February 19th. Stamford Bridge.
FA Cup Fifth Round: Chelsea vs. Manchester United.
After six days of rest and tactical adjustment, Mourinho fielded a 4-3-3 formation, with Rashford, Ling, and Mahrez leading the attack.
The midfield consisted of Nemanja Matic, Kante, and Scott McTominay.
The defensive line was set with Luke Shaw, Maguire, David Luiz, and Ashley Young. The goalkeeper was Sergio Romero.
This could barely be considered their absolute strongest starting lineup.
Due to minor injuries and fatigue to key players like Pogba, Valencia, and De Gea, Mourinho pragmatically chose to give several players extra rest for the League Cup final at the end of the month against City, and the second leg of the Champions League.
Compared to before, Chelsea's lineup hadn't changed much, except for swapping Olivier Giroud for Gonzalo Higuain as the starting center-forward.
BEEP!!!
After the referee blew the whistle to start the match, Chelsea immediately pulled off a flashy, aggressive set-piece move from kickoff, with their forwards quickly pushing deep into Manchester United's defensive third.
Antonio Rudiger then launched a pinpoint long ball directly into that area.
Sarri had been smoking heavily lately and had studied plenty of new tactics, desperately hoping to catch United off guard with an early surprise attack.
And it actually worked.
Due to Kante's severe height disadvantage in aerial duels in the midfield, Higuain easily overpowered the Frenchman with a headed flick-on.
Fortunately for United, Eden Hazard's follow-up low drive was bravely deflected out of bounds by a sliding David Luiz.
"WOW!!!"
The Chelsea fans grew instantly excited, wildly waving their arms and shouting at the top of their lungs.
In truth, the two clubs have had many bitter grudges over the past century.
For example, in 2008, the first-ever all-English Champions League final was contested between Chelsea and Manchester United.
John Terry's infamous slip in the rain and Cristiano Ronaldo's tears left an indelible mark in football history.
In recent years, both clubs had followed similar trajectories, gradually declining from their once-dazzling, title-winning heights.
But with Mourinho—the man who brought Chelsea three Premier League titles—taking charge at Manchester United, and Ling emerging as a global superstar in "Mourinho's second season," they've single-handedly lifted the fallen United back up to the summit!
To be honest, Chelsea fans are deeply envious, even to the point of toxic jealousy.
They desperately want to use defeat to tell Mourinho that joining Manchester United was the worst mistake he could have made.
However, last season and this season, Manchester United have simply never lost to Chelsea.
"BOO!!!" "Beat United to death!" "Judas! Traitor!"
That earlier wave of aggressive attacks gave the Chelsea fans, whose love for Mourinho had turned to bitter hate, newfound confidence.
They collectively let out piercing, venomous insults directed at the away dugout.
Mourinho simply tilted his head slightly to listen with a smirk on his lips.
Compared to last season's fury when he returned to the Bridge, he now appeared remarkably calm.
Any lingering affection or emotional attachment between him and Chelsea had long since vanished without a trace, carried away by the wind.
Bolstered by the deafening cheers of the fans, Chelsea's attacks on the pitch grew increasingly sharp.
With Jorginho acting as the metronome in defensive midfield, they pushed forward, constantly seeking out Higuain, who drifted cleverly within United's defensive lines.
Higuain is a classic all-around center-forward, with decent speed and excellent footwork.
He can poach in front of goal, act as a physical target man to link up play, drop outside the box to hold up the ball and support teammates, and even press high to intercept.
However, none of his physical abilities were particularly outstanding, which is why he couldn't compete with Karim Benzema back at Real Madrid.
After moving to Serie A, he flourished, winning the league's Golden Boot and championships.
Now, following Sarri to Chelsea, he aimed to prove to his harsh critics that Messi's failure to win the World Cup wasn't entirely his fault for missing chances!
Peter Drury: "Kovacic delivers a beautiful, sweeping pass! Hazard charges down the left flank, completely overpowering Ashley Young!"
Jim Beglin: "He delivers a dangerous cross into the box!"
Drury: "HIGUAIN!"
Amid the hysterical cheers of Chelsea fans, Higuain seemed to recapture his prime form, preparing to strike, only to be directly and aggressively intercepted by the charging David Luiz.
"Counterattack!" Luiz roared.
He dribbled a few heavy steps out of the box before shouting toward the sprinting Jeremy Ling!
As one of the best passing center-backs in the league, his long-range distribution needs no further explanation.
Boom!
The ball soared beautifully across most of the pitch, spinning rapidly and landing precisely in the path of Ling.
Raising his knee high while sprinting to cushion the ball flawlessly with his thigh, Ling deftly flicked it forward into his stride with his right foot, as if a rainbow had appeared on the green pitch.
'Fucking fooled again!' Rudiger cursed inwardly, but his defensive movements didn't slow in the slightest.
Turning sharply, the German defender raised his right arm to brace against Ling's shoulder, constantly pulling and tugging cynically with his hand to slow him down.
Feeling the heavy interference from behind, Ling tightened his core muscles like steel, instantly unleashing formidable strength and raw speed!
Rudiger's eyes widened in absolute shock!
He felt as if he were trying to drag a raging, unstoppable rhinoceros!
Amid the constant physical collisions and contact, the defender quickly lost his balance and stumbled.
