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

Chapter 1018 The Distance Between Hope and Despair
While Bruno was participating in the whole process of passing the ball back, he also did not forget to turn his head to observe the situation in the front court.

He saw Real Madrid players gradually pressing forward while Manchester United passed the ball back to their defense.

After Ferland Mendy left the field, Carvajal, Militao and Nacho formed Real Madrid's three-center-back defense.

But in the final stage of the game, Nacho's position had been moved forward, forming a double defensive midfielder with Casemiro, which freed Valverde and allowed him to move further forward and support the attack with Modric, Rodrigo and Camavinga.

As for Real Madrid's defensive players, Carvajal often has to go forward to assist on the wing, and Casemiro also often has to rush to the front to defend Bruno, so most of the time the real midfielder is Nacho alone, and Militao is the only defender left.

It can be said that Real Madrid's lineup at this time has become 1144, one defender, one midfielder, four midfielders, and four forwards.

Although Militao is a very talented young player, no matter how good a person is, it is impossible for him to cover the entire second half.

When Militao presses towards the center circle, there will inevitably be a lot of space on both sides.

This is also why Bruno asked Rashford and Greenwood to pay attention to their activities on the wing.

During his observations, Bruno also noticed that Rashford and Greenwood would occasionally participate in back-passes, but their positions were relatively forward, so if they wanted to launch a counterattack, they could quickly get involved.

The time has come!
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Bruno ran to the next receiving point. When he arrived, he did not ask for the ball immediately. Instead, he adjusted his body from facing the attack direction with his back to the attack direction, and facing the right side where Greenwood was.

Why not Rashford? Because Bruno is now on the left side where Rashford is. There is a gap here. If he runs over and receives the ball, this will definitely become the focus of Real Madrid players' defense.

Although the ball is now on Manchester United's right side, when the ball is passed to the left, all the players in Real Madrid will move to the left, so that there will be a gap on the right side.

Bruno was waiting for this opportunity.

After making the adjustments, he raised his hand to ask for the ball.

Gundogan quickly passed the ball.

As he expected, as the ball moved, Real Madrid's defensive focus also shifted towards him. Valverde ran especially fast, almost reaching Bruno at the same time as the ball.

Bruno made a move to receive the ball with his left foot, but when he was about to touch the ball, he suddenly twisted his ankle, causing the football to bounce gently back to his right foot.

At the same time, Valverde's foot also stretched out, but he missed!
After Bruno knocked the ball back with his left foot, he quickly jumped up and avoided Valverde's rush.

………………

Bruno's action was clearly telling Valverde that he was trying to get rid of him. How could Valverde easily let Bruno get his way? Although his man rushed forward due to inertia, his hand was still trailing behind, grabbing Bruno's clothes, preventing him from dribbling away with the ball.

But Bruno had no intention of breaking through with the ball. After dodging Valverde, he directly raised his right foot and passed the ball to the right!
The football took off into the air and flew to the right.

There, Greenwood is making a high-speed advance!
The football landed not far in front of Greenwood, slowed down, bounced again, and slowed down even more. Greenwood caught up with the football like a gust of wind and dribbled towards Real Madrid's goal.

"Greenwood!!! Good job! Manchester United's counterattack! Real Madrid's goal is in danger!" Lineker shouted excitedly.

As he shouted, Greenwood, who was making a high-speed forward run, received the ball from Bruno. He dribbled the ball with big strides and headed towards the penalty area of Real Madrid!
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Real Madrid's only defender Militao turned and ran towards Greenwood.

Although he is 1.86 meters tall, Militao is not slow at all. He swings his long legs quickly and chases Greenwood with big strides.

At the same time, Rashford ran diagonally from the left to the middle to meet Greenwood.

The other Real Madrid players also quickly returned to defense, but not all of them did. Most of them stayed in the frontcourt, waiting for their teammates to intercept the ball and then attack directly. On the one hand, they were exhausted, and on the other hand, they didn't want to lose the opportunity to attack by returning to defense.

So in fact, there were only four Real Madrid players who returned to defense: Militao, Nacho, Casemiro and Mbappé.

But four people guarding two people should be enough, right?

………………

Greenwood saw that Militao was approaching him very quickly and knew that if he continued to dribble the ball, he would probably be forced into a dead end.

He glanced at the center field and saw Rashford rushing forward. Although he had not yet reached the designated position, he had to pass the ball.

