From the man behind the football king to the football king

A week later, Manchester United easily defeated Huddersfield 2-0 in the fifth round of the FA Cup and advanced to the quarterfinals of this season's FA Cup. Harry Kane scored twice in the game, and Bruno provided an assist.

From this day on, Manchester United once again ushered in a busy schedule this season. From the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on the evening of February 17 to the FA Cup quarter-finals on the evening of March 17, Manchester United will have eight games in the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League in one month!

On the evening of February 17, the FA Cup 5th round away challenge Huddersfield;

On the evening of February 21, the Champions League quarter-finals first leg away challenge Shakhtar Donetsk;

On the afternoon of February 25, the League Cup final against Arsenal;

On the evening of March 1, the Premier League 28th round home against Chelsea;

On the evening of March 6, the Premier League 29th round away challenge Crystal Palace;

At noon on March 10, the Premier League 30th round home against Liverpool, this is the second leg of the Red Double this season;

On the evening of March 13, the Champions League quarter-finals second leg home against Shakhtar Donetsk;

On the evening of March 17, the FA Cup quarter-finals home against Brighton.

These eight games can be described as tough battles. Especially there are Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, the traditional three Premier League teams, as well as the two rounds of the Champions League quarter-finals.

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In the middle of the week, Manchester United will go away to challenge Shakhtar Donetsk. Among the 16 teams in the Champions League knockout stage, Shakhtar Donetsk is not a very strong opponent, but at this time, it is a very difficult opponent to deal with, because Shakhtar Donetsk is deep in the European continent. When cities like Manchester, which are affected by the marine climate, have gradually ushered in relatively mild temperatures, Donetsk is still a land of ice and snow. The huge change in temperature is definitely a big difficulty for the away team.

In addition, Mourinho has another difficulty, that is, the League Cup final at the weekend.

Although the League Cup is a bit tasteless for a giant team like Manchester United, after reaching the final, Manchester United has no reason to give up.

However, because the two games are only less than four days apart, the team has to travel back and forth between Manchester and Donetsk, two cities 3,000 kilometers apart, and the players will definitely not be able to recover their physical strength.

Therefore, Mourinho must make a choice between the two games. In the end, he still plans to play the game against Shakhtar Donetsk with a substitute rotation lineup, and then impact the first championship of this year with the main lineup.

However, Mourinho will not completely give up the match with Shakhtar Donetsk, so the team's midfield core and captain Bruno will still go to Ukraine with the team and will start the match.

Having been with Bruno for almost two years, Mourinho has long discovered a magical thing, that is, running back and forth between home and away games has almost no effect on Bruno. This guy can always seize every minute and every second to rest and keep enough energy to play.

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The players' idea is very simple, that is, to play well. As for how to play well, that is the problem that the head coach considers. So they can always smile and joke in training.

After entering February, they are still ranked first in the standings and are 8 points ahead of Manchester City behind them, which makes everyone feel very good, and it seems that victory is in sight.

Manchester United is a top European club. Their opponents are naturally top clubs like Real Madrid, and at worst Premier League giants like Manchester City. As for Shakhtar Donetsk, they don't take it seriously at all. Although their opponents are also regulars in the Champions League, we are also a team working hard for the championship. They have motivation, don't we have it?

When everyone is motivated, it depends on who is stronger.

In terms of strength, Manchester United is obviously better, so Shakhtar Donetsk is not a problem.

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The match with Shakhtar Donetsk was held on Wednesday night in the middle of the week. The match with Arsenal was on Sunday night.

Before the match with Shakhtar Donetsk, Mourinho made a major adjustment to the starting lineup. He was already preparing for the match with Arsenal.

He gave up the 433 that he had always insisted on. Ibrahimovic was in poor condition and became a substitute, and added a defensive midfielder Fellaini in the midfield.

In the past two seasons, with the arrival of Kante, Fellaini has had fewer and fewer opportunities to play in Manchester United. Even if he played, he was mostly a substitute.

