Chapter 675 Club World Cup Final

The referee of this game is Jair Maroufo from the United States. He is a referee with rich officiating experience. In the player channel before the game, he clearly told the players of both sides that he hoped for a smooth game and hoped that players from both sides could enjoy the game.

As the captain of Manchester United, Bruno stood silently at the front of the Manchester United team, slowly adjusting his emotions and gradually getting into the state of the game.

Mourinho said that the battle must be ended in the first half!

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In the corner area on the left side of Al Ain's half, Bruno gently put down the football, stepped on the grass behind the ball, slowly stepped back a few steps, stood upright, and looked straight ahead.

In the penalty area, several Manchester United players with outstanding tall points and heading abilities have already stood in their respective positions.

Al Ain's defensive players also harassed Manchester United's players as if they were facing a formidable enemy, and there were always some small harassing moves on hand, which made the penalty area look very chaotic.

In the stands of Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, every fan had a tense and solemn look on his face.

It was the seventh minute of the match, and Manchester United had taken control of the game and the ball from the start, as expected. Al Ain retreated steadily to their own half, allowing Manchester United to attack and counterattack whenever they had the chance.

Because Manchester United's attack was fierce, the two flanks formed by Rashford and Luke Shaw, Mbappe and Cancelo were more threatening.

Just seven minutes into the game, Manchester United had already had three corner kicks. The first two, one from the left and one from the right, were all taken by Rashford, but without exception, Manchester United's corner kicks failed to create a threat. Al Ain had obviously made arrangements for corner kicks.

In the seventh minute, Manchester United got their third goal. Rashford took the initiative to change and gave the penalty opportunity to Bruno.

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This season, Bruno rarely takes corner kicks, but this does not mean that his ability to take corner kicks is poor. It is more due to the club's professional division of labor. The coaching staff believes that it is more threatening to let Bruno stay near the penalty area.

But fans who are familiar with Bruno will know that Bruno's corner kicks frequently score goals, so when Bruno stood in the corner area, Manchester United fans immediately cheered. This also made Al Ain very puzzled. From the players on the field to the coaching staff outside the field, although they didn't understand what was going on, they always felt that it seemed very impressive.

Could it be that Bruno is the most threatening player for Manchester United when taking corner kicks?

If so, the defensive strategy formulated by Mamic before the game may have to undergo some changes.

Bruno could clearly feel that the live camera behind him was always pointed at him. He heard the cheers from the fans in the stands, which was encouragement, but also pressure.

To become Manchester United's top star, you have to be able to bear the pressure.

He exhaled heavily, slowly raised his right hand, and pointed his index finger toward the sky, as if to say.

This made everyone inside and outside the stadium hold their breath, and no one knew what it meant, except for a few Manchester United players.

This is the tacit understanding cultivated by Bruno and them through daily training.

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After the referee blew the whistle, Bruno took a deep breath and jumped out quickly, with every step he took being steady and powerful.

He had done this kind of training countless times in the past six years, and the pace had long become an instinct of his body.

After the left foot stood on the left side of the football, the body formed a specific angle with the football, and the right foot popped out quickly like a bowstring and touched the football.

There was a muffled sound like an air explosion, and the football flew out at lightning speed. The arc was not high, but the speed of the ball was very fast.

In the penalty area, players from both sides were in chaos. Van Dijk, Harry Kane, Rashford and others used their running and squeezing to interfere with and attract the defense of Al Ain players.

But before Bruno took the penalty kick, Maguire suddenly retreated to the penalty spot, then suddenly moved forward and chased the front point.

By the time Al Ain's defenders realized the danger posed by Van Dijk, the English center back had already rushed to the front of the goal and, with a diving header, headed Bruno's cross into the goal guarded by Khalid.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!"

"Manchester United scored the first goal in the seventh minute!"

"1:0!"

"Maguire! Harry Maguire scored the crucial goal!"

"This was a corner assist from Bruno! The quality of the corner kick was very high. Bruno's kick was almost aimed at Maguire's head. After the England central defender headed it, the ball changed direction and hit the goal. Khalid didn't even have time to react."

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After seeing the header score, Maguire slammed the grass with both fists, jumped up from the ground, ran towards Bruno and hugged him directly.

The two cheered and celebrated wildly on the sidelines, shouting loudly at the live camera and the Manchester United fans in the stands.

