From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 394

After guessing, Tottenham won the right to kick off.

Manchester United's players began to line up in their own half, preparing to start the game.

Mourinho applauded vigorously on the sidelines and shouted loudly, telling the players to focus and play hard.

When the time reached 2:15 in the afternoon, referee Mike Dean immediately blew the whistle to start the game.

Although Tottenham took the lead, Manchester United was unambiguous and quickly pressed forward. The Trident headed by Bruno immediately put pressure on Tottenham's defense and were aggressive.

This is also in line with Manchester United's consistent characteristics. In the Premier League, they have never been afraid of any team.

Tottenham chose to retreat. Although they quickly lost the ball, they still firmly retreated to their own half.

Judging from the standings, Tottenham ranked fifth after the first 14 rounds of the league, and ranked seventh in the Premier League in terms of goals scored, but the number of goals conceded was the least, and the offensive ability can only be good, but The defensive ability is the best.

Obviously, when facing Manchester United, Pochettino and his disciples are prepared to carry forward their own strengths and deal with Manchester United with defensive counterattacks.

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Manchester United's overall strength is undoubtedly superior. In addition, they are both Premier League teams and know each other well. Therefore, it was the consensus of everyone before the game that Manchester United would win.

But once Tottenham adopts a conservative defensive counterattack strategy, it will definitely not be easy for Manchester United to eat up their opponents in one go. At least Tottenham are not so weak that they can be slaughtered.

In the first ten minutes of the game, the situation on the field was almost one-sided. Manchester United kept organizing attacks, but Tottenham stayed in their own penalty area and tried to keep the goal.

In addition, Manchester United attacked a little too quickly and never got a good chance to score.

Bruno shot three shots in the first fifteen minutes, but none of them were on target. There were also two long-range shots from a distance that failed to threaten the goal guarded by Lori.

"Bruno still seems a bit impatient, it's not like his old style."

"Of course, we can also understand his current mood. After all, in such an important game, anyone would be impatient, but he must try his best to stabilize his emotions and calm down now."

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Manchester United's captain Carrick obviously knew the current situation of the team and immediately signaled Gundogan to start slowing down the pace.

After ten minutes of testing, everyone could clearly see that Tottenham had indeed made sufficient preparations, especially on the defensive end. They were indeed very stable. It would be difficult for Manchester United to get a chance for a while. .

In this case, continuing to maintain a fast-paced attack will not only consume too much physical energy for the players, but also easily expose their own flaws and deficiencies.

Instead of doing this, it is better to slow down the offensive and let Tottenham relax appropriately, or even let them press out a little.

But Tottenham had obviously figured out Manchester United's wishful thinking for a long time. They did not take the initiative to press forward, but continued to defend their own half steadily, not giving Manchester United any chance.

Because Tottenham's three lines were kept very tight and compact, Manchester United's offense still failed to create opportunities.

Time passed bit by bit. In the 30th minute, Manchester United launched another offensive, but still failed to break through Tottenham's goal. This was somewhat depressing.

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As the game progressed, Bruno gradually calmed down.

He was really anxious at the beginning and wanted to eat his opponent in one bite. But gradually, his opponent's tenacity was beyond his expectation. After hitting the wall, he gradually calmed down.

At this time, Manchester United's overall formation pressed forward, patiently organizing passes and penetration outside Tottenham's 30-meter zone, constantly testing, waiting for opportunities.

Everyone firmly believes that in the face of Manchester United's attack and strong offensive pressure, it is impossible for Tottenham's defense to make no mistakes at all.

And as long as there are cracks in Tottenham's defense, as long as they expose gaps, that is Manchester United's opportunity.

Both sides competed for patience, and the game was one-sided, but not promising.

But the Manchester United fans at the scene still maintained a high degree of enthusiasm, because they knew that the team was waiting for an opportunity.

And this opportunity really came, in the second minute of stoppage time in the first half!
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"Manchester United passed the ball to Bruno on the right."

"Bruno got the ball in the right corner of the penalty area, one-on-one!"

"Beautiful, Bruno went down to the baseline and passed into the penalty area!"

"Tottenham's centre-back Vertonghen controlled the forward point and made a big-footed clearance."

"Another big kick in the midfield..."

……

With two big kicks in a row, Tottenham quickly cleared the ball near the midline.

