Chapter 396: You Have Messi, I Have Lin Huang!
"Interesting!"
In the stands, Klopp's eyes lit up as he watched Manchester City's strategy effectively limit Barcelona. Guardiola certainly had something up his sleeve. The positioning of City's players on the field was meticulously planned, restricting Barcelona's attacking space significantly.
Klopp couldn't help but imagine himself in Enrique's position, pondering how he would break through City's defense. But with limited time and not fully understanding Guardiola's tactics, he couldn't find a solution immediately. This made Klopp even more determined. He thought, "I should definitely move to the Premier League! Competing against top coaches like Guardiola will tremendously help improve my skills."
On the other side, Bayern coach Heynckes also found Guardiola's defensive tactics intriguing. "Guardiola has effectively distributed players across each zone, especially strengthening the defense in the critical area in front of the box, known as Zone 5, preventing Barcelona from breaking into this zone. As a result, despite Barcelona dominating possession and passing, they failed to create effective attacks, greatly reducing their efficiency."
Guardiola's pioneering tiki-taka football at Barcelona had been thoroughly studied and understood. The essence of this style was maintaining possession, increasing their attacking opportunities while reducing the opponent's chances. This led to a significant disparity in the number of shots, increasing the likelihood of scoring more goals while the opponent struggled to create opportunities. Only top-tier teams with exceptionally high conversion rates could challenge this. Most mid and lower-tier teams couldn't match up, making Guardiola's teams almost unbeatable in domestic leagues.
However, in the Champions League, they faced the best teams from various leagues, and the further they advanced, the stronger the competition. Thus, Guardiola's teams often stumbled in the knockout stages. Football is a game of time and space. While City's possession might not match Barcelona's, Guardiola maximized their spatial advantage, making City nearly invincible. Even if they couldn't score, their solid defense could drag the game into extra time or penalties.
Now, it was Barcelona's turn to respond. How would Enrique adjust to Guardiola's tactics?
Enrique had realized his team's attacking issues and directed Iniesta to move closer to Messi, leveraging their synergy for quick, short-passing combinations in tight spaces. This tactic quickly paid off. Messi and Iniesta's strong passing and dribbling abilities effectively disrupted City's defense. Guardiola hadn't fully transformed City yet, and the players weren't entirely familiar with these tactics, leaving gaps that a superstar like Messi could exploit.
Messi passed to Iniesta and moved forward. Iniesta returned the ball, completing a one-two pass. Messi then passed to Neymar, who drove forward, combining with Messi again. City's defense was heavily focused on the left, where Messi and Neymar were, leaving gaps elsewhere. Suárez and Pedro found space, ready to capitalize on any passes.
Kolarov tried to mark Suárez tightly, but Suárez's elusive movements created space. He pretended to run towards the goal but quickly pulled back, receiving Messi's pass in a prime position. With no one within a meter to challenge him, Suárez took the shot. Hand raised, he struck decisively, altering the score to 2-3. Barcelona had retaken the lead with just ten minutes left in the game. If they could hold on, the treble was theirs.
"Suárez steps up, scoring a crucial goal!" "City is in trouble. If they don't score quickly, they're out!"
Commentators were quick to declare that Suárez's goal might be the match's deciding moment. With such little time left, City needed at least two goals to win, a daunting task.
In the executive box, Barcelona's interim president Bartomeu and coach Enrique were ecstatic. Their hard work seemed about to pay off with a treble. Meanwhile, Guardiola was visibly frustrated. Barcelona's execution of this tactic had finally worked.
However, Guardiola wasn't ready to give up. If Barcelona had Messi, City had Lin Huang. Seeing Lin glance over, Guardiola called him to the sideline.
"Lin, we don't have much time. We need to score quickly!"
Lin nodded, understanding the urgency. But Barcelona's defense had been tightly focused on him in the second half, blocking passes from De Bruyne and David Silva, limiting his opportunities. Retrieving the ball deeper would mean facing multiple defensive layers, significantly increasing the difficulty of scoring.
This isn't surprising. After all, he had already scored two goals against Barcelona. If Barca didn't focus on defending him, they would indeed be fools. Now that Barca had taken the lead, they would undoubtedly do everything to defend their advantage. Under these circumstances, breaking through Barca's defense would be even more challenging.
"We'll do this..." Guardiola clearly had a plan.
Barca's celebration took nearly two minutes, and by the time it ended, the match was already past the 81st minute. The Manchester City fans in the stands were quite unhappy about this, feeling that Barca deliberately wasted time during their celebration. It was uncertain how much stoppage time the referee would add, and if it was too short, City wouldn't have much time left.
