Chapter 858 Competition Attitude
"Counterattack! Manchester United's counterattack!"
Manchester United's counterattack was very simple and quick. This time they did not advance through the midfield, but instead launched the attack with a direct long pass.
Gundogan dribbled the ball along the left side, and after attracting Florenzi's interception, he pretended to repeat the trick and pass the ball to Luke Shaw, but he feinted and passed the ball sideways.
Bruno got the ball in the middle, he kicked the ball with his right foot, turned around at the same time, and beautifully bypassed Gueye who was a little unprepared.
"Beautiful! You are worthy of being the best player in the world today!" Andy Gray praised.
Paredes rushed over to intercept.
Bruno feinted his upper body to trick Paredes who was rushing over, and then he poked the ball with his toes, and the ball went through Paredes' small goal.
Then, Bruno twisted his waist, plundered away from Paredes, and then faced the Paris Saint-Germain right center-back Marquinhos who was rushing up aggressively. When the ball was almost about to make contact, he cleverly poked it with his toes again, and the ball passed through his small goal.
Almost at the same time, Bruno turned around and avoided Marquinhos, and was about to complete the man-ball split. Marquinhos had no choice but to reach out and pull Bruno down.
………………
There was a huge booing in the stands of the Millennium Stadium. The two thousand home fans who came to watch the game were enjoying Bruno's wonderful performance, but they found that Bruno was pulled down by his opponents. They were very upset and very dissatisfied with Marquinhos' destruction of the wonderful football.
Even the commentator of Paris Saint-Germain praised Bruno. He said: "Marquinhos had to stop Bruno's performance with a foul. The Portuguese's breakthrough just now was a visual enjoyment."
The referee Brüch blew the whistle and showed a yellow card to Marquinhos for a tactical foul, giving Manchester United a free kick in the frontcourt.
Van Dijk and Maguire, who are good at heading, came up to participate in the free kick attack, and Kante stayed in the backcourt to defend.
Bruno took the free kick into the penalty area. Although Paris Saint-Germain's left-back Kurzawa is not tall, he has strong heading ability. He headed the ball out before Van Dijk.
Paris Saint-Germain tried to launch a quick counterattack. Kimpembe quickly passed the ball to Verratti, and Gundogan, who was closest to Verratti, came up to intercept. At this time, as long as the Italian midfielder passed the ball, Paris Saint-Germain's counterattack might be successful.
However, Verratti stuck to the ball and refused to pass it. He tried to knock Gundogan down with a fake move, but Gundogan didn't fall for it and used this opportunity to get close to him...
The two players were pulling and tugging as they moved forward. Finally, the referee Brüch couldn't stand it anymore and blew the whistle. Gundogan committed a foul, but he didn't get a card.
………………
Mourinho applauded on the sidelines and was very satisfied with the team's performance on both offense and defense.
Bruno caused Marquinhos to get a card, which gave Mourinho a pleasant surprise.
Don't underestimate this yellow card. A central defender carrying a yellow card is like carrying a hidden mine that may explode at some point.
Gundogan's active counter-attack and desperate attitude towards the game also made Mourinho very satisfied.
"Seeing Gundogan desperately counter-attack and finally blocking Paris Saint-Germain's counterattack, I remembered that during the attack when Manchester United scored the goal, Preston let the opponent's players pass through." Andy Gray said, "Of course, if Paredes went up to intercept and interfere, or even committed a tactical foul, Manchester United would not have that goal..."
"This team was built by Mourinho. He personally decided to bring in or keep almost all the players. The most impressive thing about this Manchester United team is the players' attitude towards the game! If Gundogan had let Verratti pass like Paredes did just now, I bet he would have been scolded by coach Mourinho." Martin Taylor added.
Andy Gray nodded and said, "I'm afraid it's more than that. If Manchester United players are so lazy on the field, they will probably be replaced directly by Mourinho and then put into the cold palace!"
………………
Paris Saint-Germain's previous goal was the result of a counterattack by Manchester United, but this did not affect Paris Saint-Germain's established offensive tactics. They had great confidence in their offense and continued to put pressure on Manchester United's goal.
And if Gundogan hadn't tried his best to interfere with the counterattack just now, Paris Saint-Germain might have really failed.
But Manchester United did not seem to have learned their lesson. Instead of shrinking back on defense, they continued to seize every possible offensive opportunity and push forward.
