Chapter 763 Arsenal Nemesis

After 30 minutes, Manchester United finally chose to defend and counterattack.

Although Arsenal was very passive when Manchester United attacked them, they are still stronger than horses. Especially when they began to stabilize their position, Manchester United dared not be careless.

Arsenal obviously had problems with physical fitness. In addition, they were caught off guard by Manchester United's counterattack when they were relaxed after taking the lead. This made their players seem a little less excited and less motivated.

At least, compared with Manchester United players who were like chicken blood, Arsenal was not as excited as Manchester United, even compared with the first round away game.

From the 31st minute, as Manchester United switched to defense, the game began to be a bit dull.

Arsenal created a very good opportunity in the 36th minute. After Pepe forced the ball forward, he passed the ball over the top to the right side of the penalty area. Lacazette shot directly from a small angle, but it hit the side net directly.

If this ball had gone in, it would have been very similar to Bruno's kick just now.

………………

After that, neither side created too many opportunities. Arsenal seemed not excited enough, while Manchester United was mainly seeking stability.

The two sides had a conflict in the 38th minute. Xhaka and Kante had some conflicts when fighting for the ball, but they quickly hugged and resolved their grievances.

In the 40th minute, Bruno sent a good ball to Cancelo, but the Portuguese right-back's shot slipped out of the goal directly and failed to create a threat.

This has almost become the characteristic of the two teams.

After Manchester United chose to defend and counterattack, Arsenal's state was not particularly ideal, and they were suppressed, the rhythm was a bit chaotic, and they failed to play their ideal performance.

During the halftime break, both Bruno and head coach Mourinho repeatedly reminded the players that Arsenal would never give up, and they would definitely exert their strength in the second half.

As expected, at the beginning of the second half, Arsenal suddenly strengthened their offensive.

First, Torreira made a lob pass from the front of the penalty area to the back post, and Lacazette suddenly entered the penalty area and competed with Lindelof for the header eight meters in front of the goal, but the angle of the header was too straight and was directly confiscated by De Gea.

Just one minute later, Kante tripped Xhaka again and was shown a yellow card by the referee.

The evil beggar took the free kick, but after crossing the wall, it fell directly into the arms of goalkeeper De Gea.

………………

For a period of time afterwards, Arsenal continued to strengthen its offensive, and players such as Aubameyang, Lacazette, and Xhaka got opportunities one after another.

Manchester United quickly made substitutions. Fred replaced Harry Kane to strengthen the team's midfield defense. Bruno was pushed to the right winger position to partner with Mbappe and Rashford in the front line trident.

Aubameyang soon got the best chance since the second half. He entered the penalty area against offside and faced the goalkeeper directly, but the first kick was not handled well and was quickly caught up by Lindelof, forcing the Gabonese striker to volley wide.

Aubameyang immediately protested to the referee, thinking that Lindelof pulled his jersey, but the referee ignored him.

Arteta also quickly made a substitution, Nelson replaced Pepe.

The Ivorian winger, who spent 80 million euros to sign Arsenal in the summer, did not play up to his value after joining Arsenal. Including today's goal, he only scored 5 goals in various competitions. He is considered the biggest counterfeit in this summer window.

In today's game, although Pepe scored a goal shortly after the start, his subsequent performance was very sluggish. Arteta couldn't stand him anymore and finally chose to replace him.

A few minutes after Pepe was replaced, Arteta made another substitution. The young player Sakho replaced Kolasinac, and Arsenal changed to 343.

This is definitely a desperate substitution.

Arsenal began to press forward and they had no way out.

Although the score on the field was 1:1, this was definitely not the result that Arteta and Arsenal hoped for.

………………

But just when Arsenal was frustrated by their long-term attack, Manchester United suddenly launched a counterattack after stealing the ball in the backcourt.

Luke Shaw quickly inserted along the left side, and after receiving the pass from Mbappe, he quickly crossed the center line.

At this time, Arsenal's defense was quickly returning to defense, and the English left-back looked up and found Bruno, who was lying between center back Papastathopoulos and left center back David Luiz, raising his right hand high to ask for the ball.

Luke Shaw didn't think twice and made a long diagonal pass with his left foot. The ball quickly crossed Arsenal's defense and fell in front of Bruno.

And Bruno also chased up at the fastest speed, and David Luiz chased him closely.

Outside the penalty area, Bruno turned sideways, blocked David Luiz with his body, and stopped the ball with his chest.

