Chapter 541 Overtaking

Moussa Dembele passed the ball to Ali, who dribbled it out. He faced Manchester United's right back Valencia, while Maguire waited for an opportunity behind him.

Ali did not give the two men a chance to close the gap. He made a fake move to break through the inside line, tricked Valencia's center of gravity, then dunked the ball back, and pushed the ball forward with his right foot, breaking through Valencia along the sideline.

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

Ali, who broke through Valencia, cut into the penalty area and shot. The ball was blocked by De Gea and fell in front of the goal. Then Van Dijk rushed to Morata to clear the ball and resolved the crisis.

Although the ball was not lost this time, it was clear that Ali had become a major concern for Manchester United. If he was allowed to be active, Manchester United's defense would be very worrying.

Bruno looked at the situation and said to Kante, "N'Golo, you continue to defend Eriksen, and 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 announced to his teammates that he was active again with a beautiful breakthrough and a very threatening shot. So the 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 defensive attention and could not do anything else.

When Ali received the ball again, he found that the person 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 back with all his strength. Bruno soon caught up with Ali, he grabbed Ali's shoulder with one hand, and poked the ball with his feet.

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, and even some people in the Tottenham lineup think so, but Ali, who pays close attention to Bruno, knows very well that Bruno's defense is also not weak.

Ali saw Bruno coming up, and he knew that the success rate of forcing a breakthrough was very low. So he suddenly stopped and hooked the ball back with the outside of his left foot. Bruno rushed over, but his hand did not loosen, still holding Ali's shoulder. Ali wanted to turn around and break through from the inside, but he was firmly caught by him.

Ali saw that he could not break through, and the opponent's defense line was well organized. There was no more decent chance, so he simply fell down and fell to the ground with his ankle in pain.

The referee's whistle sounded, and Bruno was sentenced to a foul.

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Tottenham's free kick came out, and Vertonghen headed the ball, but under the interference of Maguire, he did not head it straight, and the ball went out of the goal.

Although there was no goal in this attack, Tottenham was determined to make Ali the core of the offense.

In the next game, as long as Tottenham attacked, the football would be sent to Ali's feet continuously.

And Bruno's defense against Ali was tighter, almost inseparable. When Manchester United was defending, he deliberately let himself get close to Ali, and as soon as the opponent got the ball, he rushed up to defend.

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 in the inside. If Ali's breakthrough to the inside was just a cover, and his real intention was to go down the sideline, Bruno would decisively kick the ball out of the sideline.

Ali could only rely on his speed to force a breakthrough against Bruno, but such an opportunity would not appear anytime and anywhere.

It was almost impossible to break through Bruno by starting and accelerating on the spot, because Bruno was stuck in position. Even if he was faster, he could not violate the laws of physics when starting.

Pochettino saw the dilemma Ali faced below. Ali was the sharp knife in 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 had no choice. He could always change his position to defender 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 fight is a serious mistake in war, and it is almost the same in football games. Do we have to stop the ball in front and wait for him to run up from the backcourt 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, 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 rewrite 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 opportunity. Unfortunately, Ali didn't expect that the football would be so easily passed in front of three defenders and Morata. No one touched the ball, letting him pick up the bargain.

When he was not mentally prepared, he was also not prepared with his feet. He extended his feet too slowly and his center of gravity was unstable. He almost had an empty goal opportunity and let him shoot straight away.

"Ah! This is an opportunity that is even harder to miss than to score! Ali actually missed it!" the commentator supporting Tottenham said with great regret.

The commentator who supported Manchester United breathed a sigh of relief and said: "What a risk... what a risk... Manchester United almost fell behind! We can't let Tottenham score! During this period, Tottenham's offense is very strong. If I were Murry Neo, I will let the team defend firmly..."

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Moussa Dembele saw Bruno and mentally considered whether he should continue to follow this guy.

Coach Pochettino gave instructions to Alli but said nothing to him. What was he going to do?

Continue to follow Bruno? But Bruno obviously has no role. He is more like a bystander in this game, an unimportant supporting role.

As if to prompt him to make up his mind, Gundogan stepped forward, 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 football to Gundogan, while he stood aside and watched, at most he acted as a wall for Gundogan.

Gundogan has also played as an attacking midfielder and has some ability in passing threatening balls. Bruno cannot play, and there is no Gundogan yet. It is really not possible. There is also a full-time midfielder Mata sitting on the bench. Mourinho is not afraid.

After Gundogan passed a one-on-one ball to Harry Kane, Moussa Dembele decisively dropped Bruno, who seemed to be doing nothing, and pounced on Gundogan.

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

Of course, before the football could reach Ali's feet, it was stopped by Kanter.

Kanter, who intercepted the ball, did not pass the ball to Bruno, but to Rashford who was moving on the wing, and Rashford passed the ball to Gundogan.

Moussa Dembele followed, and Bruno was unmarked for a moment.

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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 the ball to Rashford who had already advanced and Mbappe on the other side.

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

Bruno received the ball from Gundogan while running forward. This time he did not simply act as a transfer station. After receiving the ball, he first made a gesture of taking a long shot, deceiving Tottenham's defenders. He shifted his defensive focus to the middle, and then suddenly flicked his ankle and passed the football from his ribs into Tottenham's penalty area!

"Coming, coming! Bruno's direct pass!" the commentator supporting Manchester United shouted excitedly, because he had seen that at the moment Bruno passed the direct pass, Manchester United's winger Mbappe suddenly changed to cut inside. Got the ball!

Mbappe received the ball when no one was marking him, and he took a powerful shot!

Lori reacted quickly, quickly returned to defense, and then jumped up to save the football with one palm.

This was originally a wonderful save, but after the football was saved, it did not pop out of the baseline, nor did it fall at the feet of the Tottenham players. Instead, it flew towards Mbappe by mistake.

Originally, Mbappe saw such a good opportunity and didn't even score a goal. He was feeling annoyed when he saw the football swinging back!

Lori, who fell to the ground, also reacted quickly. When he saw the football flying towards Mbappe, he quickly struggled to get up from the ground. At the same time, Mbappe also started swinging his feet again!

This could be another shot.

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Mbappe did not shoot the ball himself, but swept the football sideways to the center with his right foot.

The ball passed between Lloris and Tottenham centre-back Jan Vertonghen, and Harry Kane, who had come in from behind and was unmarked, nudged towards the ball.

“The ball went in——!!”

"Oh! Oh! The ball is in! The ball is in!"

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

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

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

Harry Kane, who was booed and abused by Tottenham fans at the beginning, did not give face to his old club and did not choose not to celebrate after scoring.

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