Chapter 754: Entering the European Cup Again

Because Portugal has already qualified for the European Cup next summer, and the strength of the two opponents is not strong, Bruno and Santos negotiated and did not join the Portuguese national team this international match day. On the one hand, this allows Bruno to get enough rest time, and on the other hand, it allows Santos to have the opportunity to observe more newcomers.

Although there is no Bruno as the core of the midfield, Lithuania and Luxembourg are really too weak. Portugal still bloodbathed Lithuania 6:0 at home, and then won Luxembourg 2:0 away, thus occupying the first place in the group with a record of 8 group matches.

As expected, the first of the four European Nations League A Leagues ranked in the top two of their respective groups in the European Cup qualifiers, and locked in the qualification for the European Cup next summer in advance. So the remaining 4 main competition qualifications will be competed for by 10 group thirds and 6 group fourths with better results through two rounds of playoffs.

According to the schedule, the playoffs will be held on the international match day in March next year. However, Bruno knows that with the outbreak of the epidemic at the beginning of next year, these two rounds of play-offs will be postponed to October and November next year. As for the European Cup, it will be postponed to 2021.

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The two-week international match day is over and the Premier League will resume.

Manchester United ushered in the dark horse Sheffield United this season. This newly promoted team performed very well. After the first 12 rounds of games, they achieved a good record of 4 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses, surpassing Arsenal to rank sixth.

This season's Premier League standings are somewhat unexpected.

The schedule is close to one-third, but at the top of the standings, some familiar faces are gone, and some new faces are added.

Arsenal in the post-Wenger era, under Emery's leadership, ranked only sixth in the Premier League in the first season. Fortunately, the team reached the Europa League final. Although it failed to win the championship, it at least gave the Gunners a bit of face, so Emery was not fired.

However, in Emery's second season as Arsenal coach, the Gunners' performance did not improve at all. In the first 12 rounds, they only achieved 4 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses, and the goal difference was still negative, ranking seventh in the standings. This put Emery under great pressure, and reports in the media that Emery was fired were rampant.

Fortunately, in the Europa League, which Emery is very good at, the Gunners performed well, with 3 wins and 1 draw in the first 4 rounds, leading by 4 points, and qualifying is imminent, which also prevented Emery from being fired immediately.

As Arsenal's North London rivals, Tottenham and Arsenal are completely brothers in distress.

After reaching the top four of the Champions League last season and entering the top four in the Premier League, Tottenham fell into a slump in the new season. In the first 12 rounds, they only achieved 3 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses, ranking 14th.

Fortunately, Tottenham's performance in the Champions League is still good. Although they were humiliated by Bayern 7:2 in the first four rounds of the group stage, they are still ranked second in the group with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, and are 4 points ahead of Red Star Belgrade behind them. They are about to qualify, which also saved Pochettino. In addition, there are no good coaches who are currently unemployed at home, so the Tottenham management did not fire Pochettino.

However, Emery and Pochettino are still the Premier League head coaches with the highest odds of being fired, and they may be announced to be fired at any time.

There are teams that perform poorly, and naturally there are teams that perform well to fill the vacancies.

Leicester City, which once won the Premier League championship as a dark horse, has also driven the overall performance of the Blue Foxes to rise with the team's meritorious player Vardy's outbreak again this season. In the first 12 rounds, they achieved 8 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses, surpassing Chelsea and Manchester City, two giants, and ranked third in the Premier League standings.

Another dark horse is the newly promoted Sheffield United. The Blades currently have a goal difference advantage over Arsenal, closely following Chelsea and Manchester City, and are ranked sixth in the standings.

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At Bramall Lane, Manchester United did not have a good start. Due to the influence of the FIFA virus, most Manchester United players seemed a little tired, and Sheffield United played very actively at home, suppressing Manchester United with a strong style.

After saving Manchester United twice with wonderful saves in a row, De Gea's goal was still lost in the 19th minute of the game. Mousset squeezed Jones and cut into the right side of the penalty area to pass back. Lundstram's shot from 10 yards was blocked by De Gea's legs, and Fleck blocked the ball at the edge of the small penalty area.

Manchester United, who fell behind, did not improve in offense. Sheffield United continued to dominate in the confrontation, and Norwood and Lundstram's shots from the outside were blocked.

Manchester United only had one shot in the first half, which was the worst half-time performance data since Mourinho coached Manchester United.

During the halftime break, Mourinho made a substitution adjustment, Lingard replaced Mbappe who performed poorly.

However, the substitution did not play a significant role. After the start of the second half, Manchester United was still suppressed by Sheffield United on the field.

Sheffield United expanded the score in the 52nd minute. Fleck passed the ball, and Mousset broke through to the top of the penalty area and shot into the lower right corner, changing the score to 2:0.

Seeing the situation was not good, Mourinho made another substitution, he replaced Gundogan with Greenwood.

Sending 4 forwards, Mourinho was going to fight for his life away from home.

Manchester United, who was fighting a desperate battle, finally burst out with energy, and Bruno also demonstrated his responsibility as captain and core of the team.

Manchester United equalized in the 72nd minute, Lingard's cross from the right was cleared, and Bruno shot into the far corner from 15 yards on the left side of the penalty area.

Manchester United equalized in the 77th minute, Rashford made a cross from the right side of the penalty area, and the 18-year-old Greenwood, who had just replaced Gundogan, shoveled the ball into the net from the edge of the small penalty area.

Manchester United reversed the score in the 79th minute, Bruno passed the ball to the left, Luke Shaw, who came in from behind, passed the ball back from the left side of the penalty area, and Rashford, who was unguarded, pushed the ball into the net with his left foot from 10 yards.

Manchester United, who scored three goals in just seven minutes to reverse the score, were full of morale and they besieged Sheffield United's goal frantically. However, their luck seemed to have run out. Although they shot again and again, they did not wait for the fourth goal of the game. Instead, they were counterattacked by Sheffield United and broke the goal again just before the game entered injury time.

In the 90th minute, Robinson made a cross from the left side of the penalty area, McBurnie stopped the ball with his thigh from 10 yards and shot, but De Gea blocked it and it still went into the net. Manchester United players complained about the opponent's handball foul, but VAR reviewed and determined that the goal was valid.

This is the first time since September 2014 that Manchester United has been scored 3 goals in a single game by a newly promoted team.

In the end, Manchester United was tied 3:3 by Sheffield United away from home, ending the 12-game winning streak at the start of the season and the 14-game winning streak across seasons.