Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 343 Is his head better at scoring goals than my feet?
In the final ten minutes of the first half, Barcelona kept Manchester City on the back foot, forcing Manchester City to rely on counter-attacks to find a way to break through.

Despite the intensity of the match, neither side managed to score again.

Barcelona's defense is indeed quite effective.

Shan Yongzhuo twice tried to drop back to receive the ball, but Xavi beat him to it both times, stealing the ball from Shan Yongzhuo's usual position.

This surprised Shan Yongzhuo somewhat.

Guardiola seems to have really done a lot of research on him.

Shan Yongzhuo also noticed that he often ran out of the penalty area to receive passes from his teammates on the perimeter, and he habitually used a few fixed spots to receive passes.

Barcelona seems to have figured this out, often rushing there early to intercept the ball.

This defensive method seems rather ineffective because the opponent can adjust their defensive strategy at any time. However, for a player, once a habit is formed, it is actually very difficult to change it immediately on the court.

That's exactly what happened to Shan Yongzhuo at that moment. Xavi anticipated and intercepted the ball twice in a row, and with Mascherano's excellent defensive ability behind him, both of Manchester City's counter-attacks ended with him.

"That's pretty impressive!"

Shan Yongzhuo had to admire Guardiola for his attention to detail; he even started his defense by incorporating his own habits.

"It seems like we need to make some changes."

Shan Yongzhuo constantly reminded himself to change his habits.

Meanwhile, Xavi was very pleased with himself, satisfied with his consecutive steals from Shan Yongzhuo.

Xavi joined Barcelona's youth academy at the age of 11 and spent his entire football career there.

After the old captain Guardiola retired, Xavi gradually took over from Guardiola and became the on-field brain of Barcelona. Whether under Van Gaal, Rexach, Antić, Rijkaard, or now Guardiola, Xavi is undoubtedly the midfield core.

Whether it was Ronaldinho or Messi who became the king of Camp Nou, Xavi was always the tireless lung of Barcelona on the field.

His importance to Barcelona is no less than that of Messi. He is the engine of both attack and defense. He is not only the brain that organizes and orchestrates Barcelona's offense, but also plays a very important role in defense.

Now, his defense makes Shan Yongzhuo look somewhat ineffective.

When Manchester City launched another counter-attack, Xavi dropped back to assist Mascherano in defending against Shan Yongzhuo.

Shan Yongzhuo was running towards the penalty area, but before he even reached it, he was entangled by Xavi. The ball was currently at Silva's feet on the wing. Xavi noticed that Shan Yongzhuo was moving to the left and immediately prepared to sprint to intercept the ball.

“He will run towards the ball, which he does often, just to make sure he gets the ball.”

Xavi remembered Guardiola's words, and he knew what to do.

Just as Xavi had expected, Shan Yongzhuo made a lateral run towards the left, and Silva immediately passed the ball to the middle.

But this time Xavi failed to get the ball.

This time, Shan Yongzhuo was very clever. After exchanging glances with Silva, he didn't pass the ball towards the center, but instead passed it slightly to the left side of the penalty area.

This gave Shan Yongzhuo an advantage.

In addition, Shan Yongzhuo suddenly thought of something, so he used his body to squeeze Harvey.

Now his strength attribute has 74 points, and he is no longer the Shan Yongzhuo that anyone could bully in combat. Moreover, his opponent is only Harvey, who is relatively weak in combat.

Shan Yongzhuo got the ball first and instinctively wanted to turn around to create space for a shot.

He does this in many competitions.

After receiving the ball on the edge of the penalty area, he then changes direction or uses other movements to create shooting space. This is his primary skill for scoring without relying on his technical abilities.

But this time, Shan Yongzhuo didn't do that. He sprinted a short distance along the left side of the penalty area towards the byline, and no one understood why he did it. What was the point?
Xavi was right behind him, and Mascherano also got close, but both of them were immediately startled by Shan Yongzhuo's sprinting direction, so they were now behind Shan Yongzhuo and unable to engage him.

Then Shan Yongzhuo charged into the penalty area from the left, but suddenly stopped the ball, and then gently flicked it up with his toe.

"What is this for?"

Mascherano was somewhat puzzled.

Logically speaking, after breaking into the penalty area, the best option in this position would be to pass the ball, but Shan Yongzhuo instead chipped the ball up.

This is simply...

It's like playing freestyle football in the street.

What is the point of this?
However, the next moment, a scene that shocked everyone appeared.

After dribbling the ball, Shan Yongzhuo took a few steps back, then bent over and headed the ball hard.

"A header?"

"How can this be?"

At this moment, even the English commentator was shocked by Shan Yongzhuo's move, his mouth agape, "Look at this ball, Shan Yongzhuo lobbed the ball up, and then, he headed it?"

"My God, that was a curveball!"

"Look at this ball, a huge arc, heading towards the far corner, the ball is moving very fast..."

"My God! Goal! Goal!"

"Incredible goal!"

As the football drew a beautiful arc in the penalty area, perfectly avoiding everyone, it spun rapidly and finally plunged into the far corner of the net.

Valdes, like a spectator watching a performance, made no effective reaction and simply stared in disbelief at everything.

Not only him, but all the Barcelona players were stunned.

Guardiola on the sidelines was the same; his jaw seemed to drop to the ground as he stared blankly at the scene, his heart churning with shock.

"This...how is this possible?"

Guardiola thought he knew Shan Yongzhuo well enough, but after Shan Yongzhuo scored this goal, he realized it was far from enough.

Messi, on the other side, stared at Shan Yongzhuo in disbelief, as if he were looking at an alien.

Who would score a goal using this method?
First, the ball was brought to a zero-degree angle. Even though it was inside the penalty area, how could you shoot from that position?

However, Shan Yongzhuo took the shot!
And he even managed to chip the ball up himself and then head it towards the goal...

Who would have thought of this?
This goal completely overturned Guardiola's understanding of football. He couldn't believe that there was such a player in the world who could perform such fancy moves.

What's even more alarming is that this was a header that he created himself, not a header that he received.

Not only was the ball weak, but it also didn't bounce very high, yet it still managed to produce such a high-quality header.
Not only was it very fast, but it also spun violently, drawing a terrifying arc.

What kind of head is this?

At the same time, Messi also fell into deep self-doubt for the first time.

"Is his head more effective at scoring goals than my legs?"

(End of this chapter)