Chapter 586: EFL Cup Final: Manchester United Charges Toward Their First Title of the Season!

Before March 2 arrived, Manchester United endured a gap period lasting a full week.

And today, March 2, is a very special day.

At Wembley Stadium for the EFL Cup Final, Manchester United's opponent is Aston Villa, also from the Premier League!

Dongqiu Di match preview: March 2, 12:00 AM, EFL Cup Final Manchester United vs. Villa, Tang Tang Qiuwang PKs genius midfielder Grealish.

【Brothers! The championship is coming!】

【Villa isn't some pushover; let's go straight at them!】

【Stop jinxing it, I beg you, stop jinxing it! Do you really think Villa is weak? Remember how Leicester City got obliterated in the semifinals?】

【But can you compare Manchester United to Leicester City?】

Last season, Manchester United chose to abandon the EFL Cup to protect their league and FA Cup campaigns, but this season the EFL Cup has become United's first title contention point.

Since only one final step remains between them and the championship, they must go all out no matter what.

"United!"

"Man United!"

In recent days, the novel coronavirus has spread further within England, with fatal cases now appearing.

However, this cannot dampen the fans' enthusiasm; Manchester United and Villa supporters gathered outside Wembley Stadium, chanting the names of their respective teams.

A light rain fell at the venue, and both team buses arrived at the stadium at nearly the same time.

"Champion! (Champions!)"

"Champion United! (Manchester United Champions!)"

Fans surrounded the buses.

It seemed that in the eyes of Manchester United fans, their home team had already secured the championship!

Not only United fans; on the Dongqiu Di homepage fan opinion section, 99% of Chinese fans believed Manchester United would achieve victory.

Villa was in good form, having defeated Leicester City, who ranked sixth in the league, but most fans ignored this; they only knew that Manchester United was currently first in the Premier League, and being first in the Premier League meant "invincible."

This situation also meant the Manchester United players were now under immense psychological pressure.

"We can no longer afford to lose."

Tang Ye held his phone and whispered to Dembélé beside him.

Manchester United was powerful, and as Manchester United players, Tang Ye and the others naturally had to bear this pressure.

"......"

"OK, OK, it seems to be raining at the venue today; yes, I just checked Dongqiu Di, it should be light rain, so I think Manchester United is already invincible, brothers."

Tang Tang Qiuwang's title of "Rain Battle Mythical God" only applied to heavy rain and storms, but Wang Chao ignored that.

As long as it was raining, Tang Tang Qiuwang was invincible!

"Streamer, the epidemic situation over in England... the situation over in England seems okay though, cough cough."

"Cough cough, yue!"

"Sorry, sorry. Don't worry, don't worry, the streamer isn't positive, just a sore throat; the KTV didn't have the AC on yesterday."

"Will Tang Ye test positive... no, that won't happen; top-tier teams definitely have excellent measures in place, so there's absolutely no need to worry. Alright, alright, brothers! The match is about to start, everyone sit tight!"

Manchester United vs. Aston Villa!

"Beep!!!"

The referee's whistle blew; Allé decisively passed back, directly finding De Ligt behind him.

"Oh, Manchester United is launching a fast break; let's see what happens!"

The moment Allé kicked off, Manchester United's forward players sprinted ahead, while De Ligt controlled and adjusted the ball before launching a long kick!

Pa!

The target was Rashford, who had charged forward; De Ligt's long pass was quite decent.

Control!

Rashford kept the ball at his feet, suddenly accelerating toward the baseline.

"Wow!!!"

The core of a fast break is speed; only by being fast do you earn the right to attack.

About to encounter the full-back, Rashford began to slow down.

At this moment, Tang Ye had surged up from behind, receiving the pass from Rashford.

"Go!"

He passed forward to Allé, who then looked for Dembélé.

Allé's pass wasn't perfectly precise, but Dembélé adjusted with great speed; under pressure, he changed direction consecutively, easily shaking off the defender.

Wan-Bissaka surged up from behind!

Dembélé passed to Wan-Bissaka, and Wan-Bissaka passed back to Tang Ye.

"I feel like Manchester United's opening tactic was deliberately designed; what do you think, will it be another two-minute goal today?"

"Tang Tang Qiuwang has stopped! Is it because there's no good passing lane?"

"Pass to Dembélé again!"

"......"

Receiving Rashford's return pass, Luke Shaw took one adjusting step and immediately curled a shot.

Pa!

The goalkeeper jumped up and successfully pushed the ball away.

"Too slow!"

"Luke Shaw with this shot, oh!"

The shooting angle was decent enough, but the ball speed was too slow, giving the opponent time to react.

But it didn't matter; Manchester United never planned to score in the opening moments anyway, though that would have been the most ideal scenario.

Launching a fast attack right from the start to build momentum—this momentum was crucial for Manchester United today.

