Chapter 686: Never Stop

The Premier League winter transfer window closed on January 1. Manchester United was also very quiet during this winter transfer window, with the first team neither recruiting nor selling players.

At present, Manchester United's lineup is very stable, the team's performance is excellent, and it continues to win championships. No player wants to leave the team voluntarily; the players have not suffered a major wave of injuries, and the team has no need to supplement the lineup.

Chelsea did make a significant move, spending 6400 million euros to bring in the talented winger Perisic from Dortmund, which was also the highest bid in this winter transfer window.

Apart from Chelsea, other traditional powerhouses are like Manchester United, with no major signings. Liverpool even sold a striker, Solanke.

In the whole of Europe, only AC Milan and Barcelona have made relatively large signings. The Rossoneri spent 7000 million euros to sign Piatek and Paqueta, while the Red and Blues sold Paulinho for 4200 million euros and signed 7500-year-old talented midfielder Frenkie de Jong from Manchester United in the Eredivisie for 1100 million euros plus a floating clause of 21 million. However, De Jong will officially join the team after the end of the season.

………………

Manchester United's first game in February will be a away game against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium in the 2th round of the league.

In this game, Manchester United scored early. In the 10th minute, Bruno passed the ball over the top to the right side of the penalty area, and Rashford got the ball and shot with his right foot to score.

In the subsequent game, although both sides attacked and defended, neither side was able to score a goal.

In the end, Manchester United won 1-0 against Leicester City away from home. After 25 rounds, they had an unbeaten record of 22 wins and 3 draws, and got 69 points, which has formed a leading trend in the standings.

As Liverpool have suffered two consecutive draws in the last two rounds of games and Manchester City lost unexpectedly to Newcastle away from home in the last round, Manchester United's lead over the two teams has expanded to 9 points and 12 points respectively.

………………

At noon on February 2, the first match of the 9th round of the Premier League was played, with Manchester United visiting Craven Cottage to challenge the owner Fulham.

Fulham has performed very poorly this season, getting only 25 points in the first 17 rounds, 17 points behind 7th-placed Burnley, ranking 19th and deep in the relegation zone.

Ten rounds ago, Manchester United beat Fulham 10-4 at home. Now visiting Craven Cottage, Manchester United's goal is still to get all three points.

In the first ten minutes of the game, Bruno had created two threatening attacks, one to Rashford, but Master Villa did not seize the opportunity, and the other to Herrera, whose long-range shot made Fulham sweat.

In the 13th minute of the game, Bruno created a threat again.

Bruno dribbled the ball to the front of the penalty area and passed it to Dalot who was running on the right. The latter quickly went down the flank but had no chance to cross the ball, so he could only pass it back to Bruno with a triangle.

After receiving the ball, Bruno quickly moved along the right side of the penalty area to the bottom line. Using his speed and the slippery grass, he broke through the defense of two Fulham players and made a high parabolic cross in front of the bottom line.

Harry Kane firmly occupied the dominant position in the penalty area and scored with a header from close range.

1: 0!

………………

But just when everyone thought that Manchester United would score goals one after another with unstoppable momentum, Fulham suddenly launched a sharp counterattack nine minutes later. Schurrle from the left quickly penetrated behind the defense line, got the ball and scored.

1: 1!

Everyone at Manchester United was a little confused, and Dalot, who was the first to be affected, covered his face in shame.

After joining Manchester United in the summer, Dalot has not been able to compete with his Portuguese compatriot Cancelo, so he has not had many opportunities to play in the team. Such a mistake today will definitely leave a bad impression on Mourinho, and he may get fewer opportunities to play in the future.

Bruno just happened to see Dalot like this and walked over quickly.

"Don't be like this, Diogo, you have to have confidence in yourself," Bruno comforted.

"No, I really feel that I've been terrible lately." Dalot grabbed his short hair with both hands and said distressedly.

Bruno placed his hands firmly on his shoulders, looked directly at his young teammate and said, "Believe me, brother, you can do it. Have faith in yourself and have faith in me. You can do it!"

Mbappe and other teammates also ran over to comfort him.

