Chapter 357 Chen Xiaoliang's goal sent Messi back to 17 years ago
The game continued, and the head coaches of both teams were considering how to make plans for the new season based on the situation on the field.
Mourinho and Gerrard, who took over the position of head coach of the new club at the same time, were also watching the game at their residence, both to see Chen Xiaoliang and to relieve the stress of the preparation period.
With the support of club chairman Nasser, Mourinho has been dealing with Mbappe. Although the latter has not made any public statement, he has been asking his agent to put pressure on the club to allow him to negotiate a transfer with Real Madrid.
The club firmly disagreed, and Mourinho was determined not to let him go. He told Mbappe again and again that the team's playing style in the new season would definitely suit him, and that it would definitely allow him to make a new leap in terms of results, honors and personal data.
Gerrard kept urging Pinto and Riise to help him buy players. With 180 million euros in cash after the owner Dan Friedkin had set aside dividends, he only bought Van der Beek, who had been injured for two years, and an 18-year-old future star Vitor Rock. This is simply unacceptable.
Although the board also knows that after such sales, the club will not be able to achieve the epic feat of last season, under the huge pressure from the fans, they still hope that Gerrard can lead the team to successfully defend the Serie A title.
Riise helped him get Olkwi Kokcu, the team captain who performed well in the Dutch Eredivisie Feyenoord, for 25 million euros, and spent another 15 million euros to buy Japanese international Hiroki Ito, who performed very well in the Bundesliga Stuttgart.
That's right, these two people plus the Brazilian genius Vitor Roque are replacing Chen Xiaoliang, Kova and Gvardiol, but Roma fans know that the three of them are irreplaceable.
In addition to Riise's help, Gerrard also used his own connections and relationships to loan the happy boy Sterling from Chelsea.
Sterling's poor performance at Chelsea last season prompted owner Burley to order him to be sold, but this guy's weekly salary of 350,000 pounds, like his butt, is unaffordable for 99% of clubs. In the end, Roma rented him out at the cost of one year's salary.
The two of them have another purpose for watching Manchester United's game. As the defending champions of their respective leagues, Roma and Paris Saint-Germain, especially Roma which is the defending champion of the Champions League, will be placed in the first tier like Barcelona in the new season's Champions League group draw. Manchester United, as third in the league, will definitely be ranked in the second tier considering historical points. Excluding the rule that teams from the same country avoid the group stage, the probability of meeting Manchester United in the group stage will be close to 50%.
Neither of them wanted to meet Chen Xiaoliang, but luck was not something they could decide, so they had to prepare in advance.
Because they both know it very well that if they don't watch Chen Xiaoliang's games for three months, they might find that he seems like a different person when they watch him again.
On the field, Barcelona strengthened their control of the ball after almost losing the ball, and Messi became the absolute commander near the midfield.
Although he is 36 years old, thanks to his excellent awareness and positioning, it is still difficult for Chen Xiaoliang to steal the ball from his feet.
It’s not that he can’t be defended in a one-on-one situation, but that Messi doesn’t play one-on-one with Chen Xiaoliang.
He began to transform into a supporting role in Paris Saint-Germain, constantly retreating, running, and pulling to the side, then asking for the ball, dribbling, and advancing, and finally using his strong presence to make wonderful passes to his teammates.
In the 17th minute, Messi pulled to the right side, and Kounde, who was facing double-teaming from Luke Shaw and Casemiro, passed the ball back to Messi.
Before Chen Xiaoliang approached, Messi passed the ball diagonally to Lewandowski who suddenly inserted into the penalty area from the left side. The Polish striker got rid of Lindelof and shot the ball, but De Gea made a super-stretched dive to the right and blocked it outside the goal.
The pass was brilliant, the shot was beautiful, and the save was abnormal.
This was the first time that Chen Xiaoliang saw De Gea make an incredible save in a game. He had seen many videos before about how the Spaniard had struggled to defend the Red Devils' goal over the years.
