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

Chapter 541 Counterattack

Moussa Dembele passed the ball to Ali, who dribbled it out. He faced Manchester United's right back Valencia, with Maguire waiting behind him.

Ali did not give the two players a chance to complete the encirclement. He made a fake move to break through the inside, tricking Valencia into shifting his center of gravity. He then suddenly pulled the ball back, pushed the ball forward with his right foot, and broke through Valencia along the sideline.

"Valencia was like a training cone in front of Ali, and was easily broken through!"

He broke through Valencia's Ali and cut into the penalty area, then shot. The ball was blocked by De Gea and fell in front of the goal. Then Van Dijk cleared the ball before Morata and resolved the crisis.

Although no goal was lost this time, it is clear that Ali has become a major concern for Manchester United. If he is allowed to become active, then Manchester United's defense will be very worrying.

Bruno looked at the situation and said to Kante: "N'Golo, you continue to defend Eriksen, I will defend Ali."

Kante nodded, without objection or surprise. It was not the first time that Bruno went to the wing to defend. Kante was very confident in his defensive ability.

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Ali used a beautiful breakthrough and a very threatening shot to announce to his teammates that he was active again. So Tottenham players passed the ball to him one after another. His side was the most threatening wing for Tottenham's attack. Son Heung-min could only distract Manchester United's defense and could not do anything else.

When Ali received the ball again, he found that the person standing in front of him was not Valencia, but Bruno.

Ali was slightly faster than Bruno, but he was carrying the ball, while Bruno was chasing after him. Bruno soon caught up with Ali, and he put one hand on Ali's shoulder and poked the ball with his foot.

Because Bruno is now the offensive core of Manchester United and the main defensive tasks are given to Kante, many people think that Bruno is a player who is better at attacking than defending. Even some people in Tottenham think so. However, Ali, who pays close attention to Bruno, knows very well that Bruno's defense is also not weak.

When Ali saw Bruno approaching him, he knew that the chances of his forced breakthrough were very low. So he suddenly stopped and used the outside of his left foot to hook the ball back. Bruno rushed over, but he didn't loosen his grip and still held Ali's shoulder. Ali wanted to turn around and break through from the inside, but he was firmly held by him.

Seeing that he could not break through and the opponent's defense was well organized, Ali no longer had any decent chances, so he simply fell to the ground in pain, holding his ankle.

The referee blew the whistle and called a foul on Bruno.

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Tottenham took a free kick and Vertonghen headed the ball, but due to Maguire's interference, the ball missed the goal.

Although this attack did not result in a goal, Tottenham Hotspur was determined to make Ali the core of the offense.

In the next game, as long as Tottenham attacks, the ball will be delivered to Ali's feet continuously.

Bruno also tightened his defense on Ali, almost staying close to him. When Manchester United was defending, he deliberately kept himself close to Ali, and rushed to defend as soon as the opponent got the ball.

Facing this persistent Bruno, Ali's breakthrough was not effective. Bruno was always able to anticipate the enemy's moves. If Ali wanted to break through to the inside, Bruno would be waiting for him there. If Ali's breakthrough to the inside was just a pretense and his real intention was to go down the sideline, Bruno would decisively kick the ball out of the sideline.

Ali can only rely on his speed to break through Bruno, but such opportunities do not appear anytime and anywhere.

It is almost impossible to break through Bruno by accelerating from the spot, because Bruno is stuck in position. No matter how fast he is, he cannot violate the laws of physics when starting.

Pochettino saw the dilemma faced by Ali below. Ali was the spearhead of the team's offense. If he was entangled by Bruno, Tottenham's offense would be paralyzed by half.

Tottenham's head coach thought about it and made corresponding adjustments. He moved Ali to the front line and Tottenham changed to 442.

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Now Bruno has no choice. He can always change his position to defender in order to defend Ali, right?

It's not that he can't play as a central defender, but if he retreats to play as a defender, who will organize the attack? Of course, his physical fitness is no problem, enough to support him to run from one penalty area to another, but how to calculate the time wasted?

Missing the opportunity to attack is a serious mistake in war, and it is almost the same in football. Do we have to stop the ball in front and wait for it to run up from the back before attacking? This is obviously not possible.

Seeing Ali hiding between Valencia and Maguire, Bruno had no choice. Now it seems that there is only one way to solve the problem: attack, score goals, and use more goals to bring a sense of security to Manchester United.

Having made up his mind, Bruno turned forward and tried to organize the attack. He wanted to change the score before Tottenham scored.

