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

Chapter 574: Kant's Attack

"Press him, and before De Bruyne is substituted, focus on him, break him down, and force him to make a mistake."

Mourinho said.

"A draw is acceptable to us," he said with a smile. "It would be even better if we could sneak in and take away three points."

The locker room burst into laughter.

The second half of the game started quickly, and Manchester City head coach Guardiola made a decisive adjustment, replacing David Silva with Aguero.

Manchester City's formation also changed, with Sterling, Jesus, Aguero and Sane forming the four forwards, and Bernardo Silva moving back to form a midfield with Fernandinho and De Bruyne.

It is obvious that Guardiola really wants to fight to the death with Manchester United.

Faced with Guardiola's adjustment, Mourinho also immediately made targeted adjustments. Kante sat in the middle, Fellaini and Herrera's sweeping defense area was expanded to support the flanks, and Gundogan's position retreated slightly, ready to support the three midfielders at any time.

This adjustment immediately curbed Manchester City's newly launched offensive.

Guardiola looked at Mourinho from a distance with some annoyance. This bastard's tactics were extremely conservative. Is this guy really satisfied with the current score and has no intention of counterattacking at all?

No matter how unhappy Guardiola is, the fact is that Manchester United acted very conservatively, and Mourinho seemed to be really determined to maintain the score of 1:1 and be satisfied.

This is also related to the current situation. Manchester United won 3:0 at home in the first leg, which gave them a huge advantage. This gave them more tactical options in this game and gave them the confidence to park the bus and defend away from home.

………………

"Mourinho and Manchester United can accept a draw at Etihad Stadium," Sun Jihai said. "A draw with Manchester City will allow Manchester United to advance to the final with a big win in the first leg."

"In fact, even if they lose, even by a score of 1:4, Manchester United will advance. The advantage they gained at home in the first leg was too big, especially because they did not concede an away goal to Manchester City, which is equivalent to them winning by 4 goals against Manchester City," added Zhan Jun.

At this time, the camera showed a close-up of the fans in the stands. A hot blonde female fan yawned widely and was about to fall asleep.

"The game was very dull, and the fans almost fell asleep." Zhan Jun shook his head and said, "This game was broadcast live in nearly 180 countries and regions around the world, but this dull scene may disappoint the fans."

Although the game was dull, Mourinho sat very comfortably. He was happy to see Manchester City repeatedly failing to achieve any success, especially when he saw Kante blocking Manchester City's attack, he applauded and nodded with a look of satisfaction on his face.

The director deliberately gave him a close-up, and I believe this will make Manchester City fans dislike this person even more.

………………

The game has gone on for sixty minutes, and the score on the field is still 1:1.

Among the commentators from various countries broadcasting this game live, some have already criticized Mourinho's conservatism.

Mourinho cannot hear these criticisms, and even if he does, he will not pay attention. His job today is to lead Manchester United to the Champions League final, not to please the media and commentators.

Moreover, as a coach for almost 20 years, Mourinho has a deep understanding of the coach's working environment. You should ignore some of the voices that point fingers. As long as you can lead the team to win and as long as your coaching results are outstanding, those who criticize you will eventually come to praise you and become your bootlickers, even if they still have the intention of sanctioning and attacking you one day, but as long as you keep winning and keep leading the team to outstanding results, they will have no way to do anything to you and will have to praise you.

Mourinho stood up from the coaching seat, walked to the sidelines and blew a whistle.

It was like the starting gun sounded, Manchester United suddenly intensified the pressing in the midfield.

A few minutes later, Gundogan and Fellaini teamed up to steal the ball from De Bruyne's feet. Manchester United suddenly launched a quick counterattack. Gundogan passed the ball straight, Bruno pulled to the side and passed the ball into the penalty area. Harry Kane headed the ball into the goal.

The ball was bravely saved by Ederson, but it was not completely out of the danger zone. Otamendi's clearance was not far enough, and Luke Shaw followed up with a long shot. The ball hit the post and went out of the bottom line, making Manchester City fans sweat.

………………

"This was clearly a premeditated counterattack," Zhan Jun said. "De Bruyne has played too many games this season. He started all 35 Premier League games, played eight games in the Champions League, and played seven games in the League Cup and FA Cup. The total number of games he has played has reached 8, second only to Bruno among all Premier League players."

"But De Bruyne's stamina is only average. He is not like Bruno who can run forever. He has had stamina problems in recent games. Mourinho must be aware of this. He wants to take advantage of De Bruyne's stamina decline and the chance of him not being substituted to suddenly intensify the pressing and steal a counterattack opportunity."

"They almost succeeded..." Sun Jihai said with lingering fear.

