After returning to Manchester from Monaco, Manchester United will soon face the fourth round of the Premier League, visiting Turf Moor to challenge the Clarets Burnley.

Manchester United launched an active offensive after the opening, but several consecutive excellent opportunities were wasted by Manchester United's attacking players. However, when the game reached the 27th minute, Manchester United finally took the lead. At that time, Manchester United launched a quick attack, Lingard made a cross from the left, and Harry Kane, who was unguarded, headed the ball into the goal from the edge of the small penalty area.

In the 36th minute, Manchester United launched another quick counterattack. Bruno made a straight pass in the middle, and Harry Kane's shot from outside the upper left corner of the small penalty area was saved by Joe Hart in time.

Manchester United extended the lead in the 44th minute. Harry Kane passed the ball back and Mbappe's powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area was blocked by Taylor and deflected. Westwood made a mistake in stopping the ball in a hurry and Harry Kane shot low into the net in front of the small penalty area, changing the score to 2:0.

Neither side made any adjustments during the half-time break.

Shortly after the start of the second half, Manchester United launched another quick counterattack. Cancelo made a cross from the right, and Bruno volleyed from the edge of the penalty area. The ball bounced off the ground and was easily caught by Joe Hart.

Rashford then replaced Lingard.

Manchester United sealed the victory in the 69th minute. Lennon fouled Rashford in the penalty area and Bruno scored a penalty to lock the score at 3:0.

………………

After defeating Burnley, the first international match day of the new season arrived, and Bruno returned to Portugal to join the team in the UEFA Nations League.

This is a brand new event. The 55 members of UEFA are divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D according to the ranking coefficient. There are 4 teams in the A League, 12 teams in the B League, 12 teams in the C League, and 15 teams in the D League.

Each level of the league is divided into four groups, and two teams play in a double round-robin match. Finally, the first place teams of the four groups in the A-level league will participate in the finals (semi-finals, third and fourth place finals, and finals) in June of the following year to determine the champion. The bottom four teams will be relegated to the B-level league. The top four teams in the B-level league will be promoted to the A-level league, and so on.

The 12 A-level teams in the first UEFA Nations League are Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, England, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Iceland, Croatia and the Netherlands.

After the draw, Germany, France and the Netherlands were divided into Group 1, Belgium, Switzerland and Iceland were divided into Group 2, Portugal, Italy and Poland were divided into Group 3, and Spain, England and Croatia were divided into Group 4.

During this international match day, Portugal only has one UEFA Nations League group match, and the other match is a friendly match against Croatia.

The match was held on the evening of September 9th, local time in Portugal. This was the second meeting between the two sides after the World Cup quarter-finals.

C Ronaldo missed the Portuguese national team this time, and Bruno started for the first time wearing the Portugal captain's armband.

In the 18th minute, Kovacic intercepted the ball in the frontcourt, the Portuguese defender made a clearance error, Perisic volleyed the ball into the goal, and Croatia took the lead 1:0.

However, Portugal quickly equalized the score. In the 32nd minute, Portugal took a free kick on the right side. Bruno kicked the ball into the penalty area and Pepe scored with a header to equalize the score.

These were the only two goals scored in the game, and the two sides ended up in a 1:1 draw.

………………

Four days later, Portugal faced the Italian national team at home in its first UEFA Nations League group match.

This game will be Portugal's first European Nations League. How will the Portuguese team perform without Ronaldo? Can Bruno take on the responsibility of being the spiritual leader of the Portuguese national team? These are the focuses of worldwide attention.

In the first round, Italy under Mancini's coaching still did not have many amazing performances. Balotelli, who returned to the national team, did not perform satisfactorily and will miss this game due to injury.

In this game, Andre Silva and Bernardo Silva will start, and Ruben Neves will also start. For Italy, Immobile will partner with Zaza and Chiesa as the forwards, and Jorginho and Bonaventura will be in the midfield.

