1 to 2!
After Barça was hit twice in the opening stage, Messi finally recovered a point in the thirtieth minute of the first half.
In fact, before this mistake, RCD Espanyol's defensive line already had a loophole, but they were lucky to hold on for about thirty minutes.
But Mark Roca's mistake was so big that it was passed directly to Suárez's feet. After Suárez's straight pass, Messi faced the goalkeeper alone. Faced with this kind of opportunity, Messi could probably score at least ninety out of a hundred times. The result was naturally without suspense.
After Messi scored, there was no celebration. He went straight past Diego Lopez, who fell to the ground in frustration, rushed into the goal to pick up the football, and then went straight to the center circle.
The Barça players just ran over and patted Messi on the shoulder, and then clustered around him to run to the center circle.
The Barça players' intentions were clear. They did not want to waste a second and wanted to resume the game as soon as possible.
After all, they were still a goal behind.
This was Camp Nou, their home ground. But RCD Espanyol, a mid-to-lower level team struggling to avoid relegation in the first half of the league, scored two goals in ten minutes. For the stars of the Cosmos team, it was undoubtedly a disgrace.
Wu Lei and Xia Ruofei's goals also successfully aroused the anger of the Barça players. They urgently needed to vent their anger.
Such a Barça team was more terrifying than ever before.
Xia Ruofei did not participate in the defense of the ball just now. He was a little far from the site of Mark Roca's mistake. When he saw Suárez intercept the ball and directly pass it to Messi, he already knew the result. So, he did not even see Messi's final shot and went straight to the center circle.
Xia Ruofei saw many Barça players clustered around Messi to put the football in the center circle and then quickly return to their positions. He could not help but smile — the game was becoming more and more interesting.
Xia Ruofei did not become nervous because Barça had pulled a goal back. He looked back at the RCD Espanyol players who were walking back to their positions dejectedly and shouted, "Cheer up! We're still in the lead! Quickly return to your positions and don't make any more mistakes! "
It had to be known that as long as the Barça players returned to their own half of the field, and the RCD Espanyol players were also in their own half of the field, regardless of whether all the RCD Espanyol players returned to their positions, according to the rules, the referee could directly blow the whistle to kick off the match.
Of course, because it was RCD Espanyol who lost the ball, it was RCD Espanyol's side who should kick off this time. Iglesias and Wu Lei naturally would not rush to kick off before their players returned to their positions.
In fact, the mentality of the RCD Espanyol players had changed. It could be seen from their current performance that they wanted to drag on as much time as possible.
But Xia Ruofei knew very well that it was useless to blindly defend against the powerful Barça. Including the injury stoppage time in the first and second halves, there were at least sixty to seventy minutes until the end of the game. Wanting to rely on the bus to maintain the current score was simply a pipe dream.
It was conceivable that if the morale of the RCD Espanyol players was still so low, they might not even be able to get a draw in the end, let alone keep the three points.
Barça's offensive firepower was not a bluff.
Although Xia Ruofei did not participate in many games, and this was only his second game, he was the boss of the team after all. He had won the respect of the players with his own strength, so when he came out to shout, no one had any rebellious mentality. Even the captain on the field, Víctor Sánchez, felt that it was normal.
And Víctor Sánchez immediately realized where the problem was, so he kept clapping his hands and loudly encouraging the morale of the team.
Soon, everyone returned to their respective positions, and the referee finally blew the whistle to signal the start of the match.
Iglesias passed the ball to Wu Lei, and Wu Lei immediately passed it back to Víctor Sánchez.
On Barça's side, when the players heard the whistle, it was as if they had heard the call to charge, and the situation immediately pressed past the center line.
When Víctor Sánchez received the ball, Barça's front line had already advanced to this position. Suárez and Coutinho pressed over from different directions.
In the front field, Iglesias, Wu Lei, and Xia Ruofei were all marked by Barça's players. Víctor Sánchez did not have a suitable route for the ball, so he could only choose to pass it back again.
After the center back Naldo received the ball, Barça's front line players pressed over again. Naldo passed the ball diagonally forward to Mark Roca. As soon as Mark Roca stopped the ball, Barça's Busquets immediately rushed up while he was still unsteady.
Mark Roca had to pass the ball back again. After Naldo had just passed the ball, he had not been able to run to a suitable position to receive the ball, so Mark Roca chose to pass it back to the goalkeeper, Diego Lopez.
And Barça's front line also continued to press high, rushing towards Diego Lopez.
In just a few seconds, RCD Espanyol's space was compressed to a very small size.
Diego Lopez could only choose to kick a long ball forward. At this time, he could no longer care about whether or not he could create an offensive opportunity. His first priority was to keep the football away from his own goal.
