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

Chapter 1027 Let’s get straight to the point

When the players from both teams were standing in the tunnel waiting to play, there was no conversation between them. They all stood silently and seriously in their own teams.

These two teams are the biggest rivals in British football, and they are even more outright enemies this season. Their competition has spread to all areas, and this hostile mood has made both sides look at each other with displeasure.

As the Champions League theme song played, players from both teams walked onto the field under the guidance of the referee team. For a moment, the cheers were so deafening that they almost drowned out the music playing through the loudspeakers.

"Dear audience! Players from both teams are now on the field!" Zhan Jun said excitedly on the scene. He tried his best to raise his voice so that his voice would not be suppressed.

This is the difference between live commentary and commentary in the back. In the back studio, the sound coming from the scene has to be processed so that the sound on the scene is not so loud, and TV viewers can hear the commentator's voice effortlessly.

In that situation, the commentator basically doesn't need to shout at the top of his lungs except when explaining a goal.

But on the scene, almost every word needs to be said at the top of one's voice, and the commentary becomes very tiring, but the spirit is always very excited.

The TV broadcast gave close-up shots to many players, and Bruno was naturally indispensable.

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After lining up, shaking hands, exchanging team flags, choosing sides... all the procedures were completed, the players from both sides came to their respective halves, waiting for the game to begin.

During this time, the commentators were busy announcing the starting lineups of the two teams in this game, and Zhan Jun was among them.

Both Liverpool and Manchester United sent out the strongest lineups they could, leaving no stone unturned.

Manchester United's starting goalkeeper was David De Gea, with Joao Cancelo at right-back, Luke Shaw at left-back, and Van Dijk and Harry Maguire partnering at center-back. In midfield, Kante and Gundogan formed a double defensive midfielder, with Bruno Fernandez in the center as an attacking midfielder, while Rashford and Greenwood played on the left and right. Harry Kane was at the forefront.

Liverpool's formation was similar to Manchester United's, with Alisson in goal, Trent Alexander-Arnold, a prominent Liverpool academy player, at right-back, Robertson at left-back, and Koulibaly and Konate at center-back. Fabinho, Thiago, and captain Jordan Henderson formed a line in midfield, while Dias and Salah lined up on either side of the attack, with Mané at the forefront, playing center-forward.

After the players from both sides stood still, the referee of the match, the famous French referee Clement Tilpin, blew the whistle and the game officially began!
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The first team to kick off the game was Liverpool, wearing red jerseys. In the first half, they attacked from left to right, with their own fans behind them, and the direction of attack was towards the stands where the Manchester United fans were.

Perhaps because both sides were too familiar with each other, there was no testing after the game started, and they both started attacking directly and engaged in a counterattack.

First, Liverpool used their opening kick-off opportunity to launch an attack, which ended with Mane's shot going over the crossbar.

Immediately afterwards, Manchester United took advantage of the opportunity to gain possession of the ball and launched a fierce attack on Liverpool's goal.

Bruno made a wonderful pass to Greenwood, who dribbled inside and shot. The ball hit the side net in the near corner, causing exclamations from the stands.

Some commentators couldn't see it clearly and almost thought it was a goal.

"Greenwood! That was a close call!"

“It was almost a goal!”

"It's only been two minutes since the start of the game and Manchester United has already had such a threatening shot! It looks like today's game is going to be exciting!"

"Bruno almost made an assist, but Greenwood's shot was too angled..."

Greenwood himself was upset that he failed to seize this opportunity, but he did not forget to thank Bruno for passing the ball to him. After holding his head in his hands with regret, he turned around and found Bruno and gave him a thumbs up.

Bruno also gave a thumbs up.

Greenwood didn't care that the ball didn't go in. It wasn't a particularly good opportunity anyway, so if it didn't go in, it didn't go in.

There is still a lot of time left in the game. It would be great if this ball can go in, but it doesn’t matter if it can’t. Just keep trying.

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Because of the familiarity, Bruno was closely monitored by Liverpool during the game. No matter where he was, there would be at least one Liverpool player around him.

And once the ball is about to come towards him, the Liverpool players around him will act very quickly and surround him.

For Bruno, this requires him to handle the ball faster and more accurately, while also requiring him to minimize the time the ball is at his feet.

Bruno is no stranger to such intensity of marking. He often suffers such treatment both in the domestic league and in the Champions League.