If the ball is not passed now, it will not be able to be passed on, and it will be useless even if Rashford runs to the position.

Before Militao could get close, Greenwood made a cross pass, and the ball was passed to the middle along the grass!

Militao attempted a sliding tackle, but missed the ball and could only watch it roll towards the center. There, Rashford was making a run forward!

"Greenwood crosses! Rashford!!"

Amid the commentators' exclamations, Rashford gritted his teeth and rushed forward, stretching his legs to catch the ball, and finally prevented the football from passing by him, but the consequence of doing so was that it took more time to adjust.

Casemiro had already pounced on him, and Rashford was lowering his head to adjust the ball, as if he knew nothing about Casemiro.

This was naturally an opportunity to intercept the ball, and Casemiro quickly kicked the ball.

But Rashford, who lowered his head, seemed to have eyes behind his head. He used the inside of his left foot to gently knock the ball behind him, leaving Casemiro empty-handed.

Then he turned around and used the outside of his right foot to push the ball towards the middle.

At this time, Courtois had also attacked.

Facing the attacking Courtois, Rashford drew his bow and shot a lob!
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"Spoon shot!!" He Wei shouted excitedly.

The football flew high over Courtois who was leaning forward and flew towards the goal behind him.

In the eyes of Real Madrid fans, this scene is simply the scariest scene in the scariest horror movie!
The boos at the Bernabeu Stadium have never been so loud, so loud that people can't hear any other sounds, so loud that it almost gives people a heart attack.

This is the desperate roar of Real Madrid fans. They seem to know that their death is imminent!

After shooting, Rashford looked up at the football, and Courtois, who was lying on the ground, also turned his head to look at the football in the air.

Time slowed down, the air gradually solidified, and the football went down inch by inch, difficult but tenaciously. Except for God and the goal frame, nothing could stop it.

Amidst the eardrum-piercing boos, the football brushed the bottom of the crossbar and fell into the goal!
For a moment, the boos at the Bernabéu seemed to vanish, but soon began to rise again, leaving everyone wondering if the momentary silence was an illusion.

………………

"Rashford! Rashford!! Marcus Rashford!!!" Lineker was going crazy. He stretched out his voice and shouted, "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLL!! The crucial goal! The game is over! There is no suspense anymore! 5:3! Real Madrid has no hope of a comeback!"

"Rashford! Great shot! This goal completely extinguished Real Madrid's hope! Manchester United staged a very, very beautiful, textbook counterattack when the pressure was greatest!" He Wei was also very excited. He roared excitedly, "When Real Madrid was desperately trying to score the third goal, Manchester United seized the opportunity behind them when they pressed forward, and Bruno planned a fatal counterattack!"

"Rashford...ah! Ah..." The Spanish commentator could not hide his disappointment. He held his head in his hands and lay on the commentary stand, not knowing what to say.

One minute ago, he was still immersed in the excitement of being only one goal away from a miracle and seeing the hope of overturning Manchester United and advancing to the Champions League final. However, just one minute later, he fell from the cloud of happiness into the abyss of despair.

This huge contrast in mood made his heart completely collapse.

It wasn't just him. The broadcast camera swept over the Real Madrid fans in the stands, and they were all stunned, with their heads in their hands, their faces full of pain and despair.

Such ups and downs in the situation and the ups and downs in their emotions made them feel like they had just ridden a roller coaster.

………………

It wasn't just the fans, the Real Madrid players on the field also collapsed after this goal.

Casemiro, who had been chasing back into the penalty area, was dribbled past by Rashford. When he saw the ball go into the goal, he fell to the ground in pain.

Courtois also lay on his back, covering his face with his hands, and lay on the ground unwilling to get up.

Those Real Madrid players who stayed in the frontcourt and did not return, waiting for their teammates to intercept the ball and then launch a counterattack, were all stunned.

After scoring the goal, Rashford ran towards Greenwood who passed the ball to him. Greenwood was already waiting for him with open arms on the sidelines.

Bruno also ran up, and the other Manchester United players rushed up to celebrate the goal.

They surrounded Rashford and celebrated with him.

At this time, the boos from the Bernabeu fans were no different from air to them.

It feels so good to celebrate in enemy territory!

Of course, the boos above the Bernabeu are now much smaller than before, and many Real Madrid fans have not yet recovered from the blow of conceding a goal.

(End of this chapter)