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

Chapter 515 Breaking the record
In mid-week, the fifth round of the Champions League kicked off, and Manchester United flew to Baku on the shores of the Caspian Sea to challenge Qarabak.

Since Manchester United had advanced two rounds in advance, Mourinho made a major rotation of Manchester United's lineup in this game. Many main players, including Bruno, were not included in the team's roster.

This is also to allow these players to recharge their batteries, because Manchester United has ushered in a devilish schedule. From the end of the previous international match day to next New Year's Day, in just 42 days, Manchester United will play 14 games, including 11 Premier League games, 2 Champions League group stage games and 1 League Cup game.

In this devilish stadium, early December is the most difficult time for Manchester United. They will face the three powerful opponents of Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City in the eight days from December 12 to December 12.

Here, although Manchester United has advanced early in the Champions League group stage, the importance of the game with Atletico Madrid has been reduced a lot, but as one of the top teams in Europe, Manchester United will still pay attention to this game.

As for Arsenal and Manchester City, one is a traditional strong team in the Premier League, and the other is Manchester United's current biggest opponent. Manchester United does not dare to take it lightly.

Therefore, before ushering in this super devilish schedule, it is also very important for the players to rest as much as possible and recharge their batteries.

What's more, Baku, where Qarabak is located, is more than 4,000 kilometers away from Manchester. Even though Manchester United now has special flights, the long journey is still a big drain on the players.

Therefore, letting the main players stay in the UK to recuperate is undoubtedly the best choice.

However, even with a substitute rotation, Manchester United still showed its terrifying strength to the world. Manchester United, led by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had just returned from injury, also swept Qarabag 4-0 at the Tofik Bahramov Stadium.

In fact, this Manchester United team is a substitute rotation, but there is no shortage of generals in the team.

Not to mention Ibrahimovic, a team like Mata, Fellaini, Herrera, Mahrez, Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Ashley Young and Romero , even if it is used to play in the Premier League, it exceeds the starting strength of most teams.

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On the afternoon of November 11, a highlight match of the 25th round of the Premier League started at Old Trafford.

This game has attracted the attention of the world, not only because this game is a Manchester United game, but also because this game may set a new record: the longest winning streak in the English professional league!

Yes, it is not the winning streak at the beginning of the Premier League, nor the winning streak at the beginning of the English top league, but the winning streak at the beginning of the English Professional League.

The original record for winning streak at the beginning of the Premier League was Chelsea's 2005 consecutive wins in the 2006-9 season. This record has been rewritten after Manchester United defeated Tottenham in the 10th round.

The original record of winning streak at the beginning of the English top league was created by Tottenham Hotspur, who were stepped on by Manchester United and created the record of winning streak at the beginning of the Premier League history. Bai Baihe set a record of 1960 consecutive wins at the beginning of the 1961-11 season. This record was also broken after Manchester United bloodbathed Newcastle in the last round.

And now what Manchester United wants to attack is the winning streak at the beginning of the English Professional League!

This record belongs to Reading, a team currently in the English Championship. In the 1985-1986 season, they set a record of 13 consecutive wins at the beginning of the season. This is also the longest winning streak in the history of the English professional league. However, at that time, Reading Ding was created in the third level league.

Now, if Manchester United can defeat newly promoted Brighton at home, they will increase their winning streak to 13 games, tying the record originally set by Reading.

Moreover, since Manchester United set the record in the Premier League, its gold content is far beyond the record set by Reading in the third-tier league.

Of course, if Manchester United can defeat Brighton, the record they set will not end there. They will also become the holder of the winning streak in Premier League history: 14 consecutive wins!

The holder of this record is Arsenal. The Gunners set a record of 15 consecutive wins across the season 14 years ago, and this record has been maintained to this day. Followed closely by Chelsea's 13-game winning streak last season and Manchester United's 2000-game winning streak in 12.

However, it is not an easy matter for Manchester United to set a new record. Although their opponent Brighton is a newly promoted team, it is not an ordinary newly promoted team. They achieved a record of 12 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses in the first 4 rounds, and their performance was very eye-catching.