After the start of the game, Italy seemed very conservative, and Portugal's forward line seemed a little confused after the absence of Ronaldo. After 45 minutes of dull fighting, the two sides ended up in a 0:0 draw.

After the halftime break, Portugal attacked more aggressively and broke the deadlock in the 48th minute. The Italian defense intercepted the ball but failed to clear it in time. Bruno intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and knocked it into the penalty area. Andre Silva stopped the ball and shot with his left foot to score. Portugal led Italy 1:0.

This was the only goal of the game. In the end, Portugal beat Italy 1-0 at home and took first place in the group.

………………

After the international match day, Bruno returned to the club and immediately faced the 5th round of the Premier League. He will lead the team to visit Vicarage Road Stadium to challenge this season's super dark horse Watford.

After the start of the new season, the Hornets performed very well, winning four games in a row in the first four rounds, and currently ranked third in the standings only by goal difference. Behind them are the two Manchester teams with 3 wins and 1 draw!

Watford head coach Gracia also became the Premier League's best coach in August by leading the team to four consecutive Premier League victories in August.

In the pre-match press conference, Mourinho praised the opponent of this game, and he praised Watford's good defense.

“Obviously, this is a very difficult team to score against. They are the second-fewest team in the Premier League. It will be difficult for us to score in this game.”

Mourinho's words won Gracia's favor. He thought it was very good that Mourinho, as a senior, could remain humble towards a little-known junior like him after achieving such great achievements.

"No, no, no, I should say that I am fascinated by Manchester United. Coach Mourinho has created a fascinating team. I have studied Manchester United's games carefully, and every time I study them, I am amazed."

Gracia is clearly a gentleman, Mourinho praised him and he reciprocated.

The spectators were all stunned. There were media outlets that wanted to stir up trouble before the game, but the two head coaches simply ignored all that and created a scene of mutual sympathy, which really disappointed many people.

Before the game, Vicarage Road Stadium, away team locker room.

"Watford is very stable, but the more such a team is, once the situation is unfavorable, once they lose, they will collapse in the short term."

"I only have one request for this game, win the game!"

"Go on, go on, go kick that Spanish nose's ass for me."

Mourinho shouted, pointing at the locker room door.

………………

Meanwhile, in the home team's locker room.

"Chelsea is beginning to be in chaos, Guardiola is beginning to lose the trust of Manchester City's management, Liverpool is still in the process of rebuilding, this is our best chance!"

"Young men, the championship is not impossible. Mr. Ranieri set the best example for us three years ago!"

"But now we have an obstacle standing in our way and that is Mourinho's Manchester United."

"Win the game, beat Manchester United, and use your actions to tell this young team and that old guy that Watford is no longer the Watford of the past!"

Gracia is actually not a coach who is good at giving passionate motivational speeches, but when he said these words today, he was in high spirits and full of enthusiasm, and he spoke very vigorously.

………………

Manchester United's match against Watford was played relatively late. Before that, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea had already defeated their opponents. If Manchester United cannot win the game, they will lag behind the Red Army and the Blue Army by more than 4 points in the standings and gradually be left behind by their opponents.

Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City are also paying attention to this top battle.

Klopp said he would like to see Manchester United draw with Watford.

Manchester City head coach Guardiola previously refused to predict the result of the game in an interview with the media. He said that he was not very interested in the game and Manchester City just needed to do their best.

At this moment, at Manchester City, head coach Guardiola called the entire team together to watch the game.

Well, Guardiola has no interest in the game, he is only interested in Mourinho.

After the game started, Watford played very actively at home, as if they were going to swallow Manchester United in one bite.

"What do you think?" Guardiola asked his coaching staff.

"Gracia wants to attack instead of defend," Arteta said. "His purpose is very clear, to use offense to compress Manchester United's space and keep the threat away from his own goal."

"But Manchester United's quick counterattack is very sharp. I don't think this is a good strategy," said another assistant coach.

At this moment, the commentator's excited voice shouted: "Counterattack, counterattack!"

Everyone looked up.

