Chapter 1025 4 Champions vs 4 Runners-up

Manchester United clinched the Premier League title a game early, rendering their final game meaningless. Coupled with the Champions League final at the end of the month, Mourinho didn't hesitate to field a full bench for the final match of the 5th round of the Premier League on the afternoon of May 22nd. This was done to ensure the starting players were well-informed and to give the rotation players some playing time.

As a result, Manchester United, who played with all substitutes, lost 0-1 to Crystal Palace away.

Although the season ended with a defeat, it had no impact on Manchester United.

At this point, all matches of the 2021-2022 Premier League season have been completed and the standings have been finally locked.

曼联27胜7平4负，打进79球失33球，净胜球46个，积88分排名第一；

曼城27胜6平5负，打进95球失30球，净胜球65个，积87分排名第二；

利物浦26胜8平4负，打进87球失30球，净胜球57个，积86分排名第三；

热刺22胜11平5负，打进79球失40球，净胜球39个，积77分排名第四；

切尔西21胜11平6负，打进76球失33球，净胜球43个，积74分排名第五；

阿森纳22胜3平13负，打进61球失48球，净胜球13个，积69分排名第六；

西汉姆联16胜8平14负，打进61球失51球，净胜球10个，积56分排名第七；

……

利兹联9胜11平18负，打进42球失79球，净胜球-37个，积38分排名第十七；

伯恩利7胜14平7负，打进34球失53球，净胜球-19个，积35分排名第十八；

诺维奇5胜7平26负，打进22球失87球，净胜球-65个，积22分排名第十九；

沃特福德5胜5平28负，打进31球失80球，净胜球-49个，积20分排名第二十。

………………

The Premier League season has come to an end. Manchester United has won the Premier League title for the sixth consecutive year with 88 points. Manchester City and Liverpool unfortunately ranked second and third with a difference of 1 point and 2 points.

Judging from the final standings, the three teams seemed very close, and Manchester United's victory was a thrilling one. However, if you have been following the Premier League all season, you will know that this is not the case. Manchester United has been ranked first in the Premier League standings for the entire season. This is the third time they have achieved the top spot for the entire season, after the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons.

On the contrary, in the previous three seasons, although Manchester United eventually won the league championship with relatively high points, it was not able to maintain its top spot in the standings.

事实上，曼联以超高的98分夺冠的2018-2019赛季，只有29轮是排名第一；而拿到99分的2019-2020赛季，更是只有20轮排名第一，几乎只有一半的时间。上赛季则是有33轮排名第一。

Of course, in terms of points, this championship is the lowest among Manchester United's six championships, 89 point lower than last season's 1 points.

Not only are the points low this season, but the number of goals is also the fewest in the past six seasons, with only 79, which is much lower than the two major competitors Manchester City and Liverpool, not to mention Manchester United's own goal number in the past few seasons.

要知道，曼联过去五个赛季的联赛进球数，分别高达96球、121球、107球、106球和89球，最少要比本赛季多出10个。

Judging from the number of goals, Manchester United's offensive firepower has indeed been greatly affected after losing Mbappé.

Although Greenwood has a good performance, he cannot completely make up for Mbappe's role on the offensive end.

In addition, Rashford has been in poor performance for a long time this season, and Harry Kane's league goal number has dropped below 20 for the first time in five years, which eventually led to Manchester United's league goal number falling to the lowest level in six years.

………………

However, despite a significant drop in the number of goals scored, Manchester United improved their efficiency, which ultimately ensured that they remained at the top of the standings throughout the season, even leading their competitors by more than double digits at one point.

However, despite having a significant lead in points, Mourinho strategically gave up several games in the league in the latter part of the season, which resulted in Manchester United's final points not being high and the number of goals seemingly being relatively small.

However, after strategically giving up some games, Manchester United eventually won a big harvest of championships.

So far this season, they have won six titles including the Community Shield, European Super Cup, Club World Cup, League Cup, FA Cup and Premier League.

This also ensures that Manchester United has won at least five championships in each of the past six seasons.

红魔在过去六个赛季里，夺得的冠军数分别是5个、6个、6个、6个、7个和7个。

As long as they beat Liverpool in the Champions League final a week later, they will become the champions of seven titles in a season for two consecutive years!

But what’s interesting is that in the past six years, Manchester United scored the fewest goals in the two seasons in the Premier League, but ended up winning the most championships.

