Chapter 1 The start of the second half

Mourinho substituted Martial at the start of the second half.

Just as Guardiola had predicted, Ashley Young came on.

Compared to Martial, Ashley Young was slightly inferior in terms of speed, but he could see his teammates, and his defense and fighting spirit were much stronger than Martial, that impetuous young kid.

Martial's several breakthroughs in the first half looked incredibly dashing to the fans, but in the eyes of the coach, they were all useless.

The two sides exchanged halves, with Manchester United kicking off.

The Old Trafford fans cheered and blessed their players.

Let's go!

Just like before the end of the first half, smash Manchester City!

Mourinho has always been a coach who is good at inspiring the fighting spirit of his players, except for players like Balotelli, who aren't very bright.

So, from the start of the second half, it was clear that Manchester United's players had an even stronger desire to fight than they did at the beginning of the game.

After receiving the ball, Rooney observed the positioning of the Manchester City players, and it seemed that the defense hadn't been strengthened.

He quickly dribbled through the middle, trying to draw the defensive players from both wings.

The Manchester United players were all brave and eager to be first, with Lingard and the extremely energetic Ashley Young charging forward with wide eyes.

Ibrahimović was also pulling the defense up front.

The two full-backs were also ready to move, and the center-backs were also positioned relatively high up the pitch, ready to support their teammates at any time.

As Rooney continued to move forward, he indeed attracted the attention of two Manchester City defensive midfielders.

As a veteran who has dominated the Premier League for many years, Rooney has superb shooting skills and a very high level of passing, and he can also observe the movements of his teammates while moving forward quickly.

He quickly made a diagonal long pass, finding the accelerating Ashley Young.

If it were Martial, he wouldn't have passed the ball.

Martial, on the bench, didn't look too good. In the first half, Rooney didn't give the ball to the left, no matter how hard he shouted or how much he asked for the ball, Rooney wouldn't pass.

Now, as soon as Ashley Young came on, Rooney passed the ball. What did this mean?

As the most expensive player in the team, Manchester United's management had said that he was the future core, and that he and Rashford would become the future of Manchester United!

But now Rooney had this attitude?

If Rooney could squeeze out Cristiano Ronaldo back then, why couldn't he make Rooney leave?

Martial looked at Rashford, who was also waiting on the bench, and thought that he had to find an ally, otherwise he would definitely be bullied by these so-called veterans like Rooney in the future!

While Martial was thinking about the future, a loud cheer erupted from the stands.

On Manchester United's left, Ashley Young and Luke Shaw played a very exquisite two-on-two, directly getting past the Argentine defensive duo of Zabaleta and Otamendi!

Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Ashley Young crossed the ball, and Ibrahimović arrived just in time, suppressed Stones, gritted his teeth, and headed the ball with all his might!

"God Ibrahimović!!!!"

"GoooooooAL!!!!" The Manchester United commentator shouted frantically.

In the stands at Old Trafford, the fans punched the air and roared, some fans even took off their shirts, shouting with flushed faces.

Sir Alex Ferguson stood up abruptly, yes! yes!!

In fact, Ibrahimović wasn't interested in joining the Premier League. It was his persuasion that allowed Ibrahimović to join for free!

Manchester United's management also had objections to Ibrahimović's age and salary, but Sir Alex insisted, allowing the deal to be completed!

In the previous few games, Ibrahimović was more than capable, and age wasn't a factor at all.

Now, when Manchester United was in some difficulty, it was him who stood up again!

Neville and Scholes weren't very optimistic about Ibrahimović's joining, of course, they only hinted that Ibrahimović was a bit old and might not be suitable for Manchester United.

They didn't dare to badmouth Ibrahimović.

Others had to listen obediently, but Ibrahimović wouldn't stand for bad habits, so the two didn't dare to say too much.

Now, Ibrahimović proved with his own strength that although he was old, he wasn't here to retire, he came to Manchester United to make those young kids live off him!

Four goals in four games!

Manchester United's top scorer!

Ibrahimović raised his arms high, his tall figure making his celebrating teammates look a bit small.

