of the game and almost knocked on the goal guarded by De Gea.
Leicester City's shot shocked Manchester United and woke up the Manchester United players. They immediately launched a counterattack and scored a goal soon.
In the 6th minute, Manchester United quickly counterattacked, Rashford was knocked down by Seringu in the penalty area, and the referee awarded a penalty. Bruno took the penalty and easily deceived Schmeichel, and helped Manchester United lead 1:0.
Leicester City continuously threatened Manchester United's goal, but De Gea showed his strength as the world's number one goalkeeper, high-catching and resisting, and resolved Leicester City's threats again and again.
Until the 80th minute of the game, Manchester United still led the visiting team 1:0.
In the 82nd minute, Manchester United expanded its lead. They got a free kick in a good position in the frontcourt. Bruno took the penalty and the ball drew a perfect arc and flew into the goal guarded by Schmeichel again.
2:0, Manchester United easily defeated Leicester City, which has been in good form since the start of this season.
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Then, the entire Manchester United team flew to the Netherlands to challenge Manchester United as a guest. This was the first round of the Champions League group stage.
Manchester United suffered a heavy loss this summer. The departure of captain De Ligt and midfield brain De Jong made them feel like they had their money cut off.
Manchester United almost regarded the Cruyff Stadium as their home ground, suppressing their opponents throughout the game, resulting in only one shot on target in the entire home game. Manchester United attacked recklessly, with a shot ratio of 18:6, so a one-sided game appeared. Mahrez, Gundogan and Bruno successively scored, helping Manchester United to win 3:0 away.
However, Manchester United, who won a big victory, was not able to occupy the top of Group C, because in another game in this group, Dinamo Zagreb slaughtered the Champions League newcomer Atalanta 4:0 at home. In the first round of the Champions League group stage, the biggest upset broke out between Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid. The Galacticos, who spent a lot of money to recruit players in the summer, unexpectedly lost 0:3 away, shocking everyone.
Another upset happened to Liverpool. The Red Army lost to Napoli away with a score of 0:2.
If it weren't for Genk, another opponent in the same group, losing 2:6 away to Salzburg, the Reds would probably be at the bottom of the group.
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Back in England, Manchester United will immediately face the 6th round of the Premier League, visiting London to challenge West Ham United.
In the 10th minute of the game, Noble made a cross pass from the right side of the frontcourt, Fornas made a right-footed pass at the front of the penalty area, and Yarmolenko stopped the ball with his right foot in the penalty area and shot with his left foot to break the deadlock, West Ham United 1:0 Manchester United.
After losing a goal, the team was a little impatient for a while, but soon, players such as Bruno and Harry Kane helped Manchester United stabilize their position and regain control of the advantage on the field.
In the 36th minute, Bruno and Gundogan made a two-on-one cooperation, and Gundogan assisted Mbappe to score and equalize the score.
Seven minutes later, Bruno pulled to the right and forced a breakthrough, assisting Harry Kane to score a header from close range, overtaking the score.
After the second half, Harry Kane returned the favor by heading the ball to Bruno, who cut into the penalty area and scored a goal, securing the victory for Manchester United.
But just when everything seemed to be going well, in the 60th minute of the game, Rashford was injured and fell to the ground while running without the ball in the frontcourt. He was suspected of straining his left thigh. Rashford was replaced and walked directly back to the locker room.
This is the second Manchester United player to suffer an injury since the start of the new season. Luke Shaw was injured in the game against Crystal Palace and has not yet recovered from his injury.
However, Mourinho quickly replaced Rashford with Greenwood. It seemed that Manchester United was not affected at all, and the game was proceeding in an orderly manner.
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When the game reached the 84th minute, West Ham United won a free kick in the frontcourt. Cresswell shot directly with a free kick with his left foot. The ball went over the wall and hit the dead corner of the goal. De Gea was out of reach, and West Ham United chased the score to 2:3.
With almost 10 minutes of injury time left, West Ham United was only one goal behind, which gave them hope of equalizing the score or even overturning Manchester United.
With the cheers of the home fans, West Ham United fought back crazily, suppressing Manchester United to the point where they could not even get through half the field.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Manchester United defense led by Van Dijk and Maguire withstood the test, and Manchester United kept the score of 3:2 until the referee blew the whistle to end the game.
In the end, Manchester United beat West Ham United 3:2 away from home.
In this round, Manchester City slaughtered Watford 8:0 at home, while Liverpool beat Chelsea 2:1 at Stamford Bridge.
After 6 rounds, Manchester United and Liverpool continued to lead the Premier League standings with six consecutive wins.
Because Manchester City lost to Norwich in the last round away from home, the Blue Moon has fallen behind Manchester United and Liverpool by 5 points in the standings, and it seems to be falling behind.
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After leading the team to six consecutive Premier League victories, Bruno took Liu Yimei on a private jet to Milan, Italy, to attend the upcoming 2018-2019 FIFA Awards Ceremony.
This is the second consecutive year that Bruno has taken Liu Yimei to attend the FIFA Awards Ceremony.
At 2:30 a.m. on September 24, Beijing time, the 2019 FIFA Annual Awards Ceremony was held at the La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy.
The awards ceremony was hosted by Dutch football legend Gullit and famous Italian host Ilaria Damico.
When Bruno and Liu Yimei appeared at the awards ceremony, they once again attracted the attention of the audience.
Unlike last year's white dress, Liu Yimei wore a pink dress this year.
Of course, the most eye-catching thing was the pair of diamond rings worn on their ring fingers.
It was also at this time that the outside world knew that the two had officially married.