Before the arrival of the Champions League semi-finals, Manchester United also completed its 34th round of the Premier League.
The old Red Devil Giggs provided two assists, and the new Red Devil Robin van Persie scored a hat-trick. Manchester United defeated Aston Villa 3-0 at Old Trafford Stadium, leading Manchester City by 16 points to win the 2012-2013 Premier League championship ahead of schedule.
This is the 20th time the Red Devils have won the English top league title and their 13th Premier League title.
For the Gunners, the most important thing is that Manchester United's first game after winning the championship is to show champion style at the Emirates Stadium.
As usual, they had to line up to welcome the champion, which was obviously more uncomfortable than killing them.
Fortunately, there is still the fig leaf of the Champions League.
Manchester United fell in the quarter-finals, while Arsenal not only successfully passed the quarter-finals, but also doubled their opponents in the quarter-finals and advanced to the semi-finals.
If Barcelona can be defeated in the semi-finals, they will undoubtedly have more confidence to face their old enemy Manchester United.
In this context, Arsenal has another reason to try their best in this game.
On April 22, the entire Barcelona team arrived in London.
Champions League themes can be seen everywhere in the city, and the streets and alleys are filled with team flags or fans wearing jerseys.
Gunners fans greeted Barcelona and Cesc Fabregas with loud boos and raised middle fingers.
In the pre-match press conference, although Guardiola looked calm, people could still feel his hidden high-spiritedness.
"Arsenal have always been a great team with a great tradition and a great manager and we came here to win but we all know it won't be easy...
Arsenal have many good players, and yes, we have also noticed this youngster. There is no doubt that he will be our focus, well, unless Wenger puts him on the bench (laughs)...
Will Cesc Fabregas play? We'll find out tomorrow..."
Wenger's face has been gloomy these days, as if he was an old father who immediately beat up his daughter after discovering that he had fallen in love early, but the girl ran away from home in the blink of an eye.
Naturally, he was inevitably asked about Cesc Fabregas.
"I don't want to talk too much about the other team's players, just about the game that's about to start...
05-06 season? That’s all in the past. Barcelona is no longer the Barcelona it was then, and Arsenal is no longer the Arsenal 7 years ago. We have gone through a long wait, have younger players, and everything is moving forward. Development in a good direction...
Lin and Messi? If possible, I want both..."
There was no bickering, no cynicism, everything was calm, just like before a rainstorm.
April 24th, match day.
Many famous players in English football have come to the Emirates Stadium.
Even Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke, who almost never comes to home games, appeared in his box.
There is a special guest in the Arsenal dressing room.
Everyone stood up the moment they saw him.
King of Highbury, Thierry Henry...
Everyone immediately applauded enthusiastically to welcome the arrival of the legend of the past.
Henry had a hearty smile on his face and high-fived the team members one by one.
He deliberately chose Lin Yun to be the last one. When his palms met, he suddenly held Lin Yun's hand tightly and pulled him closer to him. "Are you ready?"
"Of course," Lin Yun suddenly said with a low emotional intelligence, "will you also go to the visiting team's locker room later?"
"ah?"
Henry was stunned for a moment, and the atmosphere in the locker room immediately became a little awkward.
In the 2005-2006 season, Henry was only one step away from winning the first Champions League trophy in his life, or to be more precise, only 24 minutes away.
But everyone knows the final result. Arsenal lost the game 1-2 and fell in the place closest to the Big Ears Cup.
After that, the arrogant gun king could only choose to bow to fate: since you can't beat him, then join...
It turns out he seemed to be on the right track.
In the 2008-09 season, he finally reached the top of Europe, but at that time he was no longer Highbury's gun king, but just Barcelona's forward Thierry Henry.
People surrendered to Messi's power, lamented Eto'o's awesomeness, and then praised his... choice?
