From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 533 Dream Back

"Shit!" Guardiola cursed in annoyance.

The Manchester City head coach is very dissatisfied with the current situation. They are two goals behind Manchester United away from home, and the game has just started for more than ten minutes. This is a situation that Guardiola never dreamed of.

He was a little confused now because he had never considered a contingency plan for this situation.

The live TV broadcast finally had time to replay this series of events in full.

First, David Silva's shot was blocked. David Silva's shot flew towards the goal, and Valencia blocked the ball. The slow motion showed that the ball first hit Valencia's knee, and then bounced up and hit Valencia's right hand.

In this case, it depends on how the referee decides the penalty. He can call it an intentional handball and a penalty kick, or he can call it a hitter and there is no handball.

Considering that this is Old Trafford and Manchester United is at home, in more cases the referee's whistle will not sound.

This cannot be said to be the referee favoring Manchester United, this is the home advantage.

Then, Manchester United quickly launched a counterattack. Rashford made consecutive breakthroughs and passed the ball quickly. Harry Kane stopped the ball, avoided Zinchenko's interception, and when he was about to shoot, he was knocked down in the penalty area by Otamendi.

The slow motion was played several times in a row, but it was still impossible to determine whether Otamendi's tackle touched the ball first or the player first, or it could be understood that he tackled both the player and the ball together.

This is another controversial point. The referee could whistle Otamendi for a reasonable tackle, or even give Harry Kane a yellow card for diving. He could also whistle Otamendi for a foul and award a penalty.

On the same matter, the referee's subjective views can be two extremes, and both are reasonable.

In the end, this time, the referee also made a decision against Manchester City, calling a foul on Otamendi. Manchester United was awarded a penalty, which was eventually scored by Bruno.

………………

Mourinho, Faria and others in Manchester United's coaching booth also figured it out. They naturally couldn't see the slow-motion replay, but two consecutive penalties were in favor of Manchester United. If they still didn't understand that the referee favored Manchester United, they would be a fool.

Carrick felt like he was dreaming back to the Ferguson era.

Since Ferguson retired, Manchester United has never been treated like this at home. Whether it was during Moyes' time, Van Gaal's time, or even last season, Manchester United was not well received by referees in the games, even in the games played at Old Trafford.

Even many Manchester United fans made bitter self-deprecating remarks: the referee would not award a penalty unless a Manchester United player's leg was broken by a tackle in the opponent's penalty area, but a penalty would be awarded as long as the opponent even slightly touched Manchester United in the penalty area.

Non-Manchester United fans said that this was Manchester United paying back the special care they received during the Ferguson era. Sooner or later, you have to pay for what you have done!

While Carrick's thoughts were wandering, Faria was asking Mourinho: "Jose, are you..."

"It's not me. I didn't do anything this time." Mourinho immediately shook his head to deny it.

"Hahaha." Faria originally wanted to ask, 'Do you also think the referee is biased towards us?', but he was amused by Mourinho's humor.

"The referee was very fair today, I want to give him a thumbs up." Mourinho continued to distance himself from the issue.

Faria turned his head away, but he still had some dignity.

Hey, hey, hey, what's that expression on your face?

………………

The camera gave a close-up of a box in the stands, where Manchester United club chairman Jassim, general manager Giarretta, club global ambassador Bobby Charlton, former meritorious coach Alex Ferguson and other Manchester United executives were staying.

Especially when the TV camera swept over Ferguson, it stayed for a long time, freezing Ferguson's facial expression again and again.

The meaning couldn't be more obvious. After all, Ferguson is too famous in the Premier League. Not to mention the widely complained "Ferguson time", the cases of Manchester United being taken care of by the referee on the field alone can be compiled into a thick book.

However, since Ferguson retired, such scenes of referee obviously taking care of Manchester United have rarely appeared.

Several people also watched the replay of what happened on the LCD TV in the box and looked at each other in bewilderment.

They are not stupid and naturally they can see that the referee favors Manchester United.

Yes, in this situation where the penalty can be called or not, and the tendency can lean towards either side, choosing a penalty in favor of Manchester United is nothing but favoritism.

When has Manchester United ever been treated like this? But by God, they did nothing.

Hey, why did you say "again"? It sounds weird...

