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

Chapter 404 A perfect and regretful year

After Bruno hugged his teammates to celebrate the victory, he walked to the sidelines and thanked the fans cheering for him in the stands.

Following his actions, the Manchester United fans in the stands continued to shout "Bruno".

"Bruno! Bruno! Bruno!" They kept shouting the hero's name in the cold wind. Some fans even threw away their down jackets in excitement, took off their tops, exposed their breasts, and waved vigorously to the rhythm of the shouts. holding arms.

As one of the most successful clubs in the history of English football, even the most successful club, Manchester United has produced many superstars in its history. For example, the three saints of Manchester United, such as King Cantona, such as the stars of Class 92, such as Roy Keane, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney...

These superstars all belong to their respective eras. They are all the darlings of Old Trafford, the theater of dreams, and have won the love of countless Manchester United fans.

As the core of this Manchester United midfielder, Bruno also used his near-perfect performance to lead Manchester United forward five months after joining Manchester United. He occupied the first place in the standings from the beginning of the season, allowing the team to sink in the trough. After three years, Manchester United saw hope of revival, and he conquered all Manchester United fans and became the new king of this stadium.

These fans not only support him because of his attitude towards fans, nor just because of his professionalism, they support him just because he plays football well and leads the team to excellent results.

Bruno thanked them for their support. He waved upwards, then clenched his right hand into a fist and slapped the team logo on his chest.

"Go forward, Manchester United!" He was infected by today's hearty victory and the fanatical atmosphere at the scene, and couldn't help shouting.

The fans in the stands also shouted with him: "Forward, Manchester United!! Forward!"

………………

After bidding farewell to the fans, Bruno walked to the locker room. He was stopped by many reporters in the mixed interview area. They must let the man who won the Premier League Player of the Month for four consecutive months say a few words.

The Premier League Player of the Month was an award established in the 1994-1995 season. Bruno won the Premier League Player of the Month a total of 4 times, which also tied him with Henry, Bergkamp, ​​Cristiano Ronaldo, Aguero and other legendary Premier League players. .

Throughout the entire history of the Premier League, there are only three players who have won more awards than him, including Gerrard who won the best of the month 3 times, Robin van Persie and Rooney 6 times.

It is worth mentioning that the three players who have won the Premier League Player of the Month more times than Bruno are all legends in Premier League history.

Besides Rooney, Gerrard has retired and Robin van Persie has left the Premier League.

Even Rooney, the only one still in the Premier League, has reached the twilight of his career, his form has plummeted, and now he has even lost his main position under Mourinho.

In a word, their best monthly statistics in the Premier League are basically impossible to increase.

But Bruno is a newbie. After all, this is his first season in the Premier League.

In fact, Bruno is also the only player in the history of the Premier League to win the Premier League Player of the Month award consecutively, and even won this award for four consecutive months.

Not only that, Bruno has basically locked up the best in the Premier League in December, because he has scored 12 goals and 12 assists in 5 Premier League games in December, both of which are the highest among Premier League players, and Manchester United is also under his leadership. Won five consecutive victories.

It can be seen that Bruno is truly unique in the Premier League this season and has a dominant advantage.

………………

"We have a good momentum." Bruno had just withdrawn from that exciting scene and spoke with confidence, "I think we can already be considered a favorite team to compete for the championship."

The reporters laughed.

"I know some people have been doubting us, and we will prove it to them. We will win the next game, we will still win the next game, and we will still win the next game. We will always To win, as Mr. Mourinho said, we are not here to compete for the Champions League, we are here to win every game!"

His declaration of victory stunned the reporters present. No one expected that Bruno, who had always been low-key, would say such confident words.

The initial shock was quickly followed by relief and they laughed.

Perhaps, this is the so-called "newborn calves are not afraid of tigers"?

Of course, Bruno also has the confidence to speak like this. After all, he has scored 18 goals and assisted 23 times in 11 Premier League games, led Manchester United to 17 victories, and led the standings with a 5-point advantage when the schedule was about to be halfway through.

Yes, Manchester United's lead in the standings is still only 5 points, because while they defeated Sunderland, Chelsea also defeated Bournemouth 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.

This is the Blues' 12th consecutive victory in the Premier League!
As Manchester United continues to win consecutive games, Conte's Chelsea have not been left behind.

However, Manchester United still secured the Premier League half-time championship one round ahead of schedule.

…………… Because he knew that Chelsea was also expanding its winning streak, Mourinho was not as arrogant as Bruno. He only praised the team’s performance at the post-match press conference.

