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

Chapter 958: Hot Rose Derby

After winning the Club World Cup, Manchester United finally had a week of rest, which was undoubtedly a rare chance to catch their breath after playing two games a week for nearly three months.

Therefore, after winning the championship, Manchester United did not rush back to the UK immediately, but rested in the UAE for three days. It was not until late at night on February 2 that they rushed back to the UK from Dubai International Airport on a special plane of the Manchester United club.

Immediately afterwards, Manchester United started a new stage of the devilish schedule, a schedule in which they would truly fight on four fronts.

In just eight days in late February, Manchester United will have three games, a Premier League, a Champions League quarter-final, and a League Cup final.

In early and mid-March, Manchester United will have three Premier League games, a Champions League quarter-final, and an FA Cup quarter-final.

In late March, it will be the first international match day of 2022, and Manchester United's international players will return home to serve their country.

Everyone knows that the FIFA virus is the nightmare of all top teams!

That is to say, in the 28 days before the international match day, Manchester United will have 7 games in four fronts: the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup!
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Manchester United's first game after returning to the UK is the 26th round of the Premier League, which is also the second round of this season's Rose Derby.

In the Premier League standings before this round, Leeds United only got 23 points in 23 Premier League games, ranking 15th in the standings. Although it is 6 points higher than the relegation zone, the pressure to avoid relegation is not small.

Obviously, in this Rose Derby, Leeds United will definitely fight hard with Manchester United.

However, many Manchester United players did not take Leeds United, a relegation team, seriously. After all, Manchester United has a huge advantage in the current Premier League standings.

Because of the schedule, Manchester United currently has one more game than all other teams and has 26 points in 68 rounds, 8 points ahead of second-placed Manchester City with one more game played.

With such an advantage, even for Manchester City, it will not be a short-term thing to catch up with Manchester United, let alone Leeds United, which is at the bottom of the standings.

As many British media have said, this season's Premier League title is likely to be won by Manchester United, and the Red Devils are very likely to win the Premier League for the sixth consecutive time. Teams including Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea are just there to make up the numbers.

As for a relegation team like Leeds United, they are not even considered a bystander!
In the eyes of many Manchester United players, they don't take teams like Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea seriously, let alone Leeds United.

The three points from today's game are only temporarily deposited with Leeds United and can be taken away after the game.

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Judging from the progress of the game, this statement makes sense.

The game had just started for three minutes when Manchester United, who had rotated most of their lineup for the Champions League knockout match in the middle of the week, scored the first goal away from home.

This was a corner attack. Bruno took a corner kick from the right, Maguire jumped high in the middle and headed the ball into the goal. Manchester United 1:0 Leeds United.

Just six minutes later, Bruno made a sudden pass in front of the penalty area, giving young player Diallo a chance to face the goalkeeper alone. When shooting, Diallo was knocked to the ground by the Leeds United goalkeeper Meslier. The referee decisively awarded a penalty and showed Meslier a yellow card.

Bruno then took the lead and kicked the ball into the goal.

Manchester United took a two-goal lead less than ten minutes into the game, and there was no suspense in the game anymore.

Leeds United was also obviously stunned by Manchester United's blitzkrieg. After the game resumed, they played in a chaotic manner. Some players wanted to quickly counterattack and score goals, but some players were worried that Manchester United, who were crazy about the game, would score again, so they preferred to defend at the back.

This ideological disunity was reflected in the scene as appalling chaos.

Facing the disorganized Leeds United, Manchester United played in a relaxed manner. They were not in a hurry and attacked when they had a chance, and passed the ball back and forth when they didn't.

Anyway, we have a two-goal lead now. With our strength and performance, what else do we have to worry about?

Perhaps because they were too relaxed, Manchester United had some opportunities in the first half but failed to seize them.

As for Leeds United, they should be thankful that they didn't continue to concede goals, let alone equalize the score.

Just like that, at the end of the first half, Manchester United led Leeds United 2:0 away from home, and the score never changed after ten minutes of the game.

This disappointed commentator Gary Lineker, who had asserted after Bruno scored that the game would be a big score.

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Leeds United made substitutions just as the second half began.

Head coach Bielsa replaced the injured Koch with Firpo, replaced center back Llorente with striker Gerhard, and replaced Harrison with Rafinha.

Three players were replaced in the midfield, and there were personnel changes in all three lines, which shows how dissatisfied Bielsa was with Leeds United's performance in the first half.

At the beginning of the second half, Leeds United launched a fierce attack on Manchester United's goal, which was completely different from their performance in the first half and caught Manchester United completely by surprise.

