Seeing that Manchester City fought back again, Lin Quan was like a wild horse in the front, and once again dribbled the ball to Barcelona's penalty area.

Messi is a little helpless, this guy, why are you everywhere?

I can see you on the offensive end, I can see you on the defensive end, and even if I take a free kick and you can block it for me, are you my nemesis?

He felt it after playing this ball just now, but he didn't expect to be saved by Joe Hart, but he was blocked by Lin Quan.

This made Messi feel extremely depressed, the opponent's offensive ability was not lost to him, but the defensive contribution was much greater than him.

The most important thing is that this guy seems to be physically better than himself, so he ran back and forth in the front and back courts, but he didn't exhaust him, which made Messi envious.

If he could have had such a lot of energy, he wouldn't be walking on the field often.

Barcelona's defence contracted very hard and successfully prevented Manchester City's counterattack.

Although he finally stopped the opponent's counterattack, it made Martino's heart more and more worried.

He feels that Manchester City's tactics seem retro, but they seem to hit Barcelona's weakness.

Barcelona's pass-and-control football focuses on pressing and controlling, and to achieve this effect, they need to invest a lot of players in attack.

Sometimes your own backline even has to press over the halfway line, and the goalkeeper needs to leave the goal and move around the centre circle, acting as both a back exit point and an interceptor at the back of the defence.

And the front pressure of the defense line is so strong, the space in the back field must be extremely huge.

Once the opponent bypasses the midfield and kicks the ball directly to Barcelona's backfield, then Barcelona's backline will not have time to settle down.

In the last game, Manchester City overthrew Barcelona with a quick and concise pass and extreme counter-attacking speed.

And this time, they have taken this to the extreme: the person can not arrive first, the ball must arrive first!

These few counterattacks Manchester City's passes are like blind passes, not looking for players in the front court at all, but kicking the ball to the front court in a clearing style.

The point is that it can both clear the ball and pose a threat to the Barcelona goal, which is very uncomfortable.

The success rate of this tactic is not high, and it is easy to be offside.

Second, the farther away the ball, the lower the pass success rate, and the defenders have enough time to settle for defense while the ball is flying.

And to catch this kind of long pass from a teammate, it is very difficult in itself, especially when someone is defending, and if you are not careful, it can be intercepted and destroyed.

Therefore, the long pass of the vast majority of teams is to give the ball to the opponent, which not only does not have an effect, but also increases the opponent's offensive opportunities.

It is precisely because of this that the tactics of long passing and rushing have gradually declined.

However, neither of these issues seems to be a problem for Manchester City.

In terms of passing and receiving, Manchester City plays behind Barcelona and lets their own strikers fight with Barcelona's defenders.

So even if it's not accurate, it doesn't matter.

If it's Kroos or De Bruyne who passes the ball, that's not a problem.

As long as they can find Lin Quan, with Lin Quan's ability to stop the ball, he can easily follow the ball with a long pass to find him.

If you can't do it, you can still ask Negredo to ferry, and make him a ball.

And most of the players in the Manchester City squad are stars, and their passing ability is far better than those of those in the middle and lower reaches.

The long passes of the average team player are likely to be crooked to the shit, but Manchester City's long passes are much more accurate.

Even if it is not as accurate as Kroos and De Bruyne's precise guidance, it basically goes to the area where the player is located, and the deviation is not too big.

If you're lucky, if Kroos and De Bruyne are the ones who make the passes, the success rate will increase even more, and the threat of counter-attacking will increase dramatically.

As for the consequences of the failure of the long pass rushing tactic, it is even less of a problem.

In any case, Barcelona have much more possession than Manchester City, and football is in their hands most of the time.

As long as Manchester City's defense is stable and does not give the opponent a chance, then Barcelona will not have much effect even if they intercept Manchester City's long pass.

It's nothing more than handing over the ball to the opponent in the opponent's half.

And compared to the threat of being forced to steal the ball in the opponent's own half, conceding the ball in the opponent's half is much less threatening to the goal.

