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

Chapter 962 Great Victory
The match between Manchester United and Sporting Lisbon was considered the most unequal match among the eight Champions League quarter-finals. Everyone thought Manchester United would win, after all, Manchester United had won the Champions League four times in a row, while Sporting Lisbon was returning to the Champions League after five years, and almost no one in the team, from the players to the head coach, had any experience in the Champions League.

Although Sporting Lisbon advanced to the knockout stage by relying on their goal difference advantage over Dortmund in the group stage, no one thought they could win the match against Manchester United.

However, no one expected that Manchester United could take the lead so easily in the away game against Sporting Lisbon.

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLL!!!!!”

"Oh God, my God!"

"Bruno! Bruno again!"

"Just three minutes into the game, Bruno quickly took the ball from the left, cut inside, and shot directly with his right foot, breaking the goal for Manchester United against Sporting Lisbon!"

“He scored in just three minutes to give the team the lead. The Sporting Lisbon defenders couldn’t stop him at all!”

"Bruno looked very excited tonight and he looked very active."

"This is Bruno's twelfth goal in the Champions League this season, assisted by Gundogan!"

………………

February 2022, 2, 23 pm local time in Portugal.

In the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Manchester United traveled to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, to challenge Sporting Lisbon.

Just three minutes into the game, Bruno scored a goal for Manchester United, which showed Bruno's extremely excellent competitive state.

Manchester United head coach Mourinho on the sidelines was so excited that he danced with joy.

He anticipated that Manchester United would be able to score away from home, but he did not expect the goal to come so quickly.

After Bruno opened the scoring, Manchester United continued to press forward.

Sporting Lisbon organized a tight defense, but it only lasted fifteen minutes.

In the 18th minute, Rashford made a back-triangle pass, Harry Kane's shot was saved by Adán, Bruno passed the ball back, and Mahrez shot into the empty goal. Through VAR, the referee indicated that the goal was valid.

Manchester United expanded the score 2:0.

Sporting Lisbon lost two goals in a row, and the team's morale suffered a severe blow.

Sixteen minutes later, this time it was Rashford himself. With an assist from Harry Kane, Rashford scored in the penalty area, further expanding the score for Manchester United.

3: 0!

With a three-goal lead in the first half, Manchester United's morale was high.

………………

During the half-time break, head coach Mourinho was full of praise for the team's performance and repeatedly encouraged the players to keep up the good work, strive for a big victory, and win the series in one game.

Mourinho had this idea mainly because Manchester United's schedule was too tight and their opponents were too strong during the period from the end of February to the international match day in March.

Manchester United's schedule after the Club World Cup and before the international match day in late March is as follows:

On the afternoon of February 2, in the 20th round of the Premier League, Manchester United challenged Leeds United away;
On the evening of February 2, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Manchester United challenged Sporting Lisbon away;

On the afternoon of February 2, in the League Cup final, Manchester United faced their arch-rivals Liverpool;
Two days later, on the evening of March 3, in the fifth round of the FA Cup, Manchester United faced Tottenham at home;
On the afternoon of March 3, in the 6th round of the Premier League, Manchester United will face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, the decisive battle of the season. If Manchester United can win away, they will basically lock in the league championship in advance; if they lose, it will give the opponent a chance to catch up.

On the afternoon of March 3, in the 12th round of the Premier League, Manchester United continued to face off against Tottenham led by Cristiano Ronaldo at home;

On the evening of March 3, in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Manchester United faced Sporting Lisbon at home;

On the last weekend before the international match day at the end of March, in the 30th round of the Premier League, Manchester United will face Liverpool in a derby.

Of course, if Manchester United can play in the sixth round of the FA Cup, the Red Derby with Liverpool may be postponed.

With such a schedule, Mourinho naturally hopes that Manchester United can deal with Sporting Lisbon today so that Manchester United can focus more on domestic competitions in the future.

………………

In the second half, Sporting Lisbon's defense only lasted fourteen minutes.

In the 59th minute, Harry Kane got the ball in front of the penalty area and passed it behind him. Bruno came back and stopped the ball with his chest, then turned around and volleyed with his left foot, scoring another goal for Manchester United and scoring his second goal.

4: 0!

The Sporting Lisbon Stadium fell into silence for a moment, with only about three thousand Manchester United fans who came from afar celebrating wildly!

This was a goal that completely killed the game and even decided the outcome of the series!
But just when everyone thought that Manchester United would stop there, in the 67th minute, Bruno suddenly appeared in the empty space in the middle. After getting the ball, he dribbled all the way to the front of the penalty area, suddenly kicked the ball and scored again.

