Chapter 416 I am me, not the second one, I am the first one
After Barcelona took the lead by one goal , they controlled the ball more tightly.
This is also the style of football that La Masia has always cultivated, with a ball possession rate of 60% versus 40%, and the advantage is in my hands.
Although Barcelona is leading the league and Champions League in terms of ball possession this season after the arrival of Messi and Gundogan, and with the natural understanding of passing and controlling football by young player Güler, their biggest gap from their peak team is their ability to recover after losing the ball.
The most frustrating thing for the team facing Barcelona at that time was that after getting the ball, they might not be able to pass the ball three times before being surrounded and pressed by Barcelona on the spot.
This is not only related to the ability of this group of Barcelona players, but also related to the increasing popularity and widespread use of high-pressure tactics in recent years. Many teams in the league will often encounter opponents who insist on playing high-pressure and forming pressure at high positions. Whether it is three central positions, wing-backs, double defensive midfielders or the fulcrum striker retreating, or even the goalkeeper passing the ball, today's football already has enough mature tactics to deal with high-pressure.
So even though Manchester United only had 40% of the ball possession, their number of shots was no less than Barcelona.
This brings us to Cesco, the tall and strong player at the forefront of Manchester United's offensive line.
In the 21st minute, Chen Xiaoliang received the ball in the backcourt and advanced forward. He walked along the left side of the midfield. Casemiro moved to the right, while Milinkovic wandered behind Cesco.
Behind Chen Xiaoliang, Messi was chasing over to harass him, and Pedri was already standing in front of him.
One is the contemporary football king, the other is the new golden boy. Although neither of them is physically strong nor good at confrontation, their pressing awareness and footwork frequency are very fast.
Chen Xiaoliang didn't want to get entangled with them and waste offensive opportunities. He raised his left foot and pushed the ball forward with force. Cesco, who had just made a sprint forward to counter offside, suddenly retreated, leaving Kounde, who had made an emergency defensive move and was now left with a confused look on his face.
Normally I would pretend to retreat and receive the ball before suddenly running back to attack. How come this guy was offside and almost got rid of me, but then ran back?
Conde naturally didn't understand, because the killer move of this attack was not in the front, but in the back!
When Chen Xiaoliang passes the ball, he not only looks at Cesco's running position, but also the running positions of the midfielder and wingers. The two midfielders also make choices based on the running of their teammates, whether to go forward to support or to move away to create space.
Cesco's previous move not only pulled Kounde back, but also moved the entire defensive line towards Barcelona's penalty area. At this time, he retreated and jumped lightly, heading the ball back, just like Chen Xiaoliang received Benzema's header and passed it back in the previous game. Milinkovic-Savic behind him was in position immediately, and he received the ball without any adjustment and shot directly from a long distance!
The instep of the foot hits hard, without any arc!
Zhan Jun: "Front court...direct long shot!"
"This ball... Ter Stegen made a great save!"
"He turned sideways and blocked the ball just below the crossbar!"
Zhang Lu: "Oh, that's a great save."
"Milinkovic's playing quality was very high and his speed was not slow."
Zhan Jun: "The little lion kept Barcelona's goal clean sheet. Last season, they kept 26 clean sheets in 38 league games and conceded 20 goals. This season, they kept 20 clean sheets in 28 league games and conceded 15 goals."
"But Yu is considered the successor to Oliver Kahn and has always been called the little lion. He will be 33 in a month, but he has been Neuer's substitute in the German national team most of the time."
Zhang Lu: "It all depends on this year's European Cup. Neuer is 38 years old and in good shape."
Manchester United won a corner kick on the left side.
This is the important offensive method they are advocating today.
In terms of height, Varane, Milinkovic-Savic, Cesco and Casemiro all have the ability and capital to compete for headers in the penalty area , and their confrontation ability is also very good.
However, Chen Xiaoliang did not press forward, which made Barcelona's defense feel a little more at ease.
Kva took a corner kick from the left and went straight to the back post. Milinkovic-Savic jumped at the back post and De Jong had no way to deal with him. In the end, his direct header from a small angle hit the side net, but it still shocked the entire Camp Nou and caused an "Oh!" exclamation.
