Chapter 394 Ronaldinho: This guy will become the king of football!
The situation on the left side of Barcelona is exactly the same as that of Manchester City. After Messi left, Lin Quan, who did not have to participate in the defense, went all out and turned Barcelona's left side upside down.
Alba, Busques and others tried their best but still found it difficult to limit him, and sometimes they had to let Iniesta join the defense.
But in this way, their offense will be affected, and Barcelona's entire left-wing attack will immediately be paralyzed.
The two sides were originally playing ace against ace, exchanging pieces with each other.
Now that the two trump cards have been separated, they will explode each other.
Under such circumstances, the fans who came to the scene saw for the first time the superb personal strength of these two top stars.
On the Manchester City side, although Kante was beaten badly by Messi, he still gritted his teeth and persevered.
But this is only because there is not much time left in the first half and Messi has limited time to perform.
If the situation remains the same in the second half, Kante alone will definitely not be able to limit Messi.
A few minutes later, the halftime whistle sounded and the first half of the game ended.
The two teams were temporarily tied, and the suspense of the outcome remained in the second half.
Because the game was held in Germany, fans saw many familiar faces on the field.
Like German national team players Reus, Muller, Lahm and other stars.
Bayern's head coach Heynckes, Lin Quan and De Bruyne's mentor Thomas Schaaf, Klopp who just stepped down as Dortmund's head coach, and other coaches also came to the scene.
A match of this level, the Champions League final, is a grand event for European football.
Here you can see the individual performances of top stars, see the charm of teamwork, and appreciate the battle of wits and courage between coaches of both sides on the tactical level.
No one wants to miss such a wonderful event.
Therefore, in addition to people in the football circle, the annual Champions League final can attract a large number of people outside the circle to watch.
For example, in a box at the stadium, there was a person who did not belong to the football circle - the famous NBA star Kobe Bryant.
This season, Kobe was ruled out for the season due to a torn rotator cuff tendon in his right shoulder. After the surgery, the Lakers missed the playoffs early.
So compared to James who is busy leading his team to win the championship, he has plenty of time to enjoy life.
Kobe is a well-known football fan, and his favorite player, Messi, was also in the game.
Kobe and Messi knew each other very early, as early as 2004, when the Barcelona club came to Los Angeles as a guest.
Ronaldinho, who was still playing for Barcelona at the time, introduced Messi to Kobe and said that Messi would become the best in the world and even the king of football in the future.
Kobe was very surprised by Ronaldinho's words, because Messi was only 17 years old at that time, and the most powerful player in football at that time was undoubtedly Ronaldinho himself.
But Ronaldinho said: "No, no, this kid standing here is going to be the best."
These words were directed at Messi. It was because of this episode that Kobe met Messi and the two became friends from then on.
This game is the first time in three years that the friends have made a bid for the Champions League trophy.
For such an important occasion, how could Kobe not come to the scene to witness it with his own eyes?
However, after watching the first half of the game, Kobe was deeply impressed by a Manchester City player.
"Hey Ronaldinho, is that the guy you said has the same talent as Messi?"
Kobe pointed at Manchester City's No. 10 who was leaving the field and asked Ronaldinho beside him.
Ronaldinho has just terminated his contract with the Crotale club of the Mexican League ahead of schedule. He is currently a free agent and has not signed a contract with any team yet.
The reason I came to Europe this time was, firstly, to watch the Champions League final; secondly, to try my luck and see if I could find a new club.
In fact, Ronaldinho is not that old, he is only 35 years old this year.
Xavi, who is older than him, is currently playing for a top club like Barcelona. At his age, maybe there will be a team that wants him.
Of course, the probability of this happening is very small.
After all, although Xavi is old, he is still in good shape. Although he can't start, he can still be a rotation or substitute.
Ronaldinho has been away from the top five leagues for more than four years, and now he has reached the point where he can't even play in the lower-level leagues.
In this state, let alone the five major leagues, even leagues like the Portuguese Super League, the Belgian First Division and the Dutch Eredivisie would not want it.
