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

Chapter 708 Chaos
Back in England, Manchester United faced West Ham United at home in the 4th round of the Premier League on the afternoon of April 13.

Because Manchester United had just fought a fierce battle with Barcelona at the Nou Camp three days ago, Mourinho made a large-scale rotation of Manchester United's starting lineup. Except for Bruno and De Gea who continued to start the game, the other nine players did not start.

West Ham United is currently ranked tenth in the standings, but is only 5 points away from Wolves, who are seventh in the standings, so West Ham United has hope of reaching seventh.

This season, Manchester City won the League Cup and the FA Cup, and the FA Cup will most likely be won between the two Manchester giants. Therefore, the seventh place in the league this season has the hope of qualifying for next season's Europa League. Therefore, except for the big6 teams, the competition for the seventh place among the remaining teams is very fierce.

If West Ham United had played with their full main lineup, they might not have had any ideas about this game, but because Manchester United had to fully prepare for the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Barcelona, ​​they had to play this league with a substitute lineup, which gave West Ham United hope of defeating Manchester United away.

In fact, this West Ham United team is still very strong. The goalkeeper is former Arsenal goalkeeper Fabianski, the defense line includes former Manchester City defenders Zabaleta, Masuaku, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Winston Reid, Diop and other strong players, the midfield includes talented new stars Declan Rice, Felipe Anderson, Lanzini, Obiang, Noble, Wilshere and other generals, and the forward line also includes former Manchester United players Hernandez, Arnautovic, and former Liverpool players Andy Carroll, Antonio and Yarmolenko.

………………

In the away game, West Ham United, led by Pellegrini, had a strong momentum to turn the tables after the opening, and they were not at a disadvantage at all. They even scored a goal in the 10th minute with a header from the pea to assist Anderson, but the goal was cancelled due to offside.

After overcoming West Ham United's opening three-pronged attack, Manchester United began to control the situation and scored the first goal in the 19th minute. At that time, Bruno split the ball in Manchester United's attack, Mahrez passed the ball back, Snodgrass tackled Mata at the edge of the penalty area, and Bruno took the penalty kick and scored.

This was Bruno's 30th consecutive penalty kick in his career, continuing to break his record for consecutive penalty kicks.

In the subsequent game, Lanzini's free kick from 25 yards was blocked by the wall, and Anderson's header from the front point slipped out of the goal during a corner kick. Bruno's two shots in the penalty area were blocked. McTominay passed the ball, and Dalot's diagonal shot from the right side of the penalty area missed the far corner. Mata passed the ball, and Mahrez's shot from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area missed the near corner. McTominay's powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area was blocked, and Smalling's header from 12 yards during a corner kick missed the goal.

In the first half, the two sides were tied at 0:1, with the visiting team Manchester United taking the lead.

Shortly after the start of the second half, West Ham United equalized the score. In the 49th minute, De Gea threw the ball to start a fast break, but the West Ham United players saw through his intention in advance. Rice intercepted and stole the ball in time. Lanzini made a cross from the left side of the penalty area. Rojo missed the defense and Anderson shot from the right side of the small penalty area into the near corner.

………………

Afterwards, both sides made continuous deployments. On the Manchester United side, Rashford, Greenwood and Herrera took the field one after another. On the West Ham United side, Pellegrini also sent Antonio, Arnautovic and other offensive players to strengthen the offensive.

West Ham United's morale soared after equalizing the score, and they took the initiative and launched a crazy attack on Manchester United's goal at the Millennium Stadium.

West Ham almost overtook in the 76th minute. Noble passed the ball and Antonio shot from the edge of the penalty area but hit the crossbar. Anderson's shot from the left side of the penalty area was saved by De Gea.

In the 78th minute, Antonio headed the rebound ball in front of the small penalty area, but De Gea flew to save it.

It is said that those who survive a disaster will have good fortune in the future. Manchester United, who escaped a disaster, quickly surpassed the score. In the 80th minute, Mahrez broke into the penalty area alone and was tackled by Fredericks who had just replaced Zabaleta. The referee awarded a penalty again. Bruno scored twice from the penalty kick, rewriting the score to 2:1.

This is also the first time in Bruno's career that he has scored two goals from penalties in the league. Previously, in the 2016-2017 Europa League group match against Fenerbahce, Bruno had scored two goals from penalties.

After scoring this penalty, Bruno has scored 12 penalties this season, 9 of which were in the Premier League, 2 in the Champions League and 1 in the FA Cup.

This penalty was also the last goal of the game. Manchester United finally defeated West Ham United 2:1 and continued to lead the Premier League standings.

………………

It is mid-April and the Premier League has already played 4 rounds. Even if some teams have postponed their games, they only have 34 league games left, such as Manchester United and Manchester City. But in any case, the Premier League has entered the final stage of the season.

Unlike other mainstream leagues where the championship situation became clear early on, the current situation in the Premier League is still very tense.

Currently, the Premier League standings look like this.

曼联28胜4平1负，打进95球失33球，净胜球62个，积88分排名第一；

利物浦26胜7平1负，打进77球失20球，净胜球57个，积85分排名第二；
曼城26胜3平4负，打进86球失24球，净胜球62个，积81分排名第三；
热刺21胜2平10负，打进64球失34球，净胜球30个，积65分排名第四；
阿森纳20胜5平8负，打进65球失45球，净胜球20个，积65分排名第五；
切尔西20胜5平9负，打进57球失38球，净胜球19个，积65分排名第六；
The competition in the Premier League is actually the competition among the BIG6 teams. The three northwest teams Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City compete for the league championship, while the three London teams Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea compete for the remaining Champions League qualification.

Among them, the points gap between the Northwest Three and the London Three is very obvious. Manchester City is 16 points higher and has already secured the Champions League qualification in advance. The London Three can only compete for the remaining Champions League qualification.

Of course, since Arsenal and Chelsea are still in the Europa League, it is actually possible to compete for the Champions League qualification by winning the Europa League championship.

As for Tottenham, they have the advantage in the Champions League quarter-finals against Manchester City, beating Manchester City 1-0 at home in the first leg, and it is possible to secure qualification for next season's Champions League by winning the Champions League.

………………

While Manchester United had a tough win over West Ham United in the league, Barcelona's performance in La Liga was even worse.

Barcelona was forced into a desperate situation after losing 1-3 to Manchester United at home in the first leg. Valverde had to field a substitute lineup in the away game against Huesca at the weekend to save strength for the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final next week.

As a result, the match between the Premier League's top and second-leading teams ended in a 0:0 draw.

Such a result is hard for Barcelona fans to accept. After all, Huesca is a newly promoted team in La Liga. This season, it has been stuck in the relegation zone for a long time. It has even been ranked last in the standings since the 8th round of La Liga. Its position is as stable as that of Barcelona, ​​which is at the top of the list.

This season, there is a joke in Spain that there are two most stable positions in La Liga, one is Barcelona at the top, and the other is Huesca at the bottom.

As a result, the match between the top team and the bottom team ended with a score of 0:0, which was a shocking upset.

Even if Barcelona played with a substitute lineup, Barcelona's strength was completely superior to Huesca. This result further increased the pressure on Valverde. More and more Spanish media began to call for Valverde to be fired.

There are even media reports that the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Manchester United is the last chance left by the Barcelona management for Valverde. If Barcelona loses again in the game, this game may be Valverde's last game in charge of Barcelona.

………………

Being tied by the second-to-last team in La Liga, Barcelona has undoubtedly pushed itself into a desperate situation. Not only in the Champions League, but also in La Liga.

If they took one more step back, there would be an extremely dangerous abyss behind them.

But Valverde said in an interview with the media that the team did not have enough time to be depressed, because they were about to face the second round of the Champions League quarter-finals and they had to do their best to prepare.

The Barcelona coach even made no secret of saying: "In the Millennium Stadium, we must attack with all our strength."

Both the Catalan media and the British media unanimously agreed that Valverde would adopt a 3-4-3 formation.

Because he deliberately practiced this style of play when he played against Huesca.

In this regard, Valverde did not give a direct response, but said: "Manchester United's home record is very good, so all the pressure of this game is on Manchester United, and Barcelona has no pressure."

In an interview with the media, Yosi also said that he no longer cared about anything else and only thought about one thing, which was how to help the team beat Manchester United away and advance to the semi-finals.

Players such as Suarez, Coutinho, Pique, Busquets and others also accepted media interviews and publicly expressed their confidence in winning a reversal away from home and helping the team advance to the semi-finals.

Barcelona's technical director Abidal said he hopes to see Manchester United continue to defend at their home ground.

"If they only think about maintaining the 3:1 score, then we will be very lucky because our chance has come! With our offensive ability, it is not impossible to score three goals away from home!"

But soon, the British media said that Abidal was deliberately engaging in psychological warfare.

When Barcelona's provocation was sent to England, Manchester United players all responded.

"I looked at Barcelona's starting lineup against Huesca and they didn't play their main players. It's obvious that they gave up this crucial league game and paid more attention to us as their opponent."

Red Devils coach Mourinho said in an interview with the club's official website: "We must be prepared to face this challenge with a positive attitude. We have a good chance in the Champions League and I firmly believe that the team can advance."

Captain Bruno also said that the first leg of the game has enhanced Manchester United's influence in world football.

"Before the game, everyone thought Barcelona would beat us, but through this game, we sent a signal to the world that we have enough strength to beat all opponents, even Barcelona at Camp Nou!"

Bruno also called on the players to play at their best level and focus on every minute of the game, just like they did at Camp Nou, because Barcelona will not surrender easily.

"We should forget the 3-1 first-leg scoreline and focus on the second leg."

Manchester United striker Harry Kane also said in an interview: "Barcelona is indeed very strong, but I want to say that at home, whether it was Old Trafford before or the Millennium Stadium after the New Year, we have not lost to any team in the past three seasons."

In addition to Bruno and Harry Kane, Manchester United players have also expressed their determination to win a victory at the Millennium Stadium, even if the opponent is Barcelona, ​​which is giving its all.

When announcing the team's 18-man squad for the trip to England, Valverde responded to Mourinho's provocation and even seemed a little angry.

"I like to play against a team like this because their coach seems to know everything, but usually, people who know everything know nothing."

Valverde even rarely pointed the finger directly at Manchester United and Mourinho himself, believing that Mourinho's Manchester United tactics were too simple.

"You only need to watch a few games to know how they play. Mourinho is a coach who is famous for his defense. His Manchester United is also a team that started with defense. The discipline is very good, but there will be no surprises. I don't think I need to find out how to beat them because I already know enough."

The verbal battle between the coaches of the two sides before the game undoubtedly ignited the flames of war between the two teams.

Media all over the world have also paid attention to this focal battle.

Barcelona was the first team to win six titles, and since then they have been called the "Universe Team". Last season, Manchester United swept England and Europe, becoming the second team in European football history to win six titles, and some people began to call Manchester United the new "Universe Team".

Now, the showdown between the old and new universe teams, the contest between the two superstars Bruno and Yosi, the fierce fight between gorgeous offensive football and iron-blooded disciplined forces, this is definitely the most eye-catching game in the world.

Manchester United's tactics will not change much, and will basically continue from the first leg. Mourinho is convinced that no matter how Barcelona adjusts, they will never leave two key points.

Busquets is responsible for organization, and Yosi is responsible for offense!
As long as these two points are controlled, Barcelona will be strangled.

But no matter what, the competition between the two teams has already attracted the attention of fans and media reporters all over the world.

(End of this chapter)