Chapter 1019 The Powerful Barcelona

Chapter 1019 The Powerful Barcelona

Chapter 1019 The Powerful Barcelona

Messi's goal gave Barcelona a boost and, with the exception of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, everyone was more positive after the restart.

This also made Manchester City more uncomfortable.

Except for England's commentators, commentators from other countries are praising Barcelona's strength.

"...Although they lost the ball, you can't feel that they are really behind..."

"Barcelona is very confident in the football they play. They didn't panic after losing the ball, but played according to their established tactics... In the end, their persistence paid off. Messi equalized the score for the team! Although Messi scored the goal, Barcelona had completely controlled the situation on the field before Messi scored... Barcelona always profited from persistence. Cruyff created the La Masia tradition. But now Barcelona have shown the world that offense can win not only spectators, but also titles!"

"This is the best era since Barcelona was founded! This is the most powerful team in the world!" The Catalan commentator declared simply.

Even the Chinese commentator He Ping had to praise the strength of the Barcelona team and Messi's keen sense of smell in front of the ball.

This will certainly make those fans who support Rongguang unhappy, but these people are more worried, worried about Manchester City, and worried about Rongguang.

Of course, they hope that Glory can go further in the first season of returning to the Champions League. If possible, winning the championship is also excellent.

And after last season, Barcelona's status in the minds of domestic Chinese fans has become very controversial. Many people like this fantastic Barcelona team, but there are also many people who hate this Barcelona team, which is good at winning the championship with the help of "godfather".

Manchester City and Barcelona met. Except for domestic Barcelona fans, other fans overwhelmingly supported Manchester City.

Now hearing He Ping's constant praise of Barcelona, ​​many people vented their anger on He Ping. For a while, He Ping gained a lot of insulting nicknames on the Internet.

Now that Barcelona has equalized the score, and Barcelona has an overall advantage on the scene, how will Manchester City play the next game?

Especially after Barcelona almost scored again before the end of the first half, they were even more worried.

※※※

When the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, John Mortensen let out a sigh of relief: "The end of the game... no, the end of the first half!"

He accidentally said what was in his heart - he certainly hoped that the game would end here, at least Manchester City didn't lose at home...

"If there were 5 more minutes in the first half, it's hard to say whether the score would still be 1:1... After the goal, Barcelona's morale was boosted, and Manchester City was completely unable to lift their heads. Now I hope that Benitez will make some adjustments during the intermission..."

"I'm pessimistic. If Barcelona's strength can be achieved through some tactical adjustments, they won't be allowed to win the Six Championships last year..." Alan Hansen was a little pessimistic. "I even think that Benitez was wrong from the beginning. He made the team shrink too hard and too fast, and gave Barcelona too much space. Judging from the first half of the game, the reason why Barcelona was able to control the initiative of the game was because Manchester City gave Barcelona too much space..."

Alan Hansen began to analyze it.

"But Manchester City had no choice but to attack in the second half, because Barcelona is now in full swing. If Manchester City confessed in the second half, they might lose the ball..."

"So you mean that Manchester City will lose this game?" John Mortensen asked.

Alan Hansen shook his head: "No, no team dares to say that they will win, and there is no team that is sure to lose. But Manchester City does not have an advantage now. The end of the first half when Barcelona equalized the score is a very heavy blow to the morale of the players. Compared with tactical adjustments, I think it is more important for Benitez to let Manchester City players recover mentally... In addition, whether Manchester City can beat Barcelona at home, I think the key is not Benitez, but Rong. In the half, Barcelona firmly controlled the football at their feet, giving Manchester City too few counterattack opportunities, and Sakae had little room to play..."

※※※

While Alan Hansen and Taylor were analyzing Manchester City's gains and losses in the first half to the TV audience in the studio, Benitez was also doing self-examination in Manchester City's locker room: "We played too passively in the first half, but you are not responsible. The responsibility lies with me. It is my arrangement that went wrong. I want you to apologize."

Lowering his head slightly, Benitez continued: "In the first half, we gave Barcelona too much space to allow them to control the ball at will outside our 30-meter area. This is obviously wrong. So we have to change this in the second half. Barry and Matuidi must cut off the triangular cooperation between Messi, Xavi and Iniesta in the second half, and interfere with them as much as possible. Messi's state in this game is really good. If he is not good at defending, then cut off the connection between him and other Barcelona players. Especially The link between him and Xavi, Iniesta..."

