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

Chapter 690 A Plant

Mourinho walked to the sidelines and shouted the name of the team's defensive core Kante. Seeing the French midfielder looking at him, Mourinho made a downward gesture: Defend!

Southampton's morale was boosted after they equalized the score, and they took the initiative on the field in the final stage of the first half. Fortunately, Mourinho responded quickly and issued orders in advance. Manchester United retreated across the board and withstood Southampton's offensive in the final stage.

In the end, at the end of the first half, Manchester United and Southampton temporarily tied the score at 1:1.

Southampton's head coach Hasenhuttl was a little depressed. His team's morale was boosted and he had a hunch that if the team was given a little more time, they would probably score against Manchester United again. The halftime break came at a really bad time.

Mourinho felt fortunate that the team was rather passive in the final moments and the halftime break came at the right time, which gave his team a chance to catch their breath.

At halftime, Mourinho did not lose his temper. Instead, he praised the players' performance, even though they allowed the opponent to equalize the score in the last minute of the first half.

"Well done, keep playing like this in the second half!" said Mourinho.

Overall, Manchester United did play well in the first half of the game and basically achieved its tactical requirements. The performance and tactics in the first half cannot be denied because of one mistake.

At this time, what the team needs is encouragement and cheering. Mourinho has confidence in his players and believes that after the halftime break, the team will not let him down in the second half of the game.

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After the start of the second half, Manchester United took advantage of the home court and launched wave after wave of fierce attacks on Southampton's penalty area amid the cheers of nearly 70,000 fans at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. They told everyone with their actions that their goal in this game was to win.

From Old Trafford to Cardiff Millennium Stadium, hundreds of kilometers away, although the stadium capacity is similar, the attendance rate has inevitably declined. The previous full situation is no longer there, but because Manchester United maintains an excellent performance, the stadium attendance rate is basically around 95%.

A draw was obviously not Southampton's goal. Southampton head coach Hasenhuttl also showed a tough response. His team had no intention of retreating to defense in the second half. Hasenhuttl made almost the same choice as Mourinho to attack, continue attacking, and strive to score goals to win the game.

In fact, Southampton's strength is also offense. Twenty-eight rounds of the league have passed, and Southampton has 6 wins, 8 draws and 14 losses. They have scored 30 goals and conceded 47 goals. Conceding too many goals is the biggest reason for their poor record. On the offensive end, their number of goals ranks 20th among all 14 teams.

Hasenhüttl obviously also knows where the team's strengths lie. Since the defense is not stable, the team should score more goals.

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In the 71st minute of the game, Mourinho replaced Mbappe, who was beginning to have physical problems, with Lingard to continue to strengthen the attack.

The fans applauded above Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, expressing their gratitude and encouragement to Mbappe who scored the opening goal in the first half.

"Well done!" Mourinho and Mbappe high-fived and praised.

Southampton head coach Hasenhuttl also made a tit-for-tat adjustment immediately. He replaced Austin, who did not perform very well, with Armstrong, a fast winger, in order to strengthen the attack.

Three minutes later, Mourinho made another substitution, replacing Gundogan with Mahrez, who is better at attacking.

Southampton also made another substitution. Hasenhuttl replaced defender Maya Yoshida with center forward Sam Gallagher, who is good at heading.

The head coaches of both sides continuously deployed their troops and replaced them with offensive players. The two sides engaged in a fierce offensive battle. The happiest thing was the fans of both sides, who were excited to watch.

Mourinho and Hasenhuttl, both head coaches, were standing on the sidelines directing the game. Both of them had frowned faces and stared at the field, hoping to catch the opponent's loopholes and spaces.

However, both Mourinho and Hasenhüttl shook their heads. Both teams were attacking with all their might at this time. The offense and defense rhythm was very fast, and mistakes from both sides began to increase. The scene seemed very fierce, but also more chaotic. In this moment of chaos, the role of the head coach has been weakened, and it depends on the on-the-spot performance of the players from both sides.

"I hate this kind of chaos." Mourinho told Faria that he felt he could not display his coaching talent in such a chaotic game.

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At this time, an unexpected situation occurred on the field.

Bruno fell to the ground while fighting with his opponent. The Manchester United captain looked painful and immediately made a gesture for substitution.

"F**K!" Mourinho cursed. He was afraid that Bruno would get injured. As Manchester United's number one star and absolute offensive core, Bruno's role was too important.

