There were no more twists and turns in the first half. At the end of the first half, when Chen Xiaoliang and his teammates were walking towards the player tunnel, he saw Gavi approaching and said in Spanish: "Okay! Attack like this! If we attack like this, they will be finished!"
When Gavi heard this, he knew that Chen Xiaoliang was mocking what he had said before, "Okay! Just defend like this! If you defend like this, they'll be finished!" Gavi, feeling slapped in the face, turned around and glared at Chen Xiaoliang and the Manchester United players around him, but he could do nothing.
The thing that pretenders to be cool fear the most is saying the harshest words and receiving the most severe beating.
If we want to get back on track, we can only wait until the score is even in the second half.
However, unlike Gavi who dared not speak out, Chen Xiaoliang only felt that someone reached out and grabbed his left shoulder and pushed him to the side.
At first he thought a teammate was going to stand next to him, but when he turned around he saw that it was Lewandowski who used both hands to push Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco, who was walking side by side with him on his left, apart and walked between the two of them. He did not forget to look back at Chen Xiaoliang coldly, and then quickly walked into the player tunnel.
It seemed that he was standing up for Gavi, but in fact he was venting his anger for himself.
Lewandowski was of course angry.
Although the Lewandowski of this world won the coveted Ballon d'Or in 2020 and won the World Footballer of the Year twice in 2020 and 2021, he still left Bayern Munich, which supported him, and went to Barcelona, ​​which he had always dreamed of.
The reason? Like him in "that world", he felt that he lost to Messi in 2021 because his club was not good at packaging and marketing.
You know, the Bayern of "that world" hasn't had a Ballon d'Or winner for more than 40 years.
But everyone saw what happened later. Is Lewandowski closer to the Ballon d'Or after going to Barcelona?
No, Benzema next door has won the ball-shaped trophy, and Lewandowski is only ranked fourth, not even in the top three.
The Polish striker was actually opposed to Messi's loan return to Barcelona, ​​but his opposition was not as serious as before.
The reason for the opposition is that "there is no room for two tigers in one mountain". If Messi comes, he can only be the second brother.
He was against it but not that much because whether Messi came or not, he knew he had no chance to compete for the Ballon d'Or again.
The younger generations have risen at an astonishing rate.
He is a very obvious but reasonable egoist.
Before 2021, Lewandowski, as the captain of the Polish national team, had never voted for Messi in the FIFA World Footballer of the Year award . The German media at the time also criticized Messi because he voted for his teammates Neymar and Mbappe.
Interestingly, in the 2022 vote, Lewandowski voted for Ronaldo and was the only one who voted for Ronaldo.
He probably forgot that in the "Factos" incident, the post in which Ronaldo liked a fan's criticism of the top five Ballon d'Or winners also focused on Lewandowski, who was eliminated in the European Cup group stage.
Or maybe he hasn't forgotten, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Those who are involved are confused, and those who care too much are confused. Perhaps these words are more appropriate to describe him.
Despite scoring numerous goals and winning many championships at Bayern, what is interesting is that when people talk about the third man after Messi and Ronaldo, there have been Bale, Neymar, Hazard, Suarez, and many others, but few seem to mention him.
Even when discussing the ranking of center forwards in the past decade, not only is Suarez, who has fewer championships and personal honors than him, ranked ahead, but Benzema, who has not served as a main attacker for a long time, is not far behind. Even Ibrahimovic, who has never won the Champions League and has no major personal honors, seems to be no worse than him.
If we look further ahead, Van Basten, Van Nistelrooy, Henry, Shevchenko, it seems that when these names are taken out, the brilliance of the six words "Lewandowski" will immediately become much dimmer, not to mention the two unsurpassed figures - Gerd Muller and Ronaldo.
In fact, he really didn't understand one thing. In football, there is no absolute relationship between awards and historical status, but it has a lot to do with whether the fans like you and recognize you.
Just look at the status of Michael Owen, who won the Ballon d'Or, and Ibrahimovic, who did not, in the history of football.