In Ten Hag's own words, "The opponent fears us, so we need to play faster, make them fear us even more, and then they will make mistakes; I can guarantee you that."

The naive Villa players were still arranging their wall for the corner kick, unaware that Manchester United had already started playing psychological warfare.

Corner kick, Luke Shaw...

Crack!

The cross came out, targeting Dembélé at the far post.

Dembélé jumped to control the ball!

A bit flashy, but the next second, Dembélé blasted the ball wide.

"Xuu!!!!"

"Replay, replay!"

Tang Ye shouted loudly, fulfilling his duties as captain: "Hurry, hurry!"

"..."

Dongqiu Di live match report: Grealish beat his man with a nutmeg on the baseline, but the subsequent cross was intercepted by McTominay.

"Okay, okay, awesome!"

Tang Ye raised his hand to signal, and soon Manchester United launched their attack.

"Hiss, come on, give us something..."

Wang Chao clenched his fists tightly; the pressure was visibly immense.

By the 30-minute mark, Manchester United had taken six shots but hadn't scored a single goal, which fully demonstrated how exaggerated Villa's form was today.

Manchester United absolutely had to step up!

Crack!

【Kevin De Bruyne Standard Long Pass Lv6: Not Ashamed to Ask and Learn】

Proficiency: 0

A max-level long pass; let's see the power!

The ball slammed onto the empty ground in front of Haller, bounced up lightly, and was quickly knocked back onto the grass by Haller.

Accelerate running into the penalty area!

Haller looked clumsy, but in reality, he wasn't running slowly at all.

The defending player still wanted to use his hands to bring Haller down, which was undoubtedly thinking too much.

Stopping near the arc of the penalty area, Haller pushed the ball back to Rashford, who was making a run from behind.

Rashford burst directly into the penalty area!

"Wow!!!"

Shielding the ball with his body, Rashford passed it back and forth between his left and right feet, trying to slip through between two defenders.

The goalkeeper came out to compress the shooting angle!

Rashford set himself up to shoot, but then he felt something step on his left foot.

"!"

Losing his balance, Rashford fell straight to the ground.

"Oh!!!"

"Penalty!"

"That is definitely a penalty!"

"Damn it, if this isn't a penalty, I'll eat the ball right now!"

On the pitch, the referee rushed up quickly, blew his whistle, and pointed to the 12-yard spot.

Hmm!

Tang Ye had originally intended to go up and demand a penalty, but now it seemed there was no need for that.

Dongqiu Di live match report: 34th minute, with the score at 0:0, Manchester United awarded a penalty; Tang Ye prepares to take it.

"Marcus."

After high-fiving Rashford, Tang Ye walked toward the penalty area.

"Come on!"

Haller passed the ball to Tang Ye, whispering, "Aim for the left side."

Wow!

Tang Ye raised an eyebrow, looking at the goalkeeper who was preparing in front of him. He didn't know how Haller had reached that conclusion, but Tang Ye didn't ask; instead, he carried the ball into the penalty area.

The fans knew this kick was important and were already chanting Tang Ye's name.

Tang Ye, of course, also knew this kick was important.

Because this penalty could break the deadlock of the match!

【You have purchased Tang Ye's chewing gum】

"Hoo..."

Beep!!!

Run-up!

Moving sideways, then hopping up and down, even Tang Ye himself didn't know which foot he would use to shoot.

Slap!

He chose the right foot but struck the left side!

"Goooo——aaaaaa——lllllll!!!!"

"Goal!"

"Tang Ye!"

"Haha, I told you so; this goalkeeper was tricked into limping, completely unable to guess the direction."

Penalty goal!

1:0!

The Manchester United players slowly walked off the field to celebrate, with Tang Ye and Rashford embracing each other.

"We can still score, we can still score, let's get a few more!"

After breaking the drought, the feeling returned!

"Tom!"

"Viva Tom Tom!"

Although it was a penalty, the Manchester United fans didn't care.

Anyway, scoring a goal is awesome!

Tom is awesome!

The Aston Villa coach stood beside the pitch in a daze; after his heart rate adjusted back to normal, he called all his players over.

"Aston Villa is likely to make a substitution."

"Brothers, do you know why?"

Wang Chao pointed his index finger at the computer screen: "For Aston Villa, this is their only chance to win the championship this season, so even against Manchester United, they won't care about that; if there's a chance, they'll try to catch up. But honestly, I think they won't be able to catch up."

Aston Villa had the desire to win, but Manchester United was the side that scored first today.

With a strong lineup and scoring first, it is indeed difficult for Aston Villa to handle this situation.

In the 38th minute, Tang Ye dribbled the ball very stylishly through the center, after which the referee blew the whistle.

"Hey, what are you doing!"

Tang Ye spread his hands toward the referee, then turned to look back amidst the cheers of the home fans.

