Chapter 1059: Battle on the Wings

Although Manchester United only equalized the score, the psychological blow to Barcelona was huge.

In Barcelona's mind, after Manchester United was exhausted in the first half, they simply had no ability to equalize the score. Only Barcelona could change the score in the second half.

However, now Manchester United not only equalized the score, but they did not equalize the score through counterattack. They forced Barcelona to take big shots through the frontcourt press, and then launched this attack in their own backcourt.

This means that Manchester United still has the physical ability to press Barcelona full court.

This is the last thing Barcelona wants to see. Compared with Barcelona, ​​Manchester United is a step behind in technology, but its physical fitness and fighting spirit are worse than Manchester United. If Manchester United still has the physical fitness at this time, it will be very difficult for Barcelona to overtake the score. .

But Barcelona doesn't want to play overtime or even a penalty shootout with Manchester United. That will only amplify its physical disadvantage. Even if it is very risky to attack, Barcelona must attack and try to solve Manchester United within 90 minutes.

Guardiola waved his disciples to press forward, reduce possession of the ball in the backcourt, increase deep strikes, and at the same time let Messi and Alves strengthen their breakthroughs on the right to tear apart Manchester United's defense from one point.

Messi had just scored his 12th Champions League goal of the season and was dreaming of scoring two more goals to catch up with Gao Xiaodong. Unexpectedly, before his dream was over, Gao Xiaodong scored again, which not only widened the gap between him and himself. The goal difference evened the score.

There is no competition this year, and the Ballon d'Or will almost always be awarded to the winner of the Champions League. Last year, Messi lost to Gao Xiaodong and failed to defend the title. If he loses this direct dialogue, there is basically no hope for the Ballon d'Or.

Messi looks very humble, like a harmless little white rabbit, but inside he is very stubborn and arrogant. He will never allow himself to be defeated by Gao Xiaodong again in a direct dialogue.

After the game started again, Barcelona stepped up its attack, with Messi frequently asking for the ball to break through Manchester United's defense.

In the first half, Messi faced Manchester United's full-back Evra on the wing, and Barcelona's full-back Alves faced Manchester United's full-back Park Ji-sung.

Originally Manchester United's main right midfielder was Nani, but in order to wear down Barcelona and strengthen the defense on the wing, Ferguson changed the formation and replaced Park Ji-sung.

Park Ji-sung has plenty of physical energy and is good at defense. Except for the opening minutes of the first half, Evra played very conservatively and did not give Messi and Alves too many opportunities.

In order to equalize the score in the second half, Ferguson replaced Park Ji-sung with Nani, so that Barcelona's right wing and Manchester United's left wing were both strong and defensive.

If you rely solely on defense, it will be difficult for anyone to defend. It depends on whether you can use offense to threaten and suppress the opponent.

Messi wants the ball and challenges Evra one after another. Although Evra is also a short and flexible defender, he is already too old after all. He is completely unable to compete alone with Messi who is at his peak. Messi cannot take care of himself. Can rely on teammates in the middle to cover up defense.

After Evra was continuously penetrated by Messi, he was anxious and angry, and yelled at Nani, asking him to actively retreat to help defend Messi.

Nani is an offensive player and does not have much defensive awareness. In addition, his mission is to tear apart Barcelona's defense. Although the score was equalized, Ferguson did not order to strengthen the defense, and Gao Xiaodong did not say that he would no longer press forward. Of course Nani will not take the initiative to retreat.

In the Manchester United team, Nani is the junior and Evra is the big brother. When the big brother is angry, you have to listen not only to the criticism, but also to the curse. But as for whether to go back and help defend Evra? Nani couldn't decide this. Before Ferguson gave the order to shrink the defense, Nani could only ask Gao Xiaodong.

Although Messi's breakthrough on the wing is very dangerous, Gao Xiaodong, Fletcher, and Scholes are very strong in assisting the defense on the wing. Even if there is no time to assist, they will strengthen the protection of the center to prevent Barcelona's Player intercepts Messi's pass.

Villa is the only player in Barcelona's center to grab points. Although Xavi and Iniesta often push forward, they are not fast, not strong, and have no long-range shooting ability. Gao Xiaodong feels that Messi's breakthrough It just makes Evra a little uncomfortable, but it doesn't pose a fatal threat.

Therefore, when Nani asked Gao Xiaodong if he should drop back to help defend, Gao Xiaodong told Nani that to maintain a balance between offense and defense, the defense must be in place, and someone should be on the wing to support him when attacking.

Nani is not stupid either. He knows what Gao Xiaodong means, and he doesn't want him to spend all his energy on defense.

This is exactly what Nani wants. He feels that with his own abilities and characteristics, if he goes back to defend Messi, Alves will definitely come up, so he may not be able to defend it if he goes back.

Therefore, after Evra yelled at Nani, Nani came back to help defend a few times, but once Manchester United got the ball, Nani quickly rushed forward to meet his teammate in the center.

It seems that Nani is very active, and he is indispensable on both offense and defense. But in fact, Nani is still quite aggressive, because if Manchester United is counterattacked by Barcelona during the counterattack, it is a counterattack. At that time, Nani There is no coming back, and defense can only rely on Evra.

In the 75th minute of the game, Manchester United counterattacked with a long pass, and the ball found Valencia on the wing. Valencia was so fast that Abidal did not have time to come back. Valencia rushed to the bottom line and crossed, looking for Rooney.

However, the ground ball passed by Valencia was intercepted by Mascherano at the front point. Mascherano passed it to Xavi, who made a long pass to the right wing to find Messi.

Evra suffered a lot from Messi. Seeing that Nani was still in front and did not come back, he felt that he could not guard Messi alone, so he simply took the risk to steal Messi's time to handle the ball.

However, Evra had just rushed to Messi's side. Messi swung the ball behind Evra, quickly turned around, and went straight behind Evra.

Evra couldn't keep up with Messi, and in desperation, he wanted to reach out and pull Messi's jersey from behind.

However, Messi didn't want the free kick from the wing. He tried his best to break away from Evra's clutches and quickly reached the baseline and crossed.

Messi got away too quickly, and Fletcher and Gao Xiaodong in the middle had no time to help defend Evra. They simply stayed in the middle and waited for a clearance.

Messi's passing is very tricky. Not only is it fast, it also has an arc. It is easy for defenders to score own goals when they encounter it.

For this kind of ball, defenders would not dare to stretch their feet unless an opponent is sure to grab the landing spot.

But Gao Xiaodong doesn't care about this, he has bought a point of luck. Gao Xiaodong believes in his system, and he will definitely not make an own mistake, otherwise what is the use of this system.

The ball reached the small penalty area, and Gao Xiaodong quickly rushed to Villa. He did not go to Kabylia, but fell to the ground to tackle before Villa.

Gao Xiaodong must have shoveled the ball outside the goal, trying to shovel the ball out of the baseline, but after his foot touched the ball, the ball spun and went straight to the goal.

At this time, everyone in Manchester United was stunned. If they scored an own goal at this time, Manchester United would be really doomed.

"How dare he take such a risk to save the siege!"

"This kid is too brave, so he's not afraid of own goals?"

Van der Sar, Ferdinand and Vidic instantly felt resentment in their hearts.