Da Fengxian, who has been pretending to be cool all his life, has made many players who have won the Golden Ball pale in comparison with his magical balls, violent long shots, rebellious character and domineering quotes.
Owen went to Real Madrid to pursue his dream and to Manchester United for the Premier League championship, which offended all the Liverpool fans, and Liverpool fans are his mass base.
How many Real Madrid and Manchester United fans would regard Owen as a legend of their team? You can see that Beckham has left excellent marks in Real Madrid, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Los Angeles Galaxy, and in the end he will still be seen as a symbol of Manchester United.
In addition, with the advent of the Internet age, unless there is a clear gap in hard currency such as honors and data, like Messi who scored 91 goals in 69 games in a single year, and Ronaldo who won three consecutive Champions Leagues, which are no-brainer results, when the gap between the award candidates is very close, it becomes very important for the club and the media to incite fans and public opinion.
After all, the judges are also human beings, with their own preferences, emotions, and are influenced by others. What's more, 25% of the weight of the World Footballer of the Year selection is given to fans to vote.
There is nothing wrong with competing for honors these days, but doing it too openly, making shocking statements and taking actions off the field for the sake of honor, is easy to attract criticism, especially by hostile fans, who will seize on it, magnify it infinitely, and use it as a black history to "whip the corpse" again and again year after year.
This is true for "Factos", the brotherly basketball and "I am the GOAT" on the other side of the ocean, and also for Lewandowski who went on strike in Dortmund in order to go to Bayern and publicly forced Bayern to step down in order to go to Barcelona.
What would the Bayern fans who supported him the most when he won the Ballon d'Or think of it now? I'm afraid it would be mixed at best.
So after so many years of twists and turns, he finally accepted the reality, but the anger in his heart was still there.
If they can't do it to Messi, then they will naturally do it to the new double-title winner Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang shook off Lewandowski's hand, and the cameramen nearby immediately surrounded him. The staff at the player's passage quickly separated the two and calmed down an unnecessary disturbance as soon as possible.
Back in the locker room, Ten Hag praised the team's performance.
No one could stop Messi's world-class free kick, but in the positional defense, although there were some dangerous moments, the fact was that no goal was lost.
Chen Xiaoliang came in from the defensive midfielder position, with one assist and one shot, creating two goals in a single game to complete the "minimum consumption", and also proved that he can still play an offensive role in important games even if he is left behind.
But what’s interesting is that when Ten Hag asked Chen Xiaoliang if he wanted a position change in the second half, Chen Xiaoliang directly refused.
At the end of the half-time match, Ten Hag was the first to return to the locker room to prepare the tactical board. He did not see the little episode between Chen Xiaoliang and Lewandowski, so he was a little surprised why Chen Xiaoliang seemed to be emotional even though he was playing smoothly and well.
But soon, when the second half of the game started, he understood.
Barcelona kicked off, Frenkie de Jong made a long pass, the ball passed between Milinkovic-Savic and Casemiro, and rolled in front of Lewandowski who was pressing forward.
Lewandowski went forward to chase the ball, but Varane didn't expect that the two midfielders failed to stop the ball, and he didn't have time to move sideways, so he could only use his strength to intercept it.
Lewandowski was ready to catch up with the ball and shoot directly. With his shooting skills, as long as there was no one in front of him, he could shoot directly within a range of 35 meters, not to mention that he was already close to the top of the penalty area.
Just as he caught up with the ball, running and adjusting his pace, swinging his right foot back and accumulating strength to shoot, Chen Xiaoliang flashed at high speed from his right side, with his left foot in front and his right leg bent behind, and made a tackle on the penalty area line!
Zhan Jun: "Wow! Xiaoliang tackled Lewandowski on the penalty area line, Lewandowski was tripped and fell forward into the penalty area!"
"Pedri and Güler behind immediately ran to the referee Marciniak and asked him for a penalty!"
"Lewandowski fell in the penalty area in pain, covering his right calf."
Zhan Jun: "The referee didn't say anything! He put his hands forward to signal the game to continue!"
"Watch the slow motion... Xiaoliang's legs were both on the ground, and his left foot not only touched the ball first, but also pressed the ball under his leg."
