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

Chapter 769 Master and Disciple
Manchester United defeated Wolves and kept close to Liverpool in the standings, which undoubtedly brought huge confidence to the entire Manchester United team.

A week later, Manchester United traveled to London to challenge the Blues Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The team arrived at Stamford Bridge two hours early, with Chelsea arriving at about the same time.

Two teams that are very familiar with each other are about to usher in a peak showdown. This battle not only attracts the attention of all fans in the UK, but also attracts the attention of fans all over the world.

Manchester United beat Chelsea 4-0 at home this season and performed well in the league, but these were of no use in tonight's game.

Before the game, everyone felt that neither side would be able to come up with any unexpected moves. No matter Lampard or Mourinho, they would not give the opponent too many opportunities. The key was to see who could seize the opportunity better and who made fewer mistakes.

Chelsea still lined up a 4-3-3 formation in this game. The goalkeeper is Caballero, the back line is Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger and Reece James, the midfield is Jorginho, Matic and Kovacic, and the front court is Willian, Pedro and Batshuayi.

On the Manchester United side, Mourinho also arranged a 4-3-3 formation. De Gea was the goalkeeper, and the four defenders were Cancelo, Maguire, Van Dijk and Luke Shaw. Bruno, Gundogan and Kante partnered in the midfield, and the front trident was a combination of Rashford, Harry Kane and Mbappe.

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After the opening, Manchester United played very aggressively on the left, and Luke Shaw and Rashford put great pressure on Chelsea's right on this side, so Lampard made adjustments and Matic moved more to the right to assist Reece James.

Reece James looks mediocre and seems to have no advantages, but in fact he has no defects either. He works diligently on the court and did not make any big mistakes when facing Rashford. With the assistance of Matic, Chelsea's right defense barely blocked Manchester United's left attack.

Mourinho's tactics in this game mainly emphasized two points. One is to maintain the integrity of the tactics. There is no need to say more. Facing a team like Chelsea, it is impossible to win by being loose.

And Manchester United's biggest advantage is the overall performance. Bruno was able to perform well precisely because he showed his advantages on the basis of the overall performance.

As for the second point, which is also a targeted point, it is necessary to control the second landing point.

Batshuayi is the offensive pillar of Chelsea's frontcourt. When defending, it is very difficult for Manchester United to compete with him for the first point, so Mourinho's defensive strategy is to compete for the second point.

By the same token, Harry Kane's tactical role in the frontcourt is also extremely obvious. He can get the ball and steal the ball, so the most important thing for Manchester United's offense is to grab the second landing point.

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What Mourinho could think of, Lampard, as Mourinho's favorite disciple and who knew Mourinho very well, could also think of, so Chelsea deployed heavy troops near the penalty area and did not give Manchester United any chance easily.

Both teams are very defensive and know each other well. Both head coaches tried their best to put out their best defensive formations. Therefore, the game was very intense but not exciting at all.

It can even be said that neither side created any decent opportunities.

As the first half was about to end, Manchester United center back Van Dijk intercepted the ball in the penalty area, rushed forward with the ball, launched a counterattack on the spot, and quickly made a long pass to transfer the ball to the right side of the frontcourt.

After Harry Kane pulled to the right side and got the ball, he drove straight into the penalty area with the ball. He used an emergency stop and then a sudden acceleration to get rid of Christensen and passed the ball into the penalty area.

Bruno got ahead of Reece James, calmly stood seven meters in front of the goal, and scored with his left foot!
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLL!!!!!"

As the commentator announced the goal, Bruno turned and rushed out of the stadium. After a brief silence, the Chelsea fans in Stamford Bridge booed loudly as a revenge against their opponent Bruno.

"In the 45th minute, the visiting team Manchester United launched a quick counterattack. Harry Kane made a cross from the right, and Bruno calmly seized the opportunity to score the first goal for Manchester United and break the deadlock on the field!"

"This is the second time in this game that Harry Kane has created a threat on the right side during a counterattack."

"The last time was in the 16th minute of the game. It was also a counterattack by Manchester United. Harry Kane crossed the ball from the wing to Bruno, but Caballero got the ball and failed to create any threat."

"But this time, Manchester United finally seized the opportunity and broke Chelsea's goal!"

"1:0! Manchester United, playing away from home, takes the lead!"

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When the ball was lost in the frontcourt, Chelsea quickly returned to defense, and Chelsea's forwards including Batshuayi also chased all the way back, but in the end Manchester United still scored!

