aspirations football

Chapter 94 you come and I go
Regaining the lead gave Inter players confidence in the game, and the defense became more aggressive.

On the contrary, the Barcelona team seemed a little impatient.

In the first half, Inter Milan scored 4 goals with only 2 shots, and a header flew out of the crossbar.

Barcelona's 7 shots were only exchanged for a penalty, and their offensive efficiency was much worse than when they played against Real Madrid.

In the 41st minute of the game, Messi retreated to the center circle to get the ball. He seemed to be emotional, and actually relied on Zanetti to force a breakthrough with the ball. He got rid of the defenses of Thiago Motta and Lucio one after another. The left foot hit the goal vigorously from the corner of the penalty area.

It's a pity that his shot was too straight and was easily caught by Cesar.

Barcelona was tactically suppressed by Inter Milan in the first half. Except for Messi, it lacked other explosive points.

One Messi is not enough to tear apart Inter Milan's defensive system, and others are afraid to attack with all their strength due to Inter Milan's counterattack. I am afraid that Barcelona can revitalize the frontcourt offense only after Iniesta plays in the second half.

In the last few minutes of the first half, neither side had a good chance, and the referee blew his whistle to end the first half of the game.

During the half-time break, a heated discussion took place in the Barcelona dressing room.

Guardiola's advice to Ibrahimovic:
"Zlatan, in the second half you need to get the ball more, attract the defense and open up space for your teammates."

Gua Tu's words are true, but it is not easy to achieve this, otherwise Barcelona will not be unable to start the situation in the first half.

Inter Milan's defenders are too familiar with Ibrahimovic's characteristics. For Ibrahimovic, who is only a threat when the ball reaches his feet, the best way to prevent him is to prevent him from receiving the ball.

Inter Milan has been doing this in the first half. "The Rock" Samuel will predict Ibrahimovic's receiving line in advance every time and make defensive moves first, which makes Ibrahimovic unable to comfortably hold the ball.

The ball stopped when it reached Ibrahimovic, which caused Barcelona's offense in the first half to fail to continue to operate effectively.

"Coach, Samuel is entangled with me like a piece of mud, and Lucio kicks hard at every turn. I hope my teammates can go forward as much as possible into the penalty area, so that I can reduce unnecessary possession of the ball."

Guardiola understands Ibrahimovic's difficulties, but Inter Milan's penalty area is densely populated. Even if Ibrahimovic just catches the ball and makes a transition, it is impossible to pass the ball to his teammates every time.

The best way is to have someone who can involve Inter Milan's defense like Messi, so that Inter Milan's defense will lose sight of one another and have loopholes, so Guardiola decisively decided to replace Iniesta in the second half.

For Inter Milan, Mourinho affirmed the team's performance in the first half, but he also expected that Barcelona would make changes in the second half.

If Iniesta plays, Messi can be partially liberated, and Barcelona's offense is likely to be revitalized by then.

Although Sneijder and Mota can limit Iniesta to a certain extent, they cannot stop the opponent's forward penetration and through pass.

After all, Iniesta's pulling ability is not comparable to that of Keita.

So Mourinho made a weird decision and told Jingxuan:

"Jing, if Iniesta plays in the second half, Messi is likely to be more active in the center and left. I hope you will mark Messi."

"Coach, I understand your thoughts, but Alves should be used frequently."

Mourinho patted Jingxuan on the shoulder, looked at the Romanian star Chivu who was bending over to tie his shoelaces, and said plainly:
"You're right, but Chivu should be able to limit him. It's a gamble because we're leading."

Chivu raised his head and said confidently:
"Don't worry, coach, I will fight till the end!"

Mourinho nodded. This is the first game of the Champions League this season, and the opponent is the mighty Barcelona. Of course Mourinho wants to win.

In the second half, Barcelona really replaced Iniesta, but it was Henry instead of Keita.
This made Inter Milan a little unexpected.