Iglesias and Piqué lost the fight for the header, and the football was headed by Piqué to Rakitic.
Less than ten seconds after the restart, the ball had already changed hands, and the football was once again at Barça's feet.
Then, Barça made another sleepy pass. The football went up and down, sometimes high and sometimes low, but it was always controlled at the feet of the Barça players.
Xia Ruofei frowned slightly. He was well aware of the team's current passive situation.
Barça's pass seemed to be neither fast nor slow, and it did not threaten RCD Espanyol's goal for the time being, but the murderous intent would often be revealed in an instant.
People who liked Barça's style of play loved it, thinking that it was a representation of modern football. People who did not like it hated it, thinking that there were too many ineffective passes that greatly reduced the viewing value and made people sleepy.
But in any case, Barça had relied on this style of play for many years to dominate La Liga and the European arena. It could be said that they rarely met a match.
RCD Espanyol's defensive strength was average. In the face of Barça's mercury-like ground attack, they would be in greater danger if they did not make some changes.
Xia Ruofei narrowed his eyes. His mental strength was always in a state of being released, paying attention to the situation on the field. At the same time, he quietly adjusted his position.
Xia Ruofei's change was done very covertly. Moreover, when Barça had the ball, many of Xia Ruofei's defensive moves were symbolic and did not attract the attention of the Barça players.
At that time, when Barça faced RCD Espanyol's defense, they calmly used a classic "M" shaped pass route. In the end, the football returned to Semedo's feet on the right side.
Xia Ruofei had been secretly moving toward this side, and he had already used his mental strength to observe the situation on the field. He had predicted Barça's pass.
When the football had just been stopped by Semedo's chest, Xia Ruofei suddenly started. The moment the football landed, Xia Ruofei's flying tackle had already arrived.
He accurately shoveled the football, and at the same time, like a bulldozer, he took down Semedo along with him.
Semedo immediately covered his ankle in an exaggerated manner and rolled on the ground.
Xia Ruofei could not help but laugh. He knew very well that he had just shoveled the football. He had just taken the opportunity to bring Semedo down, and he definitely did not touch his ankle.
Semedo was indeed a member of the Cosmos team. Although he was not a product of La Masia Film and Television Academy, his acting skills were not to be underestimated.
At that time, the referee decisively blew the whistle. As he quickly ran to the scene of the incident, he used his hand gestures to clearly indicate that RCD Espanyol had committed a foul.
Xia Ruofei immediately cried out, "Sir, I just shoveled the ball!"
The referee stared at Xia Ruofei and said, "I saw it very clearly. Although you shoveled the ball, your shoveling is considered a dangerous move, so I ruled that you committed a foul!"
When Xia Ruofei heard that, he shrugged his shoulders and left the referee's side.
Xia Ruofei did not care whether the ball was a foul or not. He just hoped to be able to use this fierce tackle to cheer up the RCD Espanyol players.
This was the Catalan Derby. Even if they lost, they had to play with blood!
The referee still shouted behind Xia Ruofei, "Be careful when you play the ball! I've already remembered this. If there are similar dangerous moves, I'm going to take out my cards! "
This was a verbal warning. Xia Ruofei did not care. He turned around and nodded at the referee. Then he loudly called out to his players, "Show some blood! There's no need for polite gentlemen in a derby battle! "
The RCD Espanyol players witnessed Xia Ruofei's tackle and knew in their hearts that this was a gesture from Xia Ruofei. Especially after listening to Xia Ruofei's words, the players' blood was really stimulated.
After pretending to be treated by the team doctor, Seimedo quickly stood up. He did not look like an injured person at all.
The game resumed.
The Barça players clearly felt that the RCD Espanyol players' momentum had changed.
No matter who it was, as long as they held the ball for a little longer, there would immediately be two or three RCD Espanyol players coming forward to snatch it.
And if the ball was passed out, several RCD Espanyol players would also appear on the other side to surround and intercept.
The number of players on both sides was the same. There was only one player including the goalkeeper, but the Barça stars felt that the RCD Espanyol players seemed to be everywhere.
Everyone was running actively and did not hesitate to use their physical strength. It was very exhausting to carry out a high pressure on Barça.
Under the leadership of Xia Ruofei, the RCD Espanyol players were united and finally held on for the last fifteen minutes of the first half.
When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, Xia Ruofei also breathed a long sigh of relief. They entered the locker room with a score of 2: 1. For them, the second half was equivalent to holding a certain amount of initiative.
Although the final result was still difficult to predict, at least the RCD Espanyol team was still in the lead. This was the best news.
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