Therefore, Manchester City's tactics are actually the same as Barcelona's passing, which seems to be an attack, but it is actually a defense, but if it is done, it can become a deadly threat.

It's a good tactic, it's just a bit of a striker.

So Pellegrini had two wingers and one striker on the bench on standby, and when the players in the front court couldn't run in the second half, he began to make substitutions.

He wants to see if you Barcelona still have so many defenders to accompany me!

Since the opening, Manchester City have been using this method against Barcelona.

Although he has not scored for the time being, it has made Barcelona's side feel very angry.

As soon as the opponent got the ball, he made a long pass, so that the Barcelona defenders had to compete with the opponent's wingers to grab the ball.

Before the half-time was over, Barcelona's defenders were almost exhausted.

What's even more infuriating is that in the opponent's long passes again and again, their defense line has passively moved back a lot.

As a result, their support for the front court has decreased, and with less investment in the backline, the pressure and control of Barça's passing tactics have decreased significantly by relying only on those players in the front court.

Damn it!

Martino cursed in his heart!

He can see that Manchester City's long pass is actually a cover.

The aim is not to attack, but to drain Barça's energy and disrupt their attack.

Can't fall into the rhythm of the other party!

Thinking of this, Martino hurriedly beckoned Alves over and asked him to pass his words to the players on the field.

Barca's tactics immediately changed, and they became more patient with their backs up front, determined not to give the opposition a chance to counter-attack.

Even if you want to play a long pass, you have to have the ball at your feet, and if you don't even have the ball, then it's a fart.

As long as Barcelona further improves the possession rate and eliminates the opportunity to counterattack the opponent from the source, Manchester City's tactics will naturally be self-defeating.

The decision soon worked, and as Barcelona became more cautious in passing and possession, City's possession dropped further and their chances of counter-attacking decreased.

However, after Barcelona became cautious in passing, in addition to the rapid surge in possession, other statistics including the number of shots on goal, the number of times the 30-metre area was scored, and the number of set-pieces and corners in front of the court declined.

Seeing this, Pellegrini returned to his seat and sat down with peace of mind.

He knew that he had the upper hand in the competition with Martino, a native of South America.

The opponent's adjustments all fell into the trap of Manchester City, and the reason why Barca's passing tactics were terrible was not because of their exaggerated possession, but because of the pressure they brought to their opponents when they were in possession.

Barcelona's 10,000 times at the back are not as dangerous as one pass forward.

Possession of the ball, just look at it, it doesn't make much sense, after all, you are in the backcourt, and I don't grab it, then you can naturally brush up on the ball with a high possession rate.

It's just that this kind of thing is inverted in the backfield, and in the sixties and seventies of the last century, it was considered a negative way of playing when a weak team met a strong team, and had no choice but to keep the draw.

Barcelona are willing to play like this, and Manchester City are happy to do so, because it is Manchester City who are leading now.

Even if Barcelona is 0:0 at home, Pellegrini is completely acceptable, anyway, it is Manchester City that will advance in the end, what is he not acceptable?

However, he felt that Martino should not be so stupid, and he should soon find out about this and make adjustments.

Martino didn't notice anything unusual for the time being, and he was relieved to see the number of Manchester City's counter-attacks drop.

However, he didn't notice that in order to ensure that they did not concede the ball, Barça's players were passing back more and more often, and the number of forward passes was gradually decreasing.

On the field, it was Xavi who was the first to notice this.

Because he himself is aware that under the pressure of Manchester City players, in order to ensure that he does not concede the ball, he will subconsciously choose a safer passing direction.

And the backward pass is definitely safer than the front pass.

So three of Xavi's last four-legged passes have been back, and only one has been forward.

However, in this way, Manchester City's goal is less and less threatened, and their pressing is getting stronger and stronger.

The situation has turned a bit around and now it's Barca's turn to get nervous.

Seeing the opposing strikers eyeing the midline closely, they knew that once they conceded the ball, the opponent's irritating long-pass counter-attack was about to come.

It can't go on like this!