So in the subsequent live broadcast of the game, both sides seemed to be defenseless, the attacks were fierce, and commentators Martin Taylor and Andy Gray were very busy and happy.
"Martial dribbled past Luke Shaw, beautiful... He broke into the penalty area! Shot! Blocked by Maguire! It was a close call!"
"Paredes dribbled sideways, beautifully, he and Draxler played against the wall and shot! It was too high!"
"Manchester United's counterattack! Mbappe dribbled sideways, Kurzawa was following him... Foul! Manchester United got a free kick in front of the penalty area. This position is very good, Bruno came up to take the penalty... Ah, what a pity, it hit the crossbar and flew out of the bottom line!"
Beautiful! Beautiful! Martial, he got rid of Van Dijk and Luke Shaw in a small space, turned around and shot! It was slightly off the goal! "The French commentator also shook his head regretfully.
………………
It was already the 1th minute of the game and the score was still 0:, with Manchester United leading the visiting team Paris Saint-Germain at home.
The staff on the sidelines held up an electronic sign indicating two minutes of injury time in the first half, which caused Mourinho's dissatisfaction.
Paris Saint-Germain obviously could not accept the situation of being one goal behind at halftime. They were seizing the last minute to besiege Manchester United's goal. Mourinho was now really worried that his goal would be lost in the last moments of the first half.
Martial got the ball in the frontcourt and Kante was defending him.
Martial pulled the ball with his left foot and leaned his body to the left, pretending to break through from the left side. After attracting Kante's defensive focus, he suddenly accelerated and pulled the ball in the opposite direction. Just as he was about to turn around and cut in, Kante reached out and pushed Martial in desperation.
He did not expect that this small move could stop Martial from moving forward. After all, the two had not only been teammates in Manchester United, but also in the national team for many years. Therefore, Kante was very familiar with Martial and knew that this kid had good skills and was very fast. He pushed him just now just to interfere with Martial's forward speed as much as possible, so that Martial could stagger and have an unstable step. However, he did not expect that Martial would fall to the ground directly.
"Very smart!" the commentator of Paris Saint-Germain praised, explaining to the audience why Martial did not continue to move forward. "At the end of the first half, Martial's physical strength had reached its limit. Although he was still able to sprint, he could no longer guarantee continuous breakthroughs. Getting a free kick in this position is obviously more threatening than continuing to move forward."
………………
Kante now understood why Martial fell to the ground, and he became anxious. The free kick at this position was really dangerous. Kante spread his hands with an extremely aggrieved expression. He signaled to the referee that he did nothing, and that the kid fell by himself, and he was faking a fall.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
Manchester United's defensive star Van Dijk also rushed up and shouted at his former teammate Martial, whom he had expressed great admiration and praise in previous media interviews: "Diving! Bah!"
The other Paris Saint-Germain players naturally would not stand by and watch Martial suffer, they also surrounded him, and the players from both sides started to pull each other.
The referee's whistle sounded quickly, and then the players from both sides dispersed. They didn't want to cause trouble, and they always had to find a way out.
However, the quarrel on the sidelines continued.
"That kid dived!" Mourinho shouted.
"Which eye did you see Anthony diving?" Pochettino retorted.
"I saw it with both eyes." Mourinho replied confidently.
"You are shameless!" Pochettino was furious. How could a person lie with such a calm and confident attitude? Pochettino saw clearly that Kante did push Martial down.
"Did you curse at someone out of anger?" Mourinho looked indignant.
"How could Anthony have a former head coach like you?" Pochettino was furious.
The media has previously reported that although Martial had left Manchester United long ago, he still had a good impression of his former mentor Mourinho. Even though the two no longer work together, they still keep in touch privately.
"Don't try to get close to me. I only respect facts." Mourinho said righteously.
………………
Pochettino turned his back, he didn't want to talk to such a person.
"Bah! You have nothing to say!"
After that, Mourinho also walked back to his own coaching booth. He spread his hands to Faria and said, "That guy is in the wrong."
Faria looked serious and gave a thumbs up.
"A free kick from this position is very dangerous," Mourinho said to his assistant with a serious expression. "In this season's La Liga, Martial has scored a direct free kick from a similar position."
"Just hold on to this last minute." Faria comforted Mourinho.
Mourinho lowered his head to adjust his tie, thinking deeply.
On the other side, Pochettino also said to his assistant: "This is a good position. Anthony has a chance to score directly."
