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

Chapter 1021 Extraordinary moves

When Matip came on the pitch, Manchester United, led by Bruno, significantly intensified their offensive against Matip, with almost all passes directed towards him.

Manchester United is planning to use Matip, who just came on, as a weakness to target for attack. How could Liverpool not see such an obvious move?
So Klopp also made adjustments, arranging more people to help Matip and deploying heavy troops around him, leaving Manchester United with no chance to take advantage.

This tit-for-tat approach will definitely work, and Manchester United will find that their strategy of forcing Matip is not working, and Liverpool can then maintain the 1:1 score until the end of the game. Then they can look for opportunities in overtime, or even directly drag the game into a penalty shootout.

But Manchester United absolutely cannot accept extra time, let alone a penalty shootout. The former would cause a huge physical drain on Manchester United, and the latter would add many variables.

For Manchester United, the best result would naturally be to beat Liverpool in regular time and win the championship.

Under such circumstances, Manchester United players are under great pressure.

Under pressure, Bruno did not lose his composure. He also saw that Liverpool had made corresponding adjustments and arrangements based on their style of play, but did they think they were simply going to exploit Matip's weaknesses?

Now that Liverpool has deployed all its defensive forces from other areas to Matip, aren't other areas relatively empty?
A set of tactics cannot be contained so easily, Bruno will certainly have a back-up plan and changes.

In fact, even though he was always looking for trouble with Matip, his eyes were on other places. This is what is called making a feint to the east and attacking in the west.

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While Liverpool's defense was leaning towards Matip, a loophole appeared on the right side.

Bruno keenly noticed this loophole.

So when the football fell to his feet again, he made a fake move to pass the ball straight to the middle. When his right foot landed, his ankle shook and pushed the ball to the right.

There, Greenwood cut into the gap, received Bruno's pass, and then swung his foot and shot!
The football was kicked towards the far corner by the outside of his foot. Although Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson made a save and touched the ball, he was unable to stop the ball from flying towards the goal. He just pressed the ball down. After the ball landed, it continued to move forward and finally flew into the goal from the far point!
"Greenwood!! Beautiful! In the 2th minute, he took the lead again for Manchester United!! 1:!" Martin Taylor shouted.

Many Manchester United fans can finally relax for a while.

The Liverpool players suffered a double blow. Not long after one of their players was sent off, they conceded a goal. It was truly a case of "when it rains it pours".

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This goal really hit their morale. They were already feeling unsure because they were one man down, and now they were falling behind. How could they play this game?
Klopp made a decision immediately. Since they were already behind, there was no point in shrinking the defense. He simply pressed forward to attack. There were still fifteen minutes left before the end of the ninety-minute game. This time was enough for Liverpool to score a goal and equalize the score.

What if they concede a goal instead of scoring? Klopp didn't care. The score remained the same until the end of the game, and if they pushed forward and conceded, they would still lose. It wouldn't make a difference, so why not push forward and give it a try?

So after the game restarted, Liverpool let go and launched a crazy and desperate attack on Manchester United's goal.

Manchester United was not well prepared for Liverpool's rapid attack. For a period of time, they were beaten badly by Liverpool.

Mourinho had to replace Fred to strengthen the midfield control and defense.

But in the 82nd minute, Fred, who was appointed to take the lead in an emergency, almost put Manchester United into an even more unfavorable situation.

Liverpool's attack was very fast at the time. When they reached the front of Manchester United's penalty area, Mane rushed in with the ball. Fred made a tackle and then knocked Mane to the ground, preventing the latter from breaking through.

But this action caused dissatisfaction among Liverpool players. They believed that Fred was committing a foul, and a very bad foul.

However, the referee Bosen did not make any comment. He did not even call a foul on Fred, but let the game continue.

But in the replay footage of the TV broadcast, everyone can clearly see that the ball was not kicked out by Fred, but Mane pushed the ball away before Fred. As a result, Fred couldn't control his foot and directly tackled Mane!
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"Oh my, this ball is really a foul..." Zhan Jun said, "Fred escaped a disaster, and Manchester United also escaped a disaster. This ball can be directly punished, and it is possible that a red card will be given... If one player is missing, Manchester United's advantage will be gone, and it is entirely possible that Liverpool will equalize the score again..."

