United's veterans are aware of the danger of the situation, but with the morale of Manchester City high and the tempo of the game, it is almost impossible for United to turn things around in the final minutes of the first half, and City are not a team to be left to their disposal.

So at this time, Manchester United's wisest choice is to hold on to the last five or six minutes, after five or six minutes is halftime, 15 minutes, the coach can make targeted deployments and substitution adjustments, and after a 15-minute break, at that time Manchester City's morale may not be able to continue.

When the team needed to defend, Gao Xiaodong returned to the midfield position, Valencia and Nani returned to the midfield, and only Scholes and Berbatov were left in front, one responsible for the transition ball in the counter-attack, and the other responsible for scoring goals.

Gao Xiaodong just returned to the position of the back midfield, and immediately completed an interception, Yaya Toure blocked Carrick in the middle of the penalty area and volleyed vigorously, which was blocked by Gao Xiaodong's outstretched foot, and the ball fell to Valencia's feet.

Valencia tried to use their speed to launch a fast attack, but City's high press was fast, and Valencia could not get up before the ball was lost.

After the tackle, City passed the ball to Silva and launched a counter-attack on the spot, continuing to lay siege to the United penalty area.

Silva remains City's most creative and dangerous player, cutting inside from the flanks and making a couple of quick stops and starts in succession to draw the attention of the United players.

Barry also has a good long-range shot, but his running step is not right, Barry wants to stop the ball and shoot again, but Manchester United has so many defenders at the moment, Barry stopped like this, Valencia pounced, Barry dialed the ball and shook off Valencia, Carrick also arrived, Barry shook off Carrick again, Gao Xiaodong arrived again, he rushed over diagonally and shoveled the ball out of the sideline.

In the 43rd minute, Balotelli pulled out to attract Manchester United's central defender Rio Ferdinand, and then quickly split the ball, Kolarov cut in a cross from the left, Balotelli passed the ball and used his speed to shake off Ferdinand and quickly cut in to grab the point.

It's a good combination, Ferdinand and Balotelli are really old and can't keep up with their explosiveness.

However, when Balotelli was about to touch the ball, Gao Xiaodong took the first step to shovel the ball out of the bottom line from Balotelli's side.

Gao Xiaodong's three consecutive key clearances won the applause of Manchester United fans.

Previously, when Gao Xiaodong had just come to Manchester United for less than half a season and gained the core position, some Manchester United fans still did not understand that Gao Xiaodong's performance at the moment perfectly explained why he would rise to the position so quickly, not because of his sky-high transfer fee, nor because he was Ferguson's favorite, but because of his irreplaceable role in attack and defense.

Balotelli and Kolarov's tacit cooperation almost succeeded, but he didn't expect to be destroyed by Gao Xiaodong at the last moment, Balotelli was very annoyed, and shouted at Gao Xiaodong: "Gao, can you not follow me." ”

Gao Xiaodong said with a smile: "Who is following you, I am following the ball." ”

"You say I'm the ball?" Balotelli was even more annoyed.

I can't tell this guy, Gao Xiaodong was speechless, and turned around directly to defend the corner kick next to the goalpost.

City's previous high corners had not been won by Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, but this time Silva fired a corner from the right and went straight to the periphery, Kompany chested the ball off and fired a right-footed shot from 25 yards, but the ball grazed the right post and went wide.

Kompany's powerful shot left the first half at the end of the game with just one minute of stoppage time, but the ball was in the hands of United and they could go back to the dressing room with a 1-0 scoreline.

At this point, it is clear that goalkeeper Van der Sar can't be allowed to open his feet, and it is better to control the ball at the back, if he can fall to the front, it is the safest.

Manchester City's players also understood this truth, and they did not give up at the last minute, their 4231 formation directly became a 244 formation at the last minute, with four people in the front field pressing against Manchester United's four defenders, and four people in the midfield pressing four players in the middle of Manchester United, never allowing them to easily control the ball in the middle and back.

City's scramble was extremely risky, and once the ball was brought to the feet of the striker by Manchester United, the Manchester City goal was in danger.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was also a little apprehensive, he didn't set it up like this, it was the players who were excited to play and did it themselves.

In the final moments, the defenders faced one-on-one pressing against the opponent, and no one dared to get rid of him, even Evra, the most skilled defender, did not dare to control the ball, and the ball was at his feet, and he quickly passed it to Scholes.

The midfielders are also being targeted, and Patrice Evra trusts his old team-mate Paul Scholes more.

Scholes didn't have a passing point, the Manchester City man's man-to-man defense was very dead, and the pass was also a knife hill ball, and when Scholes tried to catch the ball, he stopped the ball to the side, ready to get rid of Toure's marking, but Yaya Toure had long legs, fell to the ground and shoveled, destroying the ball.

Scholes went after it again, but it was already a step too slow, and Adam Johnson grabbed the ball before Scholes flicked it.

Scholes had a chance to foul Adam Johnson when he got the ball, but Scholes didn't want to give the opponent a set-piece at the end, so he dropped the foul, made a sharp stop and turned around, ready to go over to chase Adam Johnson.

But to Scholes's surprise, he had just turned around and found that Gao Xiaodong had come from nowhere and snatched the ball from Adam Johnson's feet.

Scholes breathed a sigh of relief, the opponent was on the attack, and if they really let them get the ball at this time, maybe they could really cause damage to Manchester United.

After Gao Xiaodong grabbed the ball, he then pulled it back, just shaking Adam Johnson who was chasing him.

Adam Johnson was first robbed and then buckled, a little annoyed, he reached out from behind and grabbed Gao Xiaodong's jersey.

Gao Xiaodong waited for Adam Johnson to foul, and he immediately pounced, and he fell on the ball.

The fans in the stands were shouting "foul", but they did not applaud Gao Xiaodong's way of falling, in fact, Gao Xiaodong was particular about this time, because if he didn't fall on the ball, in case the referee didn't blow it, the opponent would be a quick counterattack.

Referee Quinn was really going to give a penalty, he wanted to give Manchester City a chance to attack, but Gao Xiaodong pressed the ball under him, he couldn't continue the game without blowing the whistle, seeing Adam Johnson also stretched out his foot to kick under Gao Xiaodong, wanting to kick the ball out, referee Quinn quickly blew the whistle and awarded Manchester United a free kick.

At this moment, there are only more than ten seconds before the end of stoppage time, and the free kick is estimated to be the end of the first half, and the Manchester City players are very annoyed, but they forget the most basic common sense to block the opponent's quick free kick.

Gao Xiaodong held the ball in his hand and got up slowly, like a panda, but seeing that there was no one in front of him, Gao Xiaodong suddenly pushed with his foot arch and passed the ball to Nani who secretly stepped forward.

At this moment, the players of Manchester City still want to continue to press, the players are pressing, Gao Xiaodong penetrates all the defenses with a straight kick, and Nani rushes over and faces goalkeeper Joe Hart directly.

At this time, Joe Hart also ran out of the penalty area, and seeing Nani forming a one-handed trend, Joe Hart was afraid of Nani's hanging shot, so he turned around and ran back.

Nani certainly wouldn't let go of such an opportunity, and he didn't wait for Joe Hart to return to the penalty area, and fired a lob shot from 40 yards out.

Nani's footwork was beautiful, and the ball flew over Joe Hart's head and into the net.

2：0

In first-half stoppage time, Gao Xiaodong sent a quick free-kick, and Nani doubled the score with a hanging shot.