The winter break was a far-fetched holiday for Premier League players.

Over the years, I don't know how many people have complained about the FA, hoping to add a winter break so that the players can rest at this stage. But so many years have passed, and the winter break is still someone else's winter break.

For Premier League players, others can enjoy the festive season with their families during the winter break, while they can only drag their tired bodies on the field to continue to fight.

In Europe's major leagues, the winter break starts before Christmas and ends after New Year's Day, with a two-week break.

But in England, it's not just a time when the players don't get rest, they have to deal with the most intense fixtures. This dense devil's race is affectionately known as the Christmas race.

After Manchester United concluded their game against West Ham United, the Premier League officially entered the Christmas schedule. From 23 December to 1 January, the Reds will play four games in the 10 days. Two of those games were back-to-backs, with United playing Reading at home on the 30th before taking on Newcastle on the afternoon of 1 January.

Although it is not yet in the Christmas schedule, the players are still complaining about such a dense schedule.

At nine o'clock in the morning of the 18th, Yu Liang and King Dong, who had "rested" for a day, came to Carrington.

"Hello, Brother Wang!"

Yu Liang looked at Wang Qi and said hello with some embarrassment.

Although on the phone, Yu Liang expressed his apologies like Wang Qi, but he still felt embarrassed to see it.

"Hehe, Xiao Yu, hello! I might be bothering you these days! ”

Wang Qi arrived in Manchester this morning, and the contract renewal negotiations with Manchester United may take several days. If you don't live in such a big free house as Yu Liang, don't you spend money to live in a hotel! couldn't resist King Dong, and Yu Liang also invited, so Wang Qi agreed.

"Brother Wang, there's nothing trouble!"

King Dong grabbed Yu Liang, and then said with a smile there: "That's it, Brother Wang, you don't know that he is now a rich man, and the house is as big as a castle, and you are afraid that there will be no place to live!" ”

The relationship between King Dong and Yu Liang is not said, this Wang Qi naturally knows, seeing King Dong and Yu Liang making trouble, Wang Qi stood there and laughed: "Okay, it's decided!" Xiao Yu, go train! Xiao Dong and I are going to get busy! ”

"Okay, Brother Wang, you are busy!"

Saying that, Yu Liang directly broke King Dong's hand around his neck, and then twisted his backhand and pushed King Dong out: "Good luck to you kid!" ”

When King Dong and Wang Qi went to the club's office building, Yu Liang went directly to the locker room.

"Damn the FA, damn the Christmas fixtures. I hate the FA, I hate the Christmas schedule! ”

When Yu Liang walked into the locker room, Rooney was sitting there and cursing.

Listening to the content, Yu Liang knew that he was complaining about the upcoming Christmas schedule. Thinking about playing four games in ten days, and two back-to-back games, Yu Liang also felt a deep sense of exhaustion, although it was highly likely that he would not be able to play. However, at the same time, Yu Liang also has a little expectation in his heart, and it is impossible for Ferguson not to make a rotation with such a dense schedule. As long as he rotates, he could get a chance to play or even return to the starting lineup.

Before the Christmas schedule, Yu Liang and his team had five days to adjust.

In order to keep the team fighting during the Christmas schedule, after the first three days of daily training, the physical trainer will arrange high-intensity physical training to reserve physical fitness.

Although the high-intensity training made them very tired, they did not complain.

Even more bitter is Yu Liang, after high-intensity training at the club, he has to train according to Barton's training plan when he returns home. However, so far, Yu Liang is still practicing left-footed shooting, and he is still tied to his leg.

In the next two days, Yu Liang's training intensity was reduced a lot, mainly focusing on relaxation and tactical training.

This gives them a lot of relaxation.

On the morning of 23 December, they travelled to Birmingham to kick off their Christmas fixtures, where they will first take on Aston Villa, then return home to Wigan Athletic and Reading on the 26th and 30th respectively, before travelling to Newcastle on the 1st.

Because of his outstanding performance on the training ground, Yu Liangde has entered the 18-man squad and went to Birmingham with the team.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, in the packed Villa Park stadium, the referee blew the whistle to kick off Manchester United's Christmas schedule.

Although it is a long time ago that Aston Villa have won seven league titles and seven FA Cup titles, after the start of the game, Aston Villa, who were playing at home, were actively attacking with the cheers of the fans. However, with Manchester United's solid defence, Aston Villa did not get a good chance. Although they were aggressive in attack, they were not able to convert their attacks into shots. In the first five minutes, they didn't have a single shot on goal.

After withstanding Aston Villa's aggressive attack, Manchester United gradually stabilized their rhythm and showed the style of a strong team. In the 7th and 8th minutes, two consecutive attacks threatened the door of the Villa team.

The Villa team, who were getting better and better, then showed their attacking prowess and won a free-kick in front of the 13th minute.

