Football King Bale

At 3pm GMT on November 5, 2011, the 11th round of the Premier League started with five games at the same time. The focus of this game is undoubtedly the Red Devils Manchester United's home game against Sunderland. On the one hand, this game is Manchester United's best start in the history of the five major leagues. At the same time, this game has another level of significance, that is, it is the 25th anniversary game of Sir Alex Ferguson's taking over of Manchester United.

In the summer of 1986, young Ferguson became the focus of many English clubs as he led Aberdeen to great success in the Scottish First Division. In fact, the first top English club to offer an olive branch to Ferguson was not Manchester United, where Sir Alex Ferguson is currently coaching, but his old rival, Arsenal.

Ferguson admitted that he was indeed attracted by Arsenal's invitation at the time, but he informed Arsenal that he would not be able to report back to London until he led the Scottish team to complete the World Cup in Mexico as interim coach.

He said: "Arsenal asked me to give them an immediate answer, but I was unable to do so at the time. I also needed to lead the team to the World Cup in Mexico. (In the end, the two sides did not reach an agreement), and later that year, I came to Manchester United..."

On November 5, 1986, Ferguson received a call from Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards, who wanted him to succeed Ron Atkinson at Old Trafford. But the biggest obstacle to Sir Alex Ferguson at the time came from his wife Kathy. Ferguson's other half liked Aberdeen very much and didn't want to leave, but in the end he was no match for Alex's sweet words. On November 6, Alex Ferguson officially became the head coach of Manchester United, starting his 25-year Red Devils career and a legendary experience in football history.

Ferguson won 12 Premier League championships in 19 years, a miracle that none of the five major European leagues had during the same period. During Sir Alex Ferguson's 25 seasons coaching Manchester United, he won a total of 40 trophies, including 12 Premier League titles, 6 FA Cup titles, 4 League Cup titles, and 9 Community Shield (Charity Shield) titles. , 3 Champions League titles, 1 European Cup Winners' Cup title, 2 European Super Cups, 1 Toyota Cup title, 1 Club World Cup (maybe another one soon) and 1 International Champions Cup. In these long 25 years, Manchester United only had 6 seasons without a championship, including the painful experience of three years without a championship when he first arrived at Manchester United. In other words, in the following 22 years, there were only 3 seasons without a championship. crown.

Of course, the 40 glittering trophies during Sir Alex's 25 years at Manchester United are the best explanation, but they are not the whole story.

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Under Sir Alex Ferguson's unparalleled brilliance, the match between Manchester United and Sunderland was destined to be Ferguson before the game. Sir Alex Ferguson, who is celebrating his 25th anniversary as Manchester United manager, has fully demonstrated his ability to excel at Old Trafford. and the stature of this legendary club.

In return, the club has decided to officially rename the North Stand of the Theater of Dreams and will erect a statue of Ferguson outside the stand on this side of the stadium.

Before the game started, players from Manchester United and Sunderland lined up on both sides to welcome Ferguson. Sir Alex Ferguson walked into the stadium with a smile and gave a brief speech at the scene. He said with some excitement: "I did not expect that there would be a ceremony like today. I feel very honored to see my name appear in the stands. I was very excited and I didn’t know much about it. The players wanted to win for me and the support from the fans couldn’t be better. Thank you all for your support over the years. Thank you.”

Manchester United club director David Gill then presented Ferguson with a photo with Old Trafford as the background, and announced that the North Stand at Old Trafford was officially renamed "Sir Alex Ferguson" "Stand"; in addition, the club has also arranged to erect a statue of Ferguson outside the newly named stand, which will be designed by Philip Jackson, the man who is responsible for Busby and the three saints of Manchester United and the statue of Bobby Moore outside Wembley Stadium. creator.

In any case, Ferguson will celebrate his 70th birthday in less than two months. The 75,570 people in the audience and Manchester United fans from all over the world worship him, and he has disciples all over the world. Today, Solskjaer, Scholes and Gary Neville both came to the scene to support, and Bobby Charlton also appeared in the stands of the club as usual. Of course, he also came to cheer for Ferguson.

David Gill said of Ferguson: "From our point of view, it is truly remarkable to stay at one club for such a long period of time, during which he has successfully established himself as the most successful manager in the history of British football. Won countless honours, many opponents around the world admired his talent and ability. Ferguson's contribution to Manchester United was huge, and Alex's ability and success were witnessed in this beautiful stadium at Old Trafford. !”

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In such a crucial game, Bell failed to start. Wales will usher in the European Cup qualifying play-offs in the following international matches, which will be the ultimate test of whether Wales can participate in next year's European Cup.

