Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 577 Bartra, the Fearless Young Calf

Upon returning to Granada, the entire team immediately threw themselves into training.

The team was doing well, and everyone was in a good mood. However, the upcoming game made the whole team a little nervous.

Playing away against Barcelona.

This is a heavyweight match in this round, a battle for the top two spots in the league. The clash between the two teams is highly anticipated. If Granada can defeat Barcelona in this match, they will be able to catch up with their rivals in the standings.

Everyone at Barcelona is taking this match very seriously.

In the summer, Barcelona cleared out some players: Thiago transferred to Bayern Munich, Villa transferred to Atletico Madrid, Bojan was loaned to Ajax, and Abidal transferred to Monaco on a free transfer.

However, despite losing many players, Barcelona brought in Brazilian prodigy Neymar from Santos for a record-breaking €7500 million.

With Messi sidelined due to injury, Neymar was given high expectations. His performance was considered superior to Shan Yongzhuo's and was seen as crucial to Barcelona's chances of winning at home.

Neymar spoke happily about the match in an interview: "Our opponent is Granada. I don't have a deep impression of this team, but they have Shan Yongzhuo, which makes them definitely worth our attention."

"I have never played against Shan Yongzhuo, but of course I admire his skills. His goal-scoring ability is unparalleled. He has now scored more than 30 goals, which is simply unimaginable."

"I'm really looking forward to playing against him."

"But we have no reason to lose, this is our home ground."

Neymar's words were very assertive, and he certainly has the confidence and the reasons to back it up.

In the 13 rounds of La Liga, he scored 6 goals, averaging one goal every two games, which is quite impressive. He also provided 5 assists, demonstrating a very well-rounded performance. Many media outlets consider him Messi's successor and the future of Barcelona.

Just as Messi took over Barcelona from Ronaldinho, everyone believes that Neymar can take over Barcelona from Messi.

However, Barcelona's defenders had little confidence in defending Neymar, and no one dared to guarantee that they could stop Shan Yongzhuo.

Especially without Messi, they do not believe that Neymar alone can outperform Shan Yongzhuo, even though Barcelona's overall squad is much stronger than Granada's.

But
The psychological trauma that Shan Yongzhuo inflicted on these Barcelona players was immense, no less than that on Real Madrid. They lost to Shan Yongzhuo far too many times, including several humiliating defeats.

The defenders started trying to come up with solutions.

Puyol coincidentally caught a cold and was therefore unable to play.

Mascherano, who was regarded by head coach Martino as the key player in defending against Shan Yongzhuo, also suffered a muscle strain during training, which was very coincidental and left Martino quite helpless.

Ultimately, the defensive burden fell to Pique and Bartra.

Martino fielded a 4-3-3 starting lineup, with Montoya and Adriano on each side as full-backs, and Pique partnering Bartra as center-backs.

The midfield consists of Busquets, Fabregas, and Iniesta, which is currently the strongest midfield lineup Barcelona can field.

The three forwards are Pedro on the left, Sanchez on the right, and Neymar in the middle.

The three players are a combination of very quick and agile players with outstanding skills. They are also very good at breaking through and cooperating in close range. Although they do not have an advantage in winning aerial balls, Barcelona is a team that mainly plays ground passing.

The combination of skill, speed, teamwork, and dribbling ability of these three players allows them to continuously attack Granada's defense. In Messi's absence, this is Barcelona's strongest attacking combination.

Pique was extremely frustrated. He realized he was no match for the two seasoned veterans, Puyol and Mascherano. Before he could even implement his strategy, these two had beaten him to it, leaving him no choice but to bite the bullet and take the lead. To make matters worse, these two old guys were giving him pointers on how he and Bartra should defend against Shan Yongzhuo. This was infuriating, and Pique absolutely refused to listen.

By the way, have you ever been able to guard against Shan Yongzhuo when you faced him before?
We've all failed before, so what gives you the right to guide me?

However, Pique had no choice but to grit his teeth and listen.

On the other hand, Bartra, young and fearless, showed great eagerness and confidence.

"Don't worry, I will do my best to defend against him. It may be difficult to prevent him from scoring, but we will definitely do our best to ensure that he scores at most one goal!"

Bartra clenched his fist and made a bold statement, his face radiating the vigor and determination of a young player.

Pique looked at Bartra with an expression of utter disgust, as if he had swallowed a fly.

This guy has never fought against Shan Yongzhuo before and doesn't know how terrifying Shan Yongzhuo is. But don't drag me into this! What do you mean by "we"? You said that yourself, I didn't.

However, Pique immediately came up with a great idea.

"Mark, keep it up." Pique smiled and patted Bartra on the shoulder, then said seriously, "Shan Yongzhuo knows my defensive habits very well. I've played against him too many times."

"And I'm too slow, which is a disadvantage in defending against him, and that's bad for us."

"So, the responsibility of closely guarding him falls to you. Your speed is a great way to limit him, and I believe you can do it."

"If you can shut him down and do what no other European defender has ever done, Mark, you will be famous throughout Europe."

Pique spoke very sincerely, like a senior giving earnest advice to a junior, even though he was only a year older than Bartra.

"Don't worry, Gerald, I'll lock him down!"

Bartra took Pique's words to heart, and his whole demeanor became full of fighting spirit and confidence.

Busquets, Fabregas, Iniesta, and others looked at Bartra with a sense of helplessness.

What a reckless young man!

Hopefully, this final match won't leave him with any psychological trauma.

In fact, having faced Shan Yongzhuo many times, they lacked confidence for this match. Despite Neymar's bold statements, they all knew that Shan Yongzhuo was not so simple.

Neymar is still too inexperienced compared to Shan Yongzhuo.

On the other hand, Shan Yongzhuo kept a low profile regarding the match, even giving Neymar a jinx in a pre-match interview.

"This match is very important, and we will do our best to win."

"Although Messi is unavailable, they still have Neymar, an absolutely exceptional young man."

"In my opinion, Neymar is a player who is very likely to surpass me in the future, and we must not underestimate him."

(End of this chapter)