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

Chapter 943 Blocking
After the match with Chelsea, Manchester United will face Aston Villa at home in the third round of the FA Cup.

Mourinho made a large number of substitutions in this game. Although the Manchester United team showed amazing physical fitness in the match against Chelsea, they are not robots after all and still need to rest. After two consecutive high-intensity and fierce confrontations, the players are very tired both physically and mentally.

So after the game against Chelsea, Mourinho gave all the players who participated in the game a whole day off, even though the game against Aston Villa was three days later.

Mourinho had no intention of including some of these players in that match.

In Manchester United's first appearance in the FA Cup this season, Bruno did not play, Diallo did not play, Harry Kane did not play, Greenwood did not play, and Kante did not play. None of the above players were on the roster.

But even so, Manchester United, playing with the second lineup, still defeated Aston Villa 2-0 at the new Old Trafford and advanced to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

In the multi-front battle, Manchester United maintained a posture of advancing on all fronts. This is due to the bench lineup behind Manchester United and good rotation.

In fact, it is already impossible to rely on one lineup to win multiple battles in the fiercely competitive Premier League.

Whether it is Manchester United under Ferguson or Manchester United under Mourinho today, their success is inseparable from proper rotation.

………………

Manchester United's four games after the Christmas devil schedule are very interesting, because they only have two opponents in these four games, Chelsea and Aston Villa. Two League Cup semi-finals, one FA Cup third round, and one Premier League game.

After defeating Aston Villa to advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup, Manchester United will immediately face Chelsea in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final at home.

Although Manchester United won away from home in the first leg, Mourinho did not dare to be careless in this round of the game. He sent almost all the main players to face Chelsea.

Although the League Cup championship is a bit useless for Manchester United, when it comes to the semi-finals, Mourinho naturally hopes that the team can go one step further and win the championship of this tournament.

In the end, Manchester United won 1-0 at home with a direct free kick from Bruno. Although the victory was not smooth and the process was a bit thrilling, they finally defeated their opponent. They defeated their opponent twice in two rounds of matches, eliminated Chelsea with a total score of 3-1, and advanced to the League Cup final first.

However, the other League Cup semi-final, the first leg between Liverpool and Arsenal, was forced to be postponed due to the new crown epidemic, so Manchester United's opponent in the League Cup has not yet been determined.

………………

On the afternoon of January 2022, 1, at Villa Park, a focus match of the 15nd round of the Premier League is about to start, with the Red Devils Manchester United challenging Aston Villa away.

Players from both sides stood in their positions, waiting for the game to begin.

The referee of the game blew the whistle to start the game.

At the beginning of the game, Aston Villa players launched a fierce attack on Manchester United's goal. They obviously hoped to defeat Manchester United at their home ground and avenge their elimination from the FA Cup six days ago.

With the cheers of the home fans, Aston Villa continued to attack Manchester United's goal.

Although Manchester United's players had some expectations of what they would face at Villa Park, when Aston Villa's attack really came, they still felt it was beyond their expectations.

Aston Villa's fierce attack made Manchester United players unable to raise their heads. Although they had made some preparations before the game, the fierceness of Aston Villa's attack still made it difficult for them to cope with it.

Aston Villa fans at Villa Park kept cheering excitedly to cheer for the team. They were all very happy with the fighting spirit shown by the team after the game started.

Gerrard on the sidelines was very satisfied with the team's performance. Although he told his players to rush to Manchester United's goal after the game started and try to score a goal as soon as possible, the team's performance had completely exceeded his expectations.

………………

Facing Aston Villa's fierce attack, Manchester United retreated across the board and stayed within their own 30-meter area. De Gea kept blocking the ball high and low to ensure that the goal was not lost.

During this period, Manchester United fans in front of the TV and in the stands were watching with fear, fearing that Aston Villa's attack would result in a goal being lost.

Fortunately, Manchester United's defense was still very solid. Although Aston Villa's attack was fierce, they did not score any goals.

Fifteen minutes later, Aston Villa's fierce attack weakened slightly, just like diving, if you stay underwater for too long you need to get up and take a breath.

It was Manchester United's turn to attack and the ball was passed to Bruno's feet.

