Barcelona was behind Real Madrid in the league and was eliminated by Valencia in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey with a score of 3 to 4. The UEFA Champions League could be said to be Rijkaard and Barcelona's last chance this season.
In the face of a desperate situation where they had to score, Rijkaard had to gamble. Although they knew the danger that could come from the gaps after pressing out, Barcelona could not care so much at this time.
However, it was clear that Li Ang and Inter Milan were prepared for Barcelona's fierce attack. Barcelona surrounded the Inter Milan team's goal for ten minutes to no avail. The Inter Milan team retreated like a tortoise with its head in the sand. This kind of intensive defense did not give Barcelona any chances.
Barcelona in Rijkaard's era focused on the control of the ball. They emphasized large-scale movements and deep penetration in their offense, especially Ronaldinho in front of the penalty area to attract the defense, kick the wall for a two-over-one, or pass diagonally to Giuly on the other side. This kind of offense was common in the games at that time. Decaux could be said to be good at both offense and defense. He was basically the player who attacked and was attacked the most in every game. He made up for the strength of the defense to a certain extent. However, now, Ronaldinho was almost deposed and Decaux transferred to Inter Milan. The two trump cards that Rijkaard once relied on the most were gone.
In addition, Rijkaard's Barcelona team had two problems that had not been solved. One of them was to break through the intensive defense.
Breaking through the intensive defense was a world-class problem, especially after Barcelona began to show their powerful offensive ability. The La Liga teams took the initiative to retreat when facing Barcelona. They retreated from both sides to form a partial advantage in terms of numbers, causing the density in the half of the field to be too high. Once a strong beast waist was set up in the midfield, Barcelona had to pass the ball back more often. They were unable to pass deep and had no way to break the goal. At this time, Rijkaard's Barcelona's back pass could not effectively deplete the opponent's physical strength because Barcelona's back pass was mostly static and had not reached the level of Guardiola's later Barcelona passes.
Of course, Rijkaard also had his own methods and attempts to break through the tight defense. He had always pursued a tall center forward, from Maxi Lopez to Gude Johnson. Rijkaard's choices showed that he was helpless against the tight defense, so he had no choice but to place his hopes on a tall center forward.
At this time, Rijkaard used the same trick again. He replaced the French star Henry with Gudjohnsen. He wanted to use Gudjohnsen's wide vision and excellent passing ability to play an offensive effect. Of course, the key was that Gudjohnsen's header ability was stronger.
However, Rijkaard's change did not achieve an effective effect. Italian clubs were originally good at defense. Li Ang's Inter Milan had always done a good job of defending against aerial balls. Whether it was Samuels or Chivu, they were fearless in the face of Gudjohnsen.
*****
Li Ang sat calmly. Although his team was besieged by Barcelona, he was not worried at all.
He knew Barcelona very well.
He knew that Barcelona's ability to break through tight defense was not strong.
He also knew that Barcelona's defense also had problems, especially the defense against the opponent's defensive counterattack. Li Ang's Sporting de Gijón had used a bloody defensive counterattack against Barcelona. Barcelona's defense did not form a whole, especially in the air defense and the defense against quick counterattacks. The so-called lack of a whole meant that when the players in the front field lost the ball, although they were aggressive in pressing, they could always find a passing point. The opponent did not entangle in the midfield and passed the ball to the front field to find the center forward. The center forward would either sit on the stump and pass to the fast forward, or directly behind. This was the reason why Barcelona had been difficult to win against the Yellow Submarine Villarreal, Valencia, and Atlético Madrid, as well as Li Ang's Sporting de Gijón at that time.
They had besieged Inter Milan's goal for nearly ten minutes, but they had been unable to score. Just as Barcelona was getting more and more impatient, the dagger behind Inter Milan's solid defensive wall suddenly pierced out.
Inter Milan made a substitution. The young player, Toni Kroes, was replaced by Modric, who had been out for two months due to an injury.
When Croatia's Magic Flute came on, the fans in the stadium gave a warm applause to welcome the return of the team's midfield brain.
Rijkaard was not particularly vigilant and paid attention to Li Ang's substitution. With the team leading by two goals, it was normal to bring on a player who had recovered from an injury to get the feel of the game. Of course, it was more because Barcelona had only one way to go at this time. They could not care about anything else.
At the beginning of the game, when the commentator, Ferrari, and Rossi talked about Modric's first appearance in the main roster after being out for two months due to an injury, they pointed out that Modric now needed to get the feel of the game as soon as possible.