Matuidi raised his hand and asked: "What about Messi and Ibrahimovic?"

Benitez waved his hand: "Then don't worry about it. It is said that Messi and Ibrahimovic have a bad relationship, and they will not cooperate with each other. Everyone should have seen this in the first half, right?"

It is no secret that Messi and Ibrahimovic have a bad relationship. After media reports, it is no secret.

So in the first half, Ibrahimovic did not pass the ball to Messi, but chose to shoot himself, which is not too surprising.

After Benitez finished speaking, he turned his eyes to Rong Guang, but he didn't say anything.

There is really nothing to say about Rong Guang.Rongguang only scored that goal in the first half, and he was not active enough at other times. The reason was not on Rongguang's side, but because he was given too few opportunities to counterattack.

The adjustment just now is actually to increase Manchester City’s chances of counterattack, increase the intensity of interception in the midfield, and strive to grab more balls from the feet of Barcelona players, and then give the football to Rongguang, let him fulfill the team’s great trust.

Benitez believes that Rongguang is very clear about his mission, so he doesn't need to say too much. If he talks too much, he will appear to distrust Rongguang.

※※※

The 15-minute intermission passed quickly. In the second half, neither side made any substitutions, and they changed sides to fight again.

After the game started, everything was no different from the second half of the first half.

Barcelona took advantage of their kick-off opportunity in the second half and firmly controlled the football at their feet. They were not eager to hit Manchester City's penalty area, but fell for a while in the midfield and backcourt.

At first, Manchester City came up to grab it, but after Barcelona fell for a while, the football was still under their feet, and the Manchester City players took it back one after another, and did not continue to grab it.

If they continue to grab, it will only cause more loopholes in the defense, so they must quickly recover and fill up the loopholes before they are caught by Barcelona.

Soon the game returned to the stage of Manchester City's shrinking defense and Barcelona's siege.

It seems that Barcelona has the initiative and has the upper hand.

Nothing changed for Manchester City and the first half.

This is actually an illusion of the audience. Manchester City has changed, but it is not so conspicuous.

Gareth Barry and Matuidi stepped up their tackles in midfield and their runs were much more aggressive than before.

To talk about the changes in Manchester City, the Barcelona players on the field may be the first to feel it.

Especially Xavi and Iniesta, when the two of them got the ball in the frontcourt, they encountered greater resistance and faced greater pressure.

The passing between them was not as smooth as in the first half.

Xavi turned the main target of the pass to Messi.

Iniesta seems to have been marked by Manchester City...

Messi was as active as he was in the first half, putting enormous pressure on City's defense.

Seeing Messi's performance, Harvey breathed a sigh of relief-Messi is still normal, which means everything is normal.

"Messi dribbles laterally! Nice past Matuidi! Shot... oops, what a pity!"

"Messi breaks into the box and shoots! Slightly wide..."

"Messi! Messi!"

The commentators kept chanting his name, and everywhere he passed on the court, there was a scene of people on their backs.

Manchester City's players looked very embarrassed in front of Messi, and their defenders even had to use both hands and feet to stop Messi's ball.

Barcelona fans also felt reassured because of Messi's outstanding performance.Although the score is still 1:1, in the minds of these Barcelona fans, Barcelona seems to have taken the lead.

They laughed at the Manchester City players who were embarrassed in front of Messi and cheered for Messi.

Everyone felt that it was only a matter of time before Barcelona broke Manchester City's goal for the second time.

Messi once again took the ball and dribbled horizontally in the attack. Facing Manchester City's chasing and intercepting, he seemed very calm.

He then passed the ball to Zlatan Ibrahimovic who responded to him in the penalty area with his back to the goal.

After passing the ball, he continued to run forward.

Generally speaking, at this time, as long as Ibrahimovic passes the football, Messi can drive the ball into the penalty area. Once he enters the penalty area, Manchester City's goal will be in danger.

But Ibrahimovic didn't do that.

Because the attention of Manchester City's defensive players is still on Messi, even if Messi has no ball at his feet, there are still two Manchester City players around him. In comparison, Ibrahimovic, who only has one Manchester City defender by his side, faces much less defensive pressure...

So Ibrahimovic didn't even hesitate, turned around and shot!
But this time, Joe Hart didn't let the football hit his arm and fly away, but closed his jaw and chest, and hugged the football shot by Ibrahimovic firmly.

He caught it!

(End of this chapter)