Chapter 796: Champions League Restart

The Champions League has restarted, and Manchester United will face a peak showdown with Real Madrid.

In the four Champions League quarter-finals that have ended, the Premier League teams suffered a Waterloo.

Although Liverpool beat Atalanta 1-0 at home in the second leg, the hole they dug in the first leg away from home was too big and Klopp's team failed to advance to the quarterfinals.

In the match between Tottenham and Juventus, although they won 2:1 at home with difficulty, they were defeated 1:0 by Juventus in the second leg away from home and had to be eliminated due to the disadvantage of away goals.

Because they were eliminated early in the league title race, Manchester City, who went all out for the Champions League, fought their way out and won 3:1 at home in the first leg. Although they drew 1:1 with Napoli away in the second leg, they still advanced to the quarterfinals.

In the match between Paris Saint-Germain and Dortmund, the French Ligue 1 rich team had the last laugh. Although they lost 2:2 away from home, they won 0: at home, guaranteeing their place in the quarterfinals.

In the remaining four matches, Manchester United won the first leg 2:1 away from home, taking the lead in the two-round knockout stage.

Barcelona played against Benfica, and the 1:1 draw in the first leg away from home also made them the favorites to advance.

In the strong dialogue between Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, Bayern won 3:0 away in the first leg and almost stood at the door of the quarterfinals.

Chelsea faced RB Leipzig, but unexpectedly lost 0:3 away from home in the first leg, and their hopes of advancing are slim.

After the Champions League resumes, due to the epidemic, except for the four unfinished round of 4 matches, all matches from the quarter-finals onwards will be concentrated at the Estadio Luz in Lisbon, Portugal.

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On the evening of August 8, the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final between Manchester United and Real Madrid was held at Manchester United's temporary home, Cardiff Millennium Stadium.

This game will still be played in an empty stadium, which is undoubtedly equivalent to giving up the home advantage for Manchester United, and also gives Real Madrid hope of a comeback away from home.

The La Liga season ended on the evening of July 7th. Real Madrid won the first La Liga championship in the post-C Ronaldo era, which boosted the morale of Real Madrid.

Now, after a full three weeks of rest, the well-rested Galacticos came to England, vowing to defeat Manchester United and advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

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"Manchester United attack from the right wing..."

"Cancelo passed the ball forward to Mbappe."

"Mbappe takes the ball and crosses it to the back post..."

"Militao got a step ahead and blocked Harry Kane with his body, the ball went out of bounds and it was a corner kick."

"It was Manchester United's first corner."

"Bruno took a corner kick and Benzema got the first touch and headed the ball high."

"The ball was high but not far, still in Real Madrid's penalty area."

"Varane was dribbling the ball and was intercepted by Mbappe..."

"Mbappe passes to Bruno... Bruno shoots..."

“The ball went in!!!!”

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLL!!!!!"

"The 29th minute! In the 29th minute, Manchester United scored a goal!"

"Varane made too many dribbles in the penalty area and made low-level mistakes. Mbappe actively rushed forward and passed the ball, and Bruno calmly pushed the ball into the empty goal."

"Varane's mistake was totally inappropriate. He was playing with fire by dribbling the ball in the penalty area like that!"

"Less than half an hour into the game, Real Madrid was already one goal behind, and the aggregate score of the two rounds was 1:3, two goals behind Manchester United."

"Zidane looked a little disappointed. He put a lot of effort into defense in this game, but Manchester United still seized the opportunity, and it was Bruno again. This is his sixth Champions League goal so far this season."

"This goal fully demonstrated Bruno's calmness and judgment in front of the goal."

"Mbappe's pass after the steal was very sudden, but Bruno's reaction was also very fast, he shot quickly and scored the ball."

………………

Due to Manchester United's excellent performance in recent seasons, although the team just lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup final and morale is not high, Zidane still dare not be careless.

In this game, although he used a 4-3-3 formation, he actually had nine players involved in defense. In many cases, there was only Benzema in the front to counterattack, and Hazard and Rodrigo of the trident both retreated to participate in their own defense.

From this we can see that Real Madrid is really wary of Manchester United's attack.

The grievances and confrontations between the two sides in the Champions League in recent years, coupled with the pressure of the Champions League knockout stage, have caused the players of both sides to carry a heavy burden. Even the head coaches of both sides dare not take risks easily, which greatly reduces the excitement of the game.

Real Madrid actively retreated to defend, which was a big test for Manchester United's ability to break through the dense attack.

But everyone knows that the ability to break dense crowds is a difficulty for all the strong teams in the world.

