Chapter 816: Abnormal Premier League Standings

After 4 rounds of the Premier League, the Premier League standings are very unfamiliar to Premier League fans all over the world.

At the top of the list is Everton. The Toffees won four consecutive games in the first four rounds and led the league with 12 points.

In second place is Aston Villa, a team that was struggling to stay in the league last season. In the first four rounds of this season, they performed very well, with 3 wins and 1 loss, and 9 points, ranking second in the standings.

In third place is Leicester City. The Foxes also achieved 3 wins and 1 loss in the first four rounds, including a 5:2 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

In fourth place is Arsenal. The Gunners also achieved 3 wins and 1 loss in the first four rounds, but the goal difference was less than Villa and Leicester City, and finally returned to the position that Gunners fans are most familiar with.

…

In the past few seasons, the two Manchester City giants, who have performed very well and have long occupied the top three in the standings, and the Red Army Liverpool, are all absent from the Champions League zone, which is something no one could have imagined.

This situation really makes fans familiar with the Premier League feel that they are seeing a fake Premier League standings. After all, none of the traditional BIG6 teams can enter the top three.

Manchester United has 3 wins and 1 loss, and also got 9 points, but the goal difference is only one, which makes them only ranked fifth in the standings.

Liverpool, who lost miserably to Villa in this round, also got 9 points, but their goal difference was 0, so they were ranked sixth in the standings.

What is really surprising is Manchester City, because the first round of the game was postponed, and they only got 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss in the next three rounds, which made them only get 4 points and ranked 15th in the standings!

Fortunately, the current season has just begun, and there is still enough time for them to catch up. However, the impact of the epidemic is still visible.

………………

After the end of 4 rounds of the Premier League, the world football entered the second international match day of this season. Bruno also returned to the Portuguese national team to play for the team in two UEFA Nations League group matches, one on the evening of October 11th, and the other at home against Sweden on the evening of October 14th.

This match between Portugal and France is a strong dialogue between the world's No. 1 team and the world's No. 2 team, and it has also attracted worldwide attention.

In the first two rounds of the group stage, both teams won two consecutive victories, and Portugal took the first place in the group with a goal difference advantage.

In the first half, the two sides fought fiercely but ended in a goalless draw. The home team of France had some advantages, and Ronaldo, Giroud and Griezmann almost scored.

After the start of the second half, the French team stepped up its offensive. In the 47th minute, Lucas crossed the penalty area from the left, Mbappe inserted the ball and dribbled past the defender and shot at a small angle, and Patricio opened his left arm to block the ball.

Three minutes later, Portugal returned the favor, and Bruno passed the ball to the left. Guerrero made a lob pass to the penalty area from the left, and Ronaldo made a high-speed run around Kimpembe and shot the ball but missed.

Both sides went back and forth, and both got some scoring opportunities, but neither of them scored. Time had passed 70 minutes unknowingly.

In the 73rd minute of the game, Portugal got a free kick on the left side of the frontcourt. Guerrero took the penalty, and he lifted the ball into the penalty area with his left foot. Players from both sides at the front point missed it, but Bruno rushed out from the back point, jumped and headed the ball into the French goal guarded by Lori.

This was the only goal of the game, and Portugal also won the away game 1:0 with this goal, winning three consecutive group matches.

………………

Three days later, on the evening of October 14, Portugal returned to their home court to face Sweden.

Ronaldo missed the game due to infection with the new coronavirus. Bruno once again wore the captain's armband and led the team to play.

In the 20th minute of the first half, Bruno instigated an attack. His through ball tore through the Swedish defense, Liverpool's new signing Jota made a cross pass, and Manchester City's Bernardo Silva hit the dead corner with a left-foot arc ball, helping Portugal take the lead.

In this attack, three players from Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool completed a nearly perfect cooperation.

In the 40th minute of the game, Portugal scored another goal. Cancelo made a precise long pass from the right, and Jota stopped the ball with his chest in the penalty area, and then volleyed with his right foot, helping Portugal expand its lead to 2 goals!

In the 72nd minute of the second half, Bruno once again sent a penetrating pass, breaking through the Swedish defense. Jota successfully countered the offside and sent Bruno's pass into the Swedish goal. Portugal led by three goals and locked the victory.

After four rounds of group matches, Portugal won four consecutive games and led the standings with a 3-point advantage. As long as they beat France at home in the next round of group matches, they will lock in the first place in the group in advance and advance to the semi-finals of the European Nations League.

………………

After the international match day, Manchester United returned to the league and welcomed the fifth round of the league, challenging Newcastle away.

In the first minute, Newcastle made a quick counterattack after stealing the ball in the backcourt. Shelvey passed the ball in the frontcourt, and Kraft's cross hit Luke Shaw and bounced into the net. Newcastle got a dream start.