"GOOOOOOOOALLLL!!!! Harry Kane! Harry Kane!! Harry Kane!!! Beautiful, I want to cheer for this goal, the whole process of scoring the goal was very exciting, the counterattack was very quick, Bruno sent a through ball, Harry Kane passed two Watford defenders in a row and volleyed the ball, Watford's defense was completely penetrated."

………………

"What do you think?" Guardiola asked Arteta.

"Manchester United has strong offensive capabilities, so they dare to attack their opponents, but -" Arteta paused, "the most difficult thing to deal with this team is when they insist on playing defensive counterattacks."

"so what?"

"Now that Manchester United is leading 1:0, they can play defensive counterattacks with more confidence. Gracia is no match for Mourinho," said Arteta.

"I don't think so." Another assistant coach said, "Gracia's team has good defense and offense, they play beautiful football, and they are playing at home, so I am optimistic that they can make a comeback at home."

While these people were debating, Guardiola didn't speak, he was thinking.

As his Spanish compatriot, Gracia's tactics can generally be classified as offensive football. Generally speaking, Gracia's team emphasizes control. In Guardiola's view, Gracia's Watford has less rapid counterattacks and more stability in control.

This kind of ball possession tactic may be very effective when facing other teams, but it may not be so effective when facing Manchester United, which uses tough pressing tactics and has speed and counterattacks.

………………

Mourinho smiled, not only because the team had taken a 1:0 lead, but also because he knew that his tactics were effective and his judgment was correct. He was more confident of winning the game.

Gracia's team's overall passing and control is slow. Will Hughes has excellent footwork and accurate passing, but his burst points and crossing routines are single, which makes Deeney's point-grabbing runs become regular and easy to be restricted, resulting in frequent lack of outflanking in the middle.

Watford, trailing 0:1, seemed a bit confused, as if they lacked the necessary preparation for conceding the goal first. This surprised Mourinho a little. He found it hard to imagine that Gracia had not considered how to play if Watford lost the ball too early?

Only Gracia knew the answer.

In the 2th minute of the first half, Bruno took a corner kick, Harry Kane headed the ball from a far post, Smalling chested the ball and volleyed it into the net from close range, 0:.

Mourinho celebrated by high-fiving his assistants in the coaching booth. With a two-goal lead, the game was almost in their grasp.

However, in the injury time of the first half, Watford made a beautiful attack. Doucoure made a cross from the left side of the penalty area, and the unguarded Gray shot into the net from 12 yards, changing the score to 1:2.

This goal caused strong dissatisfaction among Mourinho. With a two-goal lead, Rojo once again made the mistake of not concentrating enough.

During the half-time break, Mourinho did not praise the players for leading in the first half, but instead made harsh criticisms of the team for conceding goals.

He can accept losing the ball, but he cannot accept a big gift package given because of his own mistakes.

After the start of the second half, Watford pressed hard in an attempt to equalize the score, but they did not expect Manchester United to score a goal out of the blue in the 65th minute of the game.

The goal was scored by Bruno. He and Mata, who came on as a substitute, made a wall pass into the penalty area, faked a shot and passed the ball to Harry Kane, who followed up with a shot. The ball was saved by Foster and flew up, right in front of Mbappe. The French genius made a selfless cross pass, and Bruno easily pushed the ball into the empty goal.

Watford, which fell behind by two goals again, seemed a little flustered, and as time went by, this panic and impatience became more obvious. Even Gracia's continuous substitutions did not have any effect.

Mourinho responded sharply to Gracia's substitution.

In the end, Manchester United easily defeated third-ranked Watford 3:1 away and successfully got three points.

No one expected that Manchester United would win so easily against Watford, which had won four consecutive games and even defeated Tottenham. In the words of commentator Andy Gray, except for the last few minutes of the first half when Watford suddenly exerted force and caught the somewhat relaxed Manchester United off guard, Manchester United had firm control of the game throughout the game.

More British media said that Watford encountered the "best curse" again!

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