Things are different now. Last season, the two teams met in the Europa League round of 16 knockout play-offs. At that time, Barcelona, who was leading the La Liga league by a large margin, lost 3-4 to Manchester United in two rounds.
Now the lineups of both sides have changed. Apart from the biggest signings Messi and Chen Xiaoliang, Barcelona only has the old and young Gundogan and Güler, while Manchester United has Cesco, Kva, Timber, Milinkovic-Savic, Livakovic and many others.
The overall strength is not close, but rather feels like the gap is widening.
Therefore, the home fans at Camp Nou came to watch the game tonight with a nervous mood. Every time Manchester United, who is undefeated and temporarily ranked first in the Premier League, attacks the front court and shoots, they will sweat for their own team.
Milinkovic-Savic's shot missed, Barcelona made a short pass to the goal, and continued to control the ball with precise and fast short passes, keeping the possession rate above 60%.
In the 32nd minute, Barcelona passed the ball among multiple players in a small area on the right.
The ball was passed from Araujo to Gavi on the side. Before Luke Shaw jumped up, Gavi passed the ball to Pedri who came over to support.
Casemiro tried to stick to Pedri, who received the ball, pulled it and turned around, then passed it to Gundogan in the middle.
Milinkovic, who was blocking Gundogan, just stretched his foot forward to press, but Gundogan took two steps diagonally to the right front and then passed the ball back to Gavi on the right.
Zhan Jun: "Zhang Zhi thinks that the current Barcelona's passing and controlling ability is still far behind Guardiola's Cosmopolitan team at that time?"
Zhang Lu: "In terms of pure passing and controlling, I don't think there is much difference. Although there were Xavi, Alessandro Busquets back then, the current Gundogan, De Jong, Pedri and Gavi may have less honors and status than the previous three. After all, those players have won all the team honors, but in terms of footwork, there is really not much difference."
"But the real difference is not in passing and controlling the ball, but in the sudden pass during the control, the fatal pass. There is still a clear gap in this."
"I remember someone used a term to describe that Barcelona team, which was 'hypnotic football'. Sometimes they had more than 75% possession of the ball in a game. The ball was passed back and forth between the midfield and the backcourt, and even the spectators in the stands felt sleepy watching it."
"But it was in this drowsy rhythm that Messi, Iniesta, Pedro and later Villa made a run without the ball and the midfielder immediately delivered a fatal pass, completely breaking the opponent's defense."
"But this Barcelona team has the ball, but you can see that the connection between the midfield and the forwards is not very much. Lewandowski is a little bit out of the midfield, and Messi passes the ball to him more often."
"In addition, Xavi did not start Dembele today to ensure control of the midfield. Although Güler has great skills, he has almost no ability to break through. He also did not move on the wing, so the flanks on both sides basically did not create any pressure for Manchester United's full-backs."
While Zhang Lu was speaking, Gavi got the ball again and advanced to the right flank, attracting double-teaming from Luke Shaw and Casemiro. He immediately pushed the ball, which passed by Casemiro and landed at the feet of Messi on the outside right side of the arc.
All the fans in the stadium immediately shouted and cheered. When Messi received the ball, the person defending him in front of him was Chen Xiaoliang!
Zhan Jun: "Let's look at this ball first..."
Messi received the ball with his left foot and took two small steps to the left front, but this tentative attacking step would not have any effect on the current Chen Xiaoliang, let alone the Chen Xiaoliang in Glasgow Rangers.
He knew that Messi might suddenly change direction at any time, and the attacking step in front of him was just to move his center of gravity backwards.
Sure enough, after taking a few steps to the left, Messi suddenly lowered his shoulders, which was his signature preparatory movement before changing direction. Then he pushed the ball to the front right with his left foot and accelerated suddenly.
The fans immediately shouted excitedly because Messi had already entered the attacking third zone.
Although the man marking was increased from 15 to 16 before the game, with Messi's absolute 20 ball control and dribbling ability, Chen Xiaoliang was completely unable to see Messi's next dribbling movement and direction.
But as the saying goes, young and strong are better than old ones. Chen Xiaoliang did not choose to step back to keep space to prevent being broken through. Instead, he took a quick step to the left and stuck to Messi.
The old king of football will be 37 years old in three months. Although he still maintains a good form, his burst, speed, change of direction, and confrontation ability have obviously declined.
