Chapter 9: The end of the warm-up game and the new central defender

Sure enough, against Barcelona, United were in trouble.

United's starting two midfielders, Herrera and Kramer, were completely untenable in the face of the attacking group composed of Messi, Neymar, Suarez and Iniesta, while the two central defenders, Smalling and Rojo, also looked scrambling against several of Barcelona's attackers, and both Chris Smalling and Rojo looked quite embarrassed in the face of the opponent's flexible movement and breakthroughs.

In the eighth minute, Surares scored a low shot past David De Gea, and for the next 10 minutes, Surares even had a chance to score a hat-trick if it wasn't for De Gea's bravery and the help of the post.

Barcelona's strength forced Carlo Ancelotti to make a substitution before the end of the first half.

Marouane Fellaini came on to replace Wayne Rooney in the midfield position.

Marouane Fellaini, Kramer, and Herrera, who has good defensive ability, lined up the three midfielders and took up positions in front of the backline. Since you can't keep up with the opponent's rhythm, then let's defend and counterattack honestly.

Juan Mata and Di Maria shrank down the middle, and when facing a strong team, Ancelotti offered a 4321 Christmas tree formation.

Manchester United, who changed tactics, finally stabilized their position, and soon pulled back a city, Blind found Li Qingshan with a long pass directly from the backfield, Li Qingshan's header rubbed, Di Maria got a single chance, and then faced the attacking goalkeeper Bravo, Di Maria crossed the ball, Li Qingshan followed up and relied on his body to resist Pique's impact and scored the ball steadily.

Then, after Li Qingshan's goal, Manchester United took advantage of a corner kick opportunity, Li Qingshan and Fellaini hit the goal, and finally Fellaini headed the ball into the goal at the back post.

Manchester United overtook the scores.

However, just before half-time, Barcelona played a fluid attacking combination on the edge of the United penalty area, and Messi pushed the empty net at the back post to equalise.

Ancelotti shook his head slightly off the field, Manchester United's central defenders are too single, in the face of Barcelona's small and fast player system, the central defenders who are good at frontal defense obviously have no big way to take Messi and Neymar, as long as they dribble into the penalty area, Smalling and Rojo will shrink back.

In the centre-back position, the urgency for United to be strengthened has never been more urgent.

In the second half, Carlo Ancelotti did not change most of his team at once as he did in the first two games. He only made a substitution at two full-backs.

Valencia came on for Rafael and Sandro for Blind. Strengthened the attacking ability of the left and right wings.

In this way, the division of labor between the players is relatively clear, with the three central midfielders mainly responsible for protecting the front of the backline, while the two forward midfielders Di Maria are responsible for pushing forward, and Juan Mata is responsible for connecting and organising the ball.

The 4321 system is actually a derivative of the 451 formation, which can be attacked and defended when there are five players in the midfield.

With two full-backs taking turns to insert crosses, Manchester United took the lead again in the 57th minute when Li Qingshan received a cross from Sandro on the left and fired with his right foot.

However, Manchester United's defense soon went wrong again, Smalling was not tight on the man, and after being easily passed by Neymar, he was fouled and awarded a penalty by the referee!

Messi converted the penalty to make it 3-3.

This is also the score after full-time.

Manchester United and Barcelona played a goal shootout. The fans of both sides who came to the stadium to watch the game were very enjoyable, but for Ancelotti, the mood was not so good.

The team scored three goals, proving that the team's attacking ability is no problem, but there are many problems in defense, especially the individual ability of the central defenders, whether it is Smalling or Phil Jones, they are not the type of central defenders that Ancelotti likes. They sometimes seem too reckless.

Thankfully, there was good news from Edwardwood's side.

There has been significant progress in bringing in a centre-back with sufficient quality!

Sure enough, the day after the International Champions Cup match between Manchester United and Barcelona, an explosive piece of news swept the world.

Manchester United have announced the arrival of Borussia Dortmund centre-back Hummels, and his transfer fee is - 45 million pounds!

45 million pounds, or about 50.26 million euros when converted into euros, is worth more than the 42 million pounds that David Luiz paid for his transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in 2014, becoming the most valuable defender in history.

So far, including Li Qingshan, Manchester United's recruitment expenses this season have exceeded 200 million euros! Manchester United's continuous large-scale recruitment has made some European media exclaim, is the Red Devils re-emerging!?

Hummels is very physical, Carlo Ancelotti believes he can definitely adapt to the physical confrontation of the Premier League, and in addition to his physical numbers, his defensive ability is unquestionable, especially when he performed very well at the 2014 World Cup.

Carlo Ancelotti believes the £45 million is definitely worth it.

……….

Although Hummels has confirmed the signing of Manchester United, Hummels will definitely not be able to catch up with Manchester United's last international Champions Cup game in the United States.

On 30 July, Manchester United arrived at the Military Stadium in Chicago to take on the last opponent of their trip to the United States, Paris Saint-Germain!

With two wins and one draw in the previous two games, while Paris Saint-Germain have two wins and one defeat, a win for United would have won the North American Champions Cup, while a draw would have to go to penalties......

But Carlo Ancelotti certainly won't think about winning the title, he wants to take a final look at the squad and players in the final warm-up game of the summer.

Therefore, he was the first to start on the fringe in this game.

And the opposite big Paris seems to be thinking about going to Manchester United, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Ibrahimovic and other main players are all sitting on the bench.

Both sides were fielded as substitutes.

The first half was tied at 0-0.

In the second half, both sides changed their lineups, and on the Manchester United side, all the players in the first half were replaced and replaced by the main lineup.

Goalkeepers David De Gea, Angel Di Maria, Juan Mata and Li Qingshan all came on in the second half.

And Paris Saint-Germain did almost the same thing, the lineup in the first half was completely replaced and replaced with the main lineup.

The second half of the game between the two sides was also intense, but Manchester United won a corner kick in the final stage of the game, with this corner opportunity, central defenders Smalling, Phil Jones, midfielders Kramer, Fellaini, plus a center forward Li Qingshan, these five players are all over 190 cm tall to stand in the penalty area, causing Paris Saint-Germain's defense a lot of trouble.

In the end, Mata's corner from the right was driven by Li Qingshan who jumped high in the middle, and even with the likes of David Luiz and Thiago Silva next to him, it did not stop him from heading at the top this time.

With this goal, Manchester United beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0. It was a perfect end to Manchester United's trip to the United States.

What awaits them next is the first round of the Premier League on August 8, at Old Trafford, Manchester United hosts Tottenham Hotspur!