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

Chapter 727 FA Cup Manchester Derby

The FA Cup is definitely the most difficult cup competition to win. In its 148-year history, even Manchester United, which has won the most championships, has only won 14 championships. Compared with the cup competitions of other major European leagues, this number is really not worth mentioning.

The Spanish King's Cup, which was launched 30 years later than the FA Cup, has been won by Barcelona 30 times, Athletic Bilbao 24 times, and Real Madrid 19 times.

The Italian Cup, which was held later, has only been held 71 times so far, but Juventus, which has won the most titles, has won 14 championships, tying Manchester United.

The German Cup, which was only first held in 1935, has been held 71 times so far. Bayern Munich, which has won the most titles, has won 19 times.

As for competitions like the Dutch Cup and the Portuguese Cup, they are monopolized by a few domestic giants.

This year's FA Cup final is destined to be another fierce battle, after all, the two teams are extremely powerful Manchester City duo. Therefore, this FA Cup final has also attracted the attention of the world.

………………

On May 138th, at pm, the th FA Cup final, Manchester United faced Manchester City at the new Wembley Stadium.

This is the first time that a "Manchester City derby" has appeared in the FA Cup's 148-year history. Manchester United has reached the final 21 times in history and won the championship 14 times, while Manchester City has reached the final 10 times and won 5 of them.

Prior to this, Manchester United had won three consecutive FA Cups, becoming the third team to achieve this feat. However, the teams that won three consecutive FA Cups before were all in the early stages of the FA Cup.

The first team to win three consecutive FA Cups was Rangers. This team, which has disappeared in the long river of history, was the early overlord of the FA Cup. They not only won the first FA Cup, but also defended the title. Then they won the FA Cup three times in a row in the 1875-1876 season, the 1876-1877 season, and the 1877-1878 season.

In other words, this team won five of the first seven FA Cups!
第二支实现足总杯三连冠的球队是布莱克本。这支曾经获得过英超冠军，目前在英冠征战的球队，在1883-1884赛季、1884-1885赛季，以及1885-1886赛季取得过足总杯的三连冠。

Blackburn Rovers is also one of the most successful teams in the history of the FA Cup, having won the FA Cup six times, ranking seventh after Manchester United (6 times), Arsenal (14 times), Tottenham (12 times), Chelsea (8 times), Liverpool (7 times) and Aston Villa (7 times). The six teams ahead of them are all traditional strong teams in the history of English football.

In the following 130 years, no team was able to win three consecutive FA Cup titles until Manchester United broke this history last season.

If Manchester United can beat Manchester City today, they will become the first team in history to win four consecutive FA Cups.

………………

Before the game, Manchester City head coach Guardiola said in an interview with the media that Manchester City would not hold back in the game.

“The FA Cup is the oldest and most watched tournament in the world. Whether it is to win the sixth title in Manchester City’s history or to show our strongest strength in the new Wembley Stadium in the spirit of professionalism and sportsmanship, we will do our best. This is not only a respect for the game, but also a respect for our fans.”

In this game, Manchester City once again lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, which is also their most commonly used formation this season.

Manchester United is not at all careless. Head coach Mourinho said before the game that Manchester United has played 6 games in the past three weeks, which is a huge pressure for the players, but he believes that the team can overcome this pressure well because everyone wants to win another championship.

Manchester United also put up a very offensive lineup in this game.

The goalkeeper is De Gea, the defense is Luke Shaw, Van Dijk, Maguire and Cancelo, Kante is in the midfield, Gundogan and Bruno are in the midfield, Rashford is on the left, Harry Kane is the center forward, and Mbappe is on the right.

From this starting lineup, it can be seen that Manchester United has played its best players and is determined to win the game. Although this game is Manchester United's sixth game in the past three weeks, after the final game of the Premier League last weekend, Manchester United has had six days of rest, and the players' physical fitness has been well restored.

