Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

CCTV!

CCTV!

"Dear viewers, you are now watching the live broadcast of the 2008-2009 UEFA Champions League semi-final match between Barcelona and Real Madrid."

Today's commentators are still our old friends Zhang Lu and Zhan Jun, who quickly introduced the starting lineups of both teams.

"Real Madrid's starting lineup has changed slightly today. Mourinho did not choose to start Huntelaar, who has a good goal-scoring efficiency in the league and the Champions League, but instead started Benzema, who has always been a substitute. I wonder if there is any special reason for this arrangement."

"Although Huntelaar has a higher goal-scoring efficiency, Benzema is more functional. Mourinho may have chosen Benzema for this reason. However, we'll have to wait until the game starts to judge how effective he is!"

The match between Barcelona and Real Madrid was a football feast for fans all over the world, with more than 300 television stations worldwide choosing to broadcast it live.

At this very moment, countless fans around the world are sitting intently in front of their televisions, waiting for the game to begin.

Standing on the pitch at Camp Nou, feeling the fervent atmosphere and the hostile gazes of the Barcelona players opposite him, Lin Feng felt not nervous at all, but rather excited.

Camp Nou may be a daunting stadium for others, but for Lin Feng, it is his lucky place.

Lin Feng scored 5 goals in his two previous visits to Camp Nou, a truly fruitful trip.

So, the one who should be afraid is not him, but the Barcelona players on the other side!

Just as a cat hisses in fear when it sees its predator, perhaps it was Lin Feng's 'brilliant' record at Camp Nou that made Barcelona fans so afraid of him, giving him the loudest boos, even louder than their cheers for Barcelona players.

On the sidelines, Guardiola's expression was very serious, his eyes fixed on Lin Feng in the opposing lineup.

He has absolute confidence in his team and firmly believes they can defeat any opponent.

But when facing Real Madrid, he didn't have that 100% confidence.

Because there was an unpredictable variable in the opposing team's lineup—Lin Feng!
Although Messi has shown potential to become a football king under his tutelage.

But in all fairness, Guardiola believes that Lin Feng, who has won the Ballon d'Or twice in a row, is still the best player in the world.

His influence on the outcome of the game is much greater than Messi's is now.

If Real Madrid has any chance of escaping this match unscathed from Camp Nou, or even miraculously defeating them, it must be because of the variable that Lin Feng played a crucial role.

Therefore, the key to winning this match lies in whether Barcelona can unleash their tactical power and successfully limit Lin Feng's performance.

If Barcelona can achieve both of these things, they will definitely win.

However, if only one aspect is achieved, the opponent may force a draw.

If neither of these two points is achieved, then Barcelona will most likely lose the game.

He has already devised specific tactics for the team to counter Lin Feng, but whether these tactics will be effective remains to be seen in actual combat!
……

At 19:45, with the referee's whistle, the highly anticipated match officially began.

Both teams are very familiar with each other, so there is no need for them to test each other. Barcelona launched a fierce attack on Real Madrid right from the start.

In the 2nd minute, Henry broke through on the left wing but was viciously tackled by Pepe.

The Barcelona players acted quickly, splitting into two groups: one group ran to surround the referee to protest, while the other group surrounded Pepe, wanting to stand up for Henry.

However, the referee ignored the decision and awarded Barcelona a free kick in the attacking third without showing Pepe a card. This decision angered the Barcelona players, and boos were heard from the stands.

The ball was positioned relatively close to the wing. Xavi took the free kick and chose to cross it. Eto'o headed it back at the far post, and just as the Barcelona players were about to rush in, the linesman raised his flag, indicating that Eto'o was offside.

After Barcelona's attacking run ended, Real Madrid quickly responded.

Two minutes later, Marcelo made a low cross from the left wing. Lin Feng met the ball, but just before touching it, he deliberately let it pass over him, allowing Mascherano to make a run into the middle.

Little Ma decisively took a long-range shot, but unfortunately his aim was a bit off, and his shot went wide of the right post.

After that, Barcelona began to control the tempo, shifting the game's pace to their preferred passing and possession style.

It must be said that the peak Barcelona's passing and possession style was indeed unstoppable.