5:0! Sporting Lisbon was completely defeated.
After Bruno scored a brace of goals and assists in the last round of the Premier League, which decided the outcome of the Rose Derby, he once again performed a hat trick today, using three goals to let everyone see his excellent competitive form.

Mourinho replaced Bruno in the 70th minute.

At this moment, all the fans in the stadium stood up and gave Bruno thunderous applause.

Although as opponents, Sporting Lisbon fans are not very happy about Bruno's good form today, but as Portuguese, they are grateful to Bruno, the great contributor who brought Portuguese football to the top of the world.

………………

With Bruno's departure, the game entered garbage time. Both sides basically had no intention of continuing the fierce battle.

Sporting Lisbon certainly wanted to score a face-saving goal, but facing Manchester United's full defense, their attack did not produce any effect.

In the end, Manchester United maintained the score of 5:0 until the end of the game.

This is the third time in the Champions League this season that Manchester United has scored five goals in a single game. In the seven Champions League games, Manchester United has scored a total of 5 goals, and its offensive power is terrifying.

Head coach Mourinho stated in a high-profile manner at the post-match press conference that Manchester United is in very good shape and the team is confident to win all games and defeat all opponents, no matter who they are.

As for Bruno, who scored 12 goals in the Champions League, Mourinho said that he could no longer use any adjectives to describe his admiration for Bruno, because any praise would seem extremely pale and powerless in the face of his outstanding performance.

Manchester United swept Sporting Lisbon 5-0 after returning to the Champions League after five years, causing a sensation in the world of football.

What was even more shocking was that Bruno once again scored a hat trick.

Bruno has only played six games in the Champions League this season, but he has already scored a hat trick twice and a brace in the other four games.

Fourteen goals were scored in six Champions League games, which is a crazy goal efficiency.

There are even many fans who believe that Bruno is likely to break his record of 2018 goals in a single Champions League season in the 2019-18 season.

………………

After Manchester United swept Sporting Lisbon 5-0, all eight matches of the first leg of the Champions League round of were over, and the performance of the Premier League teams was amazing.

In the first legs of the two Champions League quarter-finals held a week ago, Manchester City drew 1:1 with Atletico Madrid away from home, taking the lead in the two-round knockout match.

Liverpool's performance was even better. They beat Inter Milan 2-0 away from home and almost had one foot in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

In the other Champions League matches held this week, Chelsea defeated French Ligue 2 team Lille 0- at home, which also laid the foundation for advancing to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Together with Manchester United, who beat Sporting Lisbon 5-0 away from home, the Premier League teams are making solid progress in the Champions League, with four teams set to advance to the quarterfinals.

………………

Manchester United's morale is high after a 5-0 win in the Champions League knockout round.

This weekend, the League Cup final will be held at the new Wembley Stadium.

This time Manchester United will challenge a strong opponent, Liverpool coached by Klopp.

Liverpool has performed very well so far this season. Although they seem to be 17 points behind Manchester United in the Premier League, they have two games less and still have the possibility of competing for the league title.

In the Champions League, they beat Inter Milan 2-0 away in the first leg of the round of , almost securing a place in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

In domestic cup competitions, the Reds not only advanced to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, but also reached the final of the League Cup.

From the current perspective, Liverpool, like Manchester United, still has the hope of winning the quadruple championship.

In this League Cup final, one team's dream of winning four championships is destined to be shattered ahead of schedule.

Compared to Manchester United, which was in a slump before the Club World Cup and has only recently begun to show signs of recovery, Liverpool's performance since entering 2022 has been very strong.

Since entering 2022, the Reds have a record of 5 wins and 1 draw in the Premier League. Except for the first game of the new year when they drew 2:2 with Chelsea away, Klopp's team has won five consecutive games and is the best performing Premier League team in recent times.

而利物浦在足总杯则是4:1大胜什鲁斯伯里城，3:1击败卡迪夫城，2:1击败诺维奇，再加上在欧冠赛场客场2:0击败国际米兰。

The Red Army's record in 2022 is 9 wins and 1 draw, the best in England.

In comparison, although Manchester United's performance rebounded after the Club World Cup, in 2022, Manchester United's record was only 11 wins and 3 draws, which was obviously inferior to Liverpool.

The impressive record has made Red Devils fans all over the world worry about Manchester United, but at the same time they are also full of expectations for this national derby.

Is Manchester United, which has been on a scoring spree recently, better? Or is Liverpool, with its iron wall, more unbreakable?

(End of this chapter)