In the 22nd minute, Barcelona continued to control the ball and look for opportunities, but today their attack was mostly concentrated on the right. On the one hand, Messi appeared more often here, and on the other hand, there was no pure winger on the left. Whether it was Balde who pressed forward or Pedri who penetrated to the left side of the penalty area, they were all defended by Manchester United's right-back Wan Bissaka in a one-on-one head-on confrontation.
Chen Xiaoliang was very interested in this guy. Not only was his height of 183cm and weight of 72kg very similar to Chen Xiaoliang's, his strong physique, abnormal stealing ability and ruthless and taciturn defensive attitude during the game were also very similar to himself who made a name for himself in his last time at Glasgow Rangers.
It's just that this guy's work is a bit rough. He basically relies on swinging to cross, basically relies on guessing to pass, and basically relies on rushing to dribble past opponents.
At this time, Pedri held the ball on the left and Balde pressed forward, but facing Wan Bissaka's gaze, he didn't have the confidence to reach out for the ball. Pedri directly kicked the ball sideways to Kounde who was pressing on the right.
Gundogan, Gavi and Frenkie de Jong all pressed forward in the middle, and suddenly there were 8 Barcelona players in the frontcourt forming a siege on Manchester United.
The three midfielders in the middle and Pedri on the left rushed into the penalty area together, preparing to receive Kounde's cross from the right and bombard Manchester United's goal. Chen Xiaoliang and Casemiro immediately retreated to the penalty area to help the defenders defend.
At this time, Kounde passed the ball to Messi who was still outside the penalty area on the right side.
After Messi received the ball, Rashford, who was still wandering in the midfield, wanted to defend him, but Messi cut inward diagonally to the middle and did not give Rashford a chance to get close, so Casemiro, the midfielder in charge of the left side, rushed up immediately.
When he was in Real Madrid, he had competed with Messi on the same field many times, and he knew that this position was within the range of Messi's long-range arc shot.
As expected, Messi kicked the ball, and Casemiro jumped up and tried to block the ball with his body but failed. However, the ball kicked out by Messi's left foot quickly rushed towards the upper left corner of the goal!
David De Gea, the goalkeeper who has gradually become "Piolion De Gea" in the fans' mouths, once again blocked Messi's ball with an incredible dive.
Messi didn't expect De Gea to make such a save, but what happened next was even more beyond his expectations.
The ball was blocked back, and Lindelof kicked the ball out of the penalty area before Lewandowski. Gundogan withdrew from the penalty area and headed the ball back, trying to pass it to Marcos Alonso near the midfield to reorganize the attack.
However, Marcos Alonso only saw a person in the Manchester United penalty area rushing towards the landing point of the ball in front of him like a roaring train. He immediately rushed up and tried to head the ball back to the direction of the Manchester United penalty area.
But once Chen Xiaoliang started, he couldn't stop whenever he wanted. Marcos Alonso knew that Chen Xiaoliang was fast, but he didn't expect it to be so fast!
This is no wonder. This kind of speed can only be truly experienced by witnessing it with your own eyes. It is like watching Bolt set a world record on TV and seeing him "whoosh" past you. These are two completely different feelings.
Seeing Marcos Alonso coming towards the ball, Chen Xiaoliang ran forward a few steps, and when he saw the ball was about to fall, he immediately kicked with his left leg and flew up like a roc spreading its wings!
Marcos Alonso gave up the jump directly. Chen Xiaoliang's super fast speed and powerful explosive power made this jump directly exceed the height he could compete with.
He chose a method that old basketball hooligans usually use to deal with this kind of situation - he turned around in front of Chen Xiaoliang's jump, bent down slightly, and put his back and buttocks in front, pretending to protect himself. In fact, he was using his body to trip the lower limbs of the jumper, so that even if the opponent hit the ball, he would lose balance and fall to the ground because his lower body was tripped.
Of course Chen Xiaoliang saw this scene in the air. He gently pushed the ball forward, then spread his legs, wrapped his legs around Marcos Alonso's body, and flew over Marcos Alonso's head in the air in a gliding posture!
The 32-year-old Marcos Alonso never dreamed that when he wanted to trick Chen Xiaoliang, he would be humiliated by Chen Xiaoliang!
Many young players on the Manchester United bench instantly fell back with their hands on their heads!
