Chapter 868: Fight at the Allianz Arena Again
The fierce battle with Bayern Munich in the middle of the week had a great impact on Manchester United. After the game started, Manchester United players were exhausted and could not get into the game. On the other hand, Tottenham, who played at home, failed to enter the quarterfinals of the Europa League and currently only had to deal with domestic competitions. The team's physical condition was much better than Manchester United and they entered the game earlier. This made the rhythm of the first half of the game basically controlled by Tottenham.
In the 39th minute, Tottenham broke the deadlock. Ndombele passed the ball in the middle, Cavani passed it to the right, Lucas Jr. broke into the penalty area and knocked it horizontally, and Son Heung-min calmly shot into the empty goal at the back post!
1:0, Tottenham takes the lead!
Three minutes of injury time in the first half, there was chaos in Tottenham's penalty area. Bruno's cross from the bottom was a little too strong and Harry Kane headed the ball off the target.
At the end of the first half, Manchester United was temporarily trailing Tottenham 0:1.
After the halftime break, Manchester United finally came back to life. They stepped up their offensive and threatened Tottenham's goal continuously.
After more than ten minutes of strong attack, Tottenham's defense was finally broken by Manchester United.
In the 56th minute, Manchester United made a wonderful combination in the middle of the frontcourt. Harry Kane broke into the penalty area and his shot was saved by Lori. Fred followed up and shot into the net in time!
1:1, Manchester United equalized the score!
In the 59th minute, Hojbjerg made a rainbow pass, Aurier stopped and dribbled past the goal but was disturbed and missed the target. Son Heung-min dodged the angle and shot low into the near corner from the second penalty kick, but De Gea used a "Gea Lotus" move to block the ball with his foot.
In the 78th minute, Bruno passed the ball through the crotch, Greenwood made a cross from the right, and Harry Kane dived to head the ball into the far corner.
After scoring the goal, although there were no fans watching at the new White Hart Lane Stadium, Harry Kane did not celebrate the goal.
The score on the field was rewritten to 1:2, and Manchester United, playing away, overtook the score!
In the 5th minute of injury time, Bruno got rid of two defenders and went to the right, where Greenwood, who came on as a substitute, shot from a small angle and scored!
3:1, Manchester United secured the victory!
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Manchester United scored three goals in the second half to defeat Tottenham, which brought their league points to 78 points. With one game more, they are 8 points ahead of Manchester City.
A day later, good news came from the Etihad Stadium. Manchester City lost unexpectedly to Leeds United 1:2 at home, and their points remained at 70.
This was a very crucial game. Manchester City lost 3 points at home, which was equivalent to destroying their hopes of reversing Manchester United.
After all, with only seven rounds left in the league, it is almost an impossible task for Manchester City to reverse the 7-point trend!
However, Manchester United has no time to be happy about expanding their league points advantage, because they are about to fly to Germany to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
曼联首回合在主场的3:2险胜，并不足以确保他们晋级四强。拜仁慕尼黑只需要在主场以1:0或者2:1这样的小胜，就足可以让他们在主场完成翻盘。
Therefore, in the match at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Manchester United needs at least a draw, preferably a win, to ensure they eliminate Bayern Munich and advance to the semi-finals.
Before the second leg between Manchester United and Bayern Munich, two games in the Champions League quarter-finals had already ended. Liverpool drew with Real Madrid at home, which allowed Real Madrid to eliminate Liverpool with a total score of 3:1 and advance to the Champions League semi-finals again after three years.
Manchester City beat Dortmund 2:1 away from home, defeating the Bundesliga Hornets twice and advancing to the semi-finals with a total score of 4:2.
In this way, the winner between Manchester United and Bayern Munich will face Manchester City in the Champions League semi-finals.
Judging from the current situation, the Manchester derby in the Champions League semi-final is very likely to be staged again after three years.
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In this match, the starting lineups of both teams were almost the same as in the first leg. Manchester United replaced Gundogan with Fred, while Bayern Munich made two adjustments. One was to replace the injured Goretzka with Boateng, and Alaba was put in the defensive midfielder position. In the defense, Alphonso Davies replaced the injured Sule.
Despite the absence of four key players including Lewandowski, Gnabry, Goretzka and Sule, Bayern Munich still launched an attack from the very beginning at their home court.
In the first ten minutes, neither side got a chance to shoot, but Bayern Munich frequently attacked the penalty area. Manchester United had five successful steals and four fouls, and received a yellow card, which shows how intense the game was.
But in the eleventh minute, Bayern Munich finally got a godsend opportunity.
Bayern Munich made a cross from the free kick on the right, Boateng passed the ball back, Alaba headed the ball, and Choupo-Moting headed the ball three meters in front of the goal.
