As we enter May 2021, all events in the 5-2020 season are coming to an end. The world-renowned Premier League has also reached its final critical period.

At this time, the Premier League has completed 33 rounds, and the standings are as follows:

曼联32场25胜6平1负,打进80球失28球,净胜球52个,积81分排名第一;

曼城33场24胜4平5负,打进69球失25球,净胜球44个,积76分排名第二;

莱斯特城34场19胜6平9负,打进61球失39球,净胜球22个,积63分排名第三;

切尔西33场16胜9平8负,打进51球失33球,净胜球18个,积57分排名第四;

西汉姆联33场16胜7平10负,打进53球失43球,净胜球10个,积55分排名第五;

利物浦33场15胜9平9负,打进55球失39球,净胜球16个,积54分排名第六;

埃弗顿32场15胜7平10负,打进44球失40球,净胜球4个,积52分排名第七;

热刺33场14胜8平11负,打进50球失38球,净胜球12个,积50分排名第八;

利兹联33场14胜5平14负,打进50球失51球,净胜球-1个,积47分排名第九;

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Judging from the situation in the standings, the championship will definitely be between the two Manchester giants, because the third-placed Leicester City is 5 points behind Manchester United with only five games left, and has lost even theoretical hope of winning the championship.

In the championship battle between the two Manchester giants, Manchester United undoubtedly has a clear advantage. They are 5 points ahead of Manchester City with one game less, and their opponent in the game less is Leeds United.

The second leg of the Rose Derby was postponed to the evening of May 5 because Manchester United participated in the League Cup final.

In the first leg of the league match between the two sides, Manchester United slaughtered their opponents 7:2.

However, the situation of Leeds United at this time is completely different from that time. Since the 3:8 loss to West Ham United on the night of March 0, Leeds United has ushered in a very brilliant period, drawing 2:0 with Chelsea at home, beating Fulham 0:2 away, beating Sheffield United 1:2 at home, beating Manchester City 1:2 away, and drawing 1:1 with Liverpool at home. With five games unbeaten, they have quietly risen to the top half of the standings and even retain a glimmer of hope for a Champions League spot: with five rounds left in the league, they are only 1 points behind Chelsea, who is fourth in the standings!

Leeds United has recently tied Chelsea and Liverpool and defeated Manchester City, and they are a killer of strong teams. In addition, it is not easy for Manchester United to get all three points away from home, motivated by the revenge of the first round of the Rose Derby.

Therefore, Manchester United's championship situation is indeed very good, with a very obvious advantage, but it cannot be said that they have already won the championship. After all, if they lose away in this Rose Derby make-up match, their points advantage will only be 5 points.

With the depth of Manchester City's squad and Manchester United fighting on three fronts, it is not impossible to catch up with 5 points in 5 rounds.

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Manchester City's title race is not very optimistic, but they have at least secured a spot in the Champions League next season. With only five rounds left, they are 5 points ahead of fourth-placed Chelsea, which has already secured a top four spot in the league.

From Leicester City, which is third in the standings, to Leeds United, which is ninth in the standings, they can all be called contenders for European competitions or even Champions League seats. These seven teams will produce two Champions League qualifiers, two Europa League qualifiers, and one UEFA Cup qualifier.

欧足联于2015年开始计划增加一个第三级别的俱乐部赛事,旨在为排名较低的欧足联会员协会旗下俱乐部更多参赛机会。2018年12月2日,欧足联宣布这项全新赛事将会于2021–24年这个三年赛事周期中推出,初时暂时称为“欧洲联赛2”。

On September 2019, 9, UEFA officially announced that this new event will be called the UEFA European Association League (UEFA Europa Conference League).

According to the new season's European qualification allocation, the top four teams in the Premier League will directly advance to the Champions League stage, and the fifth will qualify for next season's Europa League.

Another Europa League spot will be awarded to the FA Cup winner. However, if the FA Cup winner has already qualified for the Champions League or Europa League, the spot will be given to the sixth-placed team in the standings.

As for the qualification for the UEFA Champions League, it is obtained by the League Cup champion. However, if the League Cup champion has already qualified for the Champions League or the Europa League, the quota will be postponed to the sixth or seventh team in the standings.

