Chapter 301: Teamwork
After scoring Hoffenheim's equaliser in the 22nd minute, Lu Wenbin was more closely marked by the Barcelona backline.
However, Barcelona, who are understaffed in the backline, still did not send two people to mark Lu Wenbin, or only Puyol was close to Lu Wenbin, and the others continued to do their jobs.
It's just that, relatively speaking, Pique and Abidal have spent more time focusing on Lu Wenbin, and Ibishevic and Demba Ba have more offensive opportunities.
Of course, in terms of overall tactics, Barcelona's focus is still attacking, and even Puyol sometimes drops Lu Wenbin to rush to the midfield to assist.
No matter how big Lu Wenbin's threat is and how much he can score, it will not make Barcelona give up attacking and shrink the defense.
They feel that no matter how strong Lu Wenbin is, there is only one person, and the Barcelona players are confident that they can beat Hoffenheim in terms of overall goals.
Because of Barcelona's overall possession tactics, Hoffenheim's overall attacking frequency has dropped a lot compared to other previous games.
Even if there are no two people to mark the defense, Lu Wenbin still has very few shooting opportunities.
In the 32nd minute, Lu Wenbin's low shot from outside the forbidden zone had passed under Puyol's crotch, but Abidal in the forbidden zone rushed over from the side and a flying tackle broke the bottom line.
The ensuing corner Hoffenheim also failed to get in.
On the contrary, in the 39th minute, Barcelona scored again.
Harvey again.
He made a feint to Ibrahimovic up front to shake off Gustavo and pass the ball to Messi, who scored into the near corner with a quick small dribble past Jaisler and Nelsson in succession.
In an instant, all the Barcelona fans in the stands were boiling.
Messi's succession of the two is really intoxicating.
In the eyes of Barcelona fans, Messi, who can break through and pass, is stronger than Lu Wenbin, no matter how many goals Lu Wenbin scores, he is just a goal machine, and Lu Wenbin is a waste without teammates to feed him.
In the 39th minute, Barcelona took the lead again 2-1 through Messi's goal, and everyone expected that the first half would end with this scoreline.
But the Hoffenheim players didn't give up.
The goal was scored in the first minute of the opening game, which was enough to make everyone vigilant, and the closer to half-time, the more concentrated everyone became, and instead scored a goal.
In the 44th minute, full-back Baker inserted the ball and crossed from the bottom, and Lu Wenbin jumped high in front of the point, attracting Puyol and Abidal to jump together.
As a result, the ball passed a little high, and none of the three of them reached it, and they all rose to the top.
Ibisevic drew Pique's defence up the middle again, causing Demba Ba to slip out at the back post and the ball headed straight for Demba Ba at the back of the penalty zone.
Although Yaya Toure wanted to rush up to defend Demba Ba, the front and middle peaks twice in a row surprised Yaya Toure, and the start was a little slower.
By the time he reached Demba Ba's side, Demba Ba had already jumped up and headed the ball towards the goal.
Valdés, who was shaken by Lu Wenbin and Ibisevic one after another, was too late to save the ball at this time, and could only watch the ball fly into the back post.
In the 44th minute, Demba Ba's header equalized Hoffenheim and the score became 2-2.
After scoring the goal, Demba Ba and his teammates celebrated fiercely, and the Hoffenheim fans in the stands also cheered wildly.
Hoffenheim's commentator Karst also shouted excitedly: "Another goal, Hoffenheim equalized again with Demba Ba's header!" In the face of strong Barcelona, Hoffenheim did not give up! ”
The goal also made Barcelona players and fans realize that Hoffenheim was not the only one who could score goals.
Patronizing and staring at Lu Wenbin and completely herding the other Hoffenheim players will not work.
No matter how bad it is, people are also professional players, and it is okay to score one or two goals when the opportunity comes.
Not long after Demba Ba's goal, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half.
At half-time, the commentators were a little surprised by the direction of the game.
Many people thought that Barcelona would easily lead with their strong overall strength, but they didn't expect Hoffenheim to score a goal in addition to Lu Wenbin, and Demba Ba also scored a goal to tie the score.
It seems that Hoffenheim was not a fluke to win last season's small treble.
After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and fought again.
Although Lu Wenbin and Demba Ba both scored goals, exposing the loopholes of Barcelona's lack of defenders to the fullest, Guardiola did not make substitutions to change tactics.
Barcelona are confident that they can still beat Hoffenheim to win the title with their overall strength.
Sure enough, in the 57th minute, Barcelona used an excellent team to break through Hoffenheim's defence.
This time, Barcelona made more than 20 passes, numbing the entire Hoffenheim backline, and then suddenly speeding up by Alves to send a second pass, Messi ran out of the gap in the corner of the forbidden area and shot directly at the goal.
The ball sliced in a faint arc through the air, around the palm of Ozcan's hand and into the far corner of the goal.
Messi scored a brace to surpass Lu Wenbin in the number of goals scored and helped Barcelona take the lead again, and the score became Barcelona 3-2 Hoffenheim.
This time, Henry, who was not even so excited about his own goal, rushed over and hugged Messi fiercely.
Others did the same, and celebrated with great enthusiasm.
It seems that Hoffenheim did put extraordinary pressure on the Barcelona players to get so excited after they regained the lead.
The Barcelona fans in the stands also celebrated wildly, and everyone felt that it was not easy to take the lead again.
Of course, Hoffenheim also felt the strength of Barcelona as a whole.
This goal can almost be seen as a direct pass from Barcelona into the goal, and Hoffenheim did not even touch the ball once.
Either way, when it comes to championships and honours, Hoffenheim is not going to give up.
But Barcelona's passing possession is really too strong, and it is not something that the opponent can grab with all his might. Even if Lu Wenbin is full of physique and has no worries about physical fitness, it is difficult to grab the ball once when he runs around in the front court.
Barcelona used their overall passing to drag the clock until the 80th minute, with a whopping 67 per cent of the time on the ball, half as much as Hoffenheim.
It looks like Barcelona have the potential to drag the game straight to the end with their possession defence.
However, in the 81st minute, Lu Wenbin finally used his physical strength to run to force the Barcelona players to make mistakes.
Barcelona fell to the back and when the ball reached Puyol's feet, Lu Wenbin rushed over, and Puyol turned and tried to pass the ball to Pique.
Lu Wenbin, who has been pressing in the front court for so long, also grabbed his experience, and at the moment of Puyol's pass, Lu Wenbin changed direction halfway and rushed between Puyol and Pique.