As the core midfielder of Manchester United, it is normal for Bruno to get the ball more often. But this time, Bruno was hit by Aston Villa's midfielder Jacob just after he got the ball, which made him stagger and lose the ball.

Jacob bypassed Bruno and caught up with the ball, and Aston Villa launched another attack based on this.

Bruno was a little surprised when he lost the ball because he didn't hear the referee's whistle.

He thought Jacob must have committed a foul, but the referee did not think it was a foul. So he had to chase back and try to intercept Jacob, but Jacob had already passed the ball away.

………………Bruno gave up chasing the ball and returned to his position. At the same time, he looked at Jacob. Unexpectedly, the other party also looked at him. The two people's eyes met in the air, and Bruno felt that there seemed to be sparks in the other's eyes.

This feeling is the same as what he felt before the game started.

Bruno knew that the opposing players would be more aggressive towards him, but he did not expect that the referee's penalty was not as strict as he imagined.

From then on, whenever Bruno got the ball, not only Jacob, but other Aston Villa players were also rude, which made it difficult for Bruno to control the ball.

Of course, the referee would not turn a blind eye to all the collisions of Aston Villa players. He would also call fouls on Aston Villa players, including showing a yellow card to central defender Konsa.

Manchester United found it difficult to organize any decent attack because Bruno was tightly "defended" by Aston Villa players. So even if Aston Villa's offensive slowed down, Manchester United was still under pressure overall.

During this process, the TV broadcast gave a close-up of Aston Villa's head coach Gerrard, as if to say that this was Aston Villa's tactical arrangement.

But in fact, the director really wronged Gerrard this time.

As a Liverpool legend, Gerrard really wants to beat Manchester United, whether it is to help his old club Liverpool block the game or to win points for the team.

Gerrard did ask his players to defend Bruno strictly before the game, but he did not say that he wanted the players to use rough fouls to curb Bruno!

………………

When Manchester United got a chance to attack, the ball once again fell to Bruno's feet.

This time Bruno did not wait there, but walked towards the football, ready to catch the ball.

Jacob, who was defending him, also ran up and tried to stick to Bruno to prevent him from turning around.

But Bruno didn't even think about turning around. When he ran to the football, his legs spread apart and the football passed by!

The football passed between his legs, rolled past Jacob who was caught off guard, and then fell at the feet of Harry Kane who retreated to receive the ball.

Bruno then turned and ran forward to meet Harry Kane.

As soon as Harry Kane saw Bruno coming up, he passed the ball to him, and Jacob chased after Bruno.

As Bruno caught the ball, he suddenly stopped and tried to turn around and get rid of Jacob.

This sudden stop and turn really caught Jacob off guard, but Jacob's reaction was quick. When he was about to be thrown away by Bruno, he decisively stretched out his foot to block Bruno from behind.

If Bruno was going to turn around, he would definitely knock the ball behind him, so that his feet would be stuck in the path of Bruno's turning.

But unexpectedly, Bruno did not turn around while knocking the ball, but left the ball where it was and turned around by himself.

As he turned around, he bumped into Jacob's legs, and naturally, his body suddenly leaned back and was thrown to the ground.

The scene looked very visually impactful, as if Bruno was hit by a forklift coming from behind.

………………

At the same time, the referee's whistle sounded.

In front of Manchester United's coaching booth, Mourinho roared angrily: "This is a foul!"

At the same time, Sky Sports commentator Gary Lineker was also shouting: "Jacob kicked someone from behind, a very bad foul! He should pay the price for it!"

The commentator Ferdinand said: "The referee should have shown a yellow card. If he continues to leave it alone, the game will get out of control!"

After landing, Bruno did not get up immediately, but lay on the ground, covering his ankle with his hands with a painful expression.

Jacob raised his hands to show that he was innocent, but he couldn't escape this time. After all, the visual impact of Bruno's fall just now was too great. His kick was basically cutting down a tree.

Sure enough, after the referee blew the whistle, he ran to Jacob and showed him a yellow card.

In the 35th minute, Jacob also received a yellow card.

Now two players in Aston Villa's lineup have received yellow cards, but this situation did not attract people's attention as Aston Villa had the advantage.

(End of this chapter)