Of course, maybe a club with a lot of money and a lot of stupid people will sign him because of his influence.
After seeing clearly who Kobe was referring to, Ronaldinho nodded and said seriously:
"Yes, that's the guy!"
After getting a positive answer, Kobe asked curiously:
"You once said Messi would be the best in the world or even the best player of his generation, and now you say this guy's talent is on par with Messi. So who do you think is better between them?"
This kind of question would only be asked in a private setting like this. Kobe would never ask it in public.
Xiao Luo thought seriously for a moment and said:
"I have watched several of his games in Brazil. Lin's talent and ability are comparable to Messi in his prime, and he is even better in some aspects. If one of them can become the best, I think it will be Lin!"
Kobe was very surprised. If someone else had said this, he would probably just laugh it off.
But since these words came from the mouth of the former Ballon d'Or winner and the world's number one player, he had to take them seriously.
…
In the locker room, coaches from both teams were busy arranging tactics for the second half.
Both teams exposed some problems in the first half, and Manchester City was under great defensive pressure.
Although Suarez and Neymar did not score in the first half, their activities in the frontcourt still posed a great threat to Manchester City's goal and required a lot of Manchester City's energy to defend.
"Everyone did a good job in the first half. Keep up the good work in the second half. When defending, be careful not to give Messi space to start. Try to separate Messi, Neymar and Suarez and don't let them form a combination easily."
We still have to respect the great name of MSN. Teams that disrespect this combination usually don't end up well.
Guardiola is not stubborn because as a former Barcelona coach, he has always been paying attention to this Barcelona team and is very clear about their strength.
After arranging the defensive tactics, Guardiola's tactical focus was on offense.
Unless the team is aiming for a draw or penalty shootout from the very beginning, if they want to win the championship, they will ultimately have to rely on offense and goals to achieve their goal.
A football match is a game about time and space. How to expand the space when attacking and reduce the space when defending has become a compulsory course for every coach.
In Guardiola's view, no matter how solid the defensive system is, space always exists.
Therefore, the most important thing for offensive players is how to find space and use it effectively.
To achieve this, players need to have extremely high basketball IQ.
Of course, there is another way, which is to break the situation with force.
The Barcelona of the Dream Three Dynasty relied on Messi, this unreasonable breakthrough monster, to take advantage of the small space that others could not use and to break through the opponent's defense with his strong personal strength.
When he arrived at Bayern, the team lacked a player like Messi. He asked Bayern players to do this and that according to the same requirements as he had for Messi, but the other side simply couldn't do it.
So in the Champions League semi-finals, when they encountered Atletico Madrid's reinforced concrete defense, they were frustrated and handed in a blank paper.
Since then, Guardiola has had an epiphany and began to realize that players like Messi are rare in the world and that every team cannot be expected to have such a strong player.
As a result, he studied tactics more deeply and racked his brains to think about how to make full use of the space on the court.
After unremitting research and thinking, Guardiola finally reaped some rewards and further improved the passing and controlling system he had created at Barcelona.
Now, after arriving at Manchester City, he not only has Lin Quan, who is comparable to the peak Messi, but also has a further improved passing and control tactics.
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Therefore, Guardiola is full of confidence for the second half of the game.
On the other side, in the Barcelona locker room, Enrique was also full of confidence.
"I have studied their defense thoroughly, and we still have two trump cards that we haven't used yet!"
"Messi, you should cooperate more with Neymar and Suarez in the second half and bring out the power of MSN as soon as possible. As long as the three of you play to your full potential, we will definitely win this game!"
The reason why Enrique is so confident is that in the first half, Barcelona only used Messi, and Suarez and Neymar had not yet shown their strength.
After all three players showed their strength in the second half, he wanted to see how Manchester City could resist his MSN combination?
The fifteen minutes of halftime passed in a flash and the second half of the game began soon.
Neither team has made any personnel adjustments and there is no need for substitutions at this time.
