Chapter 558
Words:1772Update:22/06/30 12:14:19
Barcelona seemed to have ignited the ultimate battle flame.
Rijkaard stared coldly at the field from the sidelines. He played the last substitution card.
Belletti went up and replaced the full-back, Oleg.
He was still interested in the Brazilian Belletti's ability to assist.
Barcelona was born to attack. Even if they were to die, they would die in a gorgeous attack!
They would never retreat half a step and their will would not waver!
Although Arsenal was leading Barcelona by two goals, their disadvantage in the game was actually increasing bit by bit because Barcelona's ability to control the field was too strong. By the 70th minute of the game, Barcelona's possession rate had soared to nearly 70%!
In other words, Arsenal only had less than 20 minutes of possession time in the 70th minute, or even less, because the possession time was not counted during the flight and scramble for the ball. Moreover, it was necessary to take into account that the invalid game time was also counted in the regular game time.
It was already commendable for Arsenal to be able to score two goals in a limited time.
Under the influence of long periods of ball possession, Barcelona frequently shifted their attacks. Arsenal played with fewer players, so naturally, their physical exhaustion would intensify. Even though they had shrunk their formation to the point that it was almost an iron bucket formation, their physical exhaustion was huge because the defensive players could not make mistakes!
A single mistake could ruin a match!
In the 70th minute of the game, Deco completed an inverted triangle with Giuly under Belletti's attack from the flank. He formed a threatening long shot from the penalty area line.
Almunia had already adapted to the game. He was a little flustered in the early stages, but as he got into the rhythm of the game in the second half, his play became more stable.
He single-handedly saved Deco's shot out of the end line. Then Barcelona opened a tactical corner kick. Iniesta swept the ball across the goal from the left. Ronaldinho failed to grab the ball and Touré cleared the ball with a long kick. The football flew to the other flank. Belletti regained control of the football and Barcelona's attack continued!
The frenzy of attacks during this period of time did not give Arsenal any room to breathe.
A minute later, Deco passed the ball straight to Ronaldinho, who was diagonally inserted in the middle of the front waistline.
Ronaldinho directly stopped the ball behind him. When Flamini turned around to intercept, he moved the ball one step horizontally. He played with Flamini almost 180 degrees on the spot. Then, he turned around to face Arsenal's goal and launched a new attack.
Eto 'o received the ball with his back, and Ronaldinho passed the ball straight to Eto' o. After the pass, Ronaldinho immediately ran horizontally. Eto 'o returned the ball, and the football rolled into Ronaldinho's running path. He did not give Silva a chance to intercept and raised his leg to shoot!
Almunia flew to save the ball and blocked it with his arm. However, Larsson, who was in the penalty area, rushed to the front of the goal and headed the ball directly. The ball bounced back and flew directly into the goal!
Ashley Cole shrugged helplessly at his teammates!
He stared at Giuly. Campbell and Touré were pinned down by Eto 'o and Ronaldinho. There were also Belletti and Deco on the periphery. Eboue could not ignore the threat of Iniesta's attack on the left.
As a result, Arsenal's defensive system was clearly in a situation where the number of defenders was insufficient.
The key was that Barcelona's wave of continuous attacks was too oppressive on the nerves of the defenders. The opponent had many attacking players. God knew where a player who could break the goal would come from.
After Larsson's goal, there was no time to celebrate. The old Swedish monster immediately rushed into the goal and ran to the backfield with the football in his arms.
The Barcelona fans in the Stade de France seemed to see hope and cheered excitedly.
"Barcelona gets one back! Rijkaard's substitution still had a certain effect. Ronaldinho's shot in front of the penalty area caused Almunia to miss the save. The substitute, Larsson, scored a goal! If it were not for the age factor, Larsson definitely had the strength to occupy a main position in Barcelona's formation.
Arsenal's record of not conceding a goal in the Champions League this season was broken. The final record was set at 1,152 minutes! It was a great achievement and a great record. But compared to winning or losing the game, presumably no Gunners fans would care about this record. They only wanted the title. They only wanted the first Champions League trophy in the history of the Arsenal Football Club!
Now the suspense is back. There should be 20 minutes left including injury stoppage time. Arsenal is only one goal ahead of Barcelona! "
Wenger frowned on the sidelines. Looking at the development of the situation on the field, Barcelona might be able to complete the reversal in one breath.
He was hesitant about whether to use the last substitution to strengthen the defense.
But in the face of a first-class team like Barcelona, the number of defenders might not determine the quality of the defense.
Rijkaard punched hard. He could not say that he was completely relaxed. He thought that victory was in his hands. At least he had relieved the huge pressure in his heart. He believed that the Barcelona players must have regained their confidence and their mentality had become calm.
Barcelona's morale soared after scoring this goal.
Henry boosted the team's morale before kickoff. He stepped on the ball and waved his arms up and down at his teammates. After that, he looked at his teammate next to him. Qin Xiong!
Qin Xiong was watching Barcelona's half of the field. He wanted to see the opponent's formation deployment.
Barcelona was still in a very conventional 4-3-3 formation, at least at kickoff.
As Arsenal no longer dared to put in troops in the attack, they could only rely on Qin Xiong and Henry to attack the city in the following game.
It was definitely not possible for the two of them to rush up like this. They still had to look for opportunities.
Henry passed the ball to Qin Xiong. Qin Xiong stepped on the ball in place. Eto 'o immediately rushed up to fight for the ball. Qin Xiong knocked the ball back to Henry. Henry knocked the ball directly back to the back of the left side and handed it to Ashley Cole.
When Giuly rushed up to fight for the ball, Ashley Cole immediately passed the ball diagonally to Flamini. The latter then kicked the ball out to the right side.
Barcelona's formation invaded Arsenal's half of the field. Due to their advantage in numbers, they could reasonably cut Arsenal's formation. They did not care about the center backs' possession of the ball. However, they would mark other points that could form passing points or advance the offense.
Because of this, when Arsenal could not continue to pass the ball in the backfield, Ljungberg could only take the risk of passing the ball to the front field.
Qin Xiong was defeated in the fight with Puyol. In this kind of 50-50 opportunity, Qin Xiong was obviously not as good as Puyol in the fight for the ball.
Qin Xiong's heart was a little heavy.
Arsenal's problem was actually not completely solved after Fàbregas left the field.
There was no commander in the backfield who could stabilize and control the situation.
If he took on this role, then the offense in the front field would lack a point to connect. If he could not play with speed, how could Barcelona's defense be easily broken through?
Moreover, Arsenal had already done it once with Henry advancing the offense and Qin Xiong plugging in from behind. If they wanted to replicate it again, it would be harder than ascending to the heavens.
The next twenty minutes were the real decisive moment!
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