Central defender Maguire, who was trailing at the end of Manchester United's defense, firmly controlled the ball and passed it back to the Tottenham half and handed it to Valencia on the right. When Valencia first received the ball, he looked up at the penalty area in front and found that the situation in the penalty area had changed.

After Vertonghen made the clearance, he did not immediately keep an eye on Ibrahimovic, which made the Swedish center face Tottenham's other central defender Alderweireld.

Alderweireld is only 1.87 meters tall, has good ball handling skills, and has excellent positioning and passing skills.

With such a height, he is not at a disadvantage when facing ordinary forwards, but facing Ibrahimovic, he cannot take any advantage.

Valencia realized this and saw that Ibrahimovic had been staying in the penalty area. He immediately adjusted the path of the ball and quickly passed the penalty area with a 45-degree diagonal kick and sent the ball to Ibrahimovic. top of head.

The Swedish center understood the situation and pushed directly towards Alderweireld. He leaped high, overwhelmed the Tottenham center defender, and headed the ball directly into the lower right corner, hoping to catch the opponent's goalkeeper Lloris off guard.

But Valencia's pass was a bit far away. Not to mention Lori, even Vertonghen had already reacted.

Lori flew and saved the ball with a single punch.

This was a header from the left side right in front of the goal. After Lori saved it, the ball turned around and bounced to the right side of the penalty area.

When Valencia passed the ball, Bruno was already ready to rush into the penalty area to respond. After seeing Lori save Ibrahimovic's header, he quickly chased after Vertonghen before he could react. Come here, just pick up your right foot and hit!

For the sake of safety, he still hit it with the inside of his foot. The football almost passed in a straight line over the fallen Lori and hit the goal behind him!
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"The ball went in!!!"

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!"

"In the stoppage time near the end of the first half, Bruno calmly seized an opportunity and finally broke through Tottenham's goal. This was his fifth shot of the game and he finally scored!"

After Bruno scored, he was so excited that he rushed out of the stadium and jumped over the billboards on the sidelines. He rushed directly in front of the fans in the stands, opened his arms and cheered loudly.

1: 0!

He finally scored! ! !

The fans in the stands were shouting his name crazily, and many fans even reached out to grab Bruno, wanting to hug him tightly.

"fantastic!"

"This goal came very suddenly, but we must say that Manchester United's efforts in the first half finally paid off!"

"Bruno finally scored with his fifth shot of the game!"

"This is also his 2016th Premier League goal this season, his 70th goal in all competitions in 2016, and his 113th goal in , tying Messi West's record for directly participating in goals in a single natural year!"

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More than 70,000 fans in the audience were shouting his name, and the huge momentum was enough to make anyone's blood boil.

Bruno finally broke free from the fans, and was immediately hugged by his teammates who were chasing him.

"There's still a second half! There's a second half!" Bruno gasped and shouted loudly.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, and the first goal is always very difficult, but once you score the first one, the rest will be much easier.

Especially with the physical exhaustion of Tottenham players, it will be difficult for them to maintain a tight defense after the opening. They will become easily distracted as their physical fitness wears off, and their defense will continue to make mistakes.

He believes that there will be a chance in the second half!
For an opponent like Tottenham, one goal is not enough to guarantee the victory of the game, so after the start of the second half, Manchester United continued to actively press towards Tottenham.

In the stands, Manchester United fans kept shouting, indicating to the players to keep up their efforts, especially Bruno.

Many fans shouted in unison for him to score one more, and one more.

Everyone is expecting Bruno to score one more goal or provide another assist, which will break Messi's record of 2012 goals in a single natural year set by Messi in 113.

Only one ball left!
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Bruno himself was also deeply inspired. He was very active after the game started. It could be said that he was running without any effort, constantly looking for opportunities.

The fans in the stands saw Bruno's hard work and persistence and shouted harder.

In order to get rid of the defense of Tottenham players, Bruno no longer limits himself to the right. He often switches to the left or even appears in the center.

Almost every time Bruno takes the ball, it can lead to cheers from the fans in the audience.

But Tottenham were obviously well prepared for this. They were prepared as if they were facing a formidable enemy. Even if they were one goal behind, they still did not give Manchester United, especially Bruno, the slightest chance.

They are no longer for victory or defeat, no longer for three points, but for an honor and professionalism.

They can be scored and defeated, but the premise is that Bruno must show his best strength.

(End of this chapter)