After Milan scored Barcelona's goal, the Barcelona players were a little depressed and doubted their life.
But who is Guardiola? He reacted quickly and made adjustments immediately.
Adriano and Alves began to press frequently again, and Messi also returned to the middle of the midfield to receive the ball, and then used his personal abilities to break through and pass.
One rises and the other falls.
Milan's young players seemed a little over-excited after scoring, causing some players to begin to lose their defensive positions, which also made Barcelona's offense more comfortable.
In the 44th minute of the game, Xavi in midfield sent a through ball forward after getting rid of Boateng's close defense.
After Messi got the ball, he suddenly started and got between Kante and Gattuso.
Kante and Gattuso hurriedly closed the door to attack, but failed to guard against this nimble little flea.
Seeing that Messi was about to enter the penalty area, center back Van Dijk quickly came over to cover.
He spotted the direction Messi was about to swing and prepared to intercept the ball along Messi's path.
But what I didn't expect was that Messi actually chose to shoot directly with his left foot!
His leg swing was very small and his shooting movement was very concealed, but the ball he kicked was fast and urgent, going directly into the lower right corner of the goal.
Abbiati didn't have any chance and just froze there.
1:1, Barcelona successfully equalized the score.
This immediately plunged the entire Camp Nou stadium into a carnival.
After all, this was a goal before half-time, which is particularly important for the morale of the entire team and the tactical choices in the second half.
Shortly after the Barcelona players finished celebrating and Milan resumed kick-off, the referee blew the halftime whistle.
…
AC Milan dressing room.
All the starting players were sweating profusely and breathing heavily.
When facing a team like Barcelona, constantly running and defending will inevitably consume a lot of physical energy from the players.
It is precisely this kind of unremitting running that gives Milan a chance to defeat strong opponents in the away game.
But it's a pity that we couldn't hold on to the victory at the last moment and couldn't take the lead into the halftime break.
"After Ibrahimovic scored, we were not focused enough." Tassotti spoke first, "Defending a player like Messi, we must stay 100% focused."
Allegri nodded in agreement and said: "We can't make such mistakes again in the second half. In the first half, we actually played very well. I hope everyone can continue to do so!"
At this time, Gattuso suddenly jumped up from his seat:
"My problem. I failed to guard Messi just now, and when he broke through just now, I should have brought him down as soon as possible."
This upright boy was unambiguous in admitting his mistakes.
Van Dijk also stood up: "I am the last defender, and I also have a problem. I thought he would try again, but I didn't expect to shoot directly."
Pan Yi smiled and said to Gattuso: "He is Messi. Even if you pull him down, can you guarantee that his free kick will not score?"
Then he turned to Van Dijk: "So I don't blame you for this goal. It's still not easy to defend Messi alone in that position."
With that said, Pan Yi went straight to the tactical board and pointed at the position of Barcelona's right winger, which is Messi:
"Messi's role is very flexible. In theory, he is a forward, but he is not a forward forward. He often returns to the low position and takes the ball close to the midfield."
"I have studied where he moves the most. The answer is the right side of the ribs, which has about 70% more movement than the left side."
"Obviously Messi likes it here the most. He can show his talent here, move around, and cut inside and shoot - just like he did just now."
"If it's on the left, then he basically has to rely on speed to get down."
"So, the three of us in the midfield must always pay attention to their positions and keep an eye on the situation on the right. Mane also needs to come back to help, so that he can basically block his space for movement."
"We also need to prepare a five-man circle for him here, left back De Sciglio, left winger Mane, left midfielder Gattuso and Kante, and left center back Van Dijk."
"Once Messi enters this area, I ask that not only do someone go up and close to prevent him from turning around, but others are also responsible for providing coverage and secondary defense."
"Messi is of course a great player, but this many-on-one strategy should still allow us to limit his performance and control the situation..."
Finally, Pan Yi knocked on the tactical board hard and clenched his fist:
"As the two coaches said, as long as we stay focused, don't make mistakes, and make the defensive end airtight, we can create precious counterattack opportunities. Then, in the second half, we can regain the victory! What we want,
Not a draw!”
Allegri also applauded vigorously:
"Coach Pan Yi is right. In the second half, we played as we just said and completely restricted Messi! You all remember that we have only one goal in this game, and that is to win!"
All the players stood up together and shouted loudly:
"Yes! Limit Messi! Defeat Barcelona!!"
…
After the start of the second half, Barcelona still quickly controlled the ball and launched an attack on Milan's position.
But they soon discovered that their midfield operation became stumbling again, and even Messi's return and control of the ball became extremely difficult.
The scene seemed a bit stalemate, and it was difficult for both sides to create decent scoring opportunities.
When the game went on dully for 70 minutes, Pan Yi looked at Allegri.
It's time to change people.
Allegri understood and immediately began to mobilize his troops.
Enter Ambrosini, exit Gattuso.
Aubameyang goes up, Mane goes down.
Both of these substitutions were on the left side where the defensive pressure is greater.
After all, they are facing perhaps the strongest wing offensive line in Europe: Messi + Alves.
Ambrosini's appearance is a match-up substitution between two equally determined veterans, which can maintain the vitality of the midfield and continue to strangle Barcelona's passing and control.
Aubameyang, on the other hand, can continue to press on the left without losing much forward speed to maintain the mobility of counterattacks.
At the same time, Harvey on the opposite side is already a veteran in his 30s. After more than 70 minutes of fierce battle, his physical fitness has also declined drastically, and he is no longer as comfortable passing and cutting as he was at the beginning.
Therefore, Milan chose to make substitutions at this point in time, in order to capture the opponent's mistakes when Barcelona's control declined, and then give Barcelona a fatal blow.
After the substitutions were completed, Pan Yi couldn't help but glance towards the Barcelona bench.
I saw Guardiola still squatting there, looking at the field intently.
"Gua Shuai is really good at showing off tricks. He deserves to be a world-class coach." Pan Yi murmured softly:
"We can only hope that luck is on our side...Bo Yibo, the bicycle becomes a motorcycle!"