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

Chapter 775 Suspense
In the middle of the week, eight matches of the fifth round of the FA Cup kicked off one after another.

The FA Cup has reached the round of 16, and most of the remaining teams are from the Premier League and the Championship. Among the eight games, many are against Premier League teams.

Because Manchester United participated in the League Cup final, this round of FA Cup matches was scheduled for the last game, which was on the evening of March 3th local time in the UK.

The first seven games produced many upsets, such as Tottenham’s 7:120 draw with Norwich at home after 1 minutes, and then losing on penalties and being blocked from the quarterfinals.

In another strong dialogue, Liverpool, which was invincible in the Premier League, was defeated 0:2 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Before we knew it, the powerful Liverpool was eliminated from almost all cup competitions, leaving only the Premier League.

In addition, Arsenal and Manchester City defeated their respective opponents to advance to the quarterfinals. The other three teams that advanced were Sheffield United, Newcastle and Leicester City.

If nothing unexpected happens to Manchester United in the last game, this year's FA Cup quarter-finals will all be Premier League teams.

But no one thinks that Derby County, currently ranked only 13th in the Championship, can create a miracle and become the only non-Premier League team to advance to the quarter-finals of this year's FA Cup.

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However, the current Derby County has a certain connection with Manchester United. Their head coach is Wayne Rooney, the former captain of Manchester United and the record holder for goalscoring in Manchester United's history.

In September 2004, the 9-year-old Rooney transferred from Everton to Manchester United for 18 million pounds. In the ten years after the 2700-2006 season, Rooney and Manchester United won six Premier League titles, four League Cups, and two FA Cups. In the rainy night of Moscow in the 2007-2007 season, he defeated the old rival Chelsea and led Manchester United to win the Champions League trophy that had not been touched for 2008 years. In the 9-2016 season, he won the Europa League as the captain of Manchester United.

Throughout his career with the Red Devils, Rooney made 559 appearances for the team and became the team's top scorer with 253 goals.

In July 2017, Everton officially announced that Rooney returned to the club as a free agent, and the two sides signed a two-year contract. "Little Fatty" ended his 7-year career at Manchester United and returned to Everton.

But after the transfer, Rooney failed to regain his former glory both on and off the court. In September 2017, Rooney was suspended for two years for drink driving and was punished with 9 hours of unpaid community service.

In June 2018, Rooney moved to Major League Soccer team D.C. United, ending his 6-year Premier League career.

In November 2019, Rooney joined Championship team Derby County as a player and coach.

According to media reports, before Derby County faced Manchester United, Rooney recalled his cooperation with Ferguson when he was at Manchester United.

Rooney said: "I always remember one thing, that is, when I was young, I quarreled with him every time at halftime. I was depressed and thought: Why does he always talk about me? There are players who are much worse than me! As I get older, I understand more and more why Ferguson did that. Obviously, the goals he set are unattainable by other players."

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Mourinho did not field all the starting lineups for the match against Derby County, but continued to use the lineup that played in the League Cup final last weekend, and Bruno was included in the substitute list. This is because in just three days, Manchester United will face Manchester City at home. This is the fourth Manchester derby this season. Previously, they have played a league game and two FA Cup semi-finals.

At present, Manchester United is competing fiercely with Liverpool in the Premier League, and Manchester United is already far behind in points. Mourinho naturally does not want the FA Cup to take up too much of Manchester United's energy, not to mention that the strength of the opponent Derby County is very limited.

In the 33rd minute of the game, Manchester United players' consecutive shots in front of the goal were blocked by defenders. Finally, Luke Shaw scored with a left-foot shot. Derby County 0:1 Manchester United.

In the 41st minute, Luke Shaw made a diagonal pass from the left, McTominay shook off the double-team of three players in the penalty area and scored with a low shot. Derby County 0:2 Manchester United.

In the 70th minute, Mata received a through ball in the penalty area and passed it back. McTominay's shot was blocked, and then he made a follow-up shot to score. Derby County 0:3 Manchester United.

This score remained until the end of the game, as Manchester United beat Derby County 3-0 to advance to the FA Cup quarterfinals.

It is worth mentioning that former Manchester United player Rooney played for Derby County in this game and created a lot of threats with several free kicks.

As the FA Cup quarter-final draw was announced a day ago, Manchester United's opponent will be Norwich City.

Norwich is currently ranked 20th in the Premier League, and its position as the second-best team is very stable. So for Manchester United, this is a good result.

The FA Cup quarter-finals are scheduled to be held between March 3 and March 20. But Bruno knows that football matches will soon be suspended and these games will definitely be postponed.

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On the afternoon of March 3th local time in the UK, a focus match of the 8th round of the Premier League kicked off at the Millennium Stadium.

Since Liverpool beat Bournemouth 2:1 at home a day ago, temporarily widening the gap with Manchester United to 6 points, Manchester United must win today's game. Otherwise, it will be extremely difficult to reverse the 9-point gap with only 6 rounds left in the league.

This is because the day before Manchester United won the League Cup, Liverpool suffered an upset in the 28th round of the Premier League, losing 0:3 to Watford and suffering their second defeat of the season. Otherwise, Manchester United would have been 9 points behind Liverpool.

Of course, Manchester City and Guardiola cannot tolerate losing the game. On the one hand, in the three matches against Manchester United this season, the Blue Moon has 1 draw and 2 losses without a win.

Even in the last four seasons, Manchester City has faced Manchester United 1 times in official matches, with a pitiful record of 3 win, 12 draws and losses, which is simply terrible.

Perhaps because of the poor results against Manchester United in the past few seasons and the eagerness to take revenge, Guardiola's team showed an aggressive posture at the beginning of the game. Rodri fell back, Pogba and Foden were on the two wings, and the forward trident of Bernardo, Aguero and Sterling caused a lot of trouble for Manchester United.

Just nine minutes into the game, Manchester City took advantage of a counterattack opportunity. Foden and Sterling cooperated on the left and passed the ball into the penalty area. Sterling shot from 12 yards and almost broke through De Gea's defense.

(End of this chapter)