Chapter 256: Double victory over Barcelona, ​​advance to the semi-finals! (Last day to ask for monthly tickets!)

In the visiting team's locker room, Barcelona's physiotherapist was giving Messi and others a massage to relax, while head coach Martino was holding his tactical board and excitedly explaining the tactics for the second half.

"In the second half, we continued to increase our control of the ball, reduce mistakes, and not give Manchester City a chance to counterattack. As long as we can find an opportunity to give Manchester City a fatal blow, then this ticket to the Champions League semi-finals will be ours!"

Barcelona is only one goal away from the semi-finals of the Champions League. Victory is just around the corner and the players are very nervous and excited.

As Barcelona's strength has declined, their road to qualifying for the Champions League has been quite difficult in recent years.

Last year, they met another team similar to Manchester City - Paris Saint-Germain.

Barcelona also had a very difficult time in those two knockout matches. They took the lead at the start of the away game, but were tied by their opponents when the game entered the final stage.

In the last minute of the regular season, Xavi's goal gave Barcelona a glimmer of hope for victory.

However, the opponent's last-minute goal in injury time made their victory come to naught.

Back at home, Paris Saint-Germain scored the first goal, putting Barcelona on the brink of elimination.

In the end, it was Pedro's goal that allowed Barcelona to advance to the semi-finals with the advantage of away goals.

Then they were swept 7-0 by Bayern in the semi-finals...

This season, revenge against Bayern has become the biggest wish of Barcelona players.

"According to the news I just received, Bayern is leading Manchester United 2:0 at home. They have basically secured a ticket to the semi-finals! As long as we eliminate Manchester City here, we will have great hope of revenge on Bayern. Tell me, do you want revenge on Bayern?"

When the name of Bayern was mentioned, Barcelona players' eyes turned red!

Since the Dream Three dynasty, Barcelona has never had such a humiliating record in the Champions League.

They dream of revenge against Bayern! "Very good, in that case, let's go!"

"Defeat Manchester City and then take revenge on Bayern!"

"Tell the world that the greatest cosmic team is back!"

Martino's words made the players excited and their morale high. They wanted to rush onto the field immediately and tear Manchester City, which was blocking their road to revenge, into pieces.

…

In the home team's locker room, Pellegrini did not encourage the players like Martino did.

He calmly explained his tactics for the second half, and then found David Silva, Negredo and Lin Quan.

"David, Alvaro, Lin, how much energy do you have left? Can you sustain the second half of the game?"

Except for Lin Quan, Silva and Negredo shook their heads honestly.

In the first half, they attacked Barcelona's goal again and again. This kind of sprinting consumes a lot of physical energy. If they continue to maintain the intensity of the first half, their physical strength can only last for 60 minutes at most!

This is the result after a 15-minute halftime break. If there was no halftime break, they would probably have run out of energy in 50 minutes!

"Very good, I understand. After 60 minutes, I will replace you to rest, but before that, I need you to use up all the remaining energy!"

The two looked at each other and nodded heavily.

Then Pellegrini looked at Lin Quan: "Lin, I need you to be in this position in the second half..."

…

The halftime break ended quickly and the second half of the game officially began.

Neither side made any substitutions and continued with the lineup from the first half.

There seems to be no change in the playing style.

Barcelona continued to control the ball and Manchester City continued to look for opportunities to counterattack.

Everything continued at the same pace as before.

This made Real Madrid's assistant coach Clement a little confused. Didn't Carlo say that the decisive battle between the two sides would be in the second half?

Why does it feel like there is no taste of a decisive battle? So he turned his head to look at Ancelotti beside him, wanting to see what Ancelotti had to say.

“Don’t be impatient!”

Feeling Clement's gaze, Ancelotti still maintained his calm attitude.

"When Manchester City makes a substitution, the decisive battle will begin!"

"Really? Then when will they change people?"

"If it were me, I would make a substitution in the 65th minute!"

Clement remembered this time point: "Okay, let me see what tricks Manchester City will play!"

Manchester City made substitutions earlier than Ancelotti expected. In the 60th minute, Manchester City began to make substitutions.

David Silva and Negredo were substituted and Aguero and Navas came on.

Here we come!

Clement was cheered up and Manchester City really made a substitution.

But the time seems to be earlier than Carlo predicted?

Ancelotti also noticed this, he frowned, as if thinking about something.

On the sidelines, Barcelona also saw Manchester City's substitutions.

The assistant coach looked at Martino worriedly: "Coach, Manchester City has made adjustments to the forward line. Should we also make substitutions?"

