In the remaining ten minutes or so, even with Barcelona coming out in full force, they couldn't do anything against Leeds United, who were holed up in front of their penalty area and parked the bus. In the end, with nearly five minutes of added time, the biggest upset of the season so far took place at Camp Nou, with defending champions Barcelona losing 1-2 at home to Leeds United!
The moment they heard the referee blow the whistle, Li Shiguang and Simeone, who had been waiting impatiently on the sidelines, immediately raised their arms and rushed onto the field while screaming.
Even Li Shiguang himself found it a bit unbelievable!
He had always thought that if he could get a draw from Camp Nou, he would have accomplished his mission, and if he could also get an away goal, he would be considered to have won!
But now they not only won the game, they also scored two away goals!
It's no exaggeration to say that Leeds United have already stepped into the Champions League quarterfinals!
Meanwhile, the Leeds United players on the pitch embraced and celebrated. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who rushed up from the bench, even pulled Simone to the corner flag to wave incessantly to the home fans, only to be met with even louder boos and a barrage of water bottles...
In stark contrast to Leeds United, the Barcelona players were already collapsed on the ground. Rijkaard, who was forcibly controlling his dejected emotions, was on the field comforting his players one by one. He didn't even have time to shake hands with Li Shiguang after the game.
"The match is over!" Lineker said with a beaming smile and an excited tone, "The referee has blown the final whistle! Leeds United have accomplished something almost no one expected, defeating the powerful defending champions 2-1 away from home! Although it might sound like popping champagne at halftime, this is truly my honest opinion. To be honest, I think Leeds United are incredibly close to the quarterfinals! Jon, what do you think?"
With a helpless glare at his partner beside him, who was still in a state of high spirits and couldn't resist pointing out his shortcomings, Jon shook his head with a smile, cleared his throat, and began to express his opinion: "Leeds United does have a huge advantage right now, but Gary, don't forget that this is a two-legged series, we can't make a final judgment so early! But Leeds United's performance today was really great, just like a saying I heard before, others may not be optimistic about you, but you happen to be the one who performs the best, hahahaha."
Jon didn't finish his speech. Under Lineker's incredulous gaze, Jon unusually revealed a hint of appreciation for Li Shiguang: "After watching today's game, I think my opinion of Li has changed somewhat. If starting Rivaldo was impulsive, then immediately changing the tactics around him after the team fell behind takes real skill. You could see it in Leeds United's second goal; the long period of inactivity made Rijkaard and the Barcelona players lower their guard against Rivaldo, but he was like a grenade Li planted on the field—once it exploded, it was fatal..."
Leeds United fans celebrated their victory, but the Camp Nou stadium, which had been noisy for almost two hours, grew increasingly quiet. As Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Diego Simeone, the two troublemakers, were hurled back onto the pitch by water bottles, the boos from the home fans gradually subsided. Many more stared in despair at the glaring 1-2 scoreline on the stadium's large screen, sinking into utter hopelessness…
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Li Shiguang came onto the field and hugged each player to celebrate the victory.
Rivaldo was placed last.
Li Shiguang patted Rivaldo's soaked jersey with satisfaction and whispered in his ear, "How was it? Did you enjoy the game?"
The Brazilian smiled easily, nodded to Li Shiguang, and made a rare joke: "Thank you, boss! I have no regrets at all. For the rest of the season, even if you keep me off the roster, I won't complain at all, hahaha."
"Hey, you slippery little devil!" Li Shiguang was displeased upon hearing this, glaring at Rivaldo. "That won't do. You're trying to freeload off my salary, aren't you?"
"Hahahahahahaha~~" The two of them laughed at the same time.
However, the two men, who were walking towards the sidelines with their arms around each other's shoulders, were stopped by Rijkaard, who had come over after comforting his disciples. Rivaldo knew that Rijkaard probably wasn't there to see him, so after exchanging a nod with Rijkaard, he left alone.
"Congratulations, Li."
Rijkaard turned his gaze away from Rivaldo's retreating figure and extended his hand to greet Li Shiguang.
Li Shiguang and Rijkaard had no conflict, and their last meeting in Switzerland was quite amicable.
So even though they were now rivals, seeing how polite the other was, he quickly shook Rijkaard's hand and smiled modestly, "Thank you, Frank."
After shaking hands, the two walked side by side toward the players' tunnel. Rijkaard then asked the question that had been bothering him for over 90 minutes: "Regarding Ferreira... I'd like to ask, did you start him today because you specifically devised a tactical plan around him?"
Upon hearing this question, Li Shiguang paused, his steps faltering. He looked at Rijkaard with a strange smile: "Frank, do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"
Huh? This thing doesn't even distinguish between truth and lies?
At first, Rijkaard didn't understand what Li Shiguang meant. He turned around and looked at Li Shiguang with a blank expression, and said, "Of course it's the truth."
"To be honest, Ferreira brought up the idea of starting today himself a few days ago. I'm sure you know the inside story. I'm a soft-hearted person, so I let him start. My initial idea was to go head-to-head with you and try to take control of the midfield, but apart from that unexpected gain at the start, it didn't seem to work very well. As you saw later, Ferreira's performance in the first half... well... how should I put it? He seemed a bit aimless."
“Hmm, I did see that.” Rijkaard nodded, but then immediately asked his question, “Uh… if that’s the case, why didn’t you substitute him after you adjusted your tactics in the second half?”
Upon hearing this, Li Shiguang smiled mysteriously and patted Rijkaard on the shoulder.
"Frank, Ferreira is just old, not dead. It's precisely because you think he's no threat that I keep him on the field. Otherwise, how would we have that final, decisive blow?"
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