He really was like a god, looking down on his believers.

"That's right, Manchester City isn't invincible! In Manchester, Manchester United is the eternal king! Glory belongs to Manchester United!

Continue, continue!! Defeat Manchester City!

Tonight, glory belongs to Manchester United, and so shall it be every night!!"

"Mourinho's substitution was very effective, and Manchester United's frontcourt coordination is smoother. Manchester City's defenders can't stop it at all!

God Ibrahimović!!"

Rashford, on the bench, was expressionless, he was Ibrahimović's substitute.

He could have been a starter, but then Ibrahimović came.

Martial's face was even more ugly, this was bad.

Ashley Young provided an assist as soon as he came on.

Where was he supposed to put his face?

Guardiola was almost hoarse from shouting, and was jumping up and down in anger.

The defense was too awful.

Why did the two defensive midfielders go after Rooney?

How could they make such a low-level mistake?

After the Manchester United players celebrated, their blood was pumping.

When Manchester City kicked off from the center circle, Manchester United, united as one, suddenly began to press.

Carrick, who hadn't had much of a presence in the first half, suddenly seemed to have figured things out, forcing Silva to pass back to Gündoğan.

And the very energetic Ashley Young sprinted over, cooperating with Herrera, completely blocking Gündoğan's passing route.

Helpless, Gündoğan could only kick the ball towards Herrera's leg, hoping to knock the ball out of bounds.

Herrera instinctively blocked it, and the ball didn't go out of bounds, but was blocked back by Carrick, who quickly passed the ball back to Herrera. The two of them cooperated in a small area, and Gündoğan's counter-attack failed.

Whoosh!!!

The Manchester United fans cheered once again.

Attack, attack!!

Herrera found Rooney, and then quickly moved forward.

Manchester United's attack had improved, and with the momentum of scoring a goal at the start of the second half, if they scored another goal, it would be fatal for Manchester City!

The Manchester City players quickly retreated.

Rooney dribbled all the way, and did a wall pass with the retreating Ibrahimović, trying to squeeze through the middle.

But not only were there center-backs in the middle, but also Silva, who had returned.

He couldn't continue to break through, and once again found Ashley Young, who was open!

Ashley Young controlled the ball with his chest, quickly moved to the wing, and tried to break through.

The entire Old Trafford was boiling!

"Ashley Young is full of energy, trying to use his speed to break through, but Zabaleta hasn't lost his position!"

Bang!

Otamendi, who had rushed over, kicked the ball out of the baseline.

Although the attack was disrupted, Manchester United still got a corner kick.

Rooney quickly ran to the corner flag area.

Now that the morale was high, they had to put enough pressure on Manchester City.

If they could create chaos in the penalty area and score another goal...

Rooney's footwork was good, and the arc of the corner kick was also good, wanting to find Ibrahimović directly, but Otamendi headed it out in advance.

If the arc of the ball was a bit higher, and could fall quickly, allowing Ibrahimović to head it, it could have been a big problem.

Luke Shaw got the second ball.

The Manchester United players saw that their teammate had the ball, and prepared to retreat from the penalty area to continue controlling the ball and attacking to find opportunities.

Fernandinho tackled the ball to the ground.

The pace was extremely fast during this period.

This was also Fernandinho's favorite rhythm, finding opportunities in the chaos!

The Manchester United players quickly retreated, even wanting to intercept halfway and launch a counterattack.

But how could people run as fast as the ball? Gündoğan, who had made a mistake earlier, didn't give Manchester United a chance to surround him this time, and with one pass, David Silva received the ball and, with almost no adjustment, passed the ball along the ground, directly finding Zhao Gang, who had already run to the halfway line.

The Manchester United defenders quickly went to surround him.

The fans shouted with all their might, cheering for their defenders!

Luke Shaw had already attacked, and was retreating, so Zhao Gang was facing Bailly.

Bailly kept following and retreating, trying to squeeze Zhao Gang's space, and also buy time for his teammates.

But the young Bailly's defensive experience was still a bit lacking when facing the even younger Zhao Gang.