If it was ten years ago when he was 27 years old, the defensive players would have to retreat while looking for opportunities if they wanted to stick to him, and they also had to be careful not to be like Boateng, who failed to find an opportunity and tripped and fell to the ground in a mess.
Now, facing Chen Xiaoliang, who will only be 20 years old in two months, is at the age of youth and passion, and whose physical fitness is still at the peak level, Messi himself knows that it will be difficult to get rid of him.
But his breakthrough was not a blind attempt, but an attempt to draw all the attention of Manchester United's defense to himself, just like a magician's misleading, what he shows you openly is not what he really wants you to see.
Suddenly, Messi stopped the ball and sent a curved pass to the left side of the penalty area with his left foot!
Varane, who was still paying attention to how Chen Xiaoliang defended Messi the moment before, only felt a gust of wind blowing past him. As an old central defender, he immediately turned around and retreated, as if everything was controlled by his body subconsciously.
But despite this, Lewandowski had already raised his head and aimed at the incoming pass, getting into a ready position for shooting.
In this world, there is no mask incident, and Lewandowski deservedly won the double awards of the Golden Ball and the World Footballer of the Year in 2020.
Although he and Messi competed fiercely when they were still at Bayern, times have changed and the two, now in the twilight of their careers, are determined to work together to add the last few trophies to their honor roll.
Zhan Jun: "Lewandowski! Small angle! Left foot!!!"
"Liva... Lima!"
"Wow! Manchester United almost lost the ball again, thanks to the connection between Messi and Lewandowski!"
"Lewandowski's left-footed volley shot towards the far corner, but Livakovic, who was standing in the near corner, touched the ball with his left hand and slowed it down a little. Lisandro Martinez, who retreated to the front of the goal, kicked the ball high into the air with his left foot, almost clearing it on the goal line!"
"Then Livakovic jumped up and grabbed the ball."
Zhang Lu: "Just now I said that Lewandowski is somewhat out of touch with Barcelona's midfield and frontcourt system, but we cannot ignore the role of Messi. Just now, under Xiaoliang's defense, the player suddenly retreated and passed the ball to the back post."
"The ability to break through, change direction and attack directly is weak, which can be compensated by set pieces, but Manchester United still needs to pay attention to the passing of the ball."
After passing the ball, Messi entered the penalty area and wanted to participate in the second attack. After seeing that his wonderful pass was blocked by his fellow countryman Lima, he specially shook hands with Lima after he stood up.
However, the next second, Livakovic, who had observed the ball for a while after receiving it, suddenly ran with the ball, then swung his arms vigorously and threw the ball to the front right!
Milinkovic received the ball with his back to the goal, turned around and passed the ball to Anthony who had already started along the right.
Balde rushed forward to press the ball. Anthony thought of the countless times Chen Xiaoliang glared at him during training . He immediately used his only usable leg and passed the ball to the front of the center.
“Whoosh!”
“Crack, crack, crack…”
Gundogan once again heard the horrible sounds that he had heard every time he closed his eyes for several nights after the Champions League final.
It was the sound of a person's clothes and trouser legs being blown by the wind as he flashed past him, and the friction sound of his feet with every step as they ran across the grass!
But the young and energetic Garvey had none of these emotions.
Although I have played against Chen Xiaoliang before, it was just a friendly match before the season. Everyone was mainly warming up, and the playing time was limited. They also had to prevent injuries, so they didn't play at their best.
This short midfielder, who is three months younger than Chen Xiaoliang and worth 100 million euros, was like a naturally indomitable bullfighter. He rushed towards Chen Xiaoliang from behind diagonally, and pointed to the defensive position on the other side, allowing Frenkie de Jong to get into position to form a double team.
Chen Xiaoliang knew Gavi's style. Despite his harmless young appearance, he was actually very ferocious. He received a yellow card every 3.5 games on average and committed countless fouls. He would never break the ball if he could, and would do so fiercely and without mercy if he had to.
But Chen Xiaoliang didn't have time to fight him one-on-one now, as Kva on the left, Cesco in front, Milinkovic-Savic and Anthony on the right back who were sensed by [Passive Skill LV1: Wider range of teammates' positions], and Casemiro on the left back had also moved forward.