In order for the team to advance smoothly, Wales head coach Gary Speed ​​made a special call to Ferguson, hoping to keep Bell in the best condition to participate in the next two play-offs.

Ferguson was not an unkind person. Knowing the significance of Bell to the Welsh men's football team, he agreed.

Of course, the main reason is that he has confidence in Manchester United's strength. Even if Bell is given a rest, Sunderland can still be won with the strength of the other players.

However, Ferguson's confidence was slapped in the face after the game started.

Although before the game, Sunderland, led by Steve Bruce, gave Sir Alex Ferguson enough face and the scene seemed warm and affectionate, but when the game started, Bruce had no intention of giving points to the teacher and fulfilling the celebration. Under Bruce's command, Sunderland played very proactively in the away game. On the contrary, the home team Manchester United performed very poorly and did not have a shot in the first thirty minutes.

Perhaps it was because he saw the face of his former mentor that he was too ugly, or perhaps he was dissatisfied with the performance of his former teammates. When the first half of the game entered stoppage time, the former player who played for Manchester United for 13 seasons and only moved to Sunderland in the summer Manchester United defender Wes Brown finally couldn't sit still and headed the ball into Sunderland's goal, which helped Manchester United take the lead.

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Even if his former disciple risked being scolded by his own fans and scored an own goal to help Manchester United take the lead, Ferguson still felt that it was not safe, because judging from the situation in the first half, Manchester United might not be able to secure the goal in the second half, so, At the beginning of the second half, Sir Alex ignored the promise he made to Gary Speed ​​a few days ago and replaced Bell as soon as the game started.

At present, the most reliable offensive player on this team is Bell. Even though Rooney experienced a highlight period at the beginning of the season, this highlight period came and went quickly.

With Bell's appearance, Manchester United's formation also changed from 442 in the first half to 433. Sir Alex once again pushed Bell to the front line.

Bell lived up to Ferguson's hopes and helped Manchester United expand the score within eight minutes of playing. This time it was a free kick on the right side of the penalty area, about 30 meters away from the goal. Bell's free kick with his left foot was of extremely high quality. The elevator ball directly broke into Sunderland's goal.

2:0!

The camera turned to the bench, and people saw Ferguson, who had been livid before, finally showing a smile on his face.

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Perhaps because the team's two-goal lead allowed the players to let go of the pressure, their performance on the field gradually improved, and the pressure on Sunderland's goal became increasing.

When the game reached the 64th minute, Manchester United almost scored again. This time, Bell and Evra cooperated on the left. The cross was cleared by the Sunderland defender and Manchester United won a corner kick on the left.

Bell's corner kick went straight to the penalty area. Hernandez grabbed the spot on the small penalty area line and headed the goal from close range. However, he was accidentally hit by Sunderland defender Richardson on the goal line. Rescue.

Immediately, Vidic's shot from the outside was at a slightly positive angle, and the ball was directly confiscated by Westwood.

However, facing Manchester United's tidal wave of attacks, Sunderland finally failed to hold on. In the 71st minute of the game, the city gate was declared lost for the third time.

Bell cooperated with Evra on the left. He dribbled the ball down the bottom, but suddenly passed the ball in the opposite direction to the left rib of the penalty area. Evra moved forward to receive the ball, broke through smoothly, and kicked off near the penalty area line. Shoot, the ball goes straight to the near post.

Sunderland goalkeeper Westwood made a flying save and saved the ball. But the ball was once again controlled by a Manchester United player. Vidic knocked Rooney across and the little fat man shot again near the penalty spot. However, Westwood performed extremely bravely. He had just stood up and reacted quickly to block Rooney's shot.

Another red figure appeared at the spot where the ball landed, with the big number 7 on its back indicating its owner. Bell gently picked up the ball and made a clever shot. Weiss, who had not had time to get up from the ground, There was nothing left for Twowood to do but accept that the goal he was guarding was breached for the third time.

In the end, Manchester United defeated Sunderland 3-0 at home with the help of an own goal by old player Wes Brown and a brace from Bale who came off the bench.

However, anyone who has watched the game live or in front of the TV knows very well that the content and score of this game are completely different. Bruce's Sunderland's performance throughout the game was no worse than Manchester United, and was even a better side. Although they lag far behind Manchester United in terms of ball possession rate (42% to 58%), they are no less than Manchester United in terms of the number of times they threaten the opponent's goal.

Manchester United's ability to win by a large margin is due not only to good luck, but also to the personal abilities of its superstars.