As for the upcoming Champions League final, it will be in two weeks, so Manchester United still has plenty of time to prepare.

The same goes for Manchester City, they also got six days of rest.

Both sides are gathering their strength and are determined to win the championship trophy.

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

Not only the two teams, but also the new Wembley Stadium was packed. The stadium can accommodate 9 fans, and according to official news, all tickets were sold out at the end of the Premier League last weekend.

However, according to the published data, Manchester United fans bought slightly more tickets, about 50,000 tickets, while Manchester City fans bought about 40,000 tickets.

Manchester United fans come not only for the FA Cup championship, but also hope to have the opportunity to witness the historic moment when the team wins the FA Cup for the first time in its 148-year history, winning four consecutive titles.

The attention of the media, the expectations of the fans, and the support of the club, all of this is invested in Bruno.

For him, this is both motivation and pressure.

As the captain and core of the team, he had no choice but to face the challenge head-on.

………………

"Two teams entered the stadium one after another."

Amid the thunderous cheers of 90,000 fans in the stadium, players from both teams walked onto the field under the leadership of the referee.

"Walking in front is the referee of this game, Anthony Taylor. This is his second time to officiate the FA Cup final. The last time was in 2017, when Manchester United beat Arsenal 5-1 and won the 13th FA Cup in team history, surpassing Arsenal to become the team with the most FA Cup titles in history."

"This is a 40-year-old referee who was born in Manchester. This season is his ninth season in the Premier League. Relatively speaking, Taylor's enforcement is relatively strict, but it has also caused a lot of controversy. Both Manchester United coach Mourinho and Manchester City coach Guardiola have criticized Taylor's enforcement more than once."

After introducing the referee, the commentator immediately introduced the starting lineups of the two teams, focusing on Manchester United's formation. The final live broadcast camera was focused on Bruno for a long time.

"Many Manchester United fans held up signs and banners in support of Bruno. They are obviously full of confidence in Bruno and hope that he can continue his outstanding performance in the previous games and help the team win the FA Cup for the fourth consecutive time."

After guessing the sides, Manchester City got the right to kick off.

Manchester United's players began to line up in their own half, preparing for the last domestic game of the season.

Mourinho applauded vigorously on the sidelines and shouted loudly, telling the players to focus and play hard.

It can be seen that it is not easy for him as the head coach.

………………

As soon as it was five o'clock, the referee Anthony Taylor immediately blew the whistle to start the game.

Although Manchester City took the lead, Manchester United was not ambiguous at all and quickly pressed forward. The trident led by Harry Kane immediately put pressure on Manchester City's defense line and was aggressive.

This is also in line with Manchester United's consistent characteristics. In the Premier League, they have never been afraid of any team.

Manchester City chose to control the ball. In the first ten minutes of the game, the two sides fought fiercely, but they never got a chance to score.

Manchester United had three shots in the first fifteen minutes, but none of them hit the target. Two of the shots were from long distance, but neither threatened the goal guarded by Ederson.

"The Manchester United players still looked a little impatient, which is not like their style in the past."

"Of course, we can understand their current mood. After all, such an important game would make anyone anxious, but they must try their best to stabilize their emotions and calm down."

Bruno obviously knew the current situation of the team and immediately signaled his teammates to slow down the pace.

After the first ten minutes of testing, everyone could clearly see that Manchester City had indeed made sufficient preparations, especially on the defensive end, where they performed very steadily and it would be difficult for Manchester United to get any chances for a while.

In this case, continuing to maintain a fast-paced attack will not only consume too much physical energy for the players, but also easily expose their own flaws and deficiencies.

Instead of doing this, it would be better to slow down the attack, let Manchester City relax a little, or even let them press forward a little.

But Manchester City had obviously figured out Manchester United's plan a long time ago. They did not press forward actively, but continued to control the ball and did not give Manchester United any chance.

As Manchester City's three lines remained very tight and compact, Manchester United's pressing failed to create any opportunities.

