Chapter 423 Assists Hat Trick
Goalkeeper Valdés, defense line Van Bronckhorst, Marcos, Puyol and Belletti, midfielder Marcos Senna, Iniesta and Xavi in the center, front court is the trident combination of Ronaldinho, Su Dong and Messi.
This is the starting lineup for Barcelona's home game against Udinese.
It will also be the most turning point game in Messi's career so far.
He replaced Giuly as the starting right winger.
Before the game, Su Dong and Messi stood in the center circle. The Argentine seemed a little nervous and kept taking deep breaths.
"Don't be nervous, Leo, you have already experienced the Champions League final and won the world championship." Su Dong teased with a smile.
Messi glanced at him and smiled bitterly.
The Champions League final was real, but he was a substitute and his performance was not particularly outstanding. As for the world championship, what kind of world championship is the World Youth Championship? Besides, the significance of tonight's game is completely different from the past.
People outside may not know, but the Barcelona locker room is very clear that Rijkaard wants to test Messi and Iniesta to see how much they can perform.
"Su, I'm still a little nervous." Messi smiled bitterly with some embarrassment.
"It's okay, just do your best!" Su Dong reached out and touched Messi's head, "I'll support you in the front!"
After hearing this, Messi took a deep breath and nodded vigorously again.
…
With the whistle of the British referee Bent, the game officially started amid the cheers of 100,000 Barcelona fans in the stadium.
Su Dong quickly kicked the ball to Messi, who passed it back.
Barcelona's formation was quickly deployed, the ball rolled to the back line and was passed continuously.
Both Xavi and Iniesta tried to keep away from the defense, constantly moving back and forth to support their teammates.
Udinese performed well in Serie A last season, beating teams such as Roma and Lazio to finish fourth in Serie A, proving that the team is quite strong, but as a guest at Camp Nou, they did not dare to press forward easily.
When Barcelona passed the ball continuously at the beginning of the game, Udinese chose to camp tightly and defend their half court. They were not moved by Barcelona's control of the ball at all, nor did they go forward to grab the ball.
Interestingly, after Barcelona opened the game, there was a passing game that lasted for more than two minutes, during which Udinese did not even touch the ball, but passively defended against Barcelona's repeated attempts.
But the first threatening shot of the game came from Udinese midfielder Muntari's long-range shot.
This long shot from 25 meters away lacked power and was easily caught by Valdes.
Perhaps because he was too nervous, Messi made several obvious mistakes after the opening. But as Su Dong repeatedly comforted him and Barcelona gradually controlled the rhythm and the situation, he gradually got into the state.
In the seventh minute, Messi intercepted the ball from Udinese defender Obodo, dribbled inside, passed two opposing players, and shot a curved ball with his left foot, but the shot lacked power and was confiscated by the goalkeeper.
Just one minute later, Messi dribbled past the opponent again and created a threat, but unfortunately he failed to convert it into an attack.
…
Su Dong’s main task in this game was not to score goals, but to help Ronaldinho, Messi and Iniesta.
He doesn't need to prove himself anymore, but Ronaldinho has been questioned this season and has just been disciplined internally by Rijkaard. He needs a wonderful game to please the fans and regain the recognition of the locker room.
Not to mention Messi and Iniesta, they rarely started, especially they started ahead of Giuly and Deco.
It can be said that the three of them were under pressure when they played. In this situation, Su Dong had no reason not to help them.
What's more, they often passed the ball to Su Dong on weekdays.
So, after Messi got into his best form, Su Dong also took the initiative to change his role. He no longer looked for scoring opportunities, but instead pulled the defense line for Messi. For example, the ball Messi kicked just now was caused by Su Dong leading the defensive player to the right in the opposite direction when Messi cut inside, which allowed Messi to kick the ball, but he didn't kick hard enough.
Messi replaced Giuly in the starting lineup, and Barcelona's tactics, especially the offensive tactics, were obviously different.
Giuly is a right-footed player who plays as a right winger. His characteristics are attacking and scoring from behind. At this time, Barcelona's attack is more inclined to the left, with Ronaldinho responsible for taking the ball and attracting the attention of the defense. If the left side is closely watched, the ball will suddenly shift to the right and Giuly will attack.
But today, after Messi started, his ability to hold the ball was not inferior to Ronaldinho at all, and he played on the right side with his left foot. Dribbling from the right and cutting in and making diagonal runs were his forte. Coupled with Su Dong's intentional or unintentional "care", Barcelona's offense felt a bit balanced on the left and right.
There is an excellent ball-carrier on both wing sides. Messi is comparable to Ronaldinho and even performs better. In addition, Su Dong's pulling and supporting left and right, Barcelona's front trident frequently crosses and switches positions, which gives Udinese's defensive players a headache.
