Barcelona finally completed the first shot of the game in the fifth minute of the game.
After passing the ball back and forth in the midfield, Barcelona might have felt that they could not find a good opportunity to create a shooting opportunity in the penalty area through passing and cutting. Liverpool's tight defense was a headache for them. When their patience ran out, everyone wanted to shoot at the goal no matter what.
Iniesta received Maxwell's pass and flicked the ball horizontally. He dodged Lucas's pressing and lifted his leg for a long shot.
The football flew through the gaps between people and went straight in the direction of the goal. The angle was good, but unfortunately the power was not enough. Reina moved horizontally and fell to the ground with the ball in his arms.
Liverpool defended Barcelona's first attack and immediately launched a counterattack.
Reina stood up and rushed to the edge of the penalty area with the ball. He threw the ball and passed it to the left back, Aurelio, who stopped the ball and passed it straight ahead.
Qin Xiong received the pass near the midfield line. After he stopped the ball, he turned around and began to dribble forward at lightning speed.
Barcelona's formation immediately retreated. Xavi first came to the flank to intercept Qin Xiong.
After Qin Xiong stopped and changed direction to knock the ball into the inside line and broke through from Xavi's side, Xavi intercepted Qin Xiong with his thigh, causing Qin Xiong to lose his balance and control of the football.
The referee immediately whistled to signal that Xavi had committed a foul. Xavi walked over with an indifferent expression and extended his hand to Qin Xiong. His attitude was so friendly that the referee did not even issue a warning to him.
Xavi did not seem to be a player who was particularly good at defense, but he was actually very good at the ball. He would never be soft-hearted when he fouled. He would often win the referee's favor with his polite image. It must be admitted that Xavi's fouls were not fierce, which was one of the reasons why he rarely received a card.
Qin Xiong stood up from the ground somewhat helplessly. He shook hands with Xavi and accepted Xavi's kindness. Then he quickly took a free kick and passed the ball directly to the right side.
Gerard rushed up and did not stop the ball. He made a straight pass and the football quickly rolled to the feet of Torres in front of him.
Torres, who was just about to complete his turn, was pincered by Pique and Puyol from the left and right. The ball at his feet was poked away by Pique and Torres could not do anything.
Barcelona continued to shape the offensive situation with passing and control.
But Guardiola frowned on the sidelines.
If an average team used a tight defense, Barcelona would frequently pass the ball back and forth vertically and horizontally, driving the opponent's defensive formation to sway and move. In this way, gaps would often be exposed for Barcelona to suddenly change the pace of the game to launch a fatal blow.
But Liverpool's first defensive line leaned towards the middle and released the outside for Barcelona to play passes and cut. If they attacked with a pass tactic, then Barcelona could only rely on Ibrahimovic. Ibrahimovic may be tall and big, but he was actually more inclined to the use of his footwork, rather than the traditional tall center forward with a powerful header. Moreover, Barcelona rarely used the tactic of passing to the center forward to deliver headers. In the past, Eto 'o and the pseudo-center forward, Messi, were not players who used headers to solve the battle.
Liverpool's midfield defense made Guardiola feel even more helpless.
Alonso, Gerrard, Lucas, and Javier Mascherano were all players with good defensive abilities. They frantically surrounded and robbed in front of the penalty area, and their joint defense made Barcelona feel quite distressed as they did not know where to attack.
At this time, Barcelona could only rely on the players' individual breakthroughs.
In the 11th minute of the game, the football rolled to Messi's feet. Aurelio was behind him to press for the ball, but Messi suddenly kicked the ball and got rid of Aurelio in an instant. Messi, who cut into the middle, was met with Alonso and Mascherano who came together to press for the ball.
He stopped and changed directions to avoid Alonso's pressing, but Mascherano intercepted the ball in front of him!
Messi did not have much space to break through. It was as if he had hit a wall. He was struggling like a trapped beast, which made him feel a lot of pressure.
Liverpool immediately launched a fast attack after the successful interception.
Mascherano passed the ball diagonally to Gerard in the middle.
Gerard saw Qin Xiong start to run forward and immediately sent a diagonal pass.
The football rolled to the left side of the front field.
Qin Xiong saw Alves in front of him and Keita was also moving this way. As Barcelona played an oppressive offense, the distance between the three lines could not be too far apart. In addition, the flank assists were the characteristics of Barcelona's offense. There was a huge gap behind Alves.
Qin Xiong used the simplest and most brutal way to break through Alves' defense.
When the football rolled to his feet, Qin Xiong directly used the tip of his right foot to kick the ball forward.
The football flew and went over Alves' head.
Seeing this, Alves immediately stopped in his tracks. He wanted to turn around to chase the ball, but after Qin Xiong lifted the ball over the top, he immediately unleashed his maximum speed and brushed past Alves, who had just finished turning around!
Alves was about to pull Qin Xiong's arm when he saw it, but Qin Xiong did not give him a chance. His arm swung back forcefully and Alves could not pull Qin Xiong's arm. The two men's arms collided and Alves fell to the ground!
Inconceivably, when Alves stopped and fell to the ground, he actually covered his face!
It was as if he was complaining that Qin Xiong had just hit his face!
Qin Xiong had no idea what was happening behind him, especially when the boos from the Red Army fans in the Anfield stands made him a little confused for a moment. The referee's whistle did not sound either.
Qin Xiong put aside the distracting thoughts in his mind and did not think about the reason. Instead, he rushed forward to stop the ball and then completed a lateral change of direction.
Puyol and Keita were both rushing towards him. Qin Xiong observed Torres' running position and sent out an exquisite straight pass after a pause.
Torres was originally on the right side of Pique's body. Pique was guarding against the space behind him when Torres cut in front.
However, Torres moved horizontally to the front of Pique. Then, when Puyol moved towards Qin Xiong, he completed a reverse offside run from the gap between Pique and Puyol!
Qin Xiong's straight pass was on this route.
The two's passing and running coordination was seamless!
Torres cut into the penalty area and got a one-on-one opportunity. When Valdés left the goal, Torres half-turned and pushed the ball to the far corner of the goal.
Valdés made a save, but unfortunately, it was a step too late. Before his hand fell to the ground, the football had just rolled over. He fell to the ground and turned his head to look back, only to see the football hit the inside of the goalpost and bounced into the goal!
Anfield suddenly seemed to shake as the Red Army fans cheered wildly!
The Red Army's Holy Baby Torres scored the first goal for the team!
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