Fame with a ball

Barcelona's air defense has always had problems.

This is also the focus of what Capello said during the intermission.

How to defeat Barcelona is a "problem shared by all people on the earth". For many years, head coaches, players and fans all over the world have offered advice. kicking people), some people said to guard against Messi, and some directly suggested: "It is more reliable to pray directly to God."

After so many years of debate, no one can find out what is the fatal flaw of Barcelona. It seems that the Cosmos team is really the only perfect team on the planet, but in fact, Barcelona has not been in the past few years. They have been victorious, and they have also lost or been tied. Especially in the past two years, people have gradually smelled the weakness of Barcelona-not so fatal weakness, but if they are used well, it is not impossible to defeat the Cosmos team .

For example, the thickness of Barcelona's bench is a bit thin. They almost play with the main lineup in every game, and Messi Xavi is even more unstoppable. Once the main force is replaced by injury or physical collapse, it will have fatal consequences.Another example is that Barcelona's main lineup is too fixed, and it is difficult for youth players to be reused and fully trained. A few years later, Harvey and others will completely retire. Facing the problem of player fault.

The last key point - Barcelona's overall average height is too good. There is only one defender above 190, and most of the rest are less than 175. When faced with set-piece tactics or header tactics, conceding goals is almost inevitable of.

Before this season, Abidal, Pique, Puyol and Alves were the ideal combination for Barcelona's defense, especially Abidal. Dahl contributed a lot, his header clearance and destruction greatly raised the level of Barcelona's air defense.But when Abidal suffered from liver cancer, underwent a liver transplant and stayed away from the game indefinitely, a lot of problems immediately broke out in Barcelona's defense line-Puyol was getting older and could not play the whole game, Pique Unstable performance, sometimes starting but sometimes sitting on the bench, has made Guardiola change frequently this season and has been changing the central defender combination.

These originally inconspicuous little problems are slowly developing into persistent diseases, and before they broke out, Capello first keenly captured them.

So Capello asked other players to pass more long passes to the dangerous zone of Barcelona in the second half, let Lin Zhigao use the header to compete for the top, create air superiority, and it would be best if he could open Barcelona's "header channel". Also create some confusion for Barcelona's defense.

Lin Zhigao is extremely fortunate now, fortunately he has practiced his heading skills.

……

Lin Zhigao has never been good at headers in world football.

People are well-known for his extraordinary speed, abnormal physical ability, exquisite technique, and even an amazing sense of football, but if someone praises Lin Zhigao, "His header skills are amazing!" Many people don't pay much attention to Italy except for the Champions League on weekdays. Football fans will definitely sneer and say with disdain: Which striker hasn't scored a few headers?

The Lin Zhigao header incident that happened in Serie A a while ago did not cause much disturbance in European football. First, Lin Zhigao’s reputation is not so big that he can make newspaper headlines when he sneezes. Because he hasn't scored enough headers, only those fans who have seen how Juventus broke the Palermo iron barrel are impressed by Lin Zhigao's header skills.

Then again, if Lin Zhigao had staged a header hat-trick and shocked the whole of Europe early in the game, he would not be able to surprise the fans so much now, especially the Barcelona fans. With his mouth open, he watched the Juventus No. 10 diving to the top again and again in the Barcelona penalty area...

"Verratti sends a long ball in midfield! Like the previous passes, it's a high ball!"

"Adriano jumped with Lin, but he jumped too low!"

With a height of 173, Adriano couldn't jump as high as Lin Zhigao, and his ability to stay in the air was not good, so when Lin Zhigao rose to the football landing point, Adriano's feet had already landed on the turf On the ground, he could only watch helplessly as Lin Zhigao touched the football with his forehead, and then slammed forward!

"A header!"

"Oh, what a pity... Valdés tried his best to throw the ball away... Barcelona's goal escaped, but Valdés didn't take advantage of it. After landing, his center of gravity was unsteady and he fell to the ground. Look at that, it seems that the fall was not light."

Juventus' new tactics in the second half made Barcelona's defense a bit confusing. There is no doubt that Barcelona's central defenders are all skilled and responsive, but this cannot make up for their innate gap-the height is not good.

Lin Zhigao's height of 183 is not very conspicuous among professional players, but his jumping ability is so good that even many centers can't match it.Of the two headers he scored in the second half, one was blocked by Valdez, and the other was too high and flew directly over the crossbar... If it’s just like this, it’s fine. It can stop Lin Zhigao from scoring, and they also want to use the opportunity of Lin Zhigao's failed header attack to launch a counterattack against Juventus, but the point is, this kid actually followed the past to return to the defense and play header clearance!

