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

Chapter 888: Strange Moves
As long as Bruno is in good shape, Manchester United's performance is basically guaranteed. Bruno's condition is the most stable, and he has almost never been in a slump. This has led to Manchester United reaching a peak that has never been seen in the team's history in the past five years. Even Manchester United, which once dominated the Premier League during Ferguson's era, is not as good as it is now.

Although doing so may be suspected of being "Bruno-dependent", Mourinho feels that relying on Bruno is no big deal as the club continues to win victories and championships.

And according to Bruno's contract with Manchester United, he can still be relied on for several seasons.

The glory of any team is always inseparable from the glory of the core players in the team. How can we not say that those teams are dependent on a certain player?

Of course a team must have a core. Since it is called the "core", it is naturally very important to the team. Since it is so important, it is no big deal to rely on the core.

So Mourinho is not worried about "Bruno dependence" at all. At least relying on Bruno is much more reliable than relying on most other players in the world.

After the half-time break, Mourinho continued to formulate strategies for the team in the second half in the same way as in the first half.

Since the performance in the first half was so good, was there any reason to change tactics?

………………

The second half begins again.

The halftime break made people feel long, and everyone couldn't wait to see the second half of the game. The battle between Manchester United and Chelsea has never lacked attention, although they have played against each other at least three times in the past five years.

"I think Chelsea will definitely fight back in the second half. They are a very tenacious team. This has been proven countless times in past games. They have made many comebacks after a bad start. So if Manchester United think they have already won, Chelsea doesn't mind giving them a heavy blow!"

This is a commentator who supports Chelsea.

However, he seems to have forgotten that the team that is best at reversing in the Premier League this season is actually Manchester United. In all competitions, they have conceded the first goal 17 times before eventually overtaking the opponent. The voice of "No reversal, no Manchester United" has been heard countless times by commentators from all over the world.

It is difficult to expect a team that is good at making comebacks to make careless mistakes.

Tuchel made some adjustments to the team's tactics, especially strengthening the defense against Bruno. But this did not help. After the start of the second half, Chelsea had an outstanding performance in the first ten minutes and threatened Manchester United's goal. The rhythm of the game quickly fell into Manchester United's hands.

No matter how tight the defense against Bruno is, it is impossible to be comprehensive and keep him company.

Bruno is the kind of player who will seize any opportunity he is given, which makes Chelsea players very painful.

If one player can't defend him, then use two. But what if neither of them can defend him?
Bruno was still able to find opportunities to pass the ball despite the defense of Jorginho and Matic.

………………

In the 59th minute, Manchester United intercepted the ball in the backcourt and launched a quick attack. Bruno had just received the ball when two Chelsea players appeared beside him. Jorginho interfered on the side and Matic simply took over and pulled the ball.

Before being pulled down, Bruno lost his balance and still fell to the ground to send a straight pass. The ball passed from Chelsea's wing and fell at Rashford's feet.

Rashford received the ball and made a high-quality cross. If Dean Henderson had not been fully focused this time, perhaps Chelsea's goal would have been breached again.

Seeing that the two midfielders Jorginho and Matic were struggling to deal with Bruno, Tuchel had to make a substitution. In the 63rd minute, he replaced Mount with Croatian midfielder Kovacic to strengthen the defense in the middle of the midfield.

The first time Kovacic faced Bruno, he knocked him to the ground with a brutal charge that looked like a foul.

Manchester United fans in the stands booed loudly. Seeing their hero being hurt, they used swear words to intimidate the "murderer".

"You Croatian bitch!"

"He should be sent off!"

Amid the huge boos, the referee's whistle was almost drowned out. The referee ran over and gave Kovacic a verbal warning.

Kovacic nodded to show his acceptance, then he stared at Bruno who was getting up from the ground, with no intention of stepping forward to shake hands as a gesture of friendship.

………………

After Kovacic successfully defended Bruno with a foul, he said to Jorginho beside him: "You go organize the attack, Jorge. The defense is left to me and Nemanja!"

At this time he was full of confidence.

Jorginho hesitated and said: "I think the three of us are better..."

Kovacic shook his head and said: "If we are always in this passive situation, we will never win the ball. You have to participate more in offense rather than defense."

The foul was successful, proving that the foul tactic was effective. He felt that he could suppress Bruno with this, not to mention that he had Matic to help him, so it was entirely possible to free Jorginho.

