Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 340 Barcelona's Passing and Possession

Barcelona felt humiliated; every player seemed bewildered and dejected.

In just six seconds into the game, their entire team was completely outmaneuvered and then conceded a goal.

But they couldn't blame the other side; the opponent scored the goal through skill, and they couldn't stop it, so what could they do?

Moreover, the opponent ultimately chose to push the ball into an empty net instead of dribbling it into the goal, which saved some face for Barcelona.

The faces of everyone on and off the field in Barcelona were filled with helplessness.

Guardiola rested his chin on his hand, his brow furrowed.

While everyone else was focused on scoring goals, Guardiola was focused on something else entirely.

That's Shan Yongzhuo's speed.

According to Guardiola's analysis of Shan Yongzhuo, Shan Yongzhuo is not a player with outstanding speed, although in recent matches, Shan Yongzhuo's speed has improved and he occasionally shows the performance of a speed-type striker.

However, most of the time, Shan Yongzhuo seemed a bit lazy on the field.

He is not a player who wins by speed, but rather by his dribbling skills and unparalleled shooting technique.

But this goal completely stunned Guardiola.

From kickoff to goal, Shan Yongzhuo took only 6.16 seconds, an extremely fast time, and this was done while sprinting with the ball.

Guardiola was surprised to find that Shan Yongzhuo's dribbling and sprinting were different from others.

Like those top speed-type players, such as Kaká, Eto'o, Owen, Messi in the past, and Bale of Tottenham now.

When these speed-type players sprint with the ball, they either take long strides like Kaka, Bale, and Owen, using their speed to overtake, or they combine exquisite ball control with speed like Messi.

However, a long-range dribble attack is usually completed during a counter-attack, and it is difficult to pull off a run past seven players.

Messi's dribbling skills, which rely on exquisite ball control, are somewhat disadvantageous in terms of speed, because he needs to use changes in speed to get past his opponents while controlling the ball.

But Shan Yongzhuo...

Guardiola was a little confused.

This guy didn't slow down at all while controlling the ball, and his speed was much faster than that of Eto'o the Cheetah back in the day, but the ball always managed to stay within a meter of him.

"Could it be that, besides his shooting skills, his footwork has also reached such a pinnacle?"

To be honest, Guardiola was indeed a little scared.

Meanwhile, the Manchester City players were ecstatic.

Mancini on the sidelines was raising his hands and shouting, his face beaming with excitement.

The opening goal is a huge advantage for Manchester City!
"Sure enough, he's that most incredible player! I just need to trust him!"

Mancini was incredibly excited. This was a quarter-final match, and if they beat Barcelona, ​​he, Roberto Mancini, would reach the Champions League semi-finals.

On the field, Manchester City players surrounded Shan Yongzhuo.

Aguero, De Jong, Nasri, and others got into a fierce fight over who would be the first to kiss Shan Yongzhuo's shoes.

Finally, Yaya Touré earned the honor of being the first to kiss Shan Yongzhuo's shoes thanks to his strength.

"These are the most amazing feet in the world!"

Yaya Toure couldn't help but sigh.

The other players shared the same sentiment. Although most of them had been teammates with Shan Yongzhuo for almost two years, they believed they could accept whatever performance Shan Yongzhuo delivered in a calm manner.

But when that ball happened, even the usually composed Silva couldn't stay calm.

"Simply put, it's fortunate that your Chinese team is a weak team, otherwise I think we Spanish might have had no chance in last year's World Cup."

“Uh…” As for Silva’s words, Shan Yongzhuo could only smile.

Did he lead the Chinese team to win the World Cup?

Ha ha.

He wanted to, but that was all he could do; even a fool would know it was impossible.

However, he was also very happy. This goal fully demonstrated the power of skill combinations. Although two skills were used in one goal, Shan Yongzhuo did not feel it was a waste.

After all, this is only the first leg of the match, and winning isn't always necessary. Scoring more away goals would be a good start.

……

Soon, the game resumed.

Shan Yongzhuo's goal dealt a significant blow to Barcelona, ​​but they quickly recovered under Guardiola's guidance.

After the restart, Barcelona quickly took control of the game.

Barcelona also employed their signature passing and possession style of play.

In later years, Shan Yongzhuo actually disliked Barcelona's style of play, finding it very dull.

However, when facing Barcelona at their peak, Shan Yongzhuo immediately felt how formidable Barcelona was.

The real strength of Barcelona's possession-based style of play isn't actually what many people say, like passing the ball into the opponent's goal; that's pure nonsense.

Barcelona's core style of play is actually one-touch passing.

By constantly disrupting the opponent's defensive formation with one-touch passes, and then utilizing the extremely dribbling abilities of players like Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta to find space to break through and deliver the fatal blow.

At the same time, their passing is also a defensive tactic, using continuous passing to stretch the opponent's formation forward, thereby finding an opportunity to pass the ball forward with one touch.

Midfielders like Xavi, Busquets, and even Mascherano all possess the ability to make forward passes.

Once the formation is stretched out and a pass is made, Messi, Sanchez, Iniesta, and others in the attacking third will have space to break through.

The true essence of Barcelona's possession-based style of play lies in a series of one-touch passes combined with sudden forward passes and breakthroughs.

Therefore, when Barcelona was at its peak, their style of play did not feel dull.

When Xavi, Iniesta, and others declined in form, Barcelona's performance also declined.

It can even give people a dull feeling.

This is not because the passing and control system has lost its effectiveness, but rather because the effectiveness of dribbling has declined significantly after Messi became the only remaining point of attack.

With fewer points of attack, Barcelona needs more possession and passing to disrupt the opponent's formation and find space to break through.

This naturally makes Barcelona's play look dull.

This is why Messi is so important to Barcelona.

Later, with teammates like Suarez and Neymar who could use their individual skills to break through defenses, Messi's style of play once again demonstrated its power.

Of course, Shan Yongzhuo, being a hemisphere ignorant, was unaware of these things.

All he knew was that Manchester City were having a very tough time playing at that moment.

Barcelona kept passing the ball around, and Manchester City's players were being towed around like monkeys. Even De Jong, a tough guy, was getting a little out of breath from being tossed around like that.

Manchester City's players are like a bunch of monkeys.

This analogy may be a little unpleasant, but it's the truth.

(End of this chapter)