In the 13th minute, it was Su Dong who suddenly appeared on the right side outside the penalty area, received a long pass from Xavi and passed the ball to Messi. The young Argentine player took the ball and cut inside horizontally, trying to take another shot, but was fouled by the opponent outside the arc.
Vidigal, who was defending all the way, was given a yellow card warning.
Ronaldinho walked over as expected and took the direct free kick in a very good position. He used a wonderful arc ball, bypassing the wall and hitting the right post into the net, making it one to zero!
Su Dong has also been practicing free kicks recently and studying Ronaldinho's "hidden talents". After watching Ronaldinho's free kick, he was full of praise.
My God, the ball was not fast and the power was not strong, but it was too clever. Not only did it bypass the wall of people, it also went into the net along the right post. The goalkeeper didn't even react to it, the angle was too tricky.
In a word, one word: handsome!
…
After scoring the first goal, Barcelona did not stop their attack, but instead launched a series of fierce attacks.
Su Dong also frequently passed the ball to his teammates, first with a horizontal pass, then Ronaldinho passed it to Iniesta, who made a long shot from outside the penalty area, but it was blocked by the defender and went out of bounds.
Afterwards, Xavi took a corner kick, Sudong headed the ball to the back post, and Messi pushed the ball in front of the goal and broke through Udinese's goal.
2-0! Just two minutes later, Messi returned the favor by dribbling the ball on the right and cutting inside. After passing two opposing players, he suddenly sent a fatal pass with his left foot, tearing open the defense and accurately sending the ball to Su Dong's feet.
Facing such an opportunity, Su Dong took the lead and shot, 3-0! In the 32nd minute, Su Dong pulled to the left, received the pass from Ronaldinho, used his speed to dribble past Natali, rushed directly to the bottom line, and made a triangle pass to the left rib. Ronaldinho followed up and shot into the far corner, scoring twice, 4-0!
In half an hour, four goals were scored! Barcelona launched a crazy attack and completely suppressed Udinese.
More importantly, the three midfielders led by Marcos Senna, Iniesta and Xavi not only had amazing ball control efficiency and planned endless offensives, but were also quite solid on the defensive end, which was quite surprising.
In the 41st minute, Iniesta suddenly made a run from behind and received a pass from Su Dong. When he tried to shoot at the front of the penalty area, he was tripped to the ground by Montari who was returning to defense.
Ronaldinho took another free kick and hit it accurately, performing a hat trick! Five to zero! Crazy!
The entire Camp Nou stadium was completely crazy with joy! Tonight, Barcelona not only played with amazing passing and controlling efficiency, but also launched a tidal wave of attacks.
…
During the half-time break, Rijkaard specifically praised several players who performed brilliantly in the first half, such as Ronaldinho and Messi who scored a hat trick, and also praised Su Dong's performance.
Although Su Dong only scored one goal, he contributed two assists and was involved in most of the threatening attacks. His role was obvious to all. Anyone could see that he was more helping his teammates tonight.
This also made his teammates in the locker room admire him even more, or be grateful to him.
After the change of sides in the second half, just four minutes into the game, Su Dong received the ball with his back to the goal, turned around and made a through pass. Messi chased him and had a one-on-one opportunity. He lobbed the ball into the goal in the penalty area and scored his second goal!
Su Dong also performed a hat trick!
However, it was not a hat-trick of goals, but a hat-trick of assists!
Six to zero! The outcome is decided, the rest of the game is meaningless! …
In the 55th minute, Rijkaard replaced the outstanding Su Dong with Larsson.
As Su Dong slowly walked off the field, players such as Ronaldinho, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta all ran over to hug him as he passed by.
All 100,000 Barcelona fans in the stadium stood up and gave Su Dong a warm round of applause.
"Tonight's Su Dong is impressive."
"He is not the player who scored the most goals for Barcelona, the one who scored a hat trick was Ronaldinho; he is not the most dazzling player for Barcelona, the most eye-catching performance was by the young Messi."
"But Sudon is still the most important player for Barcelona, because it was his presence that allowed Ronaldinho to score a hat trick, helped Messi block the defensive pressure, and allowed the young Argentine to fully display his talent."
"The fans at Camp Nou understand. They know Su Dong's value and role, so when Su Dong left the field, they all stood up and applauded and cheered for him."
"One goal, one assist and a hat trick. Su Dong created four of Barcelona's six goals in this game."
"Maybe he won't be the best player tonight, but he is still the most important player for Barcelona tonight!"
…
The game ended with a score of seven to zero.
In the final stage of the game, Barcelona won another penalty kick opportunity. Ronaldinho caused the opponent to foul in the penalty area, but this time he did not take the penalty himself, but gave it to Deco who came on as a substitute.
Deco took the penalty kick himself and scored, locking the score at 7-0.
Barcelona won the most satisfying victory of the season so far at Camp Nou!
(End of this chapter)
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