Chapter 265: Manchester United's Four Little Swans?

Manchester United, who were behind, launched a counterattack with waves of attacks, but the home team took advantage of the gaps left by Manchester United's forward pressure and launched a defensive counterattack. Before the game, Villa's head coach O'Neill said: "We have defeated Chelsea and we are confident. We must also be brave when facing Manchester United, and the result will definitely not be bad."

Villa had won four consecutive home games before, and with the momentum of their 4-2 victory over Chelsea, they vowed to break the record of the Red Devils losing the most times to Manchester United among Premier League teams. However, in general, Manchester United took the initiative on the field in this game and created more offensive threats.

In the 14th minute, Li Qi broke through the wing and passed the ball to the middle, and Scholes' powerful shot from 22 yards was blocked. Rooney then picked up the flying ball first, protected the ball and passed it to the right side of the penalty area. Tevez turned and shot from 16 yards in front of the goal, but the ball was slightly higher than the crossbar.

In the 19th minute, Evra made a cross from the left, Rooney headed the ball from a far post, and Li Qi made a diagonal shot from 10 yards in the penalty area, but the goalkeeper miraculously caught it with one hand, and the ball hit the post and bounced out of the bottom line.

In the 20th minute, Barry made a long pass from the backcourt, and Abanglaho dribbled into the left side of Manchester United's penalty area and shot diagonally but missed.

In the 22nd minute, Luke Moore intercepted the ball on the left side of the frontcourt and passed it to the hesitant Pique, then cut inside to the edge of the penalty area and shot hard; however, the final shot was interfered by Li Qi and Anderson who were chasing back, and the shot was not powerful enough, and the ball went far away from the near corner.

In the 26th minute, Tevez received a diagonal pass from Li Qi and set up a shot in front of the penalty area. Scholes followed up with a long shot from 25 yards, which hit the post and went wide of the far corner.

In the 28th minute, it was Scholes' turn to organize the attack and send a straight pass. When everyone thought that he was going to give Tevez a chance to attack with the ball, the latter simply spread his legs and let the ball pass. Rooney, who was lurking behind Tevez, once again knocked the ball back to the right side of the penalty area without stopping, a clever pass-by-wall combination!

The ball immediately penetrated Villa's defense, but unfortunately Rooney's final pass was a little too strong. Tevez's shot from 10 yards in front of the goal was blocked by Carson who attacked in time. Then the ball hit the chasing defender Mellberg and bounced out of the baseline.

But obviously, Manchester United's attack is very close to scoring...

As expected, in the last ten minutes of the first half, Manchester United launched a wave of goal frenzy.

Manchester United equalized the score in the 36th minute. Scholes passed the ball, and Li Qi made a high-speed stop and pass on the right side of the penalty area. After breaking through Villa's defense, he sent a low arc pass, aiming directly at the far end of the goal.

Villa's defense lacked layered protection, and Li Qi's pass was fast and spinning; goalkeeper Carson hesitated and didn't have the confidence to intercept the ball and let it pass in front of the goal. Then he could only watch Rooney, who passed behind defender Gardner, easily push the ball into the goal from close range at the far post.

This was Rooney's fifth consecutive game in which he scored, and this goal also helped Manchester United tie the score at 5-1!

However, Manchester United's offensive wave did not end. Manchester United overtook the score in the 44th minute, the last minute of regular time in the first half.

Tevez moved to the left side and received a long diagonal pass from Li Qi. He stopped the ball with his chest and broke through to the bottom line. He made an inverted triangle pass near the junction of the penalty area and the bottom line. Rooney, who was unguarded, followed up to the middle of the penalty area 14 yards away and made a low shot. The ball hit the lower right corner of Villa's goal!

Lu Xiaopang scored twice in the first half, helping Manchester United reverse the score to 2 to 1. But Manchester United's attack was not over yet...

