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

Chapter 816: Abnormal Premier League Standings

After four rounds of the Premier League, the Premier League standings feel very unfamiliar to Premier League fans all over the world.

At the top of the list is Everton. The Toffees have won four consecutive games in the previous four rounds and are leading the league with 4 points.

Ranked second is Aston Villa, a team that was struggling to avoid relegation last season. However, it performed very well in the first four rounds of this season, with 3 wins and 1 loss, earning 9 points and ranking second in the standings.

Ranked third is Leicester City. The Foxes also achieved 3 wins and 1 loss in the first four rounds, including a 5-2 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Arsenal, ranked fourth, also achieved 3 wins and 1 loss in the first four rounds, but the goal difference was less than Villa and Leicester City, and finally returned to the position that Arsenal fans are most familiar with.

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The two Manchester City clubs, as well as Liverpool, who had performed very well in the past few seasons and had long occupied the top three in the standings, were all absent from the Champions League zone, which was something no one had expected.

This situation really makes fans familiar with the Premier League feel that what they are seeing is a fake Premier League standings. After all, none of the traditional BIG6 teams can enter the top three.

Manchester United had 3 wins and 1 loss, also getting 9 points, but the goal difference was only one, which made them only rank fifth in the standings.

Liverpool, who suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Villa in this round, also got 9 points, but their goal difference was 0, so they were ranked sixth in the standings.

What was really surprising was Manchester City, because the first round of the game was postponed, and they only got 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss in the next three rounds, which meant they only got 4 points and ranked 15th in the standings!

Fortunately, the season has just begun, and there is still enough time for them to catch up. However, the impact of the epidemic is still evident.

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After four rounds of the Premier League, the world football world entered the second international match day of the season. Bruno also returned to the Portuguese national team to participate in two UEFA Nations League group matches, away to France on the evening of October 4, and at home against Sweden on the evening of October 10.

The match between Portugal and France is a strong dialogue between the world's number one team and the world's number two team, and has attracted worldwide attention.

In the first two rounds of the group stage, both teams won two consecutive games, and Portugal took first place in the group with the advantage of goal difference.

In the first half, both sides fought fiercely but ended in a 0-0 draw. The French team, playing at home, had some advantages, and Ronaldo, Giroud and Griezmann almost scored.

After the second half, the French team stepped up their offensive. In the 47th minute, Lucas crossed the ball into the penalty area from the left, Mbappe dribbled past the defender and shot from a small angle, but Patricio opened his left arm to block the ball.

Three minutes later, Portugal returned the favor. Bruno passed the ball to the left. Guerrero made a lob pass to the penalty area from the left, and Ronaldo made a high-speed run around Kimpembe and shot but missed.

Both sides had some scoring opportunities, but neither of them could score. 70 minutes had passed unnoticed.

In the 73rd minute of the game, Portugal won a free kick on the left side of the front court. Guerrero took the penalty and lifted the ball into the penalty area with his left foot. Players from both sides missed the ball, but Bruno rushed out from the back point, made a diving header, and headed the ball into the French goal guarded by Lori.

This was the only goal of the game, and with this goal, Portugal won 1:0 away from home and achieved three consecutive victories in the group stage.

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Three days later, on the evening of October 10, Portugal returned to their home ground to face Sweden.

C Ronaldo missed the game due to infection with the new coronavirus. Bruno once again wore the captain's armband and led the team to play.

In the 20th minute of the first half, Bruno launched an attack. His through ball tore through the Swedish defense, Liverpool's new player Jota made a cross pass, and Manchester City's Bernardo Silva hit the dead corner with a left-footed arc ball, helping Portugal take the lead.

In this attack, three players from Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool completed a near-perfect cooperation.

In the 40th minute of the game, Portugal scored another goal. Cancelo made a precise long pass from the right, Jota stopped the ball with his chest in the penalty area, and then volleyed it with his right foot, helping Portugal expand its lead to 2 goals!

In the 72nd minute of the second half, Bruno once again sent a penetrating pass that broke through the Swedish defense. Jota successfully beat the offside and sent Bruno's pass into the Swedish goal, giving Portugal a three-goal lead and securing the victory.

After four rounds of group matches, Portugal has won four games in a row and leads the standings by three points. As long as they beat France at home in the next round of group matches, they will lock in first place in the group and advance to the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League.

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After the international match day, Manchester United returned to the league and faced Newcastle as an away team in the fifth round of the league.

In the first minute, Newcastle made a quick counterattack after a steal in the backcourt. Shelvey passed the ball in the frontcourt and Kraft's cross hit Luke Shaw and bounced into the net. Newcastle got off to a dream start.