Is this a basketball game?! It's like dunking over the opponent's head!
After landing, Chen Xiaoliang immediately chased after the ball, but someone had already caught up with him from the right rear.
Chen Xiaoliang turned his head slightly and saw that it was Gavi. Taking advantage of the speed loss of Chen Xiaoliang after jumping and landing, Gavi, who had just been designated by head coach Harvey to defend Chen Xiaoliang, had already chased behind Chen Xiaoliang.
Gavi had already put one hand on Chen Xiaoliang's back.
Chen Xiaoliang changed direction to the left front, then suddenly accelerated and got rid of Gavi in just a few steps!
At this time, another person on the left took advantage of Chen Xiaoliang's change of direction and caught up with him from behind. Chen Xiaoliang took another glance with his peripheral vision, and this time the feeling was completely different from when he saw Gavi.
It's Messi!
As soon as Chen Xiaoliang rushed out of the penalty area, Messi had already retreated to prepare to participate in the defense.
At this time, Chen Xiaoliang jumped over Marcos Alonso and got rid of Gavi. Only Araujo was left in Barcelona's own half. If he did not return to defense, it would be equivalent to letting Chen Xiaoliang play one on one in the frontcourt.
This young man dribbled past five players and provided the winning assist in the final moments of the Champions League final. Letting him play one-on-one is no different from giving away points.
Messi kept chasing Chen Xiaoliang one body length behind him, while Araujo in front of Chen Xiaoliang kept running back, trying to force Chen Xiaoliang to dribble the ball to the right front by deliberately leaving a little space on the right.
So, in the area on the right side of the center, Chen Xiaoliang, who had already crossed the center line, was advancing at full speed with Araujo in front, Messi on the left and behind, and Gavi on the right behind. While dribbling the ball, he ran three or five steps and then slightly to the left, and then another three or five steps and then slightly to the right.
If there hadn't been someone chasing him from behind, and Araujo was still more than three meters away from him, Chen Xiaoliang would have accelerated immediately.
When he ran to 3 meters away from the penalty area line, the distance between Araujo and Chen Xiaoliang was only 1 meter.
But Araujo did not dare to kick to intercept. Even though Chen Xiaoliang swayed slightly left and right and lost some speed, Messi and Gavi could not catch up with him. If the kick missed outside the penalty area, it would be equivalent to giving Chen Xiaoliang a chance to score alone.
Outside the left side of the penalty area, Rashford and Kounde, who had been running all the way back to defense, also ran over, but no one was paying attention to them at the scene. All eyes were on Chen Xiaoliang.
Araujo knew he had to defend. It was impossible for Messi and Gavi to catch up. They were about to enter the penalty area. If he retreated any further, he would have nowhere to retreat.
He took a slight step in the direction of Chen Xiaoliang's advance, and with just this one step, Chen Xiaoliang took a big step and rushed up to stand side by side with him.
Araujo went up and used his right shoulder to push Chen Xiaoliang's left side, trying to slow him down and prevent him from making the next move smoothly.
Obviously, just like Marcos Alonso underestimated his speed, Araujo also underestimated how strong Chen Xiaoliang was. His high-speed return to defense was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Not only did it not have any effect, but because of the lateral force, he lost his running speed and completely gave up the space.
Ter Stegen saw that something was wrong and moved to the near corner of the goal in advance.
When Chen Xiaoliang overtook Araujo, he was only about 2 meters away from the right corner of the small penalty area. At this time, Ter Stegen had already rushed up with his arms open and made a move to block the ball!
Chen Xiaoliang gently pushed with his right foot!
The ball rolled past Ter Stegen's feet!
Messi and Gavi, who had been chasing all the way, stopped, while Kounde, who was running back on the other side, ran desperately towards the far corner of the goal, then fell to the ground and slid outside the goal line!
Not to mention Kounde, almost everyone in the stadium saw that the ball was not passed to Rashford at the back post, but a push shot. The ball rolled straight to the far corner and rolled into the goal line before Kounde reached the ball!
"yeah!"
