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

Chapter 872 League Cup Final

As Manchester United advances to the Champions League semi-finals, the rest of the season has been decided. From the afternoon of April 4 to the final Premier League match on the afternoon of May 18, Manchester United will play at least seven Premier League games, one FA Cup semi-final, one League Cup final and two Champions League semi-finals in five weeks, a total of 5 games.

If Manchester United can beat Southampton in the FA Cup semi-final and win the Manchester City derby in the Champions League semi-final, the number of games will increase to 13.

It's another rhythm of two games a week.

In fact, since the start of this season on September 9, in the past 14 months, Manchester United has participated in 7 competitions including the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Community Shield, Champions League, European Super Cup and Club World Cup. This is the number of games that most teams cannot participate in the entire season, and it is almost double games a week throughout the whole process.

In other words, the number of games Manchester United will participate in this season will be at least 64 and at most 66!

This is just the number of games played by some teams in a league with only 18 teams in two seasons!

However, for Manchester United, especially in the past five seasons, playing 60+ games each season has become the norm.

2016-2017赛季，曼联的参赛场次是64场；2017-2018赛季，曼联的参赛场次是65场；2018-2019赛季则是62场，2019-2020赛季是65场。

对英超球队来说，一个赛季理论上的比赛场次，最高可达67场，包括38场英超联赛、6场足总杯、6场联赛杯、13场欧冠、1场社区盾、1场欧洲超级杯和2场世俱杯。

Of course, this is assuming that the current competition systems remain unchanged.

Judging from the number of games Manchester United has played in the past five seasons, each season has been very close to this theoretical number.

In fact, Manchester United could have reached this theoretical maximum number this season, but because of the epidemic, the League Cup semi-finals were changed from a two-round system to a single game, which caused the theoretical maximum number to drop to 66 games.

This shows Manchester United's outstanding performance in the past few seasons. They have reached the final in every competition almost every season, and even won the championship.

………………

Over the weekend, the two semi-finals of the 2020-2021 FA Cup kicked off one after another. On Saturday afternoon, Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 at home and took the lead in advancing to the FA Cup final of this season.

A day later, another semi-final kicked off at the new Wembley Stadium, with Manchester United facing Southampton. With Bruno's direct free kick in the 78th minute of the game, Manchester United defeated Southampton 1-0 and won another place in the FA Cup final.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Manchester United has reached the FA Cup final, setting another record in the history of the FA Cup.

The following midweek, a make-up match of the 32nd round of the Premier League kicked off at the Millennium Stadium, led by Manchester United captain Burnley.

The game was originally scheduled for last weekend, but was postponed to midweek due to Manchester United's participation in the FA Cup semi-final.

As the League Cup final is coming up this weekend, Mourinho made a large-scale rotation of Manchester United's starting lineup. However, Bruno still started.

However, Bruno did not score a goal in this game, but he was still the most eye-catching person on the field.

Manchester United took the lead in the 48th minute. Rashford made a wonderful pass through the wing and then crossed the ball into the penalty area. Bruno deliberately missed the ball at the front point, and Greenwood easily pushed the ball into the goal without being guarded at the back point.

1:0, Manchester United leading!

Although Bruno did not score or assist in Manchester United's goal, the commentators said that Bruno's contribution to this goal should be at least half. It was because he attracted the opponent's defensive attention at the front point that Greenwood had the opportunity to shoot at the back point.

However, Burnley soon equalized the score. In the 50th minute, Burnley took a corner kick from the left side, and Tarkowski headed in the goal, beating Maguire and changing the score to 1:1.

In the 84th minute, Manchester United took the lead again. Bruno made a pass in the second attack from a corner kick, and Greenwood pushed the ball at a small angle facing the defense. The ball hit the defender and changed direction before bouncing into the goal. However, this goal was eventually credited to Greenwood, and Bruno also received an assist.

Manchester United secured the victory in the 3rd minute of stoppage time. After Luke Shaw made a key block in the backcourt, Manchester United launched a counterattack. Bruno passed the ball, Mbappe, who came on as a substitute, made a cross in the penalty area, and McTominay easily made a successful interception in front of the goal, locking the score on the field at 3:1!

