From the man behind the football king to the football king

On the evening of December 5, the Champions League ushered in the final battle of the group stage.

Group C, known as the death group, is undoubtedly a group that the whole world pays close attention to during the group stage. When the game reached the last round of the group stage, people found that Group C was just a death group in name only.

In this group with three European giants, Manchester United, Atletico Madrid and Roma, Manchester United's performance can be described as overwhelming. They advanced to the knockout stage two rounds in advance, and in the fifth round of the group stage, with a substitute lineup, they swept Qarabag 4:0 away, locking the first place in the group in advance.

Of course, it is not wrong to say that Group C is the death group, because after five rounds of the group stage, the other qualification has not yet been decided.

After the first five rounds, the situation of Group C is as follows:

Manchester United ranked first with 4 wins and 1 draw and 13 points, and has already locked the first place in the group in advance;

Atletico Madrid ranked second with 1 win, 3 draws and 1 loss and 6 points;

Roma ranked third with 1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses and 5 points;

Qarabag ranked last with 2 draws and 3 losses and 2 points.

Atletico Madrid and Roma are both likely to finish second in the group. Atletico Madrid has one more point, but they will be visiting Old Trafford in the last round, and it is not easy to get points. Roma will face Qarabag at home, and it is highly likely that they will get 3 points.

So, it seems that Roma is more likely to advance as the second in the group.

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But there is a special situation, that is, Manchester United has advanced to the knockout stage two rounds in advance, and has now locked in the first place in the group.

In addition, Manchester United had a hard battle with Arsenal last weekend, and will face the strongest opponent in the league, Manchester City, next weekend. In this case, almost everyone thought of a possibility, that is, Manchester United strategically gave up the game with Atletico Madrid and fully prepared for the Manchester City derby at the weekend.

This possibility is almost inevitable. After all, Manchester United and Manchester City are currently very close in the Premier League standings. If Manchester United cannot beat Manchester City at home, then they cannot widen the gap with Manchester City in the standings, and even if they lose, they will be overtaken by Manchester City.

In such a situation, even a fool knows what choice Manchester United will make.

However, Roma coach Di Francesco said in an interview that Manchester United is a team that pursues fairness, and Mourinho is also a coach with noble character. He is not worried that Manchester United will let the game go in this last round of the group stage.

The Italian media also frequently called on Manchester United and Mourinho, asking Manchester United to fight Atletico Madrid with a fair and just attitude and not to deliberately pit Roma.

Anyway, the Italians are constantly putting pressure on Manchester United through various channels, so that they dare not openly give up this game.

At the same time, Atletico Madrid and the Spanish media sang praises for Manchester United and Mourinho, saying that Manchester United is a strong team, but they expressed a meaning in both explicit and implicit ways: You have all qualified in advance and even locked the first place in the group. Please show mercy in this game, and we will remember your kindness...

At the pre-match press conference of the match between Manchester United and Atletico Madrid, an Italian reporter asked Mourinho a very sharp question, that is, whether Manchester United will send a full substitute lineup to play.

Mourinho did not give the Italian a satisfactory answer. He just said that every player of Manchester United is very good, and there is no difference between the main players and substitutes.

Then, when Manchester United's starting lineup came out, the Italian reporter said: MMP!

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In this game at Old Trafford, Mourinho arranged his usual 433 formation.

Goalkeeper: Romero;

Defenders: Damian, Lindelof, Smalling, Ashley Young;

Midfielders: Fellaini, Herrera, Bruno;

Forwards: Lingard, McTominay, Mata.

Except for captain Bruno, none of them is a regular starter for Manchester United!

However, even when facing Manchester United, which played almost entirely with substitutes, Atletico Madrid coach Simeone did not underestimate the enemy at all, and it can be said that he attached great importance to Manchester United, which played with a substitute lineup, and completely treated Manchester United as a strong enemy.

Atletico Madrid even lowered its posture and did not hesitate to use fouls and lethal tactics to limit Manchester United.

On the Manchester United side, the double defensive midfielders of Herrera and Fellaini were also very tough. Throughout the game, people fell down frequently.

The game was very hot, whistles sounded frequently, and the fluency of the game was repeatedly broken.

Both sides paid more attention to limiting the opponent and preventing the opponent from scoring goals, but they were greatly restrained on the offensive end.

The deadlock was not broken until the 39th minute of the first half.

Atletico Madrid took a corner kick, Torres assisted with a header, and Saul headed the ball in front of the goal line, and the ball flew into the upper left corner of the opponent's goal.

Mourinho clenched his fists in dissatisfaction, but he finally failed to defend.

He began to think about how to deal with the second half of the game when the score was 0:1.

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However, Mourinho soon found that the tactics and strategies he had just thought of became useless, because Manchester United quickly scored a goal to equalize the score.

Maybe it was because they finally scored a goal and the first half of the game was about to end, so the players of Atletico Madrid were a little relaxed.

When Manchester United organized this attack and Damian broke through from the wing to the middle, Atletico Madrid's defensive players did not actively defend. The lax defense allowed Bruno to calmly stop the ball at the top of the penalty area after receiving Damian's pass, and then he could turn and shoot more easily. The football drew an arc and went straight to the dead corner of the goal.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!"

Mourinho was stunned for a moment, and then applauded excitedly.

"Well done, Bruno!" He expressed his satisfaction with the team captain's standing up at the critical moment.

"Atletico Madrid lost the ball very quickly, and they only led for three minutes!"

"This goal exposed Atletico Madrid's shortcomings. After scoring the goal, they relaxed. In addition, Gabi was really old and could not keep up with Bruno's rhythm at all. He almost watched Bruno turn around and shoot."

The first half of the game ended in 1:1.

In theory, two goals in the first half of the game and the score of 1:1 gave people the impression that this first half of the game should not be so boring, and it can even be said to be relatively exciting.

However, the audience who watched this game certainly didn't think so.

Throughout the first half of the game, both sides seemed to put all their energy into fierce fighting and defense, and the field was in chaos.

On the sidelines, Manchester United coach Mourinho and Atletico Madrid coach Simeone were also yelling, and the atmosphere was manic.