In this match against Shakhtar Donetsk, he regained the starting lineup and started at the same time as Bruno, which made him realize that this might be an opportunity.

In Fellaini's view, Kante won the starting position over him because of his good relationship with Bruno and good cooperation with Bruno on the field. If he also performed well when playing with Bruno, it might change his position in the team.

So Fellaini was very active and excited in the game, even a little too excited.

Just ten minutes into the game, he got himself a yellow card with an unnecessary midfield shovel.

This foul made Mourinho very dissatisfied off the court, because it was completely unnecessary. Bruno was already waiting in front of the opponent's dribbling route, and his shovel was meddling.

Bruno also shrugged and spread his hands to Fellaini, expressing his incomprehension.

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Fellaini didn't take Bruno's statement seriously. His mind was full of thoughts about performing well in the game and impressing coach Mourinho.

He was just like Gascoigne in the 1991 FA Cup final. In that game, Gascoigne, who played for Tottenham, was very excited during the warm-up. Later in the game, he tackled Charles of Nottingham Forest, not only giving the opponent a direct free kick that resulted in a goal, but also causing himself to be injured and carried off, ending his own FA Cup final in advance. This was also his last game at Tottenham.

In the 17th minute, when Fellaini was dribbling forward in the midfield, the midfielder of Shakhtar Donetsk came up to defend him and pulled his jersey. Fellaini, who was completely selfless, seemed to have forgotten the rules of the football game. In order to get rid of the opponent's entanglement, he swung his right elbow violently and hit the opponent's face hard.

The Shakhtar player did loosen Fellaini's jersey, but he was also knocked down by Fellaini's fierce elbow and was motionless!

"Oh, God... What happened on the field? Fellaini's elbow foul was very bad! And the Shakhtar player... looked shocked..."

Fellaini did not stop after the elbow, but continued to dribble the ball as if nothing had happened. Perhaps in his opinion, the opponent must have dived, and this was not a serious foul. Until he heard the referee's whistle, he was still a little dissatisfied and thought that the referee's penalty was wrong.

But soon he found that everyone was running behind him.

In addition, some Shakhtar players rushed towards him, and their expressions did not look good. He suddenly realized that the situation was not good and felt a little scared.

In his eyes, the Shakhtar player closest to him seemed to want to punch him, and at this time, Bruno stood in front of him.

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"Okay, okay!" he shouted, "Calm down! Calm down... Calm down..."

He was not afraid of fighting, he did not want his team to be short of players because of fighting. You know, now is the critical moment of the championship. In the face of multi-line operations, no matter who is missing, it will be a loss.

Moreover, judging from the foul just now by Fellaini, he is destined to be sent off. We really can't have any fewer players. If we are short of two people, facing a team that has entered the Champions League knockout stage, this game will be really difficult.

So he hopes that everyone will be calmer, mainly for the benefit of his own team.

It is unwise to conflict with the opponent at this time.

After stopping the players of Shakhtar Donetsk, Bruno asked his teammates to drag Fellaini out and not to mix in the crowd, which would only anger the opponent's players.

"Push him away!"

After hearing what he said, Mahrez pulled Fellaini out. Of course, he did not forget to complain a few words: "What are you doing, Fellaini? That is an unnecessary action!"

Fellaini's brain has not yet reacted, he defended himself in a confused manner: "He pulled my jersey..."

"That's not an elbow!"

"I just wanted to get rid of him..."

"You can tell the referee that, but I guess it's useless..." Mahrez held him tightly and shook his head.

One less person, this game is difficult to play...

... He knew he was finished...

It was only at this moment that his brain suddenly woke up and realized what he had done.

He turned his head mechanically to look at the coaching bench off the field, and saw Mourinho kicking the mineral water bottle away.

It seemed that he had indeed left a very deep impression on the head coach, but this impression might not be a good one...

He lowered his head and walked off the field silently, and the Metalist Stadium of Shakhtar Donetsk was filled with boos, all of which were to see him off.