From the man behind the football king to the football king

"This is the 2016-2017 UEFA Europa League final. This is the Friendship Stadium in Stockholm. The two teams are Manchester United, a giant from the Premier League, and Ajax, a giant from the Eredivisie. Both teams are European football players. The top wealthy family has countless fans all over the world! ”

"This is the first time Manchester United has entered the Europa League final. Previously, they have reached the Champions League finals 3 times out of 5 times and won the Cup Winners' Cup once. If they can beat Ajax today, they will become the second in the history of European football after Juventus. After Tooth, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Chelsea, it is the fifth team to unlock the three major European Cup Grand Slam honors.”

"Ajax has been limited by their overall strength in recent years and has not been able to perform very well in the European war. This year is their first time in 21 years after losing to Juventus in the Champions League final in 1996. finals."

"The two top giants are battling it out at the top of Europe. This UEFA Cup final has attracted the attention of fans around the world."

"Perhaps UEFA should send a letter of thanks to Manchester United. The news we have received is that with Manchester United reaching the Europa League final, the ratings of this UEFA Cup final may set an unprecedented record."

"The Friendship Stadium is already full, and the players from both sides are warming up. Manchester United's head coach, Mr. Mourinho, is now attracting much attention. As one of the most successful championship coaches in today's world football, he has won himself three European championship trophies. Received praise and recognition..."

The TV set in the VIP box at the Friendship Stadium was playing live English commentary from Sky Sports.

Jassim was in a good mood. He looked up and watched the TV for a while, then he stood up and looked into the field, looking at the players who were warming up, filled with ambition.

In the first season after buying Manchester United, the team achieved great success. Not only did they regain the Premier League championship after four years, they may even become the first Grand Slam team in the history of British football in more than 100 years. , becoming the fifth Grand Slam team in the history of European football.

All of this is like a dream.

………………

Manchester United arranged a 4231 formation in this game, with Rashford as a single arrow, Mata, Bruno and Gundogan ambushing behind him, and Kante and Fellaini as double midfielders. On the back line, Smalling and Maguire partnered as central defenders, with Darmian and Valencia on the left and right, and Romero was still the goalkeeper.

From the beginning of the game, Manchester United showed a strong desire to attack, and their first attack was very threatening.

In the opening 24 seconds, Ajax goalkeeper Onana collided with his teammates. Bruno, who unexpectedly got a chance to shoot, was obviously unprepared. He volleyed from the top of the penalty area and missed the left goal post.

Ajax head coach Bosz is staring at the court. He is observing the opponent's tactics: attack as soon as he comes up. Is he going to take the initiative to attack?

If this is the case, Bosz will welcome it. Ajax also has two brushes in counterattack, especially wingers Ziyech and Schön are still very threatening.

However, Bosz soon realized that he was happy too early, because Manchester United quickly returned to defense after ending the attack. They set up a tight defensive formation in their second half, waiting for Aja Kes attacks.

Mourinho was sitting on the coaching bench, holding a mineral water bottle in his hand, staring quietly at the court. Manchester United's tactics in this game were defensive counterattacks, and he was just waiting for Ajax to attack.

Manchester United or Ajax, who desires the Europa League title more?

Mourinho thinks he is an Ajax man.

He has led Manchester United to win the Premier League championship and the English League Cup, and also reached the FA Cup final. This season has been great. It would be a good thing if he could win the Europa League again, but he can't win it. It doesn't hurt his reputation either.

At the very least, Mourinho himself is relatively calm.

Ajax seems to be different. Their head coach Bosz said in an interview with the Dutch media that he will lead Ajax to create history and win more European championships after 21 years.

Not to mention whether Bosz said it casually in front of the Dutch domestic media or really thought so, Mourinho believed it.

Furthermore, in the finals, is there any more reliable tactic than defensive counterattack?

………………

Soon, Mourinho was relieved. Ajax did not play conservatively. When they saw Manchester United retracting their defense, they immediately pressed forward.

However, facing Manchester United's tough defense, Ajax played very hard. It was difficult for them to have more than three offensive passes.

This time, Klaassen wanted to pass the ball to Ziyech, but Kante's prediction was accurate. He grabbed the ball in advance, successfully intercepted the pass, and then quickly released the ball to find Bruno in front.

"Counterattack! Manchester United's chance to counterattack!"

The excited shouts of Manchester United fans suddenly sounded in the stands.

Manchester United showed everyone what counterattack speed is. Bruno directly passed the ball diagonally to Gundogan. The German midfielder drove the ball forward at high speed. He beautifully dunked past the Ajax defender, then pushed laterally and followed up. Mata swept the football to the left, Damian made a pass from the bottom, Rashford jumped high from the middle and headed the ball towards the goal. The football was saved by Ajax goalkeeper Onana, and Bruno followed up. The supplementary shot was blocked by the Ajax defender with his body on the goal line.

