Uh-huh!
It was like a bolt of lightning.
A blue-red figure flashed past.
"Messi! Leo Messi!" In the 9th minute of the game, a small man in Barcelona's frontcourt suddenly accelerated, dodged Modric's marking, his feet flickered, and he appeared like a ghost with the ball. Among the Tottenham defense.
too fast!
The moment he was passed by, Modric was shocked.
The frequency of his feet was already fast enough, but the guy opposite turned out to be faster than him!
I thought Ronaldinho was already invincible? Whose general is this?
Messi's continuous changes of direction dazzled everyone present. With such a fast pace and flexible dodging, even Maradona couldn't give in much.
Is this Messi's natural advantage?
As a strong contender for the Golden Boy Award and Mr. Bronze Ball for the Golden Globe Award, Wang Xiaodong and Messi have only met a few times at the award ceremony, and their friendship is only superficial.
Wang Xiaodong knew that the little man in front of him was fast, but he never expected that he would be so fast.
Messi's legs were like a machine, shaking dizzyingly.
Those with slightly bad eyesight are even afraid that they will knot themselves.
Of course, Messi’s legs are not twisted.
They are equally powerful when they move.
After passing Modric, Messi suddenly accelerated. Faced with the attack of Boateng and Chimbanda, Messi stepped over the ball with his left foot and then made a hidden push with his right foot. The ball passed between Boateng's legs. .
At the same time, Messi pushed his left foot hard in the opposite direction, and his body suddenly changed direction.
He lowered his head and brushed past Boateng's shoulder.
The double team between the two was easily bypassed by him from one side.
Wang Xiaodong, who chased back into the penalty area, looked at the ball rolling in front of him and subconsciously stretched his foot to destroy it.
But half a second later, the ball magically disappeared from sight.
Messi's left foot flicked the ball away from Wang Xiaodong in an instant.
Another small-scale change of direction from left to right. The Argentine's center of gravity keeps moving between his legs, and he can switch at will.
Messi had already broken into the penalty area when he got out of Wang Xiaodong's way, but in order to avoid Wang Xiaodong, Messi's shooting angle was inevitably compressed.
Faced with Ledley King's block, Messi swung his right foot hard and the ball flew towards the goal with a swishing sound.
Standing at the goal post, Robinson subconsciously blocked the ball with both hands and pushed the ball out of the baseline.
Corner kick.
Seeing this result, all Tottenham players breathed a sigh of relief.
At that moment, Messi was like an electrified circuit. He was like no one in Tottenham's defense, and he instantly found the best breakthrough route.
If it hadn't been for the last half-high kick from the near corner, Tottenham might have been one goal behind at this moment.
After finishing the shot, Messi also shook his head, obviously dissatisfied with the result.
Harvey walked slowly towards the corner kick area. At this moment, Martin Joel's shout came from the sidelines.
"Follow me, follow me! Follow me!"
Follow?
Modric's mind shook and he instantly remembered the coach's instructions.
Before Xavi could reach the corner, Modric quickly jumped out of the crowd and chased Inesta, who was slowly approaching the corner.
Sure enough, after seeing Modric following so closely, Xavi gave up the tactical corner kick.
A curved ball went directly into the penalty area. With both Deco and Henry looking dead, the ball was easily cleared by the Tottenham players.
"Great Sage, run..."
The ball was passed twice and quickly came to Wang Xiaodong's feet.
But before he could finish saying "run", a figure suddenly appeared in front of Wang Xiaodong.
Seeing the player in front of him stretching his foot to block the ball, Wang Xiaodong had no choice but to put away his swung right leg, lift it lightly and knock the ball aside.
Just like Martin Joel reminded Modric to mark the tactical corner kick, the opponent obviously knows Tottenham's counterattack method quite well.
As long as the backcourt players are intercepted or delayed before they take action, Tottenham's quick counterattack will be difficult to pull off.
Seeing Wang Xiaodong retract his feet, Iniesta quickly stepped forward, pressed against Wang Xiaodong's side, and stretched his feet to reach the ball.
Wang Xiaodong used his hips and butt to jam his opponent while trying hard to protect the ball.
Faced with the opponent's persistent pursuit, Wang Xiaodong felt an inexplicable anger in his heart.
When Wang Xiaodong just made a long pass, he saw his opponent using his body to block it and then stopped his feet.
Although he was suffocating the opponent with the force of his passing, it would definitely be uncomfortable for a long time with a body as small as Iniesta's.
But football is not dodgeball after all. Without deep hatred, there is no need to deliberately kick the ball towards the opponent.
But now that I'm soft-hearted, you can't just slap your nose on your face, right?
Inesta was like a tarsus at this moment, trying hard to break the ball at Wang Xiaodong's feet.
Obviously he knew that Wang Xiaodong was not that dexterous with his feet. If he intercepted the ball in the frontcourt at this place and time, he might be able to quickly counterattack on the spot.
"DONG, here, here!"
Just as Wang Xiaodong was desperately protecting the ball, Modric's voice came from not far away.
Wang Xiaodong gritted his teeth, pushed up his waist and hips, knocked Inesta away, then pushed the outside instep of his right foot, pushing the ball towards Modric.
