With a long whistle from Dutch referee Bjorn Capers, the entire Stade Louis II immediately burst into excitement.
Barcelona took the lead in kicking off the ball and Messi kicked the ball to Villa. The Spanish forward directly passed the ball to the back line and handed it to Pique.
With Su Dong as the leader and Di María and Sanchez as the wings, Manchester City's frontcourt trident also quickly rushed towards Barcelona's half the moment the whistle sounded, first chasing into the center circle, and then straight away.
Run to the back line of defense.
After receiving the return pass, Pique quickly handed it to Mascherano.
This midfielder, who was transferred from Bayern Munich, was assigned to the back line by Mourinho during Puyol's absence due to injury, making up for Puyol's loopholes. As soon as he received the ball, he discovered that the former
Teammate Su Dong is already approaching.
After the Argentine midfielder stopped the ball, he quickly passed it to the right and gave it to Alves.
After Su Dong saw it, he grinned at Mascherano, and the Argentine smiled back, but Su Dong immediately turned around and always adjusted his position between Mascherano and Yaya Toure.
Whether it was the fans in the stands or the audience looking down at the camera, they could clearly see that Su Dong's movement was stuck in a position that made Alves very uncomfortable.
Barcelona's right back couldn't pass back the ball at all.
He knew how fast and explosive Su Dong was, but he had no idea.
When Sudong was always stuck in this position, Alves was very nervous and unstable whether he passed it to Mascherano or Yaya Toure in the midfield.
But when he dribbled the ball forward, Di Maria was already entangled with him, and there was nothing he could do.
Fortunately, at this time, Xavi ran over to receive the ball. After getting the ball, he quickly knocked it back to Alves who retreated and ran out of space, solving the problem of Barcelona's right back, but the ball returned to Barcelona's half.
…
Mourinho scratched his head on the sidelines, then turned his head and looked at Guardiola on the other side of the coaching bench with some surprise. He was a little surprised because he found that Manchester City actually took the initiative to press and press from a high position.
This is indeed very surprising.
Is this kid's difficulty crazy?
Mourinho looked back at the coaching bench again, and happened to look at assistant coach Vilanova. He turned his head back calmly because he didn't know how to respond.
Did Vilanova really guess right?
Is Guardiola planning to make a splash at the start? Or is he really planning to play against Barcelona?
For the time being, Mourinho is unsure.
Vilanova, who was sitting in the coaching bench, noticed Mourinho's expression and sighed secretly.
In fact, he really wanted to tell Mourinho that the pass passed by Alves just now was actually very simple to crack. All he needed was Yaya Toure to get closer to Alves and avoid it.
Su Dong's defensive area is enough.
Yaya Toure leaned over, and after stopping the ball, he directly found Xavi in the gap. Alves and Yaya Toure ran into the gap again. Xavi suddenly had several directions for the ball, and the ball passed the center line.
Need to send back.
But why was it forced to pass back in the end?
Because Yaya Toure did not lean over, Xavi was forced to leave the space he ran out of to meet Alves.
Passing and controlling the ball are closely linked. When a problem occurs in a certain link in the entire chain of passing and controlling the ball, especially the crucial node of the midfield, the entire system of passing and controlling the ball will be buried.
A huge hidden danger.
It's like a bicycle chain. When one section becomes loose, it may not cause problems when you are relaxing, but once you climb a hill with a load, it may break at any time.
Yaya Toure is a world-class midfielder, but he just doesn't fit.
He is too sticky to the ball, lacks positional sense, and has limited movement and support, which makes him a hidden gem in the deep position of Barcelona's midfield. The incident just now was just a mild symptom.
Thinking of this, Vilanova stood up, walked to Mourinho's side, and reminded softly: "Manchester City will adopt offensive tactics. I guess the most likely way is to let Su Dong come and grab Yaya...
For Toure, we need to prepare in advance."
Mourinho frowned, and a complicated expression flashed across his eyes.
Yaya Toure and Busquets are the biggest criticisms of Mourinho by many Barcelona media and celebrities, especially after Busquets played at a high level in Manchester City and was selected for the Spanish national team.
Mourinho chose Yaya Toure and Guardiola chose Busquets. Who is better and who is not? How to judge?
At this moment, Vilanova mentioned Yaya Toure, which reminded Mourinho of a lot.
To a certain extent, Yaya Toure represents Mourinho's coaching authority in Barcelona.
"I know." Mourinho said calmly.
Vilanova knew in his heart that Mourinho was very sensitive, which was why he was unwilling to say anything yesterday.
But at this moment, Sudong suddenly made a counterattack and promptly passed the ball from Alves to Yaya Toure, intercepted it from the middle, and quickly handed it to Toni Kroos.
Toni Kroos transferred the ball to the right side. Sanchez dribbled the ball straight into the penalty area. Facing Abidal one-on-one, he pressed forward step by step. After a series of fake moves, he suddenly started, shook off the French defender, and fired a low shot.
