Chapter 741 Barcelona's First Move
When Howard Webb, the referee from England, blew the whistle to start the game, Su Dong kicked the ball to Ribery in the penalty area, who passed it back to Schweinsteiger in the midfield.
Barcelona quickly moved forward and put pressure on Bayern.
Schweinsteiger moved the ball to the right and passed it to Robben.
The Dutchman faced close pressure from Seydou Keita on the right side and tried to kick the ball towards the baseline. When he was about to pass the ball, he was blocked by Seydou Keita and the ball flew directly out of bounds.
Throw-in for Barcelona.
Robben raised his left hand high to indicate that it was his own mistake.
Bayern's three lines immediately retreated, and even Su Dong in front followed back.
After Barcelona kicked the ball out of bounds, the ball was passed back and forth in the midfield and backcourt with a skillful kick.
Soon, Barcelona opened a fast channel on the right, Alves directly pressed to the 30-meter area of Bayern, received Xavi's diagonal pass, passed it to Messi, and quickly moved forward.
Messi understood what he meant, took the ball with his back, turned around and passed it to the right baseline.
Alves quickly got in and sent a cross with his right foot directly in front of the goal.
Ibrahimovic quickly moved forward and Pepe followed him closely. Both of them kicked the ball at the same time, one trying to shoot and the other trying to clear the ball. As a result, the ball hit Ibrahimovic's leg, changed direction and hit Pepe, and was blocked by the Portuguese center back. Pepe quickly caught up and kicked the ball out with a big kick.
In the stands, Bayern fans were visibly relieved.
Although many people think that Ibrahimovic cannot integrate into Barcelona, his performance and data in Barcelona are not bad.
Superstars at their level are the type who shine brightly with a little sunshine and can kill the game in minutes.
It's still Barcelona's out-of-bounds ball.
Pepe reminded his teammates in the backcourt, especially Marcelo.
In Barcelona's previous attack, Marcelo obviously did not follow Alves in time.
This is the routine, but sometimes things change rapidly on the court.
Alves passed the ball to Messi, which made Marcelo reflexively want to double-team Messi, but Messi passed the ball behind him, Alves made a run-in, and Marcelo couldn't keep up.
"Keep an eye on the wing, you're not needed in the middle!" Pepe shouted.
Marcelo made an OK gesture.
…
Although they had a very threatening attack and failed to produce a shot, Barcelona's morale was still very high.
The team began to apply pressing pressure in the frontcourt.
As soon as Bayern got the ball, they immediately launched a frantic counterattack, forcing Bayern to keep kicking the ball.
In just three minutes, Bayern kicked the ball twice, once the ball went out of bounds, and once they failed to find Su Dong and passed it directly to Pique who was lagging behind.
Obviously, this is what Barcelona wants.
Through this high-intensity pressing and pressure, Bayern was forced to lose control of the ball.
How to attack if you can’t hold the ball?
Wouldn't Su Dong become a decoration in the front court? More importantly, Barcelona's pressure area fell to Bayern's 30-meter area, which was very fatal. As long as they intercepted the ball and passed it again, it would be a threat and they could kick at any time.
It felt like the opponent had a knife on my neck, ready to cut me at any time.
Heynckes was also very anxious on the sidelines, constantly signaling the players to press forward and stay away from their own penalty area, especially when the ball was too close to the goal.
Everyone knew that this was Barcelona's first move at the start of the game and they would never be able to maintain the pressure for long.
Messi might be able to bear it, but can Ibrahimovic handle it?
Besides, Bayern is not an easy team to deal with.
In the seventh minute, Bayern created an opportunity in the backcourt. Schweinsteiger made a long pass directly to the left side of the frontcourt.
Su Dong quickly made an offside move and cut diagonally to the left. After getting the ball, Pique and Puyol had already come up. Together with Alves and Yaya Toure, four defensive players surrounded Su Dong on the left side of the penalty area.
Su Dong was stubborn enough. He used his body to block Pique on the boundary line, stepped on the ball, turned around and passed the ball back.
Unfortunately, as soon as Ribery stopped the ball, Alves kicked it out of bounds.
Bayern quickly sent the ball out of bounds and passed it to Schweinsteiger again to reorganize near the center line.
Barcelona first defended steadily, and then when they saw Bayern pass the ball back, Ibrahimovic, Messi and other players immediately pressed forward.
When Su Dong saw that he couldn't find a point to pass the ball in the backcourt, he immediately retreated and raised his hand to ask for the ball.
Pepe's long pass accurately found Sudong, but as soon as the ball stopped, Yaya Toure blocked him from behind, with Seydou Keita and Pique next to him, and Xavi in front of him also running over.
Another encirclement!
Su Dong acted decisively and passed the ball to Marcelo who was unguarded on the left before the encirclement was completed. However, when the Brazilian left-back tried to break through on the left, Alves cleared the ball with a long kick.
…
"From the opening tactics of the two teams, they were very targeted, especially in terms of defense against the other team's core players."
