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

Guardiola's feelings towards Bruno are very subtle and complex.

The first time the Manchester City coach noticed Bruno was in the 2014-2015 season three years ago.

In the European Super Cup match between Udinese and Real Madrid, Bruno almost single-handedly defeated the Galacticos with three shots and one pass. That game introduced Bruno to the world, and also introduced Bruno to Guardiola.

In the subsequent Champions League group stage, Bruno used 6 goals and 9 assists in 4 games to help Udinese once again beat Real Madrid and advance to the Champions League knockout rounds as the first in the group.

Bruno's performance surprised Guardiola, because Guardiola, who had just led his team to a double defeat by Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals not long ago and even suffered a 0:4 defeat at home, knew how strong that Real Madrid team was.

That season, Bruno and his Udinese always attracted Guardiola's attention, because in the quarter-finals, Udinese's opponent was the Bundesliga team Schalke 04. As a team in the same league, Guardiola is naturally paying attention to the performance of the Miners. As a result, Bruno scored 3 goals and 2 assists in two rounds, helping Udinese eliminate Schalke 5 4:04.

Then it was Guardiola and his Bayern Munich's turn to face Bruno in person.

It was this encounter that allowed Guardiola to really get to know Bruno.

In the two rounds of the game, Guardiola and his disciples successfully restricted Bruno, allowing Bruno to score only one goal, which was a penalty kick and no assists.

However, Guardiola and his disciples still failed. Although Bruno only scored one goal, he greatly attracted Bayern Munich's attention. At the same time, through his shocking overall view, he helped Udinese eliminate Bayern Munich with a total score of 4:3.

Next, Bruno led Udinese to once again eliminate Guardiola's old club Barcelona and reach the final, and finally defeated Juventus in the Champions League final and won the Champions League championship that year.

That year, Bruno shocked the world football world with his genius performance, which also made him the first person in recent years to break the dominance of two great players in world football and win the FIFA Ballon d'Or, laying the foundation for his current role in world football. The status of one of the three giants in the world.

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Since then, Guardiola has been very eager to coach Bruno, but Bruno not only failed to work under him, but the two even became direct rivals.

In the summer of 2016, Guardiola and his Manchester City were very close to Bruno, but in the end Bruno chose to join Manchester United.

Then last season, Bruno first led Manchester United to defeat Manchester City twice at home, in the league and League Cup, giving Guardiola a very painful memory.

However, what really made Guardiola heartbroken was the second round of the league last season. Bruno used a hat trick and an assist to help Manchester United slaughter his Manchester City 5:0 at the Etihad Stadium.

This disastrous defeat was also regarded as a huge shame by Manchester City. The Manchester Evening News even used the words "Manchester City's biggest humiliating defeat in the past ten years" to describe it.

Although losing and winning on the football field is normal, Manchester City will blame Bruno for such a humiliating defeat.

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Before the start of the first Manchester derby of the new season, Guardiola had a surprisingly tough attitude when being interviewed by the media.

"Last season's disastrous defeat?" When asked this question, Guardiola shook his head, "I don't comment on things that have happened in the past. I can only say that such a thing will not happen to my team for the second time. ”

"There is no revenge." Guardiola said. "Manchester City and Manchester United are just normal games. Do you think the word 'revenge' is appropriate?"

Guardiola's words may just mean that Manchester City and Manchester United don't have many old grudges before. Of course, they can also have a more in-depth understanding.

Then, this sentence was caught by Mourinho. He dug into this sentence, crushed it into pieces, and told the players.

"Guys, you are despised." Mourinho shouted loudly, slamming the table, "We are not even in the eyes of our neighbor."

"Look at this tone." Mourinho said in a satirical tone. "There is no hatred between Manchester City and Manchester United. How can a team that has expired deserve to have hatred against us?"

Mourinho waved the newspaper in his hand and said: "We have been underestimated!"

This is the "Guardian". The newspaper is very similar to the views of coach Mourinho. It responded to Guardiola with a very angry tone and criticized Manchester City for looking down on people.

"Why do they look down on us?"

"Who was it that we fucked up at the Etihad Stadium last season?"

"Manchester City!" young McTominay shouted.

"Who is we now overtaking in the standings?"

"Manchester City!" More people shouted together.

"That's right!" Mourinho nodded and shouted loudly, "How dare you look down on us? Who gave them the courage?"

"Fuck them!" shouted all the Manchester United players.

