host must win

Chapter 262 Perfect 2003
On December 12, local time in the UK, the Christmas Devil's schedule continued. The 28th round of the Premier League started on this day. Manchester United was a guest at the Riverside Stadium to challenge Middlesbrough.

This is Manchester United's last battle in 2003, and Ferguson's 62nd birthday will be three days later. The old man naturally hopes to end the perfect 2003 with a victory, and at the same time give himself a birthday present.Therefore, at the Riverside Stadium, Manchester United played with the strongest lineup.Keane cameo again at centre-back with Gary Neville, Ferdinand and Sylvester at the back, Phil Neville, Scholes and Fletcher in midfield, Yin Jun, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Giger Sri Lanka formed the striker trident.

This Middlesbrough team has a strong style. After the game started, the two sides fought fiercely on the field, and the referee Messias' whistle was relatively loose.

In the melee, Manchester United scored the first goal.In the 14th minute, Scholes split the ball to the left and found Yin Jun who had changed positions with Giggs.Yin Jun dribbled the ball past Mendieta and broke into the penalty area and then shot. The ball hit Middlesbrough defender Mills and bounced into the near corner to score. Goalkeeper Schwarzer was helpless.

1: 0!

这也是殷俊在2003年取得的第59个正式比赛进球，追平了外星人罗纳尔多在1997年创造的进球记录；同时也是他在2003年参与制造的第97个进球，追平了盖德·穆勒在1972年创造的足球史上自然年度制造进球最多的记录！

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It is said that misfortunes never come singly. Middlesbrough just lost the ball and were hit again soon.In the 18th minute, Middlesbrough's full-back Kudrew was knocked to the ground by Yin Jun's continuous dribble while defending Yin Jun, and then failed to stand up again. The home team had to be defeated early Use up a substitution spot.

The score fell behind early, and another player was off the field due to injury, which made the Middlesbrough players a little impatient, and their kicking movements became more and more vigorous.But this cannot allow them to change their passive situation on the court, and the rhythm of the game is completely controlled by Manchester United.

In the 20th minute, Mills tried to get rid of Giggs in the midfield, but failed. He elbowed his opponent angrily and was warned by the referee with a yellow card.

Under the pressure of Manchester United, Middlesbrough ushered in the first shot in the 29th minute of the game.At that time, Keane fouled Mendieta on the edge of the penalty area and gave the opponent a free kick in a good position, but Zenden's free kick fired an anti-aircraft gun and missed the goal frame.

Manchester United scored again at the end of the first half, Giggs broke through Exiogu's cross from the left in the 43rd minute, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Scholes in the middle missed chances, but the football fell behind Point to the foot of Yin Jun who followed up.

In the face of almost completely empty goals, although the shooting angle was not large, it was still not difficult for Yin Jun, who has superb shooting skills.He succeeded with an easy push and helped Manchester United rewrite the score to 2:0. He himself also scored his 2003th goal in 60, and at the same time made 98 goals, becoming the single most natural player in the history of world football. Player with the most goals of the year!

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After the start of the second half, the home team, unwilling to lose, launched a fierce offensive against Manchester United's goal, hoping to score a goal or even equalize the score.However, Manchester United was forced to fully retreat, and the goal was frequently threatened.

However, Manchester United was not passively beaten, and their quick counterattack almost killed Middlesbrough.

In the 56th minute, Manchester United played a quick counterattack, a series of beautiful passes in the frontcourt, Giggs made a pass from the right side of the penalty area, Van Nistelrooy stopped the ball with his back to the goal, Yin Jun followed up with a strong shot, which was blocked by Schwarzer The last ball hit the lower edge of the crossbar and popped out.

Yin Jun, who missed his 2003st goal in 61, hugged his head regretfully and sighed.However, Middlesbrough has a sense of survival after disaster.

If the ball is scored by Yin Jun, then they can also declare the loss in advance of this game.

Although they almost lost the third goal of the game, Middlesbrough had to take the initiative to attack because they did not want to surrender in front of more than 3 fans at home.

Manchester United responded with a defensive counterattack and repeatedly threatened the opponent's goal.

Just 2 minutes after Yin Jun almost staged a hat-trick, Manchester United made a comeback again. Giggs dribbled the ball in the frontcourt and made an assault. .

In the 64th minute, Manchester United once again played a quick counterattack. Gary Neville passed Giggs directly, but Exiogu beautifully tackled the ball.

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The home team's goal was frequently threatened, and the balance of victory looked more and more in favor of Manchester United.

However, an unexpected situation that happened on the field at the next moment gave the home team a glimmer of hope for victory.Fletcher fouled Zenden in midfield. The Scottish teenager accumulated two yellow cards and was sent off with a red card.

With nearly half an hour left in the game plus stoppage time, the home team played one more player, coupled with the home court advantage, which made Middlesbrough's head coach and former Ferguson assistant Steve McLaren look When it came to the hope of overthrowing the Red Devils, Maccaroni and Dawn were successively replaced to strengthen the offense.

However, in the face of the seasoned Ferguson, McLaren, the former Manchester United assistant coach, did not lead the team to perform miracles, not even scoring a goal.

In the end, Manchester United triumphed with a score of 2:0 at the Riverside Stadium.This also allowed the Red Devils to avenge their 1:3 loss to their opponents on Boxing Day a year ago.

With Manchester United's away victory, the Red Devils' half-time record of this season is fixed at 16 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, with 50 points.

This is also the first team in the 12-year history of the Premier League to score 50 points in the half.

This also made the half-time undefeated Arsenal inferior. Wenger's team got too many draws. With 13 wins and 6 draws, they only scored 45 points, which is 5 points less than Manchester United!
And a year ago, when the half of the Premier League ended, Arsenal ranked first with 39 points, a full 4 points ahead of third-ranked Manchester United!
In addition, after the 2-goal victory, Manchester United scored 2003 goals in the Premier League in the natural year of 103, becoming the first English team in 21 years to score 100+ league goals in a natural year.

And Yin Jun and Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 29 goals and 30 goals respectively in this year, both breaking the Premier League's natural annual scoring record.The previous record was held by Alan Shearer, who scored 2002 goals in 27.

The previous English team that scored 100+ league goals in a natural year was Liverpool in 1982. At that time, the Red Army scored 106 goals in the league in one year.

However, Manchester United played only 2003 league games in 36, but achieved a record of 30 wins, 5 draws and 1 loss, and a terrifying 95 points, topping the five major leagues and also a record in the history of the Premier League!
In 19 league games this season, Manchester United has scored 52 goals, conceded only 13 goals, and achieved a staggering 39 goal difference.Calculated, on average, Manchester United beat their opponents by more than 2 goals per game.

(End of this chapter)