Chapter 721: The Golden Age of Premier League

In the 48th minute, De Jong and Van der Beck played together, and Tadic was tripped by Cancelo. The referee gave Cancelo a yellow card and gave Ajax a direct free kick opportunity in a good position.

Ziyech took the free kick and hoped to kick it directly into the dead corner, but Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea judged the correct direction and saved the ball directly, failing to create a threat.

Afterwards, Ajax launched frequent attacks, but Manchester United played steadily and defended in their own half.

In the first ten minutes of the second half, Manchester United didn't even take a single shot. They just defended and held off Ajax's attack.

Bruno, the attacking midfielder, also actively retreated to his own 30-meter area to participate in the defense. This shows how powerful Ajax's attack was and how dangerous the situation in front of Manchester United's goal was.

But if the attack continues for a long time, problems will inevitably be exposed.

When the game entered the 56th minute, Bruno was entangled with the defense of Schone, and Kante suddenly made a tackle and poked the ball away from Schone's feet.

Cancelo quickly made a run on the right, caught up with the ball, faced Tagliafico, and passed the ball to Bruno, while he continued to rush forward along the right side.

Bruno understood what he meant and knocked the ball back to Cancelo.

"Manchester United's quick counterattack on the right. Bruno and Cancelo's one-two combination!"

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After getting the ball, Cancelo quickly rushed along the right. Bruno was also very fast, but he deliberately lagged behind Cancelo a little and moved closer to the center.

Tagliafico chased Cancelo all the way, but the Portuguese right-back was really fast. The two of them chased after him, one in front and one behind, making the fans in the Amsterdam Arena nervous.

Finally, Cancelo failed to get rid of Tagliafico and failed to get the chance to cut inside, but he rushed to the right side of the penalty area and made a direct cross.

Cancelo's ball reached the right side of the penalty spot, and Mbappe quickly passed Blind's defense, without stopping the ball, and directly shot the ball into the left side of the goal.

The ball went in again!

Manchester United tied the score to 2:2!

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Manchester United were not satisfied with the equalizer. They played very aggressively away from home and took the initiative to attack. The main attack was on the right side where Mbappe and Cancelo were partners. Bruno also often came to the wing to join in the fun. The three of them suppressed Ajax's left side very badly.

The right-wing combination of Mbappe and Cancelo is the right-wing offensive channel that makes opponents tremble in the Premier League. It is reasonable to attack the right side, but Ten Hag still feels very puzzled and uneasy.

It was not until the 71st minute that Bruno ran to the open space on the right to receive the ball, attracting all the defensive attention of Ajax to this side, and suddenly he made a big kick and sent the ball to the left.

Luke Shaw quickly inserted himself, stopped the ball with his chest on the left sideline, dribbled forward quickly, formed a beautiful one-two combination with Rashford, and then passed the ball to the front of the penalty area.

Mbappe quickly inserted and volleyed the ball from the top of the arc, once again breaking through Ajax's goal.

Mbappe scored twice, and the score on the field was changed to 3:2!

This was also the final score of the game. In the subsequent games, although both sides attacked and defended, no more goals were scored.

In the end, Manchester United defeated Ajax 3:2 away from home, and eliminated their opponent with a total score of 5:3 in the two-round semi-finals, reaching the Champions League final for two consecutive years and meeting Liverpool.

This is also the second consecutive year that Manchester United has advanced to the Champions League final after a lapse of ten years. It is also the first time in eleven years that Premier League teams have met in the Champions League final again.

The previous time was in the 2007-2008 season, when Manchester United and Chelsea met in Moscow.

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Since the Champions League is a cup competition with a relatively short schedule, this has led to many more cases of teams winning the Champions League without losing a game than in the league.

In the history of the Champions League, there are not many teams that have won the championship undefeated, but it is definitely not a small number. There are nine teams that have won the championship undefeated fourteen times.

不败夺冠最多的是曼联，有三次，分别是1998-1999年赛季以6胜6平的成绩，2007-2008年赛季以9胜4平的成绩，以及2017-2018赛季的10胜3平的成绩夺冠。

If they can win the title again this season, it will be the fourth time that the Red Devils have won the Champions League unbeaten.

利物浦有两次，分别是1980-1981年赛季以6胜3平的成绩，以及1983-1984年赛季以7胜2平的成绩夺冠。

Of course, if Liverpool can finally win the Champions League, it will also be their third time to win the Champions League with an unbeaten record.

AC米兰也有两次，分别是1988-1989年赛季以5胜4平的成绩，以及1993-1994年赛季以7胜5平的成绩夺冠。

阿贾克斯同样也有两次，分别是1971-1972年赛季以7胜2平的成绩，以及1994-1995年赛季以7胜4和平的成绩夺冠。

国际米兰则是有1次，那就是在1963-1964年赛季以7胜2平的成绩夺冠。

Nottingham Forest also won the championship undefeated in the 1978-1979 season, with a record of 6 wins and 3 draws.

