Chapter 880 FA Cup Final Sixth Straight
Three days later, on the afternoon of May 5, a key match of the 9th round of the Premier League was held at Villa Park, with the Red Devils Manchester United visiting the host Aston Villa.

维拉在双方近42场交锋中仅胜1场,其余41次交锋曼联取得34胜7平。曼联近21次做客维拉公园取得16胜5平,维拉上次主场击败曼联还是1999年的联赛杯第3轮,联赛主场击败曼联还是1995年。双方英超交锋51场,曼联36胜12平3负占据上风,其中客场16胜7平2负。

The continuous battles made the Manchester United players very tired. In this game, the Manchester United players performed very poorly in the first half. Villa, who played at home, took the initiative to attack Manchester United's goal despite the lack of fans' cheering.

In the last round, Aston Villa defeated Everton away and rose to ninth in the league rankings, only 4 points away from seventh-placed Tottenham. They have hope of qualifying for the European Cup, which gives them motivation to be proactive.

Villa took the lead in the 24th minute. McGinn stole the ball from McTominay, Douglas passed the ball to Traore, Lindelof failed to clear the ball, and Traore shot into the upper right corner from 12 yards on the left side of the penalty area. He became the third Villa player to score against Manchester United both at home and away in a single season.

This goal was the only goal for both sides in the first half, and Aston Villa entered the halftime break with a score of 1:0.

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After the half-time break, Manchester United recovered a little, which allowed them to score two goals in a row shortly after the start of the second half to overtake the score.

In the 52nd minute, Douglas knocked Bruno down from behind in the penalty area. The referee awarded a penalty without hesitation. Bruno took the penalty himself and scored, and the score on the field was rewritten to 1:1.

This was Bruno's 35th league goal of the season and his 196th Premier League goal.

第56分钟,达洛特传球,格林伍德禁区右侧16码处射入近角,2:1。他近10场比赛打入7球。

In the 78th minute, Manchester United suffered a blow when their defensive general Maguire collided with his opponent El Ghazi and could not continue and was replaced. He then put on a protective boot on his left foot, which seemed to be injured.

In the 87th minute, Rashford, who came on as a substitute, made a cross from the right, and Harry Kane, who also came on as a substitute, headed the ball into the goal from the edge of the small penalty area, locking the score at 3:1.
In the 89th minute, Watkins dived and was sent off after receiving two yellow cards.

Once again, Manchester United came from behind but eventually won all three points. This was their 3th comeback this season, setting a Premier League record.

Later in a world-renowned match at the Etihad Stadium, Chelsea fell behind in the first half but scored two goals in the second half to reverse and defeat Manchester City.

As a result, with one game less, Manchester United continued to lead Manchester City by 5 points, and Manchester City ruined the opportunity that Liverpool had won for them in the last round to narrow the points gap.

It seems that Manchester United is very close to winning their fifth consecutive Premier League title and their 25th English top league title in team history!
In an ideal situation, they can even beat Leicester City at home in the next round, and if Manchester City encounters an accident in the away game against Newcastle United, Manchester United will be able to win the league championship in advance.

………………

However, good things always come with a wait.

As there is not much time left in the season and Manchester United still has many games left, Manchester United's 36th round match against Leicester City was brought forward to the afternoon of May 5, only 11 hours after Manchester United's last away game at Villa Park.

Even though Manchester United made a big rotation in the match against Aston Villa, the players are still in very bad shape. Leicester City is currently competing with Chelsea and Liverpool for a place in the Champions League next season, so the fighting spirit is very strong.

The game was played in the rain.

Leicester City took the lead in the 10th minute. Tielemans made a cross from the right and Thomas, who was unguarded, volleyed the ball into the top right corner from the top left corner of the small penalty area. At 19 years and 335 days old, he became the youngest player to score his first goal at the Theatre of Dreams.

In the 15th minute, Diallo passed the ball and Greenwood broke into the right side of the penalty area and shot into the far corner from 10 yards, helping Manchester United equalize the score. He has scored 11 goals in the last 8 games.

Leicester City took the lead again in the 66th minute. Albrighton took a corner kick and Thrawn scored with a header from the edge of the small penalty area. In the end, Manchester United lost 1:2.

Two days later, on the afternoon of May 5, Manchester United drew 13-33 with Leeds United at Elland Road in the rd round of the Premier League.

Playing three games within four days is still too much even for Manchester United's deep squad.

In just two days, Manchester United lost 2 points with 1 draw and 1 loss, and it seems that they are showing signs of collapse.