Dalot is very popular in the locker room. He is the kind of person who is friendly to everyone. No one would hate such a teammate. Moreover, it is common to make mistakes and doubt oneself on the football field.

"Didn't he steal a ball? Then find an opportunity and steal one back yourself!" Bruno encouraged harshly.

Dalot looked at Bruno deeply and nodded vigorously.

Making amends for his mistakes is the best way for him to redeem himself!

………………

When the game reached the 33rd minute, Bruno didn't get any chance on the left, so he moved to the right.

After Dalot got the ball on the wing, he shook off the defender, cut inside and passed the ball to Mbappe.

The French international understood the situation and pushed the ball in front of him. The Portuguese right-back quickly inserted himself, caught up with the ball at the front of the penalty area and shot directly, which penetrated Fulham's goal and increased the score again.

2: 1!

After scoring the goal, Dalot was so excited that he rushed out of the stadium, jumped over the billboards, and rushed directly to the visiting team's fans' stands, celebrating his goal in a somewhat crazy manner.

Many Manchester United players, including Bruno, Herrera and Mbappe, surrounded him and celebrated with him.

"Thank you!" Dalot put his arm around Bruno's shoulders and said gratefully.

Bruno grinned, revealing his dazzling white teeth, and laughed, "Then give me an assist."

Entering the halftime break with a 2:1 lead, Mourinho raised many questions about the team's performance in the first half, especially on the defensive end.

Of course, it would be irresponsible to put all the blame on Dalot.

The young Dalot has always been better at attacking than defending. Manchester United uses him because they like his attacking ability, but this requires tolerance for his hidden dangers on the defensive end, which is an old problem of all offensive full-backs.

After the change of sides in the second half, Manchester United quickly launched a wave of attacks. Herrera avoided the tackle and passed the ball to Mbappe on the right. The French winger passed the ball directly into the penalty area, and Bruno turned and shot into the near corner at a small angle.

3: 1!

This is Bruno's 29th Premier League goal this season!

………………

After taking a two-goal lead, Manchester United was basically sure of victory, but Bruno still showed no intention of relaxing.

As a time traveler, Bruno knows how well Liverpool and Manchester City have performed this season. Although the two teams are currently nearly double-digit behind Manchester United, Manchester United will be caught up by their opponents or even reversed if they are not careful.

After all, in Bruno's memory, this season Manchester City finally won the championship with 98 points, beating Liverpool with 97 points, making Liverpool the highest-scoring runner-up in the history of the top five leagues.

Now, although Manchester City has become the highest-scoring runner-up in the history of the top five European leagues with 97 points last season, even if Liverpool gets 97 points again and becomes the runner-up, it will only tie Manchester City's record. However, Liverpool has scored 25 points in the first 60 rounds, so it is entirely possible to get 97 points after the end of the season.

On the other hand, Manchester City, having only scored 26 points in the first 60 rounds, is doomed to have no chance of scoring 98 points.

Just two days ago, Manchester City's 27th round match was played ahead of schedule, and they beat Everton 2:0 away.

Of course, Manchester City will still be a strong competitor of Manchester United, because Manchester United's performance today is far superior to that in another time and space, which has caused a great change in the situation in the Premier League, and the final result of the season may also change as a result.

Moreover, it is entirely possible that some of the three teams will have the same points, at which time the team may compete on goal difference.

So, whenever possible, Bruno will help the team score more goals.

………………

Mourinho and other Manchester United players did not think about Bruno's thoughts. They thought he wanted to score twice and score his 30th Premier League goal of the season.

Since there is an FA Cup match next weekend, and Mourinho plans to use a substitute rotation lineup to play against Chelsea in the FA Cup, Bruno is also in the rotation plan, and then he will start in the first leg of the Champions League round of 04 away against Schalke next week, so he will have a week of rest, so he is not in a hurry to replace Bruno.

In the 65th minute, McTominay replaced Harry Kane.

Seven minutes later, Mahrez replaced Rashford.

Both substitutions were made to adjust the team's offense.

Mourinho also hopes that Bruno can score a goal, and he himself is working hard on the court and constantly looking for opportunities.