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Old Trafford.

When the whistle blew at the end of the ninety-minute game, the Dream Theater burst into huge and crazy cheers.

After the game started, Brighton, who were playing away games, kept their posture very low. Almost all of their team was within the 30-meter defense zone of their own side, using Mourinho's famous work to deal with Mourinho's team.

Breaking a dense defense is indeed a world-class problem. Although Manchester United has a super offensive line composed of Bruno, Harry Kane, Rashford and Mbappe, it has been unable to break through Brighton's iron wall.

Seeing that Brighton was about to enter the halftime break with a level score, before the end of the first half, Bruno scored with a beautiful kick to help Manchester United break the deadlock on the field.

This is Bruno's 21st league goal this season!
With 13 goals in 21 rounds, Bruno is in excellent condition!
In the second half of the game, Mbappe succeeded with a push shot during the counterattack, locking the score at 2:0.

In the end, with goals from Mbappe and Bruno, Manchester United defeated Brighton 2-0 at home.

This somewhat difficult victory ensured that Manchester United achieved 13 consecutive wins in the league since the beginning of the season, and the 14-game winning streak across seasons tied Arsenal for the longest winning streak in Premier League history.

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On the evening of Tuesday, November 11, the Premier League ushered in the 28th round.

Since next year is a World Cup year, the schedule this season has naturally been compressed, and it is not uncommon for the league to have double matches a week.

Manchester United's opponent in this round is Watford. This team has a good record of 13 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses after the first 4 rounds, and is temporarily ranked eighth in the standings.

Watford is a team with very distinctive characteristics. Their offense is good, scoring 13 goals in 22 rounds, ranking sixth among 20 teams; but their defense is terrible, and they lost in 13 rounds. With 21 goals, it is the team that has conceded the fifth most goals.

In fact, in the Premier League, it is very difficult for mid- and lower-tier teams to play. Even a giant like Manchester United would have a headache when facing the mid- and lower-tier teams. These mid-range and lower-tier teams are not as skilled as the strong teams, but they have the physical strength, fierce confrontation, desperate fighting, and the team's stubborn defense can give the strong teams a headache.

However, mid-to-lower teams like Watford, who like to attack, are Manchester United's preferred opponents. After two or three shots, the opponent's body will become soft, allowing you to ravage him.

The young man from Manchester United ran aggressively, fought aggressively, had great firepower, had speed, coordination, technique and toughness, and quickly took control of the game.

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In the fifteenth minute of the game, Manchester United played a beautiful offensive cooperation.

Kanter and Gundogan teamed up to steal the ball, and then Gundogan quickly hit the ball to find Bruno.

Bruno had a good vision and thought about what to do when he received the ball. He directly tore open Watford's defense with a diagonal kick.

Manchester United's counterattack was very fast, and this sharp counterattack made Watford very uncomfortable.

When Rashford and Luke Shaw passed the ball continuously and finally cut horizontally into the penalty area, Watford's defense had completely collapsed. The last thing was simple. Luke Shaw sent in a ground ball. With his back to the goal, Harry Kane squeezed out the defender and knocked the football. Then Mbappe, who received the ball, was unguarded at this time. , In this case, it is no longer difficult for Mbappe to score.

Facing the half-empty goal, he pushed lightly and the football rolled into Watford's goal.

"Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful goal! Manchester United leads 1:0."

"This ball is very beautiful. Manchester United's counterattack is very fast. The entire goal process is almost a pass. A few passes tore through Watford's defense. Faced with this kind of attack, the home team seems Nothing can be done."

"Watford's players were as if they had been hit in the head with a stick. They were so dizzy that they had no idea how to defend. They could only passively follow and run, but the end result was to concede the ball."

Mourinho applauded from the sidelines and cheered for the team's goal.

He was satisfied with scoring so early.

As long as they seize the opportunity to score another goal, Watford's determination to resist will be greatly reduced.

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Although Mourinho was confident in the strength of his team, he did not expect the team's second goal to come so quickly.