A fan wearing a down jacket was running across the grass, followed by four or five security guards.

"Damn, awesome!"

"Wow!!!!!"

Clap clap clap clap!

Fans rushing onto the pitch is a very rare occurrence; seeing this situation live, the fans in the stands naturally started making a racket.

But speaking of which, this pitch-invading fan indeed had some skill; several changes of direction and accelerations successfully left the security guards running in circles.

"Awesome, damn it; this guy learned his dodging from Tang Ye!"

"That motion of pulling the arms back is too similar!"

"What should we do, brothers? This is making me want to rush the pitch too."

The fan ran left and right, soon reaching the middle of the pitch, and gave Tang Ye a big hug.

One hand of the fan rested on Tang Ye's shoulder, while the other hand pulled a mobile phone out of his pocket.

"Tom!"

Understanding the fan's intention, Tang Ye also placed his hand on the fan's shoulder and gave a thumbs-up to the camera.

Click click!

"Goodbye, Tom!"

Two photos were already the limit, because the security guards were catching up.

"Haha, good luck, brother!"

Tang Ye shouted.

This fan ran very fast, but he couldn't overcome the sheer number of security guards on site; in the end, he was still caught.

Bang!

The fan was tackled to the ground; he tried to climb back up, but two security guards pinned him tightly against the grass.

"Wow!!!"

"Xuuuu!!!!"

The spectators in the stands felt regret for this caught fan; the fan, being carried away by four security guards, was still struggling, seemingly wanting to escape again.

De Jong looked at Tang Ye, and Tang Ye shrugged lightly.

"..."

Entering halftime with a 1:0 advantage, Tang Ye took off his wet jersey and changed into a new one.

"That person ran really fast."

Ale smiled.

"What? Oh, you mean that one, haha."

Tang Ye pulled the shirt over his head and spoke while doing so: "I counted; he got past at least six people. He was indeed fast, but he was caught in the end."

"But I already took a photo with him."

In Tang Ye's mind was the scene from back then: "This is the first time I've encountered something like this; did he jump down from the stands?"

"Probably; this is my first time encountering it too."

De Jong displayed his signature smile, with the corners of his mouth raised high on both sides.

"Haha, I could actually help him stop those two security guards."

Tang Ye had plenty of ideas, but his thoughts were quickly criticized by Fan Fan Dejiahe.

Tom is very good to the fans who support him, and that is correct, but if Tom does that, what if more fans start imitating him?

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it then."

Tang Ye shook his head.

He already had that image in his mind: hundreds of people rushing down from the stands and filling up the pitch!

"Focus! Focus!"

Ten Hag shouted twice, and the topic of fans invading the pitch was abruptly terminated.

……

Arriving at the second half!

"Brothers, I feel Manchester United can now play with five defenders, letting Tang Ye just park the bus directly; McTominay playing as a defensive midfielder is just too unreliable."

"Amrabat? Forget Amrabat; if the Handball Prince comes on and gifts a penalty, won't you just cry yourself to death?"

So far, Manchester United has not scored a single goal from open play, and Villa is also one of the few teams this season capable of holding steady against Manchester United in open play for 45 minutes.

One can only say that Villa, having rushed all the way to the final, is indeed very formidable!

The pass went to Grealish, as Villa looked for an opportunity to break through the center.

They wanted to replicate Real Madrid's high pressing, but the positioning awareness of Villa's three forwards was not top-tier.

The consequence of not being top-tier was being easily seen through by Tang Ye.

Raising his left hand, Tang Ye suddenly dropped to the ground, tackling both the ball and Grealish away.

"Awesome, Tang Ye!"

"Rashford, come over and receive this. Okay, can Rashford step up in this second half? Don't go limp on us."

After receiving the ball, he immediately passed back to Tang Ye; Tang Ye stood up from the grass and kicked another through-ball forward.

A wall pass, and Tang Ye got Rashford started.

"Keep your distance! Don't let him cut inside!"

At the coach's request, Villa's defenders quickly completed their double-team on Rashford.

Since continuing forward would mean getting surrounded, Tang Ye called out to stop Rashford.

Hearing his teammate's voice, Rashford passed the ball to Dembélé.

Dembélé dribbled and cut inside!

Wanting to learn from Tang Ye and pull off a surprise, Dembélé took the shot directly upon receiving the ball, but unsurprisingly, it was blocked by a defender inside the penalty area.

However, the situation was still fine, because the player who recovered the ball was still from Manchester United.

"Get in!"

Hearing Tang Ye's reminder, Rashford suddenly cut inside into the penalty area, and then Alé's pass arrived.

Watching the incoming ball, Rashford adjusted his body posture.

With a defender right in front of him, handling this ball required both caution and decisiveness.

Pa!

"Awesome!"

"Rashford!"

"Volley slash!"

"Master Rash! You f***ing are a god of war!"

……

(End of chapter)