"… As the Nottingham Forest players get more and more yellow cards on Messi and the others, Nottingham Forest's defense will naturally have problems, and that will be Barcelona's chance. Tony Twain will have a chance to pay for his actions … "
Not long after the guest commentator's voice fell, the situation on the field changed.
In a Barcelona attack, Xavi and Iniesta made a feint in the midfield to break through from the middle, but suddenly passed the football to Messi on the flank. It was no different from any Barcelona attack, but Nottingham Forest's defense pounced too hard — Baines wanted to foul Messi, but he did not expect Messi to take advantage of it and turn around in one breath.
The mistake was a bit amateurish. Baines rushed up like a fool and his leg was passed. Messi was as relaxed as if he was passing through air. Before the Nottingham Forest defenders could react, the other side had already charged into the penalty area!
"He's in!"
Once in the penalty area, the Nottingham Forest defenders did not dare to act rashly. As long as the other side did not make a move, no matter how small the space was, Messi still had room to play. He could be seen twisting and turning in the narrow penalty area, fully displaying his excellent footwork skills, keeping the football firmly under his feet and bypassing Pepe.
"He bypassed Pepe, he's still controlling the ball!"
Kompany did not dare to make a move for fear of fouling. George Wood did not have this concern. He never considered the consequences of doing so. He would always do it first and think later.
Messi, who was looking for a chance, suddenly became aware of the danger. He had no time to think about whether to pass the ball or just shoot, and instinctively shot!
Just as he kicked the football out, Wood's tackle also fell. Fortunately, Messi rose into the air after shooting the football and barely escaped the rather lethal kick …
All that happened just now happened in a flash. Everyone only saw Messi suddenly raise his leg to shoot, while George Wood was half a beat late.
The distance was too close and the shot was too sudden. Even if Akinfeev's reaction was fast, he was caught off guard at this time …
The football just brushed past Akinfeev's foot and flew into the goal from the near corner!
"GOOOOOAL —!!" The Spanish commentator roared in a drawn-out tone.
Camp Nou was boiling. Everyone shouted the name of the goal hero at the same time.
Guardiola, who had been standing nervously on the sidelines, clenched his fists and jumped up. He could finally heave a sigh of relief …
Beside him, Barcelona's substitutes' bench was also huddled together. The goal came just in time! If they were any later, they could only go into halftime with a score of 0: 0, which would be a real blow to their morale. Messi's goal not only saved the team's morale, but more importantly, he stopped Nottingham Forest's defensive counterattack. The development of the game would only become more and more beneficial to Barcelona. Such a significant goal had to be celebrated.
"Damn it!" Compared to the ecstasy on Barcelona's side, Tang En was cursing. "Baines's brainless mistake! There's also a group of defenders. If you don't dare to make a move, at least stick your body to him! He could only watch helplessly as the other party performed! Are you guys watching a monkey show!? Bullshit! Bastard! "
He was venting the dissatisfaction in his heart to his heart's content. The people next to him did not even dare to breathe loudly. At the same time, they were frustrated by the goal concede. After persevering for forty minutes, he finally gave up. How could it not be depressing?
"Messi's solo performance! Well done! He let Nottingham Forest know one thing — against Barcelona, even defending to the death is not enough!! The elf of football, the figure closest to the king of football, Maradona, always has a way to pry open the opponent's tightly shut door and bring victory to the team! Messi, he's in excellent form. Despite the opponent's strict marking on him and the use of foul tactics, he still persevered in the battle! Well done! "
The commentator threw all the compliments he could think of to the Argentinian little man. In his mind, Nottingham Forest, who could only use rough fouls to stop Messi, clearly played the role of a bad guy, and was so bad that it oozed pus and was incurable. Messi, on the other hand, was like a brave man who still got up again and again and persevered in the battle no matter how heavy the blow, winning everyone's respect.
