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

Messi, on whom Guardiola placed high hopes, is like a sea turtle covered in barnacles, struggling to swim.

Lin Yi's rough defensive skills were unable to stop Messi from receiving and passing the ball, nor was he able to intercept the ball directly and launch a counterattack.

But he always relied on his mobility to cling to Messi like a leech, preventing him from posing any threat to Manchester City's goal.

Barcelona had already used all three of their substitutions, and Guardiola couldn't free up Messi through personnel changes, so he could only shout Iniesta's name from the sidelines.

"Andres! Rio's got him tied up, use your breakthrough to take them down!"

"Mario! Mario! Forget about that actor, go and take care of that pale-faced guy!"

When Lin Yi noticed that Barcelona's attack was starting to focus on Iniesta's breakthroughs, he decisively called in Balotelli.

Although Balotelli's defensive ability is just as rough as Lin Yi's, he only came on as a substitute in the second half, and his physical condition is much better than Iniesta's, who played for more than 100 minutes.

In addition, he listens to Lin Yi's every word, and his execution ability is outstanding.

Even if Balotelli suddenly had a mental lapse and started contemplating life, it wouldn't stop his body from being controlled by his subconscious, and he pulled and dragged the little Iniesta, who was trying to break through, to the ground.

Guardiola must be feeling a bit of a headache. Although Xavi also possesses strong organizational skills, those skills are more evident in orchestrating the attack; he is Barcelona's metronome.

As the game progresses, with Manchester City's united defense holed up in the penalty area, Xavi's impact is not as significant as that of Messi and Iniesta.

As for Cesc Fabregas, whom Barcelona went to great lengths to acquire from Arsenal, he was in a very poor state in this match, almost invisible throughout, and could be said to have no presence at all.

Since joining Barcelona, ​​Fabregas has never been able to fully adapt to the team's system, always living in the shadow of Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi, a far cry from his absolute core status at Arsenal.

Guardiola, who had no one left to rely on, felt like the Hainan team's coach, Gao Tou: "You brought in a super-athletic Sakuragi Hanamichi to limit my outside core, Jin Soichiro, and that's fine too."

I sent Miyamasu Yoshinori as a surprise force, and you still haven't said a word about getting me Miyagi Ryota. You just won't let me have any peace of mind.

The game became a stalemate as Messi and Iniesta were successfully contained.

Throughout extra time, Barcelona dominated, with Manchester City barely crossing the halfway line. However, Barcelona, ​​playing at home, simply couldn't break through Manchester City's impenetrable defense.

The situation ultimately turned out the way Guardiola didn't want to see: the two sides played to a goalless draw in extra time, and their fates would be decided in a brutal and unpredictable penalty shootout.

Who advances and who is eliminated will be decided on the 12-yard mark.

Manchester City assistant coach Ruben Cousillas never expected that he would encounter such a thrilling and exciting situation when he was just temporarily taking over Pellegrini's command.

His already thinning hair was now almost completely bald from tucking it off.

On the tactical board in front of him were several sets of penalty shootout personnel arrangements he had designed. He wrote and painted over them, painted over and revised them. If you didn't know better, you would think he had just come down from the college entrance examination math hall, and what he was holding in his hand was his draft paper for solving big problems.

While he was deep in thought without saying a word, the players had spontaneously gathered around Lin Yi, listening attentively to his passionate and insightful analysis.

"I'm first, Mario second, David third, Alexander, you came in overtime, so you have more stamina, you're fourth."

"Yaya, you just missed a penalty in the Africa Cup of Nations final, causing you to lose to Zambia. I think it's bad luck for you; you shouldn't play. Pablo, you're the last one, right?"

"The rest of you will play rock-paper-scissors, and proceed in order from sixth to last. Does anyone have any objections?"

Balotelli: "No problem!"

David Silva: "I think it's a good idea!"

Kolarov: "Thank you for your trust, I won't let you down!"

Zabaleta: "Go for it! Try to win without me having to play."

Yaya Touré: "Damn it, can you please stop bringing up my dirty secrets?"

Although he was cursing and swearing, what Lin Yi said was the truth. If Yaya Touré were to actually stand in front of the 12-yard box, he wasn't sure if he could get out of the shadow.

To show that he wholeheartedly accepted the arrangement and to boost morale at this crucial moment, Yaya Touré took the initiative to organize everyone into a circle, with each person extending their right hand and placing it together.

"Brothers, everyone thought we were doomed, but we did it! We leveled the overall score. It's been a tough journey for each of us to get this far. In the final moments, don't let us down. Manuel and Sergio are waiting for us to bring home a victory."

Toure, still haunted by penalty shootouts, solemnly admonished everyone, and the atmosphere gradually became tense because of him.

"Don't listen to his nonsense. The guy who missed the penalty in the final should have some self-respect. What right does this weakling have to spout off?"

Lin Yi's words completely dispelled the serious atmosphere that Toure had created.

"Everyone's job is simply to watch us perform, then celebrate our victory together. It's that simple. Mario, are you confident?"

Balotelli grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

To be honest, hearing Lin Yi's carefree words and seeing Balotelli's silly smile, the group of players who were about to step up to the penalty spot felt inexplicably relieved.

"Manchester City! Come on!" The crowd ended their conversation and shouted together, the sudden noise waking up Kusilas, who was still undecided.

"What? What happened?"

Lin Yi walked over and patted him on the shoulder: "We've decided on the order of appearance, so hurry up and sign it and send it over."

"Huh? Then what should I do?"

"Aren't you a former goalkeeper? Go give Qiao Chuan a few moves; I think he's about to wet his pants."

Kusilas nodded mechanically, arranged everything according to Lin Yi's instructions, and then stood quietly on the sidelines, mourning his hair that had flowed away with the wind and his brain cells that had died in vain.

In this coin toss round, Lin Yi won back a point, choosing to go first, while Xavi naturally picked the goal closest to the stands where the Barcelona die-hard fans were.

Amidst the deafening boos from Camp Nou, Lin Yi strolled towards the penalty spot, took the ball from referee Brych, casually tossed it to the ground, then used his foot to pull the ball to the penalty spot, and made no other move.

They didn't carefully move the ball around, nor did they measure the run-up distance step by step.

Lin Yi stood there casually, like he was playing pickup football, hands on his hips, smiling as he looked at Brych.

When the opponent blew the whistle, Lin Yi swung his leg and unleashed a powerful shot from the spot, the rhythm and speed of which were beyond Valdes's comprehension.

The poor Barcelona goalkeeper stood on the goal line without reacting, watching Lin Yi's powerful shot fly into the top left corner of the net.

After taking the shot, Lin Yi immediately turned around, opened his arms, and walked back. A real man never looks back at an explosion.