"Both Su Dong and Messi were under tremendous defensive pressure. As soon as they got the ball, the surrounding defensive players immediately formed a double-team, which made it difficult for both of them to perform."
Zidane watched the game for about ten minutes and found that the two sides were really evenly matched.
Mourinho attaches importance to defense, but Barcelona still has a high possession rate.
"In the first ten minutes, neither team had any chance to shoot. Barcelona had a high possession rate, but they didn't create many chances, mainly because they still had a lot of long passes to Ibrahimovic."
"This is an obvious change in Barcelona's tactics this season. However, the Swedish center forward couldn't hold the ball or even grab the ball under the defense of Lucio and Pepe, so when Barcelona's ball reached the front court, the error rate was quite high."
"However, from the current perspective, Barcelona's frontcourt counter-attack is quite good, which is a headache for Bayern."
As he was speaking, he saw Bayern launch another counterattack and the ball came to Su Dong's feet.
In the frontcourt, as soon as Su Dong got the ball, he was double-teamed by Barcelona players again, with three or four players around him.
No matter how strong Su Dong's personal ability is, can he fight four people alone without any space?
This is basically impossible.
Cristiano Ronaldo also felt it was a pity when he saw that Su Dong had to pass the ball back to the defender, and the defender was forced to pass it back to goalkeeper Neuer.
"Ribery and Robben did not give Su Dong enough support. They could have been closer to Su Dong and cooperated with him. Su Dong has that ability and awareness, and his physique is very good. As long as he turns around and takes the ball to attack head-on, Barcelona's goal will be in danger."
"Yes, that's right." Zidane also agreed with Ronnie's judgment. "Sudong's problem now is that he can only receive the ball with his back to the goal. Bayern can't pass the ball, and Barcelona is also trying its best to avoid Sudong's head-on attack."
"The game has been going on for thirteen minutes, right? Su Dong has had the ball a few times, but he has basically never faced the goal." Ronnie felt very puzzled.
I can see it myself, but Heynckes can't?
This doesn't make sense! Sure enough, in the 15th minute, Heynckes signaled to the players on the sidelines to withdraw the formation appropriately, and also asked Ribery and Robben to move closer to Su Dong.
After the withdrawal, the space in front of Su Dong became larger.
But in this way, the pressure on Bayern's defense will also increase.
But just two minutes later, a long pass from Lucio went directly to the right side of the penalty area.
Su Dong quickly cut in behind Maxwell and caught up with Lucio's long pass on the right side of the penalty area before anyone else.
When the ball was stopped, Barcelona's Seydou Keita and Maxwell both returned to their positions at the same time.
But after Su Dong stopped the ball, he paused for a moment, then suddenly accelerated, dribbled the ball to the bottom line, used his speed to overtake Seydou Keita, dribbled into the penalty area, used his body to push Maxwell away, and made a cross with his right foot.
The ball fell towards the middle of the penalty area, but this area was full of Barcelona players.
Neither Ribery nor Robben entered the area to create a threat immediately, resulting in Su Dong's pass being cleared by Puyol and kicked out of the penalty area.
"If it were me at this time, I could at least have a shot. If Puyol and Pique failed to defend, I would be sure to score!" Ronnie and Su Dong cooperated very well, and he had enough confidence and confidence in his abilities.
But alas, neither Ribery nor Robben are Cristiano Ronaldo.
Heynckes could only worry on the sidelines.
Ribery and Robben are both good on the wing, but when it comes to shooting, Robben is pretty good while Ribery is a lot worse.
Not to mention compared with Cristiano Ronaldo, even Thomas Muller is obviously inferior to them.
Of course, this is purely from the perspective of shooting and sense of smell, after all, they are all wingers.
"That's what I said just now, as long as we let him get the ball and attack head-on, not two people may be able to stop him." Cristiano Ronaldo still felt regretful that the previous attack did not result in a shot.
Bayern's quick counterattack seemed to stimulate Barcelona, and they began to launch a more fierce attack on Bayern.
This forced all three lines of Bayern to retreat back to their own half, and even Su Dong retreated across the center line.
Bayern has been famous for its defensive ability in the past three years, and its excellent defense has played an indispensable role in its unstoppable success in the European arena.
Not to mention Pepe and Lucio, Mascherano is a world-class defensive midfielder. Together with Schweinsteiger and Modric, Bayern's midfield and backcourt defense is very solid and did not allow Barcelona to create any threats.
Barcelona's two full-backs began to actively move forward to assist, and it seemed that they were using themselves as wingers.
Just when Barcelona was about to enter the Bayern penalty area, Mascherano completed a steal from Messi, poked the ball down, and Pepe cleared it and kicked the ball forward.
Su Dong was near the center line, constantly judging the landing point. After blocking Pique with his body, he headed the ball to Ribery and turned around and quickly moved forward.
Ribery understood what he meant, chased after the ball without stopping, volleyed the ball towards the ground, and passed it behind the Barcelona defense.
And almost at this moment, Su Dong passed by Pique.
(End of this chapter)
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