Most of the time, Tony Twain and his team were not likeable …
The Barcelona players celebrated on the field, while the Nottingham Forest side seemed a little lifeless. Baines, who had made a mistake, stood in place with his head down and chagrined alone. Pepe had intended to get up, but when he saw Messi shoot the football into the goal, he lay down again and covered his face with his hands.
※ ※ ※
After the ball was kicked off again, the Nottingham Forest players appeared a little dazed, especially the defensive players. Everyone was hit by the goal concede. After working hard for 40 minutes, the goal was still breached in the end. This gave Barcelona a chance. Once, they almost scored again. If it were not for Akinfeev's good form and bravely pouncing on Bojan's shot, the score would have been 0: 2 at the end of the first half.
Twain was very dissatisfied with the players' performance during this period. He stood on the sidelines and kept waving his arms, yelling and yelling like King Kong climbing on a tall building.
After being yelled at by him, the players on the field finally calmed down a little and persevered until the end of the first half, not giving Barcelona any more decent chances.
During the halftime interval, Guardiola left the stadium with a satisfied smile on his face. Tang En, on the other hand, remained by the side of the field. Any Forest player who came down from the field and passed by him would be patted on the shoulder by him.
Other than patting on the shoulder, he did not say anything. The players all knew that the boss was actually very dissatisfied with their performance in the final moments, so they all shrank their necks and quickly walked back to the locker room.
Twain was the last to enter. However, he did not slam the door hard and then fly into a rage and scold everyone.
"Don't think about conceding a goal. So what if your mind is full of thoughts about conceding a goal? Can you make that goal disappear? Or can you make us score two goals in a row in five minutes to complete the reversal? " Twain's dissatisfaction was directed at the team's performance after the goal concede in the first half, so he criticized the team's performance during the goal concede.
"Your performance after the goal concede was too clumsy! You don't seem like professional players at all. Do the Nottingham Forest players only have this little mental fortitude? "
As an old player, Pepe was a little bolder than the other players in the locker room. He dared to say things to Twain that the other players did not dare to say. Although he was not the only one who could say such things, George Wood was a little quiet. Eastwood did not play and could not understand the players' thoughts on the field, so it was only Pepe now.
He raised his hand and had something to say.
"What do you want to say, Pepe?"
"Boss, you're the one who said to treat this as a final. So, when we think about conceding a goal in the final, it's a little … uh, that. "
"Can you guarantee that you won't concede a goal in the final?" Twain laughed instead of getting angry. "Even if it's a final, it's just a game. If we concede a goal, we'll get it back. There's nothing to say. In fact, if you can have a normal mentality, after Barcelona's goal, we have a chance to score a goal. "He was not lying through his teeth. After Barcelona's goal, their morale was so high that they got carried away. They pressed forward heavily, only thinking of taking the opportunity to score another goal. They completely forgot that the gap behind them could be seized by Nottingham Forest to counterattack.
Unfortunately, the Forest players were still unable to extricate themselves from the emotions of conceding a goal. They looked battered and exhausted just defending against Barcelona's swift and violent attacks, not to mention any counterattacks …
"As long as you can score a goal, the ones who should be dejected now should be the ones next door, not us … But, forget it." Twain shook his head. "It's useless for us to talk about something that's already over. It's better to think about what you should do in the second half. Will some people think we've conceded a goal, so we have to press out and attack in the second half? "Speaking of this, Twain laughed first.