"Lewandowski's kick was hit by Xiaoliang's back and he fell forward. According to the rules, this was an indisputable clean tackle."
Zhang Lu: "This goal is really a bold move by a skilled player... I don't know what happened between the two during the halftime break, but they must have had a grudge against each other."
"Hahaha, Lewandowski jumped up from the penalty area again and ran towards the referee."
Zhan Jun: "This situation is often called a medical miracle by fans! It seems that the Polish striker is very dissatisfied with the referee's decision!"
On the court, before he got up from the ground, Chen Xiaoliang poked the ball under his thigh to Varane next to him, and Varane immediately passed the ball forward.
At this time, he ran forward and saw Lewandowski "instantly recovered" and ran to the referee and shouted to him, "Hey!"
Lewandowski turned around and saw Chen Xiaoliang making a mouth gesture with his right thumb and other four fingers, then opening and closing them to mean "shut up".
Lewandowski responded directly with the verbal "Shut up!"
In the frontcourt, Anthony's dribbling ball was knocked out of bounds by Balde. The referee Marciniak called Lewandowski and Chen Xiaoliang to his side and asked them to control their emotions and not to have verbal and gestural conflicts on the court.
Chen Xiaoliang smiled and said politely, "Okay, Mr. Referee, but please watch carefully later. I will tackle him again because I'm afraid he will dive."
Lewandowski got angry instantly: "Who the hell do you think you are?"
“Beep, beep, beep!”
Marciniak warned the two that if they quarreled again, he would play cards directly.
Chen Xiaoliang smiled and nodded at him, then turned around and ran back, but pointed his right index finger at Lewandowski and pointed at the name "CHEN XL" above the ball behind him.
Lewandowski was already angry. If he could win the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year in those two years, his status in football would be very different, and he could also get a big contract at the end of his career to secure his future life.
But now it's completely gone.
He was tackled just now, which not only made him extremely embarrassed, but also ruined a very sure scoring opportunity. Now he was verbally belittled by the young man who "robbed" him of his Golden Ball. Even his teammates at Barcelona could feel that he was furious.
Messi watched everything with a frown and his hands on his hips. He felt that there was something wrong, but did not want to speak out to interfere.
He had not forgotten how Lewandowski had mocked him at that time. Now they were teammates again, and the other player was also a two-time World Footballer of the Year. If he tried to educate him, the arrogant Lewandowski would probably think, "Are you teaching me how to do things?"
He also knew that Chen Xiaoliang was deliberately provoking Lewandowski.
Some people will explode when they are angered, while others will lose their composure in the heat of the moment.
But they didn't realize that there was another person on the court who was also angry.
In the 51st minute, Luke Shaw made a long pass, and Cesco used a rare force to knock down Kounde in the confrontation, and was called for a foul.
Cesco argued with Marciniak for a few words, implying that he had not committed a foul, but Casemiro came forward to persuade him.
Although Cesco stopped talking, he did not pay attention to Casemiro, which surprised the latter.
You know, in the team, Cesco is famous for his humility and respect for veteran players.
Although he is the starting center forward in most games, he is polite when he sees Rashford, Benzema, and even Sancho, and he never complains even when he is rotated as a substitute.
Casemiro also asked: "Benjamin? Is he okay?"
Cesco waved his hand, but his eyes were still on Barcelona's two central defenders.
Three minutes later, Messi took the ball from the right and cut inside. Before Chen Xiaoliang could pounce, he took a long shot. The inside of his foot went into the far corner, but the ball went wide of the post.
Three minutes later, Güler received the ball on the left and cooperated with Pedri's short pass, then he moved inside to receive Pedri's two-pass return pass, and passed the ball directly to Balde who was on the left. Balde made a cross, and Lewandowski headed the ball high due to Lima's interference.
Both of them fell down after competing for the header, and their feet were entangled together. As a result, the two people lying on the ground pushed each other, and Lewandowski once again uttered the "greeting word". Lima had a bad temper. He stood up a step late and was about to hit Lewandowski's chin with his head, but was immediately pulled away by Luke Shaw on the side.
