Chapter 1007 Mourinho's last act of willfulness
After Manchester City reversed Barcelona 2-1, the two teams completely opened up their formations and played a wonderful offensive battle.
First, Barcelona launched a crazy offensive, posing a huge threat to Manchester City's penalty area and goal. Then Manchester City counterattacked and created threats in front of Barcelona's goal again and again.
The two teams fought back and forth, attacking each other at a very fast pace, and neither side was willing to give in.
Su Dong and Messi also got consecutive chances and created threats, but either the goalkeeper played bravely or the shots were slightly off target. The same was true for other players, which made for a very strange scene in the game.
Both teams played very vigorously, but neither team was able to score a goal.
This has to be said to be a very unexpected and even shocking thing.
The game was very exciting and the pace was fast. Both sides were attacking each other and there were endless threats on the field, but no one could score a goal, resulting in the score of 2-1 remaining until the end of the first half.
At the beginning of the second half, the situation of the game became different again.
During the half-time break, Guardiola was dissatisfied with some of the team's practices, mainly in terms of rhythm.
He believes that what Manchester City is best at is passing and controlling the ball, slowing down the tempo, organizing and penetrating through the advantage of passing and controlling the ball, rather than blindly competing with Barcelona in tempo and offense, which would be dragged to the same level by the opponent, which would be disadvantageous to Manchester City.
So, after the second half, Manchester City took the initiative to slow down, patiently controlled the ball, and slowly penetrated forward.
Just four minutes later, Su Dong cooperated with Sanchez on the right side of the frontcourt. Sanchez dribbled the ball into the right side of the penalty area and shot hard. The ball hit Pique and went out of the baseline, giving Manchester City a chance for a corner kick.
Toni Kroos took the corner kick and quickly sent a precise pass into the penalty area.
Su Dong made a feint, which distracted the defensive attention of Pique and Yaya Toure. With Kompany's support at the front point, Pepe, who was standing on the right side of the penalty spot, was in a position without any high point defense.
The height of Barcelona's defensive players is known to the whole world. When Pepe jumped up, the Barcelona defensive players around him could only look up and watch Pepe head the ball into the left side of Barcelona's goal.
Valdes was also distracted by Sudon and Kompany and was unable to save Pepe's header.
The ball went into the left side of Barcelona's goal, three to one!
Manchester City fans throughout the Etihad Stadium once again rushed out of their seats and plunged into carnival.
Three to one!
From falling behind 0-1 at the start to a three-goal comeback now, Manchester City played an excellent offensive football feast in front of the home fans. Especially when facing the powerful Barcelona, Manchester City showed no fear and did not fall behind at all, which was a surprise and unexpected.
The game was played at a fast pace in the first half, but in the second half, Manchester City slowed down the pace and became more threatening.
This also confirms what Guardiola said. The fast-paced offense in the first half seemed exciting, but Manchester City sacrificed part of their ball control ability. For Manchester City, they did not play to their full potential.
This wave of attack in the second half was a true reflection of Manchester City's advantage.
Pepe excitedly rushed out of the stadium and slid on his knees on the sidelines to celebrate the goal, while all the Manchester City players chased out and gathered around Pepe to celebrate the goal for him.
…
After conceding three goals in a row and suffering a reversal, Barcelona did not get scared and continued to play the same offensive style as in the first half.
But on the one hand, Barcelona players' physical fitness is far inferior to that of Manchester City, especially in the second half, this situation became more obvious, and they have gradually been unable to keep up with Manchester City's rhythm and pace.
On the other hand, Manchester City controlled the ball slowly in the midfield and backcourt, forcing Barcelona to press forward, especially in the midfield and frontcourt. After the midfield and frontcourt pressed forward, the back line had to keep up, otherwise it would be out of touch.
In this way, Barcelona pressed forward as a whole, thus exposing their backs.
Just ten minutes after the third goal, Manchester City successfully intercepted the ball in the midfield.
David Silva instigated a counterattack on the spot, dribbling the ball forward until he reached the front of Barcelona's 30-meter area. He feinted the ball, seemingly passing it to Di Maria, but actually passed it to Sanchez on the right.
The Chilean winger did not stop the ball, but directly received David Silva's pass and pushed the ball into the penalty area with his right foot.
The ball slowly fell into the penalty area.
In the middle of the penalty area, Su Dong quickly shook off Pique and Mascherano, and before everyone else, he caught up with Sanchez's pass on the right side of the penalty spot. He stopped the ball, adjusted it, and before everyone could react, Su Dong made a powerful shot.
The ball was like a cannonball, blasting open the goal guarded by Valdes and shooting into Barcelona's goal again.
