Chapter 300: Free Kick Tactics
Rijkaard saw Leon shrink his line and knew he was going to defend and counterattack, but Inter could retreat, but Rijkaard's Barcelona had to attack, and they needed to score at least two more goals to bring both sides back to the same starting line.
Rijkaard sees very clearly that for Inter Milan, an obvious problem is that Inter Milan's "abandon the center" style of play can easily lose the dominance of the midfield. After the midfield has no initiative, the wide players naturally need to constantly "up and down", and in the first half, there were many scenes where McCone inserted at high speed, ran to half the ball and lost, and had to retreat at high speed. Repeatedly, the Brazilian's fitness will not be able to hold up – and that would mean Barcelona's counter-attacking opportunities will arise from there.
Now, Rijkaard is waiting for this opportunity to come!
Soon, the opportunity Rijkaard was looking forward to came, Barcelona lost the ball in the attack, Inter Milan played a counterattack, however, their counterattack was cut off in the middle of the ball, and it became a counterattack opportunity for Barcelona!
McCone had to retreat at high speed just halfway through the run, but he was a little slower before Zambrotta found the space behind him and swooped it out, and then Xavi sent a precise through ball, Messi's beautiful inside foot rubbed the ball into the box, Eto'o rushed to the top of the net, Cesar flew to save the ball, but he couldn't touch the football!!
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“Goooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!”
"Samuel Eto'o, beautiful header, beautiful attack, 3-2, Barcelona overtook the score, and the aggregate score was only one goal behind!"
"Barcelona, Barcelona, Barcelona!" the Catalan commentator excited, "Great Barcelona!
Li Ang shook his head, he also knew very well that the team gave up the middle to play the hidden danger of the wing, that is, the gap after the fullback assisted, he didn't think Rijkaard could not see this, Li Ang only hoped that the team could score first again, one step ahead of Barcelona, now it seems that he is still a little unlucky, the ball was cut off in the middle just now was actually because of an accident, Yaya Toure slipped by himself, but he stretched his leg to block Inter Milan's pass, which also led to Barcelona's sudden attack and goal later.
In the stands of the Estadio Meazza Barcelona fans were excited, shouting in celebration and even going so far as to provoke the Inter fans, it was clear that the situation of only one goal away made the Barcelona people very excited, and they felt that their team's morale was high and there was every hope of a comeback.
But their cheers only lasted three minutes, the 72nd minute of the game, Mata used his personal skills in the front field alone in front of Barcelona two defenders to attack, he left buckle and pull, dodge and move, seeing that he was about to break through, Marcos saw that the situation was not good, decisively reached out and pulled down Mata, the referee awarded Inter Milan a direct free kick in front.
Adriano and Juan Mata were both standing in front of the ball, their mouths covered as if they were discussing how to take the free-kick.
"This ball is about 256 meters away from the goal, you can shoot directly at the goal, you can also pass the ball, but with the footwork of Mata and Adriano, it is more likely to shoot directly at the goal!"
Barcelona drove a wall of seven men and were obviously afraid of this free-kick, and Mata's superb footwork and Adriano's powerful burst were famous.
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Toni Kroos and Muntari squeezed into the wall and stood in the near corner. It looks like the player who takes the penalty kick for a moment will shoot the ball from this angle towards the goal.
So Barcelona's wall desperately leaned towards the near corner, trying to squeeze the two people of the Inter Milan team out.
After the referee's whistle, Juan Mata began to run, and it appeared that he was the one who would take the free-kick, but at the same time, Kroos and Muntari did withdraw, leaving them to fill the void in an instant by Barcelona's wall......
However, then it was seen that Mata ran past the side of the football, and Adriano, who was standing in place, picked up his left foot, without any run, directly swung his thigh, twitched his calf muscles, and suddenly exerted his force: a powerful low shot on the spot!
The soccer ball swept under the jumping wall against the turf!
This was clearly one of the free-kick tactics that had been rehearsed many times before the game.
Barcelona's goalkeeper Valdés was deceived by his own wall and Inter Milan's tactics, and when Adriano kicked a free-kick, he was even moving towards the near corner, ready to save Mata's shot. Valdés was shocked when the soccer ball swept from under the wall and quickly against the turf, but there was nothing he could do, and he could only watch the ball scurry into the net against the turf!!
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“Goooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!”
"Adriano, Adriano, Adriano!"
"3:3!! The game went on for more than 70 minutes, and the two sides had scored a total of six goals!!!
"Inter equalised! Adriano scored from a direct free-kick! Inter Milan counter-attacked in the second half, and the scene was not as good as the first, but they still relied on a set-piece opportunity to score! 3-3! The aggregate score was 7-5! A total of 12 goals have been scored so far in the two legs! What a horrible goal statistic!!"
The Barcelona fans in the stands of the visiting team, who were still singing and dancing just now, were dumbfounded, and the whole stadium was filled with the excited cheers of the fans of the home team Inter Milan.
"Three to three! Seven to five on aggregate! Inter Milan still has a two-goal lead, and Barcelona needs to score two goals if they want to turn the game around!"
Leon smiled and applauded his disciples in the dugout, and the free-kick combination of Adriano and Juan Mata, after many drills in training, paid off for their hard work.
Rijkaard's face is grim, if the game time is counted in injury time, there are still 20 minutes, Barcelona must score two goals, this is a very difficult task, the only good news is that now Barcelona has three away goals, and their away goals exceed Inter Milan, which means that Barcelona will score two more goals, and then equalize the aggregate score at the same time, will also be able to advance smoothly with the number of away goals, so now for Barcelona, the most important thing is to score another goal as soon as possible to make the aggregate score 6-7, and then, is to seize every opportunity to score the seventh goal!