How fierce was Leeds United's counterattack in the second half? Here is a statistic to illustrate the point.

Ten minutes into the second half, Leeds United had already taken seven shots, while Manchester United had only two. You should know that in the entire first half, Leeds United only had five shots, and only two of them hit the goal frame.

In the second half, five of the seven shots hit the goal frame. If it weren't for De Gea's outstanding performance, Manchester United's goal might have been lost.

During this period, Leeds United's offense was threatening and the Leeds United fans in the stands were also excited. Their cheers resounded over the stadium, and Leeds United finally felt like they were playing at home.

In addition to the fierce offensive, Leeds United players' ferocious defense, which did not hesitate to commit fouls, also made Manchester United players very uncomfortable.

In ten minutes, Leeds United players committed six fouls, while Manchester United only committed one. This huge contrast explains why Leeds United now has the advantage.

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Relying on fierce defense and desperate momentum, Leeds United gradually regained the initiative.

On the other hand, Manchester United players did not expect Leeds United's counterattack to be so quick and fierce after the half-time break. They were caught off guard.

And once they are suppressed, it becomes difficult for them to reverse the situation.

Now it has become that they can’t kick the ball smoothly no matter how hard they try.

After their players got the ball, they would be knocked to the ground by Leeds United players. Sometimes the referee would blow the whistle to indicate that the Leeds United players had committed a foul, but sometimes it was reasonable physical contact and not a foul.

The rhythm of the game of Manchester United players was completely disrupted by Leeds United's tactics, and it was very difficult to reorganize.

In the 58th minute, thirteen minutes into the second half, Leeds United's crazy counterattack finally paid off.

At that time, Leeds United launched a quick counterattack on the left. Forward Rodrigo, who was pulled to the left, suddenly made a lob shot from the left wing of the penalty area. De Gea, who had a slight problem with his positioning, was unable to reach the ball, and Leeds United scored a goal.

"Rodrigo!!!" Gary Lineker shouted excitedly, "Rodrigo! Beautiful long-distance lob! He used a world-class shot to break through De Gea's impenetrable defense!"

When Rodrigo scored, a huge cheer broke out over Elland Road, as if a bolt from the blue.

Leeds United played really badly in the first half, and their fans were frustrated. In the second half, Leeds United played so well that their blood boiled. As they cheered for the Leeds United players again and again, they had only one thought in their minds: Such a good performance, now all they need is a goal!

And the goal finally came!
Just over ten minutes into the second half, Leeds United scored a goal, which gave the supporters hope.

There is still time, enough time left for them to score another goal, or even two goals!

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Rodrigo did not celebrate after scoring the goal. After landing, he rushed into the goal. Before others could react, he bent down, picked up the football, turned around and ran towards the center circle.

Seize the time, everything is still possible!

The other Leeds United players also followed him back to their own half.

Their performance in the first half was really pathetic, now they want to avenge their previous defeat!
Facing the high-spirited Leeds United players, the Manchester United players looked confused.

After losing the ball, right back Dalot was defending in front. He saw Rodrigo suddenly shoot at a very small angle. At that time, he thought the opponent was just shooting randomly and the ball would never go in. As a result...

Like him, other Manchester United players also seemed helpless and surprised about the goal.

For the team that lost the ball, this kind of performance is not necessarily a good thing, because they don’t know why they lost the ball at all.

Some Manchester United players even thought that Leeds United were just lucky, after all, it was a completely unreasonable world-class goal.

Rodrigo had several shots in the previous time. Even when he shot from the center, none of them hit the target. He obviously forgot to wear shooting boots. As a result, he went to the side and shot the ball randomly, but it fell into the goal. Isn't this just luck?
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The consequence of this thinking is that Manchester United players do not take it seriously enough.

Since it was a lucky goal, good luck can't always be with us, right?

And they are still ahead, so there is no need to rush or worry.

As a result, just one minute after Leeds United scored a goal, Leeds United scored again.

Forshaw made a steal in the frontcourt, Daniel James made a low cross, Raphinha scored with a shovel shot from the back post, and the referee signaled that the goal was valid after listening to the VAR's opinion. Leeds United 2:2 Manchester United.

"Rafinha!" Gary Lineker exclaimed, "It's unbelievable! Manchester United took a two-goal lead within six minutes of the first half, and Leeds United equalized in just one minute!"

The entire Elland Road stadium has turned into a boiling crater, and the roar of Leeds United fans almost burns Manchester United players to ashes!

(End of this chapter)