Until the feeling of standing on the ground and looking up at the giant in the air... The Barcelona players roared in their hearts: It's so uncomfortable!

They wished they could find a chainsaw directly from the sidelines and saw off half of Lin Zhigao's leg.

Barely suppressing their inner emotions, the Barcelona players also adjusted their tactics after a brief run-in. They sent Pique to keep an eye on Lin Zhigao.

Guardiola made a gesture to Pique from the sidelines: stick to Lin Zhigao, he jumps and you jump too!

Pique nodded with a remorseful face.

Although he is a central defender, he has the heart of a center forward. When he has a chance to score goals in the game, he will never be humble.

It feels really uncomfortable to be Lin Zhigao's follower right now...

But there is no way, who makes him the tallest player in the Barcelona team?And Abidal is not there, so he still has a little advantage in defending high-altitude balls.

So in the following games, Pique always suddenly appeared in front of and behind Lin Zhigao with a look of resentment, acting strangely like a ghost behind him.

Lin Zhigao had goosebumps all over his body when he stared at him.

In the 55th minute, Barcelona got an offensive opportunity.

Xavi sent a short pass from the middle, Fabregas quickly inserted from the side, after a stop, was about to break through with the ball, De Qie Lie suddenly appeared in front of him to defend, Fabregas was cautious , kicked the ball directly into the Juventus penalty area!

At the front of the penalty area, Messi is running at high speed!

"It's Barcelona's chance! Messi got past Marchisio... Chiellini... he's getting closer to the ball!!"

"However, it seems that the ball is passed a little high?"

At this moment, Messi suddenly chased a figure in a pink jersey, and ran faster and faster, gradually shortening the distance between him and Messi.

"It's Lin! He came back from the middle to defend, and Messi hasn't run to the ball, how will the ball be handled? Can Messi shoot successfully?"

With Messi's keen perception, he certainly knows that there are Juventus players approaching behind him, so he speeds up a little more, as long as he can reach the football landing point in front of the people behind him, and then shoot quickly, let the chasing A few defensive players will be powerless if they come up!

Messi's idea is correct. Because of his talent and physical advantages, his speed is indeed one of the best in football. Although Lin Zhigao is also known for his speed, but because the starting point is behind Messi, he wants to surpass Messi before the ball touches the ground. West is a little unrealistic.

Staring at the red and blue figure in front of him, Lin Zhigao suddenly came up with a bold idea: Since he can't catch up with Messi, why not cut off the ball halfway!

He turned sideways while running, and after observing the distance between the ball and himself, he resolutely followed the routine of running forward with his body, rubbing his toes against the turf and rising from the ground!

Lin Zhigao knew that this was not a standard take-off position—the upper body was twisted towards the ball, but the lower body was still facing the penalty area. This was simply a twisting posture!One can imagine how embarrassing it will be when landing after taking off in this posture, but Lin Zhigao can't wait!

"Whoa whoa - Lin jumped! He jumped before the football fell!"

Feeling a sudden loud noise erupting in the stadium, Messi, who was running forward wholeheartedly, couldn't help turning his head, but saw a Juventus No. 10 back hanging in the air, blocking between the ball and himself.

Hey, is it Lin?Messi froze for a moment.

"Does Lin want to intercept the ball before it falls? Seems like an impossible task..."

But what happened next on the court stopped the commentator's words abruptly.

"Bang"!The football hit Lin Zhigao's chest, then bounced back quickly, and fell into the siege of several Juventus and Barcelona players who rushed forward to compete for the ball.

Lin Zhigao fell to the ground with the back of his head down, staring at his eyes.

He opened his eyes in a daze, and saw Messi standing beside him, looking down at him with his hips akimbo condescendingly.

"Does it feel good to head the ball all the time?" Messi asked him.

"Alright, alright."

"...You deserve it for falling." Messi rolled his eyes at him, turned around and chased the ball.

Lin Zhigao got up from the ground, looked at Messi's back and touched his head: Leo, aren't you really jealous that I can always compete for headers?

……

In the 70th minute of the second half of the game, Guardiola used up another substitution. He replaced Tello with Villa.

And Capello also chose to make substitutions at this moment. He replaced the exhausted Deqie Lie with Asamoah, and then stuffed Lichtsteiner in the midfield.

Now to analyze the physical strength comparison of the players of the two teams, although most of the players are on the verge of exhaustion, Juventus as a whole has the upper hand. Juventus have two new fitness players on the field, but Barcelona have only one.