In the Camp Nou stadium, a small number of Manchester United fans shouted excitedly. Even if it was a friendly match, it was something worth bragging about for their players to score a goal here, not to mention that it was a long-distance run of more than 70 meters!
In the box, new Manchester United owner Hamad Al-Thani stood up and clapped, shouting "Bravo!"
This word originated from Latin and later became a special word in Italian used to applaud elegant operas, and then appeared in Western languages such as French and English.
Just like watching an opera in the Red Country, it would not be okay to shout "Niu Bo Yi" from the audience, and it would also be a bit rude to shout "Beautiful". You have to say "Wonderful" elegantly or just "Bravo" to appear classy.
Don't think that this is deliberate pretense. Even members of the Middle Eastern royal family have to adapt to the local customs when they come to Europe. They must pretend to be the best, and they must do so elegantly and decently.
Barcelona president Laporta also stood up and smiled politely, but after all, it was his own team that lost the ball, so he did not applaud.
But the faint smile on his face didn't mean that he had plum sauce in his heart. All he had in his mind was: "What is this oil nouveau riche showing off for? He reeks of cumin and looks like he has never seen the world."
On the field, Rashford, who was closest, was the first to run towards Chen Xiaoliang. Although it was a friendly match and he ran for 70 meters but didn't touch anything in the end, this goal was really beautiful.
In the backcourt, other Manchester United players also ran up in joy and shock. Even De Gea jumped up, touched the crossbar and shouted in celebration.
Everyone knows that this old giant has not seen such a wonderful individual performance for many years.
Only Bruno Fernandes ran over with other teammates to pat Chen Xiaoliang on the shoulder to celebrate, but there was not much excitement on his face.
"Damn, it's just that the speed is fast, and he got one by surprise."
The 36-year-old Messi walked back, panting.
The image of Chen Xiaoliang running and dribbling the ball just now was still appearing in his mind, as if he had returned to 17 years ago.
17 years ago, in 2006, when he was 19 years old, he played for Argentina in a national team match against their arch-rival Brazil.
Although they were one goal behind, Argentina gradually gained the advantage on the field, and the young Messi continued to use his speed and dribbling to create threats on the field.
It wasn't until the 58th minute that a Brazilian wearing the No. 19 jersey was substituted on.
In the 88th minute, he was also running all the way with the ball from the backcourt, and I was chasing him from behind. Although I had played for almost a whole game, I could not catch up with him without the ball, until I finally saw him behind me and he pushed the ball from the right side of the penalty area into a goal that was almost exactly the same as Chen Xiaoliang's goal today, which completely ended the game.
That person's name is Kaka. He has retired a long time ago. I heard that he is taking the coaching certificate exam and preparing to become a coach.
In 2007, after the end of that season, Kaka, myself and Ronaldo won the top three places in the FIFA World Player of the Year award respectively.
And that was also the last year before the Melo era began.
Only 17 years have passed, and now I am 36 years old. I am still chasing myself, but the object of my pursuit is the same as myself back then, also 19 years old, and also on the road to creating a generation of superstars.
Messi reminded Marcos Alonso that he should not have bent down and used clever tricks just now, and he must be tougher. Then he walked to the center circle and looked back at Chen Xiaoliang who was jogging back.
He understood that his era would eventually come to an end, and perhaps the child in front of him would soon begin his own era.
"Beep!" The referee whistled, Messi kicked off and the game continued.
After conceding the goal, Barcelona further strengthened its control of the ball and the arrangement of the players left in the back row to avoid being quickly counterattacked by Manchester United.
Despite being significantly behind in ball possession, Ten Hag was not in a hurry. Instead, he took today's game as an advance rehearsal for the new season against Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Practice the overall defense, pressure and counterattack organization in the backcourt when the opponent has extreme ball control.
The first half ended quickly with Barcelona's hypnotic possession of the ball. They also faced the problem of their offensive combination running-in, but they were unable to score after creating several shooting opportunities.
In the second half, both sides replaced a group of players at the same time.
Barcelona replaced Pedri, Gundogan and Kounde with Ousmane Dembele, Kessie and Roberto.
Manchester United replaced Lindelof, Lima, Wan Bissaka and Rashford with Maguire, Varane, Dalot and Cesco.