Martin Tyler also bluntly stated that Fred was lucky: "It was a very bad foul, and it's a real shame that Pawson didn't see it. But I think this controversial decision will definitely cause a war of words between the two sides after the game. Liverpool's manager, Klopp, will definitely have something to say, arguing that Manchester United's victory is questionable... But anyway, Manchester United was lucky..." During the match, some Liverpool players protested to referee Pawson, pointing to the spot where Fred had committed the foul, indicating that the foul had been ignored.

But it was too late to say anything now. The referee couldn't have overturned his previous decision after so long. Furthermore, this suspected foul didn't involve a penalty, so the video referee team wouldn't intervene.

So even if Liverpool players protest, it will be useless and will only add some hype to the media.

Moreover, the Liverpool players were also affected by this penalty. In the following games, their focus was not on the game, but on arguing with the referee. In addition, Manchester United players also became the target of Liverpool players' venting and were repeatedly knocked to the ground.

Bruno sometimes had to give up possession of the ball in order to protect himself, but fortunately there was not much time left.

When Pawson blew the whistle to end the game, the score was fixed at 1:2, and Manchester United won the FA Cup championship this season without any danger.

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In the press conference after the game, Liverpool head coach Klopp did talk about Fred's foul. He believed that Fred should be sent off directly with a red card, and that if Fred was sent off, the situation of the game would be fundamentally reversed, and Liverpool would not have no chance to equalize the score.

In response to Klopp's statement, Mourinho said that at that moment, he did not see clearly what happened on the court. Since the referee had made a decision, all anyone needed to do was respect the referee's decision.

As for whether Liverpool could equalize the score if Fred was sent off, Mourinho said the question was not worth mentioning and refused to answer.

The Manchester United media gave the answer to what Mourinho did not say. They believed that Klopp overestimated Liverpool's ability. Even if Fred was sent off, the number of players in the two teams would at most be the same.

With little time left in the game and Liverpool not having a very clear advantage, how could they equalize the score?

Besides, is Mourinho a fool? Knowing his team is missing a player, he won't shrink his defense. As long as Manchester United shrinks, it will be difficult for Liverpool to score.

So Klopp is just venting his emotions and it doesn't make any sense.

Even if Fred was sent off, it would not change the result of Manchester United winning this game!
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In fact, Klopp's words were not intended to change the outcome of the FA Cup final, which is completely impossible. He was just fighting for the interests of the team's future.

Liverpool media also interviewed the referee Craig Pawson who officiated the game. Craig Pawson also admitted that he did not see Fred's tackle clearly. After watching the video again after the game, he believed that Fred's action was indeed a foul and that this foul should be shown a red card.

These words made the Liverpool media as excited as if they had taken drugs, and they tried hard to hype that Manchester United benefited from the referee's officiating error.

Of course, even if Craig Pawson admitted that he missed the red card for Fred, it would not have changed the outcome of the game.

The Liverpool media is also aware of this, so they are now reporting so hard on the misjudgment in this game, not because they hope to change the outcome of the game.

What they are doing is actually creating a public opinion impression that "Manchester United has benefited from the referee's misjudgment many times". When they continue to publicize this, many people who do not know the truth will believe it and think that Manchester United has really received more "special treatment" than other teams in the game.

Once this kind of public opinion is formed, it will affect Manchester United's next games. For example, in a certain game, the referee may be more inclined to support Manchester United's opponents in order to avoid being attacked by public opinion or excessive attention. Some penalties that Manchester United could have benefited from will also become more favorable to the opponents.

One or two such penalties may not matter, but when accumulated over time, they may become an important factor in determining the final league championship.

This is what the Liverpool media wants.

With only two games left in the league, Liverpool is five points behind Manchester United in the standings. Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult for them to turn the tide against Manchester United, so they naturally hope to use some unconventional tactics to see if something can happen.

In this regard, the Manchester United media naturally had to speak up for their team.

So the media of the two teams started to "talk" to each other across the air.

(End of this chapter)