Villa's playing has increased the strength of Barcelona's striker, and his cooperation with Messi is even tacit.

In the 73rd minute, Villa dribbled the ball into the Juventus penalty area from the right, and knocked the ball across the right side of the penalty area to the center.

Messi, who came up from behind him, was double-teamed by Chiellini and Caceres.But Messi didn't panic, he swayed past Chiellini, and when only Caceres was left on the opposite side, he calmly pushed at the incoming ball, and the football went straight to the lower right corner of the goal!

Buffon quickly fell to the ground and attacked, but he was beyond his reach!

"GOOOAL! Messi overtakes the score for Barcelona!"

"2:1! Barcelona leads the Bianconeri at the Stadium of Light!"

Guardiola outside the field breathed a sigh of relief, while Capello quickly tightened his nerves.

"Long live Messi! Long live Barcelona!" Barcelona fans couldn't help shouting.

"Lin! Lin! Lin!" This is the Juventus fans cheering for their zebra prince.

"Messi! Messi! Messi!" Barcelona fans were unwilling to fight back!

"CNM's stupid!"

"Italian fuck off!"

"The Champions League trophy belongs to Spain!"

"Stupid! It will be airlifted back to Apennines tomorrow!"

All of a sudden, the songs of Barcelona and Juventus flew together, and the names of Lin Zhigao and Messi rang out in unison. Fans from different countries made various noises in different languages. The only thing in common was that their volume was very loud...

The Stadium of Light seemed to have turned into a super huge vegetable market in an instant, buzzing, buzzing, causing a female fan with a weak heart to faint on the spot.

……

After Messi scored, Juventus quickly launched a counterattack.

The difference from the previous attack was that all the Juventus players were a bit cautious this time. After all, the score was opened again, and they all showed a hint of anxiety.

Including Lin Zhigao, he was going crazy thinking about scoring goals.

It's a pity that Pique is always by his side.

Pique had also gotten rid of all self-interested thoughts at this time, he just wanted to completely prevent Lin Zhigao to death, and then return to Spain with the Champions League trophy.

Lin Zhigao, who was getting impatient, couldn't help but wanted to force a breakthrough on Pique during a breakthrough with the ball. He was verbally warned by the referee once because he almost tripped Pique with too much movement.

After the referee left, Pique made a face to Lin Zhigao: "Pay attention to your movements, if you trip me again, you will be dealt a card."

Lin Zhigao glared at him: "Then don't cling to me!"

Pique blew a small whistle and smiled proudly: "This is my duty."

Lin Zhigao raised his eyebrows at him and said nothing.

And his heart gradually returned to calm, because Lin Zhigao discovered a small shortcoming of Pique in the dribble that was warned by the referee just now: he ran very fast, and he was fighting for the header with himself. The ability is also good. This is probably the advantage that the height of 192 brings to the Spaniard, but Pique also has some disadvantages. For example, he just turned around and chased Lin Zhigao... It seemed very slow.

In the 78th minute, Barzagli took the ball from the side and knocked it back to the middle. Lin Zhigao rushed to catch the ball and started his Nth long-distance attack of the game.

Pique confidently went up from the Barcelona penalty area and defended against Lin Zhigao.

Lin Zhigao rushed forward with the ball regardless, and when he was about to collide with Pique, he suddenly turned his body outwards 180°, and at the same time pushed the ball outwards alternately with his feet, passing Pique. Then rush towards the penalty area towards the rolling football!

Pique followed Lin Zhigao's movement and turned half his body, but was lost in the direction. When he came back to his senses, Lin Zhigao had already rushed to the front of the penalty area!

I saw that Lin Zhigao didn't panic in the face of the Barcelona players in the penalty area. He calmly lifted his foot and shot, and the football immediately flew to the dead corner of the goal!

"Just now it was... a Marseille roundabout!"

"Lin used Marseille to spin past Pique! And he chose the front of the penalty area to hit the goal directly!"

"Saint Cassie took off...he touched the football with his fingertips, but didn't change the direction the ball flew...!"

"The ball is in!"

"Juventus equalized! Now it's a draw again!"

Tens of thousands of Juventini uttered a cry of gratitude, and Capello couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

……

"This is really a game that tests the psychological quality of the fans. Juventus and Barcelona are two teams that bite each other tightly. One side has the upper hand, and the other side catches up quickly. They are not willing to let the opponent maintain the advantage for even 10 minutes. More than that. Even standing in a neutral position, I watched my breathing quicken several times, and I don’t know how the fans in the stadium are feeling.”