Manchester United continued to score in the second minute of stoppage time in the first half. Li Qi took a corner kick from the right side, and Pique's header from 2 yards was barely blocked by Ashley Young in front of the near corner goal line. Then Ferdinand raised his leg and shot from the right side of the small penalty area. The ball was blocked by Gardner on the goal line, but the latter's clearance accidentally resulted in an own goal!

However, after the game, the goal was still attributed to Ferdinand, who scored a rare goal. It was the first league goal of the season for the English defender...

Manchester United not only equalized and reversed the score at halftime, but also surpassed the score by one goal. The Red Devils players, who were in good form, entered the halftime break excitedly with a score of 3-1.

In the second half, Manchester United, who was leading by two goals, did not slow down the tempo of the attack. Instead, they continued to speed it up and maximized the rate of conversion between offense and defense.

In the 48th minute, Wes Brown came in to assist and made a passing and cutting cooperation with Li Qi. Li Qi then cut inside to the right side of the penalty area with the ball. Thinking that he had missed the opportunity in the first half and had not had a shot, he tried another shot with his left foot. Unexpectedly, the shot missed the target and was not powerful enough, so the ball was caught by Carson.

In the 55th minute, Villa had a chance to close the gap. Barry again launched a counterattack from the backcourt and sent a long pass. Agbonlahor dribbled past Van der Sar, but his shot from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area was blocked by Pique who returned to defense in time and went out of bounds.

Then, not long after the missed opportunity, Villa suffered a heavy blow in this game. In the 60th minute, Rayo Koke fouled Anderson and accumulated two yellow cards, successfully exchanged for a Ruby War God card and was sent off.

However, it was then that Li Qi discovered that there were many familiar faces in the opponent's lineup. They had all played against each other in the European Youth Championship. So it was no wonder that Villa's results were not very stable. There were many young players. Although they had a future, they would inevitably sacrifice their crotch...

So Villa was forced to play with one less player, but this was not Villa's darkest moment, because after Manchester United took the lead in numbers, they gave Villa a chance to counterattack, which was obviously a trap! Villa, who were mainly young players, did not doubt him and successfully fell into the trap...

In the 62nd minute, Agbonlahor dribbled the ball down the bottom line and passed it back. Osborne volleyed the ball with his left foot from 25 yards away from the goal in the penalty area corner, but it was confiscated by Van der Sar. Two minutes later, Ashley Young broke through the bottom line again and passed the ball back. This time, Maloney shot from 2 yards on the left, but it missed the near corner.

After Manchester United slightly relaxed their pressing in the midfield and frontcourt, Villa, who were at a numerical disadvantage, successfully went down the wing frequently and unknowingly pushed their formation forward.

So in the 66th minute, Manchester United, seeing their prey in the cage, launched a killing move. When Villa tried to create a threat from the bottom, they suddenly increased their pressure and Li Qi successfully stole the ball from Barry's feet. Then, without adjusting, he sent a straight pass with his left foot to Rooney who successfully got offside.

After receiving a direct pass from Li Qi, Rooney launched a quick counterattack along the empty space on the left side of Villa and made a decisive cross from the edge of the penalty area. Tevez, who was flanking the middle, was tactically tripped by Carson when he was about to dribble past the goalkeeper in the penalty area.

So the referee had to give the former Liverpool goalkeeper a ruby ​​war card and let him go back to the locker room to rest.

Manchester United got a penalty kick, but the Red Devils' first penalty taker did not seem to want to take a hat-trick in this game. Rooney's penalty kick was guessed by Villa's second goalkeeper Stuart Taylor, who came on as a substitute and saved the penalty kick that was shot towards the lower left corner but lacked power and speed.

Although Villa successfully saved a penalty, there were only 9 players left on the field. The Red Devils on the other side were not only leading by two goals, but also by two people...