Realizing that there was something wrong with the rhythm of the game, Xavi once again received a pass from a teammate, and instead of returning the pass immediately, he chose to turn away from the Manchester City player's top tackle.

Yaya Toure was a little surprised by Xavi's choice, Xavi had passed the ball back under his pressure many times before, so Yaya Toure subconsciously thought that the opponent would do it again this time.

As a result, he didn't expect to be pierced into his mind by Harvey, and a magic of love went round and passed him.

Yaya Toure used to be teammates with Xavi, and he is well aware of Xavi's strength.

Can't let Harvey pass!

Yaya Toure almost didn't think about it, and went straight to get ready for a foul.

Xavi seemed to guess the opponent's intentions and passed the ball forward to Messi before Yaya Toure could drag him down!

Rush, Messi!

As if hearing Xavi's heart, Messi especially cherishes this hard-won opportunity created for himself by his teammates.

He picked up the ball and quickly got rid of Kroos's interception, and after picking up his speed, he passed Lescott and dodged between Demichelis and Zabaleta before they could complete the bag.

Joe Hart has a little numb scalp, the other party's passing is simply unreasonable, counting Kroos, Messi has completed a breakthrough against four people.

Is this Messi's strength?

Can you save your opponent's shot?

He hurriedly adjusted his center of gravity, staring intently at Messi's every move, ready to make a save.

However, the moment Messi's shot was completed, Joe Hart surrendered.

The ball was out of range and he could only pray that Messi would shoot wide.

Unfortunately, Joe Hart's prayers didn't work, and the ball flew into the corner between the far post and the crossbar and bounced into the net.

It's a dead end in the absolute sense of the word, and even if Joe Hart has just made a save, he can't get the ball.

"Messi! Messi! Leo Messi! He stepped up and saved Barcelona from the edge of the cliff! ”

"Barcelona are now 1-0 ahead of Manchester City, 4-4 on aggregate, but they are still at a disadvantage in terms of away goals, they still need to continue to score!"

On Spanish TV, after seeing Messi's goal, several commentators were excited.

It's finally a goal, and if you don't score again, Barcelona will really be eliminated!

"The first half is not over yet, Barcelona still have enough time to extend their lead!"

Compared to the excited Spaniards, the British commentators were much more depressed.

Martin Taylor shook his head and sighed: "This ball Messi handled so beautifully, his dribbling and passing are really breathtaking." ”

Andy Gray nodded in agreement and said:

"Even as an opponent, we can't admit that it is definitely a great blessing in life to be able to enjoy Messi's wonderful performance on the football field!"

As a professional player, he knows all the more how difficult it is to complete such a breakthrough and shoot in a small space in the penalty area under the opponent's multi-person package and pressing!

At least he couldn't do it himself!

Messi's goal, if nothing else, should be the best goal in this round of the Champions League.

"Manchester City need to pay attention to not allowing Messi to receive the ball so comfortably, if they can't limit Messi, then it may only be a matter of time before Barcelona score a second goal."

Martin Taylor solemnly warned Manchester City, in the other game, Manchester United has fallen behind Bayern 0:2, if Manchester City loses again, the last fire of the Premier League will be extinguished.

Messi was so excited after the goal that he couldn't help but kiss the badge on his shirt as he ran to the stands where the Barcelona fans were.

In two consecutive games, Messi was suppressed too hard, and this goal finally released his suppressed emotions.

In the stands, more than 5,000 Barcelona fans who accompanied the team on the expedition were also excited.

On and off the field, the Barcelona players and coaches were also very excited.

Messi's goal helped Barcelona equalize and gave them hope of qualifying.

But that's not enough, they are still at a disadvantage in terms of away goals, they need to score one more goal, and if they score one more goal, then Barcelona will have a record seven consecutive seasons to reach the last four of the Champions League!

Martino also firmly believes that his adjustment has paid off through Messi's goal.

Sure enough, as long as Manchester City's counterattack is limited, the victory belongs to Barcelona.

Seeing that Messi had scored, Pellegrini couldn't help but shake his head.

That's where superstars come in, they can change the game with the occasional flash of inspiration.

