The battle in Anfield Stadium had reached its climax, and the situation was quietly changing.
Liverpool was calmer and more confident, while Barcelona began to feel a little overwhelmed.
In the 62nd minute of the game, Messi retreated deeper on the right flank, then received Xavi's pass and went to the middle. After he got rid of Mascherano, he still had to face a pincer attack from Alonso and Aurelio, who had shrunk to the middle and taken a few steps forward. Therefore, Messi decisively chose to shoot at the goal 35 yards away from the goal.
He aimed at the top left corner of the goal, which was an extremely tricky angle.
Although Reina tried his best to save, it still seemed to be beyond his reach. The scene that made the Red Army fans feel uneasy and relieved was that the football hit the top of the crossbar and flew out of the end line.
Messi looked up and sighed. He knew that such opportunities were rare. Liverpool's tight defense made it impossible for him to break through, and his long shot was slightly unlucky. Perhaps he was a little helpless today, just like Qin Xiong.
It was just that Qin Xiong had a better attacking environment than him, so even if Qin Xiong's shooting was not good, he had better opportunities and could naturally contribute more to the team.
When Guardiola saw the situation on the sidelines, he completely let go of his emotions and let go.
With a wave of his hand, he ordered the full backs to increase their aggressiveness. To put it bluntly, it was just one sentence: Attack!
Two minutes later, Liverpool launched an attack. Gerard received Torres's return pass in the middle and also blasted a long shot that hit the goal.
Valdés performed outstandingly this time. He pounced and grabbed Gerrard's long shot.
In the 66th minute of the game, Barcelona's midfield finally launched a fatal attack after almost a minute of continuous passes.
Messi attracted the attention of a lot of Liverpool's defenders in the front right flank.
When Iniesta was in possession of the ball, he began to run and cut horizontally, driving Liverpool's defenders to tighten up the middle. Iniesta sent an over-the-top pass to the front right.
The Liverpool players looked back. They were surprised at first and thought that Iniesta had made a mistake in the pass. But when they saw the area where the football landed, they saw Alves, who cut directly into the Liverpool penalty area near the end line!
Under Guardiola's command, Alves resolutely plugged in from the back. He used Messi as a cover and became Barcelona's unexpected attack point.
However, there weren't many choices he could make in the restricted area near the bottom line.
Alves swept the ball to the front of the goal.
Ibrahimovic outflanked in the middle to snatch the ball, receiving the ball with a push shot.
It was supposed to be a beautiful attack. Under other circumstances, Barcelona would have broken the goal.
But Liverpool's defense was tight, and the rear defensive line was closer to the goal. When Alves passed the ball across, Ibrahimovic was very close to Reina, so when Ibrahimovic grabbed the shot, Reina was right in front of him!
Reina lowered his center of gravity and blocked the ball with his calf!
The cheers of the Red Army fans rang out in Anfield Stadium!
They cheered for Reina's wonderful performance.
The blocked football rolled to the feet of Mascherano, who directly passed the ball to the front and to the front of Gerard's running position.
Gerard did not hesitate to run forward. He observed the running positions of his attacking teammates as he ran.
Qin Xiong started to move forward on the left side of the midfield. He had a good running position this time, and Alves was behind him!
In order to contain Qin Xiong, Puyol and Keita naturally leaned to his side.
So, Torres and Gerard only had Piqué and Maxwell in the space to charge forward.
Gerard consciously dribbled to the right of the middle to widen the distance between Keita and Puyol.
As a result, Keita and Puyol were in a dilemma.
Because Torres was also running to this side.
In order to block Torres, Piqué would naturally widen the distance between him and Puyol. In that case, Gerard could take advantage of such a gap at any time to plug in and form a one-on-one ball.
After dribbling the football into the area forty yards away from the goal, Gerard began to actively observe Torres's position.
Keita could not let Gerard move forward so unscrupulously. He moved to the middle to prepare to intercept Gerard from the side.
Maxwell also rushed to Gerard from the other side. As a result, Gerard saw the best passing route!
To Torres!
Torres ran from Piqué's right side. After Maxwell went to intercept Gerard, the space on this side became extremely open.
After Gerard's pass was sent over, he released his maximum speed to rush to the middle!
Puyol knew that the gap between him and Piqué was a little big. Gerard's forward running could easily form a one-on-one ball. As long as Torres could pass and Piqué could not block, then Gerard would inevitably form a one-on-one ball!
Therefore, Puyol had no choice but to move to the middle, ready to block Gerard at any time.
The moment Torres stopped the ball next to Piqué, he directly dunked the ball behind him and completed his turn at the same time. As a result, he slightly widened the distance between him and Piqué, who could not stop in time, and had a chance to pass.
Piqué naturally saw Gerard plugging forward in the middle. He was eager to save his teammate and immediately lifted his leg to block Torres's passing route.
Then, something unexpected happened.
Torres kicked the ball into the penalty area instead, brushing past Piqué and completing the breakthrough!
After breaking through Piqué, Torres came to a position parallel to the right side of the penalty spot. He already had the space and angle to shoot.
Valdés quickly moved to the side near the goal post, but Torres's next choice made all Barcelona's defenders despair!
Close to the ground to pass!
Torres swept the ball to the front of the far corner of the goal!
After Torres passed the ball, his eyes brightened as he looked in the direction of the pass.
He knew that if he passed the ball to Gerard, Gerard would risk being intercepted by Puyol.
He could not say that he did not have confidence in shooting, but the success rate might not be high.
However, if he swept the ball to the back of the goal, Puyol would not be able to intercept it.
There must be someone there who could receive him!
It was his teammate who was sprinting forward at full speed when the attack was launched.
Liverpool's ace!
The superstar superstar, China's Mystic Dragon, Qin Xiong!
Torres's eyes sparkled with excitement because he saw it. Just as the Red Army fans raised their arms to celebrate, a red whirlwind suddenly swept past behind the goal!
That was Qin Xiong!
With no one marking, Qin Xiong arrived just in time. Torres's pass was directly pushed into the empty goal by him with the arch of his foot!
Anfield began to cheer loudly, and the noise shook all directions!
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