Judging from the situation this season, the two teams participating in the FA Cup final are Manchester United and Chelsea. Both teams have a great chance of qualifying for the Champions League through the league rankings, and may even qualify for the Champions League as the defending champions of the Champions League. Therefore, it is basically certain that the Premier League's other Europa League qualification will be postponed to the team ranked sixth in the standings.

Manchester United has already won the League Cup, so it is basically certain that the qualification for the UEFA League will be obtained by the team ranked seventh in the standings.

………………

Although Manchester United can achieve a double kill against Liverpool in the league this season and maintain its advantage in the standings by defeating Liverpool at home, Mourinho also said so before the game. However, many things cannot be judged by what people say, but by what they do.

When Mourinho announced Manchester United's starting lineup for the Red Devils derby at the pre-match press conference on the morning of May 5, everyone was stunned.

Because the players Mourinho announced were all substitutes. He arranged a 451 formation, or 4231 to be exact. Goalkeeper Romero, defense line Dalot, Lindelof, Phil Jones, Williams, double defensive midfielders Bellingham, Fred, midfielders Mahrez, McTominay and Mata, Greenwood single striker forward.

Mourinho's meaning is very clear. Manchester United still has a relatively large advantage in the league, and there is also a margin of error for him to take such a risk. Even if they lose in the end, Manchester United still has a 2-point advantage with one game less, which is not a big problem.

Moreover, Mourinho's goal in this game is not to get 3 points, but to keep 1 point at home.

In the Champions League, although Manchester United won a big victory in the first leg away from home, they did not guarantee their qualification for the final. In addition, this Manchester United derby was only three days away from the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Manchester City. Manchester United's main players have not yet recovered from fatigue and may even be worse than the substitutes.

Therefore, whether it is to allow the main players to get sufficient rest or to give the substitute players a chance to train, Mourinho finally decided to send such a second team to play against Liverpool.

………………

Although playing with the second team, Manchester United players did not play badly in the game.

In the 5th minute, perhaps because he was not paying attention to Manchester United's second team players, Alisson made another low-level mistake in passing the ball. He passed the ball directly to Greenwood. The Manchester United center intercepted the ball and turned to shoot at the empty goal, but unfortunately it was slightly off target.

In the 10th minute, Mata made a straight pass, Dalot dribbled the ball back from the bottom line, McTominay shot the ball into the far corner with the instep of his foot from inside and outside the penalty area, Phillips stretched his foot to clear the ball, but accidentally blocked the ball into his own goal.

1:0! Manchester United took the lead at home.

However, this Manchester United team is just a substitute lineup after all, and there are some problems in both its playing ability and its playing status.

In the 27th minute, Phil Jones fouled Phillips in the penalty area. The referee first awarded a penalty, but after watching the VAR replay, the referee cancelled the penalty and Manchester United escaped.

Luck cannot always favor a team, and Liverpool soon scored a goal.

In the 33rd minute, Robertson made a cross pass, Jota stopped the ball and volleyed with his left foot, and Romero flew to lift the ball over the crossbar!

Liverpool's subsequent corner kick created chaos in the penalty area. Williams forced a turn and shot at the goal, and Jota scored with a wonderful heel shot, and the score became 1:1!

In the third minute of stoppage time in the first half, Arnold's free kick from the frontcourt spun into the penalty area. Firmino, who came in from the far post, shook off Mata and headed the ball into the net from close range.

1:2, Liverpool overtook!

………………

After the change of sides, in the 47th minute, Liverpool pressed and intercepted the ball in the frontcourt. Arnold shot directly in the penalty area. Romero missed the ball, and Firmino followed up with a shot into the net. The score on the field was rewritten to 1:3, and Firmino scored twice!

Liverpool's attack became more and more fierce. In the 60th minute of the game, Firmino made a diagonal pass into the gap during the counterattack. Jota faced Romero's shot, but unfortunately the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out!

Seeing that the situation was not right, Mourinho quickly made personnel adjustments. Gundogan replaced Fred, Rashford replaced Mata, and Manchester United changed to the commonly used 433 formation.

Mourinho really wanted to replace Bruno, but the Manchester United captain was not included in the starting lineup today. Instead, he sat in the box of the Millennium Stadium, watching the game with his two beautiful wives, Liu Yimei and Vanessa, and their two babies.