For the real fans of Barcelona and Juventus, watching this game is probably no less than riding a roller coaster, because in the past half an hour, the infirmary of the bright players has received no less than ten people because of watching the game And the fans passed out.

When the game progressed to the 82nd minute, Lin Zhigao was taking the ball to make a breakthrough towards the Barcelona penalty area. Puyol was defending in front of him. Just when Lin Zhigao just passed Puyol with the ball, the opponent suddenly looked painful. fell to the ground.

Lin Zhigao, who had passed half of Puyol's body, saw all this from the corner of his eye. He immediately stopped, kicked the ball out of the sideline, and turned around to walk to Puyol to see what happened to him.

Because Lin Zhigao was very sure that his body did not come into contact with Puyol, the reason why Puyol fell to the ground was probably due to physical reasons.

Sure enough, the referee who came later asked Puyol, and it turned out that the other party had a sudden cramp in his calf.

The big screen in the stadium also played back the tackle and passing action just now. Lin Zhigao dribbled past Puyol. Puyol turned around and wanted to keep up with him. At this moment, his calf suddenly staggered. causing him to fall to the ground.

Puyol's forehead was sweating, his face was pale, he sat on the turf and tried to stand up, but he couldn't.

The Barcelona team doctor quickly came to the field and carried him down on a stretcher. The referee signaled that Barcelona needed a substitution.

Puyol's calf cramps are really worse for Barcelona. Guardiola has no choice but to use up the last substitution. He replaced the opponent with Mascherano.

Javier Mascherano threw a sideline kick after playing. He raised the ball over his head and threw it back to the midfield. The offense of the two teams fell into a stalemate again.

At this time, most of the players on the field, especially some veterans, are fighting on the field entirely by willpower: Harvey, Iniesta, Pirlo, Chiellini, Barzagli... They have almost He couldn't run at all, and his face was even worse, as if he could pass out at any time.

Guardiola's face was serious. He realized that Barcelona had reached the most critical moment. The team's substitution quota was gone, and the game was getting more and more stalemate. Once it was dragged into overtime...Barcelona would definitely do more harm than good.

And Capello is waiting, he is waiting for the end of the 90 minutes of official game time.

Juventus still has a valuable substitution quota left, which is their biggest reliance capital at present. As long as the game can be dragged to overtime, Capello dares to say that he is [-]% sure of the victory, because no matter from the players Juventus has the upper hand against Barcelona in terms of physical strength or the number of substitutions, so even if he saw Pirlo panting like a cow, he still resisted going to the fourth official to apply for him to be replaced.

Raising his wrist, staring at the time for a while, and looking up at the field for a while, Capello's heart that has been trained for a long time can't help beating a little too fast at this moment.

Not to mention the other people in the stadium.

Fans can still cover their hearts and choose to close their eyes not to watch the last few minutes, but the players on the field can only grit their teeth and force themselves to endure for a while, for a while!

I don't know how long it has passed, it may have been a few seconds, or it may have been a few minutes, but in some people's minds it is more like months or years... A shrill whistle suddenly pierced the sky above the Stadium of Light!

The game is over!

Barcelona 2:2 Juventus!

A tie!

Just as the referee blew his whistle, Harvey and Pirlo in the stadium fell to their knees almost simultaneously, their legs cramped!

……

"The game was eventually dragged into overtime... This ending was both expected and unexpected."

"We can see that everyone is exhausted, whether it's Barcelona, ​​which has used up their substitutions, or Juventus, which still has one substitution left... Lin is holding a bottle of mineral water and pouring it on his chest. On the head, Messi is also resting with his hands on his knees... After the team doctor's massage, the condition of Harvey and Pirlo returned to normal. Pirlo was replaced by Capello, and Juventus also used it The last substitution spot."

"Xavi told the referee that he could play in overtime, and then took a short break on the sidelines with a serious face... We can't know what the real thoughts of this veteran player are, but I guess it must be with the game. Relevant, maybe he was praying to God that he could survive extra time... It was his choice, a choice, because if Xavi couldn't play, Barcelona would have 10 men to play..."

"5 minutes, they only have 5 minutes to rest! After that, Barcelona and Juventus will start another 30-minute overtime match!"

"There is no one-second rest period in overtime. The players have to fight for 30 minutes. This is a huge test for everyone's physical strength. A duel between willpower and a crumbling body."

"Now that we have come to this point, we have to imagine the cruelest consequences: if Barcelona and Juventus cannot lead each other in overtime, then we will usher in a penalty shootout after 30 minutes!"