Lin Yun's words were like a knife piercing his heart, but the emperor's reaction was still online, and he immediately smiled and said: "Of course not, after all, there is no statue of me at the entrance of Camp Nou."
"That's good," Lin Yun laughed out loud, "Welcome back, Emperor Henry."
"It's a pity that I can't fight side by side with everyone..."
…
When the two sides entered the player tunnel, Lin Yun saw Messi up close for the first time and couldn't help but take a few more glances.
He's not as short as the rumors say...
Messi is used to being the center of attention, but he still showed a certain amount of attention to the most popular star in Europe, and specially nodded to Lin Yun.
Lin Yun also smiled and nodded in response.
The Champions League theme song played and the players entered the field.
Henry has also sat on the sidelines, but the person with the most complicated mood in the entire Emirates Stadium is not actually him, but Cesc Fabregas who is sitting on the bench.
He originally thought he could accept all the abuse calmly, but when the abuse really came to him overwhelmingly, he couldn't help but tremble.
Like Henry, he was now looking at Lin Yun, as if looking at his former self.
So, how long can you hold on...
One year, two years, three years... When you get older day by day and miss the championship every year, can you still stick here?
He Wei obviously noticed Henry's gaze and couldn't help but start teasing him.
"Haha, here comes the classic scene. 37-year-old Henry is sitting there, looking over with affectionate eyes, all of which are his 17-year-old shadow..."
After he finished speaking, he took a look at the information and found that he had made an mistake, because Henry was born in August 1977, and he was only 36 this year. He was about to change his mind, but soon discovered another wrinkle.
"Ouch! Henry's birthday is only one day different from Lin Yun's! Henry's birthday is August 17th, and Lin Yun's is August 16th. Is this some destiny? Lin Yun is destined to take over Henry's class. , to become the new generation of gun king?"
The fans were amused.
"Henry II, right?"
"Henry, don't come here to mess with me. I, Lin, am aiming for the best in Premier League history."
"A shadow of a 17-year-old. Lin Yun was playing for Barcelona in the Champions League when he was 17. Henry was still playing in Ligue 1 when he was 17, right?"
"Oh, it would be great if these two met in their prime, well, plus Fab..."
"Henry praised it, French bitch, get out of here!"
"Henry + Lin Yun? The positions overlap, right?"
"Henry can play on the left, you fake fan!"
"Messi Messi, number one in the universe!"
"Damn it, there's an undercover agent!!"
Arsenal served, and Lin Yun came to the center circle and stood still.
At this moment, he is the center of the entire football world.
There are countless fans around the world watching this game in their own way, and at least hundreds of millions of eyes are following his every move.
Of course, Lin Yun couldn't feel the sight of the camera, but under the tens of thousands of eyes at the Emirates Stadium, the pressure was still great. But I have to say that "Mr. Big Scene" is indeed a good thing. Although he can't calm down. , but there is also not much tension.
Many people on the field are pretending to do some small warm-up movements, twisting the waist, pressing the legs, and running on the spot. In addition to the real need to let the body move, the most important thing is to use these movements to hide their nervousness. , but Lin Yun stepped on the ball and stood there motionless, like a curious baby, looking here and there with a relaxed expression, as if he had never seen the world...
"The game is about to start, and Lin Yun looks very relaxed. This is probably the biggest advantage of playing at home... Director Zhang, how do you think Arsenal will play today? Wenger will not be conservative at his home court, right?"
"Hey, I feel that what Arsenal need to do most is to try to grab points at home. After all, the next game is at Camp Nou. AC Milan has already been beaten four times there. If they can't take advantage of the home time If we establish a big enough advantage, Arsenal will really be in doubt this round."
"I wonder if they can replicate the start of the game against Bayern and get a dream start... OK, as the referee blew the whistle, the game started."
“First of all, let’s briefly introduce the starting lineups of both sides.
Barcelona played away from home in a two-forward formation.