Martino glanced at the Barcelona bench and shook his head: "Let's wait and see!"

He still doesn't know how Manchester City will play after replacing these two players. It seems to be a positional substitution. The two Manchester City players before seemed to have declined in physical fitness and could not continue.

Therefore, nothing can be seen just from the substitutions.

However, some people at Barcelona do not see it that way.

Seeing his good friend Aguero coming on the court, Messi immediately sensed danger.

Messi is well aware of Aguero's strength on the front line.

"Manchester City is going to step up their attack, everyone be alert!"

Messi quickly told his teammates what he was thinking and asked them to cheer up.

Barcelona players still take Messi's words very seriously, but at this time even if they are mentally prepared, their physical strength may not be able to support them to do so.

After the substitution, Manchester City's tactical style of play changed rapidly.

Their pressing became more fierce, and the targets of pressing expanded from Barcelona's midfield and frontcourt to the entire Barcelona team.

Especially Aguero and Navas who just came on. Their offensive impact has not been seen yet, but they worked very hard in forcing Barcelona defenders to pass the ball.

Martino's eyes widened when he saw this.

Is Manchester City crazy? For a team like Barcelona that plays passing and controlling football, their defenders are not afraid of the opponent's forwards' pressing.

There are only a few players in the frontcourt who can threaten Barcelona's defenders, and they have too many options for passing the ball, whether it is passing it horizontally to teammates on the back line, passing it forward to the midfielder or passing it backwards to the goalkeeper, they can easily resolve Manchester City's pressing.

In a match against Real Madrid, Real Madrid's star player Cristiano Ronaldo tried to do this, and was then treated like a dog by Barcelona's defenders...

The GIF of an angry Ronaldo roaring and waving his hands on the court was widely circulated on the Internet, making many people laugh at him.

So at the beginning, Barcelona's defenders didn't care much.

But soon, they became frightened by Manchester City's pressing.

They are naturally not afraid of a striker's interception, but Manchester City's interception is not the personal behavior of a certain person.

It was a premeditated, organized, targeted tactic! They had a clear division of labor. Some were responsible for blocking the ball holder's passing line, some were responsible for pressing, and some were ready to counterattack after a successful interception.

During this process, Lin Quan, who is most familiar with Barcelona's tactical style of play, acted as the commander in the frontcourt, responsible for directing his teammates to intercept.

Aguero and Navas became his younger brothers, following the instructions of their big brother and rushing towards Barcelona's defenders again and again without sparing any effort.

This systematic high-pressure defense immediately made it difficult for Barcelona's defenders to hold on to the ball.

In the first half, the consequences of their competition with Manchester City's forwards in speed and consumption appeared.

The physical strength of Barcelona's defenders began to fail after the game entered the 60th minute.

The people on the opposite side who were pressing them were the fresh recruits who had just come on as substitutes. They were full of energy and high morale. They were completely incomparable to the Barcelona defenders who had consumed most of the game.

In the 67th minute, Manchester City's pressing paid off.

When Mascherano had the ball, Aguero quickly rushed towards his national team teammates.

Seeing Aguero coming at him aggressively, Ma Ge didn't dare to stick to the ball too much and chose to pass the ball away at the first opportunity.

Before passing the ball, he observed the positions of several teammates.

Bartra was accompanied by Manchester City's No. 10 Lin Quan. Although he was not a substituted player in the second half, he seemed to have a strong physique and showed no signs of fatigue even after playing for more than 60 minutes.

If this ball is passed to Bartra, it might be intercepted by the opponent.

The forward passing line was cut off by Yaya Toure, who had been closely marking Xavi, and passing the ball to Xavi would likely result in the loss of the ball.

As for Busquets, he was entangled by Manchester City's attacking midfielder De Bruyne and was not a good passing option.

Thinking of this, Mascherano planned to pass the ball back to goalkeeper Pinto to resolve Manchester City's current round of pressing first.

However, just as he was about to do so, he saw Fabregas retreating to ask for the ball.

Fabregas is unmarked and this is a safe passing spot.

And once Fabregas gets the ball, without being marked, he might be able to make a great pass to the players in the frontcourt and help Barcelona create an opportunity.

Thinking of this, Mascherano quickly passed the ball to Fabregas.

This choice was correct, but Lin Quan had already seen through his passing intention in advance.

He abandoned Bartra, moved ahead, and intercepted the ball while Mascherano was passing the ball.

broken!

Mascherano, who passed the ball, and Fabregas, who was about to receive the ball, saw the ball fall into Lin Quan's feet, and they both thought to themselves that something was wrong.