When a reporter asked him what he thought of Bruno's remarks, he was very calm and just said: "Every player has the right to express his own opinion. I have nothing to say about this."

The reporter asked again: "So do you think Manchester United can still win consecutively?"

Mourinho said: "I don't want to put too much pressure on the team. We will see if we can win consecutively after a few league rounds."

He avoided this more sensitive topic.

The reporters didn’t press any further. On the one hand, it is worried about annoying Mourinho, a real madman, on the other hand, it is because Manchester United has just won the ball and achieved nine consecutive league victories.

Under such circumstances, there is really no point in dwelling on this topic.

Why not ask Mourinho what is the secret to such success!

………………

Five days later, on December 12, it was still three o'clock in the afternoon, still at Old Trafford, and another game started.

This is the 19th round of the Premier League, Manchester United faces Middlesbrough.

This is also Manchester United's final game in 2016.

Today is also a very important day for Manchester United people. Their godfather Sir Alex Ferguson turns 75 today!

In such a game, Manchester United people naturally hope to win a victory, even a big victory.

However, in order to cope with the intensive Christmas schedule, Mourinho made extensive rotations in Manchester United's starting lineup.

All four back line members were rotated, with Ashley Young, Maguire, Van Dijk and Luke Shaw forming the other back line; the midfield trio were also all replaced, with Fellaini, Herrera and Gundo An replaces the combination of Carrick, Kante and Mata. Bruno and Ibrahimovic continued to start, forming a trident with Rashford.

Of the 11 starters who started the Boxing Day game, only De Gea, Bruno and Ibrahimovic remained.

Middlesbrough missed an opportunity in the 3rd minute. Traore intercepted Herrera in midfield and formed a 3-on-1 counterattack opportunity. However, he broke into the arc of the penalty area but chose to miss the shot.

Manchester United immediately launched a counterattack, and Ibrahimovic's shot was blocked by the Middlesbrough defender. Gundogan took a corner kick, and Fellaini's header from 10 yards went right into Valdez's arms.

………………

Manchester United finally knocked on the door of Middlesbrough in the 14th minute. Rashford made a pass from the left. Gundogan nodded the ball back to the goal. Bruno, who was unguarded, shot an overhead kick from the edge of the penalty area and scored. His 2016th goal in 76.

Middlesbrough missed another scoring opportunity in the 18th minute of the game. Traore broke through the right side of the penalty area and made a pass. Flanders volleyed from 12 yards from the left side of the penalty area but was blocked by Fellaini in time.

When the game reached the 38th minute, Manchester United also missed a must-goal opportunity. Bruno used a coquettish no-look pass to find Rashford. Manchester United's supernova shot from 30 yards, but the ball unfortunately hit the left post.

One minute later, Rashford made a breakthrough pass from the left, and Ibrahimovic volleyed the ball into the net from close range. However, the referee Lee Mason ruled that the Swede had fouled the goalkeeper first and the goal was invalid.

Manchester United continued to press in the second half and occupied an absolute advantage on the field, but it was Middlesbrough who scored first. In the 67th minute, Chambers made a pass from the right, Negredo headed the ball over, and Ridbett shot a low shot into the far corner from 12 yards on the right side of the penalty area, helping Middlesbrough equalize the score.

Manchester United continued to attack, but the shots of Rashford and Ibrahimovic both slipped out of the goal. Gundogan and Rashford were violated by Middlesbrough players in the penalty area and fell to the ground, but both were ignored by the referee Lee Mason. , which attracted boos from the Old Trafford Stadium.

Seeing that there was less and less time left in the game, many fans thought that Manchester United would usher in its first draw of the season, but Manchester United scored two goals in just two minutes.

In the 85th minute, Bruno made a long pass, Ibrahimovic headed the ball, and Rashford shot into the net from 10 yards, helping Manchester United take the lead again.

In the 86th minute, Mata, who came on as a substitute, made a cross from the right side of the penalty area. Bruno, who was unguarded, headed the ball into the upper right corner from 10 yards, locking the score at 3:1.

In the end, Manchester United defeated Middlesbrough 3:1 at home and won ten consecutive league victories.

至此，英超上半程的比赛全部结束，曼联在19场比赛里取得18胜1负，以54个积分打破了切尔西在2005-2006赛季创造的17胜1平1负积52分的英超半程积分记录。

Bruno, who scored twice, also locked his number of goals in 2016 at 77, and the number of goals he directly participated in reached 122, ending his perfect but regretful 2016.

(End of this chapter)