And a day later, a focus match of the 36th round of the Premier League kicked off at St. James' Park, with the Blue Moon Manchester City away challenging Newcastle United.

Newcastle United had successfully avoided relegation in the last round, but they had no intention of giving up 3 points at home. The two teams fought hard at St. James' Park. After a goal-scoring battle, Manchester City, who had a strong desire to compete for the championship, finally won Newcastle United 4:3 away from home.

With only two rounds left in the Premier League, Manchester City tenaciously narrowed the points gap to 2 points.

The real battle for the championship will start in the last two rounds!
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However, Manchester United currently has no energy to consider competing with Manchester City for the league title, because on the afternoon of May 5, they will compete with Chelsea for the FA Cup at the new Wembley Stadium. This game is also Manchester United's sixth game since entering May!
16 days, 6 games, and each one is a heavyweight match. This is a purgatory-like test for any team!

Fortunately, the English Football Association has finally relaxed the restrictions and allowed about 3 fans from both sides to enter the stadium to watch the game, which accounts for about one-third of the new Wembley Stadium which can accommodate 9 spectators.

Not only that, the English Football Association and the Premier League officials also announced that fans will be allowed to enter the stadium for the next two rounds of the league.

This is the first time that the FA and the Premier League have relaxed control over stadiums since the end of 2020.

It's a shame that fans were only allowed to watch their team's last home game, but given the current situation, no one should be complaining.

This means that in the next Premier League round 37, when Manchester United plays against Fulham at home, there will also be fans entering the stadium to watch the game.

Moreover, since this game is likely to be Manchester United's championship battle, the fans were very enthusiastic after receiving the notice that they could enter the stadium to watch the game.

However, according to regulations, the number of people entering the stadium to watch the game cannot exceed 35% of the total capacity of the stadium. This means that the maximum number of people entering Manchester United's last game at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium will be around 26000.

The team owner Prince Jassim announced through the official website that tickets for this final game are free, but spectators must be Manchester United season ticket holders. Manchester United officials will randomly draw 50000 lucky winners from 150000 season ticket holders and 26000 season ticket substitutes to join the team in competing for the league championship this season.

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In the remaining days of this season, Manchester United and Chelsea, the old rivals of the Premier League era, will have two more head-to-head confrontations. In addition to today's FA Cup final, the Champions League final on the evening of May 5 will also be a clash between the Red Devils and the Blues.

As Chelsea had already withdrawn from the championship race early in the league, after Lampard was sacked and Tuchel was appointed to take over as coach of Chelsea, cup competitions have become Chelsea's main focus this season.

Tuchel and all the Blues players have also been very competitive, reaching the finals in both the FA Cup and the Champions League, and there is hope that they will achieve a double cup title.

After the game started, Chelsea pressed forward, quickly took the initiative on the field and launched an attack on Manchester United's goal.

At the beginning, commentator Lineker kept praising Chelsea for their proactiveness and cheering for Chelsea's offensive. But after more than ten minutes, Lineker was surprised to notice that although Chelsea's offensive was fierce, they actually did not really threaten Manchester United's goal.

This discovery made Lineker start to focus on Manchester United, and then the commentator found that Manchester United played very conservatively today.

And fans around the world once again witnessed the power of the genuine Mourinho bus.

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Mourinho never fights a battle without confidence, or in other words, no matter what the outcome is, he will do his best to prepare in advance.

Because Manchester United's recent games are too dense, although Mourinho has tried his best to rotate the players, the players still inevitably become very tired, which has greatly affected the team's record.

Although today's FA Cup final is Manchester United's sixth time in the past six years, Mourinho still does not want to give up the championship that is about to be won, so he finally decided to bring out his masterpiece.

Despite the passive situation, Mourinho became more confident because all this was within his considerations and expectations.

Mourinho stared at the field, like a hunter trying to catch prey. He tried hard to observe the game, requiring himself to analyze calmly, constantly improve, and absorb experience and nutrients.

The game was in the twenty-nine minute mark.

Italy's midfielder Ziyech made a beautiful dribble past Fred, then he stepped forward and was about to continue dribbling the ball, and then he saw the sky of the new Wembley Stadium.

"Well done!" This is Mourinho's voice.

"Foul!" This was Tuchel's angry protest.

The referee hesitated for a moment and finally just called a foul but did not issue a card, which caused dissatisfaction among the head coaches of both teams.

Mourinho believes that Kante's tackle was very clean. He first touched the ball. Although his action seemed fierce, his feet were close to the grass and he had no intention of malicious harm. It was a beautiful tackle and not a foul at all.

Tuchel clearly thought Kante should have been booked.

(End of this chapter)

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