In the 11th minute, Bruno made a straight pass from the midfield, Rashford received the ball and rushed into the penalty area. He made a cross under the double-team of two opposing defenders, but the ball was blocked.

In the 13th minute, Maguire made a lob pass from the middle to the penalty area. After the defensive player grabbed the first point, the ball fell right at Bruno's feet. The Manchester United captain passed the ball to his side, Rashford shot, but the ball went over the crossbar.

In the 15th minute, Rashford took the ball in the middle and broke into the penalty area. Facing the opponent's goalkeeper, he shot directly, but the ball went slightly wide of the left post.

In the 18th minute, Bruno made a straight pass in front of the penalty area, Mata received the ball and passed it back, Bruno took the ball and shot, the ball went into the net, helping Manchester United equalize the score.

In the 21st minute, Maximan made a cross from the left, Shelvey shot from the center of the penalty area, but the ball was caught by De Gea.

In the 22nd minute, Bruno made a straight pass, Mata took the ball and shot directly, but the ball was blocked by Darlow and went out of the baseline.

Then Bruno took a corner kick from the left side into the penalty area. Maguire jumped high and headed the ball into the net. Manchester United reversed the score 2:1.

Having completed the reversal, Manchester United continued to press Newcastle with an overwhelming attack. However, Manchester United players were unable to score the third goal before the end of the first half and entered the halftime break with a one-goal advantage.

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After the change of sides, in the 47th minute, Cancelo took the ball on the right and made a triangle pass. Bruno took a long shot and the ball was slightly higher than the crossbar.

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In the 54th minute, Rashford received the ball in the penalty area and broke through with the ball, but fell to the ground under the double team of three people. The VAR video referee intervened, and the referee on duty pointed to the 12-yard spot after watching the VAR replay, and Manchester United got a penalty kick. Bruno took the penalty and easily deceived Newcastle goalkeeper Darlow and scored the ball, giving Manchester United a 3:1 lead.

This was Bruno's 50th penalty kick in his career, and also his 50th penalty kick that he scored. In other words, until now, he still maintains a 100% penalty kick success rate, raising the record of consecutive penalty kicks to 50!

In the 86th minute, Mata made a long pass from the backcourt and Rashford passed the ball to his side. Bruno made a shot from a small angle and the ball went into the net. Bruno scored a hat trick and Manchester United took a 3-goal lead.

Before the game entered injury time, Manchester United launched another offensive. Rashford and Cancelo performed a beautiful wall-kick combination in the frontcourt, and the latter shot into the goal after entering the penalty area, changing the score to 1:5!

In the 5th minute of injury time, Bruno's long pass from the backcourt accurately found Rashford in the frontcourt. The latter got a one-on-one opportunity facing Darlow. Rashford pushed the ball into the goal and Manchester United secured the victory.

In the end, thanks to Bruno's 3 shots and 2 assists, Manchester United defeated Newcastle 6:1 away from home, achieving the most satisfying victory of the season. The ranking in the standings also rose to third place, and finally returned to the Champions League zone.

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After achieving the first big victory of the season, European football entered the first Champions League match day of the season.

At the Champions League group stage draw ceremony held on the evening of October 10, Manchester United, last season's Champions League champion and Premier League champion, participated in this season's Champions League group draw ceremony as a seeded team.

This season's Champions League group seeds are the Champions League and Europa League champions, plus the champions of the top six leagues in the UEFA standings.

Since Manchester United is both the Premier League champion and the Champions League champion, Porto, the champion of the Portuguese Super League, which ranks seventh in UEFA points, was also lucky enough to become a seeded team.

The final eight seeded teams are Manchester United, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St. Petersburg and Porto.

The eight teams in the second tier are Barcelona, ​​Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Liverpool, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dortmund, Chelsea and Ajax.

The eight teams in the third pot are Dynamo Kyiv, Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull Leipzig, Inter Milan, Olympiacos, Lazio, Lasnodar and Atalanta.

The eight teams in the fourth pot are Lokomotiv Moscow, Marseille, Club Brugge, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Istanbul, Midtjylland, Rennes and Ferencváros.

As there are so many strong teams in the second tier, it is destined that there will be many clashes between giants in this Champions League group stage.

After the draw, Manchester United once again met last season's Champions League group stage opponents, Ajax from the Eredivisie, Atalanta from Serie A, and the last opponent was Midtjylland from Denmark.

This is a pretty good draw result, luckily avoiding Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in the second pot, as well as Dortmund from the Bundesliga.

In comparison, Liverpool was unlucky. As a second-tier team, they did not draw the weaker teams Zenit St. Petersburg, Porto and Sevilla, and the third-tier team also drew last season's dark horse Salzburg Red Bull.