Zhao Gang suddenly accelerated forward, seemingly about to break through, but suddenly pulled the ball back, directly throwing Bailly off balance and causing him to fall to the ground.

At this time, Smalling leaned over from the side, directly reaching out, trying to interfere with Zhao Gang's progress.

Zhao Gang advanced with the ball, and the two reached out at the same time.

Under the rapid running, Zhao Gang was interfered with a bit, and his dribbling was a bit unsteady, while Smalling was directly knocked to the ground by Zhao Gang.

The Old Trafford fans booed, putting pressure on the referee.

Mourinho roared, foul, foul!

He used his hands, he used his hands!!

Manchester United's corner kick attack only left these two behind, now that Zhao Gang had the ball, dribbled past one, knocked over another, and there was no one to stop him!

Smalling, who had been knocked over, didn't hesitate at all, if the referee didn't blow his whistle, he had to continue defending!

He got up and rushed towards Zhao Gang.

But having wasted so much time, Zhao Gang had already dribbled all the way towards the penalty area.

De Gea quickly attacked, trying to block Zhao Gang's shooting angle.

And Zhao Gang, who had already rushed to the edge of the penalty area, suddenly kicked the ball directly.

Smalling and Bailly behind him rushed over with all their might.

If he didn't kick the ball at this time, with their speed, he would probably be caught up and interfered with as soon as he entered the penalty area!

Bang!!

Powerful and heavy.

Without any fancy moves.

The ball went straight to the upper right corner of the goal!

De Gea jumped up and fell to the ground, the ball was too fast!

Damn it, De Gea punched the ground hard.

Who the hell shoots a one-on-one in front of the penalty area?

"Goal!!!! 4:2!!

Zhao Gang!

Dribbled past Bailly, knocked over Smalling! Facing Spanish international De Gea, Zhao Gang didn't continue to dribble, but shot directly in front of the penalty area!

How much confidence does he have to make this choice??

It seems we've seen that unstoppable striker from the Norwich era again!! Manchester United's defenders and goalkeeper have no power to resist in front of him!!"

Zhao Gang waved his fist and ran out of bounds, the Manchester City frontcourt players followed him all the way, but it didn't have much effect, and they finally caught up during the celebration.

The Manchester City fans in the stands were worried for a minute, fearing that Manchester United's attack would score another goal.

Now, a counterattack had put their minds at ease, and they jumped and cheered, holding up the No. 18 jersey.

And the Manchester United fans were full of bitterness, unable to believe it.

The excitement and excitement that had just risen were extinguished.

It was too fast, too fierce.

The Manchester United players surrounded the referee, foul, foul.

This was Old Trafford, he just bumped, and even used his hands!

Aren't you going to call it??

Mourinho opened his mouth wide and shouted incessantly, looking like he was about to rush onto the field.

The referee jogged over and showed Mourinho a yellow card directly.

Mourinho turned around, cursing and waving his hands.

"Aren't they even looking at VAR?" The Manchester United commentator was very puzzled.

He fell, and they're not even looking?

Aren't they taking Old Trafford's home advantage seriously enough?

"Well, the broadcast keeps replaying the previous confrontation, this ball, not to mention the Premier League's standards, wouldn't even be a foul in a pickup game. If you had to call a foul, it would be Smalling's foul. Because the ball was always within Zhao Gang's control, it wasn't a fifty-fifty ball, Smalling reached out to interfere, the two collided, and Zhao Gang forced his way through, winning the confrontation. Zhao Gang's physical play is really getting stronger and stronger!" Zhan Lu was very emotional watching the replay, if this ball was any Dragon Country striker, he would have definitely been knocked over.

If the referee was stricter, he might call a foul on the other side, but the Premier League probably wouldn't call it, there was no raised elbow, and his feet were clean.

Ibrahimović stood there, watching his Manchester United teammates babbling, in fact, his teammates also knew that it wasn't a foul, they were just taking this opportunity to interfere with the referee, hoping that the referee would be biased towards Manchester United in the following games.

This kind of behavior of putting pressure on the referee is very common on the field.