All the players in the midfield and frontcourt have come up, and there are only four defenders in the backcourt. If something goes wrong, it will be too late to retreat to defend.
He made a bicycle kick with his left foot and pushed the ball to the front right with his right foot. Instead of going to the front left of Gavi's position, he chose to attack the side where Frenkie de Jong was defending.
Frankie de Jong immediately turned sideways to chase back, and the left-back Balde behind him also entered the penalty area.
In an instant, Gavi, Frankie de Jong and Balde surrounded Chen Xiaoliang in a big circle.
Chen Xiaoliang kicked the ball directly from the right side about 10 meters away from the penalty area!
Gavi and Frankie de Jong were so surprised to see him kick, hit the ball and tighten his abdomen in one go that their mouths opened in amazement!
It's spread now?
The ball flew to the penalty spot, Ter Stegen took two steps forward to catch the ball, but when the ball reached the highest point and began to fall, it turned and spun backwards.
Kva had already come from the side. He knew better than anyone else on earth where Chen Xiaoliang's pass would land. He only needed to step forward and kick to create the killing intent.
But he was unable to shake off Araujo as he rushed forward, and finally, when he was less than 2 meters away from the ball, he was unable to run at full speed because of the pressure from Araujo's body, and was rushed back by Kounde, who knocked the ball out of the baseline.
The linesman's flag pointed to the corner area and referee Marciniak awarded Manchester United a corner kick on the left side.
Seeing that Conde's defense was successful, Gavi shouted, "Good! Defend like this! If we defend like this, they will be finished!"
Chen Xiaoliang on the side ignored him and smiled coldly in his heart.
He knew that the young and energetic Gavi had deliberately shouted these words to him.
He understood this feeling.
Other opponents once told him, "Young man, don't be so impetuous."
But if you are not passionate, can you still be called a young person?
Kva took a corner kick from the left side, Cesco, Milinkovic-Savic and Casemiro were in the penalty area. Varane was almost attacked by Lewandowski from behind, so he chose to be safe and did not make a move.
Kva took a tactical corner kick and passed it directly to Chen Xiaoliang on the left side of the ribs.
Messi ran over, and Chen Xiaoliang started directly from the baseline, not giving Messi any chance to get close to him.
Gavi, who kept his eyes on Chen Xiaoliang, made up for him, with Araujo waiting for an opportunity to make up for him behind him, and Pedri and Gundogan on the penalty area line.
In this situation, no matter whether Chen Xiaoliang goes down the rim or cuts inside, there are layers of defense waiting for him.
But they didn’t know that Chen Xiaoliang didn’t see any of this.
He stopped suddenly and pulled the ball back a few steps. Gavi pushed forward, thinking that his defense was successful, and wanted to force Chen Xiaoliang into the small space on the sideline to make a shot.
In the penalty area, seeing that there was no attack from the wing, Manchester United players had already started running back, and Milinkovic-Savic and Casemiro were even ready to move back to participate in the organization.
But Chen Xiaoliang suddenly kicked the ball and used his right foot to pass a diagonal pass about 40 meters into the penalty area from the left sideline!
In the penalty area, Kounde stood in front of Cesco to defend the front point, Frenkie de Jong stood behind him to defend the back point, and Balde moved into the penalty area to act as a temporary central defender, but all three of them shifted their attention from the people in the penalty area when defending against corner kicks to Chen Xiaoliang after the corner kick was taken.
“How is this guy going to pass the ball?”
“Will he cut inside and shoot?”
"Or should we just force a pass from the bottom?"
"He is the most threatening player for Manchester United. We need to watch him carefully so that we can react immediately."
Almost all 11 players on the Barcelona field were thinking the same thing.
Chen Xiaoliang's cross was so fast and sharp that before they could react, it had already passed over Cesco's head and landed in front of the right side of the penalty spot!
Casemiro, who was just running back to rejoin the organization, had run back from behind Balde without him noticing when.
What he had to do was very simple. He watched the ball fall in front of him almost as accurately as if it had been calculated, and then he kicked it and hit it at the angle he thought it should go.
The distance was too close. Although Ter Stegen had made an extreme rescue reaction and leaned sideways to the right to save the ball, the ball still rolled into the goal line before he reached out his hand!