Four to one!
“GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!”
At this moment, the entire stadium went crazy.
Four to one, the total score is five to one!
In other words, if Barcelona wants to advance, they must score four goals in the next half hour.
Is this possible?
Especially when Barcelona players have clearly shown signs of physical exhaustion, how can they continue to score against Manchester City? If they couldn't do it when they were fully energized, what can they do now? …………
…………
Guardiola silently watched Su Dong rush out of the stadium, kiss the wedding ring on his left hand, and celebrate the goal with Manchester City players.
He was very happy for Su Dong's goal and for Manchester City's impending victory, but at the same time he also felt a deep sense of loss and regret, because tonight he was facing Barcelona, the team he had sworn to be loyal to for life.
It's really ironic.
When he was a professional player, he thought he would play for Barcelona for the rest of his life. However, he was kicked out by Barcelona before he was 30 years old and exiled to Serie A in an almost shameful manner. He even fell into the point where no one cared about him.
After transforming into a professional head coach, he returned to Barcelona to lead the second team, and he was also looking forward to coaching Barcelona's first team one day. He was even very close to this wish, but ironically, the management finally chose Mourinho.
But at this time, Manchester City extended an olive branch to him.
Should he choose to continue his loyalty or change his place? Few people know that Guardiola had talked with Su Dong several times before coaching Manchester City, including in the United States and Munich. It was Su Dong who finally made him decide to coach Manchester City, because he always believed that Su Dong was the player closest to the perfect center forward in his mind among all the players he had met in his life.
He once thought it was Kluivert, but later found that Sudong was more perfect than Kluivert.
So he came to Manchester City.
And now, he defeated Barcelona with his own hands!
Someone asked him, since Barcelona is the love of his life and since he is extremely eager to coach Barcelona, why did he still choose to renew his contract with Manchester City when Barcelona extended an olive branch to him?
Guardiola remained silent and offered no explanation.
Those who asked him must have thought that he was reluctant to give up everything he had built with great difficulty. Others might have thought that he was reluctant to give up the huge annual salary offered by Manchester City. Some might even have thought that he did not want to miss out on Manchester City's brilliant performance in the next few years.
But only Guardiola himself knows that even if he were to coach the current Barcelona, he might not be able to do better than Mourinho.
If he goes to coach Barcelona, the first thing he will do is to buy Busquets back from Manchester City.
But Manchester City is not short of money. How much is Busquets worth now? Can Barcelona buy him?
Without a number four who can understand Barcelona's traditional ball control system, can the midfield passing and ball control system work relying on Yaya Toure?
In Manchester City's central axis, Sudon is the one in front, Courtois is in front of the goal, Kompany and Pepe are on the defensive line, and Busquets is in the midfield.
Up to now, Busquets is the only one in the team who can understand and implement his passing and controlling ball tactics well.
Others can't do it? Not really, they just can't fully display it.
Knowing this, why would Guardiola give up everything Manchester City has worked so hard to build to take on Barcelona's almost doomed challenge?
He once had love, but after everything he had experienced over the years, this love was no longer enough for him to do anything for it.
He used to be an emotional person, but now he is becoming more mature and rational.
On the contrary, the man standing in front of the visiting team's coaching bench, the Portuguese madman, became emotional.
If Guardiola didn't understand at the beginning of the game, he understood it now.
Because Mourinho didn't make any adjustments at all, he didn't even plan to change his tactical play.
Mourinho is angry.
Angry with the players in the locker room, with the management, with the fans, with the media reporters, and with the whole world.
He seemed to be using this game to tell the world, don't you always think Barcelona is invincible? Well, I will go all out and attack wildly for you to see!
Let you see clearly whether Barcelona is really as strong as you imagine!
Look at me, Jose Mourinho, am I really as bad and conservative as you think? Suddenly, Guardiola has some respect for Mourinho.
This is a tragedy.
It’s like two people who are totally unsuitable for each other are forced to get married. Although their life is still okay, many conflicts that have accumulated over the years will always erupt at some point in time.
Many people criticized Mourinho for letting Busquets go, but they never thought that for Mourinho, wasn't it a matter of course to let Busquets go?
If he doesn’t let go, he wouldn’t be Mourinho!
Since he was chosen as the head coach, why do you question him for this? Is he conservative? From his time as the Porto coach to his time as the Chelsea coach, has there been any season where he was not criticized for being conservative? When he led Porto to eliminate Manchester United, how did Ferguson scold him? Has he forgotten everything? Guardiola suddenly felt a little helpless and let out a long sigh.
This should be Mourinho's last act of willfulness at Barcelona!
(End of this chapter)
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