Chapter 49: Exceeding Expectations
Although Puyol's retirement has caused Pique to be unable to play in a certain sense, or it seems that his level has shrunk to a certain extent, it is not an exaggeration to say that being able to serve as the main central defender in a space team like Barcelona for a long time still represents Pique's true strength.
But "skin can see through" can't really see through the scriptures.
At the moment when Pique kicked out, Qu Jing gently swiped the ball outward with his right foot and easily broke through.
The Barcelona players all felt their hearts sink when they saw that they could face Bravo head-on, but suddenly a figure rushed out of the oblique side - Mascherano.
Pony seems to have a peculiar instinct for his centre-back partner, and when Sergio Busquets passes the ball back to Pique, he runs back from the right front of Pique, and Mascherano arrives just in time for the curve to break through Pique.
Mascherano was already jealous of Qujing's performance, and he warned Sergio Busquets and Rakitic to pay extra attention at half-time, but Professor Boo and Spicy Chicken apparently didn't really listen, and their laxity also allowed Qujing to launch a fatal blow.
So Mascherano didn't hesitate at this time, and the little brother who was much less "literary and artistic" than his teammates didn't give Qu Jing a chance to PK at all, and it was a sliding tackle directly from the side and back: neither rough nor fierce, although he didn't tackle the ball, he left people.
Stopping the curve from the top to the bottom gave Barcelona a breath of relief, but the free-kick in a good position was just as dangerous, with Messi and Neymar both good free-kickers and knowing how much of a threat they could pose to the goal.
The free-kick from around 33 yards was on the right side of the penalty area, which is also an area where the percentage of free-kicks hit is very high in training. Visitors fans who have already seen the power of the free-kick are naturally full of anticipation for this free-kick, and even Agusli and Corone can't help but stand up.
Qu Jing roughly visualized the distribution of the lower human wall, and then aimed at the upper right corner of the goal. Then he blocked his mouth and asked Canales, who was also standing in front of the ball, for advice: "Sergio, what do you think I should do?" ”
Canales replied softly, "Bravo is not tall, but he has a good jump, and I think you should aim for a dead corner." ”
Thinking of the world wave that Canales scored against Athletic Bilbao, Qu Jing continued: "I think you should give it a try. ”
Canales pouted, "I don't think I'll have that kind of good luck. ”
Qu Jing smiled, looked at Sans in the human wall, and then gestured at him.
He then stepped back two meters and pushed the ball out after a few runs: to the surprise of many, Qu Jing chose a boccia ball, and the moment he touched the ball, as in his usual training, Sans jumped up and went straight to the right side of the goal The ball passed through the gap at Sans's feet with unmistakable precision.
The unconventional penalty apparently fooled Bravo, and by the time he realized that the ball was coming out from under the wall, he had no time to react as he stood by the left post, he just mechanically rose from the ground and his whole body symbolically pounced to the right.
With a "bang......", the ball slammed into the right post and bounced back, and after touching Sans's calf, it rolled out of the bottom line with a change of direction.
Amid the exclamations of the fans, Qu Jing looked up to the sky and sighed, his teammates shook their heads in regret, and Sans, who missed the first goal of the first team, lay on the ground, pounding the turf in regret.
Enrique, who had escaped, let out a sigh of relief and sat back in the dugout with his hands folded, and from his slightly nervous face, it was clear that he had not guessed that the two teams would play in such a situation. He whispered to the assistant coach and then began to warm up the substitutes.
A few meters next to him, Agusli couldn't help but shake his head, as if he was still feeling sorry for the goal that could have overtaken the score. But he knew he couldn't be too greedy, which was an extra surprise, and the players on the pitch had exceeded his expectations.
This also exceeded the expectations of many fans.
Being able to play evenly with Barcelona at the Camp Nou and not fall behind in the score is impressive enough for a small team like Real Sociedad, and it also makes bettors who bet on Barcelona win without suspense before the game are anxious.
"Fans who don't know the recent situation of the two teams must think that they have watched the broadcast by mistake, but we still remind you that you are not mistaken, this is the live broadcast of the match between Barcelona at Camp Nou and Real Sociedad", Su Fangjian, the commentator of PTTV live broadcast, was also quite surprised and joked.
Li Xiao: "It's not an exaggeration to say that I think this game is much better than the last round of the national derby, Real Sociedad played the kind of fast and efficient counterattack that Real Madrid used to have, and the strategy on the defensive end was very successful, although MSN also scored two goals, but even chasing two goals can be regarded as finding a balance between attack and defense." ”
Su Fangjian: "There are only a handful of teams that can really keep a clean sheet against MSN, and many teams basically don't have this kind of luxury, but today MSN looks average, which also shows that the Real Sociedad back line is relatively solid, and there are more than 30 minutes left in the game, I don't know if the direction of the next game will be variable." ”
In the 63rd minute, Enrique replaced the underperforming Rakitic with Roberto, and Roberto's performance during Messi's injury was obvious to all, and this substitution also showed Enrique's idea of changing the formation, taking advantage of the opponent's physical decline, using a skillful pass to disintegrate the defense, and strive to break down this stubborn opponent as soon as possible.
Agusli also made a tactical substitution immediately, and after Aguirre switched to Canales, the front three adjusted to Qu Jing on the left and Vela on the right, making the most of the gap left by the two defenders and causing problems for the opposition through the impact of Aguirreche.
It should be said that Roberto's arrival was a turning point for Barcelona, and it also proved that Enrique miscalculated this time: in the face of the experienced Ilia Ramendi and Galla, Roberto did not play the due organizational strength, but frequently leaned to the side, which caused Barcelona to have the same formation on the field. With the overall contraction of Real Sociedad's midfield, Barcelona never found a way to open the situation, but Real Sociedad took advantage of Barcelona's mistakes to play two quick counterattacks.
Suarez's unrelenting stampede on Martinez during a scramble was met with a verbal warning from the referee, followed by a push after Neymar was cut off by Sans, which also illustrates the impatience of the Barcelona players on the field.
Barcelona's hollow formation also made Qu Jing more and more relaxed in the middle, and he began to consciously control the tempo after receiving the ball from his teammates from the midfield.