In the 58th minute of the game, Barcelona frequently shifted their attacks in the front field. In a series of dazzling quick passes, Iniesta and Deco attracted the attention of Ljungberg and Silva in the front waistline.
They successfully created enough space for Ronaldinho, who moved to the middle. Ronaldinho almost used an unreasonable way to break through from Fàbregas' side!
Then he faced Arsenal's two defenders directly. After dodging Campbell's tackle, Ronaldinho wanted to pass a straight pass to Giuly, but he was keenly aware that Ashley Cole had blocked his passing route by moving inside.
So he pushed the ball towards the goal in front of Touré in a hidden way.
Almunia was not prepared enough, or his awareness was not in the same rhythm as Ronaldinho's. When Ronaldinho shot, he saw the football roll past Touré into the penalty area before he started to move towards the lower left corner of the goal. But it was obviously too late!
At the critical moment, someone used a sliding tackle from the left to block the ball. Then Almunia immediately changed his route and pounced forward to hold the ball in his arms!
The man who stood up in the penalty area was Qin Xiong.
He was originally staring at Eto 'o and Iniesta, who had moved to the left side. He was ready to fill in at any time until Ronaldinho pushed the attack to the front of the penalty area and shook off Campbell. Then he immediately ran towards the goal. He was afraid that Ronaldinho would break through again or pass a straight pass to his other teammates. He did not expect that a freak combination of factors would allow him to resolve a shot that Ronaldinho had a chance to break through.
Qin Xiong stood up and walked forward slowly. Wenger saw this scene on the sidelines and felt like his heart was being cut by a knife.
Wrong!
The game should not be like this!
Qin Xiong should be the offensive threat player galloping in Barcelona's half of the field, not doing the dirty work in the backfield!
But he also knew that after Barcelona stepped up their offense, Arsenal's original defensive strength was a little overwhelmed, which led to such a situation.
He walked to the front of the substitutes' bench with a solemn expression and said something to the assistant manager.
The assistant manager immediately acted.
Although Arsenal had already made a substitution, that substitution was passive.
Now, he had to take the initiative to make a substitution!
At the same time, the Barcelona manager, Rijkaard, saw that there were only about 30 minutes left in the game. He also had to make a second substitution.
Arsenal and Barcelona made a substitution at the same time!
"Arsenal has used up the second substitution spot. The Spanish genius Fàbregas has been brought off by Wenger. The player who replaced him is the defensive midfielder Flamini. Wenger saw the problem in Fàbregas' defense and now needs to strengthen the defense in the middle and backfield. After all, there were too many dangerous situations in front of Arsenal's goal in the second half.
Barcelona also used their second substitution. After Rijkaard replaced Edmílson, he replaced van Bommel with the Swedish veteran, Larsson! It looks like Barcelona will have to step up their attack!
For Barcelona, the remaining time was decreasing bit by bit. It was time to stake everything on one throw!
But wasn't Rijkaard's substitution too risky?
There's almost no defensive force in the midfield! "
After Flamini came on, Arsenal's midfield defense became Ljungberg – Silva – Flamini.
The toughness and strength of the defense must have improved.
Wenger always had to release Qin Xiong. Otherwise, Arsenal would be beaten by Barcelona until they had no power to fight back.
It was unrealistic to rely on saving from danger again and again to keep the score at 1: 0.
Henry was also isolated and helpless in counterattacks and quick attacks because of the lack of support from his teammates. Arsenal did not make a single threatening attack in the second half. All of their attacks ended in failure.
After the substitution, Barcelona obviously strengthened the threat of penetration in the danger zone.
Larsson, Eto 'o, and Giuly rushed to the front line. Ronaldinho lay in ambush behind the three players. Iniesta and Deco supported the midfield control.
Arsenal's defensive line had shrunk to the extreme, but it still seemed to be a little overwhelmed by Barcelona's unpredictable penetration.
In the 62nd minute of the game, Deco passed a straight pass in front of Flamini behind him. Ronaldinho ran diagonally from the other direction to receive the football. Ronaldinho, who was surrounded by enemies on all sides, directly used his heel to diagonally pass the ball back. Iniesta took advantage of the change in Arsenal's defensive line shrinking in the middle to directly kick an over the top diagonally to find Giuly, who was cutting inside on the right flank. Giuly did not stop the ball. When the football fell, he directly tapped the middle.
Larsson, who plugged in from the back, followed up with a volley. Fortunately, Almunia blocked the near corner of the goal in time and also took a few steps out. He used his body to block Larsson's close-range volley.
The football bounced in the penalty area. Ashley Cole turned halfway to receive the ball and swept the ball to the left side of the midfield.
Henry received it there. After stopping the ball, he took advantage of the momentum to dribble the ball forward.
At this moment, there was only Barcelona's defensive line in front of Henry.
Because Barcelona had no defensive midfielder at all!
They had all been replaced by Rijkaard.
Henry strode forward with the ball. Oleg, Marcos, Puyol, and van Bronckhorst immediately contracted the defensive line.
But there must be a sense of defensive layering.
Oleg went forward to restrain Henry from cutting inside. Once Henry wanted to break through, there would be a center back behind him ready to intercept a second time.
It was a routine and calm defensive adjustment.
Henry quickly dribbled the ball in front of Oleg. He dribbled the ball and began to change. It looked like he was going to break through, but he hooked the ball with his foot and continued to push forward along the outside to attack. Oleg immediately retreated to pursue after being bypassed.
Barcelona's defensive line originally did not care what Henry did outside, especially on the flank, unless he could blast out a world-class wave to directly send the ball into the goal.
But when they saw someone coming from the midfield like a meteor, Marcos was shocked. He immediately directed Puyol to go forward to block the man.
Puyol decisively went forward. At the same time, Henry pushed out of the attacking depth on the flank and then passed the ball diagonally out of the penalty area.
Of course, it was Qin Xiong who was rushing from the back!
Qin Xiong was confident that he could touch the ball before Puyol in the face of Henry's pass. But how could he rush past Puyol's defense?
Puyol was prepared. He waited for Qin Xiong to stop the ball and then dribble to break through. He only needed to delay Qin Xiong.
But he did not expect Qin Xiong to use the tip of his foot to shovel the bottom of the football when he received Henry's pass. It was as if he had a unique technique to make the football bounce in place.
Not only was the technique dazzling, but even the control of power was just right.
The football rose just in front of Qin Xiong's face.
Puyol did not expect Qin Xiong to not stop at all. After the tip of his foot scooped the ball up, he used his head to press the ball down and forward.
He wanted to cut horizontally to block Qin Xiong's forward position. If it did not work, he had to engage in physical confrontation or tactical fouls.
But Qin Xiong seemed to have foreseen it. When he ran forward after the header, he took a step around and made Puyol's interception plan fail!
Qin Xiong, with a determined look in his eyes, was now facing only one defensive player.
Marcos!
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