The two sides exchanged blows, and Barcelona, ​​who fell behind in the second half, obviously increased the pace of attack.
Their goal is to win as many games as possible at home so that they have enough room to go into the second leg at Old Trafford.
But the 1 to 2 on the scoreboard stimulated everyone from coaches, players to fans.
In the 67th minute, Xavi replaced Güler with Ousmane Dembélé as the backup card kept until now, and also swapped the positions of Kounde, who played as a central defender, and Araujo, who played as a full-back.
And Frenkie de Jong almost no longer plays as a central defender, and Barcelona has completely changed to a three-central defender formation.
Kova gradually adapted to Araujo's defensive style on the left, but he didn't expect Xavi to let Kounde defend him instead.
This is also a variable for Xavi before the game. Since last season, Kounde has appeared more frequently at right-back.
On the sidelines, another central defender Christensen was already warming up.
Ten Hag also made a substitution two minutes later. He replaced Anthony with Dalot, letting the right-back play as a right winger, but actually as a right midfielder, to help Wan Bissaka deal with Ousmane Dembele who had just come on the field.
At the same time, Benzema was also warming up, but what was rare was that Cesco, who was always "well-behaved", took the initiative to make a right hand pressing gesture to Ten Hag, which meant that he did not want to leave the field and wait for substitutions.
Benzema, who had lost all desire and was enjoying football, was not angry. He smiled and said to Ten Hag: "Coach, he is very motivated. Let him play for a while longer. Maybe he will score."
Seeing that Benzema had no objection, Ten Hag delayed the substitution.
As the saying goes, the worst thing is that the chef stops reading the recipe and starts reading the art of war. Tonight, the scapegoat is no longer the scapegoat, but has turned into a prophet.
In the 74th minute, Barcelona besieged the frontcourt. The ball was passed back and forth between Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Gundogan and Gavi, and occasionally passed forward to Messi who was in an erratic position. However, they were restrained by Chen Xiaoliang who was following him closely, and they could not move forward further.
Seeing this, Lineker, the super "Messi fan" in the Sky Sports live broadcast room, asked Henry and Ferdinand, if Messi was 10 years younger, could he easily pass Chen Xiaoliang?
Ferdinand: "I don't know about Messi at 27, but I know Messi at 24 in 2011... you know, that was the year we lost the second final to Barcelona."
"I can only say this: if the Manchester United of today had met the Barcelona of that time, Chen probably wouldn't have been able to defend Messi to the point where he looked ineffective, because Messi at that time was not only strong himself, but also had Villa and Pedro who could constantly pull him around, as well as Xavi and Iniesta who were also at their peak. Unless there were two or three Chens, plus Casemiro, Lima, Varane and so on, it would have been impossible to cut off the connection between them."
Henry: "Wait, you mean the 2010-11 Barcelona team was better than the 2008-09 team I was in?"
Ferdinand was stunned, and then the other guests in the broadcast room laughed.
Ferdinand: "Of course! Hahaha! They've become stronger because you left. Who will replace you as the main player? Let me think... Oh! It's Pedro! Hahaha."
Henry smiled bitterly: "Okay, I admit that the other team is indeed stronger."
"But I want to ask, what you just said is that if we don't consider other teammates, one-on-one, can Chen defend against Messi that year?"
Ferdinand pouted, and after a while he said, "I think it's possible. At least it can minimize Messi's threat."
Henry and Lineker: "Oh, Kang Mang baby, stop talking nonsense. Messi was invincible in those years."
Gary Neville: "And then Bayern Munich beat us 7-0 in two rounds?"
The broadcast room erupted in laughter again.
Henry waved his hand: "Whatever you say, otherwise I would not be here at that time."
Gary Neville said seriously: "I just want to ask one question, if Anderson or Park Ji-sung in the 2010-11 Manchester United midfielder was replaced by Chen Xiaoliang, who do you think would win?"
The broadcast room fell silent. Henry and Lineker looked at each other, not knowing how to answer.