Ibrahimović rarely does this kind of thing, unless it's really a misjudgment.

He looked at that young figure, except for the fact that he was a bit shorter than him, the momentum he had when he charged, the clean and crisp shooting, was really like himself when he was young.

The Manchester United players prepared to kick off, the impact of this goal was a bit big.

They had been gaining momentum before, and even had a chance to equalize, but as a result, they were hit with a counterattack in their own attacking phase.

Their momentum had slowed down, and even their firm confidence had been shaken.

"This is really bad news for Manchester United, they had a good start, and their morale was high.

Zhao's goal at this time has made the Manchester United players very frustrated.

Compared with last season, Zhao's growth is really huge. This goal is really a perfect template for a forward, flexible breakthrough skills, strong physical play, and precise and violent shooting skills!" Henry had previously thought that Zhao Gang was more like his old partner, the Iceman Bergkamp, elegant and deadly.

Now, looking at him, this guy is growing every day, and it seems that a single template can't limit him anymore.

He's only nineteen years old, give him two more years, and he will definitely shock the entire world of football.

Aoli sat on the side, clenching her small fists, swaying her body gently, pouting her small mouth, her eyes shining, and didn't say a word of comment.

Just enjoy it.

No language can describe what she saw.

Manchester United's defense was like paper in front of him.

Mourinho quickly made a substitution adjustment.

There were still forty-odd minutes left, there might still be a chance!

The Manchester City players saw Schweinsteiger preparing to come on, it was just as Guardiola had thought.

Manchester United was preparing to continue strengthening their attack.

And during halftime, Guardiola had told them what they should do.

Don't just defend, continue to attack.

Manchester United's attack was still continuing, but it was obviously a bit anxious.

Especially when they were at their strongest, they were hit hard, although Ibrahimović and Rooney were still encouraging their teammates, but if they couldn't score another goal soon, it would be difficult for the players to adjust their mentality.

When their mentality was anxious, their movements became distorted, and they started making passing mistakes.

And Manchester City didn't play steadily as most people had expected.

After they got the ball, they would still continue to advance, and even make long passes to find their frontcourt players.

In the 62nd minute of the game, Manchester United, who had been unable to break the deadlock again, made another passing mistake.

Lingard's pass back was directly intercepted by De Bruyne, who had rushed back.

The ball was at De Bruyne's feet, and Manchester United was attacking, so their defensive positioning wasn't good.

This was almost fatal for Manchester United.

"De Bruyne has a very wide passing vision, and directly found Zhao Gang, who was moving forward on the right, almost crossing half the field. Zhao Gang stopped the ball, and Luke Shaw followed.

Luke Shaw is a bit impatient, he rushed up rashly without waiting for his teammates, in a one-on-one situation, it's difficult for him to get the ball, Zhao Gang directly got rid of the defense!"

Bailly saw Luke Shaw's amateurish rush, and was easily dribbled past by Zhao Gang, so he could only quickly make up for it.

Smalling behind him didn't dare to go forward again, because Agüero was already standing in the penalty area.

Fortunately, Bailly's timely cover, coupled with Herrera and Schweinsteiger's desperate running back, finally made the defense in the middle solid, and Zhao Gang didn't have a chance to cross.

Otherwise, this ball would have caused big problems.

After being dribbled past, Luke Shaw rushed towards Zhao Gang, and with Bailly's delay, the two of them finally stopped Zhao Gang at the edge of the penalty area, preventing him from continuing to move forward, and also preventing him from crossing to find a point.

It seemed that Zhao Gang could only pass back.

David Silva was also preparing to receive the ball in the middle.

According to past experience, Zhao Gang would most likely choose to pass to Silva, and then run to find an opportunity.

Luke Shaw and Bailly both had the same idea.

There was already enough defense in the penalty area, and Zhao Gang had almost no passing routes after this breakthrough.

But this time, Zhao Gang made a different choice.

He shifted his weight to the right, seemingly about to break through from the right, Bailly quickly blocked the right route, this time Luke Shaw didn't fall for the feint, he chose to trust his teammate, blocking the left and middle routes, even if Zhao Gang quickly shifted his weight, he couldn't break through from the left again.