Manchester City launched an offensive at the beginning of the second half, but it was quickly curbed in the face of Mourinho's adjustments and responses. Manchester City's offensive gradually weakened and the two sides fell into a stalemate again.

There were deafening boos from the stands at Etihad Stadium. Manchester City fans were very dissatisfied with the current state of the game. Now the game was dull, the score was 1:1, and the aggregate score was 1:4 behind. The fans could not see any advantages or possibilities of scoring for Manchester City for the time being, and their mentality became impatient.

Of course, the boos at the Etihad Stadium at this time can also be understood as their strong dissatisfaction with Manchester United's conservative tactics.

………………

The camera turned to Manchester City's bench. Mkhitaryan, who had finished warming up, returned to the bench and assistant coach Arteta was explaining tactics to him.

At this time, on the court, Fellaini was entangled with De Bruyne again, and the two Belgians fell to the ground together while pulling each other.

One has to admire Fellaini for being a smart guy. Before falling to the ground, he kicked the ball away and Herrera got the ball.

The referee Felix Brüch raised his hand and signaled the two people to stand up, which meant that no one had committed a foul, so they stopped talking and the game continued.

"Counterattack, counterattack, Manchester United's counterattack opportunity."

After receiving the pass from Fellaini, Kante did not pass the ball to Bruno or other players as usual. He suddenly chose to dribble the ball forward by himself.

Kante's move caught Manchester City's midfield off guard. Throughout the game today, if Fellaini and Herrera occasionally pressed forward, Kante stayed firmly in his own half, at most taking a few steps forward and then retreating after passing the ball. He never dribbled forward in a straight line by himself, so when Kante suddenly rushed forward with the ball, no Manchester City player came up to intercept him.

Kanter is dribbling the ball forward.

Mourinho was standing on the sidelines. Seeing this scene, he was also excited. He clapped his hands quickly and muttered: Go! Go! Go!

In Manchester United's usual tactical training sessions, Mourinho sometimes lets Kante suddenly rush forward. The main consideration is that Kante seldom presses forward, so suddenly pressing forward like this can sometimes have a miraculous effect!

As for when to press forward, Mourinho left it to the players to decide based on the situation on the field.

So Kante's sudden forward run this time was part of a tactical drill, but the forward run at this time was Kante's own judgment and choice.

………………

"Kante dribbled the ball forward and Manchester City's midfielder didn't intercept him at all... Fernandinho came up to intercept him and rushed past him." Zhan Jun shouted, clenching his fists.

Fernandinho came up to intercept, but this interception was more symbolic. Kante, who was not good at passing, moved the ball forward, accelerated himself, and it just passed.

"Fernandinho let Kante go, and he turned to mark Bruno." Sun Jihai said, he saw Fernandinho symbolically blocked, but did not chase Kante, but immediately rushed to Bruno. Experience told him that Kante would not continue to dribble the ball, he would choose to pass the ball, and Bruno, who was closest to Kante, was obviously a dangerous person.

Mourinho clenched his hands, pursed his lips and looked at the field, motionless, his eyes seemed to be shining.

"Harry Kane retreated, he was ready to meet Kante... Otamendi came up, he was guarding against Kante's pass, well done, Kante!!!" Zhan Jun shouted loudly.

Kante pretended to pass the ball to Harry Kane, which was the most correct choice in everyone's opinion. Everyone knows that Kante's characteristics are daring and fighting, and dribbling and shooting are really not his strong points.

To be honest, the fact that he was able to dribble the ball for such a long distance and even passed Fernandinho has already made many people open their mouths in surprise.

………………

Otamendi immediately stretched out his foot to block Ekante's pass, but he didn't expect Kante to move the ball forward, suddenly speed up and squeeze Otamendi away and continue forward.

Otamendi was shocked and turned around to chase.

At this time, Bruno and Gundogan were sprinting.

"Pass the ball!" Mourinho clenched his fist and shouted loudly towards the field.

At this moment, Bruno has attracted Fernandinho and Laporta, and Gundogan's place is empty.

"Fill in! Cover!" Ederson shouted, and Kyle Walker rushed towards Gundogan.

"Pass the ball!" Zhan Jun shouted, "Open space - Walker fills in - Kanter - he - shoots? ! ! ! ! ! "

Zhan Jun widened his eyes with a look of surprise. He saw Kante raised his right foot, but not to pass the ball, but to shoot!

The Manchester United midfielder suddenly kicked the ball and shot when he was nearly thirty meters away from the goal!

No one expected that he would choose to shoot, and the shot was so decisive.

The football jumped into the air and flew towards the goal, bringing with it a gust of wind.