Chapter 756: Cradle of the European Golden Boy Award
On the evening of December 12th local time in Europe, the final round of the Champions League group stage ushered in a showdown, with Manchester United away challenging the Croatian team Dinamo Zagreb.
Since Manchester United had already qualified and secured first place in the group, this Champions League group match was of little significance to Manchester United. In addition, Manchester United was about to face a very busy Christmas schedule, so Mourinho sent out a substitute lineup. Many main players, including Bruno, did not even travel with the team to the away game.
However, Manchester United, who played with a substitute lineup, won a big victory away from home. In particular, Mason Greenwood, the favorite for the 2019 European Golden Boy Award, shined in the game.
In the 10th minute, Konziol made a cross from the right side of the frontcourt into the penalty area, and the 21-year-old Olmo scored with a wonderful volley, and Dinamo Zagreb led Manchester United 1:0.
Manchester United, who were behind in the score, launched a counterattack. In the 34th minute, Mahrez made a cross from the right side of the penalty area in front of the goal, and Greenwood scored with a header. Manchester United tied Dinamo Zagreb 1:1.
这是年仅18岁的格林伍德各项赛事代表曼联的第20次出场打进的第10粒进球。其中本赛季各项赛事出战14场，打进了8球。
Although Greenwood has not yet established himself as a starting player in Manchester United's lineup, he has become an important rotation player and has performed well in every game.
Coupled with Manchester United's current influence in football, this also makes Greenwood a hot favorite for the 2019 European Golden Boy Award. His main competitors include Atletico Madrid's Portuguese star Joao Felix and Dortmund's English genius Sancho.
In fact, there are many Manchester United players among the 100 candidates for this year's Golden Boy Award. In addition to Greenwood, there are also Angel Gomes, who currently plays for Manchester United's youth team, Chinese striker Chong, and Portuguese rising star defender Dalot. However, the other three failed to be selected for the final 10-man list of the Golden Boy Award announced in mid-October.
The results of the 2019 European Golden Boy Award will be announced on December 12.
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At the end of the first half, the score was 1:1.
After the change of sides, in the 47th minute, McTominay's long-range shot from outside the box was high.
In the 50th minute, Ashley Young passed the ball to Greenwood on the left side of the frontcourt. Greenwood cooperated with McTominay, and finally Greenwood dribbled past the defender in the penalty area and scored a goal to complete his second goal. Manchester United overtook Dinamo Zagreb 2:1.
In the 54th minute, Ashley Young made a precise pass from the left side of the frontcourt, and Greenwood in front of the goal volleyed the ball into the goal to complete a hat-trick. Manchester United led Dinamo Zagreb 3:1.
In the 66th minute, Greenwood, who had performed a hat-trick, was replaced by Lingard.
In the 79th minute, Manchester United got a free kick opportunity on the right side of the frontcourt. Mahrez kicked the ball into the penalty area. Lindelof's header was blocked and Lingard scored the goal. However, the referee indicated that Lindelof was offside, so Slingard's goal was invalid.
In the 84th minute, Gundor Mahrez passed the ball to Mata in the penalty area, who made a triangle pass back to the front of the goal, and McTominay pushed the ball into the goal. Manchester United led Dinamo Zagreb 4:1.
In the 86th minute, Dalot passed the ball low to Mata in the frontcourt, who passed it directly to Mahrez. Mahrez got a one-on-one opportunity and his shot in the penalty area was blocked by Dinamo Zagreb goalkeeper Livakovic.
全场比赛结束，萨格勒布迪纳摩主场1:4完败于曼联脚下，萨格勒布迪纳摩取得1胜2平3负积5分排名小组垫底。
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At the weekend, the 17th round of the Premier League kicked off, with Manchester United playing at the Millennium Stadium against traditional powerhouse Everton.
Manchester United played in a 433 formation, with Harry Kane attacking, Mbappe and Rashford flying on the wings, Bruno in the attacking midfielder, Kante and Fred in the defensive midfielder. On the defensive line, Van Dijk and Maguire partnered as central defenders, Luke Shaw and Cancelo on the left and right, and De Gea was still the goalkeeper.
In the first minute of the game, Bruno turned and shot in the middle of the penalty area to score, giving Manchester United a dream start.