………………

Less than twenty minutes into the game, Manchester United once again led Manchester City 2:0, which surprised everyone.

Has it become standard practice for Manchester United to lead Manchester City by two goals in the game?

Manchester United fans were jubilant and the players on the field also seemed extremely happy, but for Manchester City players, the mood was not so good.

Especially Manchester United's second goal, the penalty was awarded because David Silva's shot was blocked by Valencia. The referee did not recognize Manchester United's handball in the penalty area. The consecutive unfavorable penalties against Manchester City made Manchester City's stars very dissatisfied and it was a big blow to Manchester City's morale.

Then, after the next game started, Manchester City players obviously played with some emotion.

In Bruno's eyes, the faces of Manchester City stars seem to be labeled as "the baby is unhappy" and "the baby has some emotions".

What he and Manchester United have to do now is to add fuel to the fire.

Under the leadership of the captain, Manchester United suddenly increased their fighting intensity in the midfield and frontcourt.

No, to be more precise, this can be said to be close to hand-to-hand combat. Anyway, when the body is at an advantage, the collision will definitely be more powerful, and when the body is at a disadvantage, the small movements of the hands will come up.

These actions are not bad and do not cause any harm, but they are very frustrating. For example, when you are speeding up, they suddenly pull your jersey secretly and then quickly let go. Or when you are competing for a header, they pretend to jump but stay where they are, carrying you, and suddenly release their strength when you jump and throw you down.

What the fans saw was that after 20 minutes of the game, the intensity of the game suddenly increased, and more people fell on the field.

Then there were more and more quarrels between the players of both sides.

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In the 41st minute of the game, Valencia brought down Sane for the third time. The German got up and rushed towards the Ecuadorian.

Bruno rushed over and separated the two men. His purpose was to let his teammates stimulate the Manchester City players and make them angry. In this way, the Manchester City players' game state would definitely be affected, their technical movements would be deformed, they would become impatient, and they could even get a card.

But this kind of thing is a double-edged sword. Once you get angry, you can't control it. You also have to pay attention to controlling your own anger. Don't be self-defeating and let your own people lose cards.

Sane was very emotional. He pushed Bruno away and was about to cause trouble for Valencia.

At this time, the players from both sides quickly gathered together, some were pushing and shoving, and some were greeting each other without any polite words.

The referee blew the whistle and he quickly ran over, shouting and making gestures to separate the players from both sides. Then he gave a yellow card to Sane, who was emotionally out of control and provoked first, and then verbally warned Valencia.

This caused strong dissatisfaction among Manchester City players. Manchester City's Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho raised three fingers, meaning that this was Valencia's third foul and he should be given a card.

The referee then calmed the Brazilian down with a yellow card.

………………

In the end, at the end of the first half, the score on the field temporarily stayed at 2:0, with Manchester United leading Manchester City 2:0.

When the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, cheers roared over Old Trafford and the home fans were in a very good mood.

"Eight yellow cards!" Andy Gray shouted at the top of his voice amid the cheers at Old Trafford. "Manchester United's Rashford and Gundogan each got a yellow card. Manchester City's Kyle Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Aguero, Sane and Fernandinho, six players got yellow cards! The referee turned into a card-dispensing machine."

"Manchester City fans must be very angry. They must not be satisfied with the referee's decision in the first half. How long has it been since Manchester City encountered an unfavorable decision at Old Trafford? The last time was probably before Sir Alex Ferguson retired. The referee's decision will definitely cause controversy after the game."

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Meanwhile, on the way back to the home team's dressing room at Old Trafford, Carrick asked Mourinho: "I don't understand."

"Tell me about it," Mourinho said as he walked, nodding to a female staff member at Old Trafford who waved at him.

"When we were leading 2-0, why didn't we take advantage of the situation and seize the opportunity to win?" Carrick asked his own question. "But you chose to slow down and fight with Manchester City at that time."

Although Mourinho did not personally go to the sidelines to arrange tactical adjustments, Carrick knew that if that was not what he meant, Mourinho would definitely ask the players to change their tactics. And the fact that he did not make any adjustments showed that that was exactly what he meant.

"Wow! Michael, you are so inflated! Listen, do you know what you just said? Oh my God, where is my honest assistant?" Mourinho made an exaggerated expression and screamed.