, knock on the door directly.
The ball slid out of the goal.
Su Dong was catching up to the back point at this time. When he saw Sanchez kicking to hit the goal, he raised his hands helplessly.
The Chilean winger quickly raised his hands to apologize.
If this kick was passed, Su Dong would be the winner!
Although it failed to form a murderous intention, Manchester City's counterattack was very fast. From stealing the ball to transferring, everything was passed with one kick. Only Sanchez's break through Abidal was slightly delayed, but it was only one or two seconds.
matter.
This attack can be regarded as a wake-up call to Barcelona, especially Mourinho.
…
The game is still going on.
After the start of the game, Manchester City did not adopt a defensive and counterattack tactic, but uncharacteristically maintained an offensive situation.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Especially the opening wave of high pressure and pressure made Barcelona play very awkwardly.
It’s not like they haven’t experienced opponents’ high-position press and pressure. For example, in the Champions League final against Manchester United, Ferguson once wanted to steal a wave and adopted such a style of play. However, it was also a high-position press and pressure. Manchester City and Manchester United were obviously different.
Manchester City is more organized and more targeted.
The pressure this puts on Barcelona is unmatched by Manchester United's pressing.
Sudong's area of activity is also different from the past.
When defending his own side, he always placed his position in the area between the two central defenders and midfielder Yaya Toure, with the purpose of being able to press the central defender and midfielder at any time.
This is also the tactical task Guardiola gave him.
Yaya Toure is tall and strong, has quick feet, and has a strong ability to push the ball forward. This allows him to often break the situation once he rushes up, but his weakness is also very obvious, that is, he is not active in running and responding, and often leaves.
own defensive position.
Guardiola also aimed at this, so he asked Su Dong to focus on his area.
Once he switches from defense to offense, Su Dong will immediately change his position.
During the period when Manchester City was pressing high, Barcelona also counterattacked and passed the ball into Manchester City's penalty area for the first time.
That was after Iniesta advanced with the ball and cooperated with Messi. The Argentine superstar directly passed the ball to the back of the defense. Pedro crossed into the penalty area, stopped the ball with his chest and shot. As a result, the ball was
Hit it high.
In just over three minutes, the two teams went back and forth several times, especially when the ball changed hands back and forth.
This makes the game look exciting and smooth.
Despite being counterattacked once by Barcelona, Manchester City still did not back down, and continued to press and press from a high position, continuing to suppress Alves' side, making it clear that Barcelona's right attack was to be abolished.
This also made Mourinho quite nervous on the sidelines. He frequently signaled the players on the field to pay more attention to supporting Alves, especially Yaya Toure and Mascherano. These two players were closer to Alves.
.
But even so, in the fifth minute, Manchester City still seized the opportunity and successfully stole the ball on the left side.
After Marcelo intercepted Alves' pass, he completed a one-two with David Silva. After stopping the ball on the left side of the penalty area, he was pressed by Alves and was blocked.
left line.
Seeing that there was no chance for a forced breakthrough, when Di Maria suddenly crossed the baseline, Marcelo suddenly dunked the ball back, and before Alves could react, he quickly passed the ball to the left corner of the penalty area.
Su Dong pulled to the left corner, facing the direction of the attack. Facing Marcelo's pass, he blocked Mascherano with his body, stopped the ball, turned around, and cut inside with the ball laterally.
Pique behind Mascherano was shocked and immediately rushed towards Su Dong to help defend.
Facing the menacing Pique, Su Dong suddenly paused and tried to smash the ball into the penalty area. Pique was frightened and blocked the ball quickly, but Su Dong suddenly moved the ball sideways and started to move quickly.
An emergency stop and an emergency start. This sudden change of speed made it impossible for Pique to keep up. Su Dong directly opened a defensive gap. Su Dong seized the opportunity and was still a long way away from the left side of the top of the arc.
He shot straight away.
The angle of the shot was not wide, but the ball went straight to the lower left corner of the goal in a straight line and at great speed.
Valdez was mentally prepared, reacted in time, and swooped sideways, trying to block the ball with one hand.
He was still sure of saving Su Dong's shot!
But what he never expected was that Su Dong's kick was very fast and urgent, but when he entered the small penalty area, it bounced off the ground. After the rebound, the ball speed was obviously faster, and Barr, who saved it,
Des' hands couldn't catch the ball at all.
The Barcelona goalkeeper fell to the grass after throwing himself out.
The ball hit the side netting of the goal behind him.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!"
"Only five minutes into the game, Manchester City opened the scoring!!!!"
"Su Dong used a wonderful kick to break the deadlock for Manchester City!"
"One to zero!!"
"Barcelona was at a disadvantage in the first wave of attacks and was scored by Manchester City."