In the 11th minute, Bruno made a straight pass in the midfield, Rashford received the ball and rushed into the penalty area. He crossed the ball under the double-team of two opposing defenders, but the ball was blocked.

In the 13th minute, Maguire made a lob pass to the penalty area from the middle. After the defender grabbed the first landing point, the ball just fell to Bruno's feet. The Manchester United captain passed the ball to his side, and Rashford shot, but the ball went over the crossbar.

In the 15th minute, Rashford took the ball from the middle and rushed into the penalty area. Facing the opponent's goalkeeper, he shot directly, but the ball went slightly off the left post.

In the 18th minute, Bruno made a straight pass from the front of the penalty area, Mata took the ball and passed it back, Bruno took the ball and shot, and the ball went into the net, helping Manchester United to equalize the score.

In the 21st minute, Maximan made a cross from the left, Shelvey shot from the middle of the penalty area, and the ball was confiscated by De Gea.

In the 22nd minute, Bruno made a straight pass from the field, Mata took the ball and shot directly, but the ball was blocked by Darlow and went out of the baseline.

After that, Bruno took a corner kick from the left into the penalty area, Maguire jumped high and headed the ball, and the ball went into the net, Manchester United overtook the score 2:1.

After completing the reversal, Manchester United continued to press Newcastle's fierce attack, which can be said to be a tide of attack, but Manchester United players failed to score the third goal before the end of the first half, and entered the halftime break with a 1-goal advantage.

………………

After the change of sides, in the 47th minute, Cancelo took the ball on the right and made a triangle pass. Bruno took a long shot, but the ball was slightly higher than the crossbar.

This work is compiled and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~

In the 54th minute, Rashford received the ball in the penalty area and broke through with the ball, and fell to the ground under the double team of three people. The VAR video referee intervened. After watching the VAR replay, the referee on duty pointed to the 12-yard spot, and Manchester United got a penalty kick. Bruno took the penalty and easily deceived Newcastle goalkeeper Darlo and scored the ball, and Manchester United led 3:1.

This was Bruno's 50th penalty kick in his career and his 50th penalty kick. In other words, until now, he has maintained a 100% penalty kick goal rate, raising the record of consecutive penalty kicks to 50!

In the 86th minute, Mata's long pass from the backcourt accurately found Rashford, who passed the ball to his side, and Bruno inserted a small angle shot from behind, and the ball went into the net. Bruno scored a hat trick, and Manchester United took a 3-goal lead.

Before the game was about to enter injury time, Manchester United launched another wave of attacks. Rashford and Cancelo made a beautiful wall-kick cooperation in the frontcourt. The latter entered the penalty area and shot successfully, changing the score to 1:5!

In the 5th minute of injury time, Bruno's long pass from the backcourt accurately found Rashford in the frontcourt. The latter got a single chance. Facing Darlow, Rashford pushed the ball and Manchester United secured the victory.

In the end, with Bruno's 3 shots and 2 passes, Manchester United defeated Newcastle 6:1 away from home, achieved the most exciting victory of the season, and the ranking in the standings also rose to third place, finally returning to the Champions League zone.

………………

After achieving the first big victory of the season, European football entered the first Champions League match day of the season.

At the Champions League group stage draw ceremony held on the evening of October 1, as the Champions League champion and Premier League champion of last season, Manchester United participated in this season's Champions League group draw ceremony as a seeded team.

This season's Champions League group seeds are the Champions League champion and the Europa League champion, plus the champions of the top six leagues in UEFA points ranking.

Since Manchester United is both the Premier League champion and the Champions League champion, Porto, the champion of the Portuguese Super League, which ranked seventh in UEFA points, was also lucky to become a seeded team.

The final eight seeded teams are Manchester United, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St. Petersburg and Porto.

The eight teams in the second tier are Barcelona, ​​Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Liverpool, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dortmund, Chelsea, and Ajax.

The eight teams in the third tier are Dynamo Kyiv, Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull Leipzig, Inter Milan, Olympiacos, Lazio, Lasnodar, and Atalanta.

The eight teams in the fourth tier are Lokomotiv Moscow, Marseille, Brugge, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Istanbul, Midtjylland, Rennes, and Ferencvaros.

As the second tier is full of strong teams, it is destined that there will be many collisions among the giants in this Champions League group stage.

After the draw, Manchester United once again met last season's Champions League group stage opponents, Ajax from the Dutch Eredivisie, Atalanta from Serie A, and the last opponent is from Midtjylland in Denmark.

This is a pretty good draw result, fortunately avoiding Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in the second tier, as well as Dortmund in the Bundesliga.

In comparison, Liverpool is unlucky. As a second-tier team, they did not draw the weaker Zenit St. Petersburg, Porto and Sevilla, and the third-tier team also drew last season's dark horse Salzburg Red Bull.