From the 4th minute onwards, for a full five or six minutes, Real Madrid couldn't even touch the ball.

Although they tried to press the Barcelona players with the ball, they couldn't win the ball at all. The opponent's passing and teamwork were so well-coordinated that they didn't give them any chance.

In the 9th minute, after several passes and probing maneuvers in midfield, Iniesta and Henry combined on the left wing.

After a one-two pass, the two players passed the ball across to Xavi, who suddenly accelerated in an attempt to break through Mascherano's defense.

But unexpectedly, Lin Feng suddenly appeared from the side and stole the ball from Xavi's feet.

With the backcourt wide open, Harvey dared not let Lin Feng pass, and could only resort to a tactical foul to bring Lin Feng down.

The referee immediately stopped the game and showed Xavi a yellow card.

This decision sparked outrage at the stadium, especially compared to the previous call against Pepe for fouling Henry, leading many Barcelona fans to believe the referee was biased towards Real Madrid.

On the pitch, Barcelona's captain Puyol and others rushed to the scene and gathered around the referee again, trying to appeal to see if the decision could be changed.

Because Barcelona insists on possession-based tactics and pushes their formation very far forward, they are very afraid of losing possession and being countered by the opponent.

Lin Feng is also adept at counter-attacks. Whether he passes the ball to his teammates or takes on the challenge on his own, letting him through would pose a huge threat to Barcelona's goal.

Therefore, in the tactics Guardiola devised before the match, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of immediately pressing back after losing possession. If it is really impossible to win the ball back, then foul; there should be no hesitation.

However, there is a drawback to doing this: if there are too many fouls, and if they cannot win the referee's support and try to get more favorable rulings, the various red and yellow cards alone will be too much for Barcelona to handle.

Therefore, whenever a Barcelona player commits a foul or is fouled on the field, many Barcelona players will immediately go out to appeal to the referee.

Referees are human too. Anyone would feel nervous if a bunch of burly men suddenly appeared around them, putting them under immense pressure and affecting their subsequent rulings.

Barcelona pressured the referee by overwhelming him with numbers, influencing his decisions. Of course, this alone wasn't enough; the Barcelona players who committed the foul or were fouled also needed to put on a convincing performance. If their acting was realistic enough, even the referee could be fooled.

The current Barcelona team, especially Xavi and Iniesta, is still relatively young and has strong control over the midfield. They not only have a low error rate but can also immediately counter-press after their teammates lose possession, so this situation is not particularly obvious yet.

As Xavi gets older, Barcelona's control of the midfield will decrease, leading to more instances of players feigning fouls. The most classic example is Busquets peeking at the referee through his fingers.

The name "La Masia Film Academy" mostly spread during this period.

However, doing this too often has its drawbacks. Some referees who have been fooled will have a bad impression of Barcelona and will subsequently make calls that are unfavorable to Barcelona.

Just like Neymar's diving, if you dive too often to draw fouls, you'll end up being blacklisted by La Liga referees. Even if they see an opponent actually fouling you, they won't call it easily anymore.

Guardiola was clearly very unhappy with the mistake just now. Taking advantage of the dead ball situation, he called Xavi and Yaya Toure to the sidelines and gave them some serious instructions.

The game continued, and after saving Real Madrid's free kick, Barcelona once again took control of the match.

In the 16th minute, Barcelona's right-back Alves suddenly surged forward, taking advantage of the numerical superiority on the wing before Real Madrid could react, and then delivered a low cross from the right wing.

However, Real Madrid's center-back Thiago Silva accurately anticipated the ball's trajectory and cleared it ahead of time.

Eto'o, having missed his target, instinctively glanced back at the young Real Madrid center-back. He had never heard of this guy before, as if he had appeared out of nowhere.

I thought he was a newbie and easy to bully, but after we actually fought, I realized that this kid was not simple.

Although they missed this opportunity, possession of the ball remained in Barcelona's hands.

Less than a minute later, Xavi passed the ball back inside the penalty area, and Messi followed up with a left-footed long-range shot that deflected off a defender and nearly broke through Real Madrid's goal.

Fortunately, Casillas reacted quickly, diving to his feet to catch the ball and averting a catastrophic goal loss.

