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

Chapter 421 Bruno retires from injury
Referee Marriner showed a yellow card to Southampton defender Maguire.

Mourinho frowned. It was not good for the central defender to receive a yellow card so early. He realized that he was a little too optimistic, and Southampton, who was trailing 0:1, did not act too impatient.

"This is an experienced team." Gary Lineker praised Southampton's performance.

Five minutes later, Maguire controlled the ball in the backcourt. When he passed the ball to Kanter, he made a mistake and lost power. Gabbiadini steals the ball successfully.

"Chance!"

Gabbiadini stole the ball and entered the penalty area. Although Van Dijk desperately made a supplementary tackle and shoveled the football away, Gabbiadini followed up and kicked the ball first, and the football hit the upper left corner of the goal.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLL!!!!!"

"Gabbiadini! Southampton equalized!"

"Southampton showed a lot of experience. They didn't panic and quickly took advantage of Manchester United's mistakes to equalize the score."

"Fuck!" Mourinho cursed.

........................

Southampton quickly equalized the score, which frustrated Manchester United's plan to counterattack steadily. Subsequently, the game fell into a stalemate.

Southampton didn't seem to be in a hurry to attack. They used aggressive fighting to intercept and dragged the midfielder into a physical battle.

In the 18th minute, Kanter tackled Bertrand and was given a yellow card.

Mourinho was very dissatisfied with this penalty. He believed that Kante's action was small and a verbal warning was enough.

Then Cedric Suarez fouled Bruno and Ibrahimovic twice in a short period of time, but the referee only gave him a verbal warning, which aroused Mourinho's strong dissatisfaction.

The Manchester United fans at the scene booed harshly.

Mourinho's face was gloomy. He knew that the referee's mentality changed after the penalty kick was awarded, and he began to show mercy to Southampton.

"Ibrahimovic shot! It went over the crossbar!"

"Gabbiadini! Off the mark!"

"Bruno! Oh, oh, it's just a little bit short!"

……

With a melee stalemate in the midfield, neither side had a good chance to score. Both sides began to try long-range shots, but neither of them had much of a shooting threat.

………………

Lingard dribbled the ball in the frontcourt. He was very fast and Steffens almost brought him to the ground with his hands and feet. Referee Marriner hesitated and made a gesture indicating that there was no foul and the game continued.

Mourinho had a gloomy expression and looked at the court silently. He had been verbally warned by the referee and did not dare to make any more radical remarks.

"Marina's law enforcement standards are not uniform." Lineker commented, "If Kanter brought down Bertrand just now, it was a yellow card, Steffens should at least have committed a foul this time."

Manchester United's players were raising their hands to indicate that Steffens had committed a foul.

Southampton tried to take the opportunity to launch a quick counterattack. Valencia cleanly scooped the ball away from Bertrand's feet while running at high speed, preventing Southampton from counterattacking.

Mourinho applauded on the sidelines, applauding veteran Valencia's physical defense and clean interception.

Three minutes later, Rojo shoveled Romeu to the ground. The referee only gave Rojo a verbal warning this time, which also aroused strong dissatisfaction from Pierre.

Throughout the first half of the game, except for the two goals scored by both sides, the referee became the most eye-catching one on the field. Both Mourinho and Pierre are very dissatisfied with Marriner.

After one minute of injury time, referee Marriner blew the whistle to end the first half.

After halftime, Manchester United 1:1 Southampton.

The camera captured that at the players' corridor, Manchester United head coach Mourinho and Southampton head coach Pierre found the referee Marriner together.

"Marina's officiating in the first half of the game was simply a disaster." Gary Lineker said. "Manchester United was dissatisfied with him. They believed that the enforcement standards were inconsistent and there were too many penalties that were unfavorable to Manchester United. Pierre was also dissatisfied."

In the footage, Pierre pointed to the penalty spot in front of his own goal, obviously still brooding about that penalty.

………………

"How is it?" Mourinho asked worriedly.

After returning to the locker room, Bruno found the team doctor and he said he had a slight strain. This immediately made Mourinho nervous.

Of course he wants to win the League Cup, but Mourinho absolutely does not want to see his players injured, especially Bruno is still the core of Manchester United's midfield and the team's offensive engine.

It can be said without mercy that if Manchester United lost Bruno, their offensive capabilities would be directly reduced by half!
The league has entered the final sprint stage, and there is no room for any mistakes. After all, the value of the League Cup championship is incomparable to that of the Premier League championship.

"You can continue to play." Team doctor Neil Hoff personally checked Bruno and said, "However, for safety reasons, I do not recommend that Bruno continue to play."

Mourinho looks at Neil Hough.

"I just looked at the turf, and you saw it, it's too slippery," Neil Hoff said.

Bruno heard this and was about to speak.