The two rushed towards Lin Quan immediately, trying to snatch the ball back.

But Lin Quan was faster. He passed the ball to Navas on the wing and quickly rushed towards Barcelona's half.

After receiving the ball, Navas quickly passed it back to Lin Quan, and the two completed a two-pass combination.

After Lin Quan got rid of Mascherano, he dribbled the ball straight towards Barcelona's goal.

At this time, there was only one defensive player in front of him, and that was Bartra who was lagging behind.

But Manchester City now has three arrows in its bow, with Lin Quan and Aguero in the middle alone. The question facing Bartra is: who should he defend?

Abandon Aguero to defend Lin Quan?

If he did so, Lin Quan would most likely pass the ball directly.

Should he continue to defend Aguero and ignore Lin Quan? If he did so, Lin Quan would probably dribble the ball all the way to Barcelona's penalty area and score the goal!

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What to do? What to choose? Bartra gritted his teeth, abandoned Aguero and ran towards Lin Quan.

In his subconscious, Lin Quan was obviously a greater threat.

And once he moves forward, Aguero will be in an offside position, and Lin Quan cannot pass the ball to him at this time.

This choice can be said to be the best choice he can make! Seeing Bartra move, Lin Quan immediately judged the other party's intention.

The other party’s plan is very good, but who gave you the courage?

Does it give you the confidence that you can stop me in a one-on-one duel?

When Bartra pounced on him, Lin Quan also acted quickly.

He passed the ball to the right, and Bartra quickly adjusted his body direction, trying hard to keep up with Lin Quan's rhythm.

However, before he could complete his move, Lin Quan passed the ball to the left again.

The two actions were connected too quickly. Even though Bartra used all his strength and barely overcame the inertia of his body to turn around, he had already lost his position. Lin Quan had already taken a step ahead and broke into the Barcelona penalty area!

All the Manchester City fans at the scene stood up excitedly and stretched their necks to look towards the field.

Lin's one-on-one shot! Barcelona's goalkeeper attacks!

Can this ball go in? Although Lin Quan's success rate in single shots is very high, the Blue Moon fans couldn't help but feel a little worried when they saw the opponent's goalkeeper rushing out aggressively.

This goal was really important for Manchester City. If it was scored, the total score would become 4:3 and Manchester City would regain the lead.

And because Barcelona is leading in away goals, they need to score at least 2 goals if they want to advance!

Barcelona fans are more worried than Manchester City fans. If this ball goes in, their hopes of advancing will be very slim.

At this moment, the eyes of tens of thousands of fans in the stadium were all on Lin Quan and the Barcelona goalkeeper.

This ball will determine the life and death of the two teams!

Facing Pinto's attack, Lin Quan did not rush to shoot. He calmly flicked the ball sideways, avoided Pinto's interception, got rid of the opponent, and sent the ball into the empty goal! Boom! At the moment when Lin Quan scored, the Etihad Stadium was boiling!

"Forest!"

Amid the cheers of the fans, Lin Quan opened his arms and ran along the bottom line of the court like a soaring eagle! In the stands, Manchester City fans were excited.

The nearest fans rushed to the billboard, ruffled his hair, patted his chest, and a brave girl even kissed Lin Quan when he was not paying attention.

Lin Quan was startled and quickly left. The big screen at the scene just captured this scene. Seeing Lin Quan’s frightened look, Manchester City fans couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

"Lin, that's awesome!"

"Lin, well done!"

At this time his teammates also rushed over, and they surrounded Lin Quan in the middle, touching him all over, hugging him, or rubbing his hair.

Lin Quan's goal made Manchester City's situation very optimistic.

"Keep up the good work and beat them one more time!"

After the celebration, Lin Quan glanced at the dejected Barcelona players, clenched his fists and said fiercely.

"Okay, one more goal!"

The teammates were in high spirits at this time, and they all nodded when they heard Lin Quan's words.

If 4:3 is not safe, then score another goal to completely defeat Barcelona's fighting spirit and make them give up completely! In the stands, after seeing Lin Quan send the ball into Barcelona's goal, Ancelotti took the opportunity of the home fans celebrating and stood up and said to his assistant coach Clement:

"Let's go, the game is over, there's no need to watch the rest!"

"ah?!"

Clemente glanced at the game time. It was only the 68th minute, and there were still more than 20 minutes left. How could it be over? "Haha, do you think Barcelona can still make a comeback?"

Ancelotti asked with a smile.