Obviously, the commentator did not think that the Croatian, who had been out for a long time, would be able to perform amazingly at the beginning of his return.
Even Li Ang was the same. When he sent Modric on the field, he instructed his favorite player to organize the team's offense and strive for accurate counterattacks. However, Li Ang did not expect much from Modric's performance. As long as he could not get injured and slowly get the feel of the game, it would be fine.
However, Modric still amazed everyone!
*****
This was originally another fruitless attack by Barcelona. This time, after Messi continuously bypassed people, he sent the football to the flank. Iniesta lifted the ball to the penalty area. Gudjohnsen's header attack could not be blocked by Samuels's interference. The football was firmly held by César.
César did not kick the ball off this time. Instead, he quickly rushed to the front of the penalty area and threw the ball vigorously to launch an attack. Obviously, this change showed that the counterattack had a purpose.
After Montari received the ball, he directly passed it to Luca Modric!
When the Croatian 'Magic Flute' received the ball, he observed the situation in front of him. He did not stop the ball. He directly made a wonderful long pass to the flank.
On the flank, Mata quickly plugged in. He beautifully stopped the ball and then pretended to continue to dribble the ball forward. However, he did not continue to dribble the ball forward. Instead, he pulled the football horizontally. At the same time, after taking a look at the situation in front of him, he chose to directly make a diagonal long pass and passed the football to the front of the penalty area.
Adriano strode forward with his long legs. Beside him was Marcos, who hurried up to defend!
Mata did not pass the ball high this time. Instead, he passed a rolling ball.
This caught Barcelona by surprise. Just now, when Mata passed the ball, Marcos almost subconsciously wanted to jump to fight for the high ball.
Due to the rolling ball and Mata's deliberate effort to send the ball forward, the football rolled quickly on the turf.
Adriano and Marcos almost pounced on the football at the same time.
"Mata's pass!"
"Adriano and Marcos are chasing the ball!"
"Marcos! Beautiful! He stuck close to Adriano and successfully defended! " Catalonia's commentator shouted. In his view, Marcos followed Adriano. With Marcos' defensive ability, although he could not completely defend against Adriano, with Marcos' interference, it was difficult for Adriano to easily control the ball. And if Adriano wanted to stop the ball and then seek to break through or shoot, Abidal, who quickly returned behind to defend, could already be in position.
However, no one thought that Adriano did not intend to control the ball at all!
When he was about to get close to the football, Adriano suddenly leaned back, lowered his center of gravity, and flew to shovel the football!
Adriano's shovel shot!
*****
Marcos had been guarding against Adriano's possible explosive shot after he caught up with the football. He really did not expect Adriano to suddenly shovel at this time!
It was not just a shovel shot!
It was a snatch shot!
It was very sudden!
In front of the goal, Barcelona's goalkeeper, Valdés, who had originally intended to attack, hesitated when he saw Marcos following Adriano. He now retreated and did not attack!
However, later, seeing that Adriano was getting closer and closer to the football, Valdés chose to attack again. He wanted to block the angle of the shot and interfere with Adriano.
However, Valdés did not expect that as soon as he rushed out of the goal, Adriano would suddenly shovel the ball.
Adriano successfully shoveled the football. After the football changed direction, it flew directly to the goal!
Valdés, who was in the middle of his attack, subconsciously made a save. However, the football suddenly flew up. The football streaked past his fingertips and continued to move forward. After a fall, it bounced on the ground in front of the goal. After it continued to bounce, it bounced towards the goal …
After Adriano made his shovel shot, Marcos hurriedly threw his center of gravity out. He slid on the turf, hoping to stop the football. However, the Moscow defender who slid towards the goal kicked empty air in the end. Before he touched the football, the football had already bounced into the goal. Marcos continued to slide into the goal due to inertia. He watched as the football that landed in the net continued to bounce!
“Goooooaaaaal！”
"4: 3! Adriano! The third one! Hat-trick! Hat-trick! Adriano has scored a hat-trick in the Champions League semi-final! This is the first player in the last ten years to score a hat-trick in the Champions League semi-final!!! "
"4: 3! Inter Milan has surpassed the score once again! This goal is a huge blow to Barcelona. They need to score three goals in a row in less than ten minutes to reverse the score. This is an almost impossible task! "
The entire Meazza stadium was in an unprecedented state of revelry and excitement at this moment.
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