In the 51st minute of the game, Harvey passed the ball across to Keita from the midfielder. Motta stepped forward to grab the ball, and Keita then gave the ball to Iniesta on the left.

Facing Maicon's defense, Iniesta took advantage of the change in the rhythm of small steps at his feet, dodged the angle and made a cross pass. When Keita stepped in, he deliberately missed his foot. The instep volley from the arc of the penalty area.

Cesar's line of sight was blocked, but he still fell to the ground and saved the ball to the baseline.

In the 53rd minute of the game, Iniesta dribbled the ball from the side, swayed Maicon with a pedaling action, and then slanted the ball into the penalty area. Ibrahimovic's shot was blocked by Lucio, and Maicon got A pick pass after the ball launches a counterattack.

Eto'o couldn't turn around and give it to Milito after receiving the ball in the frontcourt, so he held the ball under his feet and wanted to wait for his teammates to put it on.

But Abidal kicked him down, and Inter Milan got a direct free kick 30 meters in front of the goal.

Sneijder volleyed vigorously, and the ball went over the wall and flew out of the bottom line against the upper right corner of the goal. Barcelona goalkeeper Valdez broke out in a cold sweat.

In the 57th minute of the game, Harvey passed the ball to Messi on the right, and Jingxuan quickly leaned forward.

His purpose is very simple, to drive Messi to the side and the bottom line, and not to let him take the ball in the middle.

But Messi is Messi after all, I saw his left foot swayed away from Jingxuan who was blocking the front, dribbled the ball along the left side, and then a fake move of pulling the ball and smashing the ball shook Chivu's defense, along the way Slanted towards Inter Milan's restricted area along the sidewalk.

How could Jingxuan let Messi enter the penalty area so easily, he chased after him and made a sliding tackle from behind, but unfortunately he was still a step too late, the ball missed, but brought Messi’s back heel and brought him down, the referee decisively pointed at Jingxuan Xuan took out a yellow card and awarded Barcelona a free kick near the penalty area line.

"Jing, I'm sorry, I was taken too easily just now, otherwise you wouldn't have to foul."

Chi Wo apologized to Jingxuan when he lined up the wall, but Jingxuan didn't mind.

What he regrets is that he shouldn't tackle the ball. Even if Messi enters the penalty area, the angle is so small, he can't shoot directly, and it is still unknown what will happen if he passes the ball.

Because the free kick was too short, Xavi chose to push the ball low and flat to Yaya Toure at the arc of the penalty area.

In the 61st minute of the game, the cooperation between Iniesta and Keita was destroyed by Maicon's foot. Zanetti squeezed Keita's counter-attack with his butt and poked the ball to Sneijder in front.

The Dutch midfielder did not hesitate and passed the ball to Jingxuan on the wing with his left foot.

For Mourinho, the greatest value of Jingxuan is his versatility. This guy is sharp in offense and can run all over the field in defense.

When the team's counterattack needs an offensive point, he can quickly switch from defense to offense and respond to teammates who are holding the ball.

After receiving the pass from Sneijder, Jingxuan took the ball forward and competed with Alves who was side by side.

Alves received a yellow card in the first half, and now defending Jingxuan dare not make any moves at all.

I saw Jingxuan made an emergency stop to pull the ball, got rid of Alves' defense, and then made a long pass with his right foot into the Barcelona penalty area.

Milito jumped up to fight for the top but failed to reach the ball. Eto'o used his speed to stop the ball before the ball was about to go out of the baseline, and then passed it back to Maicon who was inserted in an inverted triangle.

After receiving the ball, Maicon dribbled the ball into the Barcelona penalty area with a big stride, and then he tiptoed and shot the far corner of the goal.

Valdes fell to the ground and dragged the ball out of the bottom line, Inter Milan won the corner kick.

Jingxuan fully demonstrated his efficiency and versatility in this counterattack process. At the moment of getting rid of Alves, he did not choose to continue to dribble into the penalty area like a traditional winger, but directly made a precise long pass, shortening the offense time, improving the offensive efficiency.

(End of this chapter)