In the first twenty minutes or so, Manchester United could not come up with any effective solution.

Bruno also found it difficult to get any chances as he was frozen out by Casemiro and Kroos.

No matter how strong he is, he can't face the double-team of Casemiro and Kroos, two great European players, at the same time. What's more, Hazard and Rodrigo also actively returned to the midfield, making Real Madrid's defense extremely solid.

Manchester United seemed to have all the advantages, but in fact they didn't get any decent chances.

Of course, Bruno was closely watched by Real Madrid, and Benzema also failed to escape Manchester United's defensive confinement. In the first half hour, Benzema did not get any chances.

However, no one expected that Manchester United would create chaos in Real Madrid's penalty area with a corner kick. In the end, Bruno seized the opportunity and shot directly into the empty goal, breaking through Real Madrid's goal.

This time, Real Madrid was in a passive position.

………………

Zidane reached out and grabbed the bald head, then shook his head. His frowning brows revealed the dilemma he was feeling at the moment.

"It was clearly not an opportunity, but he actually seized it!" Zidane said depressedly.

The reason why it was not an opportunity was that there was too much chaos in the penalty area at that time. No one knew that a veteran general like Varane would play with fire in the penalty area. As a result, Mbappe seized the opportunity to steal the ball and passed it to Bruno in the first time. Bruno actually seized the opportunity and shot it in a hurry.

"Rafael was a bit careless with the ball this time." David Betoni shook his head.

Zidane nodded, it was true.

The most important thing is that after Varane received the ball, he failed to clear it immediately, which was a mistake for a central defender.

The key to Real Madrid's winning the La Liga title in the just-concluded season is that their defense has been greatly improved. They only conceded 25 goals throughout the season, which is 2 goals less than Atletico Madrid. Varane, as Real Madrid's main central defender, has also been highly praised, but in fact, he is not without mistakes. At best, it can only be said that his mistakes did not bring disaster to Real Madrid.

But in this defense, Varane's mistake was undoubtedly a disaster for Real Madrid!

………………

The main reason why Manchester United has been able to dominate the Premier League and Europe in recent years is that the central defender combination of Van Dijk and Maguire is strong enough to control the situation.

The reason why Manchester City and Arsenal's defenses are unstable is precisely that they both lack a pillar-type central defender.

Without such a central defender, the situation cannot be controlled and the defense line cannot be stable.

In fact, Manchester United performed very poorly for a period of time last season, from October to early December last year. At that time, Van Dijk and Maguire were in poor form and made frequent mistakes. Manchester United's defense set a terrible record of conceding fifteen consecutive goals in all competitions. It can be said that it was almost close to collapse.

But what was unexpected was that Mourinho relied on Bruno's goals and Kante and others' defense in the midfield to hold on, which also created Manchester United's current dominant position in the Premier League and even in Europe.

This is not a victory for Manchester United as a whole, or Mourinho, but the credit of Bruno alone.

During that period, he almost dragged Manchester United to run and sprint alone.

Real Madrid lacked such a player after Cristiano Ronaldo left the team.

Benzema has not shown his superior strength this season. Hazard once played in good form, but he was injured after only four games and his form has since disappeared.

On the other hand, Bruno is still so vigorous.

This player has a strong ability to seize opportunities and a very keen sense of positioning, he is impossible to limit!

Zidane couldn't help but think of the guy who had gone to Juventus. When Real Madrid had him, he almost had the 1:0 attribute, which was why Real Madrid defended the Champions League at that time.

And the Portuguese in front of him is even stronger than the Portuguese who went to Juventus!

………………

Zidane is now in a dilemma, as if he has been handed a hot potato.

If they continue to defend like this, Manchester United, with a goal in hand, will definitely be happy to see him being so negative, because it means they can easily win the game, which is what Zidane is most unwilling to see.

But if we choose a more aggressive style of play, we will have to sacrifice defense. Will we be able to hold on then?

Bruno, Harry Kane, Rashford and Mbappe form Manchester United's front attacking quartet, with Gundogan lurking behind them. Need I say more about how terrifying this offensive combination is?

Thinking of this, Zidane let out a long sigh.

"Let's wait a little longer." Zidane said helplessly.

I thought a lot, but in the end it was just one sentence.

Bettoni knew what Zidane meant, and he also understood Zidane's difficulty. It was too early and too risky to press forward now. It would be better to wait for Manchester United to make mistakes, or wait for an opportunity to counterattack in the second half.

All in all, Real Madrid is in a passive position now.

And all this was caused by Bruno's damn goal!