But this attack, which nearly resulted in a goal, ignited the passion of the 90,000 Barcelona fans in the stadium.

They created a huge spectacle in the stands, making everyone feel as if they were on a small boat caught in a raging storm, at risk of being capsized at any moment.

Fueled by the terrifying atmosphere created by the fans, Barcelona's attacks became increasingly fierce.

In the 17th minute, Xavi passed the ball to Eto'o, whose side-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area went just wide.

In the 19th minute, Messi and Eto'o played a one-two, and Messi's left-footed long-range shot went high.

In the 23rd minute, Iniesta intercepted the ball in the attacking third and fired a low shot with his left foot that went just wide of the goal.

One minute later, it was Messi again, his breakthrough in the middle drawing a foul from Pepe.

The monk wasn't as lucky this time and received a yellow card from the referee.

This yellow card was fatal; Pepe will inevitably be more hesitant and restrained in his defensive play after receiving it.

Messi's breakthroughs are very likely to draw fouls from defenders. If Pepe gets another card for a foul, Real Madrid will face a situation of playing with one less player, which is almost a death sentence!
Mourinho couldn't sit still any longer and went to the sidelines to start thinking of a solution.

I glanced at the time; only 25 minutes had passed in the game.

However, because Barcelona kept attacking, Real Madrid was on the defensive the whole time, and it felt like an eternity.

Xavi took the free kick again, and this time he was in a very good position, so he chose to shoot directly.

However, his shot was blocked by the wall and went out of bounds, giving Barcelona a corner kick.

The corner kick was taken, and Iniesta passed the ball to the edge of the penalty area. Messi received the ball outside the penalty area and took a long shot, which was blocked by a defender.

During this period, Barcelona launched a siege on Real Madrid's goal.

Real Madrid were on the defensive, unable to even touch the ball, let alone launch a counter-attack.

In the first 25 minutes of the match, the statistics of the two sides were very disparate.

Barcelona had over 80% possession, completed 6 shots, and made an astonishing 325 passes.

At this rate, Barcelona will have made over 1000 passes in this match!

In the 08-09 season, La Liga began tracking passing statistics for the first time.

Currently, the average number of passes per game for La Liga teams is 440. Although Real Madrid does not pursue possession, their strength is much greater than that of other teams, so their possession rate in each game is still considerable, and they can complete about 480 passes per game on average.

But Barcelona's numbers often exceed 800, almost double that of Real Madrid!

Just by looking at the number of passes Barcelona makes you realize how high their possession rate is and how strong their control of the game is.

No wonder Guardiola's teams rarely drop points in the league. In this kind of game that pursues extreme ball control, the opponent can't even touch the ball, so how can they threaten Barcelona's goal?
In the past, fans only saw Barcelona using this tactic to bully ordinary teams, but through this game, they saw that even against a top team like Real Madrid, Barcelona's passing and possession tactics can still create a suffocating rhythm.

Wow, I'm exhausted just watching this! Barcelona's tactics are just too strong!

Real Madrid is having a terrible time; they haven't even been able to touch the ball for several minutes, and they haven't even had a chance to foul!

The game feels like it's become one-sided. Real Madrid is on the back foot the whole time. Although they haven't conceded a goal yet, how long can their defense hold up against Barcelona's relentless attacks?

[Real Madrid definitely can't compete with Barcelona in terms of possession. Barcelona's pressing was too successful, making it difficult for Real Madrid to maintain possession. I think Real Madrid should stick to their strengths, seize key opportunities, and use counter-attacks to change the score!]

[Yes, that's definitely the only way. Lin Feng almost created an opportunity after stealing the ball, but the opponent fouled too decisively and didn't give us a chance!]

Keep going! This is an away game after all. Just avoiding a goal will be a success!

After watching the first half, even the most optimistic Real Madrid fans dared not hope that their team could defeat Barcelona away from home and bring back a victory.

The opponent's passing and control is so abnormal that you can't even get the ball, how can you win?
What they are more worried about now is not this match, but the next home game.

If Barcelona can replicate this suffocating possession-based style at the Bernabéu, how will Real Madrid break through? (End of Chapter)