Chapter 229: Good start
The match between China and the Maldives was played on September 8, and Atletico Madrid's home match against Barcelona was played on September 12, with only four days in between.
Thankfully, the same is true for Barcelona – they also have internationals from all over the world, especially those who play in South America, and they spend no less time on the road than Gao Zheng.
And Barcelona is still away this time, and they have to cross a distance of 600 kilometers from Barcelona to Madrid.
But even so, both teams still came up with the strongest lineups they could put out.
Atletico Madrid's Gao Zheng was naturally the starter, and Barcelona's Messi also appeared in the starting lineup.
You must know that because he was recruited to the national team, Messi did not even participate in Barcelona training this week. But even so, Enrique put him in the starting line-up. It can be seen that he relies on and attaches importance to Messi.
Enrique believes that even Messi like this is enough to help the team and is an indispensable person for the team.
It turned out that he was right.
Just three minutes into the game, Messi's cross from the right was blocked by Atletico Madrid centre-back Jimenez, but the referee of the game, Antonio Mateu Laos, blew the whistle not to award Barcelona a corner, but ...... Penalty kick!
"Penalty?!" José Maria exclaimed. "How could it be...... Is it a penalty?! ”
Boos rang out from the scene.
But then the slow-motion replay made it clear what was going on between the lights and fires – Jimenez was using his hands to block Messi's cross from the bottom line.
Of course, you have to blow a penalty.
"Jimenez's hand is really ......," José Maria sighed helplessly after watching the slow motion of the game.
Not only did he earn Barcelona a penalty, he also received a yellow card himself.
In the first three minutes, as the main central defender, he was covered with a yellow card, how will the next game be played?
Every Atletico Madrid fan has a shadow over their hearts.
"The continuous campaigns and the rush did not seem to affect Messi's form, he was very active after the opening and managed to create a penalty!" The Catalan commentator was excited.
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Messi, who made the penalty, must have taken the penalty himself.
Two games have been played this season and Messi has yet to score in either case. This is very rare for Messi.
The last time he failed to score after the opening two games of the league was in the 2007-2008 season. He only started in the fourth round of the league at the time, making two appearances in the first three rounds and failing to score in the squad once.
At that time, Messi was not the core of Barcelona, and he only scored ten goals in 28 league appearances that season. Nine appearances in the Champions League, scoring six goals.
Since then, he has scored at least one goal in the first two rounds of the league every season.
Messi, who was standing in front of the penalty spot, appeared very calm, and after the referee blew the whistle, he ran to shoot.
The ball was shot into the bottom left corner of the goal, and although Oblak judged the right direction, he was still unable to shoot such a tricky shot.
Despite his struggles to stretch his arms, he couldn't touch the ball.
The ball flew into the goal he was keeping!
"Messi!! Steady!!! The Catalan commentator raised his arms and shouted. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!! Barcelona take the lead away from home! It's only been three minutes since the start of the game, which is a fantastic start! ”
The entire Calderón stadium fell silent.
It was a terrible start for them......
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Taking the lead after three minutes gave Barcelona a morale boost for the rest of the game, constantly attacking the Atletico Madrid backline.
And Atletico Madrid is obviously at home, but it plays as if it is away, and in the face of Barcelona's aggressive attack, it can only shrink the defense.
In the first fifteen minutes, it was basically Barcelona attacking.
Atletico Madrid didn't have a chance to attack until the 17th minute, when Antoine Griezmann pressed Mascherano up front, cut off the Argentine's ball, and distributed the ball to Gao Zheng. Gao Zheng dribbled into the penalty area and shot with his left foot from a tight angle, high over the crossbar.
It was Atletico Madrid's first shot of the game.
However, the shot did not reverse the passivity that Atletico Madrid were facing.
In the next twenty-fifth minute, Barcelona won a corner kick, after Rakitic drove out, Suarez's header at the front point rubbed back, and Messi ran into the space at the back point and stabbed it directly!
The football hit the crossbar amid the exclamations of the Atletico Madrid fans.
"Atletico Madrid escaped! But it's not good to keep going like this. It's clear that Barcelona have the upper hand and continue to let them do this, and I think it's only a matter of time before they concede goals......" Jose Maria's words are not something that many Atletico Madrid fans must have heard, but he was right.
If you continue to play like this, Atletico Madrid is indeed dangerous. If you concede another goal, you will lose this game......
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Barcelona fans, on the other hand, were excitedly looking forward to a successful revenge – although none of the Barcelona players mentioned revenge before the game. But judging from the game, it doesn't mean that these players don't want revenge, they just hold back their strength to talk with their results, and they don't want to talk before the game.
Football is like this, when words come out of your mouth, you still have to rely on your feet to speak.
Only the victor is qualified to speak.
But just when Barcelona fans were expecting the team's successful revenge, an accident occurred on the field.
In the 28th minute, Gao Zheng got the ball in the front court, and when he started on the spot to get rid of Vermaelen, who was defending him, he accelerated and kicked out, and Vermaelen struggled to keep up. But Gao Zheng came to an emergency stop and changed direction.
It was this emergency stop and change of direction that caused Vermaelen to strain his thigh during the sudden braking, and the whole person fell to the ground.
Gao Zheng took the opportunity to break through his defense, and if Mascherano hadn't made up for it in time, he would have gone straight into the penalty area.
In the end, under the interference of Mascherano, Gao Zheng's shot was saved by Barcelona's goalkeeper Bravo.
But it didn't matter anymore, everyone's attention was focused on Vermaelen, who was on the ground.
The Barcelona team doctor came on the field for the first time, checked Vermaelen, and then quickly came to a conclusion - the Dutch international can't hold on anymore and must be replaced!
It was a real slap in the face for Barcelona who were in the limelight – Pique was not even in the squad for the game after being suspended for a red card in the Super Cup. The two centre-backs sitting on the bench were young Bartra and Mathieu.
Seeing that the team's momentum is good, it is now forced to make substitutions, and a substitution spot is used up early......