Espanyol president Chen Yansheng's butt was still hot when Zhao Yang scored.
It is never easy to score a goal at Camp Nou.
Before this game, the Spaniard visited Camp Nou 7 times, and Luis Garcia scored only one goal.
Chen Yansheng didn't even dare to expect to score in this game.
However, the Spaniard not only scored a goal, but also scored such a beautiful goal.
Under the impact of the huge surprise, Chen Yansheng could no longer maintain his composure. He jumped up with joy, rushed to the window, and roared loudly towards the stadium.
Barcelona President Bartomeu, who was sitting across from Chen Yansheng, had a look of astonishment on his face. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the scoreboard again. Yes, it was Espanyol who scored, and the score was 0:1.
This relegation team actually scored first!
It seems that being able to reach the top four in the standings is not all luck. Is the Espanyol going to rise?
A hint of worry arose in Bartomeu's heart, but in a flash he felt that he was worrying too much.
Although the Espanyol team is performing well now and has Chinese capital injected into it, considering the team's thin lineup and the fact that the core midfielder is still from Real Madrid, he will leave next season.
Bartomeu does not think this Espanyol team's record can be sustained.
The Espanyol team has had good times, but they are all short-lived, and Bartomeu believes there will be no exception this time.
On the court, the Barcelona players felt very uncomfortable when they saw the Spaniard celebrating wildly.
At Camp Nou, they haven't seen Espanyol run wild for a long time.
Pique was in a particularly bad mood. Before the game, he sneered at Zhao Yang, saying that he would not be able to play the main role in Barcelona and that Barcelona would welcome him to attack the defense.
And now, the clown is actually himself?
Pique felt that what he said was like a slap in the face, making him blush.
Messi's mood is different from Pique's.
Before the game, Messi called out Zhao Yang on Twitter, but it was purely a polite response due to media hype.
Messi never thought that Zhao Yang was qualified to be compared with him.
He is a four-time Ballon d'Or winner, the core of six crowns, and the number one star in the world. Perhaps Cristiano Ronaldo can barely compete with him, but Zhao Yang, who just debuted in the Spanish Third Division, is definitely not an opponent of the same level.
However, Zhao Yang's pass and goal in the opening game made Messi's eyes shine.
The ball was passed so well and the goal was so beautiful!
This is a good opponent, this is an opponent worth fighting!
The fighting spirit instantly ignited in Messi's heart.
The game starts again.
After Barcelona's midfield kick-off, the entire formation moved forward directly to the half-court and laid siege to the Spaniard.
This was a sign of strong confidence and contempt for the Spaniards.
After Espanyol scored, the players' confidence was extremely high. They were pushed into the midfield by their opponents, but they were not afraid at all. The players launched a fierce fight in the half to destroy Barcelona's passing in the midfield.
Barcelona is the team with the best possession of the ball in world football. Arsenal, known as the top player in the Premier League, competes with Barcelona at the top, but is also regarded as a bad guy by Barcelona.
The Spaniard's ability to pass and receive the ball cannot even be compared to Arsenal, let alone compared to Barcelona.
As Barcelona's rival in the same city, the Spaniards are very self-aware. They don't control the ball with Barcelona. All they want to do is destroy.
If you can grab the ball, then launch a counterattack on the spot. If you can't grab the ball, just destroy it. Anyway, they are ahead and they are not the ones who are anxious.
Although Barcelona's ability to control the ball is strong, the Spaniards are united and all players are actively running and pressing fiercely, which makes it difficult for Barcelona to pass and cut.
However, Barcelona are not in a hurry. They are used to their opponents using fierce pressing to deal with them. They pass the ball effortlessly, but their opponents have to run non-stop, not to mention that their opponents have to guard against their sudden direct kicks.
Passing the ball is a lot of mental pressure.
Barcelona does not believe that any team can press for a whole game, and once the opponent's physical strength declines and they can no longer run, they will be at their mercy.
Of course, Barcelona is not limited to the "pass the ball and escape" rhythm.
If there was only this rhythm, Barcelona would not have dominated world football for so many years.
Once Barcelona cannot rely on passing the ball to open up the frontcourt, they will resort to star tactics and use the personal breakthroughs of Messi, Neymar, and Suarez to solve the problem.
In the fifth minute of the game, after Barcelona passed the ball continuously, the ball was passed to Messi's feet.
Perez and full-back Alvarez quickly came over to double-team Messi.
Messi took the ball and made a "Matthews shoulder-sinking" fake move, as if he was going to cut in the middle.
Alvarez quickly followed and prepared to walk to the middle.
Messi didn't wait for Alvarez to adjust his center of gravity and dribbled the ball directly along the wing.
The frequency of Messi's movements was so fast that Alvarez's center of gravity had not actually moved to the center, but before his mind could react, Messi whizzed past him.
Fortunately, Perez was well prepared. He crossed Alvarez, followed Messi along the inside line, and blocked Messi's inward route.
Messi dribbled the ball toward the baseline at high speed. When it was almost level with the top of the arc in the penalty area, Messi suddenly moved his instep and dribbled the ball laterally.
Spanish winger Perez, who was following Messi, understood Messi and was mentally prepared. He quickly stopped, moved laterally, and continued to follow Messi.
However, Messi dunked the ball back, moved forward, and continued towards the baseline.
Perez quickly stopped and turned around again. But this time his waist almost broke and he failed to follow Messi's footsteps.
Fortunately, the entanglement between Alvarez and Perez slowed down Messi, allowing Asensio to arrive from the middle.
Facing Asensio, the core midfielder of the Spaniard, Messi repeated his old trick, dribbling the ball across, pulling it back, and making a gesture to get down. Seeing Asensio follow up, Messi flicked the ball with the outside of his instep, and once again moved towards the ball.
Crosscut in the middle.
It sounds very slow, but in fact, Messi completed these three actions in almost less than two seconds.
Asensio changed his center of gravity twice in a row and was shaken so dizzy. When Messi changed his center of gravity for the third time, Asensio could no longer control his body and sat down on the ground.
"good!"
There was a roar of applause from the Camp Nou stands.
In addition to scoring goals, you can also see extraordinary performances, which is a unique benefit for Barcelona fans.
The Spaniard spared no effort in defending Messi.
Messi just knocked Asensio down, and midfielder Diop had already made up the defense.
Diop is not as delicate as Perez or Asensio. He thought he could touch the ball, so he rushed towards Messi and tackled it.
Before the applause ended, the exclamations started again.
Messi had just made three consecutive changes of direction, knocking Asensio down. Fans didn't think he still had the energy to avoid Diop's flying tackle.