Maguire, who was defending Choupo-Moting, failed to get a favorable position, but he stood between the Cameroon striker and the goal, blocked Choupo-Moting's header in front of the goal line, and cleared the ball with a big kick.
During this period, Manchester United had basically no offensive, which made Bruno realize that this could not go on.
Although he didn't have specific data, he felt that Manchester United's possession rate in the first 15 minutes was frighteningly low. It might not even be a quarter, because they were passive the whole time.
"I must launch a threatening counterattack!" Bruno thought to himself.
At this time, head coach Mourinho on the sidelines was also shouting to the players, indicating that the team cannot keep retreating, but must launch an attack, especially from the flanks.
………………
Soon, Manchester United organized an attack.
Fred moved to the left and handed the ball to Bruno, who faced Pavard one-on-one.
Bruno slowly approached Pavard with the ball, and Pavard was like a formidable enemy, not daring to be careless at all, and kept backing away, trying to guess Bruno's thoughts, was he going to go down the crease or pass the ball?
Damn Portuguese, they are so good with both feet, it’s really hard to tell.
Just when Pavard was struggling to get his head back, Bruno suddenly started. Pavard only felt a figure flash before his eyes, and when Bruno looked like he was about to dribble in from the inside, he was immediately startled and made a blocking move.
Unexpectedly, Bruno suddenly changed from cutting inside to going straight down the bottom. Almost at the moment when the two sides came into contact, Pavard was thrown away by Bruno.
"Nice fake move!"
"Bruno goes straight to the bottom and crosses the ball!"
"Harry Kane heads the ball in from the middle!"
"Oops, the ball went a little high!"
"Harry Kane failed to get the ball in the right spot due to Boateng's interference."
"Manchester United had their first shot of the game, a cross from Bruno after a strong breakthrough from the left."
……
Harry Kane failed to score a goal and gave Bruno a thumbs up.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
The cross landed very accurately, which was suitable for him to exert force, but he was disturbed by Boateng.
But just when Pavard was still feeling apprehensive and was thankful that Manchester United had not scored, the Red Devils once again organized an attack, again with a pass from Fred. Bruno once again faced Pavard one-on-one on the left.
But this time Bruno did not delay any more. He stopped the ball and started quickly, not giving the French defender any time to react.
"Exceptionally beautiful!"
"Bruno successfully broke through!"
"Cut inside with the ball..."
……
Boateng rushed over to help defend, but Bruno didn't wait for him to get close and shot directly. The football was like a cannonball, blasting towards Bayern Munich's goal.
Neuer flew over and lifted the ball with one hand over the crossbar.
After the German goalkeeper stood up, he shouted loudly to his teammates in front of him, obviously he was very afraid of this sudden long shot.
Bruno held his head with both hands, feeling a little depressed.
………………
As Bruno became more and more active, Manchester United's attack gradually gained momentum.
Soon, Fred sent a precise through ball, tearing through Bayern Munich's defense, but Harry Kane's shot hit the crossbar and missed a sure-fire goal opportunity.
In the 21st minute, Manchester United launched another offensive.
Luke Shaw took the ball on the left and advanced to the 30-meter area of Bayern Munich, then quickly passed the ball to Bruno's feet.
Bruno ran back from the front to receive the ball, Pavard followed closely behind him, and Kimmich and other players next to him were also eyeing him. He did not dare to stick to the ball, so he kicked the ball out and passed it back to Fred in the middle.
After passing the ball, Bruno quickly turned around and sprinted forward.
Fred didn't stop the ball and passed it back to the left to Luke Shaw.
Manchester United's left-back looked up at the situation. When he saw Bruno sprinting quickly behind Bayern Munich's defense and Harry Kane retreating from the front, he immediately understood what he meant and made a diagonal cross, sending the ball over Harry Kane's head.
Harry Kane blocked Luca Hernandez with his body, and the ball met Luke Shaw's header, and the ball immediately changed direction and fell to the left side of the penalty area.
Bruno quickly chased after him, with Pavard and Alaba chasing him from the left and right. The three rushed into the penalty area almost at the same time, but Bruno took the initiative, was obviously half a beat faster, kicked first, and unloaded the ball from mid-air.
Neither of the two Bayern Munich players dared to kick the ball, for fear of committing a foul in the penalty area, which would turn into a penalty kick, so they could only use their bodies to block it.
Due to their interference, Bruno's first kick did not stop the ball well, but he quickly kicked it again and lightly lifted it.
At this time, Pavard and Alaba were already blocking him in front of the side, and it was obvious that it was difficult for him to face the goal directly. So Bruno suddenly dribbled the ball back with his left foot, and then pulled it sideways with his right foot.
The whole process may sound long, but it actually happened in the blink of an eye. Bruno's two consecutive stops and dribbles caught the Bayern Munich defenders off guard, especially Alaba, who was the first to be attacked and missed.
