Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 341 should try a different approach.
Barcelona quickly found an opportunity through continuous passing.

9 minutes.

Busquets seized the opportunity and kicked the ball to Messi in front. Messi sprinted forward with the ball, beating Yaya Toure and Lescott one after another.

Messi sprinted to the edge of the penalty area and then attempted to pass the ball to Sanchez, but Kompany intercepted it.

"Hula..."

The Barcelona fans in the stadium were filled with regret. They were already excited to see Messi dribble past two players, but they wished he could have dribbled past one more, or that Sanchez could have gotten the ball before Kompany.

Manchester City were also taken aback by Messi's sudden burst of energy. Kompany loudly encouraged his teammates, urging them to be even more vigilant.

Barcelona continued to control the game, but Manchester City's defense showed a different side today. They were very calm and did not rush to win the ball. Instead, they maintained their defensive formation and did not give Barcelona any space to break through.

This left Barcelona with few good options for the time being.

Moreover, although Barcelona has excellent ball control, they cannot maintain possession forever, and every player will make mistakes.

In the 14th minute, Fabregas made a fatal mistake when the ball was intercepted by De Jong, who then kicked it to Nasri on the wing.

Nasri received the ball on the wing in the attacking third, sprinted forward, and eventually got into a tug-of-war with Puyol near the byline.

Cornered in a corner, Nasri had a flash of inspiration and tipped the ball to Puyol's foot, sending it bouncing out of bounds.

Corner kick.

At this point, Barcelona had no idea what was going on and just thought it was a regular corner kick.

But Mascherano only realized something was wrong when Shan Yongzhuo walked towards the corner flag.

"Watch out for Shan Yongzhuo's corner kick!"

Mascherano loudly reminded his teammates.

At this moment, the Barcelona players remembered that Shan Yongzhuo had a unique and deadly corner kick shot.

Valdes immediately became alert and dared not relax for a moment, just like a medieval knight waiting for a duel, completely focused.

Dan Yongzhu swept the ball across the goal, then unleashed his Mighty Vajra Leg.

A corner kick is taken.

The ball soared high, heading towards the center of the penalty area.

Based on his experience, Valdes immediately chose to attack, believing he could punch the ball away after jumping.

however.

Valdes, who had launched the attack, quickly realized something was wrong.

Before the ball even reached its highest point, it began to plummet rapidly, deviating directly from its original trajectory and spinning inwards as it fell.

That position is the top left corner of the goal, a blind spot.

Valdes was on the verge of tears, but his heart was filled with shock.

Can you still kick a ball with such a spinning curve?
What a terrifying footwork!
While expressing his feelings, Valdes also hoped that one of his teammates would happen to be in front of the goal to block the ball.

In fact, there were indeed people there.

That's Puyol.

Although Guardiola has never played against Shan Yongzhuo, he has studied Shan Yongzhuo's videos very thoroughly, especially his unique insights into Shan Yongzhuo's direct shots from corner kicks.

He noticed that Shan Yongzhuo's corner kicks usually went in two directions: one was the far corner, and the other was the near corner.

Moreover, the vast majority of the shots were high balls, almost grazing the junction of the crossbar and the post.

That kind of ball is terrifying.

Therefore, he made specific arrangements for Shan Yongzhuo's corner kicks before the match.

That means placing two tall players at the near and far corners respectively to defend against high balls.

This is exactly what Puyol did this time.

And this time, he did it. Puyol came prepared; he judged the ball's trajectory very accurately and headed it directly.

clang!
That was the sound of a football bouncing off the crossbar.

"We've held them off!"

Puyol was secretly pleased. Sure enough, the coach was right. Shan Yongzhuo's corner kick was indeed aimed at the near corner of the dead center.

However, the next moment, as Puyol landed, he saw the football lying in the goal.

"what's the situation?"

Before Puyol could react, he saw his teammates looking dejected.

Meanwhile, at Manchester City, a short player was surrounded by his teammates celebrating a goal.

That's Aguero.

"This……"

Puyol headed the ball, which bounced off the crossbar and back into the penalty area. Mascherano missed his mark, and Aguero skillfully rushed over.

No one reacted immediately.

Aguero, of course, wouldn't let such a good opportunity slip by, and easily slid in to score into the empty net.

0 is better than 2!

Barcelona are down by two goals at home.

An uproar erupted at Camp Nou.

In the past ten minutes or so, Barcelona has clearly been dominating the game. Manchester City hasn't even had a chance to reach the penalty area, and they've barely even crossed Barcelona's half.

Barcelona fans believe that it's only a matter of time before the team scores.

Despite Manchester City scoring an early goal, Barcelona's performance gave them tremendous confidence. Manchester City, despite having Shan Yongzhuo, was no match for Barcelona.

But, what is the situation now?
The team is already down by two goals?
It’s only 14 minutes!
This is Camp Nou!
How can this be?

Unfortunately, no matter how much Barcelona fans can't accept it, it has already become a reality.

They could only watch Aguero celebrate wildly on the field, feeling a pang of sadness in their hearts.

Aguero was also very happy, as this was a Champions League knockout stage match, and at Camp Nou, he had scored a goal.

He rushed straight towards Shan Yongzhuo and hugged him warmly.

On the sidelines, Mancini was also celebrating wildly.

That's 2-0!
It's unbelievable that the team took a two-goal lead against Barcelona in such a short time!

Not just Aguero and Mancini, everyone at Manchester City was celebrating, everyone was happy.

Shan Yongzhuo, however, was not so happy.

This was the first time that someone had figured out how to execute a direct corner kick.

In the past, direct corner kicks have been blocked, but those were all blocked by goalkeepers, and there was also an element of luck involved.

Under normal circumstances, his corner kicks are almost always successful.

But this time, Puyol's positioning and defense were clearly aimed at his shot, as if his shot had been figured out.
This surprised him.

In fact, he only gets one direct corner kick shot per game at most, and often none at all.

Therefore, generally no one would specifically study his direct corner kick shots, and even fewer would study them so thoroughly.

Surprisingly, Guardiola actually did it.
Dan Yongzhuo looked at the bald man on the sidelines and couldn't help but look at him with newfound respect.

It seems that none of these world-renowned top coaches from their previous lives are simple!
"Perhaps we should try a different approach..."

(End of this chapter)