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

Chapter 354 The Battle of 9 Million Pounds

Portugal won the European Cup in July and will start a new journey in the World Qualifications two months later.

On the evening of September 9, local time in Europe, Portugal faced the European team Gibraltar in Porto. This is the only warm-up match before the Five Shields team prepares for the World Cup qualifiers.

Ronaldo injured his knee in the European Cup final and is now in the recovery stage. Portugal did not call him up this time. Sanches, who became popular in the European Cup, also withdrew from the squad due to injury. Nani, who has played 103 games for his country, will lead Portugal as captain.

In addition, although Bruno was selected for the new Portuguese national team, Santos did not arrange for him to play in this game.

In the first half, Portugal attacked from all fronts but missed many opportunities. Nani opened the scoring first. Nani scored another goal in the second half, Cancelo scored with a blast, Bernardo Silva passed the ball and Pepe scored with a header.

In the end, Portugal defeated Gibraltar 5:0.

Five days later, Portugal visited Switzerland to challenge its strongest opponent in the European qualifiers for the 5 World Cup in Russia.

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According to the quota allocation, UEFA has 13 quotas for the World Cup finals in addition to the host Russia. UEFA divided its 54 national teams into 9 groups. The first place in each group will directly advance to the Russian World Cup finals two years later. The 8 best-performing second-placed teams will participate in the play-offs to compete for the remaining teams. Next 4 qualifications.

In the group draw, Portugal was placed in Group B with Switzerland, Hungary, Latvia, the Faroe Islands and Andorra.

Obviously, in this group, Portugal, which has just won the European Cup and is ranked fourth in the world, is unique in strength and is also the seed team in Group B.

而世界排名第18和19的瑞士、匈牙利则是对葡萄牙有一定威胁。至于世界排名110名的拉脱维亚、135名的法罗群岛和203名的安道尔，完全就是鱼腩了。

This game away from Switzerland is not only Portugal's first game in the World Cup in Russia, but also the most difficult one.

The Swiss showed great strength at home, while Portugal, still immersed in the joy of winning the European Cup, seemed a little unprepared. Coupled with the absence of captain Cristiano Ronaldo, they fell behind 0:2 in the first half.

After the halftime break, Portugal took the lead in making substitutions, with Santos bringing on Joao Mario to replace William Carvalho, who had an abnormal performance.

Portugal, which was aggressively attacking, completely controlled the situation on the field. Bruno showed off his power and used a hat trick to help Portugal reverse the score and get a good start to the World Cup in Russia.

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After the international match day, major European leagues restart.

The first game after the restart of the Premier League is a blockbuster contest: Manchester City Derby!

Before entering the 2010s, Manchester City Derby did not have much appeal, because the Blue Moon Manchester City at that time was just a mid-to-lower team in the Premier League, playing the role of a Premier League lifter.

But since Middle East Oil Capital acquired Manchester City in the summer of 2008, with their investment at almost no cost, Manchester City has already completed its transformation in the past eight years.

Especially after entering the 2010s, it has never fallen out of the top four in the Premier League standings in six years. It has won two championships, two runner-ups, one third place and one fourth place. It is the team with the best record in the Premier League during the same period.

Blue Moon, once scornfully called the "noisy neighbor" by Sir Alex Ferguson, has overturned Manchester United's hegemony in the Premier League and has a tendency to replace it.

<divclass="contentadv">In this summer, both teams have invested heavily in signings, with a net investment of more than 2 million euros. They are the two teams that have invested the most in world football this summer.

Moreover, both teams have invited the best head coach in today's world football. Manchester City hired Guardiola, the master of tikitaka football from Bayern Munich of the Bundesliga, while Manchester United hired Guardiola, a master of defensive counterattack tactics. Mourinho is the master of all things.

It can be said that the competition between the two is a battle between spear and shield in the eyes of fans around the world.

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In the three rounds of the Premier League that have been carried out in the new season, both Manchester City and Manchester City have performed very strongly and have achieved three consecutive victories.

Guardiola has shown the Premier League his possession tactics. His teams are always able to crush opponents on the field and destroy opponents with devastating attacks. In three games, Manchester City scored a total of 9 goals, making it the team with the most goals and worthy of being the spear of the Premier League.

Although Mourinho is already an old face to other opponents in the Premier League, Mourinho still reminds everyone of the fear that the entire Premier League was dominated by his terrifying defensive counterattacks ten years ago.

In the three league games, Manchester United's defense is impeccable and they have not conceded a goal. They are the only team among the 20 Premier League teams that have not conceded a goal. They are definitely the shield of the Premier League.

In terms of offense, although Manchester United is not as strong as Manchester City, their quick counterattacks scare everyone. Scored 8 goals in three games, second only to Manchester City in goals scored.

It is precisely because of their impeccable defense and sharp counterattacks that Manchester United was able to surpass the two blue teams of Manchester City and Chelsea in terms of goal difference and occupy the top spot in the Premier League.

The current head-to-head confrontation between the two teams is the real battle for the top spot in the Premier League standings. It will be a very crucial battle throughout the season, and will even be of great significance to the final championship.

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曼联近2个赛季4战曼城仅负1场，但近5个联赛主场也仅胜1场，其余有3次落败。

This is the 171st Manchester derby. Manchester United previously had the upper hand with 70 wins, 51 draws and 49 losses.

英超38场历史交锋中，曼联20胜7平11负占据上风，其中客场10胜2平7负。

Compared with the last Premier League game, both teams have made considerable adjustments.

Although Mourinho continued to use his 433 formation, compared to the previous practice of using Kante as a single defensive midfielder, Mourinho put Mata on the bench in this game, and new aid Gundogan joined The first starting opportunity after Manchester United, partnering with Kante in the defensive midfielder. On the front line, due to Martial's transfer and departure, Rashford, another talented star in the team, won the starting position, forming a trident with Ibrahimovic and Rooney.

For Manchester City, new aid Bravo started, Sagna and Kolarov rotated, Iheanacho replaced the suspended Aguero, and new aid Sane entered the bench.

Guardiola's formation is also 433, with Fernandinho playing as a single defensive midfielder, De Bruyne and David Silva on the left and right, and Sterling, Iheanacho and Nolito forming a front trident.

The starting players on both sides are worth as much as 9 million pounds.