Bruno is very different from other players. Most players lose control of their emotions when they get anxious. As long as they are given a little chance, whether it is a good opportunity or not, whether they are sure or not, they will just shoot. So once they get anxious, their shooting accuracy drops significantly, and even affects the team's offensive efficiency.

But Bruno was different. Although he was anxious, he remained calm and rational. His motto was to never fight a battle that he was not sure of. Although he could not hit the target every time, his shooting efficiency was still very high.

………………

The game is still going on and Manchester United still has one last substitution slot left.

There was no suspense about the outcome at this point. Players including Herrera, Mbappe, McTominay, Mahrez and Dalot were all trying to help Bruno create opportunities, but Fulham was also obviously guarding Bruno closely.

It was not until the 83rd minute that a flaw appeared in Fulham's defense. Bruno suddenly switched to the left again, pulled to the left sideline to receive the pass from Mahrez, passed the ball back to Dalot who was advancing, and quickly cut in diagonally to the front of the penalty area.

Dalot dribbled the ball to the bottom line, attracted the attention of the defense, and then passed the ball back to the front of the penalty area.

Bruno stopped the ball and moved it to the middle, then cut inside quickly and shot with his right foot. The ball drew an arc, almost touching the right post, and quickly went into Fulham's goal.

4: 1!

Bruno scored twice and scored his 30th Premier League goal of the season. He also became the second player in Premier League history to score 30 goals in three consecutive seasons.

In the 27-year history of the Premier League, before Bruno, only Alan Shearer, the greatest scorer in Premier League history, was able to score more than 30 goals for three consecutive seasons.

这位前南安普顿、布莱克本和纽卡斯尔射手，在1993-1994赛季打入31球，紧接着又在1994-1995赛季打入34球，然后又在1995-1996赛季打入31球。

However, in the first two of these three seasons, the Premier League still had 22 teams and 42 games in each season.

事实上，阿兰·希勒在前两个赛季的出场数，分别是40场和42场。只有1995-1996赛季的出场数少于38场，为35场。

So, strictly speaking, Bruno is the first player to score more than 20 goals in the league for three consecutive seasons after the Premier League entered 30 teams!

It is worth mentioning that this game was Bruno's 100th Premier League game.

2016-2017赛季，布鲁诺英超出战36场；紧接着的2017-2018赛季布鲁诺38场英超联赛全勤，如今他又在本赛季的前26轮英超联赛里全勤出战。

In these 100 Premier League games, Bruno scored a total of 109 Premier League goals.

However, Bruno is not the player with the most goals in the first 100 league games in the top five leagues. This record is still held by his national team teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. After joining Real Madrid, the Portuguese captain scored 100 goals in his first 111 La Liga games, with an extremely terrifying goal efficiency.

………………

曼联客场3:0告捷之后，紧接着出战的英超传统强队纷纷取胜，阿森纳客场2:1力克哈德斯菲尔德，利物浦主场3:0大胜伯恩茅斯，热刺主场3:1大胜莱斯特城……

The biggest upset of this round happened between Manchester City and Chelsea.

No matter which of these two teams wins, it would not be considered an upset. The reason why this game is called an upset is because of the score of the game.

At the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola's team slaughtered Sarri's Chelsea 6:0!

The Blues' defense this season is not bad. They only conceded 25 goals in the first 25 league games, averaging only 1 goal per game. But in this game, they were poked 6 transparent holes by the Blue Moon!

本场比赛切尔西开场24分钟就被曼城打进4球，陷入极为被动的境地。算上第24轮客场0:4输给伯恩茅斯，切尔西已经连续两个客场丢掉4粒或更多进球，而上一次他们在英格兰顶级联赛连续客场丢4球，还要追溯到1990年12月。

In other words, this time Chelsea broke the embarrassing record that had been dormant for nearly 30 years.

In addition, the score of 0:6 also broke Chelsea's record of defeat in the past 30 years.

Not only in the league, but including all the competitions Chelsea participated in, the team has not lost with such a humiliating score in 29 years.

The last time they lost by six goals in the league was in 6, when they were defeated 1986-0 by Queens Park Rangers.