Seeing how confident he was, Jorginho thought that if Chelsea wanted to win, they really needed to attack instead of just defending, so he agreed.

Before leaving, he said to Kovacic: "Be careful with that guy."

Kovacic nodded vigorously and said: "Don't worry, leave him to me!"………………

Bruno is no longer surprised by all kinds of fouls. As an offensive core, dealing with the enemy's foul tactics is a compulsory course.

Players who perform well when there is no opposition are not suitable for professional football at all. If a midfielder cannot gain a foothold in the confrontation with a strong team, he should just go to bed as soon as possible.

So he is actually not afraid of Kovacic's fouls at all, he has his own ways to deal with them.

When Manchester United launched another attack, the ball fell to his feet as usual.

This time Kovacic planned to repeat the same trick and he crashed into Bruno again.

Bruno was indeed knocked down by him, but before being knocked down, Bruno still passed the ball!

The football rolled straight to the key area. Although Bruno was lying on the ground and unable to move forward, Harry Kane received the ball. He shot the ball and the football slightly brushed the outside of the goal post and flew out of the bottom line!
Bruno got up and shrugged at Kovacic.

This was a provocation, Kovacic was rude to him and he didn't need to be a gentleman.

………………

Next, during a competition for a high ball, the two men faced off again.

This was a header contest, Bruno jumped higher and pressed Kovacic under him. His hands did not move, but his right leg curled up and hit Kovacic's waist from below!
The ball was headed towards Chelsea's half by Bruno, and Kovacic fell headfirst.

The referee was very observant and blew the whistle to indicate that Bruno had committed a foul. Bruno pouted, spread his hands, and ran back. He did not even try to show friendliness to Lakovacic.

Kovacic got up from the ground, still holding his waist.

Jorginho came up to him and asked, "Are you okay?"

Kovacic frowned and hummed: "It's okay...it's okay!"

Seeing him like this, Jorginho didn't know what to say. He just kept saying in his mind: I told you to be careful with Bruno, look at this...

However, we are all teammates, and it is not good to say such things during the game, otherwise it will cause internal strife, make others laugh at us, and damage our own fighting effectiveness.

………………

Kovacic soon found that his fouls were completely ineffective in stopping Bruno.

When the ball was passed to Bruno, Bruno had his back to the attacking direction, but he was ready to receive the ball and turn around. Kovacic knew that he couldn't let the opponent turn around, so he rushed forward, intending to steal the ball from behind, and then secretly stab Bruno's ankle from behind to avenge the fact that he had been hit in the waist by his dirty trick.

Unexpectedly, Bruno didn't catch the ball at all. He moved his legs and let the ball slip away from his block.

Kovacic felt a chill in his crotch, and the ball rushed over. He had no time to brake, and he knocked Bruno to the ground!
The referee's whistle sounded again. Bruno and Kovacic fouled each other continuously, which made him realize that a verbal warning would be useless, so he showed a yellow card to Kovacic who fouled from behind!

However, Kovacic did not reduce the defensive pressure on Bruno because of the yellow card, but continued to confront Bruno.

When Bruno rushed over with the ball, he pressed forward from the side and used his body to push Bruno.

Now he has learned to be smarter and no longer commits direct and obvious fouls. Instead, he uses various small moves to interfere with Bruno, making it difficult for him to control the ball comfortably.

But no matter how hard he squeezed, Bruno didn't fall this time, unlike before when he fell almost at the touch.

………………

Bruno could feel the pressure coming from all around him, but he didn't take it seriously.

Such collisions were commonplace for him and he had long been accustomed to them.

Bruno resisted Kovacic's collision while looking for an opportunity to pass the ball.

Chelsea's defense had several holes in front of him, but his teammates hadn't noticed yet, so he had to wait. If he moved forward, he would squeeze the opponent's defense, and then his teammates would be even less likely to take advantage of those gaps.

So Bruno stopped suddenly, turned around, and kicked the ball back with the outside of his left foot.

This squeezed Kovacic behind him, leaving him no chance to steal the ball.

Kovacic tried desperately to steal the ball from behind, and he kept kicking Bruno's ankles and calves, but this time Bruno just didn't fall. He stretched one hand back to hold Kovacic, not letting him get too close to him, and used the other hand to maintain balance, and then protected the ball with his feet.

(End of this chapter)