Sure enough, as Luke Shaw had thought, Zhao Gang's right had been blocked off, he couldn't force a breakthrough, so he had to shift his weight to the left.

Luke Shaw, who had been prepared for this, quickly stepped forward, preparing to block the route and find an opportunity to clear the ball.

The other defenders also saw Zhao Gang's intention, Smalling firmly blocked the area behind Luke Shaw, and Valencia also blocked Agüero's passing route.

At this time, the ball was at Zhao Gang's left foot, he didn't flick the ball to break through, but directly raised his right foot.

Between the crossing of his legs, his right foot passed over his left leg, heavily hitting the ball.

The ball soared into the sky, not fast, but no one could touch it.

Whether it was the Manchester United defenders or the Manchester City attackers.

Everyone turned their heads to look at the ball.

The ball drew a huge arc, De Gea had been concentrating, waiting for Zhao Gang to open up an angle and shoot directly.

But he didn't expect that Zhao Gang hadn't opened up an angle at all.

Luke Shaw's defense, and Zhao Gang's two attempts to break through to find a shooting angle, had made De Gea's attention too focused.

He never expected that Zhao Gang would find such a bizarre shooting route in that position.

And it was an extremely difficult rabona!

The ball speed was definitely not as fast as a powerful shot, but it wasn't comparable to human speed either.

De Gea reacted, quickly moved, flew to the far corner, trying to spread his body as much as possible, gritting his teeth and trying to push the ball out with one hand.

Swish!

The ball went in again!

De Gea fell to the ground in a mess, heavily punching the turf.

The audience at the scene covered their heads, stunned.

This was possible?

They had blocked off the breakthrough route, the shooting route.

And he just created a route himself?

A rabona?

Was he really playing a game??

In this kind of rapid weight shift, how could he find the ball, use this posture to suppress the ball, and kick such a big arc?

"Oh...oh...my god! Is this a human? Is this a route that a human can think of??" Henry's eyes were almost popping out, looking at what was happening in disbelief.

With a rabona, it's impossible to control the power well, but he kicked a perfect arc.

When Henry saw Zhao Gang shift his weight, he thought of several possibilities.

The simplest, of course, was to directly find Silva, and then look for opportunities through constant passing.

Or constantly shift his weight, open up an angle, and try a shot.

He could also try to find De Bruyne on the other side, after all, with his footwork, it was still possible.

With a bit more imagination, he could break through, create chaos, and then pass to Silva, who continued to run, if Silva was open, it could create a good shooting opportunity. At the same time, it was also possible to pass to Agüero, who was alert in the penalty area.

Of course, there were other passing options, such as Otamendi, such as Gündoğan.

But, he wouldn't have thought in a million years that Zhao Gang had seen this route, and had succeeded!!

Beckham's eyelids twitched in the stands, and the muscles on his face twitched as well.

What kind of imagination, what kind of footwork, did it take to kick this ball?

His left and right feet were perfectly balanced, and both required quite delicate control to achieve.

Beckham shook his head, he himself couldn't have done this.

Many media outlets compared Zhao Gang to him, and Beckham still felt that the expectations for this kid were too high, was it okay to praise him so much at only eighteen years old?

Today, on the spot, he realized that if you only talk about footwork, this guy is already no worse than him!

Ferguson shrank back in his seat, his face ashen.

There was no sound around him, Old Trafford had fallen silent.

He looked at Zhao Gang standing on the field, Zhao Gang, once again facing the place where Neville and Scholes were, raised his head, put up his thumb, and pointed to the jersey number behind him.

Manchester City No. 18, Zhao Gang, mercenary, at your service.

"Mygod!!!!" The Manchester City commentator didn't know what words to use to describe this wonderful goal.

If this year's Puskás Award isn't given to this young man, there's only one reason.

FIFA has set up a new award named after Zhao Gang.

"Manchester United may have had countless legends, Old Trafford may have had more than one God, but now...

Right here, right at this moment, the entire Manchester...has only one true God!"