As the number one player in world football today, it would be strange if his opponents did not pay special attention to him.

Bruno wouldn't find it too much trouble.

There is no such thing as a completely impenetrable defense, nor is there true, unwavering marking. Just because the opponent has tightened their defense doesn't mean you have absolutely no chance in this game.

Since he transferred to Manchester United, he has been dealing with Liverpool for six years and is very familiar with Liverpool's system. Not to mention that he has played hundreds of games against Liverpool in the training master system.

Especially in the past week, Blue has to play against Liverpool at least seven times every night in the training master system. I'm afraid that most people would have vomited after such repeated confrontations.

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Through these simulations one after another, Bruno has become very familiar with Liverpool's tactics.

No matter how tight the defense is, he can still find opportunities.

In fact, if he were Klopp, he would not put so much effort on himself, but would focus on closely guarding his teammates.

Compared with himself, Greenwood and his team did not have one simulated game after another to train. They were still normal people and could use normal means to contain the enemy, which would cost much less to defend.

Instead of being like this now, even if Liverpool puts two players into their defense, it may not necessarily get very good results.

Moreover, they will weaken the defensive strength against other Manchester United players because they pay too much attention to themselves.

Although Liverpool strengthened their defense against Bruno, they were unable to completely freeze him. He was always able to seize the opportunity to pass the ball, and some of his passes were simply lethal.

After Greenwood shot the ball into the side net, Liverpool did not shrink their defense, but continued to fight against Manchester United.

But as the game progressed, Manchester United's attack was obviously more threatening under Bruno's organization.

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When the game was in the eighth minute, Manchester United intercepted the ball in the backcourt and took advantage of Liverpool's switch from offense to defense to launch a quick counterattack.

Bruno rushed forward with the ball diagonally, then passed the ball straight in front of Greenwood, which was also a weak point in Liverpool's defense.

After passing the ball, Bruno did not stop, but accelerated forward.

Liverpool's defense quickly returned to defense, and Koulibaly went to the outside to block Greenwood's advance.

In this way, even if Greenwood receives the ball, the chances of him cutting inside and shooting directly are slim.

When Greenwood received the ball, Koulibaly was indeed blocked in the direction of his progress.

Greenwood had to slow down, but at this time Bruno had already moved forward at high speed and headed straight for the middle of the penalty area, so Greenwood did not delay and immediately passed the ball over, intending to give Bruno a wonderful pass.

The pass was so sudden that when Konate, another Liverpool center-back who was retreating, wanted to stop and intercept it, he fell backwards due to inertia.

However, although Konate fell, the leg he dragged behind miraculously blocked the ball passed by Greenwood!
While Bruno was running, he also looked back to pay attention to the situation behind him. He saw that the ball did not follow him, but was blocked by Konate, and returned to Greenwood's feet. Bruno quickly braked.

He was afraid that Greenwood would pass the ball to him again in an instant and he would be offside, thus wasting the attacking opportunity.

But Greenwood's reaction was not as quick as Bruno expected. When the ball bounced back to his feet, he shot it directly!
A little outside the penalty area, he swung his leg and shot with great force!
Greenwood's skills were indeed very impressive. Even though he was swinging his leg in place and unable to exert force, his kick was still powerful and threatening, just a little too high.

Alisson jumped up but didn't touch the ball. The ball flew straight into the stands behind the goal where Liverpool fans gathered, causing screams from the stands.

"Greenwood shot! Too high! Another great opportunity missed!"

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In the 15th minute of the game, Manchester United made a comeback.

Gundogan made a straight pass in the midfield to Bruno who was running diagonally in front.

Faced with such a pass, Liverpool made preparations in advance. Henderson, who was defending, took the lead and blocked Bruno's path. Bruno would directly collide with him after receiving the ball.

In such a situation, Bruno would be lucky to keep the ball, let alone pass it.

But at the moment when Bruno was about to collide with Henderson, he used his left heel to knock the ball from Gundogan directly towards the middle.

At the same time, he bumped into Henderson and both men fell to the ground, and the ball had been passed by Bruno with his heel to Harry Kane in the middle.

Harry Kane pretended to shoot directly, which caused Konate, who was about five meters in front of him, to make a blocking move with his body, but the Manchester United striker let the ball roll past him, then he moved sideways and swung his right foot again.

This time it was for real, a long curved shot, the ball flew past Konate and went straight to the upper right corner of the goal!
(End of this chapter)