The Manchester United players were raising their hands, signaling a handball from the Ajax players. However, the referee on duty for this game did not say anything. He signaled that this was a corner kick.

Mata took the corner kick. Ajax's defense was not lacking in height. The defender cleared the ball and then drove out with a big kick to survive the dangerous situation in front of the goal.

………………

"Let's see what happens in the box," said commentator Gary Lineker.

Slow-motion replay showed that when Bruno made a supplementary shot, the football hit the upper arm of Ajax defender Sanchez, but the player's arm was close to the body.

Regarding the standards for handball penalties, leagues in various countries are not uniform. This kind of obstruction may be whistled for handball in some games. This mainly depends on the referee, but in a game like the Europa League final, the referee is unlikely to give a penalty. Penalty kick.

However, Mourinho didn't care about that. In his opinion, this was a penalty kick that the referee had wiped out for Manchester United. He protested loudly on the sidelines, which attracted a stern warning from the fourth official, and he returned angrily. Return to the coaching bench.

………………

Ten minutes later, Manchester United pressed forward again to counterattack. However, this time their pass was cut off and Ajax counterattacked Manchester United instead.

Ziyech passed Valencia beautifully, and then he continued to dribble while observing the movement of his teammates. At this time, he suddenly felt a pressure on himself.

Ziyech reacted quickly and wanted to pass the football out in advance, but it was already too late.

"Fellaini!"

"Stealing the ball!"

Ziyech was intercepted, which immediately put Ajax into a dangerous situation. They had just wanted to counterattack Manchester United. It could be said that they were pressing forward across the board. At this time, they were counterattacked by Manchester United. The backcourt was empty and there were only two defenders. Still in the backfield.

Fellaini, who intercepted the ball, didn't let the ball stay at his feet for a second before passing it to Bruno who had already stepped in.

Facing Ajax defensive player De Ligt who rushed up to intercept, Bruno used his speed to directly beat the opponent.

The young De Ligt was startled and was about to take action, but he saw Bruno speeding up and out of his defensive range. His right hand that he stretched out to pull the jersey only caught the air.

While dribbling the ball, Bruno played a wall-to-wall cooperation with Mata who came to respond. Then he tried to pass the ball to Valencia at the bottom, but instead dunked the football back and then made a curved kick.

In the penalty area, Rashford held Sanchez, he stretched out his foot and rubbed the football, and the football flew to the back point.

………………

Gundogan appears on camera, with no one defending him.

"Gündogan! Opportunity!"

Mourinho clenched his fists and stared at the door.

Gundogan lived up to his teammates' wonderful pass and everyone's expectations. He stopped the ball with his left foot, and at the same time blocked the counterattack of the Ajax player behind him with his body. He then decisively kicked off with his right foot, and the football suddenly shot up. From the top left hand of Ajax goalkeeper Onana flew into the net!

"GOOOOOOOOOALLLL!!!!!!!!"

"Gundogan! Gundogan! Gundogan! He scored after receiving a pass from Rashford. 1:0. Manchester United scored first. They counterattacked quickly, very fast. Manchester United came to us. Shows what counterattack speed is!”

"This is Gundogan's 6th Europa League goal this season, 5 of which came from away games. The German midfielder can be called Manchester United's 'King of Cups', Europa League + League Cup + FA Cup 15 game, contributing 7 goals and 4 assists!”

The Friendship Stadium was filled with only the cheers of Manchester United fans for a short period of time, and the Manchester United people saw their hope of returning to the top of Europe.

The Friendship Stadium can accommodate 48,000 spectators. According to the fee ticket allocation plan announced by UEFA, 20,000 tickets will be allocated to the two teams in the final, and 11,000 tickets will be allocated to government organizations and sponsors. The remaining The next 17,000 tickets are available for sale.

It is worth mentioning that Manchester United’s leading striker Ibrahimovic is the most popular star in Sweden. This makes the vast majority of the 27,000 tickets in addition to the 20,000 tickets divided between the two teams fell into the hands of Manchester United supporters. in hands.

Judging from the jerseys worn by the fans in the stands, fans wearing Manchester United's red jerseys occupied two-thirds of the area.

In fact, in addition to the 30,000 Manchester United fans who came to the scene, there were at least 100,000 Manchester United fans watching the game outside the stadium. This shows that Manchester United has a strong fan base.

Mourinho high-fived Faria, and he felt relieved after the goal was scored.

Now, Manchester United, which leads 1:0, has more capital to launch a defensive counterattack.