The old coach Capello, who had not participated in their discussion, said: "Then I choose Manchester United."
Ferdinand: "Come on! Answer me now! Tell me the answer now!"
Lineker: "Gary may be right. Back then, Heynckes' Bayern relied on resolute and quick counterattacks to beat their opponents to the ground. If that Manchester United team had Chen in the midfield, not only would their defensive ability be greatly improved, but the efficiency and threat of counterattacks would also increase sharply."
A group of people were chatting while Barcelona on the field kept passing the ball forward, then when they realized there was no chance, they passed the ball backwards.
Ousmane Dembélé, who came on the pitch, was defended by two full-backs and for a moment he couldn't find his sharp breakthrough feeling, and he even had difficulty catching the ball.
The pragmatic Ten Hag does not seek a big win away from home. Even a draw will give Manchester United a huge advantage when they return to their home court for the second game.
In the end, the young people couldn't stand the loneliness.
In the 76th minute, Gavi dribbled the ball from the right and pushed it with his right foot, penetrating the Manchester United defense and passing it to Lewandowski.
Lewandowski made a run forward, but halfway through the ball, Chen Xiaoliang, who had been keeping an eye on Lewandowski, made a sliding tackle and intercepted it.
Chen Xiaoliang stood up with his hands before he finished sliding, and then accelerated forward instantly.
Messi wanted to come over and steal the ball, but Chen Xiaoliang's explosive power was too strong. Messi left Chen Xiaoliang behind before he could even get close to him, let alone stretch his foot.
"Double-team! Double-team!"
Xavi on the sidelines shouted anxiously. In order to pressure and control the ball, the three central defenders were all moved to the center line. In this situation, Chen Xiaoliang started to run. You can imagine how dangerous it was just by thinking with your toes.
It was too late to retreat across the board, not to mention that Cesco, who was in the front without the ball, was already running forward with Araujo.
At this time, Xavi shouted to all the players in the midfield to double-team him. Even if Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball, the threat would be greatly reduced as long as the ball was not under his feet.
Pedri came up, but his speed and resistance were not enough to stop Chen Xiaoliang who was advancing at high speed. His shoulder rubbed Chen Xiaoliang's left arm, and Chen Xiaoliang ran forward without moving. Pedri himself was knocked around like a top and fell to the ground.
Chen Xiaoliang approached the center line.
Then there were Frenkie de Jong and Gundogan who retreated to form a blocking force on the left and right.
The attitude these two are showing is that they will never let you pass even if they pull you hard.
Chen Xiaoliang cut to the front left, but the sufficient distance gave Frenkie de Jong and Gundogan enough time to retreat and move horizontally, continuing to block Chen Xiaoliang's direction of advance.
Chen Xiaoliang was waiting, his eyes constantly looking at the two people in front of him and the ball under his feet, but what he was really paying attention to was the front!
1 meter...
2 meters...
3 meters...
4 meters...
Chen Xiaoliang, who was moving diagonally forward, was calculating the distance , but it was not his own distance.
“Okay!”
He suddenly slowed down, hit the ball hard with the inside of his right big toe and the front of his arch, and kicked the ball directly from the right side of the center circle to the left side of Barcelona's penalty area!
Araujo, who changed to play as a central defender, has been stuck inside Cesco. He watched the trajectory of the ball while keeping a close eye on Cesco's running route.
"Don't let him get inside, don't let him squeeze in!"
When the ball was about to drop, he was basically calm.
"He passed the ball so far out. Not to mention whether he could catch such a heavy ball, even if he did, I blocked the shooting space. There was no one else in the penalty area except him, and there was no one to pass the ball to. There was no chance of this ball."
Just as Araujo calmly turned around to face Cesco and prepared to make the next defensive move, the 20-year-old Slovenian striker kicked with his right foot, jumped slightly, and swung the inner foot of his left foot towards the falling ball!
"What?!"
"WHAT?!"
"What?"
"Was?"
"Quoi?"
At that moment, fans around the world watching the game exclaimed at the same time!
What is this kid trying to do? !