Behind them, Manchester United players also rushed out and surrounded them.

"This goal is so crucial! Anyone who is familiar with football knows that in such a crucial final, whoever scores the goal first will be able to take control of the initiative."

"Manchester United scored after just seven minutes, which was beyond everyone's expectations, but that's football!"

"Bruno's corner kick was very skillful. The level of this corner kick was very high, and Maguire seemed to cooperate very well with him. After a feint to get rid of the defender, he quickly chased the ball to the front point and scored with a header."

"1:0, Manchester United temporarily takes the lead!"

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Mamic grabbed his head hard, as if he wanted to tear it off. He kept shouting at the players on the field, hoping they would calm down.

This is the final!

Although they made a very detailed plan before the game and even took many factors into consideration, who could have thought that Bruno would take a corner kick and Maguire would cooperate with him so well?

Bruno's most impressive set-piece performance is his penalty kicks. Throughout his career, Bruno has scored 24 consecutive penalties without missing a single one. This achievement shows his calmness at critical moments and his superb penalty kick skills. From Udinese to Manchester United, he not only demonstrated his goal-scoring ability, but also proved his reliability as a penalty taker. This series of successful penalty kicks not only helped the team win the game, but also further consolidated his core position in the team.

In addition, Bruno's free kick scoring ability is also at the top level in world football and is known to the whole world.

During his time at Udinese, Bruno was also the team's first corner kicker. However, as Bruno's scoring ability became stronger and stronger, Bruno's chances of taking corner kicks became fewer and fewer.

Mamic missed Bruno and also missed Manchester United's change of tactics.

This is a bit troublesome.

In the first seven minutes of the game, we conceded three corner kicks to the opponent and conceded a goal. How can we continue to play?

Mamic immediately walked to the sidelines and made adjustments, hoping that the players could remain stable. He also signaled the players in the midfield and frontcourt to retreat appropriately to help guard the two wings in the backcourt and stabilize the situation first.

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Manchester United obviously also knew Al Ain's wishful thinking and had no intention of letting the opponent go back.

According to Bruno's observation, Mourinho's strategy was to press on and end the battle in the first half.

This is a very wise choice.

The main reason is that Manchester United's physical fitness is indeed not as good as that of its opponents. If the stalemate drags on to the second half, it will be very unfavorable for Manchester United, so they must gain enough advantages in the first half.

If there is no way to establish an advantage in the first half, then the strategy and style of play must be changed in the second half to leave enough room for retreat.

The advantage of having an advantage in strength is that they have the initiative on the field and can decide for themselves what tactics to adopt and when to attack and when to defend.

After taking the lead, Manchester United continued to press in the midfield, especially in the defense against Kaio. The double defensive midfielders Gundogan and Kante were like a wall, blocking the Brazilian front midfielder, especially Gundogan.

In the 14th minute, when Kaio wanted to break through with the ball, Gundogan suddenly made a fierce tackle and knocked the Brazilian midfielder to the ground with the ball.

The referee Maroufo was very observant and gave a yellow card. The Manchester United captain did not argue, but smiled at Maroufo and stepped away.

This was his way of showing off his power to Kaio. The move looked fierce and lethal, but in reality no one would be hurt, it was just very intimidating.

After being badly beaten by Gundogan, Kaio did restrain himself a lot. Every time he saw the ferocious looks of Gundogan and Kante, he was obviously somewhat uneasy.

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Al Ain's midfield was restricted, and the ball could not be played in the front court, so the ball was transferred more in the middle and back court. Manchester United increased the pressure in the middle and back court.

At the beginning, Al Ain was still able to cope with it, but as time went by, Al Ain's overall strength disadvantage became apparent.

In the 28th minute, Al Ain's central defender Fayez took the ball forward and tried to pass it to midfielder Doumbia under the interference of Harry Kane. The two were only ten meters apart and it was a sure thing. But when Doumbia was about to catch the ball, Gundogan suddenly jumped out from behind and entangled with Doumbia, causing the ball to roll to the left.

After Rashford caught up with the ball, he quickly dribbled along the left side and directly launched a counterattack after intercepting the ball in the frontcourt.

Harry Kane also pressed forward immediately, and the two quickly formed a two-on-three situation in the left half.