Manchester United's substitutions did have some effect.

In the 68th minute, Manchester United launched a very efficient counterattack. Mahrez made a through pass in the counterattack, and Rashford, who replaced Mata, broke into the penalty area and shot low with his left foot, and the ball flew into the far corner of the goal.

2:3, Manchester United narrowed the gap to 1 goal!

In the last 20 minutes of the game, Manchester United launched a wave of offensive frenzy, trying to equalize the score. However, until the end of the game, Manchester United failed to score the third goal of the game, and instead let Liverpool score another goal through a quick counterattack.

In the 90th minute, Liverpool launched a quick counterattack. Jones made a straight pass and Salah broke into the penalty area and calmly shot into the net. The score on the field was rewritten to 2:4. Liverpool killed the game!

这是萨拉赫代表利物浦第200场各项赛事打进第124球,队史仅次于罗杰·亨特(前200场133球)和戈登·霍奇森(前200场125球)。

………………

This is Liverpool's first away win over Manchester United in the Premier League since March 2014. It is also the first time that Klopp has defeated Manchester United away from home since he took over as Liverpool coach.

In the end, Manchester United failed to achieve their goal of retaining 1 point despite playing with a substitute lineup and was defeated by Liverpool.

Although rivals Chelsea and West Ham United also won in this round, Klopp's team still held on tightly in the standings and retained hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

After Manchester United lost the game, their advantage in the standings has been reduced to 2 points due to Manchester City's victory at the same time.

However, this was originally expected by Mourinho and the Manchester United players. Although Manchester United's goal in this game was to keep 1 point, Mourinho was mentally prepared to lose.

He is not so arrogant as to think that he can really maintain a draw or win by playing with an all-substitute lineup.

Moreover, Manchester United fans have no time to feel sad about this game, because the second leg of the Champions League semi-final will come in three days.

On the evening of May 5, the third Champions League semi-final of this season kicked off at the Millennium Stadium.

Due to the disastrous defeat at home in the first round, Manchester City was forced into a desperate situation. In this round of the game, although they were playing away, they still launched a fierce attack from the beginning of the game, hoping to open up the situation as soon as possible and seek the only chance.

However, Manchester City's fierce attack almost dealt them a heavy blow.

In the 7th minute, Manchester United launched a quick counterattack. Bruno made a lob pass in front of the goal. Zinchenko's clearance in the penalty area was suspected of handball. The referee awarded a penalty, but after seeing the VAR indication that the ball hit the shoulder, there was no penalty.

Manchester City, who had escaped the disaster, got good luck 4 minutes later. Ederson kicked the ball to the left side of the front court, and Zinchenko made a triangle pass to the top of the arc. De Bruyne, who had just returned from the injury in the first round, shot, but was blocked by Van Dijk to the right side of the penalty area. Pogba followed up with a shot and broke through the goal of his old club.

After scoring the goal, Pogba celebrated wildly, without any regard for the old friendship.

Pogba was resentful of Manchester United because Ferguson did not give him many opportunities, which made the young man leave in anger.

After he made a name for himself at Juventus, Pogba dreamed of returning to Old Trafford, but with Bruno already in the team, Manchester United had no intention of signing the old player, which led to him eventually choosing to join Manchester United's city rivals Manchester City.

However, Manchester City was only happy for 4 minutes. In the 16th minute, Rashford made a cross from the left and Bruno headed the ball to help the team equalize the score.

In the 63rd minute, Manchester City quickly counterattacked. De Bruyne made a straight pass, Foden made a cross, and Pogba pushed the ball into the goal. He scored twice and helped Manchester City to increase the score again.

However, in the 68th minute, Manchester United equalized the score again, and the goal was scored by Bruno. This made Pogba very angry, and he even thought that Bruno was targeting him intentionally. So one minute later, he took the opportunity to pick up the ball on the sidelines and secretly stepped on Bruno.

However, this did not escape the eyes of the referee, who directly sent Pogba off with a red card.

In the end, the game ended in a 2:2 draw. Manchester United eliminated Manchester City with a total score of 8:4 in two rounds and reached the Champions League final for four consecutive years.

A day later, Chelsea defeated Real Madrid 2-0 at home and met Manchester United in the Champions League final.

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