Everton was not a weak team without any ability to fight back. They almost equalized the score in the 7th minute. Richarlison passed the ball to Holgate, who shot from a distance with great force. Fortunately, De Gea showed his world-class goalkeeper strength and dived sideways to keep Manchester United from losing the defense.
In the 26th minute, Bruno took a free kick from the edge of the penalty area. Although Pickford tried his best, Bruno's free kick was too high and Pickford was unable to reach it. Manchester United took a two-goal lead at home.
In the 36th minute, Baines made a cross from the right corner. Calvert-Lewin, Mina and De Gea competed for the first point but failed to touch it. In the chaos, Van Dijk accidentally knocked the ball into his own goal.
Although Calvert-Lewin was suspected of colliding with the goalkeeper, the goal was determined to be valid after VAR, and Everton scored a goal.
Neither side made any personnel adjustments in midfield.
In the 62nd minute, Luke Shaw's powerful shot from the left was saved by Pickford, and Mbappe's follow-up shot from the right side of the penalty area helped Manchester United expand their lead to two goals again.
In the 65th minute, Mourinho made a personnel adjustment. Greenwood replaced Rashford, who also came from Manchester United's youth training camp, while Lingard replaced Mbappe.
In the 77th minute, Bruno cut in from the left and passed the ball, Greenwood shot low from the edge of the penalty area and hit the lower right corner, and Manchester United changed the score to 4:1.
Greenwood scored in consecutive games in the Champions League and the Premier League. He has scored 11 goals in all competitions this season, including 6 goals in the Premier League.
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On Monday, December 12, at 16:12 CET, the draw for the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals took place in Nyon, Switzerland.
After the last round of the Champions League group stage last week, the 16 teams participating in the knockout stage have all been decided. Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid in Group A, Bayern Munich and Tottenham in Group B, Manchester United and Atalanta in Group C, Juventus and Manchester City in Group D, Napoli and Benfica in Group E, Barcelona and Dortmund in Group F, Liverpool and RB Leipzig in Group G, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid in Group H ranked first and second in their groups.
In this season's Champions League group stage, the Premier League teams are undoubtedly the biggest winners. All five teams successfully qualified, with Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea ranking first. Manchester City only ranked second on goal difference. Tottenham also advanced to the knockout stage one round in advance, but because Bayern Munich in the same group was too strong, it was one of the two undefeated teams in the group stage, the other team was Manchester United.
Fifteen of the 16 teams in the Champions League round of 15 are from the top five leagues, with Benfica being the only team not from the top five leagues. All the stronger teams have advanced, further increasing the possibility of a strong dialogue in this draw.
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According to the draw rules, the draw for the quarter-finals will be based on the principle of "avoiding teams from the same association and group". Teams first in the group will play against teams second in the group; teams from the same group and association will not meet; and the first leg will be played at the home ground of the second-placed team in the group, that is, the second-placed team in the group will play at home first and then away.
After the draw, Manchester United faced Real Madrid, which was considered the strongest match in this year's Champions League quarter-finals. After all, the two teams were Real Madrid, which has won 12 Champions League titles and is known as the King of the Champions League, and Manchester United, which is currently the strongest team in the world football and has maintained a 32-match unbeaten streak in the Champions League and won 22 consecutive games.
However, this is undoubtedly the worst draw result for Manchester United and Real Madrid.
If such a duel took place in the final, it would undoubtedly be another top-level duel, but now it happened in the first round of the knockout stage.
Such a result is undoubtedly full of conspiracy.
At the moment when the draw guests drew Real Madrid to play against Manchester United, the TV broadcast camera switched for a long time between Manchester United coach Mourinho and Real Madrid coach Zidane who were attending the Champions League draw ceremony, showing the expressions of the two in front of fans around the world.
In the end, the TV camera focused on UEFA President Ceferin.
The meaning behind this is, of course, clear.
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In addition to super showdowns such as Manchester United and Real Madrid, there is also no shortage of strong dialogues in this season's Champions League quarter-finals.
For example, Bayern Munich faced La Liga powerhouse Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain faced Bundesliga giants Dortmund, and Juventus faced Premier League powerhouse Tottenham.