Since defeating Manchester City in the 27th round of the Premier League, Manchester United has inadvertently won five consecutive league games, stabilizing the team's advantage in the standings.

………………

On the afternoon of April 4, this season's League Cup final was held at the new Wembley Stadium, with Manchester United facing Tottenham.

For this game, the authorities allowed 8000 fans to enter the stadium to watch the game, which is the game with the largest number of fans allowed in more than a year since the outbreak of the epidemic.

Because the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Manchester City will be played away at the Etihad Stadium next week, Mourinho did not field the strongest lineup for the League Cup final against Tottenham, but instead rotated the players in appropriate positions.

The goalkeeper is Romero.

Speaking of goalkeepers, Romero turned 2 in February, and the Argentine goalkeeper's condition has declined significantly. Fortunately, he is only Manchester United's backup goalkeeper, but he is barely competent.

Romero's contract with Manchester United will expire in October this year. As to whether to renew the contract with the Argentine, Mourinho has not yet made a decision.

The central defenders are Maguire and Van Dijk. Players in this position run relatively less during the game. In addition, the biggest requirement for central defenders is stability, so Mourinho rarely rotates the central defender position unless it is necessary.

The left back is Brandon Williams, and Luke Shaw is on the bench. The right back is Dalot, and Cancelo is also forced to rest and sit on the bench.

In the midfield, Bellingham and Fred are the double defensive midfielders, and Bruno plays as the attacking midfielder.

The forward line is Mahrez, McTominay and Greenwood.

"Mourinho is a bit too confident. Luke Shaw and Cancelo are both on the bench. He sent in two young players, Williams and Dalot. It is questionable whether Manchester United's two flanks can withstand Tottenham's attack."

On the Tottenham side, the young caretaker coach Ryan Mason can be said to have sent out all the main players.

For Tottenham, who have no hope of winning the league title and have already been eliminated from the Europa League and FA Cup, the League Cup title is a life-saving straw.

The goalkeeper is Lori, the central defenders are Alderweireld and Dier, the two full-backs are Reguilon and Aurier, the midfielders are Winks, Hojbjerg and Lo Celso, and the forwards are Lucas Jr., Cavani and Son Heung-min.

………………

The game has started for seven or eight minutes, and the field is very intense.

First, Mahrez knocked Winks over in a scramble and was given a verbal warning by the referee. Maguire then knocked Winks to the ground in another scramble, and then, without even looking at his national teammate, Maguire turned and walked away.

Winks was repeatedly violated and started to get angry.

Then, the first yellow card of the game came. Winks retaliated immediately by bringing down Bruno in the midfield and also received a yellow card.

Three minutes later, Dalot avenged Bruno by tackling Winks and also received a yellow card.

Then, Hojbjerg pushed Bellingham in retaliation and was shown a yellow card by the referee.

In a blink of an eye, Fred brought down Hojbjerg, avenged Bellingham, and also received a yellow card.

Less than twenty minutes into the game, both sides received two yellow cards each, for a total of four yellow cards.

"That's too many cards." Faria said worriedly.

Mourinho shook his head and said, don't worry, it's the final now, there's no such thing as suspension due to accumulated yellow cards, it's okay.

In this game, Mourinho took the most direct approach: setting the pace. Therefore, Manchester United players made big moves, and they were all aimed at Hojbjerg and Winks.

Now, in just over twenty minutes, these two people each got a yellow sapphire card.

The two defensive midfielders of Tottenham, who were already average in defensive ability, now had yellow cards on them. The two men calmed down and realized that they had been fooled.

But it was too late. The two men with cards were not full-time defensive players, and now they were timid in defense.

Just like that, Mason's unique double organizing midfielder formation was killed by Mourinho with a few cuts.

At this moment, Manchester United's offensive suddenly increased.

………………

In the 29th minute of the game, Manchester United advanced in the middle. Bellingham made a wall-to-wall pass with Bruno who was retreating, and then rushed forward with the ball.