This also indirectly shows that even with Manchester United's strong strength, when they put all their energy into the Premier League, their performance in other fields will inevitably be affected, and they may even lose a championship in the end.

Of course, this also shows that Mourinho's control over the team is getting better and better, and Manchester United is becoming more and more mature.

………………

The league title has been secured, and Manchester United has one last game left this season, which is the Champions League final.

Having reached the Champions League final for the fifth consecutive year, Manchester United's performance this season has taken Europe by storm. Everyone at Manchester United hopes they can cap this season with a Champions League victory, as this would not only allow them to tie Real Madrid's record of five consecutive Champions League titles, but also allow them to completely defeat their arch-rivals Liverpool.

Before this season, after winning four consecutive Champions League titles, Manchester United had already surpassed Liverpool in the number of Champions League titles with a score of 7:5, and its position as the top club in the Premier League was no longer controversial.

However, if they lose the subsequent Champions League final, Liverpool will be close to the number of Champions League titles, making them think about competing for the top spot in England again.

But Liverpool is not easy to deal with either. Their performance this season is actually very outstanding. Not only did they reach the Champions League final, but they also reached the finals of the League Cup and FA Cup.

In the Premier League, Liverpool's fight for the championship lasted almost until the last moment.

This also means that if Liverpool loses again in the Champions League final, they will become the first team in English football history to win three championships!

In fact, if they had not lost 1 point to Manchester City in the Premier League standings, they might even have become the first team in football history to finish fourth runner-up!

This also became one of the focuses of major media reports in the week after the end of the Premier League.

On the upcoming night at the Stade de France, will Manchester United go one step further and defeat Liverpool to win the seventh title of the season, or will Liverpool rise from desperation to defeat Manchester United and avoid becoming the biggest shame in football history?

………………

The atmosphere between the teams was relatively calm, but among the fans, that calm was no longer there. Whether on the Chinese internet or in pubs and bars across the UK, the Manchester United vs. Liverpool final had already fueled a frenzy of discussion among fans on both sides.

This kind of online debate is always the most eye-catching.

Overall, those who support Manchester United have the upper hand.

This is also normal. After all, Manchester United has performed so well in recent years. Six consecutive Premier League titles, five consecutive Champions League titles, plus countless other championship honors have made Manchester United the undisputed number one club in the world football today.

In addition, Manchester United's commercial development has also been a huge success, with a large number of fans all over the world, making it the team with the largest number of fans in the world.

Of course, Manchester United has one of the two best football players in the world today, Bruno, the undisputed number one in world football, which is also one of the reasons why Manchester United attracts so much attention.

Under such circumstances, it is really rare to find die-hard fans who still support Liverpool.

In such a public opinion environment, they still supported a team with obviously poor performance. This is true love!

………………

In China, people are also paying close attention to this match. On the one hand, Manchester United and Liverpool, two major clubs, have a large number of fans in China. On the other hand, Bruno has a personal connection. As he is married to Liu Yimei, he is regarded by many Chinese as a Chinese son-in-law.

Chinese football has been in a slump in recent years, and Chinese players have been unable to gain a foothold in the top five European leagues. This has led many people to pour their love for football into Bruno, their Chinese son-in-law.

It can be said that Bruno is the most beloved player by Chinese football fans, bar none. Even Cristiano Ronaldo, another football king, or Yosi, the former two greatest players of all time, cannot be compared with Bruno.

This also made Bruno the most popular figure on the Chinese Internet.

………………

CCTV, which has the live broadcast rights for the Champions League, will not only broadcast the game live, but will also send a commentary team to the scene to comment on the game.

This kind of treatment is not common. Although the Champions League final is held every year, CCTV does not provide live commentary every year.

The feeling of live commentary is completely different from that of watching a big-screen TV commentary in a studio thousands of miles away.The commentator will be affected by the atmosphere of the environment. In that noisy environment, it is easy to get excited, and the commentary will naturally be more passionate and exciting.

Furthermore, CCTV had been following up on the finals since a week before they began, broadcasting a 15-minute segment every day to report on the two teams' preparations.

CCTV reporters and crews are already stationed in Manchester and Liverpool.

This kind of countdown-like follow-up report gives people a feeling of "storm clouds gathering on the horizon", and makes everyone look forward to the Champions League final even more.