In comparison, the opponents of Manchester City, Barcelona, Liverpool and Chelsea are relatively satisfactory to them.
The Blue Moon faced Napoli, the weakest team in the group. With Manchester City's strength, Guardiola's coaching experience, and Manchester City's current situation, it was almost a matter of course that they would advance. After all, Manchester City is currently far behind Liverpool and Manchester United in the Premier League. With no hope of winning the league, the Champions League must be the only goal of Manchester City's management.
Barcelona's opponent is Benfica, the only team not from the top five leagues, Liverpool will face Manchester United's opponent in the group stage, Serie A team Atalanta, and Chelsea's opponent is Liverpool's opponent in the group stage, RB Leipzig from the Bundesliga.
The rules of this season's Champions League have returned to the previous rules. The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be drawn, and there is no avoidance principle, and any team may meet.
In the final, if the two sides are tied after the 90-minute statutory time, they will enter a 30-minute overtime. If the overtime is still tied, the winner will be determined by a penalty shootout. The winner of the final will be the champion of the UEFA Champions League that season and will be able to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup and the European Super Cup in Qatar in 2020, as well as the group stage of the UEFA Champions League next season.
The first leg of the quarter-finals will be held in mid-to-late February, and the second leg will be held in mid-March.
But Bruno knew that due to the sudden outbreak of the global epidemic, this season's Champions League knockout rounds were destined to be impossible to proceed according to the scheduled schedule.
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Also on December 12, the Italian football magazine "Torino Sports" announced the final winner of the 16 European Golden Boy Award. The talented new star Greenwood from Manchester United defeated the Portuguese new star Joao Felix and the talented new star Jaden Sancho from England who plays for Dortmund and was finally elected.
The Manchester United star, who just turned 10 in October, won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble with Manchester United in the 18-2018 season, and his performance this season is even better. Even in the star-studded Manchester United, he still got a lot of opportunities to play, making 2019 appearances in all competitions, scoring 15 goals, and scoring a hat-trick in Manchester United's Champions League group match against Dinamo Zagreb, thus becoming the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the history of the Champions League at the age of 11 years and 18 days, surpassing Rooney (62 years and 18 days) and Raul (339 years and 18 days).
In fact, this is also one of the key reasons why Greenwood was able to finally beat Felix and be elected the European Golden Boy in 2019.
After all, before this, although Greenwood won the treble with Manchester United, his personal performance was not too amazing, and his personal data was quite different from Felix.
At least Felix has become an absolute main player in Atletico Madrid, while Greenwood is just an ordinary substitute rotation player in Manchester United and has not established a stable main position.
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With Greenwood being named the 2019 European Golden Boy, he also became the fourth Manchester United player to be named the European Golden Boy in the past five years.
Before Greenwood, Martial was elected European Golden Boy in 2015, Rashford in 2017, and Mbappe in 2018.
In particular, the consecutive selections of Rashford, Mbappe and Greenwood made Manchester United the first team to win the European Golden Boy Award three times in a row.
At the same time, Greenwood is also the sixth person to be elected European Golden Boy. Previously, Rooney and Anderson also won the European Golden Boy award as Manchester United players.
The European Golden Boy Award is only in its 17th year, but Manchester United has produced six of them. The Red Devils deserve the title of "Cradle of the European Golden Boy Award".
In fact, including Bruno who currently plays for Manchester United, seven of the 17 European Golden Boys have played for Manchester United!
What the world doesn't know is that Greenwood, who had just received the European Golden Boy Award, was called to the home of his old predecessor, the current Manchester United captain Bruno, for some ideological education when he returned to Manchester.
Bruno is full of regret for Greenwood, the talented junior, because in another time and space, when he was on the rise in his career, he had to leave the court due to some off-court factors, and was even eventually kicked out by his old club Manchester United.
In order to prevent Greenwood from repeating the same mistakes, Bruno paid special attention to the ideological education of this little brother. After all, in this environment where "boxers" are everywhere, boys must protect themselves.
Especially big stars like them must be careful with what they say and do, otherwise they may get hurt or even be doomed if they are not careful.
Bruno doesn't want Greenwood's career to be ruined again for the same reason.