Goalkeeper: 1-Valdes;
Defenders: 2-Alves, 3-Pique, 15-Bartra, 18-Alba;
Midfielder: 16-Busquets, 6-Xavi, 8-Iniesta, 9-Sanchez;
Forwards: 10-Messi, 17-Pedro.
Wenger's formation is almost exactly the same, also 4-4-2, but compared with Barcelona, he should pay more attention to the attack on the wing. It depends on whether the wings composed of Walcott and Cazorla can fly. .
Goalkeeper: 21-Fabianski;
Defenders: 25-Jenkinson, 4-Pertesacker, 5-Vermaelen, 17-Monreal;
Midfielder: 19-Cazorla, 8-Arteta, 10-Wilshere, 14-Walcott;
Forwards: 11-Lin Yun, 12-Giroud.
I don’t know if Arsenal’s back line can withstand Messi’s impact. If it can catch it, Arsenal is not without hope..."
"Messi's active area is actually a bit to the right. He is facing Arsenal's left back, Monreal. This is a player who has just transferred from La Liga. Messi should not be counted. strangeness."
"Speaking of which, Arsenal have a bit of a surplus of left-backs, but right-back candidates are relatively scarce. You see, Gibbs is a left-back, Monreal is a left-back, and Vermaelen can play as a center back or a left-back. But there is only Jenkinson at right back...Hey, this attack seems to be coming!"
Barcelona deliberately tried to choke Walcott from the beginning, which prevented Arsenal from picking up speed, but they did not expect Arsenal to focus on the center from the beginning.
Arteta pressed forward and Cazorla immediately moved to the middle.
After receiving Giroud's return pass, Wilshere first steadied his feet with the defender, then suddenly accelerated and dribbled the ball forward to near the midline, and found Arteta with a long pass.
Arteta took the ball and passed it directly to Cazorla.
Facing Busquets' pressure, Cazorla quickly gave the ball to Lin Yun, and then moved forward into the penalty area.
Lin Yun leaned on Pique and knocked the ball steadily in front of Cazorla.
Alba rushed in to intercept, but Cazorla didn't dare to hesitate and immediately shot into the lower left corner of the goal.
The football was fast and urgent, but unfortunately the force was too weak, and Valdes fell to the ground to save it.
Bartra and Giroud rushed towards the football together, one wanted to make a clearance and the other wanted to hit the goal. I don't know who touched the ball. Anyway, the football was kicked to the left in the end, which was cheaper for Alves.
The Brazilian defender took the ball and left, but Lin Yun and Arteta rushed over together. He did not dare to stick to the ball and quickly gave the ball to Busquets.
Professor Bu directly knocked the ball forward and gave it to Harvey. Harvey also kicked the ball. It seemed ordinary, but it hit the back of Jenkinson accurately.
Iniesta arrived with tacit understanding, pushed the ball in, and was about to break into Arsenal's penalty area from the ribs.
Jenkinson turned around and chased back while raising his hands and shouting offside. Unfortunately, neither Iniesta nor the referee missed him.
"Jenkinson failed to commit offside, and Iniesta was about to enter the penalty area and Mertesacker came out! Messi and Pedro were about to surround the goal, and Monreal came to fill the gap left by Mertesacker... Oops, This tackle is very decisive..."
Mertesacker fell to the ground and made a sliding tackle at the moment Xiaobai was about to step on the penalty area line, and kicked the ball cleanly out of the boundary.
Jenkinson hurriedly arrived at this time, pulled Mertesacker up, and patted him gratefully on the shoulder.
Barcelona quickly took the ball from the sideline. Messi raised his foot and gave the ball to Xiaobai and then quickly turned and entered the penalty area.
Xiaobai also used a shuttlecock-like movement to kick the ball in front of him.
Vermaelen had already seen through everything and used his head to head the ball out before Messi could get it.
Wilshere was just about to stop the ball with his chest, but unexpectedly, Sanchez came out halfway. After stealing the ball, he immediately kicked the ball through and sent it to Pedro.