However, Wang Xiaodong's hasty kick did not use much force, and the ball was much lighter than expected.
Modric saw this and quickly accelerated to meet the ball. After all, when he ran over to catch the ball, there was Xavi behind him.
Xavi obviously noticed Wang Xiaodong's passing error and followed Modric closely.
Worthy of being the future core of Croatia's midfield, Modric didn't panic at all when receiving the ball.
He rushed to the ball, jumped forward and backward, stepped on the ball with his right foot and quickly dropped to stand behind the ball. At the same time, he turned his body 180 degrees and stepped on the ball with his left foot to pull back.
As he pulled the ball in front of him, Xavi's outstretched foot just glanced where the ball had been.
With just one centimeter missing, the ball was broken by Xavi.
But it was this centimeter that gave Modric a chance to breathe.
He quickly pushed the ball to the right with his left foot, hit the arch of his right foot and bounced forward. At the same time, he kicked the ball with his left foot and passed Harvey with a smooth fried ball.
Seeing Modric's ultimate escape, the visiting fans in the stands immediately burst into deafening cheers.
In the first ten minutes, Barcelona was showing off their footwork. Now Modric also used an extraordinary skill that was as gorgeous as his opponent's, which naturally won praise from the fans.
But after getting rid of Xavi, Modric found that both Bell and Lennon were watched closely by the Barcelona players who returned to defense in time.
Even Robbie Keane and Defoe in front were surrounded by crowds and did not have a long pass target.
In desperation, Modric had no choice but to take the ball to the wing, and at the same time waved to Lennon on the wing, signaling the opponent to stop running forward and come back to catch the ball.
Seeing that Barcelona failed to steal the ball in the frontcourt, they did not continue to press.
Anyway, their own defensive players were already in place, and all the frontcourt players except Henry retreated.
After a few kicks with Lennon and Wang Xiaodong, Modric finally found a suitable gap and took the ball to the center.
At this moment, the Barcelona players are already in their own half, waiting for Tottenham to attack.
In a positional battle, Tottenham are certainly no match for Barcelona.
Except for Modric, no one in the team has a small-scale smart transfer method to escape.
Viewed from a high altitude, Barcelona's 433 formed three chains, firmly blocking the Tottenham players.
Any player who goes deep into the hinterland of the chain will be cut without exception. Even if he is lucky enough to get the ball, he will immediately be isolated and helpless.
In desperation, Wang Xiaodong finally couldn't wait any longer and forced a long pass.
But Yaya Toure, who had been prepared for a long time, headed the ball back to Valdez.
The Barcelona goalkeeper chested the ball and stopped it at his feet.
When Defoe had no choice but to step forward and grab it, he quickly took the ball in his hands.
The next second, Valdes held the ball over Defoe and threw the ball to Gianluca Zambrotta on the wing.
In this way, Defoe, who was left on the offside line, was completely useless in a short time on the field.
...
Barcelona's offensive method is also very clear. Under Rijkaard's creation, constant short-distance ground passing has become Barcelona's preferred method of offense.
So regardless of the small matter of Defoe being still on the offside line as a forward, in Rijkaard's eyes, Tottenham's defensive strength has been reduced by one person during this period.
What happens to a team with one less player on the field probably needs no further introduction.
The ball is passed very quickly.
Even the Tottenham players wanted to slow down the opponent's attack through the frontcourt, but with the cooperation of frequent ground passes, the Barcelona players quickly passed the ball through the midfield.
Once the ball passes the midfield, both Xavi and Inesta have the ability to carry the ball forward alone.
Therefore, Tottenham, who wanted to control the defense near the midfield, had no choice but to retreat to the front of their own penalty area, compress the space and form a dense defense, and then barely blocked Barcelona's penetration.
But what no one expected was that just when the Tottenham generals felt they could take a breath, a scene appeared that once again stunned everyone.
In the 24th minute, Barcelona had already moved back and forth in front of Tottenham's penalty area more than a dozen times, including passing the ball back to the midfielder and then moving it from the backcourt to another wing.
The purpose is to stretch Tottenham's formation and find gaps in it.
But Tottenham have also learned wisely and just won't be fooled.
When the Barcelona players once again passed the ball back to the feet of midfielder Yaya Toure, Messi suddenly started.
Yaya Toure decisively seized this opportunity.
Taller and with better foot skills, he is much more aware than his brother Kolo Toure who plays for Arsenal.
Yaya Toure's through ball not only penetrated Lennon and Modric's defense zone, but also passed right to Messi's feet before Chimbanda retreated from the wing.
This time, Messi also used the frequency of his feet to continuously change directions. After getting rid of Chimbanda, he used his toes to push the ball through Boateng's legs.
Seeing that a one-on-one attack was about to take place, Wang Xiaodong, who desperately returned to the penalty area, finally blocked the opponent's path before Messi could take a kick.
Just when Wang Xiaodong thought that the opponent would stop or at worst slow down, Messi lowered his head and slipped under Wang Xiaodong's armpit.
After breaking through three people in a row, facing the helpless Robinson, the clever Messi launched a low ball, which hit the far post and rolled into Tottenham's net.