Mourinho quickly arranged for Mata to warm up, while paying close attention to the situation on the field.

Bruno slowly walked off the court with the help of the team doctor.

There was also applause from the stands, expressing encouragement and comfort to the team captain.

"How is it?" Mourinho asked the team doctor.

"I don't know the specific situation, but he will definitely not be able to play in the next game." "F**K!" Mourinho cursed. He could only go up to comfort Bruno who was in a bad mood, and then quickly called Mata back to give instructions to the Spanish midfielder.

Mata came on as a substitute, replacing Bruno who had already left the field due to injury.

"Coach Mourinho showed his courage in attacking," Martin Taylor said. "Manchester United attacked with all their might. It was a gamble. Either they scored a goal or Southampton scored on the counterattack."

"Neither side is willing to accept a draw," said Andy Gray. "Now, both sides are fighting fiercely. In this case, an accident is often enough to change the game."

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Andy Gray felt that his lips were really made of gold. Just two or three minutes after he said this, an unexpected situation occurred on the field.

Faced with Mata's pressing, the Southampton defender chose to pass the ball back. Harry Kane immediately rushed towards Bednarek who was about to take the ball. The latter was startled and quickly passed the ball back.

But something unexpected happened, Bednarek's pass was not strong enough. Lingard immediately rushed over like a leopard out of a cage, approached the ball before the goalkeeper, and was about to shoot.

Southampton goalkeeper Gunn was anxious and made a direct tackle. Then people saw Lingard falling in the Southampton penalty area like a tree stump chopped down by an axe.

"Penalty!" Mourinho jumped up and shouted as if there were springs under his butt.

"Diving!" This is what Southampton head coach Hasenhuttl yelled.

Mourinho was furious. He yelled at Hasenhuttl: "Are you blind?"

Hasenhuttl is known in football circles for his strong personalities and was particularly protective of his players during his time as manager of RB Leipzig, glaring back: "Your players dive! Rubbish!"

The two began to trash talk each other on the sidelines.

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At this time, on the field, the referee on duty had already made a decision. He showed a red card directly to Southampton goalkeeper Gunn, sent the opponent off, and then awarded Manchester United a penalty kick.

"Penalty, the referee sent Southampton goalkeeper Gunn off, Manchester United got a penalty kick, and Romeu received a yellow card for protesting." Martin Taylor shouted.

"Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho and Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl had an altercation and both were emotional."

Hasenhuttl and Mourinho had a few words exchanged, and saw the referee showing a red card to his goalkeeper, which meant leaving Mourinho aside and letting the team's substitute goalkeeper warm up.

Despite having one man sent off and being awarded a penalty, Hasenhüttl was not going to give up and he wanted to give it another try.

Southampton made a substitution, No. 1 came on and No. 28 came off: goalkeeper McCarthy came on as a substitute, replacing the team's left-back Bertrand.

McCarthy was born in Reading youth training and was originally Southampton's main goalkeeper, but an injury in October made him lose his main position. When he returned from injury, Gunn had already secured the position of Southampton's main goalkeeper.

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Penalty opportunity for Manchester United.

The first penalty taker for Manchester United was Bruno. Since he was basically present in every game, Mourinho did not decide who would take the penalty in his absence.

This time, Lingard, who created the penalty, stood at the penalty spot with the ball in his arms. He didn't have many opportunities to play for Manchester United, and even fewer opportunities to score goals. Now that he finally created a penalty, and captain Bruno was not there, Lingard naturally didn't want to give up the right to take the penalty.

Seeing this, the others did not rush over to compete for the right to take the penalty kick.

Southampton goalkeeper McCarthy stood in front of the goal, moving his body left and right, opening his hands constantly, retracting them, and opening them again. His movements were large and exaggerated.

The referee blew the whistle, Lingard took a run-up and shot to the left side of the goal.

McCarthy successfully judged the correct direction and saw the 193cm tall goalkeeper rushing out of the water like a fish, throwing his body out and his right hand touched the football.

"Lingard! Run-up! Shoot! McCarthy! Saved it!" Andy Gray shouted, "McCarthy made a follow-up shot! Follow-up shot! Harry Kane! He shot the ball into the net!"

"GOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLL!!!!!"

Martin Taylor was also shouting: "McCarthy made a magical save, he saved the penalty, the goalkeeper did well enough, but he had no way to deal with Harry Kane's follow-up shot! 2:1! Manchester United once again took the lead!"

(End of this chapter)