Tottenham completed another attack. This time, Ali received a pass from Son Heung-min in the penalty area and got a great chance. Unfortunately, Ali did not expect that the ball would pass so easily in front of three defenders and Morata. No one touched the ball, allowing him to take advantage.

He was not mentally prepared enough, and his feet were also not prepared enough. He stretched his feet a little slowly and his center of gravity was unstable, so he shot the ball directly into an empty goal.

"Oh my! This is an opportunity that is harder to miss than to score! Ali actually missed the shot!" The commentator who supports Tottenham said with regret.

The commentator who supported Manchester United breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It was a close call... It was a close call... Manchester United almost fell behind! We can't let Tottenham score! Tottenham's offensive has been very strong recently. If I were Mourinho, I would have the team defend firmly..."

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Moussa Dembélé saw Bruno and wondered in his mind whether he should continue to follow this guy.

Manager Pochettino gave instructions to Alli but said nothing to him. What should he do?

Continue to follow Bruno? But Bruno obviously has no effect. He is more like a spectator in this game, a supporting role with no importance.

As if to prompt him to make up his mind, Gundogan stood up, received passes from his teammates many times, and moved in the area between the back line and the forward line.

Bruno directed his teammates to pass the ball to Gundogan, while he stood by and watched, at most acting as a wall for Gundogan.

Gundogan has also played as a front midfielder and has some ability in passing threatening balls. If Bruno can't play anymore, there is no Gundogan. If it really doesn't work, there is still a full-time front midfielder Mata sitting on the bench. Mourinho is not afraid.

After Gundogan passed the ball to Harry Kane to create a one-on-one opportunity, Moussa Dembele decisively left Bruno, who seemed to be doing nothing, and rushed towards Gundogan.

Gundogan did not expect Moussa Dembele's sudden return to defense and lost the ball. Tottenham took the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

Of course, the ball was intercepted by Kante before it reached Ali's feet.

Kante, who intercepted the ball, did not pass it to Bruno, but passed it to Rashford who was playing on the wing, and Rashford then passed it to Gundogan.

Moussa Dembélé followed and for a moment Bruno was left unguarded.

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Gundogan stopped the ball and attracted the defensive attention of Tottenham players.

He did not pass the ball forward, even though Harry Kane was raising his hand for the ball, nor did he pass it to Rashford who had already made a forward run, or to Mbappe on the other flank.

Surrounded by Moussa Dembele and Son Heung-min, he suddenly knocked the ball behind him with his heel!

Bruno received the ball from Gundogan while running forward. This time he did not simply serve as a transit station. After receiving the ball, he first pretended to take a long shot, tricking Tottenham's defenders into shifting their defensive focus to the middle. Then he suddenly shook his ankle and passed the ball from the ribs to Tottenham's penalty area!

"Here it comes! Bruno's straight pass!" The commentator who supports Manchester United shouted excitedly, because he had seen that at the moment Bruno made a straight pass, Manchester United's winger Mbappe suddenly turned inside and received the ball!

Mbappe received the ball without being marked and he shot hard!

Lori reacted quickly, returned to defense quickly, then jumped up and blocked the ball with one hand.

This was supposed to be a wonderful save, but after the ball was saved, it did not bounce out of the baseline, nor did it fall at the feet of the Tottenham players, but instead flew towards Mbappe for some unknown reason.

Mbappe was feeling frustrated because he missed such a good chance, but then he saw the ball flying back!

Lori, who was lying on the ground, also reacted quickly. Seeing the football flying towards Mbappe, he quickly struggled to get up from the ground. At the same time, Mbappe also swung his foot again!

This could be another shot on goal.

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Mbappe did not shoot himself, but swept the ball horizontally to the middle with his right foot.

The ball passed between Lori and Tottenham center back Vertonghen, and Harry Kane, who came in from behind, gently pushed the ball towards him without being marked.

“The ball goes in!!”

"Oh! Oh! The ball goes in! The ball goes in!"

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLL!!!!!! This is Manchester United's second goal of the game! From Harry Kane, he scored against his old club!"

"Who was the biggest contributor? Bruno! It was his sudden pass that gave Mbappe this opportunity... Tottenham's defense against Bruno was very strict throughout the game, but it was at this moment that they relaxed..."

Harry Kane, who scored the goal, ran towards Mbappe who passed the ball to him, and the two of them went to find Bruno, and then hugged each other with a group of teammates.

Harry Kane, who was booed and abused by Tottenham fans at the start of the game, did not give face to his old club and chose not to celebrate after scoring a goal.

This brought him even louder boos and insults, but Harry Kane didn't care at all.