This game would most likely be dragged into overtime or even a penalty shootout, so they couldn't waste precious substitutions. After all, this was not the era of later generations where five players could be substituted in a game.
After the second half of the game started, the audience was immediately dazzled.
They noticed that both teams were starting to get sharper offensively.
Manchester City's movement seems to have some potential, but it's hard to see the point for the time being.
On the other hand, everyone is already very familiar with Barcelona's passing and control system.
So the changes on Barcelona's side were immediately noticed.
Suarez and Neymar, who were a little quiet in the first half, became noticeably more active after the start of the second half.
Moreover, the interaction between Messi and them is more frequent. These players in Barcelona's frontcourt can easily penetrate into the opponent's penalty area through passing and coordination, posing a threat to Manchester City's goal.
Obviously, this was the result of Enrique's tactical adjustments to the team during halftime.
"Is Barcelona starting to get serious? It feels like Manchester City is a bit passive?"
"Yes, they were gradually suppressed in their own half and couldn't get out!"
"During this period, the two teams' ball possession rate was quite different. Barcelona's ball possession rate in the second half was almost over 70%!"
"Hiss, it's worthy of being Barcelona. The opponent is Manchester City, which eliminated Bayern. The ball possession rate is really terrifying!"
Of course, some people are disdainful of this: "Haha, the game is about who scores more goals, not who has more ball possession!"
"Yes, it's not like Barcelona haven't lost before. Their opponents can sometimes beat them with less than 30% ball possession!"
"Win, no matter whether we win the game or not, we definitely win by possession of the ball!"
…
Without Lin Quan's restraint, Messi felt that he had regained the feeling of being able to call the shots on the court during his peak period.
This feels so good!
As Messi's form improves, Kante finds it increasingly difficult to defend him. Even with the addition of left-back Kolarov, the two of them may not be able to limit him.
As a result, Barcelona's attack became more and more threatening, and Suarez even missed a great opportunity.
In the box, Kobe, Ronaldinho and others were immediately impressed by Messi's outstanding performance in the second half.
"Haha, it looks like Messi is not far from scoring his first final goal!"
Xiao Luo said confidently.
However, as soon as he finished speaking, the situation on the field suddenly changed.
After Messi passed Kante, he was intercepted by Van Dijk. The latter kept the coach's instructions in mind and did not take any steps. He kept a safe distance and slowly retreated, compressing Messi's dribbling space.
With the cooperation of Van Dijk, Kante chased back and the two of them worked together to steal the ball from Messi.
After stealing the ball, Kante quickly passed it to Kroos.
Before Rakitic could get to him, Kroos made a precise long pass to De Bruyne in the frontcourt.
De Bruyne demonstrated the art of stopping the ball at a master level. While running at high speed, he lifted his foot and touched the ball with ease, which not only relieved the force on the football but also brought the ball down.
He looked up at Lin Quan's position, exerted force suddenly, and sent a low pass.
The ball passed between Mascherano and Pique, and at this moment a figure came from the flank like a gust of wind and received the ball in the open space behind.
It's a one-on-one opportunity! Ter Stegen immediately left the goal and rushed towards Lin Quan with open arms.
There was no chance to give the opponent a chance to adjust their shot. Ter Stegen watched this guy's shooting highlights for several hours before the game and couldn't find any flaws at all.
He was worried that if he could not attack immediately, block the opponent's shooting angle as much as possible, and put pressure on the opponent, then this single shot would become a goal! Ter Stegen's judgment was correct, and the choice was also correct.
But he seemed to have forgotten one thing. The reason why Lin Quan's one-on-one shot was so threatening, in addition to his superb shooting skills, there was another very important reason - he liked to pass the goalkeeper and then shoot into the empty goal!
Seeing Ter Stegen choose to attack, Lin Quan immediately dribbled the ball and changed direction, moving sideways to create space and quickly passed the opponent.
Barcelona's goal was empty at this time, and Lin Quan raised his right foot and kicked the football.
(End of this chapter)
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