Saber didn't hesitate, he raised his foot and shot.
Monreal stretched out his legs at the same time, and blocked the ball narrowly...
Barcelona turned against the visitors, attacking wave after wave, constantly putting pressure on Arsenal's goal. More than ten minutes passed like this.
"Barcelona's offense is very strong, and Arsenal's play is quite passive. Fifteen minutes have passed. Barcelona has completed four shots, one of which was on target. Arsenal, except for Cazorla's push shot in the opening game, has not had any shots until now. I haven’t had any good opportunities yet.”
Seeing that the football was passed to Messi's feet again, the home fans began to get jealous again.
Messi seemed determined to play one-stop this time, taking the ball directly along the middle towards Arsenal's penalty area.
Arteta did not dare to take a shot easily, and stood firmly in front of him, slowly retreating. However, Messi, who was dribbling the ball with small steps, suddenly accelerated, and after touching the ball with his left and right feet, he nimbly rushed past him. past.
"It's over..."
Arteta just said something silently in his mind, and the next second he saw the football rolling to his side.
It turned out that the moment Messi brushed past him, Vermaelen rushed over and made a side shove without hesitation, just in time to shovel the ball away from Messi's feet.
Arteta didn't have time to think too much and immediately kicked the ball away with his big foot.
He was really frightened. There was no plan at all for this kick, he just wanted to kick it as far as possible.
As a result, the football flew directly into Barcelona's penalty area and was about to land in front of the goal.
Lin Yun had been walking near the penalty area. The moment the football flew towards him, he immediately turned around and rushed toward the Barcelona goal.
Pique had been watching from the side. How could he let him pass so easily? He quickly stepped forward and hit him on the shoulder with all his strength.
The result can be imagined...
Lin Yun didn't think anything was wrong, but he himself seemed to have been hit by a speeding train. After spinning twice, he sat down on the ground in embarrassment.
Bartra also saw the football, and his reaction was not much slower. He rushed over immediately. Moreover, he was closer than Lin Yun and Pique. He was ready to dive to save the ball. Unexpectedly, Lin Yun suddenly rushed to his side. Then overtake strongly.
"I bought it..."
"Hiss~~"
"Pull him!!!"
"It's so miserable..."
After Lin Yun defeated two people in a row, he suddenly jumped up while running, his body flew into the air, and he kicked the football with his left foot.
Demon flying kick!
"Bang!"
The football was kicked and flew hard into the goal.
The entire Emirates Stadium immediately felt like a nuclear bomb had been detonated, and crazy screams surged in.
"GOAL!!!! It's Lin again! It's Lin again! The crushing sprint, the accurate prediction of the landing point, and the crazy flying kick! In the 16th minute of the game, Barcelona fell behind 0-1 in the away game!"
"There is nothing to say about this goal. Pique and Bartra tried their best, but unfortunately they still couldn't stop Lin Yun. Barcelona fans must miss Puyol very much at this time, right?"
After Zhang Lu finished speaking, she looked at He Wei with a wink, obviously knowing this person's character, and gestured to him to speak up and down at this time.
He Wei didn't know if he had been prepared or if he just came randomly. Anyway, when he opened his mouth, he was like Lao Water Margin.
“It’s like a devil descending from the sky, he is really the Tai Sui God on earth!
If Messi represents the ultimate in technology, then Lin Yun is the ultimate in violent aesthetics!
Pique and Bartra are both very good defenders. They successfully froze Lin Yun for 16 minutes, but the biggest difference between offensive players and defensive players is here. Defensive players need to make no mistakes throughout the whole process to get full marks, while offensive players need to make no mistakes throughout the process to get full marks. Players often only need a moment of brilliance to become the hero of the team!
1-0, Arsenal are temporarily leading at home. The most important thing is that Lin Yun finally opened his game. Barcelona should be careful..."