Clement wanted to nod, because this team is Barcelona, ​​one of the top giants in Europe! Although it is difficult to score two goals in 20 minutes, it does not seem to be an impossible task for Barcelona with Messi!

"It's hopeless. Manchester City is about to strangle Barcelona's midfield. Not only will Barcelona not be able to score, they may even lose the ball!"

After Ancelotti came to his conclusion, he did not stay at the Etihad Stadium any longer.

His own club helped him collect the game videotapes and other things, so he has achieved the purpose of his trip.

No need to waste time anymore!

Seeing that An Pang was leaving as soon as he said so, Clement hesitated for a moment and then followed him.

On the field, the game went just as Ancelotti expected.

After Lin Quan scored, Manchester City's pressing became more frantic.

While they were pressing frantically in the frontcourt, Manchester City's midfield also increased its stranglehold on Barcelona's midfield.

Xavi, who was already playing uncomfortably, felt even more uncomfortable at this time.

The game time reached 70 minutes and his physical fitness had already declined seriously. The opponents took turns to take care of him at this time, which made him a little overwhelmed.

In just a few minutes, Harvey was violated several times.

During one of the incidents, Lin Quan even withdrew from the frontcourt and Yaya Toure double-teamed him. This kind of targeting and care made it extremely difficult for Xavi to pass the ball.

Seeing that Xavi was being pressed, Martino had to let Fabregas share his organizational work to relieve the pressure on Xavi.

Seeing that Fabregas had joined the fight, Lin Quan immediately retreated to the midfield to participate in the fight.

Manchester City formed a numerical advantage in the midfield, with Lin Quan, De Bruyne, Kroos and Yaya Toure pressing three Barcelona players.

The advantage in numbers, coupled with the fact that they are younger and more physically fit, caused Barcelona's midfield to fall into a disadvantage and gradually lose control of the midfield.

After losing control of the midfield, players such as Neymar and Messi received no support in the frontcourt and were completely unable to play their roles.

On the other hand, Manchester City's attack began to increase.

In the 79th minute, Yaya Toure intercepted the ball and immediately made a long pass to Navas on the wing.

This was almost the same as the long pass in the first half, but at this time, Barcelona's defenders could not run and the midfield was unable to interfere with Manchester City players' passes, making Yaya Toure's long pass more accurate and more deadly than in the first half!

After Navas received the ball, he made a two-on-one combination with Aguero who was on the sidelines and passed Barcelona's full-back Alba.

After receiving the ball, Navas, who was full of energy, quickly cut inside and rushed towards Barcelona's goal.

Busquets, Mascherano, Bartra and others were trying desperately to return to defense, but they had all played for 80 minutes and their physical strength had long been exhausted. Navas had only been on the field for 20 minutes and was still full of energy.

He rushed into the penalty area before the Barcelona defender, took a look at the goalkeeper's position and chose to shoot directly.

Not everyone has Lin Quan’s ability to dribble past the opponent’s goalkeeper. He was not sure he could dribble past the opponent’s goalkeeper, and he did not dare to waste time to adjust, so choosing to shoot directly was the safest option!

Pinto cursed inwardly for being a fool; the opponent's kick was hasty and his save was also hasty.

The Barcelona goalkeeper jumped up but failed to catch the ball, and the football failed to fly into the goal.

With a bang, the football hit the crossbar and bounced back.

As luck would have it, the ball bounced back and hit Mascherano who was returning to defense.

The Argentine had no time to brake, and the football hit him and bounced back into the goal.

Pinto had just fallen from the air onto the grass and had no time to react. He could only watch the ball go into the net.

2:1!

Manchester City reversed Barcelona at home, with the total score reaching 5:3!

There are 10 minutes left in the game. Barcelona needs to score 2 goals to equalize the score and 3 goals to advance to the final!

This was an almost impossible task! At the last moment, Martino replaced Pedro and Sanchez to fight to the death.

However, their midfield and backcourt had already gone out of control, and piling up offensive players in the frontcourt was completely useless.

On the contrary, Manchester City frequently launched threatening counterattacks in the final stages of the game.

In the 89th minute of the game, Lin Quan assisted Aguero to score another goal, and Manchester City changed the score to 3:1, and the total score came to 6:3!

This time, Barcelona had no hope at all! In the last few minutes of the game, Barcelona's players finally gave up resistance and let Manchester City's players pass the ball back and forth to waste time.

At the end of injury time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

Manchester City defeated Barcelona 3:1 at home, defeating their opponents both at home and away.

The first time in team history to reach the Champions League semi-finals! 　Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)