"I'm sure a lot of people will think that, including our neighbors. They think that conceding a goal is the end of the world, but unfortunately, that's not the case. In the second half, we'll continue to stick to defensive counterattacks. You have to know that even in the worst case scenario, we unfortunately lose this game, it's only a 0: 1 loss. We still have a big chance of winning when we return to our home ground. So, in the second half, all of you have to put your mentality right. We'll still stick to defensive counterattacks. Rest assured, as the game progresses, it's still Barcelona who can't keep their cool. Because they also know that winning a goal at home is a very dangerous thing. As long as you're more patient than them and wait for the opportunity to counterattack, you'll definitely be able to score a goal. As long as you can score a goal and get the score back, the initiative will return to our side. When that happens, Barcelona will continue to press forward, and we'll continue to counterattack! We'll completely finish them at their home ground! "
"The tactics will not change. But I want to remind you to pay attention to the cards on you in the second half. If I were Guardiola, I'd let Messi and Alves, and even Xavi and Iniesta take turns to attack our left flank defense. How many of us have received yellow cards now? "He counted with his fingers." Baines, Tiago, Pepe. Defense doesn't only rely on fouls. What if you get sent off with a red card? Pay attention, all of you. Of course, if you can foul without the referee seeing it, I'll applaud you! "
※ ※ ※
In the second half, Guardiola did indeed strengthen the team's offensive on the right flank. Alves was more active than in the first half, constantly rushing up to assist. After an attack, he did not even go back. He waited in the front field for a second opportunity to attack. Messi constantly cut from the flank to the middle, disrupting the Forest team's defense. He put pressure on Pepe, Baines and the others.
Guardiola had done so since he found out that Nottingham Forest had no intention of pressing forward to confront Barcelona. He wanted the Forest team to pay the price for defending so stubbornly — don't you want to hurt my players? I'll get your players sent off with a red card first!
Bearing in mind the boss's instructions at halftime, the Nottingham Forest players did not dare to make too big of a move in defense, giving Barcelona an opportunity to attack. Fortunately, Akinfeev was in good form for this game. After the start of the second half, he became the busiest person, busily receiving high passes and blocking low passes.
"Messi shoots! Akinfeev … Beautiful save! "
"Bojan's header was easily picked up by Akinfeev. Although he is only 1.84 meters tall, his jump is amazing and his judgment of where the ball will land is very accurate. It looks like Tony Twain intends to leave Camp Nou with a score of 0: 1. This is not a bad idea. If Nottingham Forest really gets what they want, then the biggest contributor to this game might be Akinfeev … "
"Is Silva going to pass the ball? No! His kick, which looks like a pass and a shot, actually flew directly towards the goal … Beautiful! Akinfeev soared into the air and lifted the ball over the crossbar! "
"The corner kick is taken, and Akinfeev directly confiscated the ball!"
…
Not only did he do well in defense, but Akinfeev could also use his hands to throw the ball and launch an attack. When the Forest team was in a passive defense, he had saved the opponent's shot before launching an attack. This had become one of Nottingham Forest's main ways of counterattacking.
Unfortunately, Nottingham Forest did not put in enough players during the counterattack, and the strength was not particularly strong, so he did not put on a good show of the goalkeeper directly launching an attack.
Despite Akinfeev's excellent performance, the Barcelona fans and the commentator were still optimistic about Barcelona. Because blindly defending would not work. Wasn't Nottingham Forest's goal in the last minute of the first half a good indication of this problem? No matter how well the goalkeeper played, he was just frozen in defense. There was no defense in this world that could not be broken. As time went on, one mistake from Akinfeev could lead to a big mistake. By then, Nottingham Forest would be unable to turn the situation around when they were two goals behind, and the victory of the game would be Barcelona's.
Up to this point in the game between Barcelona and Nottingham Forest, there was already a hint of "offensive football" and "conservative football" competing.
Glory belonged to offensive football! Victory belonged to offensive football!
Conservatism was bound to be buried by offensive football!
Tony Twain, your clumsy performance won't work at Camp Nou! A team in this world that can defend to the death against Barcelona and not lose has not been born yet! If you have the ability, come out and let's have a fair and open duel!
Twain hid behind the thick defensive barrier and shouted, "Barcelona, don't be so arrogant! If you have the ability, come in! "
"Come out if you have the guts!"
"I won't! Only a fool will go out … "
"I'll count to three. If you don't come out, I'll go in!"
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