"Then come down and rest." Mourinho decided decisively. He said to Bruno: "Bruno, you have to believe in your teammates. Moreover, we have more important championships that we need to work hard for."

Bruno opened his mouth and finally nodded in agreement. "In the second half of the game, continue to play according to the tactics of the first half." Mourinho said, "In addition, be careful not to get injured. We want the championship, but I want everyone to be healthy and win it. Trophy.”

………………

Before the start of the second half, Manchester United requested a substitution.

Veteran Carrick came on as a substitute and Bruno was replaced. Manchester United also changed its formation with this substitution adjustment. Herrera, Kanter, Carrick and Mata stood parallel in the midfield. Manchester United changed to a 442 formation, with Lingard and Ibrahimovic forming a double forward lineup.

Even Mourinho himself did not expect that this forced substitution change would quickly achieve miraculous results.

Valencia received a pass from the defender at the top of the penalty area, then turned around and passed the football to Herrera on the wing.

Herrera took two steps forward and passed to Kante, who passed to Rojo.

Rojo tried to send an overhead pass, but Stephen Davis pushed the ball back.

Kanter passed the ball to Rojo, who passed it to Mata on the wing.

Mata did not choose to break through with the ball this time, but directly passed the ball diagonally and sent the football to the other side!
"Precise diagonal pass!" shouted Gary Lineker.

The football crossed the half-court diagonally and flew straight to the right wing.

On the right, Valencia stepped in at high speed and stretched out his feet to remove the ball in the air beautifully.

Mata's diagonal transfer of the ball from the left to the right was very imaginative, with a wide field of vision, and caught Southampton off guard.

On Southampton's left wing, Bertrand had just made an assist and had not yet had time to return to defense.

At this time, when he saw Valencia taking the ball, Bertrand became anxious and chased back desperately. However, Valencia was once a famous winger in the Premier League. Although he is old now, his speed is still not slow. , Bertrand couldn't catch up for a while.

………………

Southampton's attack just now was very high up, which directly led to Mata's simple diagonal pass, which directly tore apart Southampton's defense.

Valencia was fast and dribbling the ball, while Southampton's players retreated wildly to chase.

Manchester United's ability to play defensive counterattacks was clearly demonstrated in this counterattack. In front of Valencia is a large open space, which is simply a sprint space tailor-made for him.

Raymond tried his best to intercept, and he pounced diagonally towards Valencia.

Valencia slows down slightly.

"I finally ran out of energy!" Upon seeing this, Raymond immediately approached, planning to take the opportunity to get close to him.

Valencia immediately made a move to cut horizontally into the penalty area. Raymond quickly moved his body and changed his focus to intercept.

At this moment, Valencia dexterously pushed the football to the outside with the instep of his left foot, then immediately accelerated the ball and broke through!

"Pretty!"

"Breakthrough!"

"Valencia! This 31-year-old veteran is so fast! Beautiful! He entered the penalty area!"

Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster moves, ready to strike or make a save.

Valencia made a move to take a long shot, tricking Fraser Foster into making a move. Then he realized that he had been fooled and quickly regained his focus in embarrassment.

At this moment, the Ecuadorian passed the ball and swept the football towards the goal with great speed.

………………

"Lingard -!!!" shouted Gary Lineker.

Lingard fell to the ground and made a sliding tackle. Steffens, who followed him, did not dare to make a move. He was afraid of an own goal.

Lingard missed the ball and it sailed past his studs.

Before the Southampton fans in the stands could breathe a sigh of relief, a figure wearing Manchester United's red home jersey flashed from behind.

"Ibrahimovic——!!!"

The big man wearing the No. 9 jersey appeared at the back point. Next to him was Maya Yoshida, who was panting and chasing after him. He tried his best but could not catch up with Ibrahimovic. He could only He watched helplessly as Ibrahimovic faced the flying football and volleyed directly.

Bang!
It's like a heavy hammer hitting the hearts of Southampton fans!

The football suddenly jumped up, flew towards the goal, and flew into the net from Fraser Forster's left hand side.

"Zlatan-GOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLL!!!!!!" In the commentary box, the commentators jumped up, raised their arms and shouted.

In the stands of the new Wembley Stadium, in the bars of Manchester, and in front of the TV sets watching the game around the world, countless Manchester United fans and Ibrahimovic fans jumped to their feet, and everyone raised their arms and roared.

Ibrahimovic, who scored the goal, threw himself emotionally at Valencia, who assisted him.

Lingard, Mata, Herrera, Kante... Manchester United players rushed forward in a swarm.

They rushed to the sidelines and shouted to the stands where the Manchester United fans were: Champion! is ours!
Not far from them, there were Southampton players who were feeling lonely.

Although the second half of the game had just begun and there was still time, they conceded the goal again at the beginning, which was indeed a big blow to the morale of the Southampton players.

(End of this chapter)