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"They are taking it out of context! They are deliberately misinterpreting your words!" Mikel Arteta said with an angry expression.

He was complaining about Guardiola. In the hotel room where he was staying in Manchester City, they found a piece of "The Guardian" which savaged Manchester City coach Guardiola. Look at the rumor description on it, Guardiola is simply An arrogant, rude, and villainous guy.

The former Arsenal captain is now Manchester City's assistant coach, Guardiola's assistant and Guardiola's true man. Although Arteta, who was born in La Masia's youth academy, has not played for Barcelona's first team, he has always been an admirer of Guardiola.

On July 2016, 7, Arteta announced his retirement and joined Guardiola's coaching staff the next day and began his coaching career.

"Mikel, calm down." Guardiola smiled and waved his hand.

Guardiola told his old friend Arteta to calm down and ignore it, but deep down, Guardiola was also unhappy.

The reason for the unhappiness is not because of the hype and rumors from Manchester United’s mouthpiece media, but because of the three defeats last season, especially the words of the Guardian after the 0:5 defeat at home: “One hundred Guardios. Lado is not as good as Mourinho..."

Every time he thinks of that fiasco and those words, Guardiola becomes extremely angry.

He is looking forward to this game very much, defeating Manchester United and Mourinho in a direct duel. This is Guardiola's response and attitude.

Mourinho and Manchester United are the leaders of the Premier League this season, setting a new league record of 16 consecutive victories, which can be described as unlimited glory.

Guardiola wants to tell everyone with practical actions that the reason why Manchester United can set records is because they have not met his Manchester City yet!

Manchester United is indeed strong, but his Manchester City is even stronger!

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On December 12, the Dream Theater at Old Trafford, which can accommodate more than 11 people, was packed with seats.

In fact, since Mourinho led Manchester United to regain the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League last season, it has achieved Manchester United's three major European Cup Grand Slams and the first single team in British history. After the Grand Slam of the season, since the beginning of the new season, every game at Old Trafford has been almost full, and the atmosphere is very good. The Theater of Dreams seems to have returned to the Ferguson era, the one that made the entire Premier League and even the world The devil's home stadium is feared by everyone in Europe.

Before the game started, Mourinho and Guardiola shook hands, and the two did not exchange much words.

Mourinho made significant rotations in the sixth round of the Champions League group stage against Atletico Madrid a few days ago, just to accumulate strength for this game against Manchester City.

In this game, Mourinho fielded the strongest lineup he could.

On the front line is the combination of Rashford, Harry Kane and Mbappe.

Harry Kane has been in good form since moving to Manchester United, and Mbappe's form has also improved. What makes Mourinho most satisfied is that Mbappe's shot came in with good luck.

Yes, in Mourinho's view, Mbappe's shooting level is still relatively average, but his recent shooting feeling and luck are both good.

Feeling and luck are really important for forwards. When luck and feeling are good, you can shoot whatever you want. For players like Mbappe who have relatively average shooting skills, luck and feeling are even more important.

In the midfield, Bruno, Kanter, and Gundogan form a three-midfielder.

On the defense line, Van Dijk and Maguire are the central defender partners, with Luke Shaw at left back and Valencia at right back.

The 32-year-old Ecuadorian has performed so well this season that he even put Cancelo, who the team paid heavily from Udinese, on the bench.

Manchester United's starting goalkeeper De Gea, although Romero is also very good, it is difficult to shake the main position of the Spanish national goalkeeper.

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On Manchester City's side, the goalkeeper is Ederson, the right back is Kyle Walker, the England international defender that Manchester City imported from Tottenham Hotspur at a huge price, the center back is the partner of veteran captain Kompany and veteran Otamendi, and the left The defender is Delph making a cameo appearance.

The three midfielders are Fernandinho, David Silva and De Bruyne.

The three forwards are Sterling, Jesus and Sane.

Like Manchester United, Manchester City also made extensive rotations in the final round of the Champions League group stage in midweek. This also led to their 1:2 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in an away game, ending their unbeaten run in the group stage.

However, this defeat has no impact on Manchester City, because they have won five consecutive games in the first five rounds of the group stage, have qualified early and secured the first place in the group.

Under such circumstances, it is reasonable for Manchester City to play in the Champions League with a substitute lineup to save strength for this Manchester City derby.

Somewhat surprisingly, Guardiola let Aguero, who did not start in the Champions League game in midweek, continue to sit on the bench.