But just when Bruno stopped the ball and turned to get rid of David Luiz, the referee blew the whistle at this time.

"The referee blew the whistle for a foul on Arsenal's David Luiz. When Bruno stopped the ball and turned around, he clearly pulled his jersey. But Bruno seemed very dissatisfied with the penalty because he had already started, and obviously thought that the referee should follow the principle of offensive advantage and should not blow the whistle at that time."

"This penalty is indeed a bit disadvantageous for Manchester United, because Bruno could have completely broken away from David Luiz and rushed into the penalty area with the ball, but now a very threatening attack was interrupted."

………………

Today's referee Mike Dean is a well-known card-pulling maniac. After Bruno protested a little symbolically, he immediately ran to pick up the ball.

He didn't want to get a yellow card foolishly.

Bruno picked up the ball, threw it on the ground, and quickly wanted to take a free kick, but at this time Mike Dean blew the whistle again and again, indicating that he had to stop and couldn't take it quickly. He had to wait for the opponent to form a wall.

Bruno, who had just rushed out like an arrow, could only smile bitterly and shook his head, and kept walking back.

This expression was also captured by the live TV camera, and the commentator obviously found it very interesting.

"Haha, Bruno is also very cunning. He wanted to take a quick free kick, but he was obviously seen through by the referee Mike Dean. He was not given such an opportunity. He looked a little hit."

"But I have to say that the free kick in this position is still very threatening."

"Manchester United should be taken by Bruno."

………………

Bruno is Manchester United's number one free kicker. His free kicks and corner kicks are very good.

When he is on the court, there is almost no chance for others to take the penalty.

In the penalty area, Manchester United's players rushed up one after another. Even Gundogan rushed into the penalty area, which shows that this is definitely going to be passed directly into the penalty area.

But even so, Arsenal still left people in the front area of ​​the penalty area, obviously worried that Bruno would directly attack the goal, because Bruno's long-distance free kicks also scored directly.

After Arsenal set up the human wall, the referee also left the penalty area and immediately blew the whistle, indicating that the penalty kick could be taken.

The football flew out from Bruno's feet quickly, passed the wall, drew an arc, and fell to the back of the penalty area.

Arsenal's high points Papastathopoulos and David Luiz were in the middle, focusing on Maguire and Lindelof and other high points, but Saka, who was defending the back point, was suddenly thrown away by Cancelo.

The speed of the Portuguese right back is not slow at all.

After throwing Saka away, Cancelo jumped high in the left corner of the small penalty area.

At this moment, Cancelo seemed to jump over the heads of David Luiz and others nearby, making people feel extremely tall and mighty, like a god descending to earth, facing the free kick from Bruno, and directly headed for the goal.

After the football hit Cancelo's head at a very fast speed, it changed direction and hit the Arsenal goal directly.

………………

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLL!!!!!!”

“In the 70th minute! Manchester United scored another goal! A header from Joao Cancelo!”

After scoring, Cancelo pointed at Bruno from a distance, signaling him to follow him out of the stadium and celebrate the goal on the sidelines.

Gundogan and other teammates also rushed forward.

“What an amazing jumping ability!”

“Cancelo is not tall, but his jumping ability is extremely amazing.”

“From the slow-motion replay of the entire goal, Bruno’s free kick was very accurate, and Cancelo also jumped very high. The cooperation between the two was very tacit, and Arsenal’s defense line didn’t have time to react.”

“This is definitely a tacit cooperation between the two players!”

The Manchester United players gathered together on the sidelines, and everyone was celebrating the team’s goal.

After the start of the second half, Manchester United had been relatively passive on the field, but now they took advantage of a free kick to score another goal, which was definitely a goal that made Arsenal completely desperate.

2:1!

Mourinho was so excited that he turned around and celebrated with his assistants one by one.

This goal can almost be said to have established the victory of the game.

So he quickly made a second substitution, replacing Rashford with Greenwood to keep the front line active.

Arteta had no choice. Five minutes later, he replaced Aubameyang with Guendouzi.

Although this seems to be a relatively conservative substitution, it is not, because Saka was pushed to the front line and Arsenal still used a 343 formation.

In the next few minutes, Arsenal almost attacked desperately.

Manchester United was also forced into a very embarrassing situation. Mourinho even replaced Gundogan with Van Dijk, changed the formation to 541 and defended the penalty area, and finally held the score until the end of the stoppage time.