Zhan Jun: "This ball goes in! In the 35th minute, Manchester United tied the score to 1-1!"
"Xiao Liang made a cross from the left, Casemiro made a great run, the two midfielders connected and broke through the gate of Camp Nou!"
Zhang Lu: "We have witnessed this countless times in previous games and mentioned it countless times. If you want to use one person to defend Xiaoliang, it is equivalent to having no defense at all."
"The 40-meter fan-shaped area from the goal is within his shooting range. The entire half of the front court is within his long pass range. Moreover, the ball he just passed was not far from the left corner of the penalty area. Gavi was the only one on the Barcelona side who was watching him."
Zhan Jun: "Gavi has no other choice. He has already pressed forward, but he probably doesn't dare to rush for the ball. Once he gets close, it will be easy for Xiaoliang to pass him."
Zhang Lu: "This is because we haven't played enough games against each other and don't know Xiaoliang well enough. Look at the last game against West Ham, Moyes always let one person stick to Xiaoliang and another person was ready to make up for it at any time."
"If the person who was sticking to the opponent is passed by, the person waiting behind him will stick to the opponent immediately. The one who was passed by will get up and run back quickly, and then wait for his teammates to be passed by so that he can stick to the opponent again."
"Even if it means breaking a rule, we must find a way to stick to Xiao Liang."
"Xavi is playing health-preserving football at home, leaving space for Xiaoliang to display his abilities."
But no one expected that just three minutes after the boos at Camp Nou, Cesco's shot hit Kounde who was blocking the ball and bounced out of the bottom line, and Manchester United once again got a chance for a corner kick on the left side.
This time Manchester United pressed forward from all high points, but Chen Xiaoliang was dragged outside the penalty area and did not come up.
There was no one else around Kva, and this time it seemed that he was going to pass the ball directly into the penalty area and end the battle by heading the ball.
“Beep!”
Referee Marciniak blew the whistle, and Kva took a corner kick with the inside of his right foot!
The ball flew to the corner of the penalty area...
Still flying...
Flying over the restricted area line...
He didn't even turn inwards or turn towards the penalty area?!
You know, at this time there are 13 people standing in different positions in the penalty area, all waiting for the ball to land so as to carry out the next attack and defense.
At this moment, the eyes of these 13 people all followed the ball to the outside of the penalty area.
A man in red clothes, his clothes swaying as he ran with big strides, just like surging blood.
He stretched out his left arm to keep his body balanced, swung his right leg back, bent the bow and drew the arrow, and used all his strength to attack the ball that fell in front of him but had not yet touched the ground!
Things like [good at long-range shooting], [good at powerful shooting], strength 20, burst 20.
These are things that are triggered and used naturally in his blood, as natural as breathing.
“Bang!”
Like a heavy punch hitting the chest of Barcelona's home fans, the ball whizzed forward like a meteor.
Casemiro on the route quickly dodged sideways, and Frenkie de Jong, who was defending next to him, also subconsciously tilted his head.
In an instant, the most basic self-protection consciousness engraved in human genes played a prerequisite role.
Ter Stegen once again made an extreme save reaction, but just as he who was very outstanding happened to meet the even better Neuer, he who was at his best tonight happened to meet Chen Xiaoliang who was even more extreme than him.
Before the save was even started, the ball had already hit the net and bounced out...
Ter Stegen subconsciously held the ball with both hands...
But what greeted him was a second round of boos from Camp Nou, and the tragic scene of Manchester United players rushing towards Chen Xiaoliang in the penalty area to celebrate...
Messi looked at Anthony on the edge of the penalty area, with one hand on his waist and the other touching his beard, as if wondering why he was so old.
Zhan Jun: “Only three minutes have passed!”
"Xiaoliang completed an assist and a shot at Camp Nou!"
"In front of the King of Football Messi, the man who is best at resolving battles on his own, Xiaoliang used his dazzling individual performance to help Manchester United overtake the score!"
"I believe that after tonight, the question for fans will no longer be whether Xiaoliang can become the next king of football, but when he can become the next king of football!"
After scoring the goal, Chen Xiaoliang ran to the sidelines and did his signature jump and fist-pump celebration, then pointed specifically at a slogan he had noticed when entering the stadium.
"You are not the second so-and-so, you are the first Chen Xiaoliang!"