It couldn't be helped, the players did their best, he couldn't blame his players.

Fortunately, Manchester City still have the advantage of scoring away goals, as long as they don't concede a single goal, then the place to advance to the last four still belongs to them.

Continue with the tactics of the first half, as long as the first half is not 2:0, then everything is acceptable.

Pellegrini's big move won't work until the second half!

And, it's not just Barcelona that have superstars, we have too!

Thinking of this, Pellegrini looked at Lin Quan.

With Lin Quan, he felt a lot more at ease, even if he was temporarily behind, it didn't matter.

Manchester City's players have the same thoughts as their coaches, and when they see Lin Quan on the field, their emotions are very calm, and they will not panic or even mess up because of Barcelona's goal.

Messi's goal is indeed wonderful, and they have not seen such a goal.

After being teammates with Lin Quan, such an almost impossible goal, they have seen it several times.

Lin has scored even more spectacular goals in previous games, such as the one against Chelsea!

After the goal, Barcelona was in high spirits and took the opportunity to launch an onslaught on Manchester City to extend their lead.

However, City's players were very focused, and the defence was extremely tenacious, although a little passive, but did not give the opposition a chance.

The score of 1:0 remained until the moment the halftime whistle blew!

Manchester City's players returned to their dressing room in a calm mood, while Barcelona's players also returned to the visitors' dressing room with a smile.

Judging by the expressions on the faces of the players on both sides, it seems that both are happy with the result so far?

In the stands at the Etihad Stadium, a middle-aged man with a wide body and a fat body chewed gum while observing the expressions on the faces of the players of both teams.

After looking at it for a while, he turned back to the assistant beside him and said:

'Paul, Man City are stronger than we thought.

Real Madrid's assistant coach Paul Clement nodded:

'You're right, Carlo and the fact that they beat Barcelona away from home is enough to show that they are better than the outside world predicted.

Carlo Ancelotti shook his head: "I don't mean that, I mean the mentality of the players. ”

"Did you notice that when the score is down, there is no anxiety or uneasiness on the faces of the Manchester City players, they don't look like a team that has reached the quarter-finals for the first time, but a team with a lot of experience in the knockout rounds and a very mature mentality."

"It's very difficult to beat a team like this on the field!"

"After the game against PSG, we have to prepare seriously, otherwise if we meet them, we will probably overturn!"

As the favourites for this season's Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid are naturally aiming to win the Champions League trophy.

As a result, they did a lot of research on several other possible opponents before the match.

Among them, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are their league rivals, they know each other well, and they don't need to know them specifically.

Bayern has always been the top team in Europe, Real Madrid has played against them a lot of times, and they also attach great importance to them, so they have a deep understanding of Bayern's strength.

Only for Manchester City, a new team in the Champions League, they don't know much.

That's why Carlo Ancelotti came to the Etihad Stadium with his assistant coach to watch the game live.

Although they will face Paris Saint-Germain at home tomorrow, in Ancelotti's view, Paris Saint-Germain is just a rookie who sells the first bid, and they are just left to slaughter!

Once they reach the last four, Real Madrid will face a truly formidable opponent.

And in Ancelotti's heart, he has obviously regarded Manchester City as a strong opponent who can rank up with Bayern and Barcelona.

"But now it's Barcelona who are leading? If Manchester City wants to enter the semi-finals, it must first pass the Barcelona level! ”

Clement doesn't rate Manchester City as highly as Carlo Ancelotti, and he thinks that's what he thinks.

How strong can a team that plays long balls and rush tactics in the knockout stages of the Champions League be?

Carlo Ancelotti looked at his assistant coach, who had planned to leave him this summer and go on his own.

But now Ancelotti feels that it is better to take him for a year and then let him go!

Otherwise, if you let it out like this, it will be a curse to other teams.

"Barcelona is only temporarily ahead, Manchester City did not use real killer moves, the decisive battle of this game, in the second half!"

Carlo Ancelotti looked at the pitch and finally landed on City's number 10, his tone unusually firm.

Ask for a commuter pass!

(End of chapter)