Barry drove the ball directly into the box, Sutton headed back, and Aaron Hughes hit the goal with a header from the top of the ball, hitting the post and popping off the bottom line, shocking the Manchester United people into a cold sweat.

Villa's attack woke up the Reds and they stepped up their defence in the game.

The United, who had strengthened their defence, managed to contain Villa's attack, but they were unable to get a good chance in attack, and the two sides returned to the dressing room with a 0-0 scoreline.

Yu Liang, who was sitting on the bench, warmed up on the court at halftime, and he didn't have a chance to play in the second half.

After the break, the second half changed sides and played again.

Aston Villa started the second half with an onslaught and it looked like they were hoping to have a good Christmas. Although they were awarded two corners in the first three minutes of the second half, they were unable to break through Van der Sar's handle and the score remained 0-0.

However, United's attacking line was not very good, which made Manchester United fans unhappy when they travelled with the team, and they chanted Rooney's name from the stands in the hope that Rooney would play.

Because of the busy schedule on Christmas, Ferguson did not let Rooney start in this game.

Listening to the cheers of the fans, Rooney, who was sitting on the bench, smiled. He has scored a total of nine goals in the league so far, and although there has been a long period of goal drought in between, he is still the top scorer in the country, especially since he has been in good form lately.

Seeing that the team couldn't open the situation for a long time, not only the fans were anxious, but Ferguson was also very anxious.

So after hearing the fans' calls, he simply sent Rooney to warm up.

However, it was at this time that United scored.

Ryan Giggs passed the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo, who dribbled to the edge of the penalty area in midfield and hit the goal directly, but the shot was directly blocked by the opposing defender and returned to him again. Cristiano Ronaldo did not waste a big gift from the opposing defender this time, and his right-footed shot bounced directly into the goal above the post.

1-0。

Manchester United took the lead.

The goal relieved the pressure on Manchester United, but it also put a lot of pressure on Villa.

In the minutes that followed, the Villa team were unable to organise an effective attack.

In the 64th minute, Manchester United scored again.

This time it was Paul Scholes who scored.

Giggs's corner was headed out of the box by a player and Scholes from outside the box fired a powerful right-footed volley into the back of the net, which bounced off the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net.

"Beautiful!"

Yu Liang, who was sitting on the bench, immediately applauded when he saw Scholes's earth-shattering long-range shot.

It was a stunning shot.

The stadium immediately burst into cheers from Manchester United fans.

"How nice it would be if I could hit a shot like that!"

Looking at Scholes, who was surrounded by his teammates, Yu Liang sat on the bench and muttered, and at the same time began to look forward to playing.

With two goals in hand, Ferguson immediately made substitution adjustments, replacing Park Ji-sung, who did not perform well in this game, and Rooney finally appeared under the thousands of calls of the fans.

Wayne Rooney's presence increased the pressure on Villa's defence and successfully crushed Villa's hopes of a counter-attack.

In the 74th minute, Rooney kicked a back pass near the bottom line, assisting Ronaldo to tear the door of the Villa team again.

Just as the United players were about to celebrate their goal, the referee blew the whistle, and it was only then that people noticed that the linesman had raised the flag and was offside......

"Yu Liang, go warm up!"

Yu Liang, who had been sitting on the bench waiting for an opportunity, listened to the shouting, immediately took off his coat and ran to the sidelines to warm up.

missed the team's squad and sat on the bench for 90 minutes, which let Yu Liang know the preciousness of the opportunity to play.

Yu Liang warmed up the sidelines, hoping to have an excellent performance after playing.

Three minutes later, Yu Liang returned to the bench and prepared for the game.

However, just as he was ready to go to the sidelines to wait for the dead-ball opportunity, an incident on the pitch changed Ferguson's mind.

Scholes brought down the opposing player, received a yellow card, suspended the accumulated yellow card and missed the next game.

Seeing Scholes receive a yellow card, Ferguson immediately pulled Yu Liang back, while telling O'Shea to warm up on the sidelines, and then replaced Fletcher with O'Shea three minutes later.

Seeing that he was about to be substituted, he was stopped by Ferguson. Back on the bench, Yu Liang's mood was a little low.

The game did not change because of Yu Liang's low mood, and in the 85th minute, Manchester United counterattacked, Rooney took the ball in the middle of the field to attract the defence, and then distributed the ball to Gary Neville. Neville fired a low ball from the edge of the box to the far end of the net and Ronaldo, who was inserted, fired into the empty net to make it 3-0 and seal the win for Manchester United.

When the final whistle blew, the United fans chanted from the stands.

In 19 rounds of the league, Manchester United won 15 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses, and won the league halfway championship.

Although it was a title with no substance, it did excite Manchester United fans who had not won the league title for two years.

Even though Yu Liang's mood was a little dull, he still had a sincere smile on his face at this moment, because there was nothing like the joy brought by the word champion...... (To be continued.) )