The path to becoming a football legend began with being ousted from Carrington by Manchester United.

Before the match, most people would not have expected that Barcelona, ​​who had a dominant first leg, would play so poorly in the second leg, thus breaking their unbeaten home record at Camp Nou this season.

Although Manchester City took the lead, they were forced to play with 10 men for an hour. The Citizens not only withstood Barcelona's attacks but also further extended their lead, stubbornly dragging the game into extra time.

If Guardiola's true thoughts were played out, all everyone would hear would be a series of censored "beep beep beep" sounds.

After a slight hesitation, Guardiola gave his last substitution to Pedro, leaving Puyol, whose stamina was severely depleted, on the field, thus saving face for the veteran.

From another perspective, if the game goes to penalties, Puyol, as the spiritual leader of Barcelona, ​​could play a huge role if he stayed on the field.

Feeling somewhat uneasy about this, Guardiola began to give instructions to each of them: "Gerrard, share more of the burden with Pouille. If you want to inherit his mantle, you have to set an example."

"Xavi, Manchester City has been down to ten men for a long time, so their physical condition won't be very good. If we make more frequent adjustments and increase the pace, we can completely wear them down."

"Ceske, you didn't play very well today. Be more flexible in your positioning, get excited, understand?"

"Andrei, find an opportunity to give them a good beating, just like you did in the World Cup final."

"Leon." Guardiola said solemnly to Messi at the end, "I've always believed you're the best player in the world, bar none. Everything is in your hands now."

Messi didn't say anything, he just kept nodding.

Just as Guardiola predicted, Manchester City showed a huge physical crisis at the start of extra time.

Despite making two personnel changes, replacing Lescott and Clichy with Kolo Toure and Kolarov respectively, who were the most physically exhausted, they were unable to fundamentally change Manchester City's predicament of collective physical exhaustion.

Under the deliberate leadership of players like Xavi, Barcelona players noticeably increased the pace of their passing and possession game.

Manchester City couldn't keep up with their opponents at all and had no choice but to retreat back into the penalty area, leaving the flanks and midfield exposed, attempting to hold off the opponent's attacks by parking the bus in front of the goal.

Seeing this, Messi stopped entangled with Manchester City players in the penalty area and proactively dropped back to the midfield area to receive the ball.

Manchester City's defenders were completely unable to keep up. Even if they forced themselves to follow, they would only be easily outmaneuvered by Messi. So they simply stayed in the penalty area and let Messi take the ball at will.

With the ball under his feet, Messi began to observe the situation, his mind racing with ideas on how to deliver a fatal blow to Manchester City.

Suddenly, a figure flashed by, interrupting Messi's thoughts. Relying on his body's instincts, Messi pulled the ball back in time, preventing the opponent from getting a sneak attack.

Looking up, he saw that Lin Yi had suddenly appeared from the side and was now blocking his way.

Lin Yi, who rarely participates in defense, did not expend as much energy as his teammates. At this moment, he became the most energetic player among Manchester City's starting lineup.

Contrary to his usual practice, he proactively retreated to his own half and marked Messi who had the ball.

Messi, who made his debut for Barcelona's first team in the Catalan derby back in 2004, has been a professional player for seven or eight years.

During this period, Messi quickly grew into the tactical core of the "Dream Team" Barcelona and achieved the feat of winning three consecutive Ballon d'Or awards.

In this process, countless world-renowned defensive masters in football became his backdrop.

As the player closest to the title of the greatest footballer in the world, how could Messi possibly take Lin Yi, a striker whose defense is only mediocre, seriously?

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately started moving, cutting the ball at a high frequency to approach Lin Yi. His body swayed slightly, and his center of gravity quickly switched between his left and right feet, making it impossible to judge his true intentions.

Meanwhile, Messi was observing Lin Yi's reaction. As soon as Lin Yi showed a weakness, Messi could switch his center of gravity and get past him at any time.

However, facing Messi's signature move, Lin Yi remained unmoved and didn't even look at the football. Instead, he stared straight into Messi's eyes.

Messi was slightly surprised; he hadn't expected Lin Yi, who wasn't good at defense, to be so calm.

In fact, Messi has complicated things. Lin Yi wasn't unmoved, but rather he neither understood nor wanted to see it.

Unfortunately, the football field isn't a Three Kingdoms story; the Empty City Stratagem might fool Sima Yi, but it won't fool Messi with the ball.

Lin Yi's feigned masterly demeanor lasted less than ten seconds before crumbling.

Messi gently pushed the ball outward with his left foot, lowered his shoulder and moved his body accordingly. His right foot seemed to follow suit, but Messi actually held back.

This was just a feint; Messi had a series of follow-up moves ready for Lin Yi.

To his surprise, Lin Yi suddenly took a step forward and stretched out his long leg to try and steal the ball with such a simple probing move.

With a simple spike, Messi easily bypassed Lin Yi. Lin Yi couldn't help but curse himself inwardly to cover up his embarrassment at being intimidated by the opponent's feigned intimidation.

After getting past Lin Yi, Messi continued dribbling towards Manchester City's penalty area, while looking up to observe the positioning of Manchester City's defense.

Before he could figure out his next move, the figure suddenly reappeared in front of him, and Messi had no choice but to pull the ball away from the opponent again.

It was Lin Yi again. Although he fell for Messi's feint, he managed to fight back with his unreasonable explosive power and instantaneous speed.

Messi didn't care; it was just another chance to get past him. This time, he didn't use any fancy tricks; a simple cow tail was enough to lure Lin Yi aside.

But just as he was about to initiate the connection, that annoying guy appeared in front of him again.

Messi now fully understood that only by shaking off Lin Yi at high speed could he possibly use his accumulated speed to completely get rid of him.

If it were to start from a standstill like this, Lin Yi could rely on his faster starting speed to catch up by overtaking the opponent after being tricked about his center of gravity.

Having figured this out, Messi stopped making futile attempts. He passed the ball to Iniesta beside him and started making off-the-ball runs, intending to receive the ball after he got going.

However, Lin Yi completely ignored Iniesta and the ball at his feet, and stuck with Messi, running around with him without the ball.

Wherever Messi goes, he goes.

Messi stopped, and so did he.

Lin Yi, like an annoying barnacle, completely parasitized Messi.

Messi tried everything – starting, stopping, changing direction, and running back – but Lin Yi was like glue to him, impossible to shake off. He didn't care where the game was going or what the situation was on the field; he only had eyes for Messi.

Messi, who usually doesn't like to talk much during matches, couldn't help but complain: "What's the point of staring at me? Look back, we're about to put the ball in your goal."

"I don't care, I accept anyone else scoring. I don't care who scores, just not you."

"Holy crap, are you crazy? Who plays football like that? What are you trying to achieve?"

"I don't know either." Lin Yi shook his head. After thinking for a moment, he gave what he thought was the most likely answer: "Probably because when I see that short guy from Argentina, I can't help but want to get close to him, to talk to him about life and ideals, but I just don't want to see him score goals and show off in front of me."

"Achoo!" Aguero, who was watching the game nervously in the locker room, suddenly sneezed and subconsciously tightened the coat he was wearing.