Cesco had a lot of energy and fire in his heart, and it seemed that all of it burst out at this moment!
He volleyed the ball with his left foot towards the far corner!
Ter Stegen was stunned for a moment, then immediately dived to the left side of the goal, but the ball flew past his eyes and hit the side net on the inside of the goal!
"Wow!!!"
"Wow!!!!!!"
In the stands, all 5,000 Manchester United fans who came on the expedition jumped up! The Manchester United players on the bench also raised their hands high, stood up from their chairs and cheered loudly!
Ten Hag touched his bald head and shook his head in disbelief, while Benzema, who was standing next to him, patted him on the back with his right hand and said, "I told you, this kid is holding it in."
After scoring the goal, Cesco ran madly towards the Manchester United fans and hugged them to celebrate. The security guards on the side were extremely nervous and immediately surrounded them and pushed away the fans who rushed over from the upper stands.
The other teammates also gathered around and threw themselves behind Cesco.
Zhan Jun: "1-3, two magical goals, the Camp Nou seems destined to be lost, and the second round will be moved to Old Trafford. With Barcelona's current tactical ability, the result may not change much."
"We have to say that this may really be the last Champions League game for the old king Messi."
"Lewandowski is 35 years old, Messi is 37 years old, and the corresponding ones are Cesco, 20 years old, and Chen Xiaoliang, 19 years old!"
"This is the inevitable law of the replacement of the old and the new in football, but Barcelona fans don't need to be discouraged. Pedri, Gavi and Dembele are also the future of Camp Nou."
"I hope Barcelona can find their next Messi soon."
Chen Xiaoliang: "You kid, I know you were upset but didn't vent it out just now."
Cesco knew that Chen Xiaoliang understood him best. He had always respected Lewandowski, but the other party just had to come over and push him aside to move forward.
Being polite does not mean being tolerant. Even though he is a young center forward, he wants to prove himself in a football temple like Camp Nou!
On the football field, defenders and midfielders can fight back against their opponents with fierce interceptions and heading, but the best way for forwards to fight back is to score goals to secure victory and completely defeat their opponents!
The retired Ibrahimovic was also watching the game at home. As a legendary player, he saw that Cesco was emotional in the second half.
So he wrote on his personal social media:
"I heard that this kid's idol is me. Well, this goal is beautiful. From now on, I allow him to regard God as his idol."
With the loss now inevitable, Barcelona fans were furious on the screen:
[Can Laporta please get out! No signings in the summer, Messi for free, Gundogan for free, and the only player they spent money on is a young player like Güler, what can they do to compete in the Champions League? ! ]
[Pull the dog to hang, no change for a hundred years! 】
[Benzema changed teams at 35 and retired, but Lewandowski is still the absolute main force here at 35 ]
[This offense, this defense, they deserved to lose! ]
[Why didn’t Benzema play just now? I saw him standing on the sidelines…]
【It’s all Benzema’s fault! 】
…
Cesco walked back to the half court, and Lewandowski, with an unhappy look on his face, was ready to kick off.
Seth Kexue imitated what Chen Xiaoliang did just now, turned around, turned his back to Lewandowski, and pointed to the number and name behind him.
Lewandowski was instantly irritated and greeted Cesco, but the referee was nearby and he couldn't use words containing the word "mom".
“Beep!”
Referee Marciniak gave Cesco and Lewandowski a yellow card each.
Three minutes later, Lewandowski received a pass from Ousmane Dembele on the left side of the ribs, and tried to stop and get rid of the ball before shooting from the penalty area line.
In the second half, without saying anything to anyone, Chen Xiaoliang just stared at Lewandowski and tackled him head-on again, knocking him to the ground with the ball.
This time, Lewandowski, who didn't roll around, seemed to be really injured.
Casemiro came over and excitedly pushed Chen Xiaoliang. Playing against Barcelona, ​​whether in Real Madrid or Manchester United, was the most enjoyable thing for him: "Chen, you are especially hard today!"
Chen Xiaoliang looked back at Lewandowski who was lying on the ground, then turned and gave Casemiro a bright smile.