After Qin Xiong returned the corner kick to the right flank near the midfield, Johnson came up to control the ball, and then passed the ball to Alonso in the middle. Even if Liverpool reorganized their offense, they were not willing to let Barcelona get a chance to counterattack quickly.
Guardiola frowned as he watched from the sidelines.
Liverpool playing like this would more or less consume more of Barcelona's stamina.
It was conceivable that Barcelona needed the whole formation to retreat when defending the corner kick. If they could successfully defend and carry out a wave of forward offense, then it would be fine. But Liverpool passed the ball back, and the prerequisite for Barcelona's formation to press forward again was to regain the ball.
In the process of regaining the ball, there were at least more than six players running back and forth, not to mention ten players. On the other hand, what about Liverpool's stamina? In fact, it was very small.
In the 27th minute of the game, Liverpool's offense ended with Torres's long shot from outside the penalty area. Torres's shot was a bit outrageous and sent the ball directly into the stands.
Barcelona began to reorganize their offense. Xavi and Iniesta ran back and forth in the middle and front of the field, and then linked up with the offense. They first focused on creating opportunities for Messi, but Messi was submerged under Liverpool's intensive defense in the middle and back of the field. Especially after Liverpool's strong physical play in defense, Messi lacked space and was frequently fouled by Liverpool's players. It was not fierce, but it was enough to make him very uncomfortable.
Messi tried to create opportunities for his teammates, but Ibrahimovic was not as agile as Eto 'o, which greatly reduced the offensive activity.
When Barcelona saw that Messi's side could not play the expected effect, Xavi and Iniesta immediately changed the direction of the attack, which created some difficulties for Liverpool.
In the 31st minute of the game, Iniesta dribbled the ball forward in the middle and broke through Alonso with his skillful control of the ball. He was about to be caught in the double attack of Lucas and Mascherano after he broke through. Iniesta kicked the ball back to Xavi behind him, who used his master-level passing footwork to send a straight pass close to the ground.
The football rolled through the gaps to the left side of Liverpool's penalty area. Even if it was a narrow gap, Xavi still managed to seize the opportunity.
Pedro cut inside and ran to receive the ball successfully. He received the ball and directly shot at the goal.
The football flew to the top of the far corner of the goal, and Reina appeared to be out of reach. When the Red Army players looked nervously at the goal, they immediately relaxed.
The football brushed the edge of the crossbar and flew into the stands!
"Barcelona almost to equalize the score! Pedro's shot was only a hair's breadth away from the goal. If the ball had been a little lower, it would have definitely gone in! "
Liverpool's counterattack arrived at the bottom of the city a minute later.
Torres received Gerard's pass from the midfield, and then began to dribble the ball forward to attack along the right side of the middle.
When he came to the front and back of the penalty area, he diagonally passed the ball to Qin Xiong, who cut from the side to the middle of the penalty area.
Torres immediately plugged in after the ball, and Piqué retreated to keep an eye on Torres. Qin Xiong pretended to pass the ball in front of Keita, but changed direction to break through. Keita could not withstand Qin Xiong's instant burst of power. After Qin Xiong broke through in front of him, Qin Xiong turned to the front of Piqué's defensive area. With Torres as a cover, he found an angle to shoot.
Qin Xiong saw Valdés moving in the direction of the near post of the goal, so he rubbed the ball on the spot and shot the ball to the far corner of the goal, which was the opposite of Valdés' running route.
Valdés stopped moving. When he saw the football flying over, he realized that he could not complete the save. He could only turn his head to look at the football and witness the trajectory of the football.
Qin Xiong deliberately rubbed the ball to the far corner of the goal. The speed of the ball was not fast, and it even gave people a sense of lightness and beauty.
Dang!
Under the expectations of countless Red Army fans, the football did not fly into the corner of the goal. Instead, it gently brushed the outside of the goalpost and bounced out of the end line.
Qin Xiong stamped his feet in annoyance!
He did not know why, but he felt that his control of his footwork was good today, but the effect was just a little bit worse.
It was a feeling that could only be understood and not explained.
Liverpool's coaching staff, the players on the substitutes' bench, and the fans all felt that it was a pity that Qin Xiong did not score the goal.
"Qin Xiong's shot has beaten all the Barcelona defenders, but in the end, it did not beat Anfield's goalpost. If this ball had been scored, it would have been a wonderful goal. It's a pity that it was just a hair's breadth away."
Barcelona's midfield commander, Xavi, had been thinking about how to break through Liverpool's dense defense.
Messi's point did not have an effect, but Messi himself was a huge threat. The containment of Liverpool's defensive line was an intangible contribution.
Pedro's side could not be said to be useless. It could only be said that Pedro was not a world-class striker, that was all. In a confrontation of this level, coupled with Liverpool's compressed offensive space in the clash of skills and tactics, it was normal that Pedro did not perform miraculously.
The right wing, the left wing, they had all concentrated.
Xavi's heart sank. He could only gamble on the middle.
In fact, Ibrahimovic did not integrate into Barcelona's system, at least not perfectly. This was recognized by everyone.
Therefore, at this critical moment, not many Barcelona players would be confident in betting that Ibrahimovic could turn the tide.
But now that the situation was forced, Barcelona had no other choice.
But if Barcelona wanted to shift their offensive focus, they would not blindly go straight to the middle. They would still use pass control to shape the offensive situation, and then back and forth horizontally and vertically to disrupt and tear apart the opponent's defensive line. Finally, they would change the game's rhythm and speed up to deliver a fatal blow, which would expose their true offensive focus.
In the 39th minute of the game, Xavi exchanged passes with Keita in the front field to avoid Gerard's pressing. Then he passed the ball to Pedro, who was retreating.
The football rolled to the left wing, and Liverpool's defensive line would slightly tilt to the left wing.
Pedro passed the ball to the feet of Maxwell, who came up from behind, after Lucas and Johnson consciously blocked and surrounded the ball in front of him.
Maxwell overreacted and passed the ball to Xavi in the middle.
Xavi immediately made a pass transfer. When tearing apart the opponent's defensive line, even if it was a pass, the most important thing was the speed and the success rate of the pass!
After Xavi passed the ball to Messi, Liverpool's defensive line, which had previously tilted to the left, immediately tilted to the right in order to block Messi.
Before Messi touched the ball, Messi had already understood Xavi's meaning because Xavi still looked at Messi after the pass and ran towards him.
Messi did not say a word and passed the ball back to Xavi's feet again.
After the left and right offensive shift to tear apart and disrupt Liverpool's defensive line horizontally, the attacking space in the middle became bigger. Xavi began to drive a fatal attack after stopping the ball.
Now was the time to reveal the real intention!
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