Red Star Belgrade won the 1990-1991 season with an unbeaten record of 5 wins and 4 draws.

Marseille won the championship in the 1992-1993 season with 7 wins and 4 draws.

Barcelona also had one, when they won the title unbeaten in the 2005-2006 season with 9 wins and 4 draws.

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Judging from these undefeated championships, they occurred more often before the reform than after it. There were 1992 such cases before the reform in 7, but only 6 such cases after it.

From Marseille in the 1992-1993 season, to AC Milan in the 1993-1994 season, and Ajax in the 1994-1995 season, they all won the championship undefeated throughout the season. This shows that when the Champions League was first reformed, the top teams still had a great advantage.

However, as the scale of the Champions League has become larger and the competition has become more intense, this situation of consecutive undefeated champions has become very rare. In the years after 1995, the Champions League champions all lost, until Manchester United, the triple crown winners in the 98-99 season, achieved the feat of winning the championship undefeated again.

Furthermore, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, who have performed well in the Champions League, have yet to win the title undefeated. Real Madrid has won the Champions League 12 times in history, while Bayern Munich has won it 5 times, all of which have included losses.

反倒是此前只夺得了4次冠军的曼联，竟然有3次是以不败成绩夺冠的，只有1967-1968赛季的夺冠有输球的情况，当时他们的成绩是5胜3平1负，仅仅是在客场以0:1的比分输给了波兰球队扎布热戈尼克。

It is particularly worth mentioning that Manchester United has maintained a perfect record in the 12 Champions League games they have played this season!

This means that as long as they beat Liverpool in the Champions League final, the Red Devils will become the first team in the history of the Champions League to win the championship with a perfect record!

This has never happened in the 64-year history of the Champions League!

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Manchester United can be said to be the record king of the Champions League.

Previously, they had maintained the longest unbeaten record in the Champions League. From the first group match of the 2007-2008 season to the semi-final of the 2008-2009 season, Manchester United remained unbeaten in 25 Champions League games.

After maintaining this unbeaten record for eleven years, it was once again tied by Manchester United.

In addition, they also hold the record for the longest winning streak in the Champions League. Starting from last season's Champions League semi-final 3-0 home win over city rivals Manchester City, Manchester United has won consecutive games in the Champions League, continuing to refresh this record.

另外，他们还保持着欧冠最长的主场连胜记录。曼联曾经在2006-2008年期间创造了12场欧冠主场连胜的佳绩，如今他们再次追平了这项记录。从上赛季的欧冠小组赛第一轮曼联在主场6:0大胜卡拉巴克开始，曼联再次在主场连赢12场。

In addition, they also hold the longest unbeaten away record in the Champions League at 16 games.

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A day later, Chelsea drew 1:1 with Frankfurt at home, and eventually eliminated their opponent 4:3 in a penalty shootout to advance to the Europa League final; while Arsenal defeated Valencia 4:2 away, thus eliminating their opponent 7:3 in two rounds and meeting Chelsea in the Europa League final.

This is the 10th time in the history of the Europa League final that a match is held in the same league, but this season is the first time that teams from the same city are competing for the Europa League title.

With Arsenal and Chelsea meeting in the Europa League final, all four participating teams in this season's two European competitions are from the Premier League. This is also the first time in history that teams from the same country have won the finals of the Champions League and the Europa League in the same season.

Previously in the history of the Champions League and the Europa League, English teams have had the experience of meeting in the finals, and this season happens to be the second time they have met in the finals.

In the history of the Champions League, Spanish teams have met in the finals the most times, 3 times. In the history of the Europa League, Italian teams have met in the finals the most times, 4 times.

If the Champions League and Europa League are combined, Spanish and Italian teams have met in the finals a total of five times.

The two Madrid clubs are the teams that have participated in the most European and domestic finals, with three appearances each.

It is worth mentioning that after four teams reached the final, Chelsea wrote on its social account: "The Premier League is the best league in the world! Any questions?"

Not only that, in addition to the four teams that took all the European places, Manchester City also made it to the Champions League quarterfinals, and Tottenham made it to the semifinals. This means that all the BIG teams in the Premier League have made it to the European quarterfinals!

It has to be noted that, apart from Burnley being eliminated by Olympiacos in the Europa League play-offs, of the six teams participating in the European competitions, Manchester City was eliminated by Tottenham, and Tottenham was eliminated by Liverpool.

This also means that in the European competition stage, no team from other leagues can eliminate the Premier League team!

This achievement further consolidates the Premier League's dominance in European competitions.

This advantage not only suppressed the rise of other leagues, but also established the Premier League's competitiveness in the European arena. Therefore, the influence of the Premier League BIG6 is not limited to the Premier League, but also radiates to the European arena.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is a golden age for the Premier League!