Ten minutes later, Rashford's breakthrough in the frontcourt caused a foul and Manchester United got a chance to set the ball in the frontcourt.

Bruno's set kick went into the penalty area. Harry Kane's header caused the Watford goalkeeper to save the ball. The Watford defender made a hasty clearance. Bruno did not wait for the football to land outside the penalty area, but he took the long-range shot. When the defender changed direction, Harry Kane reached out his foot to touch the football into the net before the defender could clear the ball.

2: 0.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOALLLL!!!!!!"

"2:0! Harry Kane scored his 10th goal in the league." Andy Gray shouted.

"Manchester United's goal came again. Facing Manchester United, Watford had almost no power to fight back!"

Harry Kane and his teammates celebrate excitedly.

Manchester United, which was leading by two goals, did not stop, but launched an offensive frenzy.

In the 3th minute of the game, the away team scored a goal from team captain Bruno assisted by Gundogan, rewriting the score to 0:.

Before the end of the first half, Mbappe cut in from the right and shot into the far corner, scoring twice and helping Manchester United expand the score to 4:0.

Manchester United took a 4:0 lead in the first half, which made the commentators lament that the suspense of this game no longer existed.

"Manchester United completely destroyed Watford with their devastating attack."

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Mourinho returned to the halftime break in a happy mood. He was very satisfied with the result and process of the first half.

"Keep playing like this in the second half," Mourinho shouted. "Don't think 4:0 is enough. Remember, the goal difference is also crucial."

In a long league, not only every point is crucial, but every goal is equally important. When it comes time to compare the goal difference to determine the ranking, sometimes one goal can determine whether it is heaven or hell.

In the past few years, Manchester United has suffered several losses on goal difference.

The first one to bear the brunt was the 2011-2012 season. At the beginning, Manchester United and Manchester City had 89 points. As a result, Manchester United was 8 points less than their opponents because of their goal difference, so they could only finish second.

That was also the beginning of Manchester City's rise in the Premier League. If Manchester United could suppress Manchester City back then, maybe there would be one less strong competitor in the league now.

Then came the 2015-2016 season. This time they still had a goal difference with Manchester City, even though they were tied with 66 points. As a result, Manchester United once again had to be ranked behind Manchester City because of the goal difference, and therefore missed out on qualifying for the Champions League. lost heavily.

If it weren't for the goal difference, the World Footballer of the Year and the European Ballon d'Or in the past two years might not have gone to Ronaldo!
At least the 2017 World Footballer and European Ballon d'Or awards will most likely belong to Bruno.

Now, although Manchester United is temporarily leading Manchester City in the standings, the advantage is not obvious. It only takes a draw to catch up with Manchester City.

Under such circumstances, Mourinho has to prepare for the possibility of competing with Manchester City on goal difference at the end of the season.

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"After the second half started, we continued to increase the pressure," Mourinho said. "It completely destroyed Watford's fighting spirit."

Mourinho was a little worried at the beginning that Watford would regain its fighting spirit after halftime adjustments. Although this would not have any impact on the result of the game, the opponent's resistance was fierce and it was impossible to play well.

However, he found that he was wrong. The score of 0:4 in the first half had completely caused Watford to lose its will to resist. In the second half of the game, Manchester United ushered in the team's fifth goal without any suspense. ball.

Facing Manchester United's fast and tough offensive, the home team had nothing to do.

In the 60th minute of the game, Bruno's long shot caused chaos in the Watford penalty area. During the chaos, Harry Kaneki held off the Watford defender and half-turned to volley. The football was saved by the goalkeeper. After a while, he still flew into the net resolutely.

5: 0!

Harry Kane helped Manchester United extend their lead to five goals and also scored twice.

With a 5:0 lead, Mourinho began to deploy his troops.

After all, just this weekend, Manchester United will face their powerful rival Arsenal, and then there will be a super devilish schedule.

With the continuous substitutions, Manchester United's offense has indeed been affected. However, their defense was still very solid and did not give Watford a chance to counterattack.

In the end, Manchester United defeated Watford 5-0 away from home in this game.

(End of this chapter)