Lin Quan recalled Guardiola's instructions and looked up at Barca's formation. Messi and Alves were on the right flank, Neymar and Alba on the left. In the midfield were Iniesta, Rakitic, and Busquets, with Suarez always posing a threat upfront. The center-backs were Pique and Mascherano, with Pique playing deeper as a sweeper and ball distributor. Mascherano, on the other hand, would push up during defense, acting as an additional barrier just outside the defensive line. Alves and Alba would fall back into the penalty area to maintain the defensive line's integrity.
Mascherano's interception and sweeping abilities were strong, and he was well-versed in playing as a defensive midfielder, posing a significant challenge to City's offense. Ironically, it was Guardiola who initially converted Mascherano from a defensive midfielder to a center-back at Barca. Now, this was coming back to haunt him.
Overall, Barca's formation was attack-oriented. On the sidelines, Enrique had already sent substitutes to warm up. It wouldn't be long before he swapped out offensive players for defensive ones to preserve their lead until the end of the match.
To equalize quickly, City had to strike before Barca could strengthen their defense. Alternatively, they could wait until Barca's new players, still adjusting and not fully in sync, entered the game. These were the best opportunities. Missing them would make breaking through Barca's defense exceedingly difficult.
With the referee's whistle, Lin Quan quickly passed the ball to Aguero and dashed towards Barca's half. Given his threat level, Rakitic and Busquets instinctively moved to cover his direction. However, Aguero did not pass to Lin Quan but instead back to De Bruyne. Suarez charged at De Bruyne, who then passed back to Kroos, with Suarez following him. Despite being in the 80th minute, Suarez's stamina seemed undiminished, allowing him to continue pressing aggressively.
Kroos glanced at Suarez, unperturbed by the Uruguayan's approach, and passed the ball back to right-back Zabaleta. This puzzled both Barca's players and their fans: wasn't City the team trailing? Why were they playing as if they were ahead, wasting precious time with back passes?
Not understanding City's strategy, Barca's players instinctively pressed forward to maintain their formation. At this moment, Zabaleta passed the ball to De Bruyne on the right wing. Neymar rushed at De Bruyne, intending to snatch the ball. However, De Bruyne, almost as if he had eyes on the back of his head, smoothly turned and bypassed Neymar with a deft pull-back move. Before Alba and Iniesta could close in, De Bruyne swiftly made a long pass, sending the ball across the pitch.
A figure appeared in the ball's path, gracefully stopping it. Barca's fans were stunned: how did he get to the left wing? The receiver was none other than Lin Quan.
During this period, Barca had been focusing on the right flank, so Alves was positioned further up. He immediately rushed towards Lin Quan, aiming to prevent his advance. However, Lin Quan seemed disinterested in making a solo run, passing the ball forward to David Silva.
Silva, unmarked, drove the ball rapidly into Barca's half, as City launched a full-scale counterattack. Aguero had already dashed into the box, ready to receive a cross and shoot. Pique tightly marked Aguero, denying him space. Mascherano moved in to help contain Aguero. Unexpectedly, Silva did not pass to Aguero but continued his run towards the penalty area.
With Alves not yet back in position, Pique had to leave Aguero and confront Silva. But just as Pique approached, Silva passed the ball. It wasn't to Aguero, who was still marked by Mascherano and Alba, but to someone else.
While Silva was taking the ball to the baseline, Lin Quan had deliberately slowed down. Instead of making an immediate run into the box, he waited until Alves and Busquets had moved past him before suddenly accelerating into the vacant space at the edge of the penalty area.
From behind, Messi saw Lin Quan's sudden burst of speed, feeling a surge of alarm. "Stop him! Don't let him get a shot!" However, the crowd's noise drowned out his shouts. Barca's players didn't have eyes in the back of their heads and failed to notice Lin Quan's rapid approach from behind.
But Silva saw him and passed the ball back, seemingly targeting Busquets who had retreated to the edge of the box. Busquets was momentarily stunned: was it a mistake? No, it couldn't be. Knowing Silva's skill, Busquets realized someone must be coming from behind. His first instinct was to clear the ball.
Before he could, a figure sped past like a whirlwind, taking the ball and heading into the penalty area. Lin Quan had successfully received the ball and entered the box. The hearts of Barca's fans leapt to their throats, with some closing their eyes in despair. This was it. This was really the end. (End of chapter)
Friends, if you want to read chapters in advance, subscribe to my patreon.
You can also buy the book if you are only interested in reading the novel.