Manchester United took advantage of a more obvious loophole of Chelsea, which was the hidden danger of Azpilicueta's forward run on the left.

This is a weakness that all attacking full-backs have, and Chelsea has made a plan for it. But Mourinho's move this time was a bit strange, because he let Harry Kane go to the side and let Rashford occupy the middle, but Harry Kane passed the ball to Bruno who was inserted from behind, not Rashford.

It is often these subtle details that play an important role at critical moments.

In fact, when Manchester United played like this for the first time, Chelsea was already on guard, but unexpectedly Manchester United still seized the opportunity and took the lead in breaking Manchester United's goal.

Lampard also made a plan for this situation before the game, so Chelsea was not panicked. Looking at the first 45 minutes of the game, the two sides were evenly matched, neither side had a good chance to score, and for most of the game, Chelsea, who played at home, had the advantage.

But Manchester United seized the only chance and scored a goal. Mourinho is truly an expert in defensive counterattacks!

Lampard still admired his mentor Mourinho, but he was also very unconvinced in his heart. He quickly made adjustments and signaled Chelsea to start pressing again, which was a signal for an active attack.

After Manchester United scored the first goal, Chelsea pressed forward further, but because there was little time left in the first half, they still failed to create any threat and eventually fell behind temporarily at 0:1 in the first half.

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During the half-time break, Mourinho affirmed the team's performance in the first half.

After the two sides changed sides in the second half, neither side was able to create good opportunities.

Although Chelsea was trailing 0:1 at home, they still played steadily. Manchester United launched a period of attack at the beginning, but did not have many good opportunities.

Both Rashford on the left and Mbappe on the right were a bit mute.

Seriously, it would be strange if Rashford and Mbappe could perform well against persistent and focused defensive players like Reece James and Azpilicueta, as well as a top defensive midfielder like Matic.

In this situation, Bruno did not get a very good performance or opportunity.

Lampard has obviously also specially formulated a defensive strategy to restrain Bruno, and naturally will not give him any more chances.

The game was intense and dull. Both sides even played with restraint. After 70 minutes, there was not a single yellow card in the whole game, but the atmosphere was very tense.

Everyone knew that both sides were on high alert, and it was just a matter of seeing who would make a mistake first.

Manchester United wanted to score another goal to consolidate their advantage, because a one-goal advantage was not safe and Chelsea could equalize or even overtake the score at any time.

Chelsea wants to equalize the score or even reverse the opponent.

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The lagging side made the first substitution. Lampard replaced Batshuayi with Giroud in the 70th minute.

During this period, Chelsea, with the cheers of more than 40,000 fans at Stamford Bridge, steadily suppressed Manchester United, and the ball flew in and out of Manchester United's penalty area most of the time.

In this situation, Giroud, who is extremely good at heading, is obviously more suitable than Batshuayi.

Mourinho still did not choose to make adjustments. He still used defensive counterattacks to deal with Lampard and Chelsea.

The game time is passing by bit by bit.

The Blues encountered tenacious sniping from Manchester United at Stamford Bridge and really didn't have any decent chances throughout the game. Manchester United coached by Mourinho is really very strong, especially on the defensive end, which can be said to be flawless.

Time went from seventy minutes to eighty minutes, and then to eighty-three minutes.

Lampard made his second substitution, with Mount replacing Matic.

Others may not know, but everyone inside Chelsea knows it very well. This is to let the team fight for the last few minutes. Regardless of whether they can score a goal in the last moment, at least they have to suppress Manchester United's fighting spirit.

Mount came on the field to form a double defensive midfielder with Kovacic in order to free up Reece James and Azpilicueta.

Mourinho was obviously very clear about Lampard's intention, so he followed Chelsea and made a substitution, with Fred replacing Gundogan.

Mourinho's intention was also very clear: Aren't you Chelsea going to attack? Okay, I will defend steadily and wait for an opportunity to counterattack you.

If you are not afraid of death, come on!
The battle between Mourinho and Lampard, the master and apprentice, is very targeted. They are both clamping each other's weaknesses, and every substitution is very targeted.

After Mount came on, he moved around a lot, actively running into the middle and the penalty area, patiently looking for opportunities. Jorginho pressed forward and put pressure on Kante.

Manchester United continued to shrink their defense, waiting for the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

(End of this chapter)