After that, Manchester United missed scoring opportunities one after another. In the 70th minute, Wes Brown made a cross from the right, and Rooney's powerful shot from 14 yards hit the crossbar and bounced out. In the 72nd minute, Li Qi cut inside and cleverly passed the ball diagonally into the penalty area, but Tevez's powerful shot from 10 yards in front of the goal was saved by Taylor again. It seemed that even Sir Alex couldn't stand it anymore, so he replaced Tevez with Fletcher.

However, after the substitution, Manchester United finally scored again in the 75th minute. This goal was a collaboration between two veterans. Li Qi switched to the left to initiate the attack. After passing the ball through the half court, he passed the ball to Scholes who was following up in the middle. The latter made a shoulder fake move to get out of the gap and passed the ball to Giggs who was ambushing on the right wing.

Giggs received the ball and cut inside, dribbled horizontally and made a series of feints, then cut diagonally from the right wing to the right side of Villa's penalty area 14 yards away, and shot with his left foot! The ball went straight to the near corner of the goal like a cannonball, and although Villa defender Lawson barely touched the ball with his header, he was unable to prevent the extremely fast ball from hitting the net.

This goal was Giggs' first league goal of the season, making him, like Speed, a player who has scored in every Premier League season in the past 15 years, helping Manchester United to a 4-1 lead over their opponents.

After Giggs scored, Sir Alex used up his last substitution quota. Ronaldo and O'Shea replaced two veterans, Giggs and Scholes respectively.

As soon as he came on the field, touched the grass and prayed to God, Ronaldo looked straight at Li Qi in the distance. Li Qi was stunned for a while and nodded: I understand! Go score a goal! Give it to him...

So three minutes later, in the 80th minute of the game, Li Qi scored a goal alone. 5 to 1!

Then, to celebrate the goal, Ronaldo ran over and hugged Li Qi's handsome hair and rubbed it hard: "Huh?! Ricardo, didn't you agree to assist me? How did you get it in by yourself?!"

Li Qi finally broke free from Ronaldo's clutches. He smiled and waved to the audience while secretly explaining to Ronaldo, "Damn, there's nothing I can do. I was watching your position after I cut inside. Villa's defenders ignored me and rushed to your position as if you were the goal. I couldn't pass the ball, so I dribbled past a defender. But then the road ahead was smooth and the center gate was wide open... Hey, hey, hey, don't rub your hair! I'm just trying to attract their attention first! There are still ten minutes left. I'll definitely pass the ball to you later! Wait! Wait!"

Then, Manchester United reversed the Aston Villa with only 5 players away from home with a score of 1-9 and achieved 7 consecutive league victories!

Before the game was over, Ronaldo grabbed Li Qi who was about to exchange jerseys with Ashley Young: "Ricardo! What's going on? Didn't I say I should wait for your pass? Where's the ball? Where's the assist? Didn't you say I should wait? Ah..." (Rubbing Ricardo's golden hair hard!)

Ricardo quickly begged for mercy: "Didn't I pass the ball to Anderson twice and let him pass it to you? He passed the ball too far out of the baseline for one time, and didn't you kick the last ball from 16 yards on the left side of the penalty area? But the opponent's goalkeeper was possessed by God and dived to save it..."

Ronaldo: "Damn! That was from Anderson! It doesn't count! And it didn't go in!" (Continues to rub Ricardo's golden hair!)

Ricardo surrendered: "Storpu, big brother! Next time, next time, there must be one! If not, I will still call you big brother..."

Ricardo successfully dealt with Ronaldo, who seemed to be not very smart, but looking back, Ashley Young, who lost by a large margin, seemed to be in a bad mood and slipped back to the locker room early...

@

Giggs, who will be 34 next month, has had many happy events recently. He got married last month, renewed his contract this month, and immediately scored his first Premier League goal of the season at Manchester United's hunting ground, Villa Park. The "founding fathers" of the Premier League have retired in recent years, and Giggs is one of the few veterans who are still fighting on the battlefield.