Not only were there changes in personnel, but there were also changes in tactics after the opening.
Manchester United first launched a high-pressure defense. Kva, Anthony, Cesco and Chen Xiaoliang ran wildly in Barcelona's midfield and backcourt. Casemiro, B Fee, and the full-backs on both sides also moved forward, compressing Barcelona's passing routes and space.
In this situation, Messi and Frenkie de Jong, who retreated significantly, played a huge role.
One of them runs back and forth, acting as a forward passing point for the player with the ball in the backcourt at any time, while the other one constantly coordinates the transfer of the ball in the frontcourt, acting as a safe point for receiving the ball in the backcourt.
Although Xavi's coaching of this team has not yet reached the level of Guardiola's era, he has fully instilled his ideas and tactics. Otherwise, they would not have become the team with the fewest goals conceded in the top five leagues last season, averaging less than 0.5 goals per game in 38 league games.
Under Manchester United's continued high-pressure pressing, relying on the delicate technology and skillful tactical coordination in the midfield and backcourt, although there were many dangerous situations, they did not lose the ball. Messi also made a long diagonal pass directly to Dembele who was offside on the left.
Dembele, who was full of energy, ran wildly, and Dalot, who was retreating, couldn't stop him at all. Dembele ran into the penalty area on the left side of Manchester United in just two or three runs.
The one defending this route in the second half happened to be the famous Maguire. If it was a tall striker, he might have been able to do it, but he met the fast and agile Dembele. The Frenchman made a feint to the right and changed direction to the left to pass Maguire, then pushed the ball across the goal and assisted Lewandowski to score.
After conceding the goal, Manchester United continued to press high and Xavi did not make any substitutions, as if the head coaches of both teams consciously changed their playing styles to test their teams' ability to withstand pressure and implement tactics.
At the 65th minute, the score was still 1-1, and the coaches of both teams replaced all the remaining starting players, including Messi and Chen Xiaoliang.
Among the players that Manchester United replaced was 18-year-old Kobe Mainu, and Xavi brought on 16-year-old Lamine Yamal to replace Messi.
From then on, the game became a training ground for young people and substitutes. In the end, both sides scored a goal each, with Ganacho and Ferran Torres, and the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
After the game, an excited Ganacho rushed to Messi to ask for a jersey, and Messi met the request of his fellow countryman.
Messi, shirtless, waited for Chen Xiaoliang in the player tunnel and went up to shake hands with him.
Chen Xiaoliang thought Messi was going to say a few polite words to congratulate him on scoring a goal, but he didn't expect the old king to directly say: "There's a good pizza restaurant nearby, do you want to go?"
Chen Xiaoliang's eyes widened and he laughed: "No problem, I'll tell the head coach."
Ten Hag, who has extremely strict requirements on team discipline, gave Chen Xiaoliang the green light.
In this game, Chen Xiaoliang played for 65 minutes, scored 1 goal, made 4 steals, 3 interceptions, 3 headers, and 3 successful dribbles. With this perfect performance on both offense and defense, coupled with the invitation from Messi, he had enough reasons to give the green light.
So, the bus carried the other people, and Barcelona arranged vehicles and security guards specifically for Messi and Chen Xiaoliang, disguised as social vehicles and went to their shop. After a while, Xavi also came.
In the game, he and Messi are coach and player, but in life , they are former teammates, more like friends or brothers.
Chen Xiaoliang chatted with the two of them for a long time in Spanish, listening to Messi share his experience in the World Cup and his time in Rome, and also listened to Xavi's comments on the strength of the current European giants.
It was 1 a.m., but this time seemed late. In fact, it gets dark at 10 a.m. in Barcelona in July, so 1 a.m. was not too late. After all, the game just ended at more than 11 a.m.
The special car first sent Chen Xiaoliang back to the hotel where he was staying. Before parting, Messi waved to his little brother and said, "See you in Paris in October."
Chen Xiaoliang knew he was talking about the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, so he waved his hand to indicate OK, and then said goodbye to the two.
The car started again and Harvey asked, "What do you think?"
Messi smiled faintly: "The era of young people is about to come."