Hoibel came up to intercept. When he got close to Bellingham and was about to pull him, he hesitated, remembering that he already had a card in his hand.

If he pulls down Bellingham with a tactical foul, it is definitely a foul. It depends on how the referee decides the penalty. The referee may just give a verbal warning, but he may also give a card.

Although the possibility of the referee drawing a card is relatively small, Hoibel doesn't dare to gamble.

Just as hesitating, Bellingham had already gotten rid of Hojbjerg's entanglement and was dribbling the ball to an area 30 meters away from the goal.

This is already within Bellingham's shooting range.

Seeing that Hojbjerg let Bellingham go like this, Alderweireld was so angry that he wanted to curse, so he could only face the opponent himself.

Bellingham swung his right foot.

Alderweireld was shocked. Bellingham's powerful long shot was quite threatening. He had no choice but to fall to the ground and tackle the ball while raising his legs high, hoping to block Bellingham's long shot as much as possible.

However, Bellingham's shot was fake. He tapped the ball with his right foot and avoided Alderweireld's flying tackle.

Aurier saw Alderweireld being easily dribbled past and quickly came up to defend.

………………

Bellingham was not in a hurry to pass the ball. He passed the ball when Aurier was halfway through the run.

McTominay got the ball and Dale immediately came up to defend.

McTominay pushed the ball with his instep and passed it to Greenwood, who turned and ran into the penalty area.

Dale quickly turned around to chase, at the same time, Reguilon also defended McTominay from the side.

Greenwood swung his left foot and prepared to shoot from long range.

At this moment, he caught a glimpse of Bruno sneaking back from the front of the goal, and there was not a single defensive player within two meters of the Manchester United captain.

Greenwood immediately changed his mind. He dribbled the ball, deceived Winks who came up to defend, and then passed the ball.

"Danger!"

"Bruno's place is empty!"

On the sidelines, Tottenham Hotspur caretaker coach Mason stood up from his seat and shouted, "Fill in!"

Bruno received the ball without any defense. He pretended to stop the ball, but let it pass by instead. Then he turned around, adjusted his body position, took a step forward, and kicked the ball in an arc with his right foot.

The ball passed Dell who rushed to intercept it, and Lori who flew to save it, and flew into the net.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLL!!!!!!"

Mourinho, standing on the sidelines, raised his arms high, turned around on the spot, and then was hugged by his assistants Faria and Carrick.

This is a tactical victory!

………………

"Bruno! Bruno!! Bruno!!!" the MUTV commentator screamed.

"This is the first goal of the Manchester United captain in the League Cup this season. He opened the scoring for Manchester United, 1:0, Manchester United leads Tottenham by one goal in the League Cup final."

After scoring the goal, Bruno happily rushed out of the stadium and came to the stands where Manchester United fans were to celebrate the goal with the fans.

Manchester United was celebrating, while Tottenham was a little confused.

Is this a lost ball?

Where did that guy Bruno come from?

After the start of the game, Bruno was a little quiet. The only time that everyone remembered was when Winks fouled him, which resulted in Winks receiving the first yellow card of the game.

No one thought that this guy who had disappeared for a while would once again attract everyone's attention by scoring a goal.

Bruno certainly did not appear out of thin air. The passing and running of Bellingham, Greenwood, McTominay and others were all aimed at distracting and attracting the attention of Tottenham players. Then the Manchester United captain, who was left open, completed the key shot.

Mason was too busy thinking about the weirdness of the situation to think about it. He walked to the sidelines and shouted to his players, "Calm down! Stay calm! It's just a ball!"

Tottenham lost both of their two league matches against Manchester United this season, and historically Tottenham is Manchester United's number one points giver, so this goal loss did make Tottenham players panic, and Mason had to stand up and speak to stabilize the morale of the team.

Mason then shouted Cavani's name loudly, signaling the Uruguayan to be more active in the frontcourt and put pressure on Manchester United's defense to reduce the pressure on Tottenham's defense.

Manchester United players were still celebrating the goal, and Tottenham fans at the new Wembley Stadium booed.

The referee had to stop it, and Manchester United's celebration ended without them having enough fun.