Drury: "Ling breaks the tackle! He is through on goal! One-on-one with Kepa! A stepover, past the frantic goalkeeper, and a tap into the empty net!"
Jim Beglin: "GOAL!!! It's absolutely breathtaking from the United captain!"
Peter Drury: "Less than five minutes into the match, Manchester United has silenced Stamford Bridge with a swift, decisive counterattack, combined with Ling's simply unstoppable physical breakthrough!"
Stamford Bridge seemed to instantly turn into a library, so quiet you could hear the London wind.
Ling ran toward the away fans' section, raising his right hand to the thousands of traveling Manchester United supporters and throwing a fierce, aggressive uppercut into the air!
"LING!!!"
"The pride of Old Trafford, the world changes because of you!"
"When you stand on your battlefield, you knock down your opponents in your own way—knock them down!"
The Manchester United fans passionately sang the custom anthem they had created for Jeremy Ling.
They were growing fonder and fonder of this humble, dedicated, and passionate player who had risen all the way from the youth academy to the first team, transitioning from a boy to a man before their eyes.
"Amazing!"
Facing the blinding flashes of pitch-side cameras, Ling flashed a bright, joyous toothy grin!
From the moment he first touched a football as a child, he had fallen hopelessly in love with the feeling of scoring—as if every drop of blood in his body surged with electricity.
"Why do we even need a midfield?! Just hoof it up to Ling from now on!" Maguire ran over, shouting excitedly as he joined the celebration.
Anyone who didn't know better would have thought the center-back was the one who scored.
"If you don't know how to talk, just keep your mouth shut—no one thinks you're mute!" Nemanja Matic and McTominay retorted simultaneously in annoyance.
Even the usually shy Kante chimed in, "Without us in midfield doing the running, Harry, you'd be dribbled past like a leaky sieve, just like the streets of Manchester in the early morning!"
Maguire looked at Jeremy with a pitiful expression, realizing his careless remark had deeply offended most of his teammates.
"I think N'Golo has a very valid point," Ling shrugged with a laugh, much to Maguire's surprise.
The Chelsea players had already returned to their positions, waiting in silence and dejection for the match to restart.
Gonzalo Higuain recalled the bold words he had exchanged with Jorginho before the game.
"He's the Premier League Golden Boot winner, I'm the Serie A Golden Boot winner. If I had joined Chelsea at the start of the season instead of January, who knows who would have won the Golden Boot this season!"
No wonder Jorginho had given him such a strange, pitying look in his eyes back then.
Higuain instantly felt immense pressure.
In stark contrast, Jeremy Ling was in scorching hot form.
Having not played to his absolute heart's content against Atletico Madrid a few days ago due to the tactical setup, today Ling finally found his chance, relentlessly charging through Chelsea's fragile defense!
Before the first half even ended, Rudiger was panting heavily with his tongue out, looking like a weary, completely defeated dog.
'Why does he feel even stronger than he did last time we played?' Rudiger thought miserably.
Finally, in the 56th minute of the match, Rudiger inevitably let his guard down for a second, and Ling seized the opportunity, unleashing a furious, dipping shot.
The ball struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced violently into the net!
A brace!
He had desperately wanted to stay on to complete a hat-trick against the London rivals, but Mourinho substituted him off early to rest him.
"Boss, I'm not done yet!" Ling couldn't bring himself to refuse to leave the pitch, but he was still clearly displeased as he shook the manager's hand.
"In a few days, we have the English League Cup final and a massive Premier League match against Arsenal. I'll let you play the full ninety minutes then, I promise!" Mourinho said helplessly, patting him on the back.
Lately, the manager had noticed Ling was unusually fired up, often getting carried away with his passion.
Couldn't he see the humiliated Chelsea players already had murder in their eyes?
If he kept playing, he might suffer a retaliatory injury!
Better to leave such physical battles to Romelu Lukaku—that guy is built like a brickshitwall and isn't afraid of getting hurt.
"Alright then," Ling quickly calmed down, taking his seat on the bench.
Sure enough, after Lukaku came on, the big Belgian was heavily and physically targeted by the Chelsea defense, but that also created massive pockets of space for his teammates.
Taking advantage of the space Lukaku created by dragging defenders, Rashford surged into the box in the 78th minute and slotted the ball cleanly into the far corner, changing the score to 0-3.
Then, just a few minutes later, Chelsea found a consolation.
Hazard and Higuain combined with a quick, slick one-two, with the former easily dribbling past the cumbersome Maguire and delicately chipping the ball over Romero to score.
1-3.
After gaining a slight bit of momentum, Chelsea pressed high up the pitch, desperate for another.
"Pass to me!" Maguire moved forward a few steps, becoming the only open passing option in the backline, and shouted to Romero for the ball to build out from the back.
But Romero thought for less than half a second before decisively turning and kicking the ball out of play near the touchline for a Chelsea throw-in instead.
The pitch fell silent instantly.
Maguire stared at his goalkeeper in absolute disbelief, "You really don't trust me?!"
"I was afraid you'd catch it with your hands," Romero gave the most compelling reason, leaving Maguire completely speechless and red-faced.
In the end, Manchester United comfortably held onto their lead, defeating Chelsea to advance in the FA Cup!