When Giggs made his Manchester United debut in 1991, the Premier League had not yet opened. 16 years later, the Welsh veteran is still full of energy. The young player from Manchester City's youth training camp welcomed Ferguson's visit on his 14th birthday, which changed the trajectory of his life. Now, he is 759 games away from Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 31 Manchester United appearances. If all goes well, this record will belong to him sooner or later.

At the press conference after the match, Sir Alex Ferguson, who was in high spirits after the big win, specially commented on Wang Laoji who scored his first goal, but accidentally set a flag: "He scored a very classic Giggs-style goal... At his age, I can't see any degradation in him. He is unique... Giggs interprets the word loyalty. 20 years have passed, and he is still here. In addition to his football skills, his character is also very good. He is a role model for young players..."

Manchester United won 5-1 in this game. Following the 5-0 victory over Wigan Athletic in the previous game, Manchester United scored five goals in a single game again. However, Sir Alex Ferguson was a little disappointed: "It's a bit disappointing. We should have scored more goals. But considering the conditions of the team's current players, it's a huge surprise... Manchester United's performance was absolutely superb, perhaps our best performance this season, especially in the first half, which was absolutely excellent."

Finally, Sir Alex Ferguson did not mention Rooney's penalty kick that missed a hat trick, nor did he mention Ronaldo's missed goal. The focus was on paving the way for the Champions League away game against Dynamo Kyiv next week: "Obviously this will be a fierce game. The European battlefield is always special. Manchester United must maintain a good state, but Ukraine is not an easy place."

However, before the entire Manchester United team set off for Ukraine, Manchester United defensive legend Dennis Irving suddenly broke out a term in an interview: "Indeed, they all like to dribble the ball, and they are similar in one-touch passing and running, but they are suitable for Manchester United's style of play. Manchester United always has a fast pace, and these four players are very calm in front of the goal. The four little swans will undoubtedly be the core of Manchester United's attack in the next few years, and the prospects are bright!"

Ricardo, who was on the plane, read the newspaper reprint and couldn't help but complain: Four Little Swans? Tevez's beastly appearance is worthy of being called a swan? Uh... if we include the story of the ugly duckling, it seems that it can barely be understood as a prequel to the swan?

Or is there another way to understand it? Among the four, his body shape is the most suitable for the word "small", so the other three are swans?

Ricardo secretly glanced at Rooney, who was half-closed in his seat, and retracted his previous thoughts: There must be something wrong with Dennis Irving's expression, or I opened the newspaper in the wrong way...

@

At 2007:10 on the evening of October 23, 20, the third round of the European Champions League Group F began, with Manchester United visiting Kiev to challenge the Ukrainian Premier League giants Dynamo Kyiv. The highest temperature there at night was only 45 degrees Celsius, which was already late autumn.

Compared with the weekend league, Manchester United's starting lineup has five positions adjusted. Ronaldo, who rested for most of the league last weekend, returned to the lineup, and central defender Vidic returned in time. However, Scholes injured his knee in training yesterday, and Evra was injured during the pre-match warm-up. O'Shea retreated to play left back, Fletcher filled the vacancy of defensive midfielder, and Lizzie, who has stronger defensive ability, replaced Anderson as central midfielder to organize the midfield.

Sir Alex Ferguson still arranged a 4-4-2 parallel starting lineup:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Van der Sar;

The back line is No. 6 Wes Brown, who has been playing as a right back for a long time this season. The double central defenders are No. 5 Ferdinand and No. 15 Vidic, and the left back is No. 22 O'Shea.

The central midfield combination from right to left is No. 7 Cristiano Ronaldo, No. 17 Li Qi, No. 24 Fletcher and No. 11 Giggs;

The two strikers are still No. 10 Rooney, who is in hot form recently, and No. 32 Tevez.

After the game started, Dynamo Kyiv, who had suffered two consecutive defeats in the Champions League and had no way out, did not make any attempts and started a tit-for-tat fight with Manchester United, who had been in a tough spot recently!

The offensive and defensive rhythm was very fast from the first minute of the game, and the heat on the field did not show the coolness of the late autumn season at all...

……