Time passed by little by little. In the 30th minute, Manchester United launched another offensive, but still failed to break Manchester City's goal, which was somewhat depressing.

………………

As the game progressed, Bruno gradually calmed down.

He was really anxious at the beginning and wanted to eat his opponent in one bite. But gradually, his opponent's tenacity was beyond his expectation. After hitting the wall, he gradually calmed down.

At this time, Manchester United pressed forward as a whole, patiently organizing passes and penetration, constantly probing, and waiting for opportunities.

Everyone firmly believed that with Manchester United at the gates and facing strong offensive pressure, Manchester City's defense could not be without any mistakes. As long as there were cracks in Manchester City's defense, as long as they exposed gaps, that would be Manchester United's chance.

Both sides were testing their patience. Although Manchester City had the advantage in ball possession, the advantage was not obvious. In terms of shooting data, Manchester United, who had a lower ball possession rate, actually had the advantage.

This also made the Manchester United fans at the scene still maintain a high level of enthusiasm, because they knew that the team was just waiting for an opportunity.

And this opportunity really came, in the second minute of stoppage time in the first half!
………………

"Manchester United passed the ball to the right and it went to Mbappe."

"Mbappe gets the ball in the right corner of the penalty area, one on one!"

"Beautiful, Mbappe goes down to the baseline and passes the ball into the penalty area!"

"Manchester City captain Kompany controlled the ball in front and passed it to De Bruyne."

"De Bruyne passes the ball to David Silva again..."

……

After two consecutive passes, Manchester City quickly passed the ball near the center line.

At this time, Kante intercepted the ball and immediately passed it back to Manchester City's half, passing it to Cancelo on the right.

When Cancelo just received the ball, he looked up at the penalty area in front of him and found that the situation in the penalty area had changed.

After clearing the ball, Kompany did not immediately keep a close eye on Harry Kane, which made the England center face another Manchester City central defender Laporte.

Although Laporte is 1.91 meters tall, he is relatively thin. He is known for his agility with his feet and his passing, but he does not have an advantage in defending high balls.

Cancelo realized this, and when he saw that Harry Kane had been staying in the penalty area, he immediately adjusted the path of the ball and quickly made a 45-degree pass into the penalty area, sending the ball over Harry Kane's head.

The England center forward understood what he meant and approached Laporte directly. He jumped high, overpowered the Manchester City center back, and headed the ball directly to the lower right corner, trying to catch the opponent's goalkeeper Ederson off guard. But Cancelo's pass was a bit far, not to mention Ederson, even Kompany had already reacted.

………………

Ederson flew over and blocked the ball with one punch.

This was a header from the left side right in front of the goal. After Ederson saved it, the ball bent and bounced to the right side of the penalty area.

As early as when Cancelo passed the ball, Bruno was ready to rush into the penalty area to receive the ball. After seeing Ederson save Harry Kane's header, he quickly chased after him. Without waiting for Kompany to react, he swung his right foot and shot!

To be on the safe side, he still hit the ball with the inside of his foot, and the football went in an almost straight line, passed the fallen Ederson, and hit the goal behind him!

"The ball went in!!!"

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLL!!!"

"In the injury time near the end of the first half, Bruno calmly seized an opportunity and finally broke through Manchester City's goal. This was his third shot in the game and he finally scored a goal!"

After Bruno scored, he was so excited that he rushed out of the stadium and jumped over the billboards on the sidelines. He rushed directly in front of the fans in the stands, opened his arms and cheered loudly.

1: 0!

He finally scored! ! !

Manchester United fans in the stands were also shouting his name frantically, and many fans even reached out to grab Bruno, wanting to hold him tightly.

"fantastic!"

"This goal came very suddenly